Lenoir-Rhyne University Athletics

Frank R. Barger, Sr., has been involved in competitive athletics for most of his life.  He was a two-sport letterman at Lenoir-Rhyne and has been in the high school coaching ranks since his graduation in 1948.  An outstanding football and baseball player in college, Barger was all-conference three of his gridiron years and captained the 1947 Lenoir-Rhyne team.  As a high school coach, Barger won championships in baseball, track and field, women's basketball, golf and football.  His grid teams won 12 conference crowns, 10 district playoffs and four association championships while rolling to some 230 victories.  The Lenoir-Rhyne honoree has twice been selected North Carolina Scholastic Football Coach of the Year and National Football Coach of the Year from District 3.  He has coached in seven all-star games, compiling a record of 5-2.  Barger has been a director of both the Western North Carolina High School Activity Association and the North Carolina State Athletic Association, as well as presiding over the Southwestern and Western 4-A Conferences.  Barger was athletic director, chairman of the physical education department, head football and golf coach at Hickory High School for several decades.