ELIZABETH — The second annual Wirt County Sports Hall of Fame class was recently selected and six new members are set to be inducted.

Following the inaugural class, which featured a contributor as well as 11 other native Wirt Countians, nominees no longer had to be from the county except for the first year.

Longtime youth baseball coach Lloyd Fought, who guided the Newark Braves for more than half a century and graduated from WCHS in 1947, will join 2023 contributor Charlie Burdette.

The committee had 18 non-contributor nominees and only five made the cut for the 2024 class, which will be presented prior to the Tigers’ Oct. 18 Hall of Fame night affair versus Beallsville at Wilson-Eismon Field.

The five other inductees are 1967 graduate Richard Cain, 1999 graduate and the Tigers’ only Robert Dutton Award winner Michael Miller, 1943 Weston High grad and 1999 Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame inductee Ray Watson, 1950 graduate Sally Compton and 1956 graduate Kenneth G. Cheuvront, who was the first orange and black gridder to earn first team all-state honors (Class B, 1954-55) two years in a row.

Joey Vincent, the president of the committee, felt the same as fellow members who thought it was a difficult decision to rank their top five selections in order.

“Starting with 19 candidates and narrowing it down to six, including a special contributor, was a daunting task as all candidates have proven worthy in their respective time,” Vincent stated. “The class is a great class from an absolute giant and a legend in Ray Watson, a pioneer in girls athletics in Sally Compton, our school’s only four-time state champion in wrestling, a state champion running back and a state leader in Rich Cain, and our first two-time all-state football player in Kenneth Gilbert Cheuvront back when there were only two classes in West Virginia.

“And last but certainly not least our contributor of over 50 years of coaching little league baseball. This class embodies the excellence in Wirt County athletics that we have always expected. Our committee has done a fantastic job at preserving the past of Wirt County sports.”

Cheuvront was honored during a time where only 11 players were chosen for offense and defense.

Miller, who had a 147-9 career record and was the 2018 Mountain State mat official of the year, also won a quartet of Little Kanawha Conference wrestling titles.

Compton, who was a cheerleader for the Tigers, started the first sports for girls in the 1970s. She coached volleyball, softball, track and field and basketball, where she was the first girls coach in West Virginia to win 100 games.

Cain, who averaged 22 points a night as a senior in basketball, led the state in scoring (189), rushed for 1,270 yards and was named honorable mention All-America Football after the Tigers won the 1966 state championship.

Watson, a longtime principal at WCHS who also started youth league football in the county, spent three years (1957-59) as the head football coach at WVU Tech. He also led Wirt County to its first 10-0 undefeated regular season in 1955 as the Tigers finished state runner-up in Class B.

Nominees Matt Ashley, Jordan Beckett, Dalton Brindo, Amanda Burton Conaway, Ronnie Costley, Richard Elliott, John Hale, Danny Life, Cam Nelson, Shawn Richards, Kevin Sees, Gary Watson and DA Wilson will be carried over for two more years before having to be nominated again.

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com