Big South Inducts 2019 Hall of Fame Class
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – The Big South Conference inducted three former student-athletes and one former head coach into its Hall of Fame Thursday night, May 30, during a ceremony as part of the league’s annual Spring Meeting Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner at The Westin Resort in Hilton Head, S.C. The inductions increase the Big South’s Hall of Fame membership to 73 former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors.
The 16th Big South Hall of Fame class consists of Hilary McKay (UNC Asheville women’s soccer), Arizona Reid (High Point men’s basketball), Wanda Watkins (Campbell women’s basketball head coach) and Harold Wells (Gardner-Webb football). The 2019 Hall of Fame class was first announced on April 4.
HILARY McKAY, UNC Asheville, Women’s Soccer, 2002-05
The 2005 Big South Player of the Year, McKay was a four-time First-Team All-Conference selection during her time at Asheville, and also earned two Big South All-Tournament team plaudits in her four years. A four-year starter, McKay graduated as the conference’s all-time leading goal scorer with 53, as well as the career leader in points scored with 128 (she is now second in both categories after holding the records for nine years). The only player in Big South history with 50 career goals (53) and 20 career assists (22), McKay was voted to the Big South’s Women’s Soccer 2000-09 All-Decade Team. She was the 2002 Big South Rookie of the Year, helped the Bulldogs win two regular-season championships (2004 and 2005), as well as three appearances in the Big South Women’s Soccer Championship match in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
McKay remains Asheville’s all-time leader in goals and assists, and she set a single-season school record with 21 goals in 2003 -- the second-highest season total in league history and just one of three players in conference annals with a 20-goal campaign. A Third-Team Soccer Buzz Magazine Southeast All-Region honoree in 2005, she is among the Big South’s all-time Top 10 leaders in goals, assists, points, goals per game (0.72), points per game (1.73), shots (302) and game-winning goals (13). McKay was inducted into the UNC Asheville Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015.
ARIZONA REID, High Point, Men’s Basketball, 2004-08
Reid was a two-time Big South Men’s Basketball Player of the Year honoree (2006-07, 2007-08) and earned Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America distinction for both seasons. He was a three-time All-Big South First-Team selection (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08), in addition to being voted to the league’s All-Freshman Team in 2004-05. Reid was the first player in Big South history -- and to date the only player -- with 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, as he graduated as the league’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,013 (now 4th) and fourth-leading scorer with 2,069 (now 10th). Also the first player in Big South history to average 20.0 points (23.9) and 10.0 rebounds (11.0) in a season in 2007-08, Reid ended his career with more than 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in Big South games (60 games played), and finished with a 17.2 overall scoring average and 50.7 field goal percentage, along with 211 assists and 153 steals. He set the Big South single-season rebound record with 342 in 2007-08, as well as the league’s single-game mark of 25 against VMI on Feb. 24, 2007 that still stands today.
Reid helped the Panthers to a 34-26 Big South record ( =56.7 winning percentage) and 67-55 overall mark ( =54.9) during his four years. He was voted to the Big South Men’s Basketball 2000-09 All-Decade Team, and was selected as one of the Big South’s 25th Anniversary Top 25 “Best of the Best” as part of the league’s 2008-09 anniversary celebration. Reid’s accolades also include being named a CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major All-American in 2007-08, was twice recognized on the NABC All-District Team, and was a USBWA All-District team selection his junior year. He has been playing professionally overseas for the past 10 years and has spent time in 10 different countries.
WANDA WATKINS, Campbell, Women’s Basketball Head Coach, 1981-2016
Watkins spent 35 years as Campbell’s women’s basketball head coach before retiring after the 2015-16 season, and her official tenure in the Big South totaled 14 years from 1986-94 and 2011-16. She went 230-145 overall during her time in the Big South, which included a 135-67 record in conference games -- still the third-most overall and league wins among the Big South’s women’s basketball coaches. A two-time regular-season champion (1988, 1991), Watkins directed the Camels to the first six Big South Championship games (1987-92), and finished 16-12 in the conference tournament with a title in 1989. Her six title game appearances remain second-most in league history. Watkins was voted Big South Coach of the Year twice (1987, 1991) and won at least 20 games five times during her time in the conference.
She retired as the 29th-winningest head coach in NCAA Division I women’s basketball at 549-443, and in 2015-16 was one of 14 active coaches in Division I to serve 30-plus years at the same institution. Watkins finished her career with 10 conference championship game appearances (six – Big South, four – ASUN) and won two crowns, as her 2000 squad clinched the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. Watkins, who was Campbell’s first female scholarship student-athlete in 1975, was named the team’s graduate assistant coach in 1979, was hired as the school’s first full-time assistant coach in 1980, and was promoted to head coach in 1981. She graduated more than 95 percent of her student-athletes while at Campbell, and now serves as Interim Athletics Director after moving into the Senior Woman Administrator position when she retired from coaching. Watkins, who also sits on various Big South committees, was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.
HAROLD WELLS, Gardner-Webb, Football, 2001-04
Wells becomes Gardner-Webb’s first-ever inductee into the Big South Conference Hall of Fame and is just the second football player to be elected. The defensive tackle played three of his four years in the Big South (2002-04) and helped GWU to a Top 20 national ranking in 2002 as well as the first two Big South football championships in 2002 and 2003. He also was one of seven players at the time to receive three All-Conference nods (2002, 2003, 2004). Wells capped his career as the league’s 2004 Defensive Player of the Year and was a consensus All-American that season after leading the FCS (then I-AA) with a Big South-record 22.5 tackles-for-loss (now second-most in a season in the conference record book). He was named the 2004 I-AA National Defensive Lineman of the Year by the Football Gazette, was an All-American in 2003 and a two-time Football Gazette All-Region selection. Wells was the first player in Big South annals to record at least 3.0 TFL in three consecutive games (2004).
Named by USA Today as one of the top two-way players in college football midway through the 2003 season, Wells was also a short-yardage fullback for the Runnin’ Bulldogs and rushed for 12 touchdowns during his time in the backfield -- including eight on just 17 carries in 2004. Voted to the Big South’s Football 2002-09 All-Decade Team, Wells concluded his three years in the Big South with 162 total tackles (82 solo stops) from his defensive tackle position, along with 31.5 TFL, 13.0 quarterback sacks and four forced fumbles. Wells played professionally in the Arena Football League with the Columbus Destroyers, and finished his time as the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. Wells was inducted into Gardner-Webb’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.