The Northern Neck Sports Wall of Fame will hold an induction ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 24, at the Hayden Building at Dream Fields in Kilmarnock. The ceremony will honor nine inductees from the Classes of 2020 and 2021/22. A reception follows and the public is invited.
The annual induction ceremony was postponed in 2020 and again in early 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to committee chairman Carroll Lee Ashburn.
The 2021/22 class includes two inductees from Lancaster County, one from Richmond County and one from Northumberland.
Joseph “Tay” Betts was a multi-sport athlete at Lancaster High School, excelling in basketball, track and field and baseball. He returned to his alma mater last fall to deliver a motivational speech to ninth graders about college recruitment, character and work ethic. Betts, who was an all-academic student-athlete at Radford University during his last three years there now works as a campaign director at Snap! Mobile, a digital fundraising platform to help sports teams, clubs and organizations raise money.
A speedster on the track, Betts holds the Radford University 100 meter dash record of 10.54 set as a freshman in 2012. He is also second on the top 20 list for the 400 meter dash with a time of 47.53, he set in 2014 as a junior.
While at Lancaster, he also was a two-time all-region player of the year for boys basketball and a two-time all-state shortstop.
Brian Buffaloe has competed in 117 marathons in 26 states including Alaska, running in his first marathon in 1985. He lists his most memorable as a marathon in Athens, Greece, home to the first-ever marathon.
An assistant track coach at Rappahannock High School, Buffaloe now helps to prepare young athletes to compete while building their character.
Stanley Gaskins has been part of multiple recognition ceremonies over the past few years as part of the 1969 Brookvale High School state championship baseball team. Gaskins was a freshman pitcher for the Fighting Warriors and pitched in the championship game. The win marked an end of an era as the school closed its doors for good that year when full integration took place. Gaskins set a school record for 15 strikeouts in one game.
When the schools consolidated, he participated in football, basketball, baseball and track at Lancaster High School. He scored 34 points, had 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game as a highlight of his LHS basketball career. He also had over 1,000 career points.
Darrell Long was a force on the basketball court for Northumberland High School. He led the Northern Neck in scoring in the early 1980s and was named the district most valuable player in 1983. A 1,000-plus career scorer, Long was selected to represent the Indians and district in the Virginia High School Coaches Association East-West All-Star game.
He played at Keene State University, where he scored over 1,500 points and set a school record with 21 free throws in one game. Long is now in the Keen State Hall of Fame. He was named head boys basketball coach at NHS in 2001 and amassed a 172-72 record as the Northern Neck coach of the year twice.
Five members from the class of 2020 also will be inducted. They are the late Rev. Lee Scripture, the late Mozell Carter, Reggie Brann, Jason Morris and Bruce Thomas. Their profiles previously appeared in the Rappahannock Record.
The Northern Neck Sports Wall of Fame was formed in 2000 and now has 69 inductees.
