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Hall of Fame

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Onnie Cockrell

  • Class
    1938
  • Induction
    1990
  • Sport(s)
    Men's Basketball, Men's Baseball

Onnie Cockrell is a 1938 graduate of the college and distinguished himself as a member of the baseball and basketball teams. Born in Nashville, N.C., he graduated from Wakelon High in Zebulon in 1933. At Wakelon he lettered for three years each in football, basketball and baseball, as well as being a member of the band.

Cockrell captained the college’s baseball team in 1937 and 1938, lettering all four years and winning All-North State Conference honors as a center fielder in his junior season. He captained the freshman basketball team and went on to win three varsity letters in that sport. In 1936 he won the Track Trophy, symbolic of being the all-around intramural track champion on campus.

Cockrell graduated with a major in history and a minor in mathematics. He was president of his graduating class, president of monogram club, and editor of the Pine Knot (yearbook). He was also sports editor of the student newspaper for 1935-36, president of the Alethian Literary Society in 1937, and a member of the college band all four years.

Cockrell became a teacher and coach at Lewiston-Woodville High in Bertie County from 1938 until 1941. After a stint in military service he came to Rock Ridge High as a teacher, guidance counselor, and a coach in 1948. From that time until 1966, teams coached by him there in football, basketball and baseball won a combined 31 county championships and 12 conference and district titles. In 1966 he became Director of Federal Programs for the Wilson County Schools, a position he held until his retirement in 1980.

Cockrell served on the Wilson County Board of Commissioners from 1974 until 1982. He has also served on the Board of Trustees of Wilson Memorial Hospital, Wilson County Library, and Wilson County Mental Health. He plays saxophone in a senior dance band, has served as Director of the college’s alumni board for Wilson County, and served on the Area L Health Education Center Board of Trustees.

He and his wife Ann have one daughter, Pat, and are members of the First Baptist Church of Wilson.

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