Owen Hall of Fame to induct three
Jager Gardner, David Weaver and Joe Hyder to be honored Friday
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 20, 2022
Jager Gardner, who rushed for 6,953 yards and scored 75 touchdowns in his Owen football career, will be one of three members of the school’s 2022 Hall of Fame class, which will be inducted, Oct. 21. Photo courtesy of Chris Maloney
A trio of former Owen players and coaches will be be commemorated alongside dozens of Swannanoa Valley athletic legends before the the Warhorses take the field for their final regular season home game of 2022.
Jager Gardner, David Weaver and Joe Hyder will represent the Swannanoa, Black Mountain, C.D. Owen High Schools Hall of Fame, at 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 21, in a ceremony in the school’s media center. The group will also be recognized during halftime, as Owen hosts Avery in Western Highlands Conference matchup, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The occasion will mark the first return to his alma mater for Gardner, who rewrote the Western N.C. high school football record book during his four seasons in a Warhorse uniform.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” said Gardner, who ran for 6,953 yards during his four-year career at the school while playing a key role on a team that finished the 2014 season with a 12-1 record. “I haven’t been back since I lost on that field. There are so many great memories I’ll always cherish, because we all put in so much work and had so much pride in that place.”
The memory of his friend and former teammate, Tate Brown, who passed away at the age of 22, following a battle with cancer, will weigh heavily on his heart, he added.
“Tate was such a big part of that, because he was always right there with me, so that creates so many emotions at the same time,” Gardner said of Brown, who is memorialized in the hall of fame. “That time I spent with him is something that will always be special to me.”
Gardner, a native of Swannanoa, played four seasons on the Owen varsity football team, earning pre-season All-State Player of the Year honors in 2014, two all-state nods and three all-conference selections. He holds the school record for nearly major rushing categories, including the 2,776-yard performance as a senior, which the last of Kenny Ford’s 29 seasons as the head coach of the Warhorses.
While Gardner went on to earn a degree from Temple University, where he holds the school record for the longest run from scrimmage (94 yards), the relationship with his former high school coach, who will present Gardner during the induction ceremony, is an impactful one.
“Coach Ford saw every single thing I went through, and he understood the things I had to overcome to be successful,” Gardner said. “He wouldn’t let me mess up, and he was a true father figure for me. I love Coach Ford, and I always will.”
Gardner, who also set the record for the long jump during his four years on the Owen track and field team and lettered in varsity basketball each year he attended the school, never imagined his name would appear next to Roy Williams, Brad Johnson and Brad Daugherty.
“We used to stand over there and be amazed by the names on that plaque,” he said. “I don’t think it will really hit me that my name is up there until I see it.”
Just six years before Gardner played his first down of football for the Warhorses, Black Mountain native David Weaver was wrapping up a stellar basketball career that included recognition as a Nike All-American in 2005.
David Weaver, who scored over 1,300 points and pulled down more than 900 rebounds in his Warhorse career, will be inducted into the Owen Hall of Fame, Oct. 21. His senior photo will be engraved on the plaque recognizing his achievements. Photo courtesy of Owen Hall of Fame
The center, who ranks 18th all-time at Wake Forest University with 121 career games played, tallied more than 1,300 points and 900 rebounds in for the Warhorses. Weaver, whose 12-year professional basketball career took him to Japan, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Poland, Portugal, Italy and Lithuania, earned recognition as an N.C. Scholar Athlete during his time at Owen.
His athletic career as a Warhorse also included winning a silver medal in the high jump in the 2003 NCHSAA 2A State Championship.
Joe Hyder, who won six state championships in his 30-year coaching career at Owen, will be inducted in the school’s athletic hall of fame, Oct. 21. Photo courtesy of Owen Hall of Fame
Success on the track and trails was common at Owen during Hyder’s coaching career at the school, where he coached cross country for 30 years and track and field for 27. The 12-time coach of the year for the girls track and field team was recognized as the cross country coach of the year a total of 13 times for his work with both the boys and girls programs.
Hyder, whose coaching career ranks among the longest in the school’s history, delivered six state championships to the Swannanoa Valley at the helm of the Owen track and field and cross country programs.
The induction will be the first held by the hall of fame since 2019, according to hall of fame coach John Knight, who is a member of the committee that oversees the organization.
“It’s been a while since we held an induction ceremony, in-person, so we needed to do it this year,” he said. “This is a great class to bring it back with.”