Carter County Sports Hall of Fame ready for 2019 Induction
Published 8:26 am Monday, June 17, 2019
2012 Hall of Famers: Bob Laws, Harold Stout, Dave Rider, Charlie Bayless, J.C. Campbell, John Orr, Willie Malone, Jess Birchfield. Back row: Richard “Jarfly” Dugger, Billy Pike, Jerry White, Ronnie Hicks, Angie Barker, Deacon Bowers, Angie Peters, Eddie Holly.
1960 TSSAA Hampton Bulldogs State Champs
Leslie Campbell, Jay Nidiffer, Lori Lyons Wilson, Dave Holtsclaw, Carmon Dugger, Billy Bob Garrison, Doug Phillips, Rhudy Johnson, Sam Rogers, Don Verran, Duard Walker, Carl Ray Nidiffer, Ken Napier.
Wes Holly, Kim Holly, Bill Birchfield, Garry Oaks, Al King, Doran Marcus, Bobby Chambers, Mike young, Mikki Brown, Joel Pierce, Jim Presnell.
Mark Campbell, Lawerence Ritchie, Ed Bare, Cyndie Troutman-Morelock, Chris Troutman, (back) Mike Rader, Erica Babb Beach, Gene Honeycutt and Jerry Range (representing the late Jackie Range)
Danny Clark, Bob McClain, Andy Curde, John Holsclaw, Shelby Miller, Kim Richardson, Lisa Phipps Carter, Marty Street, Grady Hill, Dawn Lowe, Ashley Fine, Anthony Reddick, Len Dugger.
Donna Fair, David Buck, Sonny Pierce, Dave Birkner, Don Parkey, Ron Street, David Johnson, Dolly Smith, J.L. Norris, Ernie Morrell, J.R. Campbell, Dennis Wilson, Daniel Holder.
Alice Peters, Roger Trivett, Tim Andrews, Mark Byrd, Tommy Sams, Doug Buckles, Tony Church, Sonny Hunt, Ninnie Norwood, Tommy Arnett, John Pansock, Brandi Campbell, Katie Williams Crowder.
When C.Y. Peters and Jamie Combs got together in 2012 to form the CarterCounty Sports Hall of Fame, they weren’t sure how well it would catch on. The results have been worth the while.
“We studied for months wanting to make the first induction a great one,” Peters said as the hall approaches its next round of inductions. “It was a lot of work, a big step to take but it’s the greatest thing I have ever done with my life.”
In today’s times, you need a website to help reach people. Quickly taking on that responsibility was former Unaka baseball player Steve Lowe, who also came on board as treasurer. Once the website was up and running, the nominations started pouring preparations were being made for the first hall of fame induction.
Dino’s Restaurant would provide the meal, not to mention glasses, plates and professional napkins that did much to make the Elks Club party room look like a grand ballroom. Money was needed to pay for all this food, plaques for the inductees, stamps to mail out the letters, etcetera — so the hall of fame organizers asked some businesses for donations and held a professional wrestling match at Elizabethton High that netted funds for the first banquet.
Buck Van Huss was one of the first inaugural inductees who came to mind.
Ditto for Charlie Bayless, Sonny Smith and softball’s Jarfly Dugger.
“We wanted to cover every sport for every division from the youth club, elementary, high school, college and other areas of athletics,” Peters said. “When the first members were selected, we were delighted and had come up with 25 people.” Dave Rider, Ron Hicks, John Orr and Eddie Holly were part of that distinguished inaugural class, as were John Treadway, Steve Lacy, Claude Holsclaw, Bob Laws, Lynn Goddard, Don Marshall and former Elizabethton Star sports editor Bill Jenkins.
Players who were major college stars — Tennessee football’s Johnny Mills, 1960 TSSAA state basketball champ and former East Tennessee State Buccaneer
Willie Malone — were part of the mix. Jess Birchfield was an All-American in football at Duke, then played in the Canadian Football League.
World boxing champ and referee Deacon Bowers and Hampton coaching greats Jerry White and J.C Campbell were first-year inductees. The same held true for great female athletes in Angie Barker and Angie Peters, tennis expert Billy Pike and Milligan legend Harold Stout.
The hall of fame recruited David Sellers Photography and Joe Sluder to handle photographs of all the inductees that we placed on each table.
“We wanted everything to be right,” Peters said. “We asked the Tennessee Speaker of the House, Kent Williams, to speak and MC the show — and he accepted. Referee and former athlete Mike Hardin joined in along with Judy Veeneman. Longtime friend Kim Birchfield rounded out the field to help host the event. More than 175 people showed up to honor these great athletes and coaches, the night was a huge success and people were left talking about the next one. In 2017 they started selecting two classes each year.
The Carter County Sports Hall of Fame will welcome a new class on Saturday, June 22 at the Tennessee Center of Applied Technology in Elizabethton. Below is a list of the forthcoming inductees:
Bethany Forslund Byrd, John Campbell II, Rusty Chambers, Tony Hardin, Jimmy Jones, Mike Lunsford, Charlotte Markland, Samantha McClay, Robert McFarland, Lisa Peters Mintz, Julia “Julie” Shell Puckett, Earl Sams, Kim Collins Sandora, Dino Senesi, Ronnie Snavely, Harold Street, Leon Tolley, Mike Williams, Phil Worrell
1960 Hampton State Champs to be recognized
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Hampton’s 1959-60 state championship basketball team will also be honored during the June 22 banquet — which begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 through June 10, $25 afterward (meal included). The cost for past inductees, personal presenters and children ages 13-and-under is $15 through June 10, $20 afterward. Tickets can be ordered at www.carterhalloffame.com or by contacting treasurer Steve Lowe at stclowe1@hotmail.com. For additional information,
contact C.Y. Peters, peters5@charter.net) or Jamie Combs, jamiecombs131@yahoo.com).
