Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame will induct Autry, Beane, Cordes, Hill, Kirk; former ACC commissioner to be guest speaker

The Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame will conduct its 2022 induction event on May 23 at the Stokes Student Center at Pfeiffer University. Five inductees will be honored at the event, which will honor the induction classes of both 2020 and 2022.

Keynote speaker for the evening will be John Swofford, former Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner and former athletic director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

During Swofford’s tenure as its commissioner, the ACC expanded from nine teams to 15, and won 92 NCAA titles in 19 different sports.

He was also instrumental in starting the ACC–Big Ten Challenge and in the launch of the ACC Network.

Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be Dean Jordan, a Stanly County Sports Hall of Fame member, who currently serves as director of global sports media rights for Wasserman Media Group.

Inductees will include:

Denico Autry

● Denico Autry (Class of 2022). Autry is an Albemarle native and graduated from Albemarle High School before starring in football at East Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State.
He currently plays for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League.

Brandon Beane

● Brandon Beane (Class of 2020). Brandon is a native of Norwood and a graduate of South Stanly High School and UNC-Wilmington. He is a former Carolina Panthers executive, and currently serves as general manager of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

Craig Cordes

● Craig Cordes (Class of 2020). Cordes is Albemarle native where he was a standout basketball player at Albemarle High School as well as at  Pfeiffer University. He is retired from sales with Miller Industrial Supply and lives in Raleigh.

B.J. Hill

● B.J. Hill (Class of 2022). Hill is a native of Oakboro and a graduate of West Stanly High School. He was a standout in football at N.C. State University, and currently plays for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League.

Charles Kirk Jr.

● Charles “Cally” Kirk, Sr. (Class of 2020). A native of Albemarle, Kirk was a basketball standout at Kingville High School. He earned numerous athletic honors at Livingstone College, where he was captain of both the football and basketball teams. He is a retired educator, living in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

The event will take place at 6 p.m. May 23. Tickets to the event, which will go on sale April 11, are $35 each and can be purchased at Albemarle Parks and Recreation, Locust Parks and Recreation or at Oakboro Parks and Recreation or by calling 704-984-9560.

Sponsorships for the event are also available in various packages. For more information on sponsorships, call 704-984-9560.

SportsPlus