Legendary educator/coach Alfred Poe will be honored by the Housing Authority of High Point (HAHP) next month.
Poe has been selected to receive the agency’s Pillars of Fame Award. The honor was established in 2006 to inspire community youths by showcasing former public housing residents who overcame obstacles and became successful leaders and pillars of the community.
Poe grew up in the Daniel Brooks Community in High Point and graduated from William Penn High School, where he played basketball and was a football manager.
He learned to play tennis at Washington Terrace Park during the sixth grade and played in high school, winning the Western Regional Doubles Tennis Title his senior year with his partner, Paul Wright. He also won a Parks and Recreation State Ping Pong Title.
After high school, Poe worked for a year for the High Point Recreation Department before being offered a four-year tennis scholarship to North Carolina Central University. His impressive record in college of 68 wins and four losses earned him an induction into the NCCU Sports Hall of Fame.
Poe has held head coaching positions in basketball, tennis and track in both Maryland and North Carolina. He spent many years at Carver High School, serving in several different capacities, including athletic director. Poe retired from Carver, where the gymnasium has been named in his honor, two years ago.
This will be the latest in a long list on honors for Poe, a Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Sports Hall of Famer. He has been Coach of the Year three times and was honored by the North Carolina Coaches Association for 25 years of service in 1992 and by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association for outstanding service.
Poe and his wife, Carol, have three children, Alisa, Camille and William.
Estie Bennington will also receive a Pillars of Fame award. Bennington became the first person without a law degree elected Clerk of Superior Court for Guilford County.
Bennington, who recently completed the novel “Insanity on the Road to Glory,” is married to Richard Bennington, a High Point University professor. They have three grown children and four granddaughters.
The Pillars of Fame Award Ceremony will be held at Astor Dowdy Towers, 701 E. Green St. in High Point, on Sep. 19 at noon. The event is free and open to the public.
