They laughed, fought off tears, expressed appreciation, and recalled good memories.
The men who accepted induction into the Providence Bank Jacksonville-Onslow Sports Hall of Fame all displayed different emotions in front of family and friends Thursday night at Sturgeon City Environmental Center.
Retired basketball coaches Doug Erny and Greg Grantham, veteran track & field coach Curt Dowdy and former Dixon baseball standout Rookie Davis were honored along with Garrett Banks, who accepted on behalf of his late father, Douglas.
“I think it’s important that something like this happens because it gives you more incentive to keep pressing forward,” Dowdy said. “You know your work wasn’t done in vain. Believe it or not, when we started looking back at the achieves, I was like ‘Wow, things made a big difference.”
The hall of fame meant a lot to the inductees, including Garrett, the son of Douglas, who passed away last year.
“We’re excited. Very excited,” Garrett said. “It means the world. We are soaking it in, even though there might be bittersweet aspect to it. I want to be excited because I know he would be excited.”
The other inductees also enjoyed looking back.
“You get so busy in life that you never really sit down and reflect on a lot of things,” Davis said. “But with this, you think back to when you were younger. I lived my dream. Now I’m on the other side of that as a business owner, dad and husband. So, it’s pretty awesome.”
Grantham and Erny also showed appreciation.
“There’s nobody here that could be more honored and humbled than I am. That’s for sure,” Grantham said. “It’s one of those things where you never set out to receive any kind of reward or honor. But when you get recognized, it’s gratifying.”
Added Erny: “It’s a great honor. It means that I have had a lot of good players and a lot of good coaches with me.”
Erny won over 400 games in 23 years as Lejeune’s basketball coach before he coached at Jacksonville. He led the Devilpups to regional trips four times and earned multiple conference and area coach of the year honors.
“What stands out the most are the kids I am still in contact with today,” Erny said. “That’s the biggest thing.”
Dowdy also credited his previous athletes for his successful career. Dowdy has coached the Jacksonville girls track & field team to 25 conference titles, 11 regional crowns and three state titles and the boys’ team to six conference crowns, two regional titles and two state championships.
“That has been fun going back and remembering kids I had years ago,” Dowdy said. “There are a lot of names.”
Staying with the coaches, there’s Grantham, who has won over 370 games, including 310 at White Oak, along with five conference titles and three sectional crowns. He was also the first Coordinator of Athletics for Onslow County and held many other leadership positions in the coaching and administration world.
“I’m just trying to get through without tearing up,” Grantham said.
Then there’s Davis, the 2010 state baseball player of year at Dixon who was all-state four times, conference player of year three times and a two-time area player of year.
“The days of people remembering me as a baseball player are going to dwindle, but I want people to remember the impact I’ve had in the community with baseball and softball development,” Davis said. “I want them to remember me for helping kids grow.”
The event’s first inductee was Banks, a former standout football, basketball, baseball and track & field athlete at White Oak who went on to play at North Carolina and East Carolina. Garrett was proud to accept the honor on behalf of his father.
“It’s really surreal. We’re just very proud of him and excited,” Garrett said. “I would hear stories … but reading the articles was next level.”
The event also saw longtime sports contributor Michael Carter receive the hall of fame’s Heroes Spirit Award.
“My career at the Jacksonville Recreation and Parks was the best,” Carter said. “It was more than the wins and losses. It’s about the individual doing what you can to makes lives better.”
Chris Miller can be contacted via email at cmiller@jdnews.com. Follow him on X @jdnsports.