The Erwin High School football team has been honored for helping neighbors in need after Hurricane Helene.
The North Carolina High School Athletics Association (NCHSAA) honored the team June 18 with a Truist Commissioner’s Cup Award. Each year, the association recognizes student athletes for community service projects. Following Helene, the Warriors deployed across the area clearing trees and debris from homes, unloading supply trucks, and delivering much needed resources to people in the days that followed.
The NCHSAA also awarded the Warriors’ Michael Petty with a Willie Bradshaw Memorial scholarship. Petty has been a football and basketball standout, earning All-Conference and Mountain Athletic Conference honors, while maintaining a rigorous academic schedule. He plans on attending University of the Cumberlands to study Psychology. Through sports, Michael has developed leadership skills that he plans to apply in a career in social work, helping others overcome challenges and achieve success.
The endowment is named for the late Willie Bradshaw, who played on the undefeated 1943 Hillside High football team that was never scored upon. He was also a baseball player who after high school pitched professionally, and was the first African-American school system athletic director in the state when he was hired for the position by Durham City Schools.