Each year since 2006, the nonprofit Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame has chosen four to five individuals to honor during its Legends Induction Banquet for their excellence in sports and achievements in bringing recognition to the Wilmington region. Chuck Carree, Mel Gibson, Jim Hebbe and James E. Moore Jr. will be inducted into the hall of fame during the 2015 ceremony at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Burney Center May 3.
After years of writing about athletes as a sports journalist, Carree will take his place among them in the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame (GWSHOF). Thirty-five years of his career were spent as a sports writer for the Wilmington Star News, during which he covered the Wilmington Hammerheads and two minor league baseball teams, the Waves and the Port City Roosters.
Gibson’s basketball career began at Rockingham High School in Cordova, N.C., and culminated in a season playing for the Los Angeles Lakers in 1964. Gibson remained in the game as a coach, eventually taking a position as head coach of the UNCW men’s basketball team.
Hebbe played four years of varsity basketball at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, N.C. After graduation he entered the U.S. Army, where he began coaching basketball and football. He continued his coaching career when he moved to Wilmington, eventually accepting the head coaching position at John T. Hoggard High School. Under Hebbe’s guidance, the Vikings made a run to the 4A state championship, finishing runner-up to South Mecklenburg.
Moore was born in Wilmington and earned numerous accolades during his football career at New Hanover High School. After high school, he accepted a full scholarship offer to play basketball for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Tar Heels under head coach Dean Smith. Years later, he returned to Wilmington. He now lives in Wrightsville Beach and serves on the board of the Wilmington Family YMCA and the GWSHOF.
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