Hall Of Fame Bound

Today the North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame added eleven members in the class of 2013 including Tarboro resident Kelvin Bryant.

  I had the pleasure to do two of Tarboro's games against Ahoskie back in 1977 in Tarboro and 1978 in Ahoskie.  That game in 78 was for the conference championship and in the fourth quarter Tarboro was holding on to a 14-7 lead and Tarboro tried to pitch the ball to Kelvin going around the right end at about the Tarboro 30 yard line.  The pitch went over Kelvin's head and was rolling free at about the 20 yard line with three or four Ahoskie players chasing the ball and Kelvin as the only Tarboro player any where close.

Kelvin managed to kick the ball out of bounds keeping Ahoskie from getting it  and at the time as a young bias broadcaster pulling for Ahoskie I lambasted Bryant on the radio for kicking the ball out of bounds and causing a penalty for  an illegal kick.  My color man made me see the light that Bryant just maybe had saved the game for Tarboro  by keeping Ahoskie from getting it so close to their goal line and saved the game for Tarboro.   In retrospect he was right on and over the years doing games on the radio it has been one of the best plays ever by a player while I was in a booth.

Bryant went on to Carolina where he is still in the top five rushers all time for the Tar Heels having rushed for over a thousand yards three straight  years.  19 times Bryant rushed for over 100 in a Tar Heel game. ECU fans would like to forget 1981 when Kelvin scored 6 touchdowns  against them in one game.  Bryant still holds the NCAA record for scoring 11 touchdowns in two consecutive weeks and 15  touchdowns in three consecutive games.  Bryant  in 2002 was voted  one of the 50 best football players in the history of the ACC.

 He was drafted by the Philadelphia  Stars of the old United states Football league and both years in Philly made the all star team and Philly won the championship in 1984.  1985 the team moved to Baltimore where they again won the championship and all three years that Bryant played in the USFL he ran for over 1,250  yards.  1986 he joined the Washington Redskins where he was a member of the Super Bowl XXLL winning team and retired from football in 1990.

  Joining Bryant in the Hall Of Fame Class of 2013 is Bill Guthridge former Carolina Basketball coach, Ron Francis of the Carolina Hurricanes, Wade garrett, Tommy Helms, Marion Kirby, Rich McGeorge, Hugh Morton, Bob Quincy Mildred Southern and Marty Sheets.

Any Friday night in the fall you can find Kelvin Bryant somewhere near the Tarboro Viking football game where ever they might be playing because Kelvin Still loves those Vikings.