When he's not being forced to deal with PJ Hairston-induced stupidity, Ol' Roy Williams has been pretty busy this summer and a number of offers have been reported. Latest: 6-8 Brandon Ingram, the most recent major talent to emerge out of Kinston. Just fifteen, Ingram follows in the footsteps of Cornbread Maxwell, Charles Shackleford, Reggie Bullock, Tony Dawson and his AAU coach, Jerry Stackhouse.
For a town of less than 22,000, Kinston sure has pumped out some athletes. On the football side, Dwight Clark is a native as is coach Tyrone Willingham. Toss in few baseball players and a couple of golfers, too, but coolest of all? Maceo Parker is from Kinston. On older recordings, you can hear James Brown call on him on a regular basis: "Maceo! Blow your horn, man!"
On the downside, skyjacker Raymond McCoy was also born in Kinston. There are some who believe he was actually D.B. Cooper. We'll probably never know: he was shot down by police when they tried to take him into custody in 1974.