The Valdese Sports Hall of Fame executive and selection committees via a March 6 press release announced that 10 new members will be inducted into its second annual class later this spring.
The 2026 class, which represents individuals honored for their accomplishments from the 1950s to the early 2000s, will consist of Joni Berry, Leo Brevard, Danny Bridges, David Brinkley, Janice Turner Cline, John Connor Lafferty, Billy Smith, Katie Gravel Stilwell, Bill Viggers Jr., and Bob Williams.
The class will be inducted in a ceremony May 18 at the Old Rock School in Valdese. The event will feature a social hour at 5 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m., and the induction ceremony at 7 p.m., and tickets will be available for purchase soon from the Rotary Club of Valdese.
The 2026 class will join 13 inaugural inductees: Ed Abee, Burton Barger, Joe Brown, Dave Bumgarner, Bill Cline, Doug Cline, Sammy Decker, Judy Keever, Connie Mull, Jerry Murray, Wayne Owens, Joe Temple Sr., and Danny Williams.
The Valdese Sports HOF will honor each inductee with a plaque to be displayed for the public to see on the lower level of the Valdese Community Center.
Inductees or their family members will also receive a duplicate of the plaque as a way to honor and commemorate their induction. Each inductee will also be featured on the Valdese Sports HOF Facebook page leading up to the induction ceremony.
For more information on the Valdese Sports HOF, its guidelines, or its nomination process, visit rotaryclubofvaldese.com/vshof. Inquiries can be made through the Valdese Sports Hall of Fame Facebook page.
Here’s a little more on each soon-to-be inductee …
Joni Berry
Berry is a 1980 graduate of East Burke High School, where she starred in basketball, leading the Lady Cavaliers to the state quarterfinal round or beyond in the 4A classification both as a sophomore and as a senior before accepting a scholarship to play at the University of North Carolina.
Berry, who’s already a member of the East Burke High School Athletics Hall of Fame, was named all-conference twice, All-Western N.C. twice, was conference tournament MVP twice, was conference player of the year once, and played in the East-West All-Star Game.
She finished her prep career as EBHS’ all-time leading scorer with north of 1,400 points (in just three seasons), averaging 19.8 points per game as a senior and at least 17.6 all three seasons.
Leo Brevard
Brevard, who died in 2013, coached football and basketball at Valdese High School from 1949-50 and 1953-62 after having played football at Appalachian State.
He served as an assistant coach on both the 1954 and ’55 Tigers’ WNCHSAA Western Division title squads and was head coach for four Valdese hoops teams that won conference titles.
Brevard also helped guide Valdese to the 1953 Gold Medal Tournament hoops title, its first championship in the event’s 15 years at that point. He in 2000 was named one of the most memorable Valdese sports people of the century and taught, coached, or assisted each male member of the inaugural Valdese Sports HOF class.
Danny Bridges
Bridges, a 2024 Burke County Sports Hall of Fame inductee, died in 2007. He was a 1956 Valdese grad who lettered in football, basketball, and baseball.
He was named all-state in both football and basketball as a senior, guiding the Tigers to league titles in both sports after the baseball team won the conference championship in the spring of his junior year. Bridges averaged over 20 points per game as a senior and played in the East-West All-Star Game.
Bridges then played quarterback at Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (soon to be renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette), where he was named to the All-American Academic Team. Bridges later signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers and coached Paxon (Fla.) Senior High to the 1965 state championship as he was named coach of the year. He also served as vice president of the Jacksonville Sharks of the World Football League and as general manager of the Jacksonville Firebirds of the American Football Association, both in the 1970s.
David Brinkley
A 1972 Valdese graduate, Brinkley was an all-county performer multiple times in football, basketball, and baseball with the Tigers, also being named to the all-conference teams in football and baseball twice apiece.
Brinkley previously had played on the 1966 Valdese squad that won the Little League baseball state tournament, and he also played on the 1972 Burke County Post 21 squad that finished as N.C. Area IV runners up. He would go on to play football at Western Carolina University and later coached football (defensive coordinator), girls basketball, and softball at Kings Mountain High School, earning coach of the year honors on the diamond.
Brinkley and his wife, Marie, have given generously to building projects at WCU and at Gardner-Webb University over the years, and he was one of the driving forces behind the Valdese Sports HOF being established.
Janice Turner Cline
Cline graduated from Valdese High in 1964 after starring for three seasons in basketball for the Lady Tigers. She was a three-time all-county and all-conference performer on the hardwood who was also named to the all-conference tournament squad twice.
She was the second-leading scorer in the county as a senior, averaging 15.8 points per game as she led Valdese to the league championship. That Valdese ’63-’64 squad was also recognized as one of the outstanding high school teams in Western North Carolina by the Mountain Amateur Athletic Club.
Cline also served as president of the Valdese High School Women’s Athletic Association.
John Connor Lafferty
Lafferty graduated from East Burke High in 1999 after earning 17 varsity letters and 16 all-conference selections across five sports: football, soccer, swimming, track and field, and tennis.
As a kicker and punter on the gridiron, he tied the state record for field goals made in a season (17), booting the winning kick in a Fat Friday game, and was named all-state and All-Southeast U.S., also appearing in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas as the only player to represent EBHS in the game during the decade of the 1990s. Lafferty went on to punt at UNC, starting 35 games.
He also was named all-region in soccer, swam at state, was conference player of the year in tennis, ranking as high as No. 23 in the state among junior players, and received the Alex Guigou male athlete of the year award from EBHS as a senior.
Billy Smith
Smith graduated from Valdese in 1961 after earning 14 varsity letters in four sports (four apiece in basketball and baseball; three apiece in football and track).
He was named all-county, all-conference, and all-conference tournament both as a junior and again as a senior for the Tigers as they finished second in the league in his junior season and won the league title the following year. He was also named the county player of the year and was a member of the all-state team on the hardwood that season and started in the East-West All-Star Game before playing hoops for four years at Wake Forest University.
Smith also excelled in track, where he was 1961 state co-champion in the high jump, an event in which he qualified for state three times.
Katie Gravel Stilwell
A 2001 EBHS graduate, Stilwell was both a four-time all-conference performer in basketball and soccer.
She averaged at least 13.9 points per game all four years on the hardwood, leading the Lady Cavaliers to league titles as a junior (when she was named league player of the year) and as a senior. At the time of Stilwell’s graduation, she ranked second in school history in points, and first in assists, steals, 3-pointers made, and 3-point shooting percentage.
She went on to play hoops for four years at Gardner-Webb, ranking among the conference’s top 10 in assists and 3-pointers multiple times, and later returned to coach the Lady Cavaliers, leading them to the 2012 West Regional semifinal round and to 100-plus wins from 2008-15.
In soccer, her 105 career goals and 72 career assists at EBHS still stand as program records. She was named all-region three times, leading the Lady Cavs to a conference title as a junior. Stilwell also played tennis, where she was named all-conference once and was part of an EBHS conference title squad.
Bill Viggers Jr.
Viggers graduated from EBHS in 1982 after having starred in football. As an offensive and defensive lineman on the gridiron, he was named all-conference, all-region, All-Western N.C., and all-state over his final two seasons, also being named a Parade First Team All-American as a senior.
He was also named part of the Southern Football National Elite 11 as a senior, when he was named county athlete of the year and played in both the East-West All-Star Game and the Shrine Bowl. Viggers then played two seasons on scholarship at UNC before transferring to Catawba College and being named an all-conference player there.
A member of the EBHS Athletics HOF, Viggers also lettered two years in track and field and one year in wrestling.
Bob Williams
Williams, who died in 1998, graduated from Valdese in 1952, also after enjoying a standout football career. As a Tigers senior, he was named all-state and played in both the East-West All-Star Game and the Shrine Bowl. Williams then played four years at the University of Tennessee, where he participated in the first Cotton Bowl to air on national TV in 1953.
Afterward, his prep football coaching career in Florida landed him in the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was a three-time state coach of the year at Wolfson High, whom he led to the state title game in 1967.
He then coached collegiately and professionally at the University of Tampa, Georgia Tech University, and in the American Football Association, where he was named coach of the year after leading his Jacksonville Firebirds to the 1979 league title.
