MISENHEIMER — Five local athletes will be enshrined into the Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame next week during the hall’s 31st annual induction ceremony.
The 2023 inductees are Al Andrew, T.A. McLendon, Shanna Smith, Greg Speight and Quan Sturdivant, and the banquet is set for 6:30 p.m. on July 17 at Pfeiffer University’s Merner Gymnasium. Tickets can be purchased for $35 in advance and $50 on the day of the event.
Andrew taught at Albemarle High School for 31 years and led its boys’ basketball teams to a school-record 402 victories during his tenure. Prior to his retirement in 2015, he also coached the school’s baseball, football and golf teams.
McLendon was a running back at Albemarle High School and NC State. During his time in Albemarle, he set state records for career rushing touchdowns, the most rushing touchdowns in a single season and most career points scored.
Smith was a softball and basketball standout at Albemarle High School as well as an all-ACC softball player at NC State, where she helped the Wolfpack win the 2006 ACC title. She is now an assistant softball coach at Eastern New Mexico University.
Speight is a two-time state champion softball coach at North and South Stanly high schools (South in 1998 and North in 2017) as well as a successful basketball coach. The Richfield native has spent the past 36 years as an influential coach and educator within Stanly County.
Sturdivant was an all-state football player at West Stanly High School and all-ACC football player at UNC. He was drafted with the 171st pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals and also spent time with Kansas City and Washington.
Wes Durham, the heralded play-by-play voice of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball, football and baseball, will serve as the event’s keynote speaker.
He is a former co-host of the “Packer and Durham” sports talk show on ACC Network and SiriusXM as well as a former play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Falcons and Georgia Tech athletics. Durham is the son of legendary UNC play-by-play voice and Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame member Woody Durham.