2018 Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame induction class announced

MOUNT HOLLY - The first 1,000-point scorer in East Gaston High girls basketball history along with two East Gaston football standouts, two Mount Holly High baseball standouts and four Mount Holly championship baseball teams will be inducted into the 2018 Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

Sue Carlton Whitley, Jeff Lee, John Logan, Tony McConnell, Phil White and the 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 Mount Holly High baseball teams comprise the 2018 induction class.

This year's ceremony will be held Saturday, Aug. 18, at the Mount Holly Municipal Complex at 6 p.m. And tickets are available at Charlie's Drug Store from Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame committee members for $20 apiece.

Also, Henry Massey will be honored as this year's recipient of the Community Spirit Award.

A co-owner of Massey Hardware and the Massey Company for many years, Massey had served on the Gaston County School Board in the early 1970s before it consolidated with Gastonia City Schools in addition to helping raise money for projects like new band uniforms, the East Gaston High football stadium, the re-lighting of Mount Holly Middle School's Costner Field and the current greenways plan. A member of the Mount Holly Recreation Committee for more than three decades, Massey has been key to the development of Mount Holly's Tuckaseege Park among other facilities.

As a sophomore when East Gaston High opened, Sue Carlton Whitley was a standout basketball scorer and rebounder who was team MVP twice and all-conference all three seasons. A two-time East Gaston female athlete of the year, she began her career as a freshman at Stanley High before spending her last three seasons at East Gaston and later played basketball, softball and track at UNC-Greensboro.

After graduation from UNC-Greensboro, she was a receation softball standout who now teaches match and coaches middle school softball in Rock Hill.

Lee was a two-time All-Gazette football player at East Gaston in 1980 and 1981 who went on to play for legendary coach Dick Sheridan's last four teams at Furman from 1982 to 1985. A two-time all-state and one-time All-Southern Conference tight end, Lee caught 36 passes for 592 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career that includes three conference title teams, wins over South Carolina, Georgia Tech and N.C. State and a NCAA Division II national championship game runner-up finish in 1985.

After graduation from Furman in 1986, he became a Navy Seal and has worked around the world for the U.S. government.

Logan was All-Gazette in football in 1981 and conference heavyweight wrestling champion at East Gaston in 1982 before becoming an All-CIAA offensive lineman at Johnson C. Smith. Also a track standout, Logan was a three-time conference shot put champion who set school and Gaston County records at East Gaston and a three-time CIAA shot put champion who held school records at JCSU.

After graduation from the Charlotte school, Logan has worked for FedEx for 24 years.

White was a standout football and baseball player at Mount Holly High who was president of the student body as a senior in 1966. He went on to play baseball at Oral Roberts.

He's now runs a licensed counseling clinic in Tulsa, Okla., and specializes in serving U.S. prison parole officers.

McConnell also was a standout football and baseball player at Mount Holly High who was a standout pitcher for teams that went 20-0 against league competition in 1965 and 1966. He also threw a no-hitter in the Hawks' 1966 2-0 N.C. 2A playoff win over Clyde Erwin before playing baseball at Oral Roberts.

He went on to become station manager at McGuire Nuclear Station on Lake Norman during his career with Duke Energy.

And the Mount Holly 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 conference championship baseball teams won four of the 10 league titles Hawks' teams would win between 1954 and 1972.

Under the direction of inauguaral 2007 MHSHOF inductee Delmer Wiles, those four teams had a combined 40-10 overall record that included a 4-3 mark in state playoff competition and were led by McConnell, White, Buddy Guin, Ken Jones, Bruce Bolick, Larry Hartsell, Jimmy Cook, Dewayne Moore, Bill Neely, Steve Hansel, Mike Shelby, Jimmy Blackman, Dean Auten, Steve McCotter, Eddie Womack, Mike Manes and Eddie Wilson among others.

Richard Walker: 704-869-1841; twitter.com/jrwalk22

Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame history:

Roster of inductees:

April 21, 2007 at Tuckaseege Sports Center -- Robert Black, Delmer Wiles

Aug. 23, 2008 at MH Municipal Center -- Arthur Davis, Bearl Davis, Max Davis, Wilbern Davis, Bertha Dunn, George Fincher, Neb Hollis

Aug. 15, 2009 at MH Municipal Center -- Vivian Laye Broome, Ray Campbell, Don Killian, Dick Thompson, Tommy Wilson, 1963 Mount Holly High School football team

Aug. 21, 2010 at MH Municipal Center -- John Farrar, Joe Huffstetler, Joe Spears, Johnny Wike, 1990 East Gaston High School wrestling team

Aug. 20, 2011 at MH Municipal Center -- Bruce Bolick, Wayne Bolick, Frank Love, Jim McManus, Samuel "Dink" McManus, T.L. McManus, Scott Stewart, Perry Toomey

Aug. 18, 2012 at MH Municipal Center –- Ronnie Harrison, Larry Hartsell, Dawn Moose, William “Chink” Outen, Freddy Whitt, 1967 Mount Holly High School football team

Aug. 17, 2013 at MH Municipal Center -- 1945, 1946 and 1947 Mount Holly High School girls basketball teams, 1967 and 1968 Mount Holly High School girls basketball teams, Charlie "Poss" Drumm, Doug Smith, James Browning "J.B." Thompson, Shane Trull

Aug. 23, 2014 at MH Municipal Center -- Tracy Leroy Black, Richard Dill, A.C. Hollar, Larry George Lawing, Lois Herring Parker, George Edward Wilson

Aug. 15, 2015 at MH Municipal Center -- Zeb McDowell, Phil Roberts, Max Sherrill, Laura Randall Woodhead, 1954 and 1955 Mount Holly High School baseball teams, 1968 and 1969 Mount Holly High School boys basketball teams

Aug. 20, 2016 at MH Municipal Center -- Jerry Brooks, Barry Grice, Stephanie Frazier, Derek Spears, 1991 East Gaston High School wrestling team

Aug. 19, 2017 at MH Municipal Center -- Carmen Baker, James Ford, Grant Hoffman, Eddie Wyatt, 1977 East Gaston High School golf team

Aug. 18, 2018 at MH Municipal Compex -- Sue Carlton Whitley, Jeff Lee, John Logan, Tony McConnell, Phil White and the 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 Mount Holly High baseball teams

Community Spirit Award winners:

2010 –- Dwight Frady

2011 –- John Lewis

2012 –- Bobby John Rhyne

2013 -- Sarah Nixon

2014 -- Buddie Hodges

2015 -- Barry Jessen

2016 -- Aaron Goforth

2017 -- Carl Baber

2018 -- Henry Massey