Hall Pass Spotlight: Dave Bristol NCSHOF MEMBER (Class of 2006) By HELEN ROSS Truth be told, Georgia Tech didn’t really have a chance. Yes, Dave Bristol was a talented football player -- good enough to garner a scholarship offer from the Yellow Jackets. But when the Cincinnati Reds, the team he grew up listening to on WCKY Radio, came calling, there was really no hesitation. Bristol wasted no time in signing that minor league contract and promptly embarked on 44-year odyssey in baseball that saw him manage the Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants. He also [...]

Hall Pass Spotlight: 2023 Induction Ceremony  By Helen Ross The 15 individuals highlighted below were all honored during the 59th annual induction celebration recently at the Raleigh Convention Center, receiving their NCSHOF Hall of Fame medallions in the process. “This year’s class joining the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame once again reflects the great variety and rich sports heritage which the Hall highlights for our state,” said Dr. Jerry McGee, president of the Hall’s Board of Directors.  “This group and their collective accomplishments in specific areas, from great athletes to highly successful coaches to special contributors, create another [...]

Hall Pass Spotlight: Buck Baker NCSHOF MEMBER (Class of 1992) By HELEN ROSS Two things you probably didn’t know about Buck Baker, one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers. First, his given name was Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. and second, he started out driving a relatively sedate city bus in Charlotte, not a souped-up stock car. According to his son, Buddy, who was also an accomplished NASCAR driver, the nickname stuck because he was “wilder than a buck rabbit.” His father honed his skills behind the wheel like many drivers of his generation, running moonshine and outracing the law. Baker started [...]

Hall Pass Spotlight: Charlotte Smith NCSHOF MEMBER (Class of 2015) By HELEN ROSS The tweet Charlotte Smith posted recently couldn’t have been more apropos to the day. It read “2-23-23 = 2 people wore #23 at UNC. Do you know who they are?” Fans of North Carolina basketball almost certainly do. One was her idol, Michael Jordan, the basketball legend who hit the game-winner in the Tar Heels’ 1982 NCAA title game against Georgetown. As a young girl growing up in Shelby, N.C., Smith wanted to “be like Mike” even though her uncle is N.C. State’s great David Thompson [...]

Hall Pass Spotlight: Charlie Harville NCSHOF MEMBER (Class of 1997) By HELEN ROSS For generations of North Carolinians, Charlie Harville was “the” voice of sports, both on radio and television, where he always ended his broadcasts with his signature sign-off: “That’s the best in sports today.” But he was much more than a pioneering sports broadcaster. According to his 2002 obituary in the News & Record, the 83-year-old Harville was also a published poet, western movie fan, collector of pulp magazines, music afficionado, voracious reader and bird watcher – not to mention the father of nine, grandfather of 18 [...]

Hall Pass Spotlight: Chasity Melvin NCSHOF MEMBER (Class of 2017) By HELEN ROSS So what if the WNBA wouldn’t become a reality for nearly a decade? Chasity Melvin had big dreams, and the 11-year-old wasn’t going to let details get in the way. “Once I started playing, I used to tell my mother I was going to play pro,” Melvin recalled in a 2020 Fayetteville Observer article. “Mom told me, ‘They don’t have pros for women.’ “I said, ‘Don’t worry, they will.’” Sure enough, when Melvin graduated from N.C. State in 1999 there was not one but two pro [...]