The SC Basketball Coaches Association has announced its Hall of Fame Class for 2016. Inductees include Dorothy Fortune of Lee Central, Allendale-Fairfax, Mount Pleasant, Denmark-Olar, and Clio High Schools. Pamela Player of Riverside; and Greenville High Schools, Ben Trapp of Keenan; and CA Johnson High Schools, and James B. Smith of Hillcrest, Scott’s Branch, and Bennettsville High Schools.
These four outstanding coaches will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday, March 16 in conjunction with the Annual North-South All-Star Game
Weekend in Columbia, SC. The Banquet will be at Seawell’s Restaurant in
Columbia at 8pm and tickets are $25. Please contact the SCBCA at
schoopcoaches@gmail.com or for additional information.
Dorothy Fortune-Coach Fortune has coached 42 years in SC and; 39 as a Head
Coach (1976-2018) and has accomplished everything a coach can during her
career. A native of Mullins, SC where she played for legendary Hall of Fame
Coach Fred Senter. They did not have Women’s College basketball when she
went to college, but she always loved the game and made up her mind she
wanted to Coach. And coach she did!!! Her teams won 5 State titles At Lee
Central during her tenure and was State Runner-Up on 3 other occasions. She
won the State Championship in 2001, 2002, 2003 2005, and 2008. Her career
record stands at 769 wins and 312 losses while coaching at Mount Pleasant HS,
Allendale-Fairfax HS, Denmark-Olar, and Clio HS.
Coach Fortune’s team made an amazing 32 playoff appearances, won 17 Region
championships, and she was voted Region Coach of the Year 17 times. Several
publications have selected her as their Coach of the Year including Florence
Morning News (2x) Sumter Daily Item (5x), and the High School Sports Report
(4x). Twice she was selected the SC Coaches Association Coach of the Year, was
voted the National Federation of High School Sports Eastern Section Coach of
the Year in 2008. Coach Fortune was also selected as an Assistant Coach for the
annual North-South All-Star Game in 1995, and named Head Coach for the
North-South Game in 1999. Coach Fortune was selected Head Coach of the
NC-SC All-Star Game in 2008. A great source of pride for Coach Fortune is that
several of her former players went onto stellar careers at the next level. Former
Lady Gamecock, Demetress Adams, former Lady Tarheel, La’Tangela Atkinson,
and Patrice Holmes of Middle Tennessee State enjoyed great college careers.
Demetress and La’Tangela were Fortunate to play in the WNBA. Coach Fortune
is retiring after this year and we want to thank her for her contributions to
basketball and the impact she had on so many student-athletes.
Pam Player-is a native of Asheville NC and a graduate of Western Carolina
University, where she received a BS and Masters degree. Player served over 30
years as a basketball coach in South Carolina and finished her career with a record of 527-137. In 1978 she began her teaching and coaching career at Riverside High School in Greenville SC. While coaching at Riverside her teams advanced to the Upper State Finals 7 times and in 1993 finished as State runner-up. She then coached for 7 years at Greenville High where she continued her outstanding career by reaching the Upper State Finals 4 times. Her teams won 11 Region Championships and she was named Region Coach of the Year 7 times. She retired from coaching in 2009 but remained at Greenville High as a Magnet Coordinator until 2009.
Coach Player was selected as an Assistant Coach for the North All-Star team in
the annual North/South All Game and then 2 years later was chosen to serve as
Head Coach of the North All-Stars, and then to culminate her coaching career
she was named Coach of the South Carolina girls team in the South
Carolina/North Carolina Classic All-Star game.
Player served the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association(SCBCA) as a
region representative for 7 years and served on the board as a Vice President
and President for 2 terms.
James B. Smith- Coach Smith served as a Head Coach in our state for 30 years and continues to coach as an assistant coach at Keenan High School. He made coaching stops at Bennettsville, Mayo, Airport, Hillcrest and Scott’s Branch High Schools. During his career, Coach Smith won two state titles with a championship run in 1993 with Hillcrest, and back to back state titles at Scott’s Branch in 1999 & 2000. His career record stands at 423 wins and 125 losses. He also has coached 2 players who made it to the NBA in Ray Allen and Torrell Martin.
He also led teams to the lower state finals several times. Bennettsville advanced
to the semi-finals in both 1982 and 1984, and Scott’s Branch in 1999 along with
the State title teams. He was an associate coach on three other state title
teams making him a 6-time state champion! Coach Smith was selected Region
Coach of the Year on 10 different occasions, named the “Sumter Item” Coach of
the Year 6 times, plus “The State” Newspaper Coach of the Year 2 times.
Coach Smith serves as an Assistant Coach for the North-South All-Star Game in
1994, and selected as the Head Coach for that game in 1998. In 2004, he was
selected to be the Head Coach of the NC-South Carolina All-Star Game in 2004.
Coach Smith was inducted into the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club Hall of
Fame in 20011, and one year later inducted into the Mars Hill University Hall of
Fame in 2012.
Ben Trapp-Coach Trapp served in our state for over 30 years as a basketball
coach. His career record was 376-120. He was Head Coach at C.A. Johnson High School for 7 years and amassed a record of 139-25, including 3 region championships. He then served as Boys Varsity Assistant and JV Coach at Eau Claire High School. Trapp then went on to become Head Coach at Keenan High in Columbia SC from 1984-1999. While there his team won 237 games, Thirteen 3A playoff appearances, 7 Region Championships, 3A State Runner-up in 1999, and a 3A State Championship in 1991. He received Region Coach of the Year over 7 times, The Columbia Record Coach of the Year in 1986, The State
newspaper named Trapp Coach of the Year in 1989 and 1999 and the SCBCA named him 3A Coach of the year in 1991. Coach Trapp was named an assistant coach for the North Team in the annual North/South All-Star game in 1999.
Trapp coached over 40 players who went on to play at the collegiate level.
While coaching at the high school level Trapp was also involved in many other
facets of basketball. He was a head coach of the Columbia area, 17-under boys
AAU team from 1988-1993, tournament director of the Columbia Tip-off
Tournament from 1994-1999. From 1983-1997 he was Camp Director for Alex
English Summer Basketball Camp. Trapp served as Assistant Camp Director for
the NBA Players Association from 1995-1998, where he organized and led daily
summer basketball camp activities for nationally ranked high school players.
Trapp received a B.S degree in Mathematics from Benedict College in 1965. He
was a 1987 inductee into the Benedict College Athletic Hall of fame.