Raleigh, N.C.----Wingate University president Dr. Jerry McGee is one of eight new members in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. In addition to Dr. McGee, the new members include Wilt Browning, Wray Carlton, M.L. Carr, Sam Esposito, Kristi Overton Johnson, Lennie Rosenbluth and Henry Trevathan.
 
Dr. McGee and his N.C. Sports Hall of Fame classmates will be enshrined Thursday, May 10 at the 49th annual induction banquet. The evening event will be held in the main ballroom of the North Raleigh Hilton. An afternoon news conference will be held Wednesday, May 9 (4 p.m.) at the North Carolina Museum of History, home of the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
 
“Sports officials and administrators neither seek nor expect such recognition,” Dr. McGee says. “Sports have played a major role in my life. It’s humbling to realize that others value my contributions.”
 
“On behalf of Wingate’s athletic administrators, coaches and student-athletes, I offer our congratulations and our enthusiastic support for Dr. McGee’s induction to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame,” Wingate vice-president and director of athletics Steve Poston says. “The successes the Bulldogs have achieved during his tenure are a direct result of his commitment to the young men and women who have passed through our gates.”
 
Wingate has won the South Atlantic Conference’s Echols Athletic Excellence Award five years in a row. Wingate is the first current SAC school to win five consecutive Echols Athletic Excellence Awards. Bulldog student-athletes are also making their mark in the classroom.
 
Wingate is number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 51 Academic All-America® honorees and 56 SAC Scholar-Athlete Award winners (both lifetime totals) are tops among all SAC schools.
 
As a college football referee, Dr. McGee has officiated 400 college games during the past 40 years. He was routinely selected for post-season assignments including the inaugural ACC Championship game, the Florida Citrus Bowl (twice), the Rose Bowl (twice), the Gator Bowl (twice), the Army/Navy game (twice), the Orange Bowl, the Liberty Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Snow Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, the Motor City Bowl, the Houston Bowl, the Las Vegas Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Golden Isle Bowl (three times) and the Holiday Bowl.
 
Dr. McGee was selected on three occasions to officiate games which determined the NCAA Division I national championship. Fittingly, his final on-the-field officiating duty was the 2009 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) championship game between Oklahoma and Florida.  In addition, Dr. McGee has served as a member of the NCAA President’s Council and twice served as the national chairman of the Football Issues Committee for NCAA Division II. 
 
Dr. McGee joined the Wingate family as the school’s 13th president in 1992. In more than 35 years in higher education, he has secured well over $200 million in gifts and grants for scholarships, endowment and campus development. Under his visionary leadership, Wingate has been recognized as one of the best small liberal arts colleges in the South and the premier small private university in North Carolina. During his presidency, Wingate developed graduate programs, achieved University status, began a School of Pharmacy and doubled its enrollment.

In October, Dr. McGee was inducted into the Wingate University Sports Hall of Fame. Also, Dr. McGee is a member of the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame and the Union County Business Leaders Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest honor bestowed to N.C. citizens.

“Dr. McGee has facilitated dramatic growth in our athletic venues,” Poston says. “During his tenure, we had added new football and softball stadiums. We have made significant renovations to our baseball and soccer complexes. This spring, we will add a new track to this list.”
 
Poston believes Dr. McGee’s influence reaches far beyond awards and facilities. “Dr. McGee’s presence at our athletic events does not go unnoticed or unappreciated by the student-athletes who participate,” Poston says. “He rarely misses a home event.”
 
A native of Rockingham, Dr. McGee has two sons: Ryan, a graduate of the University of Tennessee and a senior writer for ESPN the Magazine and Sam, a graduate of Wake Forest University and Yale Law School and a practicing attorney. He has three grandchildren – Tara, Hannah and Brooks McGee. He was married to Hannah Covington McGee for 33 years before her death in 1999; he married Marcella McInnis of High Point in 2009.

Dr. McGee received his undergraduate degree from East Carolina University. He was a baseball student-athlete for the ECU Pirates. McGee was named a Distinguished Alumnus by East Carolina in 2008. He also holds a masters degree from Appalachian State University and a doctorate from Nova University. Prior to his time at Wingate, he served as a vice-president at Gardner-Webb University, Meredith College and Furman University.

The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1962.  The permanent exhibit is located on the third floor of the North Carolina Museum of History on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh. The exhibit features significant artifacts donated by the inductees. The museum is open Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Banquet ticket information is available at www.ncsportshalloffame.org or by calling 919-845-3455.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,500 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. The university offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, physician assistant studies and sports administration and doctorates in pharmacy and education.
 
Wingate students gain the tools and support they need to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. The campus community offers in-class learning, out-of-class experiences, strong mentors, a competitive yet caring environment and rewarding community service opportunities for a complete educational experience.
 
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past five years.
 
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 51 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.

N.C. SPORTS HALL OF FAME BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

WILT BROWNING: Five times Browning was honored as Sportswriter of the Year in North Carolina (1982, 1985, 1988, 1990 and 1993). He is a former sports editor and longtime sports columnist for the Greensboro News & Record. During his newspaper career, he was the first major league beat writer for the Atlanta Journal, covering the Atlanta Braves through the team’s first six seasons in the South. He wrote the first story in which Hank Aaron said that he had set his sights on the Babe Ruth home run record, thus sparking a nationwide watch that lasted for more than two years. He also spent five years as the public relations director for the Atlanta Falcons and one year in the same capacity for the Baltimore Colts before returning to the newspaper business in Greensboro. Browning ended his newspaper career as the sports editor and columnist for the Asheville Citizen-Times. He is a member of the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame and the author of seven books.

WRAY CARLTON: Carlton made a name for himself as a high school star in Wallace, N.C., before entering Duke University in 1955. As a running back at Duke, he shattered the legendary Ace Parker’s rushing and scoring records and set the ACC single-game scoring record of 26 points against Virginia – and he only played a half. He also scored all of Duke’s points against Rice, Clemson and Carolina while leading the Blue Devils into the Orange Bowl and a date with Oklahoma. As a high school star, Carlton turned down a chance to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates to play shortstop. He had scored 48 points in a basketball game and six touchdowns in a football game. As a pro, the two-time All-ACC performer also was a two-time All-AFL selection. As part of a rushing tandem with Cookie Gilchrist, Carlton played a key role in the Bills’ 1964 and 1965 AFL titles. As a pro, Carlton had 3,368 yards rushing, 1,329 yards receiving and scored 34 touchdowns.

M.L. CARR: At Wallace-Rose Hill High School, Carr ran track barefooted because he could afford only one pair of shoes — basketball shoes. Before his playing career ended, Carr had run to the top levels of the sport and, along the way, had played a key role in winning a storybook national championship for Guilford College. Carr became a pro star, playing a dozen years in the NBA and the ABA, and is best-known for his years with the Boston Celtics, the team he would later serve as general manager and, briefly, as coach. He was a key element in the Celtics’ 1980-81 and 1983-84 NBA championship teams. If one moment can capsulate a long career, Carr’s moment came in game four of the 1984 NBA Finals, when he made a steal and cashed it in with a thundering dunk that sealed the victory for the Celtics and became the key to the title.

SAM ESPOSITO: Esposito played in the major leagues for 10 years with the Chicago White Sox including 1959 when the South Siders won the American League pennant and played in the World Series. In 1967, he was named baseball coach at N.C. State, where the team had won 20 games just one time since 1908. For 21 years under Esposito’s direction, the Wolfpack never suffered a losing season. His team won a program-record 513 games and he coached 69 All-ACC players and seven All-Americans. At N.C. State, he also coached 12 players who made it to the major leagues, including four who played in the big leagues for at least ten years. His 1968 team won the ACC championship and the NCAA District III title and finished third in the College World Series. His teams also took three straight league titles in 1973-75. He was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1986.

KRISTI OVERTON JOHNSON: The Greenville native has been a competitive water skier for more than 30 years. She began to compete at age 5 and captured state, regional and national records before turning pro at 13. As a pro, she has been the World Record Holder since 1992. In women’s slalom, she has 80 professional victories and has captured the No. 1 world ranking in the event, which is more than any other woman. She won the U.S. Masters eight times and the U.S. Open four times. She traveled throughout the world setting records as a World Champion, World Cup Champion, Pan American and U.S. Pro Tour championships and also won the British, French, Italian, Australian and Austrian Masters titles. She was away from competitive skiing for five years while she underwent 10 major surgeries to repair a congenital hip deformity. Overton Johnson stunned the skiing world by returning as a competitor in 2008 in the U.S. Masters.

LENNIE ROSENBLUTH: Rosenbluth now lives in Chapel Hill, where in the mid-1950s he and the University of North Carolina basketball team made history with an undefeated season and a national championship game victory over Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain. The New York City native led the Tar Heels in scoring in his first varsity season and still holds the school record for points in a season (895) and scoring average in a single season (28.0). He averaged 28 points a game in the 1957 NCAA Tournament and got 20 against Chamberlain’s Jayhawks. He was named in 2002 to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary men’s team and was selected to the “All-Decade Final Four” team for the 1950s. Rosenbluth is a member of the Helms College Basketball Hall of Fame and is regarded by many as one of the 100 greatest college basketball players of all time. He is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

HENRY TREVATHAN: Trevathan coached Wilson Fike to three consecutive 4-A state football championships in 1967-69. He also was head coach at Rocky Mount High School and an assistant coach at N.C. State. He coached at every level of competition, including midget, junior high, junior varsity, varsity, college freshmen, college varsity and professional, and only missed one practice (for a family funeral) in more than a half century of work. He coached quarterbacks, offensive backs, defensive backs, wide receivers and special team members in 10 years on the staff at East Carolina University, then spent nine years on Dick Sheridan’s staff at N.C. State. There, as the special teams coach, Trevathan developed five All-ACC kickers and punters, two All-Americans and one Lou Groza Award winner, all of them originally walk-ons at N.C. State. In retirement, Henry became a valued volunteer assistant at Bridgewater College in Virginia and was the school’s first recipient of the Soaring Eagle Award. He is a three-time North Carolina Coach of the Year Award winner at the 4-A level.