The annual George Whitfield Hall of Fame inductions were held down in Goldsboro, N.C. back in mid-January and the this year’s 2020 class included locals Ethan Albright, from Grimsley High School, Dino Hackett from Southern Guilford High School and Bill Slayton, from Southeast Guilford High School…
Bill Slayton was the coach that led the 1969 Southeast Guilford Falcons baseball team to the 3-A State Championship…Dino Hackett played high school football for the Southern Guilford Indians/now SG Storm, plus he was a football standout at Appalachian State, and played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks…Ethan Albright played his football for the Grimsley Whirlies, the North Carolina Tar Heels and in the pros for the Washington Redskins, the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills among others…
Bill Slayton also coached football at Southeast Guilford HS, and was later the golf coach for the Eastern Guilford Wildcats…Hackett was also a standout baseball player in high school, at Southern Guilford HS…Albright played three sports at Grimsley, football, basketball and baseball and Ethan Albright is the current Athletic Director, at Grimsley High School…
from Avi Smolka in the Sports Department at the Goldsboro News Argus Newspaper…..
Winter is here, and that means it was time for the 49th annual George Whitfield Hall of Fame and baseball clinic this weekend.
Every year, the legendary coach toils through his mind to decide who will join his famous hall as the ceremony provides attendees with a light-hearted yet poignant look at the varied careers of some truly remarkable people and athletes.
And Whitfield, who organizes the ceremony from start to finish every year, once again covered all the bases.
The hall of fame ceremony is took place on Friday evening at Wayne Community College.
Before the hall of fame ceremony, Whitfield honored the Wilson Little League championship team, Parrott Academy’s girls’ soccer, tennis and volleyball teams, Special Olympian Ryan Woods, Mark Scalf, UMO women’s basketball head coach Wendy Lee, Jesse Lancaster, Erick Bakich, Jeff Burchett and Trinity High School’s Tyler Bova.
Bova, who received the courage award, was in a car crash in Utah that took his parents’ and his brother’s lives. Bova’s grandmother moved down from New York to help Tyler with his recovery.
And Tyler’s tremendous courage has enabled him to reach heights few thought he could reach after the tragic accident, and he currently attends the University of North Carolina Charlotte.
The annual clinic took place on Saturday, from 7:30-9:15 a.m., and every child got into the clinic for free and got a free lunch.
Parents were encouraged to stay. Attendance was free, but parents did have to pay $10 for the lunch.
The clinic gave kids and the parents an excellent opportunity to learn about America’s pastime(baseball) from people with in-depth knowledge of the game.
And this year’s class, a qualified consortium of character and poise includes, Ethan Albright(Grimsley High School), Billy Best, Hill Carrow, Kenny Dickerson, William ‘Bill’ Faircloth, Barbara Fox, David Gentry, Dino Hackett(Southern Guilford High School), A. Tyson Jennette, H. Martin Lancaster, H. Boyd Lee Jr, Monte Little, Rich McGeorge, Claude T. Moorman III, Don Osborne, Lindsey P. Page, Cory Scott, Reginald K. Sherard, Bill Slayton(Southeast Guilford High School), Brandon Spoon, Jimmy Teague, Henry Trevathan Jr, Curtis Walker, Brent Walters, Bill Warren, Wanda Watkins and Todd Wilkinson.