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Newberry County School District’s Dr. George Suggs will be inducted into a hall of fame at S.C. State University on Friday.

Along with Suggs, the 1982 AIAW National Championships Women Track and Field team will also be inducted at the Orangeburg school.

The enshrinement of the team, along with coaches Robert Jet Johnson (inducted posthumously) and Suggs, will take place on the campus of South Carolina State University.

Suggs currently serves as the director of alternative programs for the school district.

Below is a biography detailing his achievements.

Suggs coached, developed and mentored many student athletes during his 17-year collegiate and high school career in both North and South Carolina.

The Durham, N.C. native was coached in high school (Durham Hillside High School) by two legendary coaches, Russell Blunt and Willie Bradshaw.

Both of these coaches are members of the North Carolina and National High School Coaches Hall of Fame.

While growing up in Durham, N.C., Suggs was fortunate to live one block from North Carolina Central University and could see, firsthand, the legendary track coach, Dr. Leroy Walker (head coach of the 1980 Olympics) train over 14 gold medal Olympic athletes and NCAA track and field athletes.

In college, Suggs was coached by NCAA football hall of fame coach Willie Jeffries at NC A&T State University. Suggs was the defensive secondary coach at NCCU from 1973-76.

He developed two outstanding defensive backs: Charles Romes who is corner back drafted by the Buffalo Bills of the NFL and Louis Breeden who is safety, All MEAC, College Division All-American and played in the NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals.

In 1976, Suggs published “Stopping the High Percentage Pass” in Coaching Men’s Athletics.

In this publication it should be noted that the term “red zone” was first used to color code and describe the areas that best illustrate the pass patterns most effectively used by the offense and their rate of completion (red zone).

However, this term was introduced six years later by Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs as he coined the phrase as a motivational tool to get his 1981 team out of last place.

The NAIA awarded Suggs’ 1975-76 secondary the best in the nation with 22 interceptions and yielding a mere 50.5 yards per game.

• 1980-86 Suggs became S.C. State University’s first fulltime defensive secondary coach in school history and assistant track coach (head field events coach).

• 1982 – AIAW Women’s National Track and Field Championship

• 1980-1986, 8 MEAC Track and Field Men’s and Women’s Championships in both indoor and outdoor track.

• 1980-81 through 1986, he coached on four (4) MEAC Football Championship Teams.

• 1980 and 1982 - Two (2) HBCU National Championship Football Teams.

• NCAA 1 AA Football Championship Semifinalist 1981 and 1982 NCAA Division 1 AA Quarterfinalist Football Championship.

Following are a few of the many accomplished athletes who were coached and mentored by Suggs:

• Barney Bussey – two-time 1AA All American, three-time all MEAC, record holder for the longest kick-off (101 yard) and punt (92 yard) returns in 1AA football history, UFL Memphis 1st round 1983, played in Super Bowl XXIII 1989 with the Cincinnati Bengals.

• Dwayne Harper – 1AA All-American All MEAC, NFL SD Chargers, Sports Illustrated Defensive Man of the Year 1988.

• Thomas Tutson – ALL MEAC corner back for the Atlanta Falcons 1980.

• Myles Darling – All MEAC.1983 Montreal of the CFL

• Heyward Golden – Safety SCSU drafted in the 10th by the New York Giants in 1983.

• Chris Rumph – current defensive line coach at University of Alabama, formerly Clemson University defensive end coach.

• Dalton Milligan – two-time 800m S.C. High School League State Champion 1987-1989, Clemson University 1989-1993, and cornerback for Montreal of the CFL.

• Sean Glover – All Big 10 fullback for University of Indiana 1992.

• Ken Jackson – College Division Champion 400 IHH Penn Relays 1981.

• Angela Carson – All American College Division Long Jump, winner of three individual events – long jump, 100m and 200m; also, she anchored three relay teams.

• Wendy Griffith - Javelin AIAW Division II National Champion.

AIAW National Champion team members included: Angela Carson, Janice Hinkson, Sonia Clarke (All American Esme Austin 400m champ) and Wendy Griffith.

AIAW National Championship Division II in 1982, a 62 team field, mostly Division 1 colleges and universities, final team scoring in 1982 are as follows: South Carolina State University 94, Idaho 48, Villanova 44, Eastern Illinois 36, Florida A&M 35, Rice 33 and Utah 28.

In 1982, a total of 62 teams from across the country participated in the three-day event held at Austin Peay University in Clarksville, Tennessee, site of the Women’s National Track and Field Championship.