Local Sports Hall of Fame
adds stellar class of 14
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
More than 20 seasons
have come and gone and still
no one has yet to out pace
Herman McKinnie Jr.
He was a senior at West
Forsyth High School in
1987 when he broke the
county's rushing record dur
ing that year's East-West
All-Star Football Game.
McKinnie, who says that he
is surprised that his record
has stood for so long, admits
that he breathes a little sigh
of relief when a football sea
son ends and his record is
still intact.
"It feels pretty good,"
McKinnie, now a city
employee, said with a grin.
But even if a youngster
tops the record next season,
McKinnie will now be for
ever immortalized in the
annals of local sports histo
ry. He and 13 other equally
stellar sports-minaea men
make up the 2012 Class of
the Winston-Salem/Forsyth
County Sports Hall of
Fame.
The Class of 2012 was
announced on April 11 at the
Winston-Salem Sportsmen
Club's headquar
Tl
lers - i ne
Gathering Place
building at the cor
ner of Sixth and
Cherry streets.
"TTiis is a very
outstanding field
of inductees," said
Robert Wynn, the
president of the
Sportsmen and a
legendary former
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V.UHU lllgll UVI1W1 WUV1I.
For more than 30 years,
the Sportsmen have selected
accomplished athletes,
coaches, attiletic directors
j and other supporters of local
Inductee Jeff Jones looks over some of the items on display at the Hall.
Photos by Kevin Walter
athletics for membership in
the Hall. There are currently
224 members, each of whom
have their names inscribed
on the hallowed walls of the
Sportsmen's headquarters.
This year's class includes
coaches like Howard West,
______ the former
Reynolds High
and current
Reagan High head
boys basketball
coach who led
teams to three
consecutive State
4 A
Championships
from 2000-2002,
and Maurice
At wood, who as
Parkland's Wresting coach
has 13 state championships
and several North Carolina
Coach of the Year awards
under his belt.
The forrher high schobf'
Wynn
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Some of the inductees will opt to receieve a mem
bership ring like this one.
athletes inducted this year
include Christopher J.
McCoy, whom Sportsmen
Club member Aaron Bailey,
Carver's athletics director,
praised#s "rwetty much ,ihe
to?rT?Briifaback ufiSUr
come out of Reynolds."
McCoy, now a coach at
Reagan, said he is humbled
by the honor. He too has
many records that have stood
since the mid-1990s, McCoy
is proud that his records have
stood for nearly two decades,
but he would be just as
proud if the players he cur
rently coaches claim those
records for themselves.
"I give them all the tools
that they need to break my
records," he said.
When Mineral Springs
was a high school, not the
middle school it is today, L.
Douglas Wall was the big
man on campus. In the late
1950s and early 60s, he
guided the school's basket
ball team to success.
Averaging 16 points a game
during hii senior year. Wall
was an easy choice for the
Forsyth County 2-A Player
of the Year. Wall - who now
runs his family's more than
100-year-old company (Wall
Monument on Indiana
Avenue) - said that he was
touched by his induction
into the Hall.
Hanes Hosiery
Recreation Center Director
Art Blevins is the only
inductee this year who did
not earn the honor for
accomplishments on the
field, court, sidelines or in
the AD's office. Blevins,
who has dedicated his career
to coaching youth sports at
city recreation centers, is
being honored for his long
time support of sports and
young athletes.
This year's other
inductees are: Jeff Bradley,
who excelled in both foot
ball and track at West
Forsyth; Daren Lee Hart, a
current Winston-Salem State
Football coach who as a
Carver High student excelled
in football, baseball and bas
ketball; Brian Howard, a for
mer star basketball player at
North Forsyth; Jeff Jones,
who in the early 1980s was
one of East Forsyth's best
basketball players; ..Colon
Nifong, a former coach and
AD at North; Druwood Pack,
whose accomplishments as
West's AD are many and
stellar; Terry Pope, a star
football, baseball and bas
ketball player at Griffith
High School in the 1960s;
and Marty Stanley, Glenn's
successful AD.
The group will be for
mally recognized and induct
ed during a Friday, May 4
banquet at the Benton
Convention Center. Tickets
to the event, which starts
promptly at 7 p.m., are $30.
Members of the Sportsmen
Club will have tickets
available for purchase on
April 24 from 7:30 - 9 p.m.
and from 6 - 8 p.m. on April
27 at the Winston Lake
Family YMCA, 901
Waterworks Road. Call 336
682-3493 for ? tickets ancVor
other information.
Forsyth) medical center
fitfamilyfivek
Proceeds from the race benefit childhood obesity programs.
Girls on the Run? and the Forsyth Medical Center Foundation
? ^????a
Saturday, April 28, 2012 %
Register online at ujujuj.gotrforsythnc.org.
RACE SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 28, 2012
8:00 a.m. OneMile Fun Run Starts
8:30 a.m. 5K Starts
e-f
PRICING
5K
Register before March 30: $20.00
Register between March 30 and April 27: $25.00
Dayof Race Registration: $30.00
T-shirts are guaranteed to participants that register before
April 13.
ONE-MILE FUN RUN
$10 per child. Parents run for free.
WHERE
Williom G. White, Jr. Family YMCA
775 West End Boulevard
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
PACKET PICK-UP
Participants can pick up their packets at the
William G. White, Jr. Family YMCA during
the following times:
? Thursday, April 26, 5 to 7 p.m.
? Friday, April 27, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
? Saturday, April 28, 6:30 to 8 a.m.