Mountain Athletic Amateur Club announces 2026 Hall of Fame class for October

The Mountain Amateur Athletic Club committee has announced its 2026 Hall of Fame class, featuring longtime coaches and former standout athletes from Western North Carolina.

The five-person class includes former Reynolds football coach Scott Conner, former Mars Hill football coach Tim Clifton, former Brevard College cross country coach Norm Witek, former Clemson women’s basketball player Annette Wise and former UNC Asheville women’s basketball player Sheila Ford Duncan. The Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are longtime Western Carolina football and basketball play-by-play announcer Gary Ayers, sportswriter Pete McDaniel and former Western Carolina and Cherokee football coach Kent Briggs. They will be inducted Oct. 4 at the Omni Grove Park Inn.

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Conner led the Rockets for 14 seasons, accumulating a 116-41 overall record, nine conference championships and two state championship game appearances. He also coached the Reynolds girls basketball team, leading them to the regional championship in 1991.

Wise was a four-sport standout in basketball, softball, track and field and volleyball from 1974 to 1978. In basketball, she averaged 16 points and 16 rebounds while guiding the Jets to the state championship in 1978. She earned all-state honors as a senior in all four sports. She went on to play college basketball at Clemson, helping the Tigers win the 1981 ACC regular season championship.

Duncan helped the Bulldogs win the 1984 NAIA national championship. She averaged more than 20 points and 20 rebounds per game for UNC Asheville and was named the tournament MVP. She finished her career as college basketball’s all-time leading rebounder with 2,200 rebounds, a figure that still stands today.

Clifton served as the head coach at Mars Hill for 32 years, retiring prior to the 2025 season. He had a 173-156 record, while winning one conference championship and two division titles.

Witek coached the Brevard College cross country team for 47 years, guiding the program to four straight national championships in the 1980s. He helped 118 of his student-athletes become All-Americans. He coached three individuals who won national championships and two who ran in the Olympics.

Ayers had been the long-time radio voice of Western Carolina football and men’s and women’s basketball programs. He has also broadcast Swain County football for numerous years.

Briggs served as the head football coach at Western Carolina and Cherokee. He guided the Braves to their first state championship in 2017. He guided the Catamounts for seven years and was an assistant coach at North Carolina State and UConn. He also played at Reynolds and Western Carolina. He died in June after a long battle with cancer.

McDaniel was a dual-sport athlete at UNC Asheville, playing basketball and golf. He then became one of the world’s most well-known golf journalists in 1974, beginning his career at the Asheville Citizen Times and Hendersonville Times-News. He then spent 15 years in various roles, including senior writer, with Golf Digest and Golf World. He is best known for his coverage of Tiger Woods. He co-authored “Training a Tiger with Earl Woods, Tiger’s father, and Tiger’s best-selling golf instruction book, “How I Play Golf.” His work earned him an induction into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame and the National Black Golf Hall of Fame.

Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on X @zacharyahuber.