CCSHOF: Sold out venue to honor Class of 2018 inductees on Monday night

HobbsDailyReport.com

HICKORY – The induction ceremony for the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame (CCSHOF) is Monday night, and its Class of 2018 is so popular the event at the Highland Recreation Center is sold out.

Rick Barnes, head men’s basketball coach at Tennessee and a Hickory native, is the keynote speaker. The ceremony begins at 6 p.m.

A capacity crowd is expected as among the six being inducted are three from the Bandys High community, including arguably the best boys’ basketball player and best skill position football player to come out of that rural area in Catawba County.

Guard Vernon Odom — who played college basketball at West Virginia  — is the all-time leading scorer in boys’ basketball at Bandys while Chris Douglas, who starred in ACC football at Duke after a sterling career as a running back at Bandys, is the Blue Devils’ all-time leading in rushing and all-purpose yards.

The third pick with connections to the Bandys community is the late Bob J. Lutz, who was both a star basketball player at Bandys in his youth and coached six Howard’s Furniture men’s softball teams to national titles. His son, Bobby, is a former head men’s basketball coach at Pfeiffer and Charlotte and a high-profile assistant coach at N.C. State.

Also headed into the HOF are Mike Beam, who works in NASCAR; Greg Brunt, who has competed in the North Carolina Special Olympics for 40 years; and the late Raeford Wells, a basketball star at St. Stephens High and Lenoir-Rhyne University.

“This year’s class is a real tribute to the depth of outstanding athletes, coaches and contributors in Catawba County’s sports history,” CCSHOF chairman JuJu Phillips said in a press release announcing the selections. “It’s special to know that with almost 80 members already in the Hall of Fame, we still have inductees who have achieved national recognition, professional status, performed at high levels of Division I athletics or garnered statewide recognition.”

The HOF plaques are on permanent display at the Highland Recreation Center.

At Monday night’s event, Student Athletes of the Year for public and private high schools – a female and male from each school – will also be honored with one of each receiving a $500 scholarship.

Bios on the Class of 2018, as provided in the press release:

MIKE BEAM

A NASCAR championship crew chief, Beam is the leading vote-getter in his first-ballot election.

He’s one of only three crew chiefs in NASCAR history to record wins in all three national series.

He was crew chief for Carl Edwards’ 2010 Xfinity Championship, Butch Lindley’s Late Model National Titles (1977-78), and has been at the helm for more than a dozen other drivers, including NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty, Bill Elliott and Dale Jarrett.

As a crew chief, Beam has more than 80 wins. Most recently, he was General Manager of GMS Racing when driver Johnny Sauter won the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Championship.

A Hickory native, Beam’s career stretches back to Hickory Motor Speedway, where he was crew chief for Harry Gant and Dale Jarrett in their Bobby Isaac Memorial wins.

“Mike’s innate talents and tireless work ethic gained him the knowledge necessary to become one of the most sought after crew chiefs/managers in the history of NASCAR,” says long-time radio and TV broadcaster Glenn Jarrett. “In his 35-plus years of NASCAR, he has always been a true gentleman conducting himself with class and with dignity even in some of the sport’s most volatile situations.”

VERNON ODOM

Odom — nicknamed ‘VO — led Bandys to a state 2A basketball title and to two other second-place finishes in four years as a starter for late head coach Bill Bost.

Odom, a 6-foot-2 guard with an uncanny shooting range, played basketball on scholarship at West Virginia and was on four teams that each won 20 games there.

He was the state’s second all-time leading scorer (2,575 points) while at Bandys and currently ranks fifth on that list. His career field goals (1,054) still rank second in the state and is also still second in 20-point career games (74) and 20-point games in a season (28).

Odom made 334 field goals in a season, still ranking fourth, and he was Catawba County Co-Player of the Year three times and was named a state Athlete of the Year in 1982 in 2A.

Twice a N.C. Associated Press all-star pick, Odom received a McDonald’s All-American honorable mention.

“Bandys finished in the top four in the state every season, and Vernon was the undisputed best player on those teams,” long-time college and pro basketball coach and 1976 Bandys graduate Bobby Lutz wrote in support of Odom’s nomination. “Numbers alone do not tell the complete story. He played with a passion and energy that was special.

“Vernon was a phenomenal scorer who was at his best when his best was needed.”

As a freshman at West Virginia during the season-opener, Odom scored one of the first 3-point shots in college basketball. In his four-year career with the Mountaineers, he played in 110 games, hit 264 of 556 field goals (47.5 percent), hit 139 of 167 free throws (79 percent) and scored 679 points. He graduated with 124 assists, 192 rebounds and a reputation.

“(West Virginia) Coach Gale Catlett once told me that Vernon was one of the finest young men he has ever coached, which speaks well of his character,” Lutz wrote. “Vernon represented Catawba County very well and he still does today.”

RAEFORD WELLS

Wells, who died in 1995, is one of the best college basketball players in Lenoir-Rhyne University history. He was a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and LRU Hall of Famer and still holds the Bears’ career scoring record (2,628 points).

Wells played center and was a three-time All-American (1955-57) and all-conference four times at LRU.

Drafted by the New York Knicks in 1957, Wells’ basketball career began at St. Stephens, where he scored 1,743 points. His teams went 75-12, including a 32-0 senior season in 1952-53.

Wells declined an invitation to attend North Carolina, and the college coach who kept him in Hickory said the four-year starter made an immediate impact.

“He was as good as anyone I’ve ever coached,” said Jim “Pappy” Hamilton, 93, LRU head coach from 1950-57. “He was great under the board, had a nice shooting touch from 15 feet, was a great rebounder and could run the floor, too.

“Raeford loved playing at Lenoir-Rhyne and was really proud of his roots in Catawba County.”

Wells’ senior year (1957) with 810 points and a 28.9-point average is still the best season in LRU history. He led the Bears to a record 24 straight wins that season and a North State Conference Championship.

Wells’ 1955-56 season ranks second in school scoring (688) and scoring average (26.5), and sixth all-time in field goal percentage (.603). He is second all-time at LRU for rebounds and rebounding average (23.9 in 1956-57).

An educator and principal in Catawba County and North Carolina for a decade after his LRU career, he moved to Arizona in 1967 and spent 20 years working in education.

CHRIS DOUGLAS

Douglas is Duke’s all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, and he was not only dominant on the football field at Bandys but also in track and field.

Douglas’ 3,122 career rushing yards on a record 695 carries and 5,753 all-purpose yards are still Duke football records. His 21 career rushing touchdowns rank fifth best in Duke history.

He was first team All-ACC in 2003, was an All-ACC academic honoree three times also received the Jim Tatum Award as the ACC’s top senior football student-athlete.

Douglas was inducted into the ACC Legends in the 2015 class.

A multi-sport athlete at Bandys, he won a 1999 prep title in the 100-meter hurdles and a national championship in the 400-meter hurdles with the Catawba County Stallions Track Club.

A native of Sherrills Ford, Douglas rushed for 3,276 yards as the Trojans went 26-2 during his varsity career. He was the 1998 Catawba County Male Athlete of the Year and winner of the Coca-Cola Golden Helmet Award for the High School Football Player of the Year.

“Chris Douglas was probably the most impactful football player I coached in my 35 years on the field,” former Bandys head coach Randy Lowman, also a CCSHOF member, said in the press release. “His impact was felt by his teammates, coaches and all of Bandys High School.

“Chris was at the top of his class academically. He was gifted in the arts and a leading member of Bandys’ music program. Athletically, he was in a class of his own.”

Douglas was drafted by the New York Giants before his pro football career was shortened by injury he sustained in an exhibition game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte.

He is senior district manager for Kohl’s based in Washington, D.C.

GREG BRUNT

Brunt has won more than 100 Olympic medals in 40 years of competition in the Special Olympics of North Carolina.

A multi-sport athlete born with Down syndrome, he’s an avid swimmer who trains and competes in the backstroke, butterfly, freestyle and relays. The pool veteran also helps train younger swimmers for Special Olympics competition.

One of eight children born in a military family of swimmers, Brunt first learned to swim at eight months old. At age 6, he had open-heart surgery but was not deterred.

When his father retired in 1974 – when Brunt was 12 – the family moved to Hickory and he began training with the Hickory Seahorses before joining Catawba County’s Special Olympics team.

Since Special Olympics of North Carolina began recording medal results in the 2001 state games, Brunt has won 33 gold medals, 15 silver, 12 bronze and a handful of medals for fourth-sixth place. Additionally, he also competes in track and field and softball.

“Greg truly believes in the Special Olympics slogan, ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt,” Catawba County Special Olympics swim coach Debbie Bandy said in the press release. “It is rare to still be in competition at Greg’s age, yet he is brave in every attempt.”

His success in the Special Olympics is reflected in the U.S. Congressional Record.

BOB J. LUTZ

(Howard’s Furniture/Western Steer Team of Excellence)

Lutz, who died in 2012, and the Howard’s Furniture/Western Steer Softball team brought national attention to Catawba County during a three-decade run that peaked with six national championships.

A point guard at Bandys known as a long-distance sharp-shooter, Lutz earned Catawba County Athlete of the Year honors in 1954. He was named to four different Hickory Metro all-tournament teams during his prep career with an estimated scoring total of 1,373 points. He was valedictorian of his class at Bandys and attended Charlotte.

Lutz’s accomplishments on the softball diamond were dominant. When the Howard’s Furniture slow-pitch softball team started in 1964, he played as an outfielder. As manager of the Howard’s Furniture/Western Steer team from 1969-1979, he won three national Amateur Softball Association titles (1973, 1974, 1978) and posted a record of 1,059-233.

“That was an extremely remarkable winning percentage of .820 and is very, very high for the game of softball,” Amateur Softball Association of America (ASAA) state commissioner Tony Laws wrote in support of Lutz. “Bobby coached this team in a very professional manner and always with respect.

“He was not a fiery type of coach, but a man who controlled his team with a quiet manner and who was loved by his players.”

Lutz was inducted into the Amateur Softball Association of America Hall of Fame in 1983.

Howard’s Softball’s domination was built on the foundation laid by Lutz the manager, as well as team founder (the late) Richard Howard, a discount furniture company owner who fell in love with the game playing church league softball. From 1964-1989, the team won six national championships (1973, 1974, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984).