The North Carolina Athletic Directors Association (NCADA) is pleased to announce 28th Class of the NCADA Hall of Fame. We want to congratulate Ed Gilroy, Scott Jones, Jeff Morris, Mike Raybon(Ragsdale High School/Southwest Guilford High School), and Charles Simmons for being selected for induction into the 2022 NCADA Hall of Fame. It is a well-deserved and a great honor. They will be inducted during the NCADA Banquet at the Hotel Ballast in Wilmington at 6:00 pm on Monday, April 4th.
Induction into the NCADA Hall of Fame recognizes achievement and excellence in the field of athletic administration. Selection to the NCADA Hall of Fame is a four-step process including nomination, screened by the Hall of Fame Screening Committee, rated by the NCADA Executive Committee, and finally, the NCADA Board of Directors selects those individuals to be inducted. The 2022 class of five bring the total inductees to one hundred and seven (107).
Here is a closer look at this year’s honorees:
Ed Gilroy, CMAA
Ed Gilroy spent over 40 years in education. He taught for 12 years in New Jersey, 1 year in South Carolina before starting his NC years at Hoggard High School with the last 27+ years with the Pender County School system before retiring in 2019. He taught Social Studies and coached Track & Field, Cross-Country, Football, Basketball, and Golf over that time.
Ed graduated from St. Joseph (now Donovan Catholic) High School in Toms River, N.J. where he was the captain of their State Championship XC team. He then ran XC for 4 years and was captain his Jr. and Sr. year at Ursinus College (Pa.)
In 2002, after 10 years at Pender High School, Ed moved to Heide Trask High School as the Athletic Director at the new school. While at HTHS, the Titans won 2 State Championships in Track and the Cheer Squad won a Scholar-Athlete championship. They hosted conferences and regional championships in several sports.
Ed has been active with Professional Development. He has taken over a dozen NFHS classes and 50 different NIAAA LTI classes. Ed has been on the NCADA teaching faculty since 2009 and has presented over 40 times. He received his CAA in 2005 and CMAA in 2012. Ed served as conference president for 3 different conferences for 13 of the 18 years as AD. He is also an NFHS coach and a certified T&F official. Ed currently serves as the NCADA State Coordinator for Professional Development.
Ed was inducted into the Donovan Catholic High School Hall of Fame in 2005 and his Pender High School Girl’s T&F team is in the Pender High School Hall of Fame. He was the Pender High School Teacher of the Year in 1997 and has been recognized by the NCHSAA Region 2 Special Person Award in 2013 and has served on the NCHSAA Grant Committee for the last 3 years. Ed has served on the NCADA Board of Directors for 4 years and received several awards from the NCADA. Those awards include Region 2 AD of the Year (2017), Athletic Director of the Year (2018), and Gerald McGee Award of Excellence in 2021.
The pride of his life, Ed has three grown sons – Ryan and his wife Kristin, Shane, Tyler and his wife Jaime, and a wonderful grandson, Cannon.
K. Scott Jones, CAA
Scott Jones was an athletic director, teacher, and coach for 27 ½ years. He worked for 4 years at New Bern High School. Scott is currently in his 4th year as the ISS Coordinator at Hickory Middle School and coached basketball at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is a 1982 graduate of Camden County High School. Scott played football at Western Carolina University in 1982 and 1983 until a serious knee injury ended his playing career, when he then transferred to East Carolina University, graduating in 1988.
Scott began his professional career in 1988 at New Bern High School, where he taught social studies and coached football, basketball, and tennis. In 1992, Scott was named the head football coach at Camden County High School, where his teams won 6 conference titles. He was named Conference Coach of the Year 5 times, the 1996 Region 1 Coach of the Year, and in 2004 served as an assistant coach in the NCCA East/West All-Star Game. He ended his career with a 150-124 record over 21 seasons. Scott also coached softball and basketball during his time at Camden.
In 1994 Scott became the Camden County High School Athletic Director and served in that capacity until retiring in 2015. During his tenure, Camden County High School won 8 Wachovia/Wells Fargo Conference Cups. In 2000 Scott attended his first NCADA Conference at Emerald Isle, where he asked Jerry McGee about getting involved with the NCADA. Jerry put him to work behind the scenes, which Scott continued until becoming a Board member in 2004. According to Scott, a huge part of tonight was made possible by the example and mentorship of “Coach McGee.”
Scott served on various advisory boards and held leadership positions, as well as earning a professional certification while at Camden: NC Football Coaches Board of Directors 1998-2002, NC Coaches Association Board of Directors 2004-2008, NC Athletic Directors Association Board of Directors 2004-2008, NC High School Athletic Association Nominating Committee 2011-2015, and President of the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association 2009-2010. Scott also became a Nationally Certified Athletic Administrator in 2010. He was honored with the NCHSAA 8 Who Make A Difference Award in 1995, CCHS Teacher of the Year awards in 1995-96 and 2002-03, Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Award for Region 1 in 2011, NIAAA State Award of Merit in 2015, and the NCHSAA Special Person Award in 2015.
Scott has been married to Linda, the love of his life and person that has made all this possible, for 28 years. Scott and Linda have 1 daughter, Lauren, son-in-law JT, and granddaughters Kaiden and Sawyer. Scott and Linda reside in Camden.
Jeff Morris, CMAA
Jeff Morris has been serving in public education since 1995 when he began teaching and coaching with Colquitt County Schools in Moultrie, Georgia. After earning his Masters in Athletic Administration in 2004, Morris made the move to North Carolina where he began a career as an athletic administrator with Gray Stone Day School in Misenheimer, North Carolina. He served Gray Stone as a head soccer coach, director of athletics, associate director, principal, and head of school. Currently, he serves as the Head of School at Bethany Community School in Summerfield, North Carolina.
Morris enjoyed a 20-year coaching career leading soccer programs in Georgia and North Carolina. He was fortunate enough to accumulate more than 300 wins before retiring from coaching in 2015. During his time as an athletic administrator, programs under his leadership accumulated more than 90 conference titles and four times was recognized with the conference’s Excellence in Athletics award given to the most successful program each year.
His involvement with the NCADA began in 2006 when he first started taking LTI courses at the state conference. Since that time, Morris has taken more than 34 courses and served on the state and national faculty as an instructor. Morris has three times been recognized with the Rusty Lee Professional Development Award by the NCADA. In 2007, Morris earned his Certified Athletic Administrator and completed his Certified Master Athletic Administrator certification in 2014. Also, he received the NCADA Leadership of Merit Award in 2019, NCADA Athletic Director of the Year in 2020, and the NCADA State Award of Merit presented by the NIAAA in 2021.
Morris also served on the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association Board of Directors and represented the NCADA on the NCHSAA Board of Directors. He served as president of the NCADA during the pivotal transition following the retirement of longtime Executive Director, Jerry McGee. Morris has worked with the NCADA leadership team in conference development and the professional development program.
Morris was recognized at the 2020 NIAAA National Conference with the Bruce Whitehead Distinguished Service Award and in 2021 with NCHSAA’s Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Award.
Mike Raybon, CAA
(Coach Raybon from Ragsdale High School and Southwest Guilford High School)
Mike Raybon, CAA began his athletic career at Bandy’s High School in Catawba, N.C. as a scorekeeper for the baseball team and a manager for the basketball team. As a student at Appalachian State, he discovered wrestling which became his passion despite his first practice ending with a trip to the emergency room for a shoulder separation.
When Mike was hired as a Special Education teacher at Ragsdale High School in Jamestown in 1965, he was successful in starting the wrestling program after convincing Principal T.G. Madison to invest in a wrestling mat which was laid out in storage room illuminated by 2 light bulbs. Mike coached the wrestling team until 1984 during which time his teams won 3 State Championships, he had 8 State Champions and 2 All-American wrestlers. During the years of 1972-1980, Mike served as Athletic Director and was also serving as Assistant Principal from 1972-1995.
The years 1965-1984 led Mike to become one of the first 3 inductees to the North Carolina Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. In addition to leading many teams during that time, Mike directed over 300 tournaments at the local, regional, and state levels. In 1991, Mike initiated changing the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 1A/2A, 3A, 4A wrestling tournaments at 3 sites to all classes at one site and served as Director for what has been called “the premier High School Wrestling Tournament in the southeast” from 1991-1995. Since 1995 Mike has continued to serve the tournament as Special Consultant in many roles as requested by the Tournament Director.
Mike traveled abroad with the United States North Carolina Wrestling Team and coached them when they wrestled in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In 1987 Mike was transferred to Southwest Guilford High School as Assistant Principal where he continued to support the academic, athletic, and creative programs.
As Mike was considering retirement in 1991, he received a phone call from then Principal at Ragsdale High School Kathy Rogers offering him the position of Athletic Director. It took him about 2 seconds to say yes to something that had always been his dream. From 1991 until his retirement in 2008, Mike was present at every athletic event and school function.
Mike has received many awards from the community and his peers in recognition of his service to coaches and student-athletes. These include North Carolina Coach of the Year in 1979 and 1982, Guilford County Administrator of the Year, NCHSAA Wrestling Official of the Year, NCHSAA People’s Choice Award, North Carolina Athletic Directors AD of the Year, NCHSAA Hall of Fame, and Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame
In recognition of his service to the community and the school, in 2010 the gymnasium at Ragsdale High School was named the “Mike Raybon Gymnasium” in his honor. Also, the Guilford County Classic Wrestling Tournament has been re-named “The Mike Raybon Invitational Tournament”.
Charles Simmons
Charles Simmons, athletic director of Hertford County High School is a native of Forest City, NC. After graduating from East Rutherford High, he earned an AA degree in Health & Physical Education from Louisburg College (1975) and his BS in Health and Physical Education from UNC Pembroke in 1977. He attended ASU for additional graduate-level courses before accepting a position as a teacher in Hertford County Public Schools in 1981. In 1991, he was named the Athletic Director of Hertford County High. During his tenure, Coach Simmons has been active at the local and state level in athletic administration. Serving on the NC Athletic Directors Board of Directors (1995-99), the NC Coaches Association Board of Directors (2003-07), and as the President of NC Coaches Association in 2009.
He has received the following state recognitions: 2019 NCAAHPERD-SM School AD of the Year, 2013 NCHSAA Dave Harris AD of the Year, and the 2013 NCADA State AD of the Year. He was honored by being named an inductee to the 1993 East Rutherford High School Hall of Fame.
Coach Simmons resides in Ahoskie and is active in his local community. He is the proud father of Evan Simmons, a senior at Grambling State University.
NCADA Hall of Fame Banquet Information
Each new inductee will be introduced by a special video presentation and will receive a commemorative NCADA Hall of Fame ring from Southern Recognition in honor of the induction. The NCADA Hall of Fame is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an individual in the profession. We encourage former players, coaches, colleagues, and friends to share lasting memories. Please plan to join us in Wilmington as we celebrate the lifetime of achievement and impact these individuals have had on our profession and their communities.
If you would like to attend the banquet on Monday, 4/4 at the Hotel Ballast at 6:00 pm, please go to https://www.ncada.net/page/show/2715856-2022-ncada-sc-program for more information and tickets.