Article reposted from The News & Observer
Author: J. MIKE BLAKE
t was a special night on Friday as Cary High inducted three new members to its Sports Hall of Fame.
One couldn’t take off work, yet still made it to the ceremony. That’s because Eric Hall, a 1993 Cary graduate, is the school’s head athletic trainer.
ERIC HALL (class of 1993)
After working the first half on the sideline as he always does, Hall took a break to be inducted then spent the second half back on the sideline helping Cary’s athletes.
It was all in a night’s work for Hall, who works at his alma mater as head athletic trainer.
At Cary High, Hall participated in track and field, swimming and cross country and was a student athletic trainer during football season. He graduated from East Carolina and was the head trainer at Southeast Raleigh for six years before coming back to Cary in 2006.
He was the N.C. Athletic Training Association’s secondary schools athletic trainer of the year in 2013, the N.C. Shrine Bowl trainer in 2012 and won several awards for helping save the life of Michael White, a football player who collapsed on the sideline in a 2010 scrimmage at Wakefield.
BARRY ARMSTRONG (class of 1977)
Armstrong was undefeated his senior year (30-0) and won the 141-pound state championship. His closest match all year – one of just three that didn’t end in a pin – came in the title match where he won easily 15-2.
His performance helped Cary and then-coach John Sanderson to the school’s first of several state wrestling titles.
He ended his career with a 75-3-1 record and was third place his junior year in 1976 at 132 pounds.
Armstrong was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the WRAL Invitational in 1975 and was a three-time champ in the tournament. He was also a two-time Bull Durham tournament champ, a regional runner-up in 1975 and a two-time regional champ in 1976 and 1977.
LEGARE MULLHOLLAND WOODS (class of 1965)
In the infancy of women’s basketball, where there were six players on the court and some could not cross midcourt, Cary High games were popular in the area. LeGare Woods, then LeGare Mullholland, was one of those players who made those early games special. She helped the Imps to a tournament championship in 2013 and was twice all-conference.
She averaged 17.4 points per game her senior year and had a career high of 31.
She was later involved with Cary Parks and Recreation and helps teach tennis to junior and adult players alike.