May 9, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. - Dr. Jerry McGee, Kristi Overton Johnson and Henry Trevathan, three North Carolina sports figures who have an affiliation with East Carolina University and the Greenville community, will be inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Thursday.

The newest class will be enshrined at the 49th annual induction banquet Thursday evening in the main ballroom of the North Raleigh Hilton Hotel.

Other 2012 honorees include former NFL running back Wray Carlton, University of North Carolina basketball All-America Lennie Rosenbluth, former NC State baseball head coach Sam Esposito, legendary North Carolina sportswriter Wilt Browning and Guilford College Hall of Fame member M.L. Carr.

McGee, a native of Rockingham, holds degrees from East Carolina, Appalachian State, and Nova University, and is the author of two books - The Sitting and Talking Place and Roberdell, A Village of Grace. He has been honored by ECU as a distinguished alumnus, received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for extraordinary service to North Carolina, and is a member of the Wingate University, South Atlantic Conference and Union County Business Leaders Halls of Fame.

Dr. McGee has also been a strong advocate of collegiate athletics during his tenure as president of Wingate University. He has served 20 years on the President's Council of the South Atlantic Conference, three as its chair. He also was a member of the prestigious NCAA President's Council and a two-time chair of national football committees. During his tenure, Dr. McGee has overseen the construction of eight major athletic facilities and the addition of six varsity sports.

During a career that spanned 36 years, Dr. McGee officiated more than 400 games in the South Atlantic, Yankee, Big South, Big East and Atlantic Coast Conferences. He was selected for 24 postseason assignments, including the inaugural ACC Championship Game, two Army-Navy games, and 20 bowl games. Among the bowl games he worked were the Orange, Fiesta, Cotton, Peach, Holiday and two each from the prestigious Rose Bowl, Gator and Citrus. He also worked games that determined the national title three times. Dr. McGee represented all college football officials when he served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Sports Officials and was recently honored by his fellow ACC officials with the Commissioner's Award for outstanding service to football officiating.

A native of Greenville, Overton Johnson began her competitive water ski career at the age of 5 on the shores of the Pamlico River in Bath. She captured state, regional and national titles in the slalom, trick, and jump events before turning professional at the age of 13. For 15 years, Overton Johnson dominated the women's slalom, accumulating 80 professional victories and capturing more No. 1 world rankings than any other female skier in the sport's history. She was an eight-time U.S. Masters champion, four-time U.S. Open champion, and held the world and national record in women's slalom from 1992-2010.

During her career, Overton Johnson set five world records and 19 national records while capturing titles in England, France, Italy, Austria and Australia. She was also a world champion, Pan American Games champion, and U.S. Pro Tour champion before retiring in 2004.

Trevathan graduated from Virginia Episcopal School, served in the U.S. Army and graduated from East Carolina in 1955. After coaching in the Greenville midget league, his first teaching and coaching position was at 1-A Windsor High School.

The Tarboro native then coached the Rocky Mount junior high and then senior-high jayvee squads before advancing to assistant varsity football and basketball coach. Rocky Mount won the 4-A "triple crown" - football, basketball and baseball state championships - during the 1962-63 school year and the 1963 football team followed with another title to complete an unprecedented run of four consecutive state championships.

In 1964, Trevathan accepted the position of head football coach at Fike High School in Wilson. The smallest school competing at the state's highest classification had lost 31 of its past 33 games, but he turned the program around to help the Cyclones become the first school to win three consecutive 4-A state championships (1967-69). After each season, Trevathan was voted by his peers as the state's 4-A Coach of the Year. Trevathan moved to the college ranks at his alma mater, East Carolina, for the next 11 years, becoming one of the Pirates' longest tenured coaches. Today, 11 of his players are still in the record book. In 1992, Trevathan and Bill Dooley were recipients of the first N.C. High School Football Coaches Association Award "in recognition of long and distinguished service to the development of high school football in North Carolina."

For the past 17 years, Trevathan has coached part-time at Bridgewater College in Virginia, where in 2008 he was given the school's initial Soaring Eagle Award as "one who models a leader as envisioned by the college's mission statement."

The trio joins fellow Pirates Jerry Tolley (ECU Hall of Fame), Charlie Adams (ECU Hall of Fame), Carlester Crumpler (ECU Hall of Fame and current staff member), Paul Gay (ECU Hall of Fame), Bobby Hodges (ECU Hall of Fame), Terry Holland (current ECU athletics director), Leora "Sam" Jones (ECU Hall of Fame), Earl Smith (ECU Hall of Fame), Clarence Stasavich (ECU Hall of Fame), George Whitfield (ECU alumnus, former ECU assistant coach) and Kay Yow (late alumna) as members of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Banquet ticket information is available by visiting www.ncshof.org or by dialing (919) 845-3455.