There is no doubt that in 60 years, West has been home to a multitude of extraordinarily talented athletes. That history will be honored and recognized, as the first class of the new West Forsyth Athletics Hall of Fame will be inducted this Saturday. Over the years, West has housed many high achievers in every sport, and there is certainly plenty of excitement around the ceremony.
“I think it’s way overdue because our school is over 60 years old and there are so many deserving athletes that have been the cornerstone of our athletic program, starting in 1964 until now,” Co-Athletic Director Shannon Casey said.
Sifting through decades of athletic achievement and narrowing down the deserving athletes to a list of 13 is quite a difficult task, but the nomination process in place allows the committee to be as thorough as possible.
“Nominations are open all the way through January of each year and can be done by anyone, athletes, alumni, students, teachers, even athletes’ families. Once someone is nominated, even if they do not get inducted that year, they will stay in the voting pool each year,” Principal Kevin Spainhour said.
Once nominations are closed each year, a group of anonymous voters then meet to discuss and vote on which nominees will be installed in that year’s class.
As far as this first class of inductees goes, the athletes who will be inducted this Saturday include:
Tyrone Anthony (Football)
Laquanda Barksdale Quick (Women’s Basketball and Volleyball)
James Coghill (Athletic Trainer)
Norma Harbin (Athletics Director)
Mendy Mackenzie Pack (Softball)
Durwood Pack (Athletics Director)
Chris Paul (Men’s Basketball)
Jerry Peoples (Principal)
Titcus Pettigrew (Football)
Jerry Smith (Baseball, Basketball, Football)
Julie Smith Dover (Cross Country, Swimming, Track and Field)
Not only is the hall of fame being introduced this weekend, the administration also plans to unveil a new West Forsyth online trophy case, which serves as a way for the school to highlight and display the many accomplishments made by every sports team.
“We’ve got way too many trophies for the amount of space that we have to store them so one of the things that we’re rolling out with this hall of fame weekend is we’re rolling out a brand new digital trophy case. This will be a digital way for all of the sports teams to be honored through an online platform,” Spainhour said.
The Hall of Fame festivities will begin this Friday night during the home football game against Mount Tabor, as the Hall of Fame inductees will be honored in a ceremony at halftime for everyone to watch.
This weekend marks the beginning of what looks to be a great tradition for the athletics program and the school as a whole.