Catawba College's Senior Vice President Tom Childress will be inducted into the Greater Mount Airy Sports Hall of Fame during an outdoor ceremony slated for 3 p.m. Sunday, April 9 at the Blackmon Amphitheater in downtown Mount Airy.
Childress, a native of Mount Airy, was the oldest of Clinton and Ruth Childress' four children. He was a star basketball player at Mount Airy High School, coached by Sam Moir. During Childress' junior year, the Mount Airy Bears finished 22-4, but in his senior year, in 1960, the team was undefeated and captured the state championship. One of Childress' fellow players from that team, John Yokley of Atlanta, will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.
After graduating from Mount Airy, Childress went to Catawba College where he played basketball for Coach Moir for four more years. After his graduation, he went into coaching, three years at East Surry High, for several years as an assistant coach at Appalachian State, and then finally as head basketball coach at Pfeiffer College (now University). He remained at Pfeiffer for 14 years, leading his team to two conference championships and a conference tournament title. His team was ranked 15th nationally in 1979. While a coach at Pfeiffer, Childress was named Carolina Conference Coach of the Year five different times.
Childress served as athletic director at Pfeiffer from 1977 until 1990. During his tenure, that institution expanded its nine varsity sports to 14 and also developed facilities for tennis, softball, lacrosse and field hockey. It was Childress who instituted Pfeiffer's Sports Hall of Fame into which he was inducted in 1992. He was inducted into Catawba's Hall of Fame in 1998.
In 1995, Childress returned to his alma mater as athletic director, a post he held for only a year before moving to his current position as senior vice president.
Childress and wife Judy make their home in Salisbury and are parents of four adult children and grandparents of 8 grandchildren.
