NCAA

Two Former UNC Standouts Named To NC HS Track Hall Of Fame

Two Former UNC Standouts Named To NC HS Track Hall Of Fame


CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The fourth class of the North Carolina High School Track & Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame will honor athletes, coaches and officials who have significantly impacted the sports on the high school level.  

Among the inductees are former University of North Carolina standouts Earl V. Patterson (UNC class of 1912) and Charlie Brown (UNC ’81).

Patterson, known as the “Father of North Carolina Track & Field,” advocated for the first state meet and came up with rules for the first state meet in 1913, and coached North Carolina’s first dynasty at now-defunct Friendship High School in Burlington, where he led the school to 7-straight state titles (1914-1920).

Brown, who ran at North Carolina in 1978 and 1979 before graduating in 1981 and starting a longtime career as a coach and meet director in Greensboro, has coached individual national champions, multiple state championship teams, two U.S. national cross country teams and served as meet director for U.S. national meets and two of the state’s longest running high school invitationals.

Patterson and Brown will join five other UNC track alums in the Hall of Fame: Jim Beatty, Tony Waldrop, Joan Nesbit, Karen Godlock and DeAnne Davis.

 

A statewide committee of 21 track and field and cross country coaches, officials and media representatives who cover the sport extensively nominated and elected the class.  

 

The induction ceremony will be held on January 28 in Winston-Salem during the Mondo Elite High School Invitational at the JDL Fast Track, which will house the Hall of Fame. Each elected class has been honored at the meet, which is the premier indoor meet in North Carolina each season. 

 

“High school track and field has existed in North Carolina for more than 100 years, with the first outdoor state championship held in 1913, the first indoor track meet held in 1922, and the first high school cross country meet held in 1929, and North Carolinas has a strong history of national success, dating to the 1930s when High Point High competed at cross country nationals. It’s our goal to honor those who have helped make this sport so great in our state, and these first four classes are a great start at letting people know how much talent has come through North Carolina.” Brett Honeycutt, N.C. High School Track & Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame…

CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at University of North Carolina Athletics…