Williamsburg’s Alvin Sharpe inducted into Lakeside High School Athletic HOF in Atlanta

Most folks in Williamsburg know Alvin Sharpe as the city’s longtime Director of Tourism. Many also know him as “coach” after he spent over a decade leading the cross country and track and field programs at the University and the Cumberlands (then Cumberland College).

But what about Sharpe’s early career as a coach and educator at Lakeside High School in Atlanta? Not only was he able to find success in those early days, but it has now resulted in him being able to call himself a Hall of Famer in the state of Georgia.

Earlier this spring, Sharpe returned to Atlanta to accept his nomination into the Lakeside Athletics Hall of Fame at a special recognition ceremony. It is an honor that he said was a one-of-a-kind experience.

“They really did it up right,” Sharpe said of the Hall of the Lakeside Hall of Fame banquet. “I look back on my life, and I truly have been blessed with the success and honors, but this induction was outstanding. Getting together with 17-18 of my former athletes afterwards and reliving everything was really the best part, though.”

And there was a lot of success to relive.

Sharpe began his Hall of Fame coaching career at Lakeside the same year that the high school opened its door, in 1965. In just four years’ time, his cross country team won its first Georgia state championship title. They repeated that feat in 1970, adding a triple A track and field championship, which was the state’s largest classification at the time.

Between 1965-1971 Sharpe compiled a long list of accolades at Lakeside, including Atlanta Track Club of the Year (2x), Dekalb County Coach of the Year (2x), Region Track Coach of the Year (2x) and Georgia AAA Track coach of the Year in 1970.

“This is part of my life that people [here] don’t really know about,” Sharpe said recently. “Very few people know the full history of my coaching.”

“I never ran track,” Sharpe added. “I didn’t play basketball. I was a manager and a trainer at Cumberland College. My uncle, John Renfro, was an athletic director and basketball coach. I learned a lot from him, and some of the other coaches here at that time.”

After returning to his alma mater in the early seventies, Sharpe coached 17 NAIA All-Americans and two national champions. Before retiring in 1981, he was named KIAC Coach of the Year (6x) in both track and cross county. He was also NAIA District Coach of the year twice for track and six times for cross country, and he was an NAIA Area Coach of the Year as well.

In addition to his Lakeside Athletic Hall of Fame induction, he has also been voted into the Williamsburg High School Athletic Hall of Fame, the University of the Cumberlands Athletic Hall of Fame and the Kentucky Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame.