Second Class Inducted into the Ashe County Sports Hall of Fame

By Joel Frady

The smell of barbecue and the sight of Ashe County sports memorabilia filled the hallways of Ashe County

High School on Saturday, April 25, as The Jeffersons Rotary Club hosted their second annual Ashe County Sports Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony. Hundreds gathered in the high school's auditorium shortly after 7 p.m. for the ceremony, in which three individuals and two teams were inducted into the hall of fame.

The first new inductee was Colonel C.E. Francis, who coached basketball at Healing Springs High School, Jefferson High School and Ashe Central High School. But the honor came with irony, however, as Francis passed away at his home on Saturday, April 18, exactly one week before the ceremony (although the list of inductees was announced late in March).

Graham Caddell of WKSK, who was the emcee of the event, wished "sympathies for you and yours" to family members of Francis who were on hand to accept the award.

Next to be inducted was William Bradley Lopp, who played football at Ashe Central High between 1979 and 1983. He moved on to play for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between 1984 and 1986.

Lopp thanked family, friends, neighbors and his coaches, saying, "they gave me the opportunity to be the best player and individual I could be."

Lane Hurley was the final individual honored at the ceremony. Hurley, who played three sports at Ashe Central High School, went on to letter in five sports at Lees-McRae College in the early 1960s before playing and coaching basketball at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

"The sports gave me an opportunity to see the world," Hurley said when the inductees were announced. "They paid for my college and got me a Ph.D. They made it possible, and I wouldn't have been able to go to school otherwise."

Hurley noted that he thinks "the county needs to encourage other athletes, and I think the sports hall of fame that we got started is a way of recognizing past exploits and possibly encouraging kids about sports and the varied ways that sports can help an individual grow, both althetically and intellectually."

At the induction ceremony, Hurley added that "behaving as a winner is a big part of success and overcoming failure." He also encouraged everyone present to "scream and holler at anyone that starts talking about cutting athletics budgets."

The ceremony also honored the 1961 and 1962 Lansing High School Football teams that went undefeated both years. Approximately 30 team members were present for the ceremony.

After each presentation, Caddell announced that each inductee was "forver officially enshrined into the Ashe County Sports Hall of Fame."

Vicky Moody, president of The Jeffersons Rotary Club, said that the point of the hall of fame is "to recognize sportsmen in all areas who had been in Ashe County." It does not just apply to "ball sports" like baseball, football, basketball or soccer, but can also include anyone who has excelled in other competitive sports like hunting, game fishing or racing.

To find out more about the Ashe County Sports Hall of Fame, or how to nominate someone for the class of 2010, contact Moody at (336) 977-1427 or e-mail AsheHallOfFame@aol.com.