Carter County Sports Hall of Fame Part 1… Inductees set to be enshrined Saturday, June 20th
Published 2:07 pm Tuesday, June 9, 2020
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Photo Contributed Wayne Pierce rushed for over 2,000 yards for the Unaka Rangers during his playing career in the 1950s.
Photo Contributed Mona Carter, front center, continues to be a staunch Elizabethton Cyclone supporter.
Photo Contributed Larry Shoun was a stalwart football player for the Hampton Bulldogs in 1966.
Photo Contributed Eddie Pless was a successful athlete at Elizabethton High School who went on to become the head football coach and principal of the school.
Photo Contributed Eddie Pless is set to be one of the inductees in the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Photo Contributed Bill Tetrick led the Elizabethton Cyclones in scoring during his junior and senior season scoring a whopping 938 points in an era where the three-point line didn't exist.
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CONTRIBUTED BY C.Y. PETERS
With another class ready to be enshrined into the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, June 20th, beginning in today’s edition of the Elizabethton Star the inductees will be introduced.
Eddie Pless
EHS athlete/coach
Pless was a two-time All-Big Nine Conference football selection
(1975-76), achieving second-team status as a punter in his junior season
and the first-team distinction as a senior quarterback.
Pless was a two-time All-Big Nine Conference football selection
(1975-76), achieving second-team status as a punter in his junior season
and the first-team distinction as a senior quarterback.
He topped the Cyclones in passing yards both of those years.
As a collegiate player, he produced a team-high 40 points for East
Tennessee State in 1978, going 25 of 26 on extra points and converting
five field goals.
He split the uprights for seven field goals while kicking for Carson-Newman in 1981.
Pless was a regional tennis qualifier as well as a key player on the
basketball team for the Cyclones.
He wound up being the school’s head football and tennis coach, with his
2004 football team advancing to the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
In addition, he served as athletic director and principal, among other prominent roles.
Monna Carter
T.A. Dugger/EHS track & field
As their head track & field coach from 1981 through 2005, Carter guided
the T.A. Dugger girls to three team championships, three runner-up
showings and 10 third-place finishes in a conference that included
larger schools out of Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol.
As their head track & field coach from 1981 through 2005, Carter guided
the T.A. Dugger girls to three team championships, three runner-up
showings and 10 third-place finishes in a conference that included
larger schools out of Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol.
During Carter’s reign, the Lady Jr. Cyclones never finished below fifth
in the league standings and always had between 30 and 60 athletes on
their roster.
Three records — 1×400, 1×800 and Kayla Lowry in 100-meter
dash — from that era remain in place.
Carter, who also served as TAD’s cheerleading sponsor for at least a
half-dozen years, coached Elizabethton High girls track for a four-year
stretch (2006-09).
Under the final year of her watch, her granddaughter,
Arin Anderson qualified for the state meet and finished in fourth place.
Arin Anderson qualified for the state meet and finished in fourth place.
WAYNE PIERCE
Unaka High football
One of the most prominent figures from Unaka’s glory era (the 1950s), Pierce
rushed for better than 2,000 career yards while dividing his time
between quarterback, halfback, and fullback.
Unaka High football
One of the most prominent figures from Unaka’s glory era (the 1950s), Pierce
rushed for better than 2,000 career yards while dividing his time
between quarterback, halfback, and fullback.
A four-year starter and three-time All-Watauga Conference performer,
Pierce had a hand in 35 career touchdowns — scoring 23 (22 rushing, 1
receiving) and throwing for 12 more — and totaled 163 points.
Ninety-two of those points came in the regular season of his junior campaign
(1953), making him the league scoring champion.
(1953), making him the league scoring champion.
He capped that year by rushing for a 6-yard touchdown and the point-after
in Unaka’s 7-0 Rayon Bowl victory over Jonesboro.
Pierce was a member of three conference championships (1951-53).
During his four years at the school, the Rangers posted a 30-9 record and
suffered only two Watauga defeats.
suffered only two Watauga defeats.
BILL TETRICK
Elizabethton High basketball
A three-year starting forward who poured in 938 career points, Tetrick
twice registered the Cyclones’ top-scoring average — netting 11.1 points
a game as a junior before hitting for 15.1 during his senior campaign,
in which he also led his Big Seven Conference championship team
(1961-62) in rebounding.
Elizabethton High basketball
A three-year starting forward who poured in 938 career points, Tetrick
twice registered the Cyclones’ top-scoring average — netting 11.1 points
a game as a junior before hitting for 15.1 during his senior campaign,
in which he also led his Big Seven Conference championship team
(1961-62) in rebounding.
All-conference, team MVP and honorable mention all-state were among
Tetrick’s senior-year accolades.
Moreover, the Elizabethton co-captain received all-tournament recognition
after ’Betsy won the Maryville-Alcoa Jaycees Invitational.
Tetrick started for Davidson College’s freshman team in 1962-63 and
paced the 1966 USMC Fleet Marine Force Atlantic champions (Camp Lejeune,
N.C.) in scoring.
A former minor-circuit auto racing driver, he served as a pit-crew member
for Cale Yarborough at the 1964 Daytona 500.
LARRY SHOUN
Hampton High football
As a senior on Hampton’s 1966 team, which finished 10-1 with a Watauga
Conference championship and Rhododendron Bowl victory, Shoun led the
Bulldogs in tackles (100+), rushed for more than 550 yards and scored 54
points on five touchdowns and 24 extra-point kicks.
Hampton High football
As a senior on Hampton’s 1966 team, which finished 10-1 with a Watauga
Conference championship and Rhododendron Bowl victory, Shoun led the
Bulldogs in tackles (100+), rushed for more than 550 yards and scored 54
points on five touchdowns and 24 extra-point kicks.
A fullback and linebacker, he earned All-Watauga Conference recognition
after making the honorable mentions list (J.C. Press-Chronicle) the
previous year.
He was part of three consecutive league titles before
playing in the 1967 junior college national championship game for
Lees-McRae.
playing in the 1967 junior college national championship game for
Lees-McRae.
The 1967 Watauga runner-up in the discus, Shoun later became a generous
donor to local schools and their sports programs.
As a third-generation owner of Shoun Lumber, he provided (at no charge)
almost all the materials needed to build the Bulldogs’ home fieldhouse,
which now bears his name.
