Published 12:00 am Sunday, June 2, 2013
SALISBURY —The 13th class of Rowan County Hall of Famers includes a national champion, two All-ACC football players, a second-round draft pick, and legends from the arenas of coaching and officiating.
Antione Sifford, Justus Everett, Greg Poole, Brian Boltz, the late Bill Peeler and the late Jesse Corry Jr. will be inducted in ceremonies on Aug. 11 at the Civic Center.
Sifford starred in basketball and football at North Rowan in the 1980s. At 6-foot-4, he was a stellar defensive back for North’s 11-1 football team in 1985 and sparked the Cavaliers’ 29-2 basketball state champions in 1986. He was county player of the year in both sports. He’s still fifth on North’s all-time basketball scoring list with 1,102 points, including 674 his senior year.
In college, Sifford was a key player in North Carolina Central’s drive to the 1989 Division II national championship. N.C. Central won the national championship contest by a record 27 points, and Sifford was on the all-tournament team.
Everett had an outstanding high school career at Salisbury on powerful Pete Stout-coached teams and went on to start at center for N.C. State from 1972-74. He was first team All-ACC choice in 1974 and was a first team Academic All-America pick in 1973 and 1974.
Poole was county player of the year in both football and baseball at South Rowan in the late 1970s and also started for the basketball team.
He set long-standing punt-return records at UNC and was a first team All-ACC defensive back in 1981. He was one of the Tar Heel heroes of a Sun Bowl win against Texas that capped the 1981 season, and he was named to the Football News All-America team.
UNC’s annual award given to the team’s top special-teams performer is the Greg Poole Award.
East Rowan product Boltz’s path to potential pro baseball stardom was barred by injury, but he’s up there with Tom Eaton, Barry Moore, Randy Benson and Daniel Moore in any discussion of the county’s dominant southpaws.
Boltz was a second-round pick by the Atlanta Braves in 1989, the 57th player chosen, but his career was over by 1993.
Boltz’s 1987 American Legion summer for Rowan County is still the stuff of legends — 8-0, 145 strikeouts in 72 innings and an ERA of 0.25. He fanned 24 one night, 21 in another overpowering outing. He whiffed 17 batters in a relief appearance.
Boltz was outstanding for Catawba from 1987-89, posting a 23-7 record with 312 strikeouts and a 2.17 ERA on his way to the school’s Hall of Fame.
Peeler, who died in 2012, invested 35 years at Davie County High as a coach, teacher and AD and two years at Mocksville High before that.
He was a standout high school athlete at Salisbury Boyden and a two-sport college star at Catawba as a baseball catcher and football lineman.
Peeler piloted winning Davie football teams in the early 1970s and also coached championship teams in his 14 years at the helm of the baseball program.
Still, his lasting legacy came as coach of Davie girls basketball. He guided that program for 28 years. He brought Davie 17 championships and finished with a 445-220 record. He’s already in the Davie County and Catawba halls of fame.
Corry died in 2008, but the Livingstone graduate is remembered for his long years of service as a counselor, teacher, coach and referee. He will be honored as the recipient of the Horace Billings Lifetime Achievement Award.