North Carolina Sports Figures: Olympic Athletes and Coaches in the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame

North Carolina had its first Olympian in 1936 with Harry Williamson, a track and field athlete from High Point. Since then, numerous other athletes with ties to North Carolina have made their way to the Olympic Games. In 1963 when the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inducted its first class of nominees, Jim Beatty, a track and field athlete from Charlotte who participated in the 1960 Olympics, became the first North Carolina Olympian to be inducated. Harry Williamson was at last inducted in 1999.

In all, thirty one athletes and coaches from North Carolina who have made it to the Olympics have been given the Hall of Fame honor. Susan Yow, NCSU and Queen's College Women's Basketball coach, was the most recent Olympian, inducted in 2016. She participated in the 1988 Olympics as the Assistant Women's Basketball coach. Yow was third of three sisters, including Deborah Yow and Kay Yow, to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Deborah Yow was inducted in 2006, following the 1989 induction of NCSU's legendary Wolfpack women's basketball coach Kay Yow. And Kay Yow also participated in the Olympics, as the Assistant Women's Basketball coach in 1984 and as head coach in 1988.

North Carolina Olympic Athletes and Coaches Inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (click link for a PDF list compiled by the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame)