HAPPENINGS AT THE HALL
Hall Pass Spotlight: Charlie Harville
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
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 [...]
Hall Pass Spotlight: Meadowlark Lemon
Hall Pass Spotlight: Meadowlark Lemon NCSHOF MEMBER MEADOWLARK LEMON (Class of 1975) By HELEN ROSS Meadowlark Lemon was widely known as the “Clown Prince of Basketball. And as he barnstormed the world with the Harlem Globetrotters, performing for kings and queens and even popes, he picked up another nickname – the “Ambassador of Goodwill in Short Pants.” To the legendary Wilt Chamberlain, though, Lemon was simply this: “The most sensational, awesome, incredible basketball player I’ve ever seen. “People would say it would be Dr. J (Julius Erving) or even (Michael) Jordan. For me, it would be Meadowlark Lemon.” Chamberlain’s [...]
The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Reveals Class of 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rick Strunk, Associate Director—Communications rstrunk@ncsportshalloffame.org Trip Durham, Executive Director tdurham@ncsportshalloffame.org January 24, 2023 THE NORTH CAROLINA SPORTS HALL OF FAME REVEALS CLASS OF 2023 Video Credit: Aaron Jackson, Caleb Leventhal, Richard Woodley Raleigh, NC—The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame is honored to announce its 2023 induction class. The new members, listed alphabetically, include Rick Barnes, Jason Brown, Jeff Davis, Donald Evans, Tom Fazio, Ellen Griffin, Tom Higgins, Clarkston Hines, Robert “Stonewall” Jackson, Trudi Lacey, Ronald Rogers, John Sadri, Jerry Stackhouse, Curtis Strange and Rosie Thompson. Their planned induction will bring the [...]
Hall Pass Spotlight: Clarence Stasavich
Hall Pass Spotlight: Clarence Stasavich NCHSOF MEMBER (Class of 1970) By HELEN ROSS Clarence Stasavich was a winner. Conference championships, bowl games, even an NAIA national championship were all part of his legacy at Lenoir-Rhyne College and East Carolina University. What likely brought him the most pride, though, were the players he coached who followed him into the profession. Men like Marion Kirby, the longtime Greensboro Page coach who followed his mentor into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and Dick Kemp, who played with Kirby on that NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) title team. But his [...]
Hall Pass Spotlight: Roman Gabriel
Hall Pass Spotlight: Roman Gabriel NCSHOF Member (Class of 1971) By Helen Ross When Roman Gabriel Jr. played football at N.C. State, he set 22 school and nine Atlantic Coast Conference records. He passed for 29,444 yards during 11 seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and five more with the Philadelphia Eagles, too. But did you know that the athletic 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback also had acting chops? He appeared on television shows like Gilligan’s Island, Perry Mason and Wonder Woman, as well as movies like “Skidoo,” directed by Otto Preminger and “Blue Boy,” starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. He [...]