John Ralls ’76 thought he was heading out to lunch last week with his old basketball teammate Robert Kent ’76. And he was, but first there was a little detour to make.

The two retired basketball coaches stopped at Davidson-Davie Community College in Thomasville, N.C., to pick up Matt Ridge, the school’s basketball coach and a former player on one of John’s teams at Ledford High School in Thomasville, N.C. That’s when John learned he was in for more than just a lunch.

Inside the Davidson-Davie athletic department were John’s wife Lynn and two children, Brett ‘04 and Katie. Gabe Scott, the athletic director at Ledford High School in Thomasville, where John coached for more than 30 years, was also there to give him the good news: Starting this fall, the Ledford gym is expected to be named in John’s honor.

“I did not see that coming,” says John. “I was totally surprised but in a good way, of course. It’s a great honor.”

And make no mistake, John’s a legend in Thomasville. He won 13 state championships in four different sports: four in basketball, three in softball, three in boys’ golf and three in girls’ golf.

The Davidson County School board is expected to vote on the honor at its next meeting May 8.

John and Robert both played basketball at Western Guilford High School in Greensboro before attending Guilford College. They were freshmen on the 1972-73 team that won the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball championship in 1973, the first national title won by a Guilford team.