North Carolina Chapter – Class of 2007

"Lifetime Service to Wrestling"

Jim King - Born in Melbourne, Florida. Attended Appalachian State University 1968-1972, wrestled and earned All-American status at National NAIA Tournament in 1971. Served as head wrestling coach at Prattville High, Ala., 1973. Head wrestling coach at Orange High from 1974-1990 with a record of 125-28, coached two individual state champions when the state had only one classification; His team won State sectional tournaments in 1978 and 1982; He served as Athletic Director at Orange High 1979-2003; Named the North Carolina 1999 Wrestling USA State Man of the Year; directed the Orange High/Jim King Invitational Wrestling Tournament 1975-2006. King spent months planning and putting all the pieces in place when he began serving as Director for the North Carolina High State Tournament when all three classifications came together under one roof in 1994 and directed the state meets through 2003. Named Regional N.C. Athletic Director of the Year 1999, and he was named N. C. Alliance of Athletics, Health, Phy. Ed, Recreation & Dance Athletic Director of the Year 2001. He has been a wrestler, a coach, and an Athletic Director who has continued to be involved in the sport of wrestling. He has retired and resides in Hillsborough with his wife Andrea. Their children are Jamie and Robin.

Phil Kanoy – Born in Thomasville, NC. Kanoy is retired after his teaching career at his former high school. His future in wrestling began in 1961 at Thomasville High where he lettered in wrestling and football. Phil attended N. C. State University from 1964-68 wrestling at 177, 190 and Hwt; He lettered at NC State in '67 and '68. Named to the All-ACC Academic Honor Roll Team in 1968. He had the pleasure of wrestling with Greg Hicks and Chuck Amoto. Kanoy was head coach at Thomasville High 1969-1983 where his teams achieved a record of 178-18-1. His teams won 9 Conference championships going undefeated in conference action five of those years. Kanoy's team won the WNCHSAA State Championship in 1973. His conference voted him Coach of the Year 8 times. He was an assistant coach at Ledford High four years and assisted at East Davidson High for 18 years where the team won two 1A/2A State Dual Team Championships. Since 1987, Kanoy has been the head scorer of the 1A/2A State Individual Tournaments. He is a Gold Member of the North Carolina Coaches Association. Kanoy has retired from teaching and enjoys traveling and working on the family farm in Thomasville. After stepping down as head coach at Thomasville, Kanoy volunteered his services as an assistant coach at two high schools in his county. Phil has been an outstanding role model for the sport of wrestling.

Tom Marsh – Born in New Bern, NC. After a long tenure as a successful high school wrestling coach, Marsh has moved into school administration and is presently the Principal at Pamlico High School. After graduating from East Carolina University in 1970 where he lettered in wrestling, coached by John Welborn. he began a coaching career that spanned 27 years. served 3 years as head coach at Jacksonville High, assisted 2 years at New Bern High, served as a graduate assistant at East Carolina for a year, went to East Carteret High as head coach for 3 years, and continued the next 19 years of his coaching career as head wrestling at New Bern High. Marsh fashioned a 357-113-2 career coaching record over the 27 years. He is proud of the 11 state high school champions, 26 place winners, 85 state qualifiers, 77 individual conference champions, plus his team won 12 Conference Championships. His New Bern team finished in the top 10 in state tournament 9 years; and 16 out of 19 years the team finished in the top 20 in the state team scores. Over his career, Tom Marsh directed over 90 tournaments in Eastern North Carolina including numerous North Carolina State Games Wrestling Tournaments. One of his most successful wrestlers is Raymond Jordan, sophomore, who is currently ranked #6 in the nation and wrestles for the University of Missouri. Marsh has served as a Board Member of the North Carolina Wrestling Coaches Association and the Wrestling Chairman of the North Carolina State Games. Tom resides in New Bern with his wife Diane. They are the parents of two sons and a daughter: Tom Marsh IV, Steven Marsh and Leslie Marsh Bridges.

Robert "Bob" Sappenfield – Born in High Point, NC. Bob Sappenfield wrestled in the days prior to World War II at High Point High School. Beginning in 1938 Bob won state championship at 95 pounds; at 108 pounds in 1939 and at 115 pounds in 1940. Due to the fact that students only went through the 11th grade at that time, Bob was not able to possibly win his fourth title. Bob Sappenfield was one of only four wrestlers who became 3-times state champions prior to World War II. After high school, he was given a wrestling scholarship at Appalachian State Teachers College where he wrestled until World War II broke out. He then spent four years in the Army. In 1946, at the request of coach Tony Simeon, ,Sappenfield reinstated the wrestling program at High Point High school and the team won 3 consecutive North Carolina High School State Championships in 1947, 1948, and 1949. His high school teams wrestled colleges, among them UNC, Davidson and Duke. He has always been proud that eight members of his teams were awarded scholarships at Appalachian State and that three of these eight Bobby Baird, Wayne York, and Jerry Daniels (former NC State coach) were inducted into the Appalachian State Sports Hall of Fame. Bob graduated from High Point College in 1953 and while in college he coached wrestling at the High Point YMCA and became involved in officiating. Later he earned his Masters Degree at Emory University in Georgia where he assisted in coaching and officiating in the Southeast area. With a vast memory of the early days, he is glad to share how wrestling has changed. Later he went to work for Dillard Paper Company until age 75 and retired as their leading sales person. Living in Charlotte, he and his wife Audrey are the parents of Tim, Robert Jr., and Dr. Elizabeth S. Annan.

James Johnson – Born in Scotland Neck, NC. James did not start wrestling until his junior year at D. H. Conley High School under coach Milt Sherman but his latent talent, desire and determination provided the ingredients to win a state championship his senior year, the first state championship in any sport for D.H. Conley High. A ground breaker, he became the state's first Eastern Jr. National Champion and the state's first Jr. Nationals All-American. James enrolled at the University of Kentucky and started all four years with a career mark of 65-21 winning the Southern Open twice. After graduating from Kentucky in 1981, he earned his post graduate degree in clinical nutrition. Johnson was a former head wrestling coach at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, NC. He is presently employed as a Certified Clinical Sports Nutritionist and serves as the Sunkist Kids Greco-Roman head coach. He became an outstanding competitor earning many titles during his wrestling years among the honors were: 4x World Cup Medalist; World Team Member three years; Silver Medal at 1991 Pam-Am Games; 3x National Champion-Open Division at 220 in Greco-Roman winning in 1993, 1994 and 1995; USA Olympic Festival Champion in 1989; 2x Pan American Champion; USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year in 1993. James is a former graduate assistant at the University of Kentucky, a volunteer assistant at N. C. State University, 2x Junior Nationals team coach for North Carolina and Kentucky. He served as a volunteer assistant at Arizona State University when the team won the National NCAA team championship. Johnson has set up a college scholarship in honor of his grandparents and has been very involved in "Tri for Sight" raising thousands of dollars for the University of Kentucky Eye Research Fund. James and his wife Veronica are proud parents of a little daughter, Isabella. The Johnson family resides in Tempe, Arizona.

This is a small portion of information that came from Bob Mauldin's first NC MAT NEWS of the 2007 season. Bob has spent 38 years promoting high school and amateur wrestling in North Carolina. He is willing to share some of his information with NCPreps.com this season. We are very thankful to Mr. Mauldin for helping us as well as being a great ambasador for high school wrestling in our State.

You can receive his works by reading and adhering to the following:

Bob Mauldin, Editor

414 Knollwood Drive

Kannapolis, NC 28083