Bardin, Suiter to go into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame

CHAPEL HILL -  Two individuals with longtime connections to Nash County will be inducted into the next N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame next spring.

The NCHSAA announced Tuesday that Rosalie Bardin and Tom Suiter will be among the eight inductees for the 2011 class.

Rosalie Bardin

Bardin

Bardin has been an outstanding coach and administrator during her career in education.
                  

After graduating from Lucama High School and then magna cum laude from Atlantic Christian (now Barton) College, Bardin began a stellar run at Southern Nash High School, where she coached women's basketball for 12 years, volleyball for 18, track and field for seven, and softball for 24, including the transition from slow pitch to fast pitch. She also served as cheerleading coach and athletic trainer during her tenure at Southern Nash.
                  

She compiled a brilliant record in slow pitch of 373-130 and her fast pitch mark was an outstanding 71-11. Her teams earned 15 conference championships in softball, one state championship in slow pitch in 1995 and a runner-up finish in fast pitch.
                  

Bardin moved into administration in 1998 and wound up serving as principal at Southern Nash for several years, where she has twice been Nash-Rocky Mount Principal of the Year, She retired from the teaching field in 2010.

Tom Suiter

Suiter

The legendary sports television anchor enjoyed a tremendous career at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, and high school athletics was an integral part of it.
                  

Suiter, a native of Rocky Mount who grew up just blocks from RMHS' campus, attended Christ School outside Asheville and then went to Erskine College in Due West, S.C. Upon graduation from Erskine in 1971, he joined at WRAL and moved from weekend anchor and sports reporter to the weekday sports anchor, staying there for his entire career and retirement from full-time broadcasting in 2008.

He anchored the award-winning "Football Friday" show on Friday nights, pioneering coverage of so many games in a single show starting in 1981 and is still running today. He celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the show last fall.

                  

The Extra Effort Awards were started at the station under his direction, honoring a high school student-athlete who excels on the field or court as well as in the classroom. He has previously been named the winner of the annual Media Representative of the Year by the NCHSAA.