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Abbey Inducts Third Class Into Sports Hall Of Fame

Four Abbey alums inducted into Michael P. Reidy Sports Hall of Fame.

The greatest scorer in Belmont Abbey College men’s basketball history may not have happened without an assist from Cleveland County and the Wheeler Center.

That’s what 2011 Belmont Abbey/Michael P. Reidy Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Carl Bell said after he was one of four members of that select group’s third induction class.

When Bell was recruited from Reidsville to the Abbey, the Wheeler Athletics Center was barely a year old.

“That new facility was a really impressive, convincing thing for me,” Bell said Saturday night after the 2011 induction ceremonies at Cramer Mountain Country Club. “Even today, when I was over there walking through it, it’s still impressive with all the new offices they’ve put in there.”

Bell says the Wheeler Center was the first place then-new coach Bobby Hussey took him on his recruiting visit in July 1971 – or shortly after Bell had roomed with Crest High star David Thompson during the East-West N.C. High School All-Star game in Greensboro.

“Coach Hussey recruited me out of that game,” said Bell, who also considered Maryland Eastern Shore and North Carolina Central before choosing the Abbey.

Hussey coached Kings Mountain High to an impressive 65-7 record from 1968-70. That included terrific success against Thompson’s teams at Crest, even as Thompson would go on to become the player most regard as the best in ACC history at N.C. State.

At the Abbey, with the help of Bell in his first recruiting class, Hussey became the Crusaders’ all-time senior college men’s basketball coaching winner with a 179-111 record in 10 seasons before leaving to take the head coaching job at Davidson in 1981.

Bell was remembered for those seasons as well as his special bond with Hussey.

“He was a great coach and a great friend,” Bell said of Hussey. “He used me to help him recruit other players.”

Some of those players were there Saturday as Bell’s former teammates Clint Bryant, Curtis Carter, Carl Kennedy and Bobby Moran were among those in attendance.

Bell’s entire family also came for the ceremony – his wife Sherry and his daughters Timitra Wilson of Charlotte and Tara Bell of Harrisburg, Pa.

Bell and his wife moved to his hometown of Reidsville six years ago after many years in Harrisburg, Pa.

Coming back to this state also means Bell is eager to return to his old collegiate stomping grounds.

“I hadn’t been back to the Abbey in about 15 years until this week,” said Bell, who scored 2,201 points in his career and led the Crusaders in scoring each of his four seasons. “But I intend to go to some games this season.”
 

… Remembers visit

Another inductee who remembered their visit and decision to choose the Abbey was women’s soccer standout Angela Placona-Congelli.

“I was a senior in high school who was excited about playing soccer somewhere in college,” said Congelli, now a science teacher at East Gaston High School. “I visited Belmont Abbey in February with my father and it was a nice day and I just fell in love with the place. I’m so glad I did.”

Congelli was honored as league freshman of the year, then was first-team all-conference the next three seasons in a career that saw her rack up 52 assists and 29 assists.

After her senior year, she was named conference and school women’s athlete of the year.
 

… Family success

William Esser and David Buerkle were cousins from Lake Worth, Fla., when they came to play for longtime tennis coach Mike Reidy.

Once at the Abbey, the duo become even closer and were incredibly successful in their sport. Both were all-conference performers in singles and doubles, highlighted by a 10th-place national ranking as doubles partners in 1995.

“We were cousins, but we grew up like brothers,” Buerkle said of Esser, who was a year older than him. “I think him for his example, his friendship and the moments we’ve shared on and off the court.”

Buerkle is now a tennis professional at Mitchell County Tennis Center in Camilla, Ga., and Esser is a partner in the law firm of Parker Poe Adams and Bernstein LLP in Charlotte.
 

… Presidential push

Eighth-year Abbey president Dr. Bill Thierfelder spoke before the inductions about his belief in how sport and virtue can provide success on and off the field.

“If a coach is not a teacher and mentor first, we’re lost,” Thierfelder said. “These coaches at Belmont Abbey College are teachers and mentors.

“World class performance on the field is a virtue. But it’s only one of them. I think our teams are performing on the court and in the classroom as well as off the court.”
 

Permission to reprint story granted by the author, Richard Walker, sportswriter for The Gaston Gazette. (www.gastongazette.com)