NC Sports Hall of Fame to induct bumper class of 15, bringing hall to 400 members

Two current college basketball coaches and a pair of golf legends headline a bumper class of 15 inductees in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame class of 2023, bringing the total membership to 400.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and Vanderbilt coach and former North Carolina star Jerry Stackhouse will join two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange and course architect Tom Fazio in the class, along with UNC and Baltimore Ravens center Jason Brown, Clemson and Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Jeff Davis, Winston-Salem State and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Donald Evans, Duke wide receiver Clarkston Hines, N.C. State basketball player and current Johnson & Wales athletic director Trudi Lacey, N.C. State tennis star John Sadri and East Carolina basketball player Rosie Thompson

Women’s golf legend Ellen Griffin, former Charlotte Observer NASCAR writer Tom Higgins, CIAA and NFL trailblazer Bob “Stonewall” Jackson and Western Carolina basketball star Ronald Rogers will be posthumous inductees.

“I could not be more thrilled such a great class is representing this phenomenal state,” NCHSOF executive director Trip Durham said. “There’s something about the way our state has been able to yield such a high amount of amazing individuals and this class is no exception.”

The class will be formally inducted at the Raleigh Convention Center on April 21.

Rick Barnes

“Ricky from Hickory” played at Lenoir-Rhyne and has coached at George Mason, Providence, Clemson, Texas and now Tennessee. He’s the third coach to lead three different teams to the NCAA tournament Sweet 16 and took Texas to the Final Four in 2003. He was the Naismith Coach of the Year in 2019.

Jason Brown

An all-ACC center at UNC, the Northern Vance product played seven seasons at guard and center in the NFL for the Ravens and St. Louis Rams before retiring to his farm in Louisburg, where he grows crops to donate to food pantries and charities.

Jeff Davis

A native of Greensboro, Davis captained Clemson’s 1981 national champions and was the ACC player of the year and a first-team all-American before moving on to a six-year NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s still Clemson’s third-leading career tackler and started all but two games in four seasons.

Donald Evans

A Raleigh native who played at Athens Drive, Evans was a tailback and linebacker at Winston-Salem State before the Los Angeles Rams drafted him in the second round. Evans became a stalwart at defensive end with the Steelers and is a member of the CIAA Hall of Fame.

Tom Fazio

One of America’s top golf architects, more than 40 of Fazio’s courses have been ranked in Golf Digest’s top 200. His work includes Pinehurst No. 6 and No. 8 as well as the redesign of Charlotte’s Quail Hollow. He works out of Hendersonville.

Ellen Griffin

A founding member of the Women’s Professional Golf Association, which became the LPGA, Griffin taught golf at UNC Greensboro for 28 years, had her own teaching and practice facility in Randleman and was the 1962 LPGA teacher of the year. The LPGA has given out the Ellen Griffin Rolex award for contributions to golf instruction since 1989.

Tom Higgins

Higgins grew up in Burnsville and joined the Charlotte Observer in 1964 as an outdoors writer. Over the next 33 years, he became one of the first writers covering NASCAR on a full-time basis and is a member of the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.

Clarkston Hines

A two-time first-team all-American as a wide receiver at Duke, Hines was the ACC player of the year in 1989, the ACC male athlete of the year in 1990 and a two-time first-team all-American. Born in Chapel Hill, Hines was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Bob “Stonewall” Jackson

A highly decorated World War II veteran who enrolled at what is now North Carolina A&T after the war, Jackson was a four-time all-CIAA pick and the first player from an HBCU to be drafted by an NFL team. He later coached at both Johnson C. Smith and North Carolina Central.

Trudi Lacey

A 1,957-point scorer and AIAW all-American at N.C. State under Kay Yow, Lacey has been a coach at both the college and WNBA levels as well as a general manager. She is currently the athletic director at Johnson & Wales.

Ronald Rogers

Rogers was Western Carolina’s first three-time all-NAIA player in basketball from 1951-53. A native and lifelong resident of Leicester, Rogers scored in double figures in 82 straight games and was a charter member of the WCU Hall of Fame.

John Sadri

Sadri starred in tennis at Myers Park and N.C. State, where he lost the 1978 NCAA singles championship to John McEnroe. Sadri reached the finals of the Australian Open in 1979 and was ranked as high as 14th in the world.

Jerry Stackhouse

A national sensation at Kinston, North Carolina and in the NBA, Stackhouse was the third overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft and played 18 seasons in the league, scoring more than 16,000 points. He’s currently the head coach at Vanderbilt.

Curtis Strange

Strange was the 1974 NCAA champion at Wake Forest before embarking on a stellar pro career that included 17 wins and back-to-back U.S. Opens in 1988 and 1989. He played on six Ryder Cup teams and captained the United States in 2002.

Rosie Thompson

More than 40 years after she played at East Carolina, she’s still the school’s all-time leader in points, scoring average and rebounds. Her No. 10 is ECU’s only retired women’s jersey. The Blounts Creek native later coached the Pirates before becoming an athletic administrator.