SportsTalk: Jason Brown To Be Inducted In NC Sports Hall Of Fame

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There are a lot of analogies that can be made between football and farming. Just ask Jason Brown.

Football players prepare, stay in shape and recover from injuries in the off-season, for example. At Brown’s First Fruits Farm in Franklin County, the off-season also is a time to prepare. But Brown’s focus is on making sure the farm equipment is in good repair for upcoming planting and harvesting.

Brown, a standout center at UNC-CH, got his start at Northern Vance High School. And although it was football that took him to a career in the NFL, the ever-humble Brown said he relied then – and continues to rely on – “a lot of hope, faith and prayer.”

The pro football player-turned farmer is one of 15 inductees in the Class of 2023 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. John C. Rose caught up with him this week for a few minutes to talk about the honor.

Asked about favorite memories he carries with him from his playing days, Brown said it’s “the team aspect that really rises to the top. I’ve been fortunate to be on some very good teams,” he said. “When you’re (playing the game) with your brothers, it definitely makes it a lot more meaningful.”

His big brother, Lunsford, graduated from Northern Vance High School too. But his life was cut short in service to his country in September 2003, Brown said. “I drew a lot of inspiration from my brother,” he explained. He wore Lunsford’s dogtags, pointed and jagged on one side from shrapnel, under his uniform. “After I put on my tight shoulder pads and tight jersey, I could literally feel” against his chest a reminder of his brother.

And he vowed to never quit, never complain, Brown said. “I just wanted to honor and serve my older brother. I knew he cared about my football career…about my success.”

These days, there’s not much time to reflect on bygone days of bowl games and personal honors. Brown gets up early, puts in a full day at the farm and tends to follow the sun. When it goes down, so does he.

But the lessons he learned during his football days definitely affect how he looks at life.

Diverse players came together to work as a single unit to get a job done. “It was a melting pot. Those guys were my brothers, no matter what they looked like. There was a shared common cause that brought us together,” he said.

He longs for the day when neighbors can do the same thing – set aside petty disagreements and treat each other with mutual love and respect.

“If we can do that, we can take on anything,” he said.

Learn more about the April 21 induction ceremony at  www.ncshof.org

 

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The Local Skinny! Vance Co. Arts Council Celebrates Black History Month

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The Vance County Arts Council, in conjunction with McGregor Hall, invites the community to come out for an evening of musical entertainment to learn about the history of gospel music.

The show is free to the public and begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at McGregor Hall, and Vance County Arts Council Executive Director Alice Sallins said folks are in for a real treat.

“We’re so excited,” Sallins said. “We want people to come and behold this beautiful production.”

Sallins told WIZS’s Bill Harris that she couldn’t divulge too much about the show because it will be presented at other venues in addition to McGregor Hall.

Thanks to some grant funding, she said the Arts Council was able to bring in some top-quality perfomers and artists who will take the history of gospel music from its roots in call and response, field hollers and spirituals all the way up to its blending of blues and jazz that creates the familiar sound we know today.

“Thomas Dorsey combined those genres of music with spirituals he heard in church,” Sallins said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny! “He came up with this moving music that cause people to clap their hands and move their bodies,” she said.

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TownTalk: The Reconstruction Era In Vance, Granville And Warren Counties

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Driving past historical markers that dot the roadsides in the area give motorists a brief glimpse into some of the well-known people that have lived, worked and died nearby.

But anyone who wants to take a deeper dive into those people memorialized on the historical markers need only ask Mark Pace, North Carolina Room specialist at Thornton Library in Oxford.

Pace joined WIZS’s Bill Harris Thursday for the tri-weekly history program on TownTalk and they discussed some prominent African Americans who influenced the political scene after the end of the Civil War.

Henry Plummer Cheatham, for example, has a historical marker along NC 96 in Oxford, which reads: “Born into slavery. U.S. Congressman 1889-1893. Superintendent of Colored Orphanage of N.C. 1907-1935. Grave 8/10 mi. N.E.”

But a marker cannot include all the accomplishments of someone like Cheatham, and of others who played a role in the politics of North Carolina during Reconstruction, which Pace said was basically between 1865 and 1900.

Vance County was formed during this period – 1881 – and until 1900 “every single representative in the state legislature from Vance County was African American,” Pace said.

This area had the highest number of free blacks in North Carolina at one point, somewhat of an anomaly that wasn’t seen in other parts of the state or in Southside Virginia.

Pace posited that this could be due to the fact that a Virginia law requiring anyone who bought their freedom had to leave the state within 90 days.

This core of free Blacks in the area opened up opportunities – educational opportunities, economic opportunities and political opportunities.

Cheatham, for example, was born in 1857 on the Cheatham plantation located off Highway 158 west of Henderson, went to Shaw University and by the age of 29, was elected to Congress. His sister-in-law was married to George White, another influential politician of the day.

White defeated Cheatham and went on to serve the “Black Second” district in the U.S. House from 1897 to 1901. He was the last black Southerner in Congress for 72 years.

That is what White’s historical marker says. It was erected in New Bern in 1976.

 

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Cooperative Extension With Jamon Glover: Relaxing Techniques, Pt. 1

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Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

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SportsTalk: Vance Charter Soccer Winning the Right Way

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The Vance Charter School men’s soccer team didn’t bring home the big trophy this year proclaiming them conference champions. But what the team did get recognized for may serve the players in ways they can’t fathom right now.

“We’re blessed to have student athletes (who) hopefully and prayerfully come off the field with a win,” said Head Coach Johnny Yount. But win or lose, he wants his players to be able to hold their heads high for a game well played.

The team was one of only 39 teams to receive Gold Level awards for team ethics and sportsmanship from the United Soccer Coaches Association.

The two yellow cards assessed to players during a 24-game season were two more than Yount would have liked, but neither was for unsportsmanship-like behavior.

“Number one, when we win, we want to be able to do it the right way,” Yount told John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Sports Talk.

In today’s society, when there seems to be an emphasis on winning at all costs, athletes can lose sight of what it means to play hard but play fair. Yount tries to instill in his student athletes values and virtues that extend far beyond the soccer pitch.

“Those trophies are nice and all, and wonderful to get, but those life lessons will carry them further,” Yount said. His players are future employees, parents, and leaders in churches and community organizations, and it’s character and integrity that he strives to develop in his players that will stick with them, he said.

Sports teaches a lot of great lessons, Yount said, adding that he hopes his role as coach plays a part in developing future leaders in our community. “We’ve got to make sure we’re doing our job,” he said. “Hopefully it will pay dividends for us all.”

 

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Carolina United For Change Inc. Announces Inaugural Torch Awards

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Carolina United for Change, Inc. announces the inaugural Torch Awards, which will be presented at a Feb. 18 reception to honor the recipients, selected for their efforts to help their community.

“We are always looking for ways to show appreciation to some of the trailblazers around the county who help the poor and the needy,” Executive Director Joseph Brodie said.

This is the first of what Brodie hopes will be an annual event to recognize individuals whose work advances the causes of righting injustices and providing for those in need.

The reception will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Crossroads Event Center, 943 W. Andrews Ave. Brodie said he and his team hope to sell about 100 tickets; a donation of $10 a ticket is suggested.

Attendees can enjoy the music of Heart of Soul as they meet and greet one another before the awards part of the program begins. Evelyn Couch will perform favorite songs of each of the recipients as they are called to receive their award.

“We’re going to have some fun,” Brodie said, as the year-old nonprofit continues to boost awareness in the community. He wants people to come “and see we’ve got a good thing going,” he added.

The 2023 Torch recipients are Margaret Ellis, Angela Thornton and Kendrick Vann.

Contact Brodie at 252.762.3364 to learn how to get tickets.

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TownTalk: Tax Revaluation Currently Underway

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Vance County is in the middle of a tax revaluation process – something that state law requires happen at least once every eight years.

Vincent Valuations is the company contracted to complete the work of assessing the 26,000 parcels of property and the buildings that are on them.

According to County Manager Jordan McMillen, about 20,000 parcels have been completed, leaving about 6,000 to go. The company is finishing up their work in the city limits now, and then will come the task of estimating the values of the parcels.

Tax values went down after the last revaluation in 2016, but McMillen said he anticipates values will increase in the current revaluation, based on an improved economy.

The bottom line is this: will the tax bill you get in the summer of 2024 be more than you currently pay?

Just because values of parcels go up, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll pay more in taxes, especially if the tax rate goes down. The idea is to evenly distribute the tax burden across all property owners.

About a year from now, those tax bills will be generated and property owners will have the chance to appeal the valuation next April or May.

County leaders are already working on the 2023-24 budget, and the revaluation plays a role in creating that budget.

To make a long story short, the impact to your wallet is about 15 months away.

 

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