The North Carolina Baseball Coaches Association recently had a very successful state meeting In Charlotte, with over 200 high school baseball coaches in attendance.

       Among the activities which occurred during the NCBCA meeting was the induction of Pete Shankle into the NCBCA Hall of Fame. Shankle was the long-time baseball coach at Southern Durham who also coached at Northern Durham and then helped start the baseball program at Voyager Academy.  His teams have won 502 games during his career and three times he has led his squads into the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state championship series.

       The baseball stadium at Southern Durham is named in Shankle’s honor,  and among his many honors is the NCHSAA Special Person award in 2002.

       Previous inductees to the NCBCA Hall of Fame were also recognized, including several who are members of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame such as James “Rabbit” Fulghum, George Whitfield, Ronald Scott and Ronald Vincent.

       The NCHSAA state championship coaches from last spring were recognized, including Brett Harwood of Whiteville, Jason Fussel of Midway, Granville Gehris of Topsail and Brad Bullard of West Forsyth. In addition, Regional Coaches of the Year were named for each of the eight NCHSAA regions as well as a Regional Assistant Coach of the Year and a Regional Field of the Year.

       The keynote speaker for the event was veteran baseball coach Ron Polk, whose talk was entitled “What I’ve Learned in 49 Years of Coaching College Baseball.”  A member of the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, Polk was the long-time head baseball coach at Mississippi State University, where he coached 31 seasons, and currently is working with the Alabama-Birmingham program as a volunteer assistant.  His career record is an amazing 1373-702-2 and Polk had eight teams to reach the College World Series.

       Hal Bagwell of Ardrey Kell High School serves as the current president of the NCBCA.