CHAPEL HILL -- Coaches, administrators and media representatives will be among those receiving awards on May 1 when the North Carolina High School Athletic Association holds its 2008 Annual Meeting.

                  The event is scheduled for the Dean E, Smith Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 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 2008 include:

                  • Doris Howard Female Coach of the Year: Anna Spear of Havelock graduated from East Carolina University after attending Peace College. She has been the women’s basketball coach at Havelock for the last nine years, also serving as assistant athletic director for women’s sports and assistant softball coach. Prior to that, the Southern Nash High School grad coached 17 years at North Lenoir, including taking a softball team to the state finals and initiating the volleyball program there.

                  • Harvey Reid Male Coach of the Year: Dave Diamont of East Surry has been an outstanding head football coach during stops at Mount Airy and East Surry, with teams regularly in the playoffs. He attended the old Ashley High in Gastonia and graduated from Wake Forest University. During his time as a representative in the General Assembly for a 20-year period from 1976-1995, he rose to chair the Education Committee and he was a great advocate for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

            • Dave Harris Athletic Director of the Year: Sheila Boles of Wilmington’s Hoggard High School took over as athletic director at the school after 11 successful seasons as the men’s varsity basketball coach during which her teams posted a record 167-120, the first coach ever to post a winning mark in that sport. She was a standout athlete at Fayetteville Seventy-First High School and then played at UNC-Wilmington, where she was the first female to earn a basketball scholarship. She is a former Courage award winner from the NCHSAA.

            • Bob Deaton Principal of the Year: Ralph Holloway of East Carteret is a former president of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors. He was an outstanding coach at Burlington Cummings and Kinston, with teams winning state championships in women’s track and football, and then was a successful athletic director, winning the Dave Harris award above in 2002 as the athletic director at West Carteret.  He has been involved in just about every aspect of Association activity.

            • Bob McRae Superintendent of the Year: Steve Page of Henderson County is the superintendent there after serving as associate superintendent of Buncombe County for several years and an 11-year stint as principal at Asheville’s Clyde Erwin. He was the Western chair of the Realignment Committee this year and has served on various other NCHSAA committees. Page earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Carolina and his doctorate from UNC-Greensboro.

            • Tim Stevens Media Representative of the Year: News 14 Carolina Sports has done a terrific job covering high school athletics across the state, especially in their two main markets in the Raleigh area and Charlotte area led by Jim Connors and Mike Solarte, respectively. Members of that sports team have been involved with the telecasts of NCHSAA championships in a variety of sports, have assisted in many ways with the promotion of those championships, and have produced a major football scoreboard show on Friday nights.

            • Elton Hawley Athletic Trainer of the Year:  Dr. Jack Hamrick of Shelby has been very involved with education in his community, serving as chairman of the Shelby City Schools Board of Education and also serving as one of the team doctors for the Shelby football team, a perennial power . He has also served with distinction as a member of the NCHSAA Sports Medicine Committee, which makes recommendations relative to student-athlete safety and the like to the Board of Directors.

                  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.