BILL KISER

sports@newstopic.net

Just about a year ago, the 12 members of the Caldwell County Sports Hall of Fame's committee began the task of working through dozens of nominations to pick four new inductees.

Their work resulted in the addition of four names to the county sports Hall of Fame's roll of honorees.

The four members of the Class of 2009 -- Wilford Beane, Ted C. Crowe, Gary Laws and the late Jay Knight -- were officially inducted into the Hall of Fame on Monday night,

More than 200 family, friends, current HOF inductees and Rotary Club of Caldwell County members attended Monday night's award ceremony at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center to honor the new inductees, who became the 87th through 90th members of the Hall of Fame.

"When our committee meets to talk about inductees, we have a long list of nominees," Caldwell County Rotary Club president and HOF committee chairman Ron Beane -- himself a member of the Hall of Fame's Class of 1995 -- said. "This year, like every year, was a difficult year in making these selections, because we have so many people who are deserving of being recognized.

"Caldwell County has been rich in sports tradition. Caldwell County has had its fair share and more of athletes who have gone on and played at the next level, and played well. Tonight, we have four more individuals who we want to recognize."

Knight -- who passed away on Jan. 14, 2008, at age 63 -- was the first to be inducted, with HOF committee member and Class of 2000 inductee Skip Downs saying that the Kings Creek Community native "helped revive semi-pro baseball in Caldwell County."

"It's a honor to present this award to Jay's family tonight," Downs added before presenting the award plaque and medallion to Jay Knight's widow Joyce and other members of his family.

"Jay would have appreciated and enjoyed this award." Joyce Knight said of her late husband, who was also an avid golfer and angler who has a fishing tournament -- the Jay Knight Memorial Walleye Tournament on Lake Fontana -- named after him.

Baseball was the overriding theme of the first two inductees, with Laws' feats on the field during his youth, high school, college and semi-pro careers earning him the HOF's Class of 2009 induction.

"I'd like to thank the sports Hall of Fame committee for this decision," Laws said. "This has been a most memorable night. ... Baseball has been very, very good to me. I probably wouldn't have gone on and gotten a college education without it.

"A pitcher gets most of the glory, but no matter how well he really pitches, there's eight other guys out there. I played with some pretty good ballplayers, a lot of their names are on the wall out there (in the county sports Hall of Fame)."

Crowe also played baseball -- it was one of three sports he lettered in at Gamewell High School -- but his claim to fame came from the variety of sports that he competed in over the years, and did so successfully.

"All my life, I've loved to compete," Crowe said. "If there was any kind of game around, I wanted to get in it. ... I'm pretty much limited now to the game of golf and an occasional game of rummy, but my competitive spirit is as strong as it ever was."

Wilford Beane also was a standout athlete at Gamewell-Collettesville High School, lettering in three sports. But his induction to the county sports Hall of Fame came on the strength of his career as head coach of Hibriten High School's varsity girls basketball team over 24 seasons.

"I need to congratulate the other three inductees," Beane said. "I never thought I'd be a teacher or a coach. When I got to Hibriten, a week or so before the start of practice, they asked me to be the coach. I thought I'd try it for one year, and it turned into 24 years.

"Luckily, I had a lot of influences in my life ... and I've had my share of good players. You go through a lot of trials and tribulations as a coach ... but all those teams and players were special for their own reasons. I'm honored to have been their coach."