WENDELL - Mickey Faulk got a lot out of coaching basketball at Vaiden Whitley High School in the 1968 and 1969 seasons and continues to do what he can to repay the eastern Wake community.

"I'm very indebted to the people in the area," Faulk said. "Those were some of the most meaningful years of my life."

They may have been meaningful enough in that he met his wife Angie at the school while she was student teaching for Meredith College.

But add coaching a hoops team that was successful in the face of much adversity, and Faulk's time in the Warrior community was much more significant.

Faulk left Winston-Salem to take the coaching spot for the 1967-68 season as Vaiden Whitley was undergoing consolidation.

"It was really, really neat to pull the kids together in a consolidated high school," he said of the experience.

That first year, the basketball team went to the conference playoffs, and then the district playoffs at Southern Pines where it fell to Millbrook in the final game. The Warriors would've gone to the state playoffs in their first year had they won that game.

"In '68, the last half of the season was really good," Faulk said. "That gave us some really good strength going into the next year."

Heading into the 1968-69 year, Faulk said the team worked hard in the weight room and even harder on fundamentals to become great basketball players. The hard work paid off, as the Warriors went undefeated, 26-0, in the regular season, but fell in the first round of the state playoffs to Mount Holly - a team that hit 25-28 free throws and shot 69 percent from the floor.

"We just caught them at a bad time," Faulk said.

The two-year basketball coach, and assistant football coach under Lee Simmerson, said it was the talent of his standout players that truly made a lot out of a little for the young program.

Had point guard Ricky Tharrington not blown his knee out in the conference tournament game against Broughton, Faulk said the team might have fared better in the playoffs. He said worse than the team suffering, the injury hurt Tharrington's looks a college scholarships. Faulk said Allen McCullers, who came in for his senior year, was literally a big help at 6' 5".

Those two plus Andrew Broadie were named All-Conference that season. Broadie was chosen to play in East-West game as starting center in 1969, and went on to be an All-American at Campbell College.

Faulk said Michael Dunston, Scooter Barham, Jimmy Wiggins and Warren Ramsey topped the seven players that really carried the team through.

"They were great basketball players, and great kids you wouldn't mind having as a son," he said.

Regardless of the team's success, Faulk said the real winners in his time in Wendell were those in the community. Support was so strong from the community and booster club those that wanted to attend a game had to get there nearly an hour before tip-off to ensure a seat.

"I'm sure the fire marshal would've gone crazy nowadays," he said of the crowds that made their way to the Vaiden Whitley gym.

What he considered one of the most painful decisions in his life, Faulk, who now lives in Raleigh, had to leave the position at the school to pursue higher income after watching his team post a perfect regular-season record.

"It hurt me an awful lot to leave coaching because I didn't really want to leave coaching, but from an economic standpoint it was just hard for all the teachers," he said. "That's why even today I'm such an advocate for paying our teachers well. We still don't pay them enough."

Had he not left the eastern Wake community, Faulk says he would have built up youth athletic camps in the area. The next best thing, Faulk now works with former East Wake High School and NFL standout Greg Ellis to pay for eastern Wake County kids to attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes camps. He views it as evening the score with the community that was so good to him during his brief tenure as a Warrior coach.

"Personally I don't think I could've coached in a finer community or school in the state," he said. "I'm indebted to the community and good Lord for letting me be a part of it."

Forty-one years later, and with the school under a new name, Faulk is set to be inducted into the East Wake High School Hall of Fame this Saturday, for the foundation he set years ago and for his continual effort with athletics in the area. He's humbled he was even considered for such an honor.

"I really surrounded myself with good people and good ball players. Any given recognition would go to the players and the community, all I did was help keep them on the right path," Faulk said.

He said he's sure there are plenty of other people more deserving of being inducted.

"I'm really looking forward to it," he said. "I hope a lot of the kids can attend. I still call them my kids even though they're 55 years old."