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HAMM LEADS INDUCTEES FOR 2008 N.C. SOCCER HALL OF FAME

Contact: Kathy Robinson, NCYSA Executive Director

36-856-7529

GREENSBORO, N.C. (November 5, 2007) --- Mia Hamm, whose All-American career at the University of North Carolina catapulted her into international soccer stardom and then into life as one of popular culture’s most recognizable figures, headlines the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame Class of 2008.

Hamm is joined by long-time college coach Gary W. Hall and referee administrator Paul James as the Hall of Fame’s latest inductees.

Hamm, Hall and James will be inducted at the Hall of Fame’s annual banquet, Jan. 26, 2008 in Greensboro, N.C.

MIA HAMM

Mia Hamm, who became one of soccer’s most recognizable players and a soccer and cultural icon during her 17 years with the U.S. women’s national team, arrived in Chapel Hill in 1989 and helped the Tar Heels to four NCAA championships, including three seasons in which she earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference and All-American honors. She was the ACC’s player of the year three times and the league’s female athlete of the year twice. She finished her career as the ACC’s all-time leader in goals (103), assists (72) and points (278).

At age 15, she already had been the youngest player to ever play for the U.S. national team. In fact, she didn’t play for North Carolina in 1991, instead helping the U.S. to the World Cup title in China.

Hamm’s international career lasted 17 seasons, where her U.S teams won another World Cup title in 1999 and two Olympic gold medals (1996 and 2004).

She finished her international career with 158 goals, more than any player in history – male or female. After helping the U.S. to a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics, Hamm retired in 2004 and married Major League Baseball star Nomar Garciaparra.

Hamm also was Soccer USA’s female athlete of the year five years in a row (1994-1998), MVP of the Women’s Cup in 1995 and the winner of three ESPY awards, including Soccer Player of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year. In 2004, she and teammate Michelle Akers were put on FIFA’s list of the 125 greatest living soccer players, the only two women and only two Americans to be named.

In 1999, she founded the North Carolina-based Mia Hamm Foundation, which is dedicated to bone marrow research after her brother, Garrett, died of the disease in 1997.

GARY W. HALL

Gary W. Hall, who recently retired as men’s soccer coach at Barton College, ended his 27-year career with a 188-176-35 record at three North Carolina colleges – Lenoir-Rhyne, Campbell and Barton.

Hall, a native of Winston-Salem, played collegiate at Fayetteville’s Methodist College, then transferred to Barton (then called Atlantic Christian). His first coaching job was at Wake Forest, where he was an assistant from 1980-83.

In 1984, Hall went to Lenoir-Rhyne, which was reinstituting its soccer program. The Bears went 7-5-1 that first season.

After three seasons in Hickory, Hall went to Campbell, where he stayed for two seasons before heading to his alma mater of Barton.

He coached the Bulldogs for 18 seasons, finishing with 149 victories before retiring earlier this year to focus his sole attention on being the school’s athletics director.

PAUL JAMES

Winston-Salem’s Paul James has been North Carolina’s state youth referee administrator for 24 years. He’s the first and only SYRA the state has ever had.

Among James’s accomplishments:

-- USSF National Referee for seven years, officiating National and International matches.

-- USSF National Assessor for 6 years

-- President or a Director of the largest North Carolina collegiate group (TISOA) since 1988.

-- Attended as the North Carolina Head of Referee Delegation the Region III Youth Championships for 15 of the past 20 years. In the years he wasn’t Head of Delegation, he was either an active referee or an active assessor.

-- Director of the NCSRA's Young Referee Identification Program's annual Sun Bowl program since 1999.

-- Long-time member of the Executive Board of NCYSA.

-- Lead assignor for all of the NCYSA State Youth championships since 1986.

The induction of Hamm, Hall and James to the N.C. Soccer Hall of Fame will bring the number of inductees to 32. Information about the Induction Dinner can be found online at: www.ncsoccerhalloffame.com.