By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun
mpotter@heraldsun.com
Jun 14, 2004 : 11:41 pm ET

Bill Hayes said he sees a problem and he's trying to fix it.

The N.C. Central athletics director has made it a personal mission recently to help publicize the Eagles' long athletics tradition.

And he's a little upset that much of the NCCU Athletic Hall of Fame has literally ended up in the dustbins.

The Eagles haven't had a Hall of Fame induction since 1994 and Hayes -- himself an inductee who was an All-America lineman back in his football playing days before a long and highly successful coaching career -- is changing that.

This Oct. 15-16, a weekend coinciding with the Eagles' home game against Winston-Salem State -- a CIAA rival school where Hayes once coached -- will be Hall of Fame Weekend at NCCU as the Eagles will induct their first class in a decade.

"It's a shame what has happened," said Durham native Hayes, who became the new AD last summer. "There needs to be some acknowledgement of this school's glorious athletic past, and there just isn't enough.

"We've got a basketball here from the 1941 Capital Classic where Rocky Robertson scored 58 points, and we've got nowhere to put it. There's no picture of [Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer] John McLendon in McLendon-McDougald Gym. Harold Hunter was the first black player signed by the NBA. And we won a Division I national track championship with six guys. The kids who go to school here don't know that because we don't have any displays in the gym."

Hayes said he figures he'll need about $75,000 in startup costs for a showpiece display of the NCCU Hall of Famers' names and memorabilia.

But alongside that project, he's looking for nominations for this year's class of inductees and has appointed a committee to help with that.

So the committee will be taking nominations from the public for additions to the 10 teams and approximately 160 individuals in the Eagles' hall.

The nominating process will continue for the rest of June.

For more information, visit the school's Web site at nccu.edu.