Friends and alumni contributed more than $6 million to Western Carolina University during the 2024 GivingTuesday initiative, nearly quadrupling the previous record set last year and setting the stage for a corresponding challenge gift that would unlock significant additional funding for WCU athletics facilities renovations. 

Editor’s note: Bob Clark coached the Tuscola boys and girls discus and shotput athletes for the past three seasons. Prior to that he coached the boys and girls throwers for four seasons at Waynesville Middle School. Six of those seven years he was a volunteer.

This spring Tuscola High School’s principal, accompanied by the athletic director (AD), threw $30,000 of taxpayer money away to change the color suggested for the new Tuscola track.

Just when global news hit a fever pitch and there was little to hang onto in the way of goodness and humanity, the 2024 Paris Olympics began, which has offered many of us a much-needed reprieve and countless reminders of hope and triumph.

Matt Henley has been named interim director of athletic bands at Western Carolina University and will lead the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band this upcoming season while a national search is underway for a permanent director. 

Macon County Schools may have to wait until the end of the summer for a decision on the athletic division restructuring coming down the pipe from the North Carolina High School Association. In the meantime, the board continues to hear from Macon Early College families who want to remain a part of high school sports in the county. 

Recently, Kevin Fitzgerald left his Waynesville home and made the long trek up to West Virginia University to watch one of his former athletes, Tuscola High School running standout Eva Rinker, compete at the college level. For Fitzgerald, it was a moment of immense pride to be there and cheer on Rinker. 

Josh Brooks will return as head coach for Franklin High School football after players implored the school board to reinstate the recently resigned coach.

Clayton Bardall, a graduate student in Western Carolina University’s Engineering Technology program and tight end for WCU’s football team, recently combined his two passions — football and engineering — on a project that will have a major impact on athletes for generations to come. 

Western Carolina University is gearing up to take its first bite out of an estimated $130 million in needed upgrades to its athletic facilities, with the Board of Trustees recently hiring a construction manager to oversee the first chunk of projects, worth at least $30 million. 

Boyce Deitz’s influence on Swain County athletics was rich and storied, but the program to which he dedicated two decades of his life summarized the news of his passing in just four words.