GASTON COLLEGE RECORD BOOK: School's all-time basketball scoring leader and two-sport star - Barry Faith
(Part 5 of a 10-part series)
When Barry Faith came to Gaston College in the fall of 1969, he was regarded as one of Kentucky's top two-sport high school athletes.
An all-state selection in both sports at North Marshall High School in Calvert City, Ky., Faith more than lived up to his advance billing at Gaston College.
By the time Faith left the then-nicknamed "Warriors" program, the 5-foot-9, 155-pounder was a two-time all-conference basketball player and school's all-time leading scorer, an all-conference baseball player as a third baseman and pitcher and the school's athlete of the year in 1971.
Coached by fellow Kentuckyian Pete Brooks in basketball and by Dean Burroughs in baseball, Faith also led Gaston College to the cusp of national attention when he was a driving force for the Warriors advance to the Region 10 championship game in March 1971.
Averaging 21.7 points per game as a sophomore, Faith improved to 24.3 points per game in the Region 10 tournament highlighted by his 34-point effort in a 115-61 victory over Lenoir Community College. In the regional final, Faith fouled out in the second half on a call Brooks bitterly complained about to game officials as Gaston College dropped an 85-81 decision at host Ferrum, Va.
Faith finished his career with 1,510 total points for a 22.5 scoring average; The scoring total was 223 points ahead of previous school leader Charles Hamilton.
And, in the days before the 3-point shot, Faith hit many long-range jumpers that would've been 3-pointers under today's rules.
His sharpshooting sparked a high-scoring offense that racked up a school-record 20 100-point games in his freshman year of 1969-70 and eight 100-point games as a sophomore.
He tallied 23 points in his debut - a 92-73 win at Wilkes Community College on Dec. 4 - and sparked Gaston College to a 29-4 record in the 1969-70 season with a Region 10 opening-round loss. His career high of 42 points came 11 days later in a 174-72 home victory over Montreat-Anderson that remains the highest-scoring game in school history.
As a sophomore, he scored in double figures in 35 of his 36 games - his season-low was eight points in a 19-point victory - as the Warriors went 22-12 overall.
The lateness of Faith's final basketball season had no negative impact on his sophomore baseball season as he hit .419 for the Warriors' unbeaten (11-0) N.C. Community College Conference champions to earn all-league honors.
His success drew the attention of Stetson University in Deland, Fla., which offered Faith a two-sport scholarship.
At Stetson, Faith continued to shine in both sports and earned MVP honors in basketball.
In fact, so athletic was Faith that before he died on July 9, 2011 at 59 years of age, he became one of the top washer pitchers in the Mid-South. He won the over-30 championships in both singles and doubles and was Kentucky State champion and Grand Champion in the over-50 division in back-to-back years and was seeking a three peat when died after battling colon and liver cancer.