Owen Athletic Hall of Fame to welcome three new inductees

Jack Slaughter, Roger Brown and Kerner Long to be honored as class of 2025

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
January 30, 2025

Swannanoa Valley native, Owen alumnus and longtime teacher and coach Jack Slaughter will be among three new members inducted into the Owen Athletic Hall of Fame, Jan. 31. Roger Brown and Kerner Long will join him, rounding out the class of 2025. Photo courtesy of Owen Athletics

An institution that commemorates the achievements and contributions of elite figures in the history of Swannanoa Valley athletics will announce the inclusion of three new names, Friday, Jan. 31, during the Owen varsity basketball games.

The Swannanoa, Black Mountain and C.D. Owen High Schools Athletic Hall of Fame is welcoming Jack Slaughter, Roger Brown and Kerner Long as the class of 2025.

While the trio will be celebrated by fans on the court, a private ceremony will be held, prior to the games, in the Owen Media Center. The group includes a beloved coach in Slaughter, tireless volunteer and supporter in Brown and the star multi-sport athlete Long.

The Hall of Fame, operated by a nonprofit organization unaffiliated with the school, currently displays the names of the 46 most influential individuals in the 70-year history of Owen athletics. Some of it’s eldest members were affiliated with Swannanoa and Black Mountain High Schools before they merged to form the Swannanoa Valley’s public high school in 1955.

The group includes Super Bowl champion quarterback Brad Johnson and NBA first round selection and five-time all star, Brad Daugherty. Retired UNC basketball coach Roy Williams, who began his coaching career at Owen, was inducted in 2010. Other members are well-known for other roles in the Swannanoa Valley, including former longtime Black Mountain mayor Carl Bartlett and Carol Tyson, Terri Brooks and Pegg Rozzell, sisters who played together on a Warlassies basketball team that won 90 consecutive games from 1964 - 1969.

Once unveiled, the class of 2025 will become the 47th, 48th and 49th names mounted on the Hall of Fame plaque at the entrance of the Owen gymnasium.

Slaughter can still be seen regularly around the campus, as he continues to fill many roles, even after retiring from a 27-year teaching career a year ago. While the Swannanoa native once played for his hometown team, the path he followed to the hall was along a lengthy career as a coach.

Slaughter joined the Warhorse football staff in 1996 and continues to coach the offensive and defensive lines to this day. He coached the Warlassies softball program for 20 years and the school’s wrestling team for 15, but is perhaps best known for his commitment to doing tasks others may avoid. On any given day, he can be found maintaining the baseball and softball fields, setting up the gym for competitions or working on a team’s laundry.

Retired Owen teacher and athletic director Anthony Lee, who was inducted into the hall last January, will present Slaughter for enshrinement.

It would be nearly impossible to operate an athletic program without community support, and it would be even harder to find a person who has exemplified the bond between the two more than Brown. President of the Owen Athletic Booster Club for 15 years, Brown’s efforts have provided uniforms, equipment, travel accommodations and even state championship rings for student-athletes.

Roger Brown will be inducted into the Owen Athletics Hall of Fame, Jan. 31, as one of three honorees in the class of 2025. Courtesy photo

Prior to his time with the booster club, Brown served as the local little league president for a decade and coached Owen Middle School basketball for three seasons and baseball for one. He is also recognizable as the voice of the Owen football, baseball and basketball games.

Retired Owen football head coach and 2018 inductee Kenny Ford will present Brown in the pre-game ceremony.

While Long’s athletic prowess earns him a spot in the hall of fame, his standout talent could not be limited to a single sport. In his first year at the school he would go on to graduate from in 1977, he was named most valuable player of the Warhorse freshman football team. By his sophomore season he earned varsity positions in both sports.

Kerner Long will be one of three former Warhorses inducted into the Owen Athletics Hall of Fame, Jan. 31. Photo courtesy of Owen Athletics

While Long played baseball and ran track for a season, he emerged as one of the top basketball and football players in the region as a senior. He was an all-conference selection as a defensive back and quarterback and finalist for the WNC Player of the Year Award. On the basketball court, the all-conference point guard earned a spot on the Blue-White All-Star team and was named to the All-WNC roster.

Long, who would go on to star at Surry Community College as a guard on a conference championship team and later played defensive back at Appalachian State University, will be presented by his former Owen coach and fellow hall of famer Bill Mott.