Western Guilford High School Loses Another Good One:Former WG Hornets’ Soccer and Football Star Gone at age 46(Kirk Powers son of well-known Wrestler and Promoter, Johnny Powers/IWA)

**********Kirk Powers funeral arrangements:Memorial Service for Kirk Powers will held on Saturday June 20 at 11am…Location will be Forsyth Memorial Park, 3771 Yadkinville Road, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27106…Casual dress and all info coming in from Kirk Powers’ brother, Sean Powers….***********

Gone way too soonKirk Powers, the former Western Guilford Hornets’ soccer player and football kickerKirk Powers from the Western Guilford Class of 1992, a former Hornets star, who unfortunately, his star has burned out…Kirk Powers gone at age 46 and his memories are left for those knew him and followed him, and those memories will have to carry on the legacy of Kirk Powers, the former WG Hornet

Kirk Powers holds the record for the longest field goal in Western Guilford football history, and our numbers tell up it was a 49-yard FG by KP, that came in his senior year at WG…(The FG was a strong line-driver that just made it across the cross-bar, and former WG QB JT/John Thomas, said it was a beautiful boot/kick.)

Well-liked by all of his friends at Western Guilford HS and strong in his academic work, ranking right at #2 in his senior class, at WG…

Kirk attended UNC-Charlotte(1 year at Charlotte and graduated college from UC Santa Barbra) and he lived and worked out in California for about 10 years, but he had moved back to North Carolina, and had been living here for the past four years….
(Kirk Powers leaves behind a 12 year-old daughter, Sienna.)

Kirk was a big athlete in his overall size and in performance, standing at 6’2 and weighing in at around 190 pounds…That made for a very big attacker in soccer and also made for one of the larger-sized high school football kickers, that you would find at any school in the state..

From a GreensboroSports.com perspective, I first met Kirk back in the early 1980’s when he was attending the YMCA Day Camp at Camp Weaver, and Kirk must have been about 10 years old at that time…He was a big kid even way back then…

We had our daily day camp activities and one of our main sports, and the game we played the most, was soccer….I was in charge of the YMCA day camp athletic activities, and we would have plenty of activities planned out for each day of the week, Monday-Friday, but most of the time, we would just say “let’s just scrap all those plans, and let’s just play soccer all day long”, and that is pretty much what we did….

We would start playing soccer from the time the kids got off of the bus, until they went home at 5pm each day….Our soccer field was covered with lovely green grass when the YMCA Summer Day Camp season began, and by the time we were halfway through that Summer, our soccer field looked like a field that you would find deep in poverty-stricken Columbia…You know the Columbia, in South America…

As you might expect, Kirk Powers was one of our top/main soccer players and he loved playing that game all day long, just like the other kids and we had like Robbie and Chris Baugh, Chris and Mary Glover, and all of those kids and especially Kirk, they all went on to become outstanding soccer players, in high school….We had a little kid(in size) named Andrew, and he was very quick and agile with his feet and he probably went to be a very good soccer player too, on the high school level…

But, Kirk, Robbie, Chris Baugh, Chris Glover, Mary Glover and Andrew, most all of them were around 8-10 years old, back in the early 80’s at that YMCA day camp…Chris Baugh was a bit on the young side and Mary was a bit older, but all of those kids could play soccer and Kirk Powers was outstanding….

You end up missing those old days and I hadn’t seen Kirk Powers since back in those early 80’s on the soccer field at the Y Day Camp, but I kept up with his soccer and football careers, after he ended up at Western Guilford HS…

I was able to read about and follow his soccer success, and I read/heard about his record-breaking field goal for the Western Guilford football team…

And then this week, I was surfing through the Facebook news on the Facebook page, and I saw the sad news on Kirk Powers coming in from a post by Enad Haddad

Here is what Enad was sharing:

Sad news I wanted to share. My longtime friend Kirk Powers passed on at the age 46. I wanted to get this out there per request of his older brother Sean. Many of you knew him. Western Guilford Class of 1992. I will make a larger post later w pictures/plans for service. Please contact his brother Sean Powers to reach out.

Kirk’s brother Sean is working on getting his father into America from Canada, so the funeral arrangements will be planned around that. I will let everyone know….

Again, that is Enad Haddad from Facebook….

***********We remember and say RIP:Kirk Powers….Just a kid playing some soccer with his friends, at the YMCA Day Camp, and boy, how he loved that game…***********

Here are some photos of Kirk Powers that you can Click On to and we will be posting more photos tomorrow/Saturday…

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https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10223141225663599&set=pcb.10223141229583697

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10223141226983632&set=pcb.10223141229583697

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10223129531771259&set=pcb.10223123735466355

++++++++++Here are some footnotes on Kirk Powers’ father, Johnny Powers who was well-known in Greensboro and throughout the world, back in his wrestling days, and he hit the scene hard here in Greensboro, with the IWA, back in the mid-to-late 1970’s…..

Kirk Powers father(Johnny Powers) was a professional wrestler. Once defeated Ric Flair. Original last name was Waters. It was changed to Powers for wrestling purposes. His father is from Canada and still lives there. The reason he came to North Carolina was for wrestling in late 70s.

Johnny Powers ran the old IWA/International Wrestling Association here in Greensboro and it ran matches at the old Piedmont Sports Arena on Norwalk Street, off of West Wendover Avenue..

Johnny Powers came to Greensboro, by way of Chicago, where Eddie Einhorn, the old owner of the Chicago White Soxs, was running the IWA in Chicago…

The IWA had The Masked Superstar, The Mighty Igor, Dick the Bulldog Brower, Tex McKenzie, and more…

I was once gave Johnny Powers people a phone call back in the late 70’s, when I was looking to possibly drop college and go into professional wrestling…

Glad I stayed in college…Johnny Powers used to live out at the old Carolina Circle Apartments for a period of time….The IWA also ran shows at the Winston-Salem Coliseum, along with the Piedmont Sports Arena on Norwalk Street…..

I also added this to our comments section….++++++++++

9 thoughts on “Western Guilford High School Loses Another Good One:Former WG Hornets’ Soccer and Football Star Gone at age 46(Kirk Powers son of well-known Wrestler and Promoter, Johnny Powers/IWA)

  1. Learned this afternoon/Saturday that another Western Guilford Hornet has left us…

    Outstanding female athlete…

    Jeannie Teague from the WGHS Class of ’75

    Word coming from Bobby Christiansen at Facebook:

    Just got word this morning from Jeannie Teague’s brother Jeff that she passed away this morning in Boone where she has lived since going to App State.

    She had been in Hospice the past week following the last several years of declining health due to a neurological disease. No details yet on her service.

    Jeannie Teague outstanding female athlete who played volleyball, basketball, ran track and played golf…She was one Coach Mickie Tuttle’s top female athletes at WG…

    She was in that WG senior Class of 1975 with Mark Guenther, Mark Coble, Roscoe Judd, Bobby Christiansen, Evelyn Dorn Michaels(now deceased), and others…

    Like I said, one heck of a an athlete, male or female, Jeannie Teague….She was great, even back in her days at the old Guilford Junior High School…..

    Tough week for those in the athletic circles at Western Guilford High School…

    RIP:Kirk Powers and Jeannie Teague….

  2. Kirk Powers father(Johnny Powers) was a professional wrestler. Once defeated Ric Flair. Original last name was Waters. It was changed to Powers for wrestling purposes. His father is from Canada and still lives there. The reason he came to North Carolina was for wrestling in late 70s.

    Johnny Powers ran the old IWA/International Wrestling Association here in Greensboro and it ran matches at the old Greensboro Sports Arena on Norwalk Street off of West Wendover Avenue..

    Johnny Powers came to Greensboro, by way of Chicago, where Eddie Einhorn, the old owner of the Chicago White Soxs was running the IWA in Chicago…

    The IWA had The Masked Superstar, The Mighty Igor, Dick the Bulldog Brower, Tex McKenzie, and more…

    I was once gave Johnny Powers people a phone call back in the late 70’s when I was looking to possible drop college and go into professional wrestling…

    Glad I stayed in college…Johnny Powers used to live out at the old Carolina Circle Apartments for a period of time….The IWA also rans shows at the Winston-Salem Coliseum, along with the Greensboro Sports Arena on Norwalk Street…..

  3. Very tough week for the Western Guilford High School core group….

    Add in Luther Gilmer to list of those who have died this week…I played football with Big Luther back in 1973…He was a big kid/young man and he was a well-known in the Collins Grove community, out off of Fleming Road….

    “Big Luther”, he said he used to get strong carrying/moving/throwing BIG rocks down in ‘The Grove”….

    Luther Gilmer former classmate of WGHS ’74.

    Luther Gilmer Dies in Greensboro Pedestrian Crash on Pisgah Church Road near North Church Street
    Greensboro, North Carolina (May 30, 2020)

    A Greensboro man was killed overnight while trying to cross a road, police said.

    Luther Gilmer, 64, attempted to walk across Pisgah Church Road near North Church Street while not at a cross walk at about 4:30 a.m. Friday, police said.

    A driver traveling west bound on Pisgah Church Rd tried to avoid Gilmer but was unsuccessful.

    Investigators said that Gilmer was transported to Moses Cone Hospital and died as a result of his injuries.

    Investigation is ongoing with Crash Reconstruction.

    Anyone with information about this crash is asked to contact Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000.

  4. Luther used to help players on the other football team up off the ground. Coach told him that was fine, but to wait until after the whistle had blown.

  5. Hey Bill,

    That’s a great point…Luther was like a “Gentle Giant”…

    Hornet 77 probably remembers all of these Hornets….

  6. The Obituary for Jeannie Teague….

    Jeannie Marie Teague, age 63, of Herring Loop, Boone, passed away Friday evening, June 5, 2020, at Watauga Medical Center.

    Jeannie was born May 9, 1957 in Guilford County, North Carolina, a daughter of the late William Jefferson Teague, Sr. and Marie Elliott Teague. She was a retired Real Estate Broker and a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. My dear sister, Jeannie, passed away yesterday about 11:30 pm ending her suffering. We will be celebrating her life late next week. I’ll post the details.

    Jeannie was beautiful in Heart and Soul. May God continue to Bless her as she joins him in Heaven!

    She is survived by one brother, William Jefferson “Jeff” Teague, Jr.; one niece, Ashley Teague of Marietta, Georgia, and one nephew, William J. Teague, III of Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

    We will have the service at 11 am on Friday, June 12th, 2020 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Boone, NC. N.C. requires the gathering to be 25 people or less for this outside service. We will attempt to provide a Zoom connection. We will update this Obituary with details. If interested, please let us know and send us your email address.

    Online condolences may be sent to the Teague family at http://www.hamptonfuneralnc.com

    Hampton Funeral and Cremation Service is in charge of the arrangements.

  7. Luther William Gilmer Obituary

    Here is Luther William Gilmer’s obituary. Please accept Everhere’s sincere condolences.

    It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Luther William Gilmer (Greensboro, North Carolina), who passed away on June 1, 2020, at the age of 64, leaving to mourn family and friends. Family and friends are welcome to send flowers or leave their condolences on this memorial page and share them with the family.

    A memorial service was held on Saturday, June 6th 2020 at 11:00 AM at 5210 Collins Grove Church Rd, Greensboro, NC 27410.

  8. Kirk was in all my classes from fourth grade until our senior year. We lost touch after high school but I still remember him as the smart athletic guy with a really loud laugh. He was athletic, popular, smart, and very funny. I’m sure his family misses him dearly.

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