AREA TREASURE, NATIONAL TRAGEDY
HARDIN – Sept. 10 was a night of ceremony at Hardin-Central.
After Norborne Hardin-Central’s 64-0 loss to North Shelby in varsity 8-man football, a ceremony was held to christen the football stadium as Gary O’Neal Stadium. The facility bears the name of the coach, administrator and teacher who led Hardin-Central to Class 1A state 11-man football titles in 1980 and 1987.
The titles were part of a long list of accomplishments read by secondary school Principal and Athletic Director William Dow. With O’Neal as coach, Hardin-Central made the Class 1A state playoffs 14 times, reaching the quarterfinals 12 times, the semifinals six times and the championship game four times, Dow said. O’Neal’s other achievements included a 239-52-1 record spanning 1976-2003, rankings of No. 3 statewide and No. 93 nationwide for alltime winning percentages among coaches with 200-plus wins and 17 conference titles, he said.
Dow credited Superintendent Trey Cavanah for providing much of the information…