While serving a hitch in the United States Marine Corps, Hammond boxed in a smoker at Camp LeJeune in 1946. He has been hooked on the sport ever since. Born on September 20th,1929 in Binghampton, NY, he moved to Rock Hill, SC in 1980. He was elected Chief Official for South Carolina Amateur Boxing a year later, an office he still holds.  Hammond has been involved with professional boxing as a referee, judge and timekeeper for the last 30 years. He worked the 1988 Olympic Trials as a judge and referee. He also worked the glove table at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. Hammond was a trainer and cut man for Cedric Mingo's successful title bout in Lancaster, SC a few years ago. He has also trained amateur fighters as well as professionals and can usually be found anywhere in the Carolinas a boxing event is being held.  Since 1983, Hammond has owned Perm-Ex Roofing and Siding in Rock Hill. He has been a member of the Carolinas Boxing Hall of Fame Board of Directors for several years now.

Beginning his career in 1945, Pappas got off to a bad start. Boxing with the YMCA League in Winston-Salem, the 11-year-old lost his first seven bouts. After that Pappas began to win, and of his next 130 fights, he lost just five. He won seven amateur championships, including the High Point Tri-State Golden Gloves, as a lightweight, in 1951. Pappas moved into the Open Division at the age of 15 because of a lack of novice competition. The move did not slow the youngster down. Once, his team fought a match against Mooresville Mills, and Pappas boxed the coach and won. He fought at the Carolinas Golden Gloves in Charlotte and was beaten by a much older fighter, 82nd Airborne Division Champion Gilbert Ruybalid. The paratrooper won by an eyelash, but the decision was roundly booed.  Pappas served in the U.S. Army from 1953-1956, where he won two service tournaments.  Pappas is married and he and his wife Carolyn have three daughters, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Pappas retired as food service manager of Nash Health Care Systems in Rocky Mount, N.C. in 1997, having served 20 years in that capacity.

Cedric "Mean Man" Mingo spent most of his U.S. Army career in the boxing ring. Entering the service in 1980, the southpaw featherweight won 151 matches and lost just nine. He knocked out 75 opponents. Mingo traveled all over Europe with his military team and took on all comers. In 1983, American boxers participated in the Italian Torneo, an elite European boxing tournament, for the first time. Mingo was asked by President Reagan to go and bring home the gold, which he did. After his release from service, Mingo launched a highly successful professional career which resulted in a 28-9-1 record and two titles. In 1990 he fought Ed Pollard for the IBF Intercontinental Featherweight crown in his hometown of Lancaster, S.C. Mingo knocked Pollard out in the 11th round. Five years later he won the WBF version of the featherweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Felipe Garcia in Johnson City, TN. After that win, Mingo was ranked the number two featherweight in the world.  Mingo is a local hero in Lancaster, where February 17 is Cedric Mingo Day. Cedric and Linda Mingo have been married for 21 years. He is now forming a boxing school where he hopes to train young men in the sport.

Johnny Boyd was born in Charleston, S.C. in 1959. He began boxing at an early age and compiled an impressive record. Beginning with the Charleston All-Stars, Boyd later boxed for Mount Pleasant and the Isle of Palms team. One of his coaches, Roy Leopold said his 119-pounder liked to "mix it up" in the ring. Boyd won five S.C State Junior Olympic titles and two regional championships. He traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C. and Rapid City, S.D. for the National Junior Olympics, but lost in the semi-finals. He won three consecutive S.C. State Golden Gloves crowns and took the Carolinas Golden Gloves title in 1978. In 1976, boxing in the regional Olympic trials in Detroit, he lost his second match, but easily whipped the New York Golden Gloves champion Johnny Magnifico in his first match. Boyd won in excess of 200 matches and lost just 31. Along the way he picked up 25 outstanding boxer awards, the Junior Olympic and state Golden Gloves titles and was ranked in the top five National Junior Olympic boxers two years in succession.  Boyd and his wife Elizabeth Ann are the parents of two. He is active in his community and owns his own automobile business in Mount Pleasant.

Benton started boxing at the age of 12, and was a full-fledged heavyweight by age 17. His career record is 132 wins against 16 losses and 1 draw. All losses came at the hands of quality fighters. Ken Norton beat him three times and Wyce Westbrook defeated him on a slip-decision. Former heavyweight champion Norton, decisioned Benton twice, both close fights, and was the only man to knock him out. Westbrook was a two-time National AAU Champion and fought on the 1960 Olympic Team.  The low-key Benton was an excellent boxer with dynamite in both hands. He won amateur tournaments all over the Southeast and picked up many tourney wins as a member of the US Air Force from 1966-1970. Benton was Carolinas AAU Champion in 1964, won the 1965 Southern Golden Gloves Heavyweight Title in Knoxville, and represented the Carolinas in the National Golden Gloves Tournaments of 1964, 1965 and 1966.  His two older brother were also excellent boxers. Benton has three children.

The son of a renowned boxing coach and the brother of an outstanding NFL player, Dale Matthews made his own indelible mark in the sports world. Boxing for his father "Matty" Matthews at The Citadel, he compiled a record of 22-1 in college competition and 40-0 in Golden Gloves matches. Matthews was born in 1929 and graduated from Charleston High School. He played football, boxed and was a member of the swimming team at The Citadel. A classy stylist with good punching power, Matthews boxed at 165 pounds. He won the Southern Conference Championship in his weight class three years in a row. The Citadel inducted him into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.  Matthews, upon graduation, entered the U.S. Air Force and stayed for 30 years. He attained his pilot's wings and flew 100 combat missions in F-86 Sabre Jets during the Korean War. Col. Matthews won numerous medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster in 1953, 1967, 1970, and 1971. He also won a Bronze Star. Matthews retired from the Pentagon while serving on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He and his wife Jacquelyn had three children.  Matthews passed away on June 14, 2003.

Born in 1934, Bobby Headden began boxing at an early age. He is a native of Charleston, S.C. but boxed out of Charlotte for most of his career. Headden lost very few matches. He won a total of 65 and lost two amateur bouts and one professional match. His amateur losses were as a representative of the Carolinas at the National Golden Gloves in New York City, and in an intercity meet in Chicago. Headden made such an impression in New York he was chosen to box for an eastern team against a western team in Chicago. He trained under Lou Kemp in Charlotte and his brother-in-law, Doc Deneaux, in Charleston. Headden was a workman-like boxer with power in both hands. A flyweight, he always wore a deadpan expression in the ring.  Headden spent his working life in the trucking industry. Beginning as a teen, he started out as a checker and was a driver for 40 years.