Cullowhee, N.C. –  Three individuals including a former student-athlete, one head coach, and the longtime broadcasting voice of the department comprise the 2023 induction class into Western Carolina's Athletics Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. Brenda Johnson Hamilton (Women's Basketball, 1974-77), former head coach Danny Williamson (Track & Field/Cross Country, 1987-2016), and Gary Ayers (Broadcaster, Catamount Sports Network – 1985-present) make up the 34th class to be selected by the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame committee.
 
WCU's 2023 Athletics Hall of Fame weekend is scheduled for Nov. 10-11, 2023 surrounding the Catamounts' final home football game, the "Blue Ridge Border Battle" against Southern Conference opponent ETSU at 1 p.m. Complete details of the weekend's ceremonies will be made available closer to the event.
 
Brenda Johnson Hamilton is recognized as not only the first African-American women's basketball player to play at Western Carolina, but she is also among the first female student-athletes of color to play at WCU. Johnson finished her collegiate career with 1,343 points scored – currently ninth in the Catamount women's basketball record books – and is the only WCU player to eclipse the 1,000-rebound plateau with a school-record 1,018 career rebounds. She is one of just 11 WCU women's basketball players in the 1,000-point / 500-rebound club – and the only player to surpass 1,000 in both categories.
 
Johnson additionally holds the top two single-season rebound records in WCU history. She amassed 323 rebounds in the 1976-77 season, averaging a single-season best 14.7 rebounds per game, which eclipsed her previous benchmark of 296 that set the high mark in 1975-76. Her top rebounding average is more than three and a half boards more than second place in the school ledgers.
 
Over her career, Johnson was credited with 20 or more rebounds in a single game four times including a school benchmark 26 rebounds against Mars Hill in January 1977. That mark stood alone for 37 years until Sherae Bonner match it with 26 boards against Livingstone in 2014. Of the eight Catamounts to hit the 20-rebound mark, Johnson remains the only player to accomplish the feat more than once.
 
Originally from Iron Station, N.C., Johnson was a two-time All-State selection in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), the predecessor of the NCAA for women's athletics. She was named to the US Collegiate Women's All-Star team in 1975 while playing under Betty Westmoreland Shure.
 
Johnson joins a pair of teammates in the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame including the program's all-time leading scorer Jayne Arledge who was inducted in 1992, and Judy Stroud, a 1999 inductee who also coached at her alma mater.
 
Brenda was married to the late Willie Hamilton who played basketball at Western Carolina from 1974-77. She has two sons, Waraire of Miami, Fla., and Brandon of Asheville, N.C.
 
For years, Western Carolina's success in track & field was synonymous with one name – longtime head coach and now Hall of Famer, Danny Williamson. A two-time WCU graduate, earning his degree in physical education in 1985 and master's in education in 1986, Williamson was hired by former Athletics Director Dr. Terry Wanless in 1987 and embarked on a 30-year coaching career in Cullowhee first as a part of the WCU football staff before taking over for Don Millwood in guiding the cross country and track & field programs until his retirement in 2016.
 
Williamson developed the Catamount track & field program into a prominent level at the top of the conference standings year in and year out. He guided the Catamounts to an astounding 32 Southern Conference titles including 15 SoCon outdoor championships – six on the men's side and nine on the women's – and 17 total SoCon indoor championships – eight on the men's side and nine women's titles. He earned an astonishing 39 SoCon Coach of the Year honors – the second-most all-time in the conference history – including 15 during the outdoor season (seven men's and eight women's) and 24 in the indoor portion of the schedule, 11 leading the men's team and 13 guiding the women's squad.
 
During his tenure, Williamson coached well over 700 student-athletes to All-Southern Conference plaudits and led over 250 Catamounts to cross country and track & field individual conference event championships. Combined, 112 student-athletes earned SoCon Athlete of the Week plaudits. Additionally, 19 Catamounts were named SoCon Athletes of the Year, 28 collected SoCon Freshman of the Year awards, and three student-athletes earned NCAA Division I All-America honors in track and field under Williamson's guidance.
 
A Jackson County native and 1980 graduate of Sylva-Webster High, Williamson earned numerous coaching honors in track & field during his time at WCU including the NCAA Division I Indoor and Outdoor Southeast Region Coach of the Year in 2006, the United States Track and Field / Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division I Southeast Region Indoor Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2005, the USTFCCCA Division I Southeast Region Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2005, and the 10K Southern Conference Men's Outdoor Track & Field Hard Charger Coaches Award in 1999.
 
While coaching the Catamounts, Williamson also served as an instructor of Health and Human Performance. He was also the conference's representative on the USTFCCCA Executive Committee for seven years from 2007 through 2014. He also holds the distinction of having recruited and coached WCU's only Olympic medalist Manteo Mitchell who won silver in the 1,600-meter relay in the 2012 Summer Olympic games in London.
 
Williamson retired from WCU in 2016. He later returned to coaching with stints at Cherokee High School before returning to the collegiate ranks at both Lenoir-Rhyne, where he received USTFCCCA Women's Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors, and at mountain-rival UNC Asheville. In his lone season at UNCA, the Bulldogs set 16 school records during the indoor season and the men's team won its first-ever team-scored event in program history. During the cross country season, UNCA also had a runner set the school record in the 8K.
 
Gary Ayers has been a part of Catamount Athletics since the mid-1980s as the "Voice of Catamount Athletics," providing play-by-play audio broadcasting through the Catamount Sports Network. Entering the 2023-24 athletic seasons – and beginning with the first football broadcast at Arkansas on Sept. 2 – Ayers has been behind the broadcast microphone for 37 of the last 38 seasons covering Catamount football and men's basketball. In recent years, Ayers has painted the picture over the air for Catamount Nation for women's basketball and through the department's ESPN broadcast initiatives for baseball and softball.
 
Ayers is a familiar voice to many across Western North Carolina. In addition to providing play-by-play for WCU, the Swain County native has handled broadcast duties for several of the region's high schools including Pisgah, Tuscola, Franklin, Cherokee, and Swain County High. His radio career began back in 1975 at WBHN in Bryson City and the press box where it all started – Swain County Memorial Stadium – bears his name.
 
With a little nudging and support from two WCU Hall of Fame legends – all-time winningest head football coach Bob Waters and former sports information director, now department historian, Steve White – Ayers began broadcasting Catamount football and basketball in 1985. Over his nearly 40-year broadcast career at WCU, Ayers has broadcast over 1,077 men's and women's basketball games, 422 football games, and 37 miscellaneous baseball, softball, and volleyball games. Combined, Ayers has been a part of 1,536 games either broadcasting or on the public address mic.
 
The former president of Allison Outdoor Advertising in Sylva, Ayers has long supported Catamount Athletics through his involvement in Jackson County. When he hasn't been on the broadcast mic, his voice has remained a part of Cullowhee as he spent several seasons providing public address announcing for WCU Athletics home events. Additionally, Ayers served for many years as the media representative on the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame Committee.
 
Ayers and Byna, his wife of 43 years, have a son, Ben, and a daughter-in-law, Emily. Ayers also has two grandsons, Will and Drew, and a granddaughter, Josie.
 
Founded in 1990, the Western Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame pays tribute to those superior Catamount athletes, coaches, administrators, and alum who have made major contributions to the honor and fame of WCU. Including this year's induction class, the WCU has enshrined 131 individuals, six athletic teams, 11 Patron Award recipients, and two individuals recognized for career achievements since its creation.
 
To be considered for induction into the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame, nominees must be submitted to the Hall of Fame committee where they are kept on file for five years. Each spring, the committee convenes to vote upon a list of nominees that are approved by the Hall's executive committee, which vets those nominated against the criteria put forth by the committee's constitution. The appropriate nomination forms are available online at CatamountSports.com.