Owen hosts emotional Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Chesney Gardner, Shawn Gibbs, Tim Raines and Anthony Lee receive warm welcome among Swannanoa Valley sports greats
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
January 13, 2024
Teary eyes and warm hugs filled the Owen High School media center, Jan. 12, as the Swannanoa, Black Mountain and C.D. Owen High Schools Athletic Hall of Fame welcomed four players and coaches among the greatest Warhorses and Warlassies of all time.
Chesney Gardner, Shawn Gibbs, Tim Raines and Anthony Lee each struck an emotional tone as they collectively recounted decades of fond memories and athletic achievements to friends, family and fans and fellow hall of famers.
The Owen Hall of Fame Class of 2024 was celebrated throughout the night, as the organizing committee hosted an enshrinement ceremony before unveiling the newest plaques among the institution, which includes names like Roy Williams, Brad Johnson and Brad Daugherty. The school recognized the quartet at halftime of the Warlassies basketball game.
Established in 1993 with the induction of longtime Owen teacher, coach and former standout Black Mountain High School athlete Jim LeVine, the hall of fame now includes 46 individual members and recognizes the Warlassies basketball team that won 87 straight games between 1964-1969 and memorializes late Warhorse athletes Chad Wiley and Tate Brown.
Many Owen hall of famers were present for this year’s enshrinement, including retired head football coach Kenny Ford, who introduced Gibbs and Lee. Gibbs broke many rushing records for Ford’s 1990-92 teams, while Lee served as offensive coordinator for 22 years.
Ford introduced “one of his best friends” when presenting Lee, who won 284 games as the Owen baseball coach and led the school’s 3,200 meter relay team to three consecutive state championships. The multi-sport coach, who began his 30-year education career in McDowell County, was the Owen Athletic Director from 2015 through his retirement in 2021.
“I saw my very first Owen football game about 40 years ago, and I knew right then that was what I wanted to do,” Lee said. “Some of the greatest influences I’ve ever had in my life, since I was a teenager, were teachers and coaches. For this reason, I would not be here if it wasn’t for Kenny Ford.”
The football coach and Swannanoa Valley native took a chance when he hired the young Lee, who helped deliver multiple conference championships and playoff appearances in return. He vividly recalled many of his experiences at the school’s former home field, located by the current middle school..
“Thank you Coach Ford for bringing me home,” Lee said, before thanking many of his fellow coaches, former players and administrators. “Coaching at Shuford Field was an amazing experience. The excitement of the school and the community was like no other. It had to be the best place to coach a football game.”
Gibbs played for Ford and Lee before following in their footsteps at the collegiate level. The former Warhorse running back who shattered records on his way to 4,655 rushing yards before graduating in 1992, was the “best overall athlete to play running back” at the school, Ford said while presenting the current head coach of the Fort Valley State University football program.
“He excelled at everything, but football was where he shined,” Ford said of the former WNC Player of the Year. “It was no secret who was getting the football.”
Gibbs, who went on to play for N.C. Central University before coaching there, Grambling State University, N.C. A&T State University and FVSU, expressed pride in playing for the Swannanoa Valley.
“I have always been proud to be from Black Mountain,” he said. “A lot of time when people go away to school and are asked where they’re from, they say Asheville. I never said that; I told everybody I was from Black Mountain, and I’m proud of it.”
Gibbs finished his high school career as the leading rusher in Owen history, but upon entering the hall of fame, he touted a Warhorse legacy of greatness at the position.
“When anybody asks me the greatest Owen running back of all-time, I say I don’t think there is a best running back in the history of this school,” Gibbs said. “When I was little boy, I had the privilege of watching Bobby Darden. After he graduated, I got the opportunity to watch Al Ellis, and I was a freshman when Donald Lytle stepped in. I played with Chico Kemp and then it was my turn, but after me there was Jager Gardner and my nephew Sidney.”
Any debate about the position’s history at the school, he added, should focus on the Owen legacy.
“What we need to argue with people about, and let WNC and the state know, is that we probably have the strongest legacy of running backs in this region, and possibly in the state of N.C.,” Gibbs said. “We need to celebrated for that.”
The first inductee presented was Gardner, who was introduced by her former track and field coach and current North Buncombe High School Assistant Principal Clint McElrath.
“Her athletic accomplishments are great, and in fact some of the greatest in this school’s history,” said McElrath, son of hall fame Owen softball coach Dean McElrath. “But, what stands out the most about Chesney is who she is as a person. She is a leader, a friend and a role model for this community.”
Gardner, who collected numerous awards as a four-year multi-sport athlete before graduating in 2019, thanked her family and coaches for instilling the drive to find athletic and academic success. A top 15 scholar in her graduating class, Gardner finished her Warlassies career with an NCHSAA Female Athlete of the Year award, two Owen Female Athlete of the Year awards and two Owen Overall Athlete of the Year trophies. She broke the school record in shot put and discus and scored 1,956 points while grabbing 1,004 rebounds as a four-year starter for the basketball team.
She also hit what is unofficially recognized as the longest home run in Owen softball history in the single season she played for the team. Gardner went on to play basketball for USC-Aiken, where she was the two-time team captain and named to the Peach Belt Conference Team of Academic Distinction.
“Sports changed my life,” Gardner said. “I was thinking about that when thinking about what this honor means. It wasn’t just basketball, it was all of them. Without playing sports, I don’t know where I would be, because it really builds you as a person. It gives you character and teaches responsibility, and it really taught me to be humble.”
Going into the hall of fame represents a goal she set long ago, Gardner continued.
“When I was in high school I would walk by that hall of fame, and I would see people I know up there, and I wanted to get there,” she said. “This is a dream come true, but as happy as it is, I’m kind of sad because this marks the end of my chapter as an athlete. It is truly wonderful to be here to reflect on all of the good times we had.”
Bill Mott taught generations of Owen students in his 35-year career, including Raines, who joined his former teacher and mentor in the hall of fame.
“I’ve known this guy since he was 14,” Mott said of Raines, who was a multi-sport athlete when he attended Owen, before his 24-year career as a coach and teacher at his alma mater. “Tim was all-conference and all-WNC when he played football here, and he played basketball for Roy Williams and Bill Burrows.”
While the accomplishments of Raines were numerous, according to Mott, his dedication to the students and athletes of the Swannanoa Valley was perhaps greater.
“I keep thinking he has spent more time at this school than I have,” he said. “I taught him and coached him when he went here, he came back and did his practice teaching for me and then he taught next door to me. It is really my pleasure and honor to welcome Coach Raines into the hall of fame.”
Raines celebrated the legacy of those who impacted him as a young student, athlete and educator in the Swannanoa Valley.
“When I got the call with news that I had been selected for the hall of fame, that was the word that came to my mind,” he said. “Not my legacy, but the legacy of the countless number of people who helped determined the course my life would take.”
Raines recognized Mott as a “friend and mentor” for 50 years.
“You are the reason I chose this profession,” he said. “When I got out of the Navy I stopped by the school and told him I was going to be a teacher. He tried to discourage me by showing me his paycheck, but I didn’t care because I was going to save the world. It didn’t discourage me then, and it don’t regret it now.”
Raines coached 600 basketball games for the Warlassies in his career, while leading the junior varsity football club to 132 victories. He was an assistant coach under Ford for 23 seasons.
“When I was done I just wondered where all that time went,” he said. “I think I was part of a great group of coaches who spent their entire careers at this great school. Coaching requires a lot of time away from your family for very little pay, and it’s difficult to get people to take that responsibility on for one year, let alone for decades. Good, bad or indifferent, kids could always count on who their coach would from year to year, and that stability is a very important ingredient for success.”
Raines, who served on the Black Mountain Town Council after his teaching career, moved to Florida in 2021.
“Thank you to the committee, Owen High School and the Swannanoa Valley for this great honor,” he said. “This place will always be home.”
Owen basketball celebrated the 2024 hall of fame class with victories over the N.C. School of Science and Math, as the Warlassies improved to 3-12 with a 52-9 win, while the Warhorses moved to 3-9 in a 63-61 contest.
Photos of the 2024 Swannanoa, Black Mountain and C.D. Owen High Schools Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony and Owen basketball can be viewed in the gallery at the top of the page.