RALEIGH — Coaches, administrators and media representatives will be among those receiving awards on May 4 when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association holds its 2006 Annual Meeting.
The event is scheduled for the Fletcher Opera Theatre at the Progess Energy Center for the Performing Arts and comes the day after the spring meeting of the NCHSAA’s Board of Directors has concluded.
The Association annually presents these statewide awards in several different categories, all based on those “who have done the most for high school athletics” rather than a single accomplishment or having an outstanding won-loss record. All state winners are previous regional award winners, and the regional awards are actually voted on by school administrators and coaches in the respective regions.
The awards are named in memory or in honor of outstanding individuals in each category, three of whom are current members of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame. The state winners for 2006 include:
• Doris Howard Female Coach of the Year: Eva Patterson-Heath of Red Springs is one of the state’s veteran female coaches who has worked in a variety of sports. She has coached cross country and track, coaching both men’s and women’s teams in those sports, in addition to women’s basketball. She has earned over 400 career victories in basketball and also enjoyed a stint as athletic director at Red Springs.
• Harvey Reid Male Coach of the Year: Burton Cates of Eastern Randolph is one of North Carolina’s most successful football coaches. A graduate of Graham High School and Mars Hill College, Cates has made Eastern Randolph a perennial football power and has won over 200 games during his career as a head football coach. He also serves as Eastern Randolph’s athletic director.
• Dave Harris Athletic Director of the Year: Vicki Hamilton of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools is a member of the NCHSAA Board of Directors and active in the city-county athletic directors organization. She became the Charlotte-Mecklenburg athletic director in 1994, the first female in that position in the state. She has been a teacher and coach at both the high school and collegiate levels and joined the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools as a principal back in 1977.
• Bob Deaton Principal of the Year: Jimmy Tillman of Wilson Fike has had an outstanding career in education. A graduate of UNC-Wilmington, Tillman earned his master’s at East Carolina and was a successful teacher and coach at Rosewood, Lucama, Beddingfield and Southwest Edgecombe. He coached in both the Shrine Bowl and East-West games. He also officiated high school basketball and softball for almost 20 years and worked a state softball championship. He has been principal at Fike since 1998 and active with the NCHSAA.
• Bob McRae Superintendent of the Year: Ed Sadler of the Gaston County schools has a tremendous background in both athletics and school administration in a career of over 35 years in education. He is a graduate of North Caroline Central, earned his masters’ degree at UNC Charlotte and doctorate at UNC-Chapel Hill. He served for over a decade as the superintendent of the Gaston County schools and was president of the NCHSAA during the 2003-04 academic year.
• Tim Stevens Media Representative of the Year: Dan Biser, sports editor of the Whiteville News Reporter, has done an terrific job covering high school athletics, making that a point of emphasis for his paper. A native of Beaumont, Texas, Biser is a graduate of North Texas State and resides in Hallsboro. He has spent over 20 years with the Whitevlle paper and has also worked for the Tampa Tribune and for three years was prep editor of the Wilmington Star News. He has earned several North Carolina Press Association awards for writing.
• Elton Hawley Athletic Trainer of the Year: Mary Broos, a Thomasville native and East Carolina graduate, has been one of the leaders in sports medicine in North Carolina. She has been head trainer at Guilford College for its intercollegiate athletic program since 1978 and was the first women inducted into the North Carolina Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame. She worked on the training staff of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Broos also served 12 years on the Davidson County Board of Education, including four as chairperson.
In terms of background of the award’s names, here are some highlights:
Doris Howard of Fayetteville was one of the state’s most successful female coaches during a 41-year career at Hope Mills, Central and Cape Fear High Schools, winning 533 games in basketball, and is in the NCHSAA Hall of Fame.
Harvey Reid, also an NCHSAA Hall of Famer, is the state’s all-time winningest basketball coach with over 800 victories, most of which came at Wilson Fike.
Dave Harris was the athletic director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools from 1967 to ‘91 after an excellent football coaching career, primarily at Harding. He was a charter member of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame.
Bob Deaton was one of the state’s outstanding high school principals during a long career in education, primarily at Winston-Salem R.J. Reynolds, and was president of the NCHSAA in 1977-78.
Bob McRae is the former superintendent in Randolph County after a long career at Kings Mountain and was president of the NCHSAA in 1997-98. He has served as chair of the Realignment Committee as well as in other NCHSAA capacities.
Tim Stevens is the long time prep sports editor at the Raleigh News and Observer and has been recognized nationally for his work covering high school athletics.
Elton Hawley is a native of Dunn who for many years was the athletic training coordinator for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. He was the initial inductee into the North Carolina Athletic Trainer Association Hall of Fame.
