News

Calhoun Community College to Host ACCC Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

August 29, 2018

The Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) has announced Myra King, former Calhoun Warhawk athlete and coach, to be inducted into the ACCC Athletic Hall of Fame on Sunday, September 9, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the Calhoun Softball field on the Decatur campus, 6250 US Hwy 31 N, Tanner, AL 35671.

Myra Black King was a leading force in female athletics in North Alabama. As a high school senior, King was recruited as a cheerleader for Calhoun Community College. She returned to Calhoun as a Physical Education instructor/coach in 1976 and became one of the top coaches in the history of the Alabama Junior/Community College Conference.

A native of Athens, Alabama, King graduated from Clements High School. She completed two years at Calhoun, prior to earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education at Athens State University. She pursued her Masters of Science degree from the University of North Alabama while teaching at Athens High School. King was the catalyst for girls’ sports at Athens. Hired as a physical education teacher, she coached basketball, bowling, track and field, softball, and volleyball as well as serving as bus driver for her teams. In 1973, her track and field team won the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s state championship.

In her tenure as a Lady Warhawk basketball and softball coach, ten of her teams competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association National Tournament. King’s basketball teams captured region titles in 1978, 1979, and 1981 and qualified for the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in Overland Park, Kansas. Calhoun’s first basketball All-American and current ACCC Hall of Famer, Andrella Gray played on the 1978 & 1979 team. King coached women’s basketball from 1976 – 1984 posting a 94-45 record.

She left the coaching ranks for a few years to spend time with her small children. In 1987, she returned to build the most prolific Slowpitch Softball program in Alabama. She led the Lady Warhawk softball squads to seven consecutive AJCCC/NJCAA Region XXII

championships with a career record of 290-104. Her softball program produced eleven All-Americans. Several of her players in both sports earned Academic All-American honors.

King retired from her coaching duties after the 1995 softball season. In 17 years of coaching, her teams posted a phenomenal record of .720 winning percentage. King remained involved in Calhoun athletics, as she served as Athletic Director from 1997 – 2001. She retired from the Alabama Community College system in 2001.

King’s vision and motivation for female athletes inspired many of her former players to enter the high school and college coaching ranks. King’s coaching legacy earned her induction in the Limestone County Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

King is married to former Calhoun athlete, John Wayne King. They have two children, Corie and Andy John, both of which excelled academically and athletically at Calhoun. Corie cheered for Calhoun and Andy John played baseball. Coach King is active in her church, teaches adult classes, and shares her faith in various venues. Her favorite retirement pastime is spending time on her farm teaching horseback lessons and enjoying her three grandchildren, Andy Price, Davis, and Noelle.

For more information on the events planned for the induction ceremony, please contact Dr. Nancy Keenum, Calhoun’s Athletic Director, at nancy.keenum@calhoun.edu or 256-306-2850.

About the ACCC

The Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) is a collegiate athletic conference and is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and Region XXII. The eighteen members comprise over eighty individual teams with over 1,600 student-athletes.