Fond memories of exciting success took center stage at the inaugural Randolph-Henry Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony Saturday, Oct. 20, at Central Middle School with about 225 people in attendance.

Randolph-Henry Director of Athletics and Assistant Principal Christopher Holt noted being pleased with how the event proceeded, and he was not the only one to feel this way.

“The feedback that I’ve gotten from everybody has just been ultra-positive,” he said.

Holt said the inaugural induction class was particularly large by design, while future annual classes will feature no more than six individuals.

The 2018 class included Richard Bankston, Burl Clements, Larry Dunn, Mary Dunlap, William Elliott, George Gaines, Eugene Gryder, Michael Haskins, Deborah Laine, Stacey Lee, Herbert Moss, Kelly Powell, Freddie Stovall, Monique Williams and Barbara Wilmoth. Most of them are pictured on A5 in a group photo taken after the ceremony.

Three state championship teams were also inducted and had representatives at the ceremony. These teams included the 2002 and 2005 varsity baseball squads and the 2005 varsity golf squad.

Holt said it was an approximately two-year process to bring the hall of fame and the inaugural induction from idea to reality.

“I was truly blessed to have a lot of help from a lot of people, including our inductees, our coaches of those teams, family members providing photographs, a beautiful, incredible meal provided by Longwood University,” Holt said.

He credited Alyson Oseguera for managing all of the pictures as they came in and for putting PowerPoint presentations together. He also highlighted Rhonda Benn for her decorating touch that helped create the right ambiance.

Individual donors, the county’s school board and its board of supervisors drew praise for their contributions.

“It was a true team effort to make something like that happen,” Holt said. “It was a really neat weekend for everybody involved, starting Friday night and continuing on through Saturday.”

Inductees were introduced at the Friday, Oct. 19, varsity football game, fed a meal and given the opportunity to reconnect.