West Charlotte High School hopes to rename its gymnasium after longtime basketball head coach Charles McCullough.
McCullough was boys’ basketball coach at West Charlotte from 1960 to 1993. His teams won nearly 600 games and five state championships.
The Lions, under his leadership, won 21 conference championships and reaching the state quarterfinals 16 times. McCullough was also named Charlotte Observer Coach of the Year twice.
In 2017, McCullough, 84, died after a long battle with a respiratory disease.
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“Coach McCullough not only saw himself as a coach, but as a mentor of young men,” Acquanetta Edmond, community superintendent for West Learning Community, wrote in a recommendation letter she wrote to Interim Superintendent Hugh Hattabaugh.
“His players continued to be successful on and off the court—some becoming district court judges, educators, entrepreneurs, college, and professional basketball players. “
Who was Charles McCullough?
Charles Adams McCullough, Sr. was born and raised in Charlotte to the late John and Annie Mae McCullough.
McCullough was known for his generous and caring soul. He would get up at 3 a.m. to deliver milk and oftentimes used what he earned from odd jobs to buy toys for his younger siblings.
A graduate of West Charlotte High, he lettered in four sports—setting the Mecklenburg County high jump record that stood for many years.
After serving two years in the U.S. Army, McCullough attended North Carolina Central University where he played baseball, basketball and ran track and field before graduating in 1956.
In 1960, he took over as head coach of the West Charlotte boy’s basketball team.
After retiring from West Charlotte High, he coached for five seasons at Livingstone College in Salisbury, NC.
On April 2019, McCullough was posthumously inducted in the NCHSAA Hall of Fame.
A lasting impact
Wendell Anthony
Perry never got the chance to play for McCullough