GoHeels Exclusive: Andrews, Bankhead & DuPont Enter N.C. Sports Hall

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame added 15 new members Friday, when it held its 55th annual induction ceremony at the Raleigh Convention Center.

This year's class included three former North Carolina student-athletes. Donna Andrews played for the women's golf team from 1986-89, Scott Bankhead played for the baseball team from 1982-84 and Laura DuPont played for the women's basketball and tennis teams from 1967-1970.

DuPont died on Feb. 20, 2002, of cancer, at the age of 52. She was inducted posthumously and represented by her sister, Suzette DuPont Wright.

Before Friday's ceremony, Andrews and Bankhead spoke with GoHeels.com columnist Pat James about their induction, their time at UNC and more.

Donna Andrews

Q: What was your reaction when you learned you'd be inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame?

Donna Andrews: I think probably humbled as much as excited, ecstatic. I'd met Don (Fish) several times; they do a fundraiser over there at Pine Needles. So I'd met him and didn't know much about the hall until I'd met him several years ago. A good friend of mine, John Derr, and Mrs. Peggy Kirk Bell got to talking about it, and I thought, 'Well, wait a minute. I need to be a part of that group.' So that is sort of what got the wheels rolling, and they both wrote letters and talked to Don several times. And I was just ecstatic when I finally got the call that said, 'Yes, you're being inducted.' It's cool at my age because my parents are still alive, so I'll be able to honor them, too, for all they did to provide me the opportunity to do what I did.

Q: How did you start playing golf?

DA: I grew up in a county club and grew up with two brothers, and we'd go out on weekends as a family and play golf. I was one of two gals at the country club who played golf and thought, 'Well, this is cool. Why don't more women play golf?' So I played my first tournament when I was 10 and was pretty good. I played on a boys high school golf team and thought, 'Well, this is sort of fun. I get to play a sport where I play with all the guys. I don't have to play with all the girls.' And I played basketball and tennis also, but was always better at golf and got a scholarship to the University of North Carolina. I got a great education while I was there, played four years, won one tournament and was able to go on and turn pro. I remember people asking me in high school, 'What are you going to do for a living?' And I was like, 'I'm going to play golf.' It was sort of always there in my dreams that I'm going to at least give it a try. And I was surrounded by people who allowed me to pursue that dream.

Q: What initially drew you to UNC?

DA: I'd grown up in Virginia, and there weren't really any Virginia schools – I mean, James Madison had a golf team. But I knew I wanted to get a business degree, so I started looking around. I didn't want to be too far from home. I looked at Duke, looked at UNC, looked at a couple. And the only application I ever filled out was UNC. So it's a good thing they took me.

Q: What was it like playing for coach Dot Gunnells?

DA: Coach Dot was just awesome. We were surrounded by awesome. Dr. Richard Coop was there; he was mentoring us. Coach Gunnells, unfortunately she passed away, but we had a great celebration of her life. So many of the players came back, so you knew how much she was loved and respected by all of us. She was just a great mentor. To her, life was not about how we played golf. Life was about how we turned out as a person, and she did a great job with all of us.

Q: Why was it important for you to stay in North Carolina as an instructor and continue to give back here after your playing career?

DA: I never left here in my career. All the other tour players were moving to Florida, and I thought, 'Why would I leave Pinehurst?' We got the chance to go to Pinehurst and play when we were in college, and I thought, 'What a great golf town?' Virginia was a little too cold for practicing in the winter, but I thought, 'North Carolina is fine.' I'd grown up practicing in Virginia in the cold, but I thought, 'Well, North Carolina is warm enough for me. I don't get what the big deal is.' I was fortunate, represented Pinehurst while I was on tour. And when I came back, I got the opportunity to teach with Mrs. Peggy Kirk Bell. Her facility was much more geared to teaching women, and I thought it was the perfect fit for me. She happened to say to me one day, 'Why don't you come teach with me?' And I was like, 'I would be honored.' And I haven't left. I just love it there, I love the family – I work with the Bell family there. They're a very strong Christian-based family. That's the way they run their business, and it shows.

Scott Bankhead

Q: What was your reaction when you learned you'd be inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame?

Scott Bankhead: I had a little of a personal connection with the person who called me, Que Tucker, who is on the board. She had been a coach and a teacher at Reidsville High School when I was in high school. So I knew her. She'd called and talked about a lot of things for several minutes, and then I knew her involvement with the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, but did not know she was connected to the sports hall of fame board until she told me that and told me it was her pleasure to tell me I'd been inducted. It was kind of a 'wow' moment. It was kind of like, 'Wow, man, that was an unexpected phone call right there.'

Q: What initially drew you to UNC?

SB: No. 1, it was a great school. No. 2, it was the best school that was recruiting me and giving me an opportunity to play baseball. Not that the other ones that weren't recruiting me were not great schools; they were. But North Carolina I thought was my best opportunity. I was very thankful Coach (Mike) Roberts gave me that opportunity.

Q: You were drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates coming out of high school. How close did you come, if at all, to signing with them?

SB: I remember my mom calling me the day of the draft and telling me some guy from the Pittsburgh Pirates had called the house and I needed to come home immediately. I was like, 'Why did he call the house? What do you need me to come home for? I'm doing something else.' She said, 'No, you need to come home. They need you to talk to them.' I grew up in a time when there was no social media, there was no ESPN, there was none of this. Those things traveled slow. You weren't really aware any of that stuff was going on. I was not close at all to signing a professional contract out of high school. I really didn't have any interest, to be honest with you.

Q: What was it like playing for coach Mike Roberts?

SB: Loved it. Coach Roberts gave me the opportunity of a lifetime. Loved playing there. He put together great teams. One of the most competitive guys I've ever been around. He loved to win, tried to instill that in the players every day, not only at game time but practice time, preparation time. He's still a dear friend of mine now. I think the world of him. He's been a great coach. He was a great coach to me and been a mentor and a friend since I played there.

Q: What did you learn during your time on the UNC baseball team that carried over into your professional career?

SB: I think being in a program like North Carolina where there were so many good players that the competition level on a day-to-day basis was pretty high, I think that makes everybody achieve to a different level or to a different standard. I think that's healthy, and that's what I think allowed me to realize that, when I did go into professional baseball, I kind of knew how to prepare myself, I knew what I need to do and I knew how to perform in an environment that I was used to being in for three years.

Q: Is the North Carolina Baseball Academy your legacy, in a way?

SB: I think the Baseball Academy has given me a platform to be able to not just teach the game to kids of all ages – I enjoy coaching a 10 year old just as much as I enjoy a college kid or a kid who has that type of ability. Just getting to that level and getting to know them, that's what I've enjoyed most about my adventure, my job, whatever you want to call it. I don't call it a job, really. Being able to do that and have an influence on a day-to-day basis with kids who some know a lot about baseball when they come out there and some have no idea about it, it's just as fun to work with those kids. As a matter of fact, in the summer when we have our little bitty guy camp where the 5 year olds and 6 year olds come, I'm always the head of that group. I take that group because I have the most fun with them and trying to get them to understand, 'Hey, we're going to have some fun with this. This isn't life and death.' You can learn a lot from playing this game, the adversity you face and how you overcome those things to go on and help you do a lot of neat things in life.

A brief biography of each 2018 inductee follows; deceased inductees being inducted posthumously are indicated by an asterisk:

DONNA ANDREWS: An outstanding golfer, Andrews won a major title on the LPGA Tour as well as five other tournaments during her time on the tour from 1990 to 2005. She finished in the top ten in money earned in a season three times. The Lynchburg, Va. native is now a teaching pro in Pinehurst.

SCOTT BANKHEAD: Bankhead, an All-America pitcher at North Carolina, had a 10-year major league career, including six with the Seattle Mariners with whom he won 14 games in 1989. The Raleigh native and Asheboro resident produced two of the best seasons in Tar Heel history.

HAL "SKINNY" BROWN *: Brown pitched for six teams in his major league career, which spanned from 1951 to '64. His best season came in 1960 with the Orioles. Baltimore battled the Yankees all summer for first place in the American League race before finishing second. Brown, born in Greensboro, went 12-5 with a 3.06 ERA that season.

CHRIS CAMMACK*: Almost 50 years after graduation, Cammack still ranks as one of N.C. State's best all-around baseball players. The Fayetteville native starred at third base for four years, earning all-ACC honors four times and set the Wolfpack record for single-season batting average with a .429 mark in 1969. He was also a point guard on a state championship high school basketball team at Fayetteville High.

JOEY CHEEK: Cheek, a Greensboro native, has won three Olympic medals in speed skating. He began as an inline skater as a teen before switching to speed skating. He won medals in the 2002 and 2006 Olympic Games. He is also a well-known humanitarian, co-founding Team Darfur, an international association of athletes devoted to raising awareness of humanitarian crises related to the war in Darfur.

WES CHESSON: Chesson, a native of Edenton, played for former Duke star Jerry McGee in high school at Holmes High and then went on to Duke himself. He was a star receiver and punter for the Blue Devils in the late 1960's. By the time he graduated, he was the leading receiver in ACC history and was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons.

LAURA DUPONT *: A native of Louisville, Ky., DuPont moved to Charlotte as a teenager and quickly dominated the state's junior tennis tournaments. She attended North Carolina where she won the pre-NCAA national collegiate championship. After graduation she joined the WTA Tour, where she was a standout in both singles and doubles.

MINDY BALLOU FITZPATRICK: Fitzpatrick, a native of Sea Level, was a volleyball and basketball standout at West Carteret High School. She went on to become a collegiate basketball star at South Carolina, where she played from 1983-86 and was a three-time All-America. She later became a championship surfer.

BILL HAYES: Hayes spent 27 years as a college head football coach and won 195 games, including stints at North Carolina A&T (1988-2002) and Winston-Salem State (1976-87). After his coaching career, he served as athletic director at his alma mater, North Carolina Central, Florida A&M and Winston-Salem State.

JACK HOLLEY*: Holley was an outstanding athlete at New Hanover High School and graduated from Guilford College. He coached an amazing 46 years at the high school level and his football teams won a whopping 412 games, which placed him in the top ten nationally at one time. His stops included Tabor City and two long stints at Wallace-Rose Hill, among others.

PAUL JONES*: Jones, born in Thomasville and a graduate of East Carolina, compiled a brilliant basketball coaching record at Kinston High School. He spent 38 seasons there, from 1957 through '95, and his teams won 662 games and 18 conference championships along with two North Carolina High School Athletic Association state titles and four runner-up finishes. He also coached a team to a state title in baseball.

MIKE MARTIN: Martin has built one of the greatest collegiate baseball programs in the country in his 38 years at Florida State. The Gastonia native has the most wins and the highest winning percentage of any active coach. Under his direction, Florida State has become a fixture in the national polls and NCAA Tournament play.

FRANK "JAKIE" MAY*: A Youngsville native, May had a 14-year major league career. The lefthander pitched for three National League teams between the 1917 and 1932 seasons. He had 72 major league wins, including 15 for Cincinnati in 1927, and finished his career with a 3.88 ERA.

JOE WEST: West was born in Asheville, graduated from Rose High in Greenville and played football at Elon. He is the longest tenured umpire currently working in major league baseball, with over 40 seasons, and prior to his induction in the Hall has worked in six World Series, nine League Championship series and three All-Star games.

FRED WHITFIELD: Whitfield has teamed with Michael Jordan to give Charlotte one of the best-run franchises in pro basketball. President and chief operating officer of the franchise, which he joined in 2006, the native of Greensboro graduated from Campbell University and is in that school's sports Hall of Fame. Thousands of young people in Charlotte have benefitted greatly by his civic work over the years.

GoHeels Exclusive: Andrews, Bankhead & DuPont Enter N.C. Sports Hall

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