TWO MORE YEARS IN GREENSBORO; TWO SPECIAL HONOREES
GREENSBORO, N.C. – On a gorgeous spring Tuesday with First National Bank Field providing an emerald green backdrop, the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame announced it was bringing its Induction Ceremony back to Greensboro in 2026 and 2027.
In addition, the Hall’s 2026 Don Fish Legacy Award will go to long-time Greensboro Coliseum executive director Matt Brown while D.J. Gregory, who lives with cerebral palsy and has walked every hole on the PGA TOUR since 2008, will receive this year’s Courage and Impact Award.
Brown and Gregory will be honored at the 2026 Induction Ceremony on May 1 at the Koury Convention Center at the Sheraton Four Seasons. That evening’s HOF inductees are Chip Beck, Heather Bergsma, Louis Breeden, Leonard Hamilton, Tyler Hansbrough, Richard Huntley, John Isner, Norvell Lee, Eddie Pope and Jerry Winterton.
Tickets, which cost $200, are still available. The 2027 Induction Ceremony will be held at the same venue on April 30.
“What an honor for the Sports Hall of Fame to be here for the next two years,” Greensboro mayor MariKay Abuzuaiter said. “I worked with Matt Brown over the years, many, many years and to see him get this award is just absolutely a highlight of my career in being able to see good people who have absolutely helped build Greensboro and the sports world. …
“Everything you see in the city of Greensboro, especially around the Coliseum, even downtown in this area, Matt has had some say in it, I’m sure. I want to also congratulate D.J. Gregory for the Courage and Impact Award. I know your story is certainly one that we need to hear.”
Johnny Moore, the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame’s executive directory, said the awards to Brown and Gregory enable the organization to recognize people beyond the athletic arena who have impacted the state’s sports landscape.
“This is a really interesting day because in the last several years, we’ve developed two really special awards from the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame,” Moore said. “Our job is to honor great athletes, great coaches, great leaders in sports in the state of North Carolina, which we’ve done for 62 years.
“But we started recently to honor some people outside the actual competitive field who have made their marks in a positive way like Matt and D.J.”
The Legacy Award is named after Don Fish, who retired in 2018 after more than 15 years as the Hall’s executive director. Eddie Smith received the award in 2022, John McConnell in 2023, Johnny Harris in 2024 and Bobby Long in 2025.
“Basically, the award is set up to honor someone who’s not a player, not an all-American, not a national championship coach, but someone who’s made a huge contribution to what’s going on in sports in the state of North Carolina,” Moore said. “… And Matt Brown has taken the Greensboro Coliseum to another level.”
During his 30-year tenure, Brown oversaw a $24 million renovation of the Coliseum. The arena now has 30 suites, three club lounges, wider concourses and enhanced technology features. Also part of Brown’s legacy is the Greensboro Aquatic Center, the largest facility of its kind in the U.S. It can accommodate competitive swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming.
Just prior to his retirement, Brown also oversaw the $89 million construction of the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Greensboro. The 3,000-seat facility hosts everything from Broadway shows to symphony performances to lectures and comedy shows.
“Don Fish was one of the leading advocates for the role that sports played in our whole state, and the impact that it had affects all of us every day,” Brown said. “All of us enjoy the life of sports and what it’s meant for us in the state of North Carolina.
“So, I’m honored to be associated with Don Fish and this award. And for those others who have proceeded in this award to be associated with Wendell Murphy, Johnny Harris, Bobby Long is quite an honor and something I greatly appreciate.”
The Courage and Impact Award was established in 2025 to recognize a person or an organization displaying courage in the face of adversity while making a transformational impact on sports in the state. The Greensboro Six, who integrated Gillespie Golf Course in 1955, received the inaugural award last year.
“This honor was definitely a surprise, but I really don’t have words, to be honest, because I don’t do what I do to be recognized or noticed or any limelight,” Gregory said. “I love all sports. Golf is my favorite because I can play it, although I don’t play it very well. I don’t even walk golf courses very well. But I’m very fortunate.”
Gregory won the PGA TOUR’s Courage Award in 2022, the only non-player to be honored which is a testament to the esteem in which he’s held in the golf community. Among the other recipients is Gary Woodland, who won for the first time since 2019 on Sunday at the Texas Children’s Hospital Houston Open, less than three years after having surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.
Gregory lived in Greensboro for 13 years. His legs were tangled at birth, and he had to crawl between rooms in his house for the first five years of his life. By the time he was in first grade he’d undergone five surgeries, the last of which left him with both legs broken and in casts, separated by a bar as they healed. When the casts came off, he was finally able to stand upright – walking first with a walker, then with two canes and finally just one.
An avid sports fan, Gregory kept stats for the Grimsley boys’ basketball team. He learned to play golf by swinging the club with one hand and using the cane with the other to steady himself. A trip to the Wyndham Championship when he was 12 proved fortuitous as he met Ken Venturi and Jim Nantz, who became a lifelong friend.
Gregory chooses a TOUR player each week and walks every hole with him. If that player misses the 36-hole cut, Gregory finds another one for the final two rounds. He began his Walking Fore Kids Foundation in 2010, and the organization has given away more than $2 million to benefit children, including several First Tee chapters in North Carolina.
“It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done,” Gregory said.
