Huge crowd expected for Chamber banquet

By LARRY HILLIARD

Richardson Ledger Staff Writer

Legendary Gaffney High football coach Bob Prevatte has been inducted into the Wofford College Hall of Fame and the S.C. Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame.

He will add another distinguished honor to that list when he’s inducted into the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame.

Prevatte will accept the award Thursday during the Chamber’s annual banquet, which begins at 7:30 p.m.

More than 340 tickets have been sold for the event, which has been moved to the Broad River Electric Co-Op conference room to accommodate a larger-than-usual crowd.

The late Command Sergeant Major Roy Turner will also be inducted.

Carolina Panthers founder/owner Jerry Richardson will deliver the keynote address.

Prevatte was Richardson’s high school football coach. That was the start of a 50-year friendship.

“Mr. Richardson has been a lifelong friend of Coach Prevatte,” Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jim Cook said. “I asked if he would speak and help honor his lifelong friend. The Chamber is delighted to honor Coach Bob Prevatte and we are especially excited to provide a homecoming of sorts with Coach Prevatte and Mr. Richardson.

“Many of Coach Prevatte’s former players remember Mr. Richardson on the sidelines of Gaffney High football games in the 1960s.”

Prevatte coached Richardson in high school in Fayetteville, N.C. They both starred at Wofford College. They reunited in 1971 when Prevatte joined Richardson at Spartan Foods, then the largest Hardee’s franchisee.