Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame set for 17th induction class Sunday
Some of Wilmington's most accomplished sports figures will join the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame as the Class of 2024 is inducted Sunday.
The incoming class, which is the GWSHOF's 17th, consists of five inductees.
Three days of events for this year's induction class start with a luncheon scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Wilmington Convention Center, with its fundraiser golf tournament set for Saturday morning at Wilmington Municipal Golf Course.
On Sunday, a reception and auction will start at 5 p.m. at the convention center, with dinner and the induction ceremony at 6. Click here for more information.
Here's a look at this year's class of five inductees in alphabetical order.
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Connor Barth
One of the area's most successful football players ever, Barth was a star at Hoggard High School before playing at North Carolina and spending more than a decade in the NFL
He has the UNC record for consecutive field goals made (19) and earned All-ACC recognition, but is perhaps best known for kicking as a true freshman the most famous field goal in school history as time expired to beat the No. 3 nationally ranked University of Miami Hurricanes, which remains the highest ranked team ever defeated by the Tar Heels.
Playing in 109 NFL games, he spent five years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he tied an NFL record with three 50+ yard fields goals in a game and became the third player in NFL history with four field goals of 40+ yards in a half season.
Joe Browning
The Topeka, Kansas native spent nearly four decades at UNCW as a collegiate athletic administrator before retiring in September of 2023.
Browning started his career in athletic communications in 1981 as the Director of Sports Information and Promotions at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, before joining the Seahawks in the fall of 1986 after seeing an ad in the newspaper.
Over the next 38 years, Browning was involved in nearly every facet of the UNCW program. He and his wife, Mary, have two children; Hayley, 17, and Ivan, 12.
James Faison III
Faison was raised in Rocky Point and is a 1980 Pender High School Graduate. He played football and earned a full scholarship at North Carolina Central University
After earning his law degree after college, Faison served as the Assistant District Attorney for the the Fifth Judicial District, which includes Pender and New Hanover Counties from 1992 – 2000.
In 2000, he was appointed by Governor James B. Hunt Jr. to serve as a District Court Judge for the Fifth Judicial District becoming the first African American male to sit on the bench in the Fifth District.
Alley Hart
The Kinston native graduated from Grainger High School in 1957 before attending Wake Forest. On April 14, 1961, the city of Kinston proclaimed it “Alley Hart Day.”
Hart averaged 20.5 points per game as a freshman at Wake Forest and in his junior year he helped lead the Demon Deacons to the school’s first and only Dixie Classic Championship and first ACC basketball regular season title.
The medals now dangle on a shelf in the den of Hart’s Wilmington home: Five state Senior Olympic gold medals, and two national golds.
Sherri Tynes
One of Wilmington's winningest high school girls basketball coaches ever, the West Columbia, South Carolina, native coached at Laney High School for 30 years, coaching women’s basketball, softball, as well as men’s and women’s golf.
Prior to her time at Laney, Tynes served as a graduate assistant coach at James Madison and UNC Charlotte before getting her first head coaching job at Francis Marion, where she spent two seasons. In 1990 she was hired to take over the UNCW women’s basketball program before leaving for Laney in 1993.
Coaching at Laney, Tynes compiled a 423-189 record. She never had a losing season and finished with four conference championships and seven tournament championships.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame 2024 induction class
