By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Ten individuals and one team have been selected for induction into the second class of the Williams Athletics Hall of Fame.
This follows the inaugural class of 20 individuals and one team in 2025.
The 2026 class includes inductees spanning from the Class of 1959 to the Class of 2011.
The team selected for induction is the 1980 football team, which won the school’s first football state championship. The team had a 14-0 record under coach Pete Stout, who was in last year’s induction class.
Here’s a look at the individual selections:
- Darryl Cheeley was a three-time conference Player of the Year in boys’ basketball in the 1980s and established school records for single-season points (650) and 3-point baskets in a season (84). He also was a member of the 1985 football state champions and the 1987 football state runners-up. He made 25 touchdown receptions in his career.
- Graham Crawford was a cross country state champion in the fall of 2010 as a senior. He was a multi-time selection as Runner of the Year in track and field. Crawford went on to compete for North Carolina State. He received All-Atlantic Coast Conference multiple times in cross country and track and field. He later was a qualifier for the U.S. Olympic trials.
- Len Grant, a member of the 1980 football team, was a three-sport standout for the Bulldogs. He was a wrestling state runner-up in 1981 and a team Most Valuable Performer in track and field (throws, jumps). The linebacker played on a junior college championship team at Taft Community College in California and later for the University of Kansas.
- Nelson Garner, a 1984 graduate, was a boys’ soccer standout, receiving Player of the Year recognitions. But his lasting impact came in football as a kicker and punter. He played football collegiately at James Madison, where he became a three-time all-conference selection (in what was then the Colonial Athletic Association). He had a seven-year professional career in arena football.
Garner had been athletics director in Union County Schools before accepting a position in 2025 as an athletics director at Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia.
- Mike Gee was an all-state lineman for the football team and played in postseason all-star events. He was a member of the 1985 state champions in football before going on to a standout collegiate career at N.C. State. He’s a past president of the Williams Booster Club.
- Mary Herbin, who competed in the 1980s, was a track and field standout and the school’s first female state champion. She remains the school record holder in the shot put. She was captain of the volleyball and track and field teams. She died in 2011 at age 50.
- The earliest of the inductees is Barry Hodge, who was an athlete in the Class of 1959. He was a basketball standout and went on to play at then-Elon College. He later was a teacher, coach and athletics director at Williams. He died in 2021.
- John Loy was a wrestling state champion in 1962 and 1963 when there was one classification.
- Heather Deutschle Phillips, a 2005 graduate, was a three-sport participant who particularly excelled in girls’ soccer, scoring 129 goals in a four-season career. She also competed on the cross country and basketball teams. In soccer, she twice received all-state recognition and then went on to play for four seasons for UNC Greensboro. She also became a coach on the school level.
- Jerry Richardson, Jr. is a decorated golfer, twice winning individual state championships (2001, 2003) and was a member of the Bulldogs’ 2000 state title team. From there, he played collegiately for N.C. State and rose to All-ACC status. He became the North Carolina Amateur champion in 2005 and 2007 and won other major championships in the Carolinas Golf Association. He also won on the eGolf Pro Tour, while twice appearing in the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship (2010, 2011).
Inductees will be honored Friday night during the Bulldogs’ football game vs. Southeast Alamance at Burlington Memorial Stadium. The induction is set for 10:00 a.m. Saturday at the school’s auditorium.
The 17-member selection committee adjusted its nomination and voting processes by adding the ability to evaluate public nominations. “We received multiple nominations from outside of the committee and we are excited by the enthusiasm of the Williams alumni and community,” according to a memo from the committee, which is chaired by Josh Stone.
