2018 Catawba County Hall of Fame Inductees Announced

Mike Beam

NASCAR Championship Crew Chief Mike Beam is the leading vote-getter in his first-ballot election to the Hall of Fame. He’s one of only three crew chiefs in the history of NASCAR to record wins in all three national series. He was crew chief for Carl Edwards’ 2010 Xfinity Championship, Butch Lindley’s Late Model National Titles (1977-78), and has been at the helm for more than a dozen other drivers including NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty, Bill Elliott and Dale Jarrett.

“Since the early 1980s Mike Beam has been among the best at what he does,” Phillips said. “He’s worked with some of the most famous drivers and families in NASCAR history and will only add to the racing heritage already in the CCSHOF.”

As a crew chief, Beam has more than 80 wins, and most recently, he was General Manager of GMS Racing when driver Johnny Sauter won the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Championship. From there, the Hickory native’s career stretches back to “The Birthplace of NASCAR Stars” Hickory Motor Speedway where he was crew chief for Harry Gant and Dale Jarrett in their Bobby Isaac Memorial wins.

“Mike’s innate talents and tireless work ethic gained him the knowledge necessary to become one of the most sought after crew chiefs/managers in the history of NASCAR,” says long-time radio and TV broadcaster Glenn Jarrett. “In his 35-plus years of NASCAR, he has always been a true gentleman conducting himself with class and with dignity even in some of the sport’s most volatile situations.”

Vernon Odom

Vernon Odom led Bandys High School to the 1982 North Carolina High School Athletic Association state basketball championship, as well as a pair of runner-up finishes before matriculating to West Virginia University and Division I basketball. There, he played a critical role in four 20-win Mountaineer teams.

“Vernon Odom is perhaps the most prolific scorer who has ever played high school basketball in Catawba County history,” Phillips said. “His numbers jump off the page even more when you consider there was no three-point line in the early 1980s.”

Odom was North Carolina’s second all-time leading scorer when he graduated from Bandys with 2,575 career points, and he still ranks fifth in the state. He currently ranks second in North Carolina for career field goals made (1,054), 20-point career games (74) and 20-point games in a season (28), a category where he also holds the No. 3 position (27). His total for field goals made in a season ranks fourth (334) and seventh (326) in state history. Odom is 11th all-time for career free throws made (467).

He was Catawba County Co-Player of the Year three times and was named Athlete of the Year in 1982. His performance earned All-State honors twice, a McDonald’s All-American Honorable Mention and a full scholarship to West Virginia.

“Bandys finished in the top four in the state every season, and Vernon was the undisputed best player on those teams,” long-time college and pro basketball coach and 1976 Bandys graduate Bobby Lutz writes in support of Odom’s nomination. “Numbers alone do not tell the complete story. He played with a passion and energy that was special. Vernon was a phenomenal scorer who was at his best when his best was needed.”

As a freshman at West Virginia during the season-opener, Odom scored one of the first-ever three-point shots allowed in college basketball. In his four-year career as a Mountaineer, he played in 110 games, hit 264 of 556 field goals (47.5 percent), hit 139 of 167 free throws (79 percent) and scored 679 points. He graduated with 124 assists, 192 rebounds and a reputation.

“(West Virginia) Coach Gale Catlett once told me that Vernon was one of the finest young men he has ever coached, which speaks well of his character,” Lutz writes. “Vernon represented Catawba County very well and he still does today.”

Raeford Wells

Raeford Wells (1935-1995) is one of the best college basketball players in Lenoir-Rhyne history. The NAIA and Lenoir-Rhyne Hall of Famer still holds the Bears’ career scoring record – 2,628 points that was once good enough to be a state record. The center was a three-time All-American from 1955-57 and a four-year all-conference selection.

“Raeford Wells is considered the finest all-around basketball player in Lenoir-Rhyne and St. Stephens High School history,” Phillips said. “To read his bio, it’s easy to see why he was among the best round-ballers in the nation in the 1950s.”

Drafted by the New York Knicks in 1957, Wells’ basketball career began at St. Stephens, where he scored 1,743 points. His teams went 75-12, including a 32-0 senior season in 1952-53. Wells declined an invitation to attend University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and the college coach who kept him in Hickory said the four-year starter made an immediate impact.

“He was as good as anyone I’ve ever coached,” said Jim “Pappy” Hamilton, 93, Lenoir-Rhyne coach from 1950-57. “He was great under the board, had a nice shooting touch from 15 feet, was a great rebounder and could run the floor, too. Raeford loved playing at Lenoir-Rhyne and was really proud of his roots in Catawba County.”

Wells’ senior year with 810 points and a 28.9-point average is still the best season in school history. During that 1957 season he led Lenoir-Rhyne to a record 24 straight wins and a North State Conference Championship. His 1955-56 season ranks second in school scoring (688) and scoring average (26.5), and sixth all-time in field goal percentage (.603). Wells is second all-time at Lenoir-Rhyne for rebounds and rebounding average (23.9 in 1956-57).

An educator and principal in Catawba County and North Carolina for a decade after his Lenoir-Rhyne career, he moved to Arizona in 1967 where his career in education continued 20 years. Wells died July 3, 1995.

Chris Douglas

Chris Douglas is Duke University’s all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards. At Bandys High School, he was not only dominant on the football field, but also the track where he won state and national championships.

“Chris Douglas is one of the best football players and all-around athletes to come out of Bandys High,” Phillips said. “And to be named among Duke University’s ‘Hall of Heroes’ speaks to his impact as a gridiron star for the Duke Blue Devils as well.”

Douglas’ 3,122 career rushing yards on a record 695 carries and 5,753 all-purpose yards are still Duke Football records. His career rushing touchdown total (21) ranks fifth best in Duke history. Douglas was a first team All-ACC selection in 2003 when the three-time All-ACC academic honoree also received the Jim Tatum Award for the ACC’s top senior football student athlete. He was inducted into the ACC Legends in the 2015 class.

A multi-sport athlete at Bandys, he won a 1999 NCHSAA title in the 100-meter hurdles and a national championship in the 400-meter hurdles with the Catawba County Stallions Track Club. On the gridiron, the Sherrills Ford native rushed for 3,276 yards as the Trojans went 26-2 during his varsity career. Douglas was 1998 Catawba County Male Athlete of the Year and winner of the Coca-Cola Golden Helmet Award for the High School Football Player of the Year.

“Chris Douglas was probably the most impactful football player I coached in my 35 years on the field. His impact was felt by his teammates, coaches and all of Bandys High School,” said Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame member and long-time Bandys football coach Randy Lowman. “Chris was at the top of his class academically. He was gifted in the arts and a leading member of Bandys’ music program. Athletically, he was in a class of his own.”

Douglas was drafted by the New York Giants before his pro football career was shortened by injury. He is senior district manager for Kohl’s based in Washington, D.C.

Greg Brunt

Greg Brunt has won more than 100 Olympic medals in 40 years of competition in the Special Olympics of North Carolina. A multi-sport athlete born with Down syndrome, he’s an avid swimmer that trains and competes in the backstroke, butterfly, freestyle and relays. The pool veteran also helps train younger swimmers for Special Olympics competition.

“Greg Brunt has compiled an amazing career as one of the most decorated swimmers in the history of the N.C. Special Olympics,” Phillips said. “We look forward to celebrating his accomplishments.”

One of eight children born in a military family of swimmers, Brunt first learned to swim at 8 months old. At age 6, he had open-heart surgery but was not deterred. When his father retired in 1974, a 12-year-old Brunt moved to Hickory and began training with the Hickory Seahorses before joining Catawba County’s Special Olympics team. He’s been competing ever since.

Since Special Olympics of North Carolina began recording medal results in the 2001 state games, Brunt has won 33 gold medals, 15 silver, 12 bronze and a handful of medals for fourth-sixth place. In addition to swimming he also competes in track and field and softball, and he loves to dance.

“Greg truly believes in the Special Olympics slogan, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt,” said Catawba County Special Olympics Swim Coach Debbie Bandy. “It is rare to still be in competition at Greg’s age, yet he is brave in every attempt.”

His success in the Special Olympics is reflected in the U.S. Congressional Record.

“Mr. Brunt’s road cannot have been easy. He’s overcome challenges that many Americans don’t have to face,” said U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx during remarks in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Instead of giving in, Mr. Brunt gives back. As a swimming instructor to younger children, Mr. Brunt teaches children the value of practice and perseverance.”

Brunt’s enthusiasm for competition extends to sporting events in the Hickory Metro. He rarely misses a Lenoir-Rhyne home softball game, attends most Hickory Crawdad games at L.P. Frans Stadium, and “truly loves all sports and all teams of the Catawba Valley,” Bandy said. “There is simply no greater fan.”

Bob J. Lutz and the Howard’s Furniture/Western Steer Team of Excellence

Bob J. Lutz (1935-2012) and the Howard’s Furniture/Western Steer Softball team brought national attention to Catawba County during a three-decade run that peaked with six national championships.

“Bob J. Lutz managed and coached with distinction one of, if not, the most famous slow-pitch softball team in the nation. He was a superb athlete who helped put Howard’s Softball on the map,” Phillips said. “The Howard’s softball team of the 1970s and 1980s brought national recognition to eastern Catawba County as the ‘Harlem Globetrotters’ of slow-pitch softball. I can’t imagine how many thousands of fans were entertained by watching those guys play.”

A point guard known as a long-distance sharp-shooter, Lutz earned Catawba County Athlete of the Year honors in 1954. He was named to four different Hickory Metro all-tournament teams during a high school basketball career with an estimated scoring total of 1,373 points. He was valedictorian of his class at Bandys and attended University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Lutz’s accomplishments on the softball diamond were dominant. When the Howard’s Furniture slow-pitch softball team started in 1964, he played as an outfielder. As manager of the Howard’s Furniture/Western Steer team from 1969-1979, he won three national Amateur Softball Association titles (1973, 1974, 1978) and posted a record of 1059-233.

“That was an extremely remarkable winning percentage of .820 and is very, very high for the game of softball. During this time Howard’s was the supreme team in North Carolina and at the top of the teams in the United States,” writes Amateur Softball Association of American N.C Commissioner Tony Laws in support of Lutz’s nomination. “Bobby coached this team in a very professional manner and always with respect. He was not a fiery type of coach, but a man who controlled his team with a quiet manner and who was loved by his players.”

Lutz was inducted into the Amateur Softball Association of America Hall of Fame in 1983.

“Bobby loved the sport and what the team accomplished,” said Lutz’s son, Bobby M. Lutz, in support of his dad’s nomination. “He saw it as an achievement for Catawba County, his home of all his adult life. Bobby has immense pride in his local team defeating teams from all over the nation.”

Howard’s Softball’s domination was built on the foundation laid by Lutz the manager, as well as team founder Richard Howard, a discount furniture company owner who fell in love with the game playing church league softball. From 1964-1989, the team won six national championships (1973, 1974, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984).

A handful of Howard’s players from those championships teams have been recognized among the greatest in their sport. Alongside Lutz, other players inducted into the ASA Hall of Fame include, owner Richard Howard, Richard Wilborn, Dick Martel, Don Arndt, Gene Fisher, Steve Harvey, Rick “The Crusher” Scherr.