Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2014 Induction Celebration
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The Sanderson Athletic Club Welcomes You Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2014 Induction Celebration September 14, 2014 North Ridge Country Club Jennie Adams LeBaron Caruthers Sparky Cullen Diane Ross Dean Bill Harrington John Haskins Steve Rackley The 1988 and 1989 Men’s Soccer Teams Sanderson High School Athletics Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies – Class of 2014 Friday, September 12, 2014 7:00 Kickoff at Gregson Stadium on the Sanderson campus Varsity Football – Holly Springs H.S at Sanderson Spartans Introduction of the Class of 2014 at halftime Sunday, September 14, 2014 1:30-2:00 Meet and greet at North Ridge Country Club 2:00- Welcome – Tony Lewis, Athletic Director Dr. Greg Decker, Principal Luncheon Introduction of Guests - Bob Catapano Induction of the Class of 2014 - The People and Their Stories Presentation of Medals Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame The Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame was established by the Sanderson Athletic Club on November 8, 2010. The club’s Hall of Fame Committee is responsible for administering the Hall of Fame program. The purpose of the Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame is to honor people who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary performance as a Sanderson athlete or through extraordinary service to Sanderson Athletics and to inspire present and future Spartans to excel in the same tradition. You Can Nominate Someone for the Hall of Fame Nominations for the consideration of candidates for induction to the Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame are invited and accepted from anyone who cares to make them. They are to be sent by email to the Sanderson Athletic Director (Tony Lewis - [email protected] ) or to the chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee (Bob Catapano – [email protected]). Submissions should be as detailed as possible, providing as much information as possible to support each nomination. There is no standardized form on which to submit nominations. Nominations will be accepted at any time. However, the deadline for nominating a person, a team, or a family for consideration for the class of inductees in any given year is March 15 of that year. Categories of Nominees Nominees will be considered in the following categories: athletes (must have graduated from Sanderson at least five years ago), coaches or trainers, administrators or faculty members, teams, families, other individuals or groups. Donating to the Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame Donations are welcome to help defray the expenses of the Sanderson Athletics Hall of Fame. Donations are entirely tax deductable. Checks should be made payable to “Sanderson Athletic Club” with the notation “Hall of Fame” on the memo line. Checks can be mailed to Tony Lewis, Athletic Director, Sanderson High School, 5500 Dixon Drive, Raleigh, NC 27609. SANDERSON ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME JENNIE ADAMS COACH 1974-1989 HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2014 Jennie Adams began teaching Physical Education at Sanderson High School in 1974. School life was different forty years ago. For example, she was among the first group teachers in Raleigh who taught Physical Education classes with boys and girls in the same class! Jennie came to Sanderson just two years after Title IX legislation was passed - opening doors to women and girls in sports programs at U.S. schools and colleges. Even with Title IX enacted, girls programs needed advocates to enable them to get off the ground, mature, and flourish. Jennie was one of several coaches at Sanderson who saw to it that girls would have the same athletic opportunities and outcomes as the boys. Those who take girls sports programs for granted today have people like Jennie Adams to thank for removing barriers back in the seventies. Coach Adams coached gymnastics at Sanderson for 15 years (1974- 75 through 1988-89), girls tennis for 3 years (1975-76 through 1977-78), and softball for 2 years (1977-78 and 1986-87). Gymnastics is the sport in which her teams excelled. When she began at Sanderson, the sport was in its infancy as a conference-sponsored interscholastic sport. Over the course of her fifteen years at the helm, the Spartans earned six conference championships. As a young coach she was an influential force behind the establishment of the “North Carolina High School State Gymnastics Championships” at a time when the NCHSAA wasn’t motivated to sanction statewide postseason competition. The first “State Meet” was held in 1975-76. Sanderson finished in second place in 1976-77. The Spartans would eventually become the class of North Carolina under Coach Adams’ tutelage – winning the state title six times - in 1979, ’81 ‘83, ‘85, ‘88, and ‘89. Her 1977-78 tennis team also won a Cap Eight Conference championship. Along the way Coach Adams-led teams earned a pile of trophies. But more importantly, the coach left her legacy by teaching hundreds of young women how to compete in the athletic arena and in life with skill, grace, and dignity. She provided them opportunities for leadership and responsibility, not to mention growth as athletes, and guided them through the maze of their teenage years and young adulthood. Although Jennie no longer coaches, she is still hard-wired to the N.C. gymnastics community. She has been the face of North Carolina Gymnastics for the last 25+ years as the State Chair of NC USA Gymnastics. In her role as the chief administrator, she coordinates the program statewide to serve over 3500 gymnasts at more than 90 private gyms. The quality of N.C. gymnastics has catapulted during Jennie’s tenure. She is also an accomplished gymnastics judge, having attained the level of “National Judge.” She was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Region 8 (the South) Hall of Fame in 2012. Jennie is native of New Bern. She earned a BS in Health and Physical Education from UNC-Greensboro in 1970. She and her husband Dale currently reside in Kennels Beach in Pamlico County near Arapahoe, NC. Impressions of Coach Adams from Sanderson Athletics Hall of Famer Betsy Cook Lanzen (SHS 1989)… Coach Adams was clearly one of the most influential and inspiring mentors I had, and I am proud to call her my friend too. Coach Adams not only helped guide her students and athletes through the rigors of balancing school work and athletics, but she also taught them many valuable life lessons and provided some incredible opportunities. I still remember Coach Adams taking me and some of my fellow teammates to watch the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Olympic Trials in Salt Lake City. We watched some of our gymnastics idols compete, explored tabernacles and swam in the Great Salt Lake! Jennie guided our teams to State and Conference Championships and helped train countless numbers of us to become gymnastics judges. She was beside us through the good times and the sometimes rough waters of high school life. I will be forever grateful for the wonderful memories of life with Coach Adams. SANDERSON ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME LEBARON CARUTHERS ATHLETE 1969-1972 HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2014 LeBaron Caruthers (SHS Class of 1972) was an outstanding football player and shot putter and discus thrower on the track & field team at Sanderson. He was an All-Conference and All-Metro performer for the Sanderson football team. As a senior, he was named the 1971 Wake County 4A Football Player of the Year by the Raleigh Sports Club and the 1971-72 Sanderson Athlete of the Year by the Raleigh Times. He played in the 1972 East-West All-Star game. In track & field he excelled in the shot put and discus throw. He won numerous competitions. As a senior he won the 1972 NCHSAA State Championship in discus with a throw of 168’ 1” and finished in fourth place in the shot put event. Following graduation, he attended East Carolina University for one year where he helped the Pirates win the 1972 Southern Conference Championship in football. He transferred to N.C. State and concentrated on track & field and earned three varsity letters. He was a three time All-American in shot put and still holds the mark for the fourth longest outdoor shot put throw in NCSU history. He was honored with NCSU’s 1977 Alumni Athletics Award, voted on by the student body and given to the “Outstanding Student Athlete” annually. He graduated from NC State in 1977 with a degree in Sociology and Philosophy. LeBaron has made a career out of his interest and expertise in Strength and Conditioning. He began coaching Track & Field at Auburn University and has had stops at Southern Methodist, Alabama, and Baylor along the way. He also worked for seven years with the St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals and the New England Patriots of the NFL. In 1992 he was named the National Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year while training the Alabama Crimson Tide to the National Championship. He holds certification as a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach, one of only sixty in the world. LeBaron is presently the operator/part-owner of Waco Sports Academy with Championship Speed and Strength, in Waco, Texas. LeBaron in his wife Kim have two sons, Chase and Lane. LeBaron shares a memory of his time at Sanderson… Raleigh’s Ligon High School’s last senior class graduated in 1971. The following fall, when Ligon was integrated and became a junior high school, many of the former Ligon sophomores and juniors came to Sanderson. On the first day of pre-season practice before the 1971 football season, Coach Brown told us that many of our new teammates wouldn’t be able to make it to two-a-day practices unless we volunteered to give them rides until school started.