Charles Langston:Nantz, Childress, Ralph and Steve Smith named to 2024 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame class

RALEIGH,Charles Langston N.C. (AP) — CBS Sports broadcaster Jim Nantz, former All-Pro wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. and college basketball stars Randolph Childress and Shea Ralph are in the class of 2024 inductees to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

Other notables to enter the hall at an induction ceremony in May in Charlotte include retired Davidson men’s basketball coach Bob McKillop, former Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman and Que Tucker, commissioner of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, the Hall of Fame said Tuesday in a news release.

Nantz, a Charlotte native, anchors CBS golf coverage and is the lead NFL play-by-play announcer for the network. He also led the network’s NCAA basketball coverage for 32 years.

Smith played 13 seasons with the Carolina Panthers and is the team’s all-time leader in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards. He also played three years for the Baltimore Ravens.

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Childress starred on the Wake Forest basketball team in the early 1990s, winning the ACC Tournament MVP award in 1995 after historic performances over Duke and North Carolina. He played professionally for 16 years.

Now the women’s basketball coach at Vanderbilt, Ralph played her college ball at UConn, where she led the team to the 2000 NCAA title and was named Final Four MVP. Ralph averaged 39 points a game as a high school junior at Fayetteville’s Terry Sanford high school and held numerous state records when she graduated.

McKillop recorded 634 wins and 23 conference titles while at Davidson. The Wildcats’ 2008 team, led by Stephen Curry, reached the Elite Eight.

Other inductees include Sheila Ford Duncan, the 1984 NAIA women’s basketball player of the year while leading UNC Asheville to the national championship; Olympic rowing gold-medal winner and Greensboro native Caroline Lind; retired NFL tight end Pettis Norman, who played in college at Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte; and the late Don Skakle, the former men’s tennis coach at North Carolina.

The 2024 induction will bring the Hall of Fame membership total to 411.