Mebane Sports Hall of Fame to honor five local figures Saturday

Mebane’s athletic community will fill the Mebane Arts & Community Center on Corregidor Drive Saturday night as the city adds five more local figures to its Sports Hall of Fame and two to its Hall of Honor. The class reaches from Eastern Alamance football fields to youth recreation, amateur golf, sports medicine and game officiating, showing how the city’s sports history still lives in the programs and people families know today. A reception, dinner and keynote by Sylvia Crawley-Spann will frame the inductions from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The five Hall of Fame inductees are John Kirby, Jeff Modlin, Wayne Petty, Dean Ray and Doug Smith. Kirby, an Eastern Alamance alum, coached football at the school and also served as athletics director, with championship teams attached to his tenure. Modlin, who died last summer at 63, spent more than four decades around athletics as a player, coach and supporter, including youth-league work through Mebane Recreation and Parks and years in competitive adult softball. Petty, another Eastern Alamance graduate, played golf at Appalachian State University and carried on a long amateur-golf career after college.

Ray’s legacy is tied to recreation leadership and civic growth. As a former director of the Mebane Recreation and Parks Department, he helped create both the Mebane Arts and Community Center and Mebane Community Park, two places that continue to anchor youth sports and community events. Smith, a former Eastern football co-captain, spent nearly 50 years officiating football at the high-school and college levels, including assignments in the Atlantic Coast Conference and bowl games.

The Hall of Honor additions are B.J. Chockley and Terrence Caldwell. Chockley’s 45-year sports-medicine career centered on Eastern athletes, especially football and wrestling, while Caldwell, a former Mebane police chief, also coached youth programs and worked for years as a game official. Their recognition broadens the city’s definition of athletic service beyond the scoreboard and into the training room, the sideline and the youth leagues where many local careers begin.

The City of Mebane says the Sports Hall of Fame exists to recognize and preserve the city’s athletic tradition by honoring people and organizations that have made outstanding contributions. Its roster already includes names such as Angie Bartis, Penny Butler, Mike Garrison, Monica Robinson and Jon Webster, and this year’s class was presented to Mebane City Council months before the gala. With support from local sponsors, partners and the Mebane Sports Hall of Fame Committee, Saturday’s ceremony will add another layer to a tradition that still shapes Mebane’s athletic identity.