Local athletes dominate hall of fame selections

May 26—HIGH POINT — The Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this year will certainly have a High Point flavor.

Among the 12 members of the class of 2023 announced at the Greensboro Coliseum on Wednesday, seven either played or coached in High Point schools.

The seven are former High Point Central basketball coach Kenny Carter; Carter's predecessor Pat Hester, who also coached volleyball and helped develop the women's athletics program at Central; five-sport Central athlete Snow Brenner (now Snow Brenner Daws), who was a placekicker for the football team; T. W. Andrews and Wake Forest basketball standout Adell Harris; Andrews and UNC track standout Shannon Pope, Special Olympics athlete Billy Quick, who lettered in four sports at Central, Wesleyan soccer coach David Sandford.

Carter, who played multiple sports at Trinity High and baseball as a walkon at High Point University, won five NCHSAA girls basketball titles at Central and compiled a record of 573-125 during a 24-year coaching career that included 14 conference championships and 15 tournament championships.

"It was a wonderful time," Carter said of his career.. "I was fortunate to have kids who believed in hard work, believed in doing things right. They had the same drive and passions and the parents did also, no doubt. I had a wonderful staff. I got everyone involved at Central who was interested in helping kids. What I'm most proud of is not what I was able to accomplish at Central but what our kids were able to accomplish."

Daws, who was all-region in soccer and basketball, set a national record for points scored by a female in football and kicked the game-winning field goal in a regional championship game that sent the Bison to the state title contest in 1996, her senior season. She played soccer for four years at Duke, earned her medical degree from Wake Forest and is now an orthopedic surgeon.

"It's a very important honor, especially looking around at the people that came from Central," Daws said. "Coach Carter was my favorite coach so it's a thrill to go in with him and I remember Billy Quick. It's special, having all this amazing stuff come out of High Point Central."

Hester, who graduated from Central in 1955 and High Point College four years later, coached the Bison in girls basketball for 22 seasons, softball for 13 years and volleyball for 14 seasons. She guided Central through its Title IX compliance and created a women's sports day in High Point. She now does volunteer work with Mobile Meals, Open Door Ministries and the Red Cross.

"I'm humbled and honored to be here, particularly with the group of people who are members already," Hester said. "I don't feel I belong in the same category. I don;t have any state championships but I did work hard in my day to give young women a chance to participate when there was barely any opportunity for them."

Quick, who passed away in 2016, competed in 10 marathons, cycling that included rides from Los Angeles to Wahsington and New York to Washington, softball and basketball as a Special Olympics athlete. A 1994 graduate of High Point Central, he also served on the Special Olympics boards at the state and national levels and received the Special Olympics Male Athlete of the Year Award. He lettered in cross country, wrestling and track for the Bison and worked for the High Point Parks and Recreation Department for 22 years.

"This is unbelievable," Quick's brother Leon said. "He's just that type of guy. He wasn't looking for fame. He was just doing it out of the love for people."

Harris was a four-time all-conference basketball selection at Andrews, ranks 10th in assists at Wake Forest, coached three seasons at Tusculum and five at UNC Wilmington, and is now chief of staff for Vanderbilt's men's basketball program.

Sanford, who led Chapel Hill High to a state soccer championship as a player in 1972, served as head coach at Wesleyan Christian Academy from 1982-99, where he won nine state titles that included six consecutive from 1990-95. His teams had combined records of 288-67-34.

"Really and truly, it's ridiculously humbling to sit there and hear the accolades of all of those people," Sanford said. "And you sit there and wonder why am I here. I hear Shannon Pope and eight different championships in three different sports. And the lady at Central that started teaching in 1959, and she didn't have Title IX and had nothing. She was swimming upstream. I'm not competing with any of them. I'm just grateful and honored."

Pope was a member of eight state championship teams at Andrews — two in wrestling, one in football, and five in track. He won four state individual championships in the pole vault in 1991 and 1992 plus being a member of state championship 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. At UNC, he was a four-time ACC champion in the pole vault and after college became one of the five best in the world in the sport of hydrofoiling.

Others selected include Dudley and international junior hurdler Pan Doggett; Grimsley, Wake Forest and Kansas City chief quarterback Mike Elkins; UNC Greensboro chancellor Dr. Willian E. Moran, who helped guide the school's move from NCAA Division III to Division I and Gibsonville High, Elon and N.C State basketball standout Susan Yow.

The Hall's 18th class expands its membership to197. Induction ceremonies are scheduled Sept. 19 at the Greensboro Coliseum.