Hall of Fame
Howard “Humpy” A. Wheeler, Sr. was hired in 1929 to coach all sports at the Abbey: football, basketball, baseball and more. He was also the Athletic Director for 38 years. The football teams he coached won 100 games and six North Carolina Junior College Championships. His basketball teams won 248 games from 1930 to 1953 and racked up seven North Carolina Junior College Championships, as well as three runner-up finishes. Wheeler was also the first layman to hold an enduring appointment to the Abbey faculty. He taught history, politics, civics and hygiene here. In his “spare time,” he also directed intramural competitions on campus. Upon his retirement, Belmont Abbey College awarded him a doctoral degree, honoris causa. In 1970, the Wheeler Center was built in his honor and dedicated to him in April of that same year.
