By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
In Wednesday's paper, I asked for any information about the W.S. Neal sports hall of fame.
I received an e-mail early Thursday morning with a response about the Hall of Fame at W.S. Neal. The response came from former sports editor Bruce Hixon.
Bruce enlightened me that the hall of fame is located next to the main office in school and that he had did a Progress story on it in 2004.
Bruce also said that current W.S. Neal principal Philip Ellis said at the time that nobody had been inducted for several years.
Thanks, Bruce, for the e-mail in response to the article.
After reading Bruce's e-mail, I looked in our archives and sure enough, there was the 2004 Progress edition titled “Rivalry,” with stories of T.R. Miller coach Jamie Riggs and his wife and former W.S. Neal coach Shane Smothers and his wife. There were stories of Brewton and East Brewton mayors Ted Jennings and Terry Clark talking about when they played football against each other, a history lesson with James Aubrey Wilson, articles about W.S. Neal and T.R. Miller's new athletic facility upgrades and the Hall of Fame story.
I won't go into the entire story but will point out the highlights. Still, if anyone has any information about this it will be greatly appreciated. Maybe we can revive the Hall of Fame at W.S. Neal.
In the 2004 Progress, Bruce quoted Ellis as saying, “The individuals who were selected for that year were recognized at homecoming, and the pictures of the athletes were on a plaque hanging up in a trophy case in the hallway. It had probably been close to 10 years since anyone had been inducted.”
Reading more into the article, I found that basketball players, baseball players, golf players were also in the Hall of Fame with the football players and administration that I named last week.
Here are some basketball names:
Jennifer Salter (1976-1978), Claude Alford (1952-1953), Ralph Ellis (1958-1960), Gilbert Emmons (1964-1966), Walter Holman (1961-1962), and Ray Davis (1961-1963).
Baseball names:
George Bethae (1946-1949), Tom Watson (1947-1950), Terry Jordan (1958-1961), Winston Lindsey (1964-1967), Jerry Dunaway (1964-1966), Charles Halford (1959-1962), Tommy Hawks (1959-1960), Roland Gibson (1960-1965), Wayne Salter (1957-1961), Terry Clark (1959-1963), and Danny Parker (1966-1968).
Golf names:
John Sale is the only golf name listed.
I hope this has been of interest to you, and like I said earlier, would like more information about this.
I hope all have a great week and until Wednesday when we meet again, God bless.