Thanks for the memories, Owen Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Induction ceremony will celebrate four all-time greats

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
January 11, 2024

Anthony Lee, who retired in 2021 after a 24-year teaching and coaching career at Owen High School, is one of four people who will be inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame on Jan. 12. *Photo by Fred McCormick*

Sometimes I find it hard to believe it has been 10 years since I walked into Owen High School for my first local sports assignment. I don’t remember who the basketball teams were playing that January night in 2014, but I vividly recall lingering as I walked past cases filled with trophies collected over decades, before a large installation on the wall next to the entrance to the gym caught my attention.

The large plaque read, “Swannanoa, Black Mountain and C.D. Owen High Schools Hall of Fame,” while the dozens of metal plates attached to it included names recognized well beyond the Swannanoa Valley.

Since that night, I have learned a lot about the accomplishments of many of the Valley’s top athletes and the individual and collective dedication that built one of the most storied athletic programs in the Buncombe County School system, and as the Owen Hall of Fame prepares to welcome the class of 2024 in a private ceremony at 5 p.m., Friday, Jan. 12, a quartet of all-time greats will take their rightful place among the best to ever wear maroon and white.

Most of the 44 athletes, coaches and supporters recognized by the hall of fame, which is operated by a group of volunteer alumni, left their mark on this community before I came to town. The 2024 class of Chesney Gardner, Shawn Gibbs, Tim Raines and Anthony Lee, however, is special to me because I have covered each of them in my journalism career.

While the induction ceremony will be held in the school’s media center before Owen basketball hosts N.C. School of Science and Math-Morganton at 6 p.m., the class of 2024 will be recognized at halftime of the Warlassies game.

The event will celebrate significant figures in the Swannanoa Valley’s impressive athletic heritage.

Anthony Lee

“Coach Lee,” as I still call him when I run into him in public, was already an institutional figure at Owen when I started covering the school’s athletic program. Prior to his retirement in 2021, Lee was a teacher and coach at Owen for 25 years, and seamlessly stepped into the role of athletic director in 2015.

The West Virginia native’s career at the school is marked with recognitions, including teacher of the year, as he played a key role as offensive coordinator for a Warhorse football program that won eight Western Highlands Conference Championships during his tenure.

Lee’s remarkable consistency on the gridiron was only surpassed by his sustained success as head coach on the baseball diamond, where he held the position for 22 years. He won 284 games in a Warhorse uniform and led the program to seven conference championships and 17 consecutive postseason appearances, including trips to the NCHSAA West Regional in 2001 and 2005. As a head baseball coach, Lee was named the WHC Coach of the Year seven times and is a two-time NCHSAA West Regional Coach of the Year.

In three seasons as the head coach of the Owen men’s track and field team, Lee led the team to three state championships in the 3,200 meter relay.

As accomplished as Lee was when he accepted the athletic director position nine years ago, I was always struck by his humility when I began communicating with him in that capacity. He made me feel welcome immediately, and was never too busy for an interview about the latest Owen Athletics developments.

I was fortunate enough to cover Lee’s last game on the sidelines at Warhorse Stadium, where his game plan resulted a 50-43 victory over Avery, and the thing I remember the most about that evening was the palpable emotion that filled the stadium.

Of course, anyone who follows Owen sports knew Coach Lee was destined for the hall as soon as his career ended, but there is no doubt it will be a special moment when fellow Owen Hall of Famer and former head coach Kenny Ford presents his play-calling partner for enshrinement.

Chesney Gardner

I had been covering the Warhorses and Warlassies for a few years by the time a freshman named Chesney Gardner arrived. Her last name, which is represented in the hall of fame by her uncle Jesse, has been a mainstay for Owen Athletics.

Chesney quickly established herself as one of the greatest athletes to ever wear an Owen uniform.

In her first season for the Warlassies, she earned all-conference honors in basketball and competed in volleyball, soccer and track and field, as she was named the OHS Female Athlete of the Year. She swapped soccer for softball as a sophomore, when she was the top discus thrower in the West Region and again named Female Athlete of the Year.

The accolades kept coming for Chesney in her junior year, as she was named most valuable player for the Warlassies volleyball and basketball programs, earning all-conference recognition in those sports and track and field. She became the first Owen athlete to be named MVP of the Buncombe County track meet, finished first in the West Regionals and second in the state in the discus event, led the basketball team to its first 20-win season in over a decade and was named the 2017-18 OHS Overall Athlete of the Year.

Returning to campus for her senior year, Chesney was well-established as a star athlete before raising the bar again. She set a school record with a 140-foot discus throw, a 38-foot-7-inch shot put, completed her Warlassies basketball career with 1,946 points and 1,004 rebounds and earned her second consecutive OHS Overall Athlete of the Year award. Chesney was named the NCHSAA Athlete of the Year.

Chesney was much more than a generational athletic talent in her time at Owen. She graduated as a top 15 scholar, worked with younger athletes in the middle and high schools and did everything with a smile on her face. After graduation, she attended USC-Aiken, where she was the captain of the women’s basketball team as a junior, and again as a senior. While averaging 7.2 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game, Chesney was recognized on the Peach Belt Conference Team of Academic Distinction in 2021.

Tim Raines

I have to admit I was intimidated by Tim Raines the first time I met him. He radiated the kind of passion and intensity of someone who cared deeply about instilling values and hometown pride in young student-athletes. As I got to know him in the years that followed, I learned how his pedigree as an athlete and coach shaped those characteristics.

Raines was a varsity letterman in three sports when he attended Owen, where he played basketball under the tutelage hall of fame coaches Roy Williams and Bill Burrows. When he returned to his alma mater as a teacher and coach, Raines was eager to share his wisdom with future generations of Swannanoa Valley youth.

He was a member of the Warhorse varsity football coaching staff from 1991 through 2015, and the head coach of the junior varsity team for 19 seasons. Raines led the JV Warhorses to a 33-game winning streak in the early 2000s on his way to a career 132-54 record. I distinctly remember a conversation I had a few years ago with former varsity head coach Kenny Ford, who believed that if JV records were maintained, Raines coaching career with the program would be among the winningest.

While he was all about football in the fall, each winter for 24 years Raines effortlessly shifted into his role as head coach of the Warlassies basketball team. It was in his office, surrounded by dry erase boards filled with drawings of plays and workout assignments, that I met him for the first time.

There is a certain mold of basketball coach that people familiar with the sport often think of fondly. These coaches think about the sport constantly and devise the most effective method of passing their philosophy along to their players. Raines was that kind of leader.

I attended dozens of Warlassies basketball games while Raines was at the helm, and there were two things I could always count on watching: players hustled on the court regardless of their roles and the game plan was thoughtfully adapted to maximize the skill set of the team.

Raines won 280 games as a head coach and led his team to 15 postseason appearances and two trips to the third round of the playoff tournament. While he was named WHC Coach of the Year four times and selected to coach multiple state all star games, won five WHC Tournament championships and regular season conference championship with the program, Raines’ ability to get the most out of his players was perhaps his greatest accomplishment.

He coached three Owen Hall of Fame basketball players: Corinne Groves (class of 2017), Stephanie Jones (class of 2017) and Chesney Gardner.

Raines also coached golf for a few seasons before retiring in 2017, and I found the contrast between watching him quietly guide his team on the Black Mountain Golf Course and his fiery basketball demeanor amusing.

While a lot of people would likely retire to Florida after a teaching and coaching career like his, which he ultimately did in 2021, Raines continued to serve his community after his tenure at Owen. He was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Black Mountain Town Council in 2018 and served until May of 2021.

Shawn Gibbs

I had heard and read a lot about Shawn Gibbs before I first spoke to him for a story in 2017. I was told by many reliable sources that he was perhaps the best running back in the history of a program that included hall of famers like Al Ellis and Jager Gardner.

I knew that Gibbs finished his high school career as the WNC Player of the Year and leading rusher in Owen history before Gardner eclipsed the total in 2014, but I reached out to him after watching the 2017 NFL Draft. After the Chicago Bears selected Tarik Cohen in the fourth round, I wanted to talk to Gibbs, who was his running back coach at N.C. A&T State University. It was during that interview that I realized Gibbs’ star was going to keep shining bright as a college football coach.

The former Owen great, who amassed 4,655 career rushing yards before graduating in 1992, and 1,687 yards in his career at N.C. Central University, went on to coach his alma mater’s all-time leading rusher. His collegiate coaching career took him to Grambling State University under head coach Rod Broadway, before Gibbs returned to his home state to lead the Aggies’ backfield.

Before the 2022 season, he was named head coach of Fort Valley State University, where he has led the program to 16-5 record in two seasons and a 23-10 victory over Johnson C. Smith University in the Florida Beach Bowl last December.

Every time I talk to Gibbs, I feel like I just attended a master class on football.

Gibbs ran for 2,555 yards and 27 touchdowns as a senior for Owen, which finished the 1992 season 12-1 and a fourth straight WHC Championship. He will join his former teammate, Harold Gragg (class of 2014) in the Owen Athletics Hall of Fame.

While I wish I was around in the Swannanoa Valley to see Gibbs electrify Warhorse fans in his maroon and white number 25 jersey, I am grateful to have covered some of his 20-year coaching career and excited for his continued success and induction into the Owen Athletic Hall of Fame.

SportsFred McCormickJanuary 11, 2024