Class of 2020
Kevin Millwood
A 1993 Bessemer City High graduate, where he was a three-sport athlete, Millwood is Gaston County’s longest-tenured major league baseball player in history at 16 years. At Bessemer City, Millwood also played football and basketball and was team MVP in 1991 of the Yellow Jackets’ N.C. 2A runner-up team and finished his career with 1,394 points. In the major leagues, the 1993 11th-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves went 169-152 with the Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners. A 1999 National League All-Star for the Braves, Millwood threw a no-hitter in 2003 for the Phillies against a San Franciso Giants lineup that included Barry Bonds, led the American League in ERA for the Indians in 2005 and started and went six innings of a 2012 no-hitter for the Mariners against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1959 Bessemer City High School baseball team
15-3 overall, 7-3 and co-Little Six conference champions.
Head Coach Terry Gates
Playoff results: Bethware W 7-1, Pleasant Garden W 8-4, Granite Quarry W 2-1, Valley Springs W 6-0, at Siler City W 10-2, Rock Ridge W 4-3 (9), W 6-2 (N.C. 1A champion)
First and only state championship team in school history.
Jackson “Ace” Parker
A 1945 Bessemer City High graduate who played baseball and football, Parker attended Erskine College before returning his high school alma mater as a coach and teacher. He coached football, basketball and baseball at the school and the gymnasium is named in his honor. He guided his Yellow Jackets’ basketball teams to 223 victories, three conference regular season and six conference tournament titles highlighted by a 1972 N.C. 2A runner-up finish. He also led the school to five league titles in baseball and three more in football. The high school gymnasium is named in his honor. Coach Parker passed away in January of 2014 at the age of 86.
Shameka Smith
A 2002 Bessemer City High graduate, Smith scored 1,774 career points for the Yellow Jackets and was 2002 Gazette player of the year and 2002 Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference player of the year when she scored 693 points including a 40-point game against Highland Tech. A runner-up for Ms. N.C. Basketball in 2002, Smith played collegiately at Gardner-Webb from 2002 to 2007 where she had 1,136 career points and 992 career rebounds and was team MVP as a junior.
Mike Mahaffey
A 1972 Hunter Huss High graduate where he played baseball, Mahaffey played baseball at Gardner-Webb before becoming baseball coach at Bessemer City for 29 seasons with a 428-271 overall record with nine league titles that included six straight from 1984 to 1989 and two pro players (Kevin Millwood and Chris Mason). He had 18 playoff teams and went 20-20 in the postseason highlighted by the 1986 N.C. 2A runner-up finish. Also athletic director at Bessemer City from 1989 to 2009, Mahaffey was a football assistant coach for Bessemer City and later was an assistant softball coach at South Point. The field at the high school is named in his honor.
Class of 2022
Chris Mason
A 2002 Bessemer City High graduate, Mason is the highest major league draft pick in Gaston County history (2nd round in 2005 by Tampa Bay) after starring at Bessemer City, for Cherryville American Legion Post 100 and at UNC-Greensboro. After winning 18 games and setting the school’s strikeout record (375 career) at Bessemer City, he set Legion records that may never be broken in a 15-1 season (with 6 saves) that allowed his team to finish as 2003 American Legion World Series runner-up. He is the area’s career leader in wins (30) and strikeouts (426). Mason, who pitched in Class AAA for Tampa Bay and the New York Mets, set a Legion all time record with 69 strikeouts in national competition; Second-place Sid Fernandez of Honolulu, Hawaii, is second with 55 in 1980. Only one other pitcher since 2003 has exceeded 40.
1986 Bessemer City High School Baseball Team
A team coached by Mike Mahaffey finished 25-2 overall that includes 25 straight wins to open the season and the school’s first unbeaten league record (14-0 in the Southern District 2A) had a starting lineup of 10 .300 hitters led by Russell King’s .500 average and featured workhorse pitcher Mark Toney (15-1 record with 160 strikeouts). Rodney Jeffties (.473), Toney (.452), Bruce Capps (.433), Jody Kiser (.417), Todd Landers (.408), Brian Swift (.406), Bobby Mantooth (.364), Joey Cox (.363) and Billy James (.317) were the other top hitters for a team with a collective .392 average that also slugged 40 home runs.
Calvin Albright
A 1974 Bessemer City High graduate, Albright was a multi-sport athlete who returned to the school as a coach and school ambassador for every Yellow Jackets’ sport. He’s the school’s all time winner in girls basketball and softball and the school’s softball field is named in his honor. In girls’ basketball, he had 114 victories, his 2000-01 team won the school’s second league title and his 2001-02 team won a school-record 19 games. In softball, he guided the school to 130 wins. In boys’ basketball, he had 56 victories. Coach Albright passed away in January of 2021 at the age of 64.
Marty Hatchell
Retired in 2009 as Gaston County’s all-time winningest basketball coach with a 379-228 record at Bessemer City and Ashbrook. At Bessemer City, he went 186-45 with nine state playoff berths, four conference titles and a 1991 N.C. 2A runner-up team that included eventual major league pitcher Kevin Millwood. At Ashbrook, he went 193-83 with 10 state playoff berths and four conference titles and he also was a football assistant coach, including for the 2002 state championship team. At Bessemer City, he also was a football and baseball assistant coach, including two of the top teams in school history – a 25-2 state runner-up 2A baseball team in 1986 and a 10-3-1 3rd round 2A football team in 1994.
Phillip Crosby
A 1995 Bessemer City High graduate, Crosby was a two-way standout for the Yellow Jackets as a fullback and linebacker and became the school’s first and only Shrine Bowl player in 1994. After high school, he went to junior college power Coffeyville, Kansas before transferring to Tennessee, where he was the starting fullback on the Volunteers’ 1998 national championship team. After college, Crosby was a fullback and special teams player for the Buffalo Bills from 2000 to 2003. He also is a 2021 Gaston County Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
Class of 2023
Gary Adams
…A 1965 Bessemer City High graduate, Adams won more than 1,000 games coaching high school softball and boys’ basketball at Crescent High in Iva, S.C. A 17-time S.C. Class AA softball state champion, including 11 straight from 1987-97, he was named national coach of the year in 1991. From 1977-2017 (still active), Adams has a 972-147-1 softball record and was state runner-up six times. From 1976-77 to 1995-96, Adams guided boys’ basketball teams to a 253-155 record, two state titles (1983, 1986), one runner up finish (1985) and was a three-time SCACA coach of the year. A 2002 inductee into the National Federation of High Schools and South Carolina High School League halls of fame, Adams has been the namesake for the Crescent High softball field since the 1990s. A 2018 Gaston County Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
Lewis Carpenter
…The namesake of Bessemer City High School’s baseball press box – it was named for him in 2001 – Carpenter was a longtime history teacher at the school in addition to coaching girls’ basketball and softball, serving as football athletic trainer and handling public address announcing duties for the baseball team. Carpenter, who died at 74 on Nov. 9, 2018, also coached baseball and basketball at old Tryon Junior High School before coming to Bessemer City. As softball coach, Carpenter guided the Yellow Jackets to their first state playoff appearance in 1982 and first league title in 1984. As girls’ basketball coach, the Yellow Jackets had 76 victories and five playoff appearances in his six seasons as head coach.
Shanara Mintz
…A 2002 Bessemer City High graduate, Mintz is one of the most accomplished athletes in Yellow Jackets history with three state individual track championships. She won the N.C. Class 2A shot put state title in 2000 with a then-record throw of 40 feet, 6 3/4 inches – a record that stood until 2002. And in 2002, when Bessemer City became a N.C. Class 1A school, she won the state title in both the shot put and discus throws. Her distances of 43-4 3/4 in shot put and 118-0 1/2 in the discus remain school records. And her shot-put distance remains a 1A state record and was then third-best for any classification in N.C. High School Athletic Association history. A 2000 WBTV player of the week honoree, Mintz was named The Charlotte Observer’s 2002 girls field event athlete of the area. Mintz also was a three-time all-conference performer (1999, 2000, 2002), was 2002 Gaston County Meet field events MVP and she led Bessemer City to its first conference title in 2000 (Southern Foothills 1A) and led the Yellow Jackets to a 2002 N.C. 2A runner-up finish in the state meet.
Eric Nichols
…A 1979 Bessemer City High graduate, Nichols became the Yellow Jackets second 1,000-yard rusher in school history in 1978 and was an all-conference selection off the school’s 1979 Southern District 7 2A Conference baseball title team, which helped him earn Bessemer City High’s 1979 athlete of the year. He also was one of the top hitters for Gastonia American Legion Post 23’s 1979 Area IV championship team. He played football and baseball at Lenoir-Rhyne, where he was a three-year baseball starter, led the Bears in all major hitting categories in 1983 and was named team MVP. Following college, Nichols returned to his hometown as a teacher and coach. At Bessemer City Junior High, he guided the Tigers football program to a 53-31-1 record with two division titles and two Gaston County titles and the Tigers baseball program to a 112-43 record with four division titles and two Gaston County titles. Both win totals are Bessemer City Junior High/Middle School records. At Bessemer City High School, he was both a head coach and assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets football program and was head boys track coach from 1999 to 2014.
Class of 2024
“Fan of the Year”
Tweety Stewart
…A 1956 Lincoln Academy graduate, she was a 43-year teacher at Bessemer City schools and has supported the schools’ athletic programs in various ways, most notably as a cheerleader sponsor. In 2019, she received the Bennie Cunningham Fan of the Year at the Gaston County Sports Hall of Fame banquet.
Class of 2024
Bob Noblett
… .A 1949 Bessemer City High graduate, he was a multi-sport athlete in high school who returned to his alma mater as girls basketball head coach and developed a reputation for tournament upsets. In 1958, the last-place Yellow Jackets upset three straight teams, including regular season champion Stanley 41-35 in the Little 7 finals. In 1960, the fourth-place Yellow Jackets pulled two upsets before losing in the finals. And in 1961, the Yellow Jackets won the school’s first regular season title in history with a 9-3 Little 7 co-title with Tryon.
Bessemer City High School 1961 & 1962 Baseball Teams
…Coached by Jackson “Ace” Parker, the Yellow Jackets won back-to-back Little 6 tournament titles in seasons in which the N.C. High School Athletic Association did not hold state playoff games. Both teams defeated Stanley for the postseason title, winning 3-2 in a single game playoff in 1961 and sweeping a best-of-3 series in 2 games in 1962.
Wanda Brown
…A 1980 Bessemer City High graduate, she became the school’s first 1,000-point career girls basketball scorer on Jan. 25, 1980 with 18 points against Maiden for legendary coach Lewis Carpenter. Brown helped the Yellow Jackets to a 37-32 overall record with three straight playoff appearances and 1,114 points in her three years at the school.
Shane Whitlock
…A 2005 Bessemer City High graduate, Whitlock’s 4,458 career rushing yards, 2,404 yards in 2004, 310 career points and 136 points in 2004 remain school records. And his single-season total was No. 1 in Gaston County history at the time. Bessemer City won 22 games, including 2 playoff victories, during his 4-year career in which the school played in the postseason each season.
Mark Toney
…A 1987 Bessemer City High graduate, Toney finished his career as Gaston County’s all-time winningest high school pitcher with a 33-3 record – he’s since been surpassed by eventual major leaguer Jake Buchanan of North Gaston with 34 wins – and his 15-1 record during the 1986 season in which the Yellow Jackets were N.C. 2A runner-up remains tied for a county record with another eventual major leaguer, Wilbur Howard of old Lowell Holbrook (also went 15-1).