Danny McDowell steps down as Bessemer City men’s coach

Former Kings Mountain High athlete and basketball coach Danny McDowell is going into retirement after a storied history where he established championship programs in Kings Mountain, Charlotte and Bessemer City.

Before getting into prep coaching, McDowell and Tom Bennett organized the Kings Mountain AAU program and McDowell had two teams from each age group to go to the national tournament.

He credits former Mountaineer coaches Ken Napier, the late John Blalock and Larry Sipe and Shon Brown and Dell and Sonya Curry and the late Calvin Albright of Bessemer City for encouraging him along the way.

“The late Calvin Albright made Bessemer City special for me,” McDowell said.

In over 30 years of coaching high school basketball and 19 as a head coach he pointed out that he was supported by a group of outstanding assistant coaches including Dr. Lamont Littlejohn, Marquiz Williamson and TJ McClain at Kings Mountain, the late Milton Carter and Aretha Ferguson at Charlotte Chris- tian and Billy James, Marcus Barnette Jarrod Holmes and Thurman Geter at Bessemer City.

After resigning his post in KM, McDowell said his intention was to retire, travel and play golf. He said he doesn’t plan to coach again.

As a teacher and coach, McDowell reaped many rewards and set a lot of outstanding coaching records.

He started his prep coaching career at KMHS under Coach Larry Sipe. He was head JV coach for three years and his teams won championships with records of 19-1, 18-2 and 17-3.

In his five years as varsity coach at KMHS, his teams won three straight conference championships and played in three straight sectional tournaments. His Mountaineers won two straight sectional titles for the only time in the 100-plus year history at KM basketball.

He then moved on to Charlotte Christian where he coached for one season and led the girls team to a third place finish in the state. He then was called by Bessemer City and spent

In 2011, he was the Conference Player of the Year and played in the East-West All-Star game. He was also All-Conference in basketball. He played football at East Carolina University.

Tim Hines, one of Thompson’s teammates at KMHS, was also a star in numerous sports. In 2010 he was the first Mountaineer receiver to record over 1,000 yards in a single season. In track, he was a member of the KMHS 2010 state champion 800 meter relay team and was All-Conference and team MVP. He went on to play football at

Davidson College where he was the Wildcats’ #1 receiver for two seasons.

Suzette Feemster-Williams was KM High’s 1991 Athlete of the Year. She was also a three-sport star. She was a two-time All-Conference and team MVP in basketball. Her 21-point, nine rebound average earned her a spot on the All-Piedmont team. She was a three-year volleyball star and was All-Conference and team MVP. She earned a volleyball scholarship to NC Central University where she was a four-year All-CIAA selection.

Bolton, Carroll new coordinators for KM High football

Kings Mountain High School’s new head coach Strait Herron has added a new offensive and defensive coordinator to his staff.

James Bolton will take over as offensive coordinator and Bobby Carroll is the new defensive coordinator. Both have records as successful assistant and head coaches at other schools.

Bolton is the former head coach at The Cannon School in Concord where he won the state independent league championship two years ago. He also coached with Carroll at York and with his dad Bobby Bolton when he was head coach at Gastonia Forestview.

Carroll is a former defensive coordinator at Rock Hill Northwestern and was head coach at South Pointe High School in Rock Hill High where he won a state championship and coached pro players Javion Clowney and Stephon Gilmore. Herron said Carroll will have the Mountaineers in a 4-2-5 defense and Bolton will have his offense in a spread.

“We all go way back,” Coach Herron said of the new coaches.

The Mountaineers and other North Carolina teams have been going through spring conditioning and the new coaches are happy with what they’ve seen.

“We’ve been out 12 days and the players are taking well to change,” Herron said. “The coaches are doing a good job. I’d say the defense is a little ahead of the offense right now.”

The Mountaineer staff will look somewhat different this season as several assistant coaches won’t be returning. Former defensive coordinator Darrel Wilson recently joined the Crest staff and coaches James Brown, Mark Latham and Mike Harris won’t be returning. Defensive line coach Michael Kennedy left after the end of last season.

“The players are doing a good job so far,” Herron noted. “They are taking well to the change.”

Mountaineers drop two to South Point, fall out of first place

Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers dropped a pair of one-run games to the South Point Red Raiders last week and no longer lead the Big South 3A Conference race.

The Red Raiders scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to edge the Mountaineers 7-6 Tuesday night in Belmont and then held off a KM rally in the bottom of the seventh to win 12-11 Thursday at KM’s Lancaster Field.

The results moved Crest to the top spot in the BSC with a 9-1 record while KM and South Point are one game back with 8-2 marks as the regular season heads into its final two weeks.

See DROP, Page 2B