The Winston-Salem Sportsmen Club yesterday announced a strong class of 13 new inductees into the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County High School Sports Hall of Fame.
The class includes high-profile athletes such as Josh Howard, a former Glenn and Wake Forest standout who now plays in the NBA; Titcus Pettigrew, a former NCHSAA athlete of the year at West Forsyth who went on to play football at Penn State; and Camille Little, who starred in basketball at Carver and North Carolina and now plays in the WNBA.
Also in the class are former athletes Gray Bovender, Matt Burdick, Waddell Cockerham, Terry Key, Walt Little, Rhamen Love-Lane, Louis Lowery, George Redd and Bernard Williams and former coach Bob Sapp.
The induction ceremony will be at 7 p.m. May 15 at the Benton Convention Center.
Howard, now a standout forward for the Dallas Mavericks, won the Journal's Frank Spencer Award as the top boys basketball player in Northwest North Carolina in 1997 and '98. At Wake Forest, he was the ACC player of the year and a first-team Associated Press All-America as a senior in 2004.
As a senior in 1995-96, Pettigrew was a Parade All-America wide receiver, the Journal's Spencer Award winner as the best area basketball player and the NCHSAA's male athlete of the year.
Little, who was instrumental in turning the Carver girls basketball team into a powerhouse, won the Journal's Mary Garber Award as the top area girls player in 2003. She also was a McDonald's All-American pick in high school and played last season for the WNBA's Seattle Storm.
Sapp's long and successful career as a football coach ended when he retired at Mount Tabor in 2005. He finished with a career record of 147-52-1 and said he was humbled to be among the inductees.
"It feels great," Sapp said. "There are a lot of legends when you look at the names in there, guys like my mentor and former coach Homer Thompson and guys like Tom Muse. To be mentioned in the same breath as those people is an honor. And to me, you couldn't ask for a better way to put closure to a career. It's fantastic, and I feel truly honored by the Sportsmen Club.
"There are a lot of great people and coaches in it, guys like Alfred Poe. The Sportsmen Club does a lot more than the Hall of Fame. They do the Mary Garber and the JV (basketball) tournaments. They are helping kids also, and that means a lot."
Of the other inductees Bovender, Burdick, Key, Little and Williams made their marks in football; Cockerham starred in three sports and Love-Lane in two; and Lowery and Redd were basketball standouts.
Bovender played wide receiver at West Forsyth in the early 1990s and at North Carolina; Burdick kicked for Mount Tabor and Wake Forest and once kicked two field goals longer than 50 yards in a high-school game; Key was named the Winston-Salem lineman of the year in 1967 at Reynolds and later played at South Carolina; Little was a split end at Parkland in the early 1970s who initially signed with Wake Forest but wound up playing for Kansas; and Williams was a big defensive end at North Forsyth who made the AP all-state team in 1996 and went on to play at East Carolina.
Cockerham was all-conference in baseball, basketball and football at Atkins in the late 1960s. Love-Lane was a standout basketball and football player at West Forsyth in the mid 1990s and a two-time All-Northwest basketball selection who later played football at Wake Forest.
Lowery, known as "Dr. Chocolate," was one of the area's top guards while playing for East Forsyth in the late 1970s. Redd also starred for East Forsyth (1989-93), had a career average of 18.9 points and went on to play at George Mason.
■ Mason Linker can be reached at 727-7324 or at mlinker@wsjournal.com.
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