Torry Holt and Sam Mills headline North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inductees

While Torry Holt and Sam Mills both wait on a call from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, they can celebrate their overdue induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

The two NFL stars — and in Holt’s case, N.C. State legend — headline the NC hall’s 2022 induction class, which also includes NFL athletic trainer Ronnie Barnes, UCLA and NBA player Henry Bibby, Duke women’s golf coach Dan Brooks, Winston-Salem State football player Timmy Newsome, Virginia Union men’s basketball coach Dave Robbins and former WRAL-5 sports anchor Tom Suiter.

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Luke Appling and early women’s basketball star Missouri Arledge Morris are posthumous inductees, along with Mills. Muggsy Bogues, part of the 2021 class, will be inducted with this group in April after he was unable to attend last year’s ceremony.

“This year’s class includes a wide variety of athletic achievement, including professional, collegiate, high school, Olympic sports, and media, with some special contributions,” NCSHOF board president Jerry McGee said in a statement. “This class of inductees and their outstanding accomplishments continue to build on the rich sports heritage of North Carolina. We look forward to celebrating these outstanding individuals in our state’s sports history.”

The induction ceremony will be held at the Raleigh Convention Center on April 22.

Luke Appling

Appling was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964 and is one of seven North Carolinians in Cooperstown. A native of High Point, Appling hit .300 or better in 15 of his 20 seasons in the major leagues and led the American League in batting twice.

Missouri Arledge Morris

Averaged 31.3 points per game during her senior year at Durham’s Hillside High in 1953, then became the first Black woman to play in the AAU national tournament and be named an AAU all-American at Philander Smith College in Arkansas. She turned down the chance to join the Harlem Globetrotters and eventually became an assistant principal at Hillside, where she taught for more than 40 years.

Ronnie Barnes

The New York Giants’ senior vice president for medical services, Barnes started out with the team as an athletic-training intern after graduating from East Carolina and getting his master’s degree at Michigan State and became their head trainer in 1980. Barnes is a member of the National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame.

Henry Bibby

Grew up in Franklinton and won three national titles playing for John Wooden at UCLA in the early 1970s, then went on to a nine-year NBA career that included a title with the New York Knicks. He has since served as a college and WNBA head coach and NBA assistant coach.

Dan Brooks

Duke has won seven NCAA titles — the most by any Duke athletic team — and 21 ACC titles in Brooks’ four decades as coach of the women’s golf team. He’s a seven-time national coach of the year and has sent dozens of players on to the LPGA Tour.

Torry Holt

Holt, who grew up in Gibsonville and went to Eastern Guilford, starred at N.C. State and was the sixth overall pick in the 1999 NFL draft. He went on to seven Pro Bowls and won Super Bowl XXXIV with the St. Louis Rams and is now a developer and philanthropist in Raleigh.

Sam Mills

Mills, who died in 2005, remains one of the Carolina Panthers’ most beloved players, coining the team’s motto, “Keep Pounding.” He signed as a free agent for the Panthers’ inaugural season in 1994 and led the Panthers in tackles in two of the next three seasons. His No. 51 is retired by the team.

Timmy Newsome

Went from Ahoskie to Winston-Salem State, where he’s the second-leading rusher in school history. Drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 1980, he scored 30 touchdowns during a nine-season NFL career. He’s a member of the CIAA Hall of Fame.

Dave Robbins

Another CIAA hall-of-famer, Robbins grew up in Gastonia and is best known for coaching Virginia Union to 713 wins, 14 CIAA titles and three NCAA Division II national titles. He’s also a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Tom Suiter

For 45 years the sports anchor at WRAL, and the face of the Football Friday high-school highlights show, Suiter grew up in Rocky Mount and arrived in Raleigh in 1971. He won two regional Emmy awards and was the 1990 North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year.