During the month of February, in honor of Black History Month, the NCHSAA website will feature information about African Americans who have made major contributions to the great tradition of high school sports in our state. We hope you find these both entertaining and informative. Our thanks to Rick Strunk, former NCHSAA Associate Commissioner, for his research into many of these articles.
Barbara Foxx was an exceptional volleyball, women’s basketball and softball coach at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines from 1978 until her retirement in 2017. During 38 seasons as the head volleyball coach, Foxx’s teams captured two state titles, one in 1988 and the other in 1992. She led the Patriots program to 726 wins in her tenure, putting her in the top 10 for head coaching wins in NCHSAA history. Foxx also led the women’s basketball team from 1993 until 2002.
Foxx served the NCHSAA as a member of the Association’s Board of Directors from 1995 until 1999, representing Region 4. She was selected as one of the NCHSAA’s 100 Coaches to remember during the NCHSAA’s Centennial Celebration in 2013. A proud alumna of Campbell University, she was a three-time varsity letter winner at the school. Upon her retirement from Pinecrest, the school named the auxiliary gymnasium in her honor in 2018.
Several athletes that blossomed under her tutelege went on to coaching careers at the collegiate level. Melissa Ferris is the head volleyball coach at Pfeiffer University after a head coaching job at William and Mary. She had a star career at the University of Arizona after her years with Coach Foxx at Pinecrest. Another Foxx student, Sarah Haney, was head women's rowing coach at UNC for over two decades.
Perhaps one of her former players describes Foxx's legacy best. April Simon Jordan told the The Pilot in an interview Mary Kate Murphy upon Foxx's retirement, "She insisted all of her players give nothing less than their best, and today you can see the fruits of her labor," continuing, "In places near and far, there are women leading organizations, saving lives, raising, teaching and coaching young people and achieving all sorts of amazing things. And we're all carrying with us some lesson, some creed, some defining moment inspired by Barbara Foxx."
Read more of our 2021 Series here.
