Gwinnett Daily Post

Mark Kimbro truly enjoyed last year's inaugural induction ceremony for the Central Gwinnett Athletic Hall of Fame.

The initial class of 19 inductees featured several friends of the Central athletic director and baseball coach, but it also had a handful of old-timers, guys Kimbro had heard of but never seen perform firsthand.

Central's second class of Hall of Famers, who will be inducted Saturday between the Black Knights' varsity girls and boys basketball games vs. Dacula, is filled with people Kimbro knows well. He has worked at Central for 22 years, graduated from the school in 1980 and grew up watching Black Knight games.

"That's what I really enjoy, I've seen every one of them (play or coach)," said Kimbro, who joined Central girls basketball coach Cass Cassell in starting the school's Hall of Fame last year. "I've seen all of this year's group in action. That's fun for me. I love it for Central Gwinnett that we have this, but I really enjoy it when it's people I've seen in action over the years."

This year's group includes a pair of coaches still at local schools, Al Kenison and Robert Hill. Kenison, still a part-time teacher at Central, is being inducted for his coaching - he was Central's golf coach for 22 years (going to state 11 times and coaching two individual state champions) and a football coach for 20 - while Hill is joining the Hall for his high school exploits.

Now a football coach at Parkview, Hill threw for what was then a county-record 2,081 yards in 1980 before playing college football at The Citadel. A Class AAA All-State player, he also was MVP of the North-South All-Star Game in high school.

Two basketball inductees, Steve Buffington and Leigh Swanson, also are in the class. Buffington, who later played at Middle Georgia and Georgia Tech, still holds nine school records in boys basketball. Swanson, an All-State player, led her final team in 1989 to the Class AAAA Final Four and a 27-4 record.

Those four will be joined by swimmer Ben O'Neal, who broke three school records during his career.