Guilford County Sports HOF bios on Nelson Bobb, Dick Culler and Johnny Evans

The Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame is proud to announce the 2009 Class of Inductees. The class will be inducted at the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame Banquet on Monday, September 21, 2009 at the Greensboro Coliseum. For ticket information, contact the Greensboro Sports Commission at 336-378-4499 or go online at www.greensborosports.org.

The 2009 Class Includes:

Nelson Bobb, a native of Gahanna, OH, first arrived at UNCG in July of 1983, taking over a program that fielded eight teams on the NCAA Division III level. Prior to his arrival, the department had been guided by a men’s and women’s coordinator of athletics. The University authorized the shift to Division I in February 1987 and he guided the program through the unprecedented change in competitive status in only five years, transitioning from Division III into a brief Division II stint, to its current Division I status.

UNCG is one of only a dozen institutions to ever compete in all three divisions. However, no other institution has made the complete shift of all teams from Division III to Division I in that short of a time frame. Bobb has also guided the athletics program in its transition from a new Division I member into the Big South Conference, to its current affiliation as a member of the historic Southern Conference. In the midst of the Spartans making it to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in just their fifth year of Division I competition and winning the Big South’s Commissioner’s Cup in consecutive years (1994-95 and 1995-96), the Southern Conference announced on December 18, 1995 that it was offering membership to three institutions – one of those being UNCG.

During his tenure, Bobb has watched over the construction or renovation of all of the Spartans’ athletic venues. He began that process by serving on the committee that built Fleming Gymnasium and the HHP Building in 1989. He then moved onto the transformation of Campus Field in 1991 into what is today UNCG Soccer Stadium – one of the premier venues in all of college soccer. In 1999, he oversaw the construction of the UNCG Baseball Stadium and the renovation and lighting of the UNCG Tennis Courts. Most recently, he added to the list the transformation of UNCG’s softball facility to become a top-of-the-line stadium venue, and the reconfiguration of seating in Fleming Gym, which added chairback seating on both sides and additional stands under one of the baskets.

Under Bobb’s guidance, Spartan student-athletes consistently graduated at a rate equal to or higher than the general student population at UNCG. Each of the last three academic years, more than 40 percent of UNCG’s student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or better.

On the field of competition, Bobb was at the head of the program for four of the school’s five men’s soccer national titles at the Division III level, a men’s soccer national runner-up finish in Division II and a third-place finish for women’s basketball at Division III in 1988. All told during Bobb’s 26 years, women’s basketball appeared in the NCAA Tournament seven times, men’s basketball twice, men’s soccer 16 times – including trips to the round of 16 four of the last five years, women’s soccer eight times, volleyball three times, baseball twice and softball once. During his tenure, UNCG teams won 37 conference tournament titles, 28 as an NCAA Division I member. They also won 67 conference regular season titles, 41 of those since moving to NCAA Division I.

Bobb was inducted into UNCG’s Athletics Hall of Fame in February 2008. He was also named the Division I Southeast Region Athletic Director of the Year at the NACDA Convention last summer.

Bobb was at the helm as well when UNCG Soccer Stadium was transformed into a venue for more than 10,000 fans and played host to the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship in 1997 and 1998. In both years, the site broke the record for championship game attendance with 9,460 in attendance the first year and 10,583 the following year – a number which still stands as the second-largest crowd to see a title game.

A 1970 graduate of Kent State (OH) with a bachelor’s degree in education, Bobb also holds a master’s degree in secondary education from Kent. As an undergraduate, he was a three-year letterwinner on the football team as an offensive guard and earned All-Academic recognition from the Mid-American Conference as a junior. He was an all-conference choice his senior year.

Richard “Dick” Broadus Culler (January 15, 1915 – June 16, 1964) born in High Point, North Carolina, was a shortstop for the Philadelphia Athletics (1936), Chicago White Sox (1943), Boston Braves (1944-47), Chicago Cubs (1948) and New York Giants (1949).

Culler attended High Point College where he was a three sport letterwinner playing baseball, basketball, and soccer. On the soccer field, Culler served as the coach and a player for three of his four years. He was captain of the basketball team and his #9 jersey was the first ever retired at the school. This honor would not be repeated for 28 years. As a baseball player, he was the first freshman to be named to the all-conference roster. At graduation, Culler was named the most outstanding athlete in High Point University’s history.

During his eight seasons in the professional leagues, he played in 472 games and totaled 1,527 at bats, 195 runs, 372 hits, 39 doubles, 6 triples, 2 home runs, 99 RBI, 19 stolen bases, 166 walks with a .244 batting average, a .320 on-base percentage and a .281 slugging percentage.

Following retirement from baseball, Culler devoted most of his time to officiating high school, ACC, and Southern Conference basketball games. He opened a sporting goods business in High Point and saw a demand for baseball player’s autographs. Culler developed a technique to transfer Major League player’s autograph’s to baseballs and started the Autographed Ball Company which sold balls at concession stands in ball parks across the country. The company still exists today at Autoball.
Dick married his High School sweetheart Evelyn and they raised three children: Dick, Jr., Nancy, and Larry. Dick Culler passed away on June 16, 1964 at the age of 49.

Johnny Evans (born February 18, 1956 (1956-02-18)in High Point, North Carolina) is a former professional American and Canadian football punter and quarterback and current radio sportscaster for the North Carolina State Wolfpack football team. He is also the Eastern NC Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Evans played high school football at High Point Andrews High School and was selected for the 1973 Shrine Bowl. Evans played under Coach Lou Holtz at NC State from 1974–1977, where he was a quarterback and punter.  Evans still ranks as NC State’s top punter both season and career statistics.  He was the Peach Bowl Outstanding Player in 1977 and was named the Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s College Athlete of the Year in 1978.  The Cleveland Browns picked Evans in the Second Round of the 1978 draft and he played three seasons as the Brown’s quarterback and punter.  Evans went on to play three more years in the Canadian Football League. 

Evans and his wife Beth have four children, quadruplets; Daniel, Andrew, Katherine, and Quinn.  Both Daniel and Andrew are members of the NC State football team.Â