Hall of Fame
Coach Fred McCall was inducted into the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 7, 1995. A native of Denver, N.C., he joined the Camel athletic staff in 1953 as head basketball coach and over the next 16 years, led Campbell to a 221-104 record. He directed the team to five state junior college championships in an eight-year span, then led the Camels through their first eight years of competition on the senior college level.
During his stint, McCall coached three JUCO All-Americans – Len Maness, Bob Vernon and George Lehmann. His legacy lives in the Campbell Basketball School and the McCall Rebounder. In 1956, McCall founded the Campbell Basketball School along with former Wake Forest coach “Bones” McKinney and the annual operation grew to become the nation’s oldest and largest summer basketball camp in continuous operation.
He invented the McCall Rebounder in the late 1950s to teach proper rebounding technique and the device grew to be used by coaches in all 50 states as well as internationally. The Rebounder has been on display in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
McCall resigned from his basketball and athletic director duties to accept an appointment as Vice President of Institutional Advancement on Jan. 10, 1969. He served in that capacity until 1979 when he was named Vice President for Administration, a position he held until his retirement in 1986.
Coach McCall was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in June 1994. He passed away Mar. 28, 2008 at the age of 74.
