Sept. 18, 2026, will be a day that immortalizes 12 former Dark Horses with a permanent place in Clinton High School history.
During Friday’s football game against Whiteville, Clinton High School will induct its inaugural Ring of Honor class. Bobby Robinson, Dennis Owens, Amy Wooten, Jeff Smith, Spell Carr, Karen Fox, Tonya Colwell, Terry Holland, Jimmy Raynor, Lamont Edwards, Fuzzy Lee and Willie Jacobs make up the first class.
“The Dark Horse Ring of Honor is something we’ve been working on for about a year and a half now,” Clinton Athletic Director Brad Spell explained. “We’re just trying to recognize a lot of individuals who came from Clinton to be recognized for the accomplishments they’ve done in all kinds of sports at Clinton High School. We’ve got a lot of people that have done a lot of great things here, and it’s time for these guys to be recognized as coaches and players. We got a panel together, and we started talking to come up with ideas to get people interested in getting applications out. It’s been a process, but I think we got a really good inaugural class, and what we want is for people to know that if they’re not in that first class, it’s not a big deal.”
The school hopes the inaugural class will inspire others in the community to nominate additional Dark Horses for future consideration.
“What we want is to get people really interested in it to start having more applications,” Spell said. “We got numerous people that could definitely be in the Dark Horse Ring of Honor, but it’s the community’s responsibility to get an application and start sending in some names so we can vote on it. If they’re not in this first class, maybe they’ll be in the class of 2027.”
The selection panel has made an online application available for community members to nominate individuals they believe should be considered for the Ring of Honor.
“On the Clinton City Schools web page, they go there, and they click the Ring of Honor icon, and it gives a history of what we’re looking for and the bylaws and things of that nature,” Spell said. “So if you’re an individual or you know of an individual that you think should get honored with this in the near future, we’re encouraging the community and people that have been a Dark Horse to please put applications in so we can get more names. As I said, we have numerous people that we feel could be in that Ring of Honor.”
Spell expects the majority of the living members of the inaugural class to attend the ceremony. Having athletes and coaches representing a variety of sports was also important to the panel when selecting the first 12.
“We’ve got a rich tradition in athletics,” Spell said. “Through our football program, soccer or basketball program, what we’re trying to do with this first class is get all the different sports involved in it. We’ve got some track stars involved, and we’ve got a women’s golf player who has won the state championship as an individual. I think we have that tradition, and I’m just blessed to be a Dark Horse pretty much all my life. I graduated from Clinton in 1993; I’ve taught here for 28 years, and I know the history of the school. It’s just a blessing to be able to teach and coach in that environment.”
The inaugural 12 will pave the way for past and future Dark Horses to be recognized as members of the Ring of Honor in the years to come.