A trio of Tar Heel legends are among the 12 inductees for the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020, as Mack Brown, Julius Peppers and former UNC track coach Dennis Craddock will be enshrined during the 57th annual banquet on May 1 at the Raleigh Convention Center.
The entire class consists of Debbie Antonelli, Muggsy Bogues, Brown, Craddock, Dr. Charles Kernodle, Mac Morris, Trot Nixon, Peppers, Bobby Purcell, Judy Rose, Tim Stevens and Donnell Woolford.
Brown’s 76 wins at UNC make him the winningest coach in the school’s history, while his 251 career victories across 31 seasons as a head coach at the FBS level rank ninth all-time and first among active coaches. In 2005, he won his first and only national championship while leading quarterback Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns.
Peppers was a two-sport athlete at UNC, playing both football and basketball for the Tar Heels. In 2000, he led the nation with 15 sacks in football before helping lead the UNC basketball team to an appearance in the Final Four. The following season, he was named a unanimous All-American as a defensive end and was then drafted second overall by the Carolina Panthers–where he would begin an illustrious 17-year NFL career where he would ultimately finish fourth all-time with 159.5 sacks.
Craddock, meanwhile, won a whopping 45 ACC Championships leading the UNC track and field program–more than any other coach in history. The 1995 National Coach of the Year coached 25 Tar Heels to 38 NCAA Championship performances and 19 Olympians who won five gold and two bronze medals. In addition, Craddock was named ACC Coach of the Year 31 times.
With these three being inducted this year, UNC now has ties to 64 members of the NC Sports Hall of Fame.
Photo via Dakota Moyer
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