Bill F. Hensley , a member of Asheville's Lee Edwards High School Class of 1943, will be inducted into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame on May 15, 2008.

Hensley received his bachelor's degree in English from Wake Forest University in 1950. He has spent more than four decades writing and speaking about North Carolina and its people.

After college, he was a sports writer for the Asheville Citizen and then an FBI agent. In 1953, he was named the first full-time sports information director at Wake Forest University and then went to N. C. State in a similar position.

In 1960-65, he was director of public relations for R. S. Dickson Investment Co. and Wachovia Bank in Charlotte. Then Gov. Dan Moore named him to head the state's Travel and Tourism Division, a post he held from 1965-71.

He formed his own public relations firm in 1977. Specializing in travel, he landed such clients as Pebble Beach, Pinehurst Resort, Boca Raton Hotel and Club and Grove Park Inn. The American Travel Writers named him to Marco Polo membership in 1990, the group's highest honor.

Hensley is past president of the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, the Charlotte Sportsmans Club, Charlotte Public Relations Society and the Travel Council of North Carolina. He was a two-term secretary-treasurer of the Society of American Travel Writers and a two-term director of the Travel Industry Association of America.

The other 2008 inductees who will be enshrined in Raleigh on May 15, include UNC basketball coach Roy Williams (also an Asheville native), former Duke athletic director Tom Butters, NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, former Duke quarterback Leo Hart, ex-North Carolina football player Ken Huff, Guilford golf coach Jack Jensen and former Johnson C. Smith and Harlem Globetrotters basketball player Curly Neal.

Hensley joins fellow Lee Edwards alums Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice (also Lee Edwards Class of 1943 and the Hall's first inductee in 1963) and Claude "Hoot" Gibson (Lee Edwards Class of 1957) who was inducted in 2007.    Henry Logan of Asheville's Stephens-Lee High was honored as an inductee in 2000.

Gibson was a state champion in the high hurdles at Lee Edwards, then starred in football at at N.C. State University.  He played in the Americal Football League with San Diego and led the league in interceptions in 1962.  With Oakland, he led the AFL in punt returns in 1963 and 1964.  His college coaching career started with N.C. State in 1967 as defensive backs coach; three years as head coach at Tulsa; and 10 years as head coach at Mars Hill College.

Former Asheville football coach (1939-1940) Lee J. Stone was inducted in 1977.  Coach Stone was one of state's leading high school football coaches for three decades, producing one championship team at Raleigh Broughton and three at Asheboro.  He was one of Charlie Justice's high school coaches at Asheville.  He never had a losing season.  

Asheville Track Coach Chris Stroup reports that in the Men's Indoor Power Rankings with all Classifications combined, the Asheville Men are ranked #2 behind 4A New Bern.  Here are the top teams:

2008 NC High School Boys Indoor Team Rankings

Calculated as of Jan 27, 2008

These rankings were calculated by scoring the elite performances rankings list 20-deep. 1st place received 20 points for their team, on down to 1 point for 20th place.

Rank	Team	Points
1.	New Bern	137
2.	Asheville	130
3.	East Forsyth	125
4.	Carver	124
5.	Mooresville	118
6.	Southeast Raleigh	105
7.	Parkland	100
8.	South View	92
8.	Garner	92
8.	Knightdale	92
8.	Green Hope	92
12.	Vance	91

Also, on January 26th, junior Giovanni McKnight ran the 55-meter dash in 6.39 seconds, breaking Crezdon Butler's school record (6.49 seconds) and qualifying for the Nike Indoor Nationals in March. McKnight’s time is 14th nationally for the indoor season, according to dyestat.com. 

McKnight continues the tradition of great speedsters from AHS.  In 1994, John Avery, Asheville High senior and future first round NFL draft pick, tied the NCHSAA record for the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.34 seconds. (55 meters is about 6 inches longer than 60 yards.)

Congratulations to Giovanni and the entire indoor track team!

The 2007 final season official statistics have been released. Thanks to Coach David Burdette for providing the statistics all season long. Offensive and Defensive stats are saved in Excel files. Use the worksheet tabs at the bottom to navigate between game and season totals.

• Download Offense Stats
• Download Defense Stats

Congratulations to several Asheville High players and coaches who received All-Conference or Coach of the Year for their respective Fall 2007 sports.

Read full article: 'Several Cougars Make All-Conference for Fall 2007 Sports; Two Coaches Also Honored'

Patrick Parton Photography has provided photographs from several games this season.  This week, he captured over 500 photos from the heartbreaking AHS/North Gaston Semifinal game. You can view and purchase photographs from this game (and others) at the following link:  http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=3324499.

Thanks, Patrick!