Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1005599
24 UCW JULY 18-24, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS David Tepper, new owner of the Carolina Pan- thers, met with the media last week after the sale of the team was finalized. One of the subjects he discussed was a desire to see the Panthers' Bank of America Stadium host state high school championship games. Charlotte hasn't hosted a football final since 1987 when Garner beat Charlotte Harding 40-21 at Me- morial Stadium. I don't have a problem with moving some state football finals to Bank of America Stadium, but not at the expense of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association ending its relationship with Duke, Wake Forest, NC State and UNC to hold championship games at their stadiums. e NCHSAA has eight football title games each year. e question would be who plays where. With Winston-Salem (Wake Forest) and Charlotte in the mix, you'd have two venues that would qualify as western in orientation. One thing that could enter into the equation is seeding. You could give "home" field preference, East vs. West, for the finals to who- ever is the higher seeded team. e big plus with eight games, if you use all five venues every year, is two venues will only get a maximum of one game. Not having to share a stadium for a second game would be nice for the competing schools. It's an offer worth exploring, and I thank Tepper for making it. On another note – congratulations to Jarvis Cobb, who has been named the varsity boys basketball coach at Douglas Byrd High School. Cobb comes to the Eagles after serving as junior varsity coach at Hoke County. In addition to coaching basketball, Cobb will teach career and technical education at Byrd. A group of student-athletes and chaperones from Cape Fear High School was among the 258 student-athletes from all over North Carolina partici- pating in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame's Salute To Student-Athlete Program earlier this year. e program recognized students from across the state and exposed them to the many positive lessons to be learned from North Carolina's outstanding sports heritage. ose attending from Cape Fear included student- athletes Mark Burks, Jaylen Hudson, Matt Raynor, Walker Brittain, Amelia Shook and Taylor Melvin. e chaperones included Amey Shook and Kelly Melvin. A total of 39 different schools from 21 different counties across the state were represented by the student-athletes who attended the program. e two-day event included a special reception and attendance at ceremonies where the newest class of inductees to the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame were inducted at the Ra- leigh Convention Center. On the following day, the student-athletes toured the state's hall of fame exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of His- tory and participated in a seminar involving some of North Carolina's most celebrated sports figures. Speakers at the seminar included former UNC- Chapel Hill basketball star Phil Ford, former professional football star Jeff Bostic and a special panel discussion featuring several members of the induction class. The student-athletes were invited to sign up for Hall Pass, a free program that offers special opportunities. Each Hall Pass member receives interesting information about the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame and the state's sports heritage, includ- ing a monthly newsletter and special features in advance before the general public. Any student- athlete can sign up to become a Hall Pass member by visiting www.ncshof.org and clicking on Hall Pass. N.C. Sports Hall of Fame members being inducted this year included golfer Donna Andrews, former major league baseball player Scott Bankhead, Olym- pic speedskater Joey Cheek, former Duke football star Wes Chesson, champion surfer and basketball standout Mindy Ballou Fitzpatrick, football coach and administrator Bill Hayes, college baseball coach Mike Martin, major league umpire Joe West and Charlotte Hornets executive Fred Whitfield. Posthumous inductees were high school coach- ing legends Jack Holley and Paul Jones, tennis standout Laura DuPont, former major league base- ball players Hal "Skinny" Brown and Jakie May, and former N.C. State baseball all-American Chris Cammack of Fayetteville. e Panthers' Bank of America Stadium could host state high school championship games. Photo: panthers.com Football championships in Charlotte good idea, but ... by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Student-athletes honored, visit NC Sports Hall of Fame by RICK STRUNK EARL VAUGHAN JR., Sports Editor. COMMENTS? EarlUCWSports@ gmail.com. 910-364-6638. RICK STRUNK, Retired NCHSAA Associ- ate Commissioner. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. L to R: Dr. Jerry McGee, Lilly Terwilliger, Mark Burks, Jaylen Hudson, Tyler Britt, Amelia Shook. Attention Students: Let Your Voice Be Heard Get published in our award-winning community newspaper Up & Coming Weekly Send in your feature articles, editorials, short stories, movie and music reviews or original poetry and artwork to: highschoolhighlights@upandcomingweekly.com Subject line: High School Highlights Please include your photo and school information.