Mount Holly HOF 2022 by SouthlakeChristianAcademy

Event Program

Opening Remarks ........................................ Tyler Berg

Presentation of Colors ................................. Rankin Safety Patrol

Pledge of Allegiance ................................... Rankin Safety Patrol

Singing of our National Anthem ................ Ashley Flowers

Invocation

Dinner

Welcome ..................................................... Mayor Bryan Hough

Recognition of Special Guests .................... James Ford

Past Inductees

Corporate Sponsors

City and County Officials

Committee Members

Special Thanks

2022 Scholarships & AOY

Presentation by............................................. James Ford

Induction Ceremony

Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame Community Spirit Award

Sponsored by American & Efird ..................... Scott Pope

Presented to Harry Adams

1956 Mount Holly Hawks Football ............. Gary Neely

Steve Hansel ............................................... Gary Neely

Robert Nichols, Jr. ....................................... Eddie Wilson

Marrio McCorkle ........................................ Doug Smith

Stewart Hare ............................................... Tyler Berg

Closing Remarks ......................................... Tyler Berg

MHHS Song ............................................... Eddie Wilson

EGHS Song ................................................. Ashley Flowers

Hall of Fame Committee

President - Tyler Berg

Vice President - Richard Browne

Treasurer - Doug Smith

Secretary - Eddie Wilson

Committee Members - James Ford, Gary Neely and Scott Pope

2007

Coach Delmer Wiles

Robert Black

2008

Arthur Davis

Bearl Davis

Max Davis

Wilbern Davis

Bertha Dunn

George Fincher

Neb Hollis

2009

Coach Dick Thompson

Vivian Laye Broome

Tommy Wilson

Don Killian

Ray Campbell

1963 MHHS Football Team

2010

Joe Huffstetler

John Farrar

Coach Joe Spears

Johnny Wike

1990 East Gaston Wrestling Team

Community Spirit Award Winner

Dwight Frady

2011

Bruce Bolick

Wayne Bolick

Frank Love

Perry Toomey

Scott Stewart

T.L. McManus

Jim McManus

Samuel “Dink” McManus

Community Spirit Award Winner

John Lewis

2012

Larry Hartsell

Freddy Whitt

Dawn Moose

Past Inductees

Ronnie Harrison, Sr.

William Outen

1967 MHHS Football Team

Community Spirit Award Winner

Bobby John Rhyne

2013

J.B. Thompson

Charlie “Poss” Drumm

Doug Smith

Shane Trull

1940’s MHHS Hawkettes Basketball

1960’s MHHS Hawkettes Basketball

Community Spirit Award Winner

Sarah Nixon

2014

Lois Herring Parker

A.C. Hollar

Larry Lawing

Eddie Wilson

Tracy Black

Richard Dill

Community Spirit Award Winner

Buddie Hodges

2015

Zeb McDowell

Max Sherrill

Phil Roberts

Laura Randall Woodhead

1954-55 Hawks Baseball 1967-68 & 1968-69

Hawks Basketball

Community Spirit Award Winner

Barry Jessen

2016

Barry Grice

Derek Spears

Stephanie Frazier

Jerry Brooks

1991 East Gaston Wrestling

Community Spirit Award Winner

Aaron Goforth

2017

Eddie Wyatt, Jr.

Grant Hoffman Jr.

Carmen Baker

James Ford

East Gaston’s 1977 Golf Team

Community Spirit Award Winner

Carl Baber

2018

Tony Leroy McConnell

William Phillip White

Sue Carlton Whitley

John Logan

Jeff Lee

Hawks Baseball 1964-1967

Community Spirit Award Winner

Henry Massey

2019

1941 Hawks

Howard Horton

Sam Brown

April Harte

Tyler Berg

1978 East Gaston Football Team

Community Spirit Award Winner

Scott Pope

2020

No Inductees due to COVID-19

2021

Reggie Ballard

Donald Fortner

Mike Featherstone

Brooke Wilkinson

Scottie Holden

1992 East Gaston Wrestling

Community Spirit Award Winner

Eddie Womack

2022 MHSHOF Scholarships

2022 MHSHOF Scholarship

Winners & Sponsors

Zachary Wayne Lewis, East Carolina University.

Bob and Marguerite Randall Scholarship

2022 MHSHOF Scholarships

Individual Endowment Opportunities Are Available

Guidelines for Applications

The MHSHOF scholarship is awarded on the basis of a competitive process that considers academic achievement, extracurricular and community involvement and financial need.

Four seven hundred and fifty dollar scholarships are paid directly to the recipient’s school, where the student must be enrolled and in good standing.

To be considered for this scholarship, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• A high school senior.

• Maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

• Applied to a credited college or university.

• Must not be a dependent of a member of the board of the MHSHOF or of the guidance department.

• Must not be a recipient of a major scholarship of $3000 or more from another source.

Purpose and Process

The purpose of the MHSHOF Scholarship is to provide college funds to deserving students with financial need. The scholarship is paid directly to the recipient’s school for tuition. The recipient supplies the information needed to submit the payment.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted on or by April 1 to the Guidance Department at East Gaston High School and Stuart Cramer High School.

* Individual Endorsement Opportunities are Available

Hall of Fame Committee

Mission Statement of the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame:

e Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame was established to honor our community’s rich sports history and to recognize the outstanding individuals and teams who have excelled over the last century on behalf of our city.

Our ultimate goal is to educate the community about the outstanding accomplishments of these individuals and teams, instill civic pride in our citizens and promote Mount Holly. Our emphasis on education has led us to develop a scholarship program through our local high schools.

In addition to education, the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame supports charitable contributions for youth groups and local civic organizations by committing to pay out 10% of its year end balance of funds to non-pro ts. e MHSHOF has worked out a process of displaying inductee sports memorabilia at the Mount Holly Historical Society for the bene t of the community.

The Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame Salutes the following Athletes of the Year.

Stuart Cramer Highschool

Zach Karagias • Aubree Baker

Athletic Director: Brad Sloan

Mount Holly Middle School

Tommy Price • Riley Decker

Athletic Director: Courtney Wellman

East Gaston High School

Allie Grice • Rachel Green

Aiden Cloninger

Athletic Director: Haley Stewart

Committee Members — Photograph by John Robinson

School Songs

2022 Community Spirit Award Harry adams

Winning Words

Harry Adams explains his success

Harry Adams started a girls AAU basketball league in Mount Holly in 1995. He was coaching at Mount Holly Junior High and wanted some of his athletes to play at the next rung, so he combined some of his team with girls a friend coached in Charlotte.

Someone donated jerseys.

“I wasn’t aware how much it cost. We just jumped into it,” he says.

The team played a Regionals in North Wilkesboro, the first step toward the state tournament in Raleigh and national championships. It didn’t go well:

“I talked to a guy who ran the Wilkes Diamonds program, and he explained that this is a whole different level.”

Adams wasn’t going to let history repeat. He found gyms to practice in – Mount Holly and Stanley schools, the Mount Holly city gym and, through a friend, Temple Baptist Church in Gastonia. He reworked his program and coached AAU for 25 years.

He won three national championships.

Along the way, he also coached girls basketball at Mount Holly and Stanley middle schools, varsity girls at Gaston Day and Gaston Christian, and basketball, baseball and football at Mount Holly Junior High.

Now, at age 71, his work as a coach and his contributions to the town have Adams being honored in the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame with the Community Spirit Award.

“It’s really humbling. In my life, you never think something like this could happen and you never know when you start how things will work out, how God will make it work out,” he says, “but you do what you do, and that’s where my heart was.”

Adams sees his athletes as people first, ballplayers second.

“If you can look in a mirror and say ‘I did my best,’ that’s good enough for me as a coach. I was able to win with a lot of kids with that presentation, and I was genuine with it. And that’s the winning piece, when they know you’re real,” he says. “Kids are smart and they can see through the fluff, but when you come in the gym every day and they see you’re the same person, they will play their hearts out for you.”

Actions may speak louder than words, but words can be influential and powerful.

Listen to some philosophies from Adams.

On coaching:

“It’s something that I think has to be a God-given gift to work with kids like that because you have to be committed and you have to give up a lot in order to do it. I got gratitude out of seeing kids get better. They come out and try to get a grasp of what’s going on, but if they work hard they can get better. Oh, they may not be the best, but if you love what you do, you can get better.”

On being a leader:

“Everybody who came into our program, I sat with the parent and the child and said this is a team organization, and all our players are not on the same level but we play as a team. If you have any questions, don’t ask anyone else, ask me. I tell them that so there wouldn’t be any junk, and I was able to be successful. I know how things can be when you deal with kids, so everything went through me. You want to blame someone? Blame me. And it works.”

On players who aren’t their team’s best:

“It’s a learning tool for them. Be patient. Great athletes are easy to coach, but when a kid comes along who isn’t that great, it’s a lesson. I pride myself in trying to get that kid to grow as an athlete and as a person. You don’t just throw that kid out and get someone better to play, you develop that kid.”

“If you can look in a mirror and say ‘I did my best,’ that’s good enough for me as a coach. I was able to win with a lot of kids with that presentation, and I was genuine with it. And that’s the winning piece, when they know you’re real, Kids are smart and they can see through the fluff, but when you come in the gym every day and they see you’re the same person, they will play their hearts out for you.”

On player mistakes and last-second losses:

“I can’t tell you how many times, in a critical game… A kid knows when they should have done something and it didn’t work out, and you have to let them know it’s not the end of the world and that’s not what this is about. You have to leave it where it is, because there’s another game tomorrow and you might hit the winning shot. This is a team thing. No one’s going to blame you because you missed the last shot. That’s not what defines you.”

On education:

“You can’t play for me unless you have an A-B average. Education is important. If you don’t have grades, you can’t go anywhere with a sport. I put that out in front of my parents and my kids, and a lot of parents didn’t like it, but I think education is important. Only a very small percentage become professional athletes.”

One season, he says a team missed going to a championship because of a missed layup:

“In that split second, when you find out it didn’t happen, you think it’s going to stay with you until next year when you come back. But you have to take that, along with the glorious parts, and learn from it. We didn’t play win-at-all-costs. It’s about

winning and learning about life. That’s the important part. Because, after basketball there is life. When basketball is over, you have to start living life.”

His AAU team was headed to Tampa for the National Championships in 2006 when Adams hurt his back doing landscaping at his home. His son took him to a doctor, who told Adams not to get on the airplane.

“I coached from a chair the whole time, and we won the national championship that year. I was in the chair, and the kid hit the winning shot, and I came out of that chair and was jumping up and down. It was one of the highlights of my career, seeing those kids win on a big stage. It was just the adrenaline that got me up. My assistant coach, he was 6-foot-7 and I’m 5-foot 6, and he set me right back down. For a group of girls from a small town to go down there, where people didn’t give them a chance .. and we won.”

Adams graduated from Mount Holly High in 1971.

He and his wife, Rita, have two sons, Marquis and Terrell, and he coached them when they played youth basketball and football, in addition to his work with AAU and schools.

This July, he retired. Some former players still come visit him. He says he gets wedding invitations, and baby announcements, in the mail.

“It’s a real blessing,” he says, “when you see the kids again and they acknowledge what you did for them. It’s so gratifying. You can’t put a price on it.” ■

— By Kathy Blake

Career Highlights

Harry Adams:

• 1995-2020: Mount Holly Stars AAU girls basketball

• 2005: 11-Under AAU Division II National Champion

• 2006: 11-Under USSA National Champion

• 2007: 12-Under USSA National Champion

Public schools:

• 2011-2012: Gaston Day School (24-3)

• 2010-2011: Gaston Day School (14-8)

• 2008: Gaston Christian School (12-2)

• 2003-2004: Stanley Middle School (2004 – 12-0, county champions)

1956 mount Holly Hawks Football

Fall Phenomenon

The success story of the ’56 Hawks

They were invincible, in September and October.

The 1956 Mount Holly Hawks football team won its first eight games by a total of 175-0 including a 50-0 whupping of Cramerton on a warm Friday night at home.

“We had a lot of talented young men,” says running back Perry Toomey.

“A really good team and two superior coaches who did an excellent job of getting us into the right positions at the right times,” says quarterback Tom Wilson.

The team was, literally, perfect.

Until the huddle play.

It was the first game in November. Clover tried the huddle play twice.

It worked once.

“ They get in the huddle and call the play, and the center breaks and goes to the ball and the whole rest of the team goes away from the ball. The whole team,” Wilson says. “And the center picks up the ball and throws it to some guy who’s way over there, and that’s how they scored. Our defense didn’t go to where their offense was. The center didn’t have to snap the ball. He just picked it up and threw it.

“ That’s what football is. It’s trickery.”

Mount Holly beat Clover anyway, 19-13, tied Davie County 6-6 the following week, then beat SW Forsyth 19-0 in the first round of the Class AA-C Playoffs before losing 13-6 in the western conference final to Granite Falls, which advanced to the state championship.

For their efforts in that 10-1-1 season, the team coached by Vernon Morrison and W.T. Wright has been inducted into the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

“I feel fortunate,” says Wilson, 82. “And I’m sure the other team members, and those who are still around, would feel fortunate, too.”

“A number of them went on to college and played football and some went on to play pro baseball,” says Toomey, 84. “We had talented athletes playing, and the camaraderie we had, and the cohesiveness of the team, that’s the main thing.”

Toomey could see the football field from his childhood home. He got interested, he says, in about sixth or seventh grade, and also played some baseball – shortstop and pitcher from 1954 to ’56. He boxed to stay in shape, and took up golf, which he still plays well.

“I had some talent, or so they say anyway, and the football coaches asked me to come out in seventh grade, and I would dress out with the high school team and scrimmage with them. I couldn’t play, but I’d travel with them,” he says. “I even had a uniform. And I wouldn’t walk anywhere… I ran to stay in shape.”

By eighth grade, he already was 5-foot-8 and 182 pounds. “A good-sized boy,” he says.

Which helped him get the nickname ‘Cannonball.’

“We were playing one game at home, and I got the football and was running downfield with it, and one of the opposing players was the only one between me and the goal line, and I just ran through him and pushed him down and scored,” Toomey says. “I hit him hard.”

He remembers a time when teammate Max Davis did the same, in a 31-0 win over Stanley.

“We were playing Stanley, and Max – he was an outstanding Golden Gloves boxer; we were on the same team, and he went to New York as a Golden Gloves participant. Anyway, we were playing Stanley, and Max went down the field and tackled a guy who was like 6-foot-2, and Maxi s about 5-7. Max flipped him completely in the air, hit him below the knees and completely flipped him in the air and he landed on his back,” Toomey says. “Max could hit you like a ton of bricks. Max is a good athlete.

“It’s people like that who I remember most about the team. Just a good group of guys.”

Toomey and Wilson each were awarded scholarships to Appalachian State University.

“Part of mine was an academic scholarship,” Wilson says, “but we both had a full ride.”

Wilson played quarterback for the Mountaineers for four years and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education with a minor in Social Studies. He coached football at West Henderson High School for 12 years and started its track, wrestling, golf and cross-country programs. After a year at Asheville High, he was principal at Hendersonville High for 21 years.

Toomey became ill with heat exhaustion as a college freshman, came back as a red-shirt but didn’t play. He was offered a role back home with Duke Power, and took it. It turned out to be the better path. “I’m blessed to have progressed

through the training school, and they usually don’t put people into that without a college degree. I was in training for construction organization, then a maintenance organization, then into a claims job and safety position, then back to the field as management and supervision.”

He was there 40 years. He also is on the Mount Holly City Council and served as Mayor Pro Tem.

Duke employees built the Cowans Ford Country Club golf course, and Toomey and Wilson played frequently. Toomey’s brother Pat, a member of the ’56 Hawks who was offered a football scholarship to Lenoir-Rhyne, became county senior golf champion and tried out for the U.S. Open Championships, Perry Toomey says.

He says teammate Robert Jenkins was offered a football scholarship to UNC-Chapel Hill.

So many success stories.

Today, Tom Wilson lives in Hendersonville on 31 acres. He and his high school sweetheart, Phyllis, have been married almost 64 years. They have apple orchards, though the weather the last few years has affected the crop. “I can’t complain about anything,” he says.

Toomey has a family of athletes – a nephew who played for Bobby Bowden at Florida State, a niece whose son played soccer for Belmont Abbey. He and his wife Betty had two children, and Toomey still spends his free time on the golf course. In mid-July, he says, he shot two over par.

“I think it’s really a positive thing the people in Mount Holly are doing with the Hall of Fame,” Wilson says. “They do an excellent job. I’m very fortunate.” ■

— By Kathy Blake

Career Highlights

1956 Mount Holly Hawks football team:

• Charles Rick • Lane McCotter

• Charles Kale • Max Davis • Tom Wilson

• Larry Jenkins • Sonny Helton

• Alfred Lathan • James Helton

• Pat Toomey • LeeRoy Johnston

• Robert Jenkins • Harold Norwood

• Perry Toomey • James Lavender

• Roger Hayes • Ken Medders

• Russell Cannon • Don Grice

• Floyd Coffin • Bob Jessen

• Ned Edwards • David Ballard

steve Hansel

Middle Man

Hansel’s football career: small center, big plays

Steve Hansel was a walk-on linebacker at Appalachian State in 1969 when he saw a problem during practice and decided to fix it.

Football was his passion, the reason he transferred to Boone after a year of walk-on baseball at UNC-Chapel Hill. “I always looked for ways to make myself a little more valuable,” he says. “And in the first football game, we had two punts blocked and both were because of bad snaps from the center. So at practice the next week, they were trying out guys to deep snap, and after they tried several people, I went over to my linebacker coach and said ‘I think I can do that snapping.’ I had come from a single wing team and I did that all the time.”

The assistant coach took Hansel aside and let him snap. “Four, five, six times to see if I could do it,” he says.

That coach then announced that the long-snapping issue was solved.

“ They put me out there, at 165 pounds, and let people start

“High school is the best time of your life. You’re just a youngster, enjoying the things around you and playing sports. And the best thing for me was playing sports for Mount Holly. It was great.”

beating on me when I had to snap under pressure,” Hansel says. “And I snapped the next three years. Of course, I played linebacker, too.”

That ability to help teams, as a three-sport athlete in high school, where he lettered multiple times, and in college [he lettered at App State in ‘69] as well as his career as an educator led to Hansel’s induction into the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

He says it’s an honor.

“I’m so proud they considered me worthy to be in there with some of the guys who already have been inducted,” he says. “I’ve always been a team-oriented person, and I’ve always been able to do whatever it took to make our teams better.”

It’s a concept he learned as a little kid, when he’d visit friends in Stanley on weekends. They’d play baseball, and an older boy would tell them, “hustle, hustle, hustle,” Hansel says. “And that’s what I did, and I learned to do my best, all the time.”

His first football game in junior high, he says, he weighed 115. “That’s not the make-up of most centers, but I always wanted to do what the team needed for us to be a better team,” he says.

The team had a banquet, in 1963 or ’64, he says and Asheville native Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice was there. Justice played at UNC-Chapel Hill and for the Washington Redskins, “and I thought his eyes would pop out of his head when I was introduced as a center,” Hansel says. “I was so small. We were blessed to have him at one of our banquets.”

Hansel played baseball, football and basketball at Mount Holly High School from 1964 through 1967.

“I liked whichever one was in season, but I think football wound up being my favorite. I don’t know why; I guess I found out I could let people hit me and know they couldn’t hurt me,” he says.

At 165 pounds in high school, he played center and offensive

line three years, then added defense as a senior.

That willingness to contribute to the good of the team influenced his decision to play through injury.

When Hansel had back trouble his sophomore year, an orthopaedist told him not to play football. “Of course, I didn’t like that information, so he gave me a back brace to wear. I knew I had to pass the physical,” he says, “and our family doctor, who may or may not have known about the recommendation of the orthopaedist, let me pass. I asked him later why he passed me, and he said, ‘Well, I wasn’t going to fight the whole family, so I just shut up and passed you.’”

Hansel played point guard for the MHHS basketball team and, he says, his strength was in helping the team, not excelling as an individual. “It was my junior and senior year, and I wasn’t a big scorer, but I helped run the offense and was a decent defensive player,” he says. “I was a captain my senior year and had developed into a little bit better shooter.”

That proved true in the post-season tournament. “I was alltournament my senior year and we were in the semifinals, and near end of the game we were tied and time was running out, so they started fouling to get more time,” he says. “Well, they fouled me three straight times in a one-and-one situation, and I made six free throws under pressure.

“I can rise to the occasion when I need to. I don’t remember who the opponent was. I was a ‘coach’s ballplayer.’ They could point me to a wall and I’d run through it.

“High school is the best time of your life. You’re just a youngster, enjoying the things around you and playing sports. And the best thing for me was playing sports for Mount Holly. It was great.”

Hansel graduated from Appalachian in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education.

“It’s important,” he says, “to mention how supportive my family was, especially my mom. I don’t think she missed but one football game, no matter where it was, until my junior year at App because my brother was shipping out to Vietnam the next day. That’s the only one she ever missed.”

Hansel returned to Gaston County and taught and coached at Stanley Junior High and North Gaston. “Then, all of us get married at some point, so I got married and moved to Greensboro and started teaching in that area and went to UNCG.”

He attended UNC-Greensboro from 1984 through 1986 to earn his Master’s in School Administration and served as principal at Draper Elementary School in Eden and McMichael High School in Mayodan.

Hansel will be 74 in November. He says he was “a little surprised” about being inducted into the Hall of Fame. “I just did what I did and tried my best all the time,” he says. “I just played, and I loved it.” ■

— By Kathy Blake

Career Highlights

STEVE HANSEL

• Mount Holly High School: Baseball – 1964, 1965 (L), 1966 (L), 1967 (L). Football – 1963 (JV), 1964 (L), 1965 (L), 1966 (L). Basketball – 1964 (JV), 1965 (JV), 1966 (L), 1967 (L). L – lettered.

• UNC-Chapel Hill: Baseball – 1967-68.

• Appalachian State: Football – 1969 (L), 1970 (L), 1971 (L). Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education.

• Teacher/ coach – 11 years

• Assistant principal – 8 years

• Principal – 11 years

robert nicHols, Jr.

King of the Ring Nichols excels in Golden Gloves

If Robert Nichols Jr. hadn’t been outside his house with some friends that day. ..

If T.L. McManus hadn’t driven by…

If they didn’t happen to be just up the road from the Jaycee Building...

A Golden Gloves success story would not have happened.

“ T.L. McManus was the coach, and he was riding through the neighborhood, and he asked a group of us if we wanted to box,” Nichols says. “So me and two of my brothers and a friend who lived close by, we all went down and tried out. So that’s how we got started.”

Nichols was 17, a heavyweight at 175 pounds.

“It went very well,” he says. “I only lost one match.”

He became the Mount Holly Golden Gloves novice

heavyweight champion, from 1968 through 1970, which secured his place in the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

The Jaycees, he says, supplied the gloves and equipment, and a little traveling money when McManus would take the crew to away bouts.

Nichols says he didn’t wear headgear: “I thought it was distracting,” he says, “and I wasn’t planning on getting hit in the head that many times anyway.” But there was an issue, once, with shoes.

“ There was one incident in Gastonia when the fighter before me, he got knocked out and I was in the dressing room waiting for him to come back because I had to wear the same boxing shoes he had on,” he says. “I had to wait until they took his shoes off so I could put them on and fight.”

B oxing matches started on Thursday nights and continued through Saturday. “In order to make it to those finals, you had to fight two times, maybe three times, and if someone didn’t want to fight me, I automatically would go to the finals,” he says. “It was very seldom I’d have to fight all three fights.”

He won the Saturday night finals 22 times.

An article in the Gaston Gazette on January 31, 1969, said:

“One of the most pleasant surprises for Mount Holly veteran coach T.L. McManus has been the performance of heavyweight Robert Nichols. Nichols had very little experience, was in his first year of fighting, yet won the Mount Holly Golden Gloves. Last night, he beat a veteran fighter in Charlotte’s Jack Hefner. Nichols got in his share of strong punches, and stayed away from Hefner’s dynamic to cop the victory. Robert punched his way into the finals and will meet the winner of tonight’s bout between Gastonia’s Steve Carpenter and S.C.’s Howard Jones.”

A newspaper article from February 10, 1969 said:

“Robert Nichols of Mount Holly, in his first year of boxing, captured the novice heavyweight title, beating Jack Hefner of Charlotte. Nichols swept to titles on three consecutive weekends in Mount Holly, Gastonia and Charlotte. “

“I won all my [Novice] bouts leading up to the Golden Glove championship, where all the fighters who had made it would participate. I only lost one,” he says. “I’m thinking I aged out of Novice during our last fights, because they were in January and February, so I think I aged out into the Open division when I turned 18.”

Nichols, who turned 71 on February 8, says something else happened about 1970 that pulled at him like a rope in tug-ofwar, each side trying to muscle him in a different direction.

Nichols’ faith in the Lord is an indispensable part of his life.

Nichols is Robert Sr. and Ossie Nichols’ oldest of eight children. He grew up in a Christian home, a close-knit family. He was a junior deacon and youth leader at their Pentecostal church.

A pastor learned of Nichols’ passion for boxing.

“ Their rules were very strict, and the pastor told me I shouldn’t be boxing. I’m a born-again believer, and I listened to him,” Nichols says. “He was our pastor for 13 years, and then we got another pastor and he told me there was nothing wrong with it. So I went back to boxing.”

By then, Nichols was in his 30s. He and his wife Naomi married in 1971. They have a daughter and two sons.

“I came back because of the love I had for the game, and if I’d have had my way about it, I never would have stopped. But I was trying to be obedient to the pastor,” he says. “It hurt my career, because I was looking for ways to be a top contender of the heavyweight boxing profession, so after all those years I lost, I stepped back into the ring and found out I still had it.”

He competed in the Open division and boxed for a club in Gastonia awhile, “But my roots are in Mount Holly.”

Away from the ring, Nichols worked 29 ½ years for Clariant Corporation as a maintenance mechanic and chemical operator and took early retirement at age 55.

When Nichols got the call from the Hall of Fame about his induction, he was with his wife at the restaurant their daughter owns on Mount Holly-Huntersville Road.

“Actually, I was speechless, and tears started running down my face and I told my wife, and she started jumping up and down in the restaurant, praising the Lord,” he says. “The reason

I started crying is that I lost my mother two years ago, and she would have loved to participate in this. But to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I’m sure she’s pleased, but it’s sad she’s not here anymore.

“I had the privilege to box with some of the greatest men in Mount Holly, and T.L. McManus took us around and I learned a lot under his leadership.”

The Nichols have 15 grandchildren. Athleticism is in the family. One grandson, Jaylen, is a 6-foot-5, 322 pound scholarship offensive lineman for the University of South Carolina. Cameron, a senior 6-foot-2, 283 pound offensive guard has a full scholarship to Navy.

“I’d definitely like to thank the committee for choosing me. I was really blown away, and I’d like to thank each and every one for their outpouring of support for this little hometown boy.” ■

— By Kathy Blake

Career Highlights

ROBERT NICHOLS JR.

• Golden Gloves novice heavyweight champion: 1968-1970

• 22 Finals victories

marrio mccorkle

Lessons Learned

Wrestling gave Marrio McCorkle more than pins and wins

Marrio McCorkle’s first choice was basketball.

He was a determined, 88-pound seventh-grader when he tried out for Mount Holly Middle School. “But I got cut from the team,” he says, “and they were having wrestling tryouts the same day, so I went downstairs and wrestled one of their top guys and beat him. So I figured, Ok, I guess I want to be a wrestler.”

It worked well.

McCorkle won several state and regional high school championships and a college scholarship. And, now, a place in the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

When his high school coach and Hall official Doug Smith notified him, McCorkle says, “I thought it was a prank, and he says, ‘No, get yourself ready for the third weekend in August.’ And I instantly called my mom and told her thank you, thank you for being a great mom because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be getting any of these accolades.”

Wrestling taught McCorkle a few things. He learned that excelling in the classroom is essential. He learned some people are less fortunate than others. He learned that hard work has rewards.

And, later, he learned that each moment on this earth is a precious gift.

The first lesson was that school wrestling is not the WWE.

“I used to wrestle with friends, and I had no idea what moves you could and couldn’t do. Like, I’d seen wrestling on TV, and this was a lot different,” he says. “There’s a lot of things happening in those few minutes, and you get tired!”

He made the team, and quickly found that athletics goes beyond what happens on match day. “We had to get in shape

and had to run so many miles a week,” he says. “We had a guy named Tony who used to wrestle for East Gaston, and he’d help with the program. We had to run around the auditorium, we had to change our eating habits so you wouldn’t cramp while you were out there, we’d get a Snickers bar for quick energy before a match … just some things they taught us.”

In one match, he says, he recorded one of the fastest pins ever: seven seconds.

In ninth grade, McCorkle was up to 112 pounds. He lost one match. “A guy named Kirkpatrick was the only one who beat me during the year, and I beat him back in the championship,” he says. The Gaston County Middle School Championships. I remember he was one of the toughest guys, but I pinned him in the second period.”

High school is different from junior high. Athletes are bigger, stronger. Workouts are tougher, longer. Expectations are greater.

“ Tenth grade was the year I wanted to quit,” McCorkle says. “Me and my teammate, we just got tired of running. We had to run stairwells, had to run hills, had to run and spit with gum, and we decided we were going to take our shoes and go to Coach Smith and say we quit. And he made us run until we thought we’d pass out. But I thank him for it, because he made us feel gifted. I feel like God gave me and my teammate a gift.”

McCorkle withdrew from post-season events that year because of non-wrestling related illness, but he learned a lesson in gratitude. “Coach Smith was almost like a father figure. He would buy some people wrestling shoes, because some people couldn’t afford them,” he says.

McCorkle won his first state and regional championships as a junior.

“It was the State 4A Championships, and the matches were pretty intense. We were wrestling for the team title, as well as individual, and East Gaston for years had been known as one of the dominant programs,” he says. “Coach Smith really put together a great program. A lot of us contributed to what I call teammanship.

“And Coach Smith, he cared about your grades. If your grades were low, you were running some extra something.”

McCorkle lost in the championship round of the state tournament his senior year. He remembers the atmosphere in the arena, more than the match. “You could tell when East Gaston came into the arena. There was a quote back then – “Momma, there goes that man!” – and that’s how they looked at East Gaston when we walked in. Coach Smith built a great program.”

He applied to UNC-Chapel Hill, Fayetteville State and Campbell University. He and a teammate visited Fayetteville and Campbell, “and Campbell took us out, and bought us steaks… and we came up there.”

Though he accepted a scholarship to Campbell, McCorkle

says, he later learned his dream school also was interested.

“I remember [East Gaston counselor] Miss [Cindy] Cloninger came up to me and said UNC had called and was going to give me partial scholarship. I remember crying that day, because UNC was where I wanted to go, but we [he and his teammate] both went to Campbell for two years.”

His scholarship was part wrestling, part with the National Guard. And college was a whole new game.

“In high school, you have some quick pins and easy matches, but in college it’s the elite of the elite, and it gives you a chance to actually improve your skills,” he says. “It was great competition.”

McCorkle was in the National Guard three years. He was flown to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., then to Camp Darby in Italy, where he built tank platforms.

He was on leave, visiting his sister in Mount Holly, when that lesson occurred about each precious moment of life.

He was sitting on the front steps, when the 16-year-old stranger approached with a 25 Beretta. Words happened. The teen hit McCorkle with six bullets – two in his chest, then his shoulder, back, backside and thigh. His lungs collapsed. He was hospitalized six days. “I heard the gun clicking, then he took off running,” McCorkle says. “They called an ambulance, and I remember thanking everyone for praying for me. They wouldn’t let my mom or anyone else come back there [in the ER]. Later, they explained to my mom that part of what saved me was that I was so muscular.

“I thank God every day to be alive. I truly, truly, truly thank God every day.”

McCorkle, 49, lives in Greenville, S.C. now, where he works as a metal fabricator. He says his wrestling career was important away from the mat, too, with friendships made and the moments of ‘teammanship.’

McCorkle’s grandmother had 11 children. “And out of that 11, I have 31 first cousins on my mom’s side and 97 second cousins. I have a huge family,” he says. When that grandmother, Vertie Mae McCorkle, passed away in 2018 at age 100, he says, Coach Smith was at the funeral.

“Being in this Hall of Fame is an honor,” he says. “I have three beautiful children. With the wrestling guys, it was like a brotherhood. We pushed each other to be the best we could be.” ■

— By Kathy Blake

Career Highlights

MARRIO McCORKLE

• 1990 – 125-pound NCHSAA 4A State champion, 4A Regional champion. 35-6 record. Defeated three Regional champions to win the State Championship.

• 1991 – 130-pounds NCHSAA 4A State Runner-Up

• Scholarship to Campbell University

stewart Hare

Air Hare

story

about basketball and the first Dance

They were in Sacramento, in the Sacramento Kings’ arena, a bunch of guys from UNC-Wilmington 2,400 miles away, playing favored Southern Cal in the first round of the 2002 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

USC was favored, an underdog pick to make the Final Four. The Seahawks were virtual rookies, having only been to the Big Dance once, two years earlier.

“USC had a lot of talent,” says Stewart Hare, the 6-foot-6 UNCW center. “They were the under-the-radar pick.”

Basketball brackets, of course, are not meant to go according to plan.

“We were up 20 at halftime,” says Hare, who played high school ball at East Gaston, “and in the second half they came back and tied us and we went into overtime.”

With 45 seconds left in overtime, Hare’s flying dunk over three Trojans players put UNCW up 87-83. His two free throws moments later with :14 on the clock helped seal a 93-89 victory.

The dunk made SportsCenter. It made YouTube. And the Seahawks (23-9) advanced to the second round for the first time in school history.

“It was surreal,” Hare says. “My buddy, who was a manger of our team, on the way home he was like, man if this plane goes down it’s not going to be a big deal because your life isn’t going to get any better than that.”

Hare, 43, lives in Denver, N.C., now, where he’s a CPA. His basketball success in high school and college has landed him in the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

“I’m excited,” he said. “It’s good to be part of something like that.”

Hare first picked up a basketball in about second grade. He liked the way Michael Jordan played, and Larry Bird, and joined a church league team. “I just took to it,” he says, “and followed it.”

“My entire thing was the college experience and being part of such an amazing program. I wasn’t the star player, just a key player.”

He was a three-year starter at East Gaston, 1995 through 1997, and was All-Gazette in 1996 and ’97. He scored 1,301 points in high school. “We played 4A then, and the competition was ridiculously good. We played all the good Charlotte schools,” he says.

Colleges noticed, and Hare was looking at Davidson, William and Mary, Holy Cross and UNCW.

“I really liked the UNCW campus, plus it’s near the beach, and they played in the best conference [Colonial Athletic Association]. And you have a pretty good fan base,” he says, “because they don’t have a football team. So basketball is it.”

In 1999-2000, UNCW went 18-13 in the regular season and finished fourth in the CAA at 8-8 then beat Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason and Richmond in the tournament. “When we won the conference tournament, we probably had a couple thousand people rush the court. We weren’t going to get an at-large bid to the NCAAs, so we had to win our conference, and our school at never been to NCAAs, so it literally was the first time they qualified in 23 years of being Division I,” Hare says. “The city was so excited.”

The team opened NCAA play in Nashville against Cincinnati on March 17, 2000 and lost 64-47. Hare had 9 points. “The whole experience was pretty cool. Our coaches wanted us to be prepared, no excuses, like we were not there to have fun; we were there to win games,” Hare says. “But it was fun. Especially to play a great team like Cincinnati.”

The following year, UNCW finished 19-11, beat Old Dominion in the CAA Tournament, then lost to George Mason for a post-season trip to the NIT, where they lost in first round to Dayton.

But the next year, after a 19-9 regular season and CAA wins over James Madison, Delaware and VCU, the Seahawks were in the air to Sacramento.

After beating USC, they played Indiana – under new coach Mike Davis – in the second round and lost 76-67. Legendary coach Bob Knight had left Indiana two years earlier. “It would have been nice to play against him,” Hare says. “We were kind of bummed.”

Hare is married and has two teenagers, a son and daughter. His son plays soccer; his daughter prefers volleyball. His driveway, he says, does not have a basketball goal.

“My entire thing was the college experience and being part of such an amazing program. I wasn’t the star player, just a

key player. The coaches were perfectionists, and we worked extremely hard and, because of that, had incredible success,” he says. “It’s not about me being a superstar, it’s about being part of a success story the school had never experienced. Last year, they celebrated the 20th anniversary, and it’s something no one can ever take away.”

He says it’s great to have those memories brought back through the Hall of Fame. “It’s good to be in the Hall,” he says. “They have something they take pride in. I’m not someone who looks back at the past, but they bring back memories of what sports brought to my life.” ■

— By Kathy Blake

Career Highlights

STEWART HARE

• East Gaston basketball: Three-year starter (1995-1997), All-Gazette 1996, 1997. Total points: 1,301.

• UNCW: 119 games; 5.8 ppg; 1.1 assists. FG % 38.7; FT % 68.1. Total points: 696.

2021 MHHOF Banquet

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