HAPPENINGS AT THE HALL
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 [...]
Hall Pass Spotlight: Hoyt Wilhelm
Hall Pass Spotlight: Hoyt Wilhelm NCSHOF MEMBER (Class of 1968) By Helen Ross Hoyt Wilhelm’s career was a study in perseverance. When he was barely 20 years old, he was cut from a D-league team, “which at that time was the bottom of the rung in baseball,” the pitcher remembered. Turns out, though, it was just a momentary setback for the determined son of tenant farmers in Huntersville, North Carolina. “I didn't give up,” Wilhelm said. “I still thought I could play, and I did get back in the game. And then to think after being released off the [...]