Sheila Boles Retires As Hoggard Athletic Director

Hoggard A.D. Sheila Boles has retired, but won’t be gone and certainly never forgotten. “I will definitely be at games. It will be nice to be able to come back as a fan... no responsibilities, just a real fan.”

But she has always been a fan, a fan of young people and athletics. Now after thirty-one years, she is retiring but because of her dedication and support, she has left quite a mark on the community.

Scott Braswell said when he was hired as football coach eleven years ago, “I recognized her as being a really good person who was passionate about young people.” A sentiment that couldn’t be any truer. “A joy to work with and for her. She has always been very professional, very supportive - she has been so dedicated to this school, it is a great loss for this school and the school system.” Braswell will help fill that loss as Boles’ successor as Hoggard Athletic Director.

The Journey

Sports were a part of daily life in the Boles household as Sheila was growing up. “You could always count on two things being on ... the coffee pot and the game.” Sounds like I would have liked living in her neighborhood as a child ... I always liked going over to someone’s house if the game was going to be on; it was comforting and made me feel at home.

Boles was one of the first Title IX beneficiaries, which gave women equal rights and privileges in sport, as she was the first scholarship player on the UNCW women’s basketball team in 1973. “A basketball player who also played volleyball,” as she described herself, the two-sport athlete majored in physical education and after graduating, took a job teaching in Pender County.

But it was her basketball coaching career that attracted a lot of attention.

Boles said, “I had people doubt that I could coach teenage boys, but I had my supporters too.” Yes, she coached the boys, and no, not everyone thought she was the man, or should we say, person for the job. But her success would soon stifle her critics, proving gender doesn’t make you a good basketball coach; knowing the game and creating good team chemistry does.

After coaching the Laney JV team in ‘83 while teaching at Trask, Boles became the Athletic Director at Trask and coached the boys basketball team. She said, “It was the most unbelievable junior high team I’d ever seen.” A young pre-NBA Kevin Whitted, standing at 6’6” led a team, that didn’t have a starter under 6’ - they had 9 dunks in one game. My middle school team had a kid who could touch the rim, and we thought he was legendary.

Then Trask principle Hugh McManus moved to Hoggard, and he enticed Coach Boles to come along. She coached the junior varsity team 2 years and then got the call to coach the boys’ varsity team. While not the first choice, she proved to be the best. There were high ranking local officials who tried to stand in her way. But the opposition would be cast aside and a successful run as boys’ basketball coach followed. In addition to winning on the court, when it came to supporting her players and her team, Coach Boles demonstrated the character we wish all coaches had.

A bout with breast cancer would require Coach Boles to fight for herself instead of her kids. Boles wouldn’t let cancer stop her, but still felt coaching’s burden. The call for AD at Hoggard came in 2000, and while she missed the intense relationships built between coach and player, it was a move that benefited the entire athletic program at Hoggard.

Current Boys’ Basketball Coach Brett Queen, who will also help fill the void as assistant athletic director, told the Cape Fear Sports Report, “Coach Boles has been such a tremendous asset for our school, our student-athletes, and for me personally.  All of us that have had the privilege to work alongside her are better people and better coaches because of her influence.  Hoggard High School is a better place because of Coach Boles.  It just won’t be the same without her around every day. I’m very blessed to have had the opportunity to spend these last 12 years working with her.”

Many of the Hoggard coaches have been at JTH for years and over time have built a nice little family. “It is a special coaching staff,” Boles noted. A special staff led by a special AD who had a tenure that would be tough to compete with, in terms of wins and losses on the field by all the Viking teams, by any AD at any school.

And she picked quite a year to go out on. “What a year we’ve had,” Boles said of the 2007-’08 Hoggard sports teams. She was busy throughout the year planning for state playoff games as countless Viking teams won the Mideastern Conference and/or advanced to the State Playoffs, where not just the football team was one and done.

But wins and losses only tell part of the story. High school athletics is about helping young people learn, grow, and develop in a plethora of ways. Coach Boles’ passion and determination, in an effort to help the student-athletes at Hoggard, is what is most commendable. She has been a positive presence in the lives of teenagers, one of the most under-rated components of society, and guided the program with grace.

So now that Coach Boles has retired, she said what she thinks she’ll miss most is ... “The people. When you are out at football games on Friday night... you have coaches, kids, players, parents, things going on in the parking lot, the media” Don’t worry coach, the “people” will miss you too, and expect you’ll keep your word as we hope to see you at the games. As a fan.

Photo: Calvin McGowan

-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT