RALEIGH -- Bobby Guthrie, whose versatile athletic career spans more than five decades, has joined the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame staff as Associate Executive Director.

Guthrie, an Alamance County native, is a former college baseball player and coach who served as Wake County Public School System Senior Administrator for Athletics and Driver Education from 1994 until his retirement in 2013.

“Bobby will play a vital role in the development and implementation of programs that will have a positive impact on the youngsters in our state,” said Don Fish, Executive Director of the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, who has guided the Hall’s expansion the last eight years. “We encourage youth around the state to become achievers who are inspired by our Hall of Fame members.”

Guthrie is a big achiever.

During his tenure directing Wake County Public School System athletics, Guthrie’s accomplishments included creating a high school athletic manual, revising the middle school athletic manual, and establishing sportsmanship education and cheerleading education programs.

On the athletic field, Guthrie starred in baseball at Southern Alamance High School and at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference player — gaining second team honors in 1972 and making the first team in 1974.

He also collected UNC’s Most Valuable Player award in 1974 and the Best Hustle honor in 1973. Guthrie has never stopped hustling.

As a baseball coach, his highlights include winning a State 4-A championship in 1977 at Scotland County High. He also served as head coach for nine years at UNC-Wilmington, where he won North Carolina Coach of the Year honors in 1990.

Along the way, Guthrie has garnered numerous athletic and education awards, among them are induction into six halls of fame: National Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association, N.C. Athletic Directors, N.C. High School Association, Wake County Public School System, George Whitfield Clinic, and Southern Alamance High School.

In 2010 Guthrie was named National Federation High School Coach and Educator of the Year, when he became the organization’s first accredited interscholastic coach.

He is currently focused on his new position with the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

“This is a way to continue [in sports] and contribute,’’ Guthrie said. “Being involved with all these associations puts me in a position to help the Hall.”