Former Coaches to Join Hall of Fame

Former NC State coaches Sam Esposito and Henry Trevathan will be inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame this spring.

Esposito was NC State’s head baseball coach for 21 years. Trevathan was the football special teams coach for nine seasons.

Esposito, an accomplished athlete from the Midwest, won Chicago High School Player of the Year honors in football, basketball and baseball his senior year. He went to Indiana University on a basketball scholarship before joining the Army in 1952. He played Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Athletics. He was a member of the 1959 Go-Go White Sox team that played in the World Series.

Esposito came to NC State in the fall of 1966 as head baseball coach and assistant basketball coach. Prior to his arrival, NC State had won 20 games just once since 1908. During Esposito’s tenure, the Wolfpack never suffered a losing season and won a then-record 513 games. Esposito coached 69 All-ACC players and seven All-Americans. Twelve of his players went on to play Major League Baseball. Esposito’s second team at NC State won the ACC championship and the NCAA District III title, finishing third at the 1968 College World Series. His teams captured three straight league championships from 1973-1975. He was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1986.

During Trevathan’s career, he coached at every level of competition, including midget, junior high, high school junior varsity and varsity, college freshmen, college varsity and professional. In more than a half-century of work, he only missed one practice (for a family funeral). He won three consecutive 4-A state championships from 1967-69 at Wilson Fike High School. He moved to the collegiate ranks in 1970, working at his alma mater, East Carolina, then Lenoir-Rhyne and Elon.

Trevathan came to NC State as a volunteer assistant coach under Dick Sheridan in 1986. As special teams coach, Trevathan developed five All-ACC kickers and punters, two All-Americans and one Lou Groza Award winner, all originally walk-ons. In retirement, he became a valued volunteer assistant at Bridgewater College in Virginia. He is a three-time North Carolina Coach of the Year at the 4-A level.

Esposito and Travathan will be inducted May 10 as part of an eight-member group that includes Wilt Browning, Wray Carlton, M. L. Carr, Dr. Jerry McGee, Kristi Overton Johnson and Lennie Rosenbluth.

Ticket information for the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame banquet is available at www.ncsportshalloffame.org or 845-3455.