Cherryville Post 100 announcer Eaker a 2022 NC Legion Hall of Fame inductee

Event is scheduled for May 6, 2023

by RICHARD WALKER

https://carolinassportshub.com/

A date and site has been chosen for the North Carolina American Legion Hall of Fame class of 2022 inductions that include two Gaston County inductees and one from Lincoln County.

Cherryville Baptist Church will host the event on May 6 at 6 p.m. and tickets are $20 each for a ceremony in which

Danny Eaker of Cherryville Post 100, Phil Tate of Belmont Post 144 and Bruce Bolick of Denver Post 455 will be inducted along with Gerald Young of Charlotte Post 262, Ric Cook of Davidson County Post 8 and the late Benedict “Benjamin” Lee of Calabash Post 503.

It marks the second straight year Cherryville has hosted the banquet and the 11th time in the event’s history it has been held in Gaston and Cleveland Counties: Gastonia hosted the 1970 and

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2004 inductions, Cherryville has hosted the 1976, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1992, 2021 and 2022 inductions, Kings Mountain hosted the 1972 induction and Shelby hosted the 2011 induction.

Bolick, who played Legion baseball for the old Paw Creek-Mount Holly team in the early 1960s, started the Denver Post 455 program in 1990. Now called the Lincoln County Cardinals, Bolick has guided the team to 284 victories with Post 455 and has 290 Legion coaching victories overall.

Eaker, who played Le-

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gion baseball for Cherryville Post 100 in the early 1960s, has been the public address announcer for Cherryville High School and Cherryville Legion baseball games since 1985. The current chaplain for Post 100, Eaker also has done radio broadcasts of countless Legion games, including the American Legion World Series in 2003, 2008 and every year since 2011.

Tate, who played Legion baseball for Belmont Post 144 in the early 1960s, coached Belmont, Charlotte Post 262 and Gaston Braves Post 144266 during his coaching career; He led Belmont to 105 victories, Post 262 to 60 wins and Post 144266’s inaugural 1997 team to 13 victories.

Bolick is the first inductee in Post 455 history, while Tate will become Belmont’s seventh and Eaker will become Cherryville’s 16th.

The N.C. American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame began in 1967.