The Bakers, Mike Hogewood, Charlie Brown, Ed Price, Megan Jeidy, Kim Jones, Susie Black, Rodney James, Joyce Spruill, all on the way to Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame

FATHER-SON COMBO HIGHLIGHTS GUILFORD CO. SPORTS HALL OF FAME CLASS

GREENSBORO – The Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame adds 10 new members with the Class of 2021 announced Wednesday.

The class is headed by the first father and son combination to be inducted at the same time, Tony Baker and Toney Baker, both renowned football players from the area.

Also in the laureates class are outstanding coaches Charlie Brown and Rodney James, soccer star Megan Jeidy Crotts, track and field athlete Kim Jones, multi-sport athlete and coach Joyce Spruill, top North Carolina tennis player Susie Black Wall, and Ed Price, a longtime advocate for youth sports in High Point.

A final selection is the late Mike Hogewood, who was a member of the media for 42 years. He is a member of the Legends Class, created in 2010 for posthumous induction.

This is the 16th class of athletes, coaches, contributors and members of the media to be inducted into the Hall, which was created in 2005. This class increases membership to 175 and is the first in two years. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, no class was selected in 2020.

The inductees will be introduced at a virtual press conference at the Greensboro Coliseum at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

The induction reception and banquet will be held on Monday, Sept. 20, at the coliseum. Tickets for the reception and banquet are $90 and can be ordered with the ticket order form found on the GCSHOF website (gcshof.org).

Biographies of the Class of 2021 follow in alphabetical order:

TONEY BAKER
Toney Baker was recognized as one of the best high school football players in the nation at Ragsdale High School when he graduated in 2005. As a four-year starter, he rushed for 10,241 yards and scored 131 touchdowns. He was second in rushing for his career statewide and fifth in rushing yards (3,411) in one season when he completed his high school career. He also ranked third in career rushing yards in national high school history, and that total still places him in the top 20. As a senior, he was Conference Player of the Year and North Carolina Player of the Year. He also played in the Shrine Bowl and U.S. Army All-American games. Baker was named to the USA Today All-USA High School Football Team and his jersey was retired at Ragsdale. He had an injury-filled career at North Carolina State, missing two seasons with a severe knee injury. Baker totaled 2,721 rushing and receiving yards with 21 touchdowns. He received the Brian Piccolo Award as the Most Courageous Player from the Atlantic Coast Conference. He signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos but was not able to play in the NFL due to his injury.

TONY BAKER
Tony Baker was an exceptional football player at Andrews High School while also excelling in track and field. He rushed for over 1,600 yards as a senior while leading Andrews to the 1981 state 4-A semifinals. He was selected Conference Player of the Year and was a member of the All-State team while also playing in the Shrine Bowl and East-West All-Star games. Baker is still a record-holder at Andrews in the long jump. He attended East Carolina University, where he started at tailback for four years. He was voted Outstanding Freshman in 1982, Most Valuable Offensive Player as a senior in 1986, and was named an Honorable Mention All-American as a senior. He is the fourth leading rusher in ECU history. Baker was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1986, played three seasons with the Cleveland Browns and one year with the Phoenix Cardinals. He also played two years with the Frankfort Galaxy of the World Football League, leading the league in all-purpose yards and finishing second in rushing. He was runner-up for league MVP and in 2017 was among a large group of “Pioneers of the Game” who were honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Baker was inducted into the Andrews Hall of Fame in 2016.

CHARLIE BROWN
Charlie Brown has had an exceptional career as a cross country and track and field coach since the early 1980s. He competed as a cross country and track athlete at Grimsley High School, graduating in 1977. He then was a track athlete at the University of North Carolina for two seasons, graduating in 1981. Brown founded the Greensboro Pacesetters Club in 1979 and the Greensboro Cross Country Invitational in 1983. He has coached at least 21 USA National Junior Olympic track and field athletes as well as multiple national champions at various high schools. In 2005, Brown coached the USA cross country team at the IAAF World Championships in France and coached the USA Junior team at the NCAC Cross Country championships. He has served as the meet director in multiple USA Track and Field National and World Qualifying Meets as well as a variety of high school and college meets. Brown coached state championship teams in both cross country and track and field at Greensboro Day School and coached the boys North Carolina 3-A state championship team in indoor track and field in 2009 at Southwest Guilford High School, as well as the girls state runner-up teams in 2002 and 2003.

MEGAN JEIDY CROTTS
A highly accomplished soccer player at Northwest Guilford High School, Crotts was named North Carolina Player of the Year in addition to being a McDonald’s All-American and Parade magazine All-American as a senior in 1994. She was twice named Conference and Regional Player of the Year and selected to play in the East-West All-Star game. Crotts played one season with the Raleigh Spartans soccer club, winning the 1995 national championship as she was named both MVP of the Final Four and won the Fair Play Sportsmanship Award. The Spartans team was inducted into the NC Soccer Hall of Honor in 2013. Crotts played four seasons at North Carolina State and was named All-ACC, All-South Region and to the ACC All-Tournament team in 1995. After college, Crotts played between 1998-2000 with the Raleigh Wings of the United Soccer League W-League, with her team winning two league titles and being runner-up in the third season. After the 1999 World Cup win by the U.S. women’s national team, the Woman’s United Soccer League was formed as the first professional soccer league for women. Crotts was a member of the Bay Area (California) Cyber Rays in 2001, which won the WUSA inaugural Founders Cup championship.

MIKE HOGEWOOD
Mike Hogewood was a decorated sportscaster for 42 years in the Triad area and beyond. A graduate of Grimsley High School and Lenoir-Rhyne College, he began his career in 1976 as a sports reporter in Charlotte, then was sports director in Fort Myers, FL, and Birmingham until 1985. Between 1985-2000, Hogewood was the sports director at WGHP-TV in High Point and then at WFMY-TV in Greensboro, where he created Friday Night Football Fever. Afterward, he worked for the ACC Regional Sports Network for years, serving as an on-site host, sideline reporter, and play-by-play announcer for a variety of sports. Additionally, he worked with the Jefferson Pilot/Raycom Sports Network for over 25 years, notably covering ACC football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball. Hogewood’s additional broadcast affiliations include Webstream Sports, ESPN3, SPEED channel, TNN, and the Turner/TNT/TBS networks. Hogewood earned a multitude of awards for regional and state reporting from various organizations, including two Southeastern Regional Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2001 and 2006. He passed away in 2018.

RODNEY JAMES
Rodney James was an outstanding wrestler and wrestling coach. He was a member of the wrestling team at Grimsley High School for three years and also played football for two years. The wrestling team was the 1974 runner-up in the North Carolina state championships while James, as a senior, was an individual state champion in his weight class in 1974. He graduated from North Carolina A&T State University in 1978, where he was the first four-year MEAC wrestling champion in his weight class with his team winning the MEAC championship in 1975 and 1976. He was voted three times the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the MEAC and went on to be the NCAA Division I Eastern Regional individual runner-up in 1977. James was named the Most Outstanding Athlete at A&T in 1978. He coached at Grimsley High School, George Washington High School in Virginia and Reidsville High School during his career, posting over 300 wins and earning Mid-State 2-A conference Coach of the Year honors. James was honored with the “2 Those Who Care” Award in 1997 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Winston-Salem Chronicle in 1998. He was inducted into the A&T Hall of Fame in 1996.

KIM JONES
The embodiment of an exceptional athlete, Kim Jones played volleyball for four years, basketball for three years and excelled in both indoor and outdoor track for four years at Grimsley High School, graduating in 1999. She won the North Carolina state championship in the long jump four times and was the NC champion in the Indoor 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles in 1998 and 1999. Jones was the national high school champion in the indoor long jump in 1998, the 1999 outdoor long jump and 100-meter hurdles, and was named the 1999 MVP for the Nike/New Balance National High School Championships. She attended Florida State University, where she was All-ACC for three years; an ACC track and field event champion eight times; Most Valuable Performer in track and field at Florida State; an NCAA All-American in 2002 and 2003; and competed in multiple international events. Jones earned All-ACC Academic honors all four years and was a member of the FSU Academic Honor Society. She served as an assistant coach at Florida State, with the Christian Crusaders Youth Track & Field Club and has been a personal coach for multiple high school athletes. Jones has been a member of the FSU Varsity Club Board of Directors since 2011.

ED PRICE
Serving as a champion of youth sports in High Point has been a lifelong passion of Ed Price, a graduate of High Point Central High School and Wake Forest University. Since the 1970s, he has been a significant force in the expansion of youth sports while fund-raising and building new facilities in High Point, coaching youth teams and founding youth tournaments. He headed the drive to build a new YMCA complex in the early 1980s and in 1990, the City of High Point completed an extensive athletic complex named for Price. He founded invitational tournaments in soccer, baseball and basketball during the 1990s while also founding and chairing the High Point Youth Sports Council. He organized and coached multiple youth sport teams over the years, including the Gators AAU under-12 basketball team, which won a national championship. Price served as president of both the HP Central and HP Andrews booster clubs during the 1980s and 1990s. For his efforts, he has been presented the High Point Jaycees Distinguished Service Award (1976), the Salvation Army Man and Youth Award (1992), Humanitarian of the Year (2005), Citizen of the Year (2009) and the NAACP B. Elton Cox Award (2018), among other honors.

JOYCE SPRUILL
An accomplished high school and college athlete as well as a coach, Joyce Spruill has had a significant impact on Guilford County sports since the late 1960s. She graduated from Dudley High School in 1970, where she participated in track and field, volleyball, basketball and softball. During her senior year, Dudley won the city-wide championship in basketball with Spruill as the leading scorer and rebounder. She also led the Panthers to a city-wide championship in track and field and was voted Athlete of the Year at Dudley. From 1971-1975, Spruill continued her athletic career at North Carolina A&T State University, starring in basketball as the team’s leading scorer and rebounder during her junior and senior years. After graduation, she served from 1975-1979 as the school’s first Director of Women’s Athletics before beginning her coaching career at A&T, where her basketball teams twice won the NCAIAW District III championship and finished second in the NCAIAW Division II and Division III state tournaments. As the Aggies’ softball coach, her team won a championship in the NCAIAW Division I tournament. She later coached at Bennett College, twice winning the NC-VA Women’s College Tournament championship and having one second-place finish. She also had seven second-place finishes in the NC-Georgia women’s college tournaments. Spruill was inducted into the NC A&T Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Dudley Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

SUSAN “SUSIE” BLACK WALL
One of the most accomplished tennis players in the City of Greensboro and the State of North Carolina, Susie Wall won the North Carolina state 4-A singles championship in both her junior and senior years while a student at Page High School. She also led her team to the 4-A state championship as a senior in 1974. While a youth player in Greensboro, Wall won the Sportsmanship Award in the 16-Under NC Closed Tournament. She attended the University of North Carolina, where she was the number one singles player during her sophomore and junior years. Between 1975-1999, Wall was one of the best amateur tennis players in North Carolina, winning won 19 state championships and finishing runner-up 13 times. In 2009, the Alamance Junior Tennis Foundation established the “Susie Black Wall Determination Award” while she was inducted earlier that year into the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame.