High School Sports

Meet Northern Durham's newest sports hall of fame class

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Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe, left, holds the ACC Championship football trophy as he is surrounded by players including Josh Gattis, right, following their 9-6 win over Georgia Tech, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006, in Jacksonville, Fla. With the win Wake Forest will play in the Orange Bowl. AP

Northern High School in Durham will hold its annual sports hall of fame golf tournament and banquet on Saturday at Umstead Pines at Willowhaven. The golf tournament is in the morning and banquet and hall of fame inductions are scheduled for the evening.

This year's 10th hall of fame class will induct the 1964 golf team as well as these five individuals:

Alex Brown: Brown graduated from Northern and has been the athletic trainer at the University of Oklahoma for 30 years. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 2011 and has been part of two U.S. Olympic Festivals, the 1990 World University and Goodwill Games, the 1991 Pan American Games and is the official trainer for the U.S. team at FIBA World Championships.

Josh Gattis: Gattis (class of 2002) was a four-year standout in football and track and field at Northern. He won the 2002 3A state championship in the 300 meter hurdles and was a Nike All-American. He played football at Wake Forest University as a safety and was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He's made coaching stops at North Carolina, Western Michigan, Vanderbilt and Penn State and is currently the wide receivers coach at Alabama.

Northern Durham's Josh Gattis (24) sacks Jordan quaterback Brent Blaylock (13) in the second quarter of play on Oct. 22, 1999 in Durham County Stadium. Northern's Zamar Gates (23) and A. J. Davis (28) helped apply pressure to the quaterback.
Northern Durham's Josh Gattis (24) sacks Jordan quaterback Brent Blaylock (13) in the second quarter of play on Oct. 22, 1999 in Durham County Stadium. Northern's Zamar Gates (23) and A. J. Davis (28) helped apply pressure to the quaterback. Robert Willett News & Observer 1999 File Photo

Brooke Hoover: Hoover (class of 2007) was the PAC-6 Conference girls tennis player of the year while at Northern and also played four years of basketball and two of soccer. She went on to play at Rhode Island, making the Dean's List all four years, and was team captain her senior year.

Ernie Martin: Martin was the football coach at Northern from 1961-69 and was also a teacher, athletic director and assistant principal. He went on to have a standout career in education, serving as a superintendent in Virginia.

Kevin Wicker: Wicker has been the Northern golf coach for 11 years, and is a former Knights player himself. He was all-conference in his junior and senior years and went on to play at Methodist. His teams at Northern have produced a number of conference championships.

This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Meet Northern Durham's newest sports hall of fame class."

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