SEVEN NAMED TO NCHSAA HALL OF FAME
CHAPEL HILL–Seven more outstanding individuals in the annals of state prep athletics have been selected for induction into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
Harvey Brooks of Trenton, Tunney Brooks of Lumberton, Tom Brown of Maiden, Bob Catapano of Raleigh, the late Joe Hunt of Hendersonville, Carolyn Rogers of Hertford, and Que Tucker of Chapel Hill have been named as the 25th group of inductees to join the prestigious hall. That brings to 132 the number enshrined.
The new inductees will be honored during special halftime ceremonies at a football game at Kenan Stadium on Saturday, November 13, when North Carolina takes on Virginia Tech. The University of North Carolina has designated the day as the 26th annual NCHSAA Day. The new class will officially be inducted at the special Hall of Fame banquet next spring in Chapel Hill.
The NCHSAA Hall of Fame is supported in part by a special grant from GlaxoSmithKline.
“These individuals joining the Association Hall of Fame this year have had a tremendous impact on high school athletics across North Carolina,” said NCHSAA commissioner Davis Whitfield. “Their accomplishments are impressive, but the character they exemplify and the lives they touched are truly representative of what the NCHSAA stands for. Their selection maintains the standards of excellence established by our previous inductees, and we are extremely proud to honor these deserving individuals.”
HARVEY BROOKS
Harvey Brooks earned a reputation as a coaching legend in North Carolina.
A graduate of Boyden High in Salisbury and then a 1959 graduate of Pfeiffer, Brooks was a head coach in a variety of sports, including football, basketball, baseball and track, over more than 40 years. His coaching stops included Norwood, South Stanly, Warrenton John Graham, Princeton (from 1971 to ’86), Pikeville Charles B. Aycock and Jones Senior.
His teams won 320 games in basketball and compiled an outstanding 238-99-3 mark in football while winning 24 conference championships. He was considered a master of the single wing offense and ran it effectively even when it was out of vogue.
He coached in the 1982 North Carolina Coaches Association East-West game and also was involved in many church and civic activities.
TUNNEY BROOKS
Alton “Tunney” Brooks compiled an impressive record as a coach in several sports, serving at Edenton Holmes and Lumberton.
A graduate of Wilson’s Charles Coon High and a two-sport captain at Wake Forest, Brooks coached at Holmes from 1953 to ’57 and then went to Lumberton as head baseball and basketball coach and assistant football coach. His teams won 291 games in men’s basketball and a number of conference titles, and the also wound up serving 10 years as head football coach at Lumberton with a 72-41-4 slate.
On top of his coaching he served athletic director at Lumberton for 30 years, from 1960 until his retirement in 1989.
Brooks was the Civitan Outstanding Citizen of Robeson County in 1970, and the Lumberton High School football stadium was named in his honor in 1992.
TOM BROWN
Tom Brown is one of the state’s most successful football coaches at the high school level.
A native of Pennsylvania, Brown came South to attend Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory, where he earned all-conference honors in both football and baseball, and basically never left the area. He compiled a brilliant record as a head football coach, winning a total of 330 games in 35 seasons at Maiden High School, the state record for wins by a football coach at a single school. He also coached three years at Bunker Hill and chalked up an overall career mark of 352 victories against just 132 defeats and seven ties. The stadium at Maiden was named in his honor in 2000.
Brown coached in all the state’s major all-star games, including head coach of the North Carolina Shrine Bowl team in 2000 after a stint as an assistant in ’95. He is a member of the Lenoir-Rhyne Sports Hall of Fame and the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame.
BOB CATAPANO
Bob Catapano has made significant contributions to high school athletics in a couple of different ways, including as one of the state’s best soccer coaches ever as well as serving as an outstanding athletic director.
His career in North Carolina was entirely at Raleigh’s Sanderson High School after he earned four varsity letters in soccer at N.C. State from 1969-72. During a 20-year period as men’s head soccer coach at Sanderson, he rolled up an incredible 363-44-21 record, winning 11 NCHSAA state championships and 17 conference titles. His teams put together what was then a national record of 103 games without a loss from 1982 to ’87 and had four unbeaten seasons. He retired from active coaching in 1996 but continued to serve as athletic director. He also served as a soccer official for youth, adult and collegiate matches for 20 years.
A native of Glen Rock, N.J., Bob is a member of the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame, and the North Carolina Athletic Directors Hall of Fame.
JOE HUNT
The late Joe Hunt put together an outstanding record as a head football coach in western North Carolina.
Born in Wilkes County, Hunt graduated from the old North Wilkesboro High School in 1942. Then after World War II, Joe graduated from Western Carolina in 1950 and then embarked on a highly successful career in coaching, first at Sylva-Webster High and then at Hendersonville. His football teams at Sylva-Webster posted records of 87-43-6 and earned four conference titles, and then while at Hendersonville from 1964 through ’78 his teams went 118-40-2 and won five league crowns.
He also coached twice in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.
Hunt served a pair of four-year terms on the NCHSAA Board of Directors and received a Distinguished Service Award from the NCHSAA in 1986. He is a charter member of the Hendersonville High School Hall of Fame.
CAROLYN ROGERS
Carolyn Rogers has spent the majority of her outstanding teaching and coaching career at Perquimans High School.
After graduating from Western Carolina University, she eventually wound up at Perquimans and coached there from 1972 to 2009, including 21 years as volleyball coach but also coaching cheerleading, track and field, and basketball. Her volleyball teams won 10 league titles, finished second in the state twice and posted a 303-135 record.
She has been a strong supporter of the NCHSAA Student Services program, participating in Student Athlete Summer Institutes (SASI) and Coach-Captain retreats, as well as being involved with Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). She is a charter member of the Perquimans County High School Hall of Fame and was the NCHSAA Toby Webb Coach of the Year Award winner in 2006.
QUE TUCKER
Que Tucker has enjoyed an outstanding career at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association after successful stints coaching at the high school and college levels.
A graduate of Stoneville High, she attended Mars Hill College, where she was an outstanding athlete and graduated in 1974. Tucker came to the NCHSAA in 1991 after several years as an assistant women’s basketball coach at N.C. State under Kay Yow. She is currently deputy commissioner of the NCHSAA, where she oversees the entire NCHSAA sports program, after helping to start the Association’s acclaimed Student Services program.
As a high school coach at Reidsville, her women’s basketball teams posted a 145-104 mark during a period form 1978 through ’88 and her volleyball squads went 58-16. She also served as a game official in several different sports.
She is a charter member of the Mars Hill College Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame plaques are on permanent display in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame room, located in the Simon F. Terrell Building in Chapel Hill that houses the Association offices.
