GREENSBORO – The Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame added 12 new members with the Class of 2023 announced Wednesday.
There are 10 laureates plus two members of the Legends Class for those deceased.
This is the 18th class of athletes, coaches and contributors to be inducted into the Hall, which was created in 2005. It increases the membership to 197.
The newest inductees were introduced at a press conference at the Greensboro Coliseum. GCSHOF Board Chairman Bryan Norris presented a check for $1,000 to Beyond Sports, a Greensboro nonprofit. Norris also announced the creation of a scholarship fund which will award graduating student-athlete seniors with $1,000 towards their college tuition. The GCSHOF will begin taking applications in August.
The induction reception and banquet will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at the Coliseum. Tickets for the reception and banquet are $90 and tables for 10 are $900. They will be available online at the GCSHOF website (gcshof.org).
Biographies of the Class of 2023 follow in alphabetical order:
Kenny Carter
The basketball court at High Point Central is named in Kenny Carter’s honor following a 24-year coaching career in which his girls teams compiled an overall record of 573-125 and won five NCHSAA state titles (1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002). His resume also includes 14 conference championships, 15 tournament championships and 10 undefeated seasons in conference play. He was selected as the North Carolina Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1997 and 2002. His teams posted four 30-win seasons, 20 seasons of 20 wins or more, and 41 of his high school players were awarded college scholarships. Carter is also the founder and director of Xpress Travel Ball, which has sent more than 100 players to the college ranks. A native of High Point, Carter played multiple prep sports and went on to star in baseball at High Point College. A four-year starting Panthers infielder, he twice earned All-Carolinas Conference honors and was named NAIA second-team All-America as a senior in 1982. He earned all-tournament honors at the 1979 NAIA National Championships, where he helped High Point to a second-place finish. Carter’s HPC teams posted an overall record of 110-61-1 while winning three Carolinas Conference titles. He played one year of minor league baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals organization before embarking on his successful career as an educator and coach. Carter was inducted into the High Point Central Hall of Fame in 2017.
Dr. Snow Brenner Daws
Snow Brenner ranked among the region’s top female soccer and basketball players during her high school days at High Point Central, but many in Guilford County remember her best as a trailblazer on the gridiron. One of the first female athletes to play high school football in North Carolina, she achieved all-conference honors as a placekicker in her senior year, when she kicked the game-winning field goal in the Regional Championship to advance the Bison to the State Finals. She became the first female in North Carolina to play in a state championship football game. Brenner set a national record for points scored by a female and became the first female to win a National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame Scholarship. In 2012 – more than 15 years after her graduation – she was rated the fourth-best female kicker in high school history. As a five-sport athlete at High Point Central, Brenner also put up staggering numbers on the soccer field, where she was twice all-conference and all-region, and earned all-region honors in basketball. A two-time soccer team MVP and captain at Central, she went on to play soccer for four years at Duke University, earned her medical degree from the Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine and is now a practicing orthopedic surgeon at Orthopedic Surgery Foot and Ankle Fellowship at UC-Davis/Reno Orthopedic Clinic. She was inducted into the George Whitfield Hall of Fame in 2022.
Pam Doggett
Starring at Dudley High and as a Junior Olympian, Pam Doggett established herself as one of the nation’s top teenage sprinters of the 1980s. An eight-time high school state champion who set six meet records, she was named the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Female Athlete of the Year in 1986 (for all sports), as well as the North Carolina Gatorade Track & Field Girls Athlete of the Year. The MVP of the 1986 3A/4A Championships, Doggett’s state records included an all-class record in the 300-meter hurdles that stood for 25 years and a 1986 USATF National Junior Olympic 4x100 relay mark with three Dudley teammates that stood for two decades. She was also the in the Junior Olympic 100-meter hurdles in 1983 and 1986 and in the 1983 heptathlon. Doggett also made her mark at the international level in 1984 when she finished second at the USATF Juniors in the heptathlon, which qualified her for Team USA in the Pan American Junior Championships. That made her the first-ever Guilford County USATF athlete to qualify and compete in international competition. She placed third at the 1984 Pan Am Juniors Championship. Doggett was honored as one of “100 to Remember” at the NCHSAA Centennial Celebration in 2013 and inducted into the North Carolina High School Track and Field Hall of Fame Class of 2023. Doggett currently works as a transportation director and received her bachelor’s degree in theology from Living Epistle Bible College 2 earlier this month.
Mike Elkins
Mike Elkins starred in three sports at Greensboro’s Grimsley High School, earning all-conference in baseball and basketball in 1983 and in football, basketball and baseball as a senior the following year. He earned honorable mention All-State from the Greensboro News and Record that senior season and chose nearby Wake Forest to continue his collegiate academic and athletic careers. Elkins started three years at quarterback for the Demon Deacons and graduated as the program’s all-time leading passer with 7,304 yards and 43 touchdowns. His name remains among the top 10 of most Wake Forest career passing records. Elkins was voted the 1986 North Carolina College Football Player of the Year by the Raleigh Sports Club. He was the team MVP as a senior and received the Arnold Palmer Award as top male athlete at Wake Forest. Elkins played in the 1989 East-West Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl and was voted team captain of both squads. He was chosen in the second round of the 1989 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs and played four seasons with the Chiefs, Browns and Oilers. He also played for the Sacramento Surge (World League) in the spring of 1991, passing for 2,068 yards and 13 touchdowns in 10 games. Inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame in 2022, Elkins has built a successful career in medical device sales and sales leadership over the past 30 years. He and his wife Stefini currently reside in Northwest Arkansas home.
Adell Harris
Basketball has truly been a focal point of Adell Harris’ life. The High Point native made her mark as one of the state’s premier high school basketball players at Andrews in the late ‘90s, continued to star as a collegian at Wake Forest and then parlayed her love for the game into a successful career as a coach and administrator. Harris earned all-conference honors each of her four years at Andrews and was a two-time conference player of the year. An All-State player as senior, she was named the Guilford County Player of the Year in 1998 and earned MVP honors at the North Carolina East-West All-Star Game. Harris finished her high school career with 1,746 points. But her well-rounded game consisted of more than scoring, as Harris twice handed out a Joel Coliseum-record 10 assists while at Wake Forest and ranked 10th on the Demon Deacons’ all-time assist list upon graduation. Harris served as head coach at Tusculum from 2009-12, where she compiled a 61-30 record over three seasons and led her team to the NCAA Division II tournament each year. Following a five-year stint as head coach at UNC Wilmington, Harris began a second career as a public speaker and then returned to the game in 2019 as the Vanderbilt University men’s basketball chief of staff. She was inducted into the High Point Andrews Hall of Fame in 2015.
Pat Hester
Pat Hester is recognized throughout Guilford County and statewide as a pioneer, role model and guiding force in the development of high school women’s athletics. She graduated from High Point Central in 1955, at a time when women’s sports were not a universal part of every curriculum, but she was able to participate in volleyball, basketball, softball and track and field. She played basketball for four years at High Point College before beginning a remarkable coaching career at her high school alma mater that spanned more than three decades. Between 1960 and 1982, Hester guided her basketball teams to a cumulative 250-79 record. Her volleyball teams stood 96-62 over 14 seasons, and her softball teams were 149-64 over 13 years (according to limited records that were kept at the time). When girls’ sports became organized during the 1970s, Hester’s basketball teams won multiple conference championships and three regional titles. Hester also made huge contributions behind the scenes when she guided High Point Central through its compliance with Title IX, providing input and writing many policies, procedures and regulations. She created a Women’s Sports Day in High Point that was replicated by many other schools and communities. Inducted into High Point Central’s inaugural sports hall of fame class of 2013, Hester now devotes much of her time to volunteering with Mobile Meals, Open Door Ministries and the Red Cross.
Dr. William E. Moran
In 1979, UNC Greensboro faced an uncertain future in athletics. Then Dr. William E. (Bill) Moran accepted an appointment as the chancellor and the uncertainty became a vision. Under his guidance, a strong Division III program was put into place as an athletics foundation, leading to national championships in men's soccer and an excellent women's basketball program. When Nelson Bobb was hired as athletics director, Moran convinced him that the school should pursue Division I status. Distinguished coaches were hired, including Mike Berticelli and Michael Parker in men's soccer and Lynne Agee in women's basketball. The Spartans completed the transition to Division I in 1991 and athletics have flourished ever since, including hosting the NCAA Division I women's soccer championships in 1997 and 1998. Moran was born in White Plains, NY, of Irish immigrants. He earned degrees from Princeton, Harvard and Michigan, served on a destroyer in the Navy and had a long career in academics before serving UNCG from 1979-94.
Shannon Pope
At High Point Andrews, the name Shannon Pope became synonymous with state championship. He was a member of eight state champion teams – two in wrestling, one in football, one in indoor track and four in outdoor track. Individually, he won the pole vault, both indoors and outdoors, in 1991 and 1992. In the 1992 outdoor State Meet, Pope set a then-state record vault of 15 feet, 3 inches and was a member of the Andrews teams that won the 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relays. He was named a Gatorade Academic All-American. Pope attended UNC Chapel Hill on a track scholarship, was a four-time ACC champion in the pole vault and named All-American three times. He was a captain on the UNC team that finished fourth in the NCAA Championship. Pope graduated from UNC in 1996 and coached track there for five years. Ever the competitor, he competed for many years in the extreme sport of Hydrofoiling, ranking in the top five in the world.
Billy Quick (Legends Class)
Billy Quick became involved in Special Olympics at the age of 8, beginning a long association with that group until his passing in 2016. He never met a challenge he couldn't conquer, competing in marathons, cycling, softball and basketball as a Special Olympics athlete. He served on its Board of Directors on the state and national levels. He traveled the world as a Special Olympics ambassador and speaker, including Greece, China and the Netherlands. Among Quick's many accomplishments, he competed in 10 marathons, with a best time of 3 hours, 10 minutes; cycled in the World Ride from Los Angeles to Washington; cycled in the Face of America Ride, a 3-day event from New York to Washington; received the US Special Olympics Male Athlete of the Year award; was in national advertising campaigns for “Got Milk”; appeared in Time Magazine in 2001 at the White House; and worked for the High Point Parks and Recreation Department for 23 years. At High Point Central High School, Quick lettered for four years in cross country, wrestling, indoor track and outdoor track.
David Sanford
When he was in high school in Chapel Hill, David Sanford was introduced to soccer by players at UNC, including future legend Anson Dorrance. Sanford took to the sport right away, leading Chapel Hill High School to the state championship in 1972 when he scored the only goal in the title game. He went on to play at Brevard, was an graduate assistant at Appalachian and UNCG, and became head coach at Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point in 1983. In 18 years there, his teams won nine state titles, including six in a row from 1990-95. Sanford's teams compiled an overall record of 288-67-34 and were ranked sixth in the nation in 1994 and ninth in 1998 by the National Soccer Coaches Association. He won many conference and regional coaching awards and was named National Coach of the Year for private and parochial schools in 1994. Sanford coached club soccer teams in Greensboro and High Point for many years and coached the Charlotte Eagles pro and youth teams. His work has led to travels to 20 countries helping to train coaches to instruct and assist at-risk youth through soccer.
John Wesley Wright Sr. (Legends Class)
John Wesley Wright Sr. was one of those drawn to coaching young people. He graduated from Dudley High School and later served in World War II, winning numerous medals. Beginning in 1965, he began a 30-year association coaching the Bluford Blues youth baseball program. The Blues once compiled a 48-game winning streak and in 1968 they became the first African-American team to win the Greensboro city championship. Wright was a lifetime member of the Board of Management at Hayes-Taylor YMCA, where he was twice named Man of the Year. He received several service awards and was inducted into the Hayes-Taylor Hall of Fame. Wright passed away in 2011 and the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department honored him with his name on the Penn-Wright baseball stadium in Barber Park.
Susan Yow
Back in the early 1970s when media coverage of high school and women's basketball was minimal, Susan Yow couldn't be overlooked. At Gibsonville High she was all-conference and all-state, averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds as a junior, 29 points as a senior and had her No. 14 jersey retired. At Elon, coached by her older sister Kay, she led her team to the state AIAW championship two years. Transferring to NC State to play for Kay, Susan led the team in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage, setting a still-standing school record of 27 rebounds in one game. Her accolades include being selected to the first two Eastman Kodak All-America teams, the ACC's 50th anniversary women's basketball team and the list of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's top 100 female athletes. Along the way she also found time to play volleyball at Elon and NC State. Yow compiled an extensive coaching career that included experience internationally with three U.S. teams that won gold medals, professionally as an assistant in the WNBA and in college at seven schools as head coach. She was named to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. Susan joins her sisters, Kay and Debbie, as members of the GCSHOF.