When it comes to golf, few people in Carter County Sports history have had the impact that Lisa Phipps Carter has had.

The 1989 TSSAA Girls State Champion from Happy Valley will be heading into the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame later this month, and she will do it as arguably the most accomplished high school golfer, male or female, in Carter County history.

Twenty-seven years ago, things were a lot different in the athletic landscape of Carter County and Carter ended up being a ground- breaker and helped allow not just women’s golf, but also women’s sports in general, to grow in Carter County.

There was a division for girls’ golf, but at Happy Valley there was no actual women’s team. Carter broke a barrier in the late 1980s by becoming the first female golfer at Happy Valley.

Carter had to play with the boys and hit from the boys’ tees.

“No one had a girls’ team,” said Carter, now the CEO at Niswonger Children’s Hospi- tal in Johnson City. “It wasn’t until you got to the regional where anyone had girls. My coach was Charlie Bayless, and I was the first girls golfer ever at Happy Valley playing on the boys team.”

In the last two decades, Carter’s alma ma- ter has raised the bar and offered more sports for girls, including the recent additions of tennis and soccer. Carter also played on the first softball team at Happy Valley in 1990.

There have been plenty of girls golfers come through the school in recent years, but Carter helped open that door for other students now at Happy Valley.

“Yeah there are so many talented girls playing sports at Happy Valley and in Carter County,” said Carter. “We have come a long way. It’s great to see where women’s sports are going in the area.

“When I was in school the only opportunities really for girls were to play basketball and run track,” Carter added. “Girls basketball when I was in school played on separate nights from the boys. We have come a long way.”

It has now been 27 years since Carter won the state championship and cemented her legacy as one of the all-time great female athletes in Carter County sports history.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Carter. “There was a mix up in tee times, and I didn’t get to play with the leaders. I had to par the last hole to win. It was surreal. It was one of the best back nine’s I have ever played.”

If you went to school at Happy Valley over the last three decades, you probably know Lisa’s parents, Charles and Theresa Phipps.

They were teachers at the school, but also avid golfers. Charles even coached Happy Valley in the 2000s.

They also guided Lisa over the years and gave her every opportunity to be suc- cessful in what was then a “man’s” world.

“My dad was my No. 1 fan, and he watched every hole,” said Carter. “My mom was too nervous to watch.”

Carter has been waiting for a Carter Countian to end her stranglehold as the only female golfer to win a state title.

During the early 2010s, Happy Valley had the most dominant golf team in Carter County history with Cameron Dugger, Nick Kyte and others, but even they could not muster up a team or individual state champion.

A couple of years later, Hampton standout Michaela Matheson made a run at the state title on the girls side, but also came up a little short.

“It’s hard to believe it hasn’t happened yet,” said Carter. “It is so much more com- petitive now. I was really pulling hard for Cameron and Nick and that group at Happy Valley and also Michaela at Hampton. If they take that away that is perfectly fine with me.”

Carter is a very successful business wom- an in the health care industry, but she has also passed the game of golf to her son, Zach, a recent Happy Valley graduate who played on the Warrior golf team for four years. Her husband, Tucker Carter, is the golf coach at Happy Valley.

“I feel like golf prepares you to be suc- cessful,” said Carter. “It makes you mentally tough.”

And almost three decades after that his- toric state title, Carter still rules the roost when it comes to her family about who the top golfer is.

“My son plays and my husband coaches, but neither one has beaten me. I still hold the crown in my family,” Carter concluded.