Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2023
- Class:
- 1964
Bill Faircloth, who dedicated his career to Wake Forest Athletics and helping student-athletes grow and develop on and off the field, has been selected to the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame and will be inducted at the upcoming ceremony on Oct. 21, 2021.
In addition to the special honor, Faircloth was named the 2021 American Football Coaches Association's Outstanding Achievement Award recipient last year. The AFCA Board of Trustees created the Outstanding Achievement Award in order to recognize AFCA members, past and present, who have achieved outstanding success while coaching football.
Faircloth, who was an AFCA 35-year member and long-time athletic administrator and coach, was Wake Forest's Gene Hooks Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2012.
Faircloth was a three-year letter winner at Wake Forest as an offensive lineman from 1961-63. He was team captain in his senior year and earned Academic All-ACC honors. Faircloth earned his master's degree from Alabama in 1965.
Bill Faircloth, known affectionately to Wake Forest players for decades as "Big Daddy," has been directly affiliated with Demon Deacon football since 1960.
Faircloth hit a milestone in 2012 when he attended his 400th consecutive Wake Forest football game on Nov. 3 when the Demon Deacons took on Boston College.
In April 2004, the foyer of the Mark C. Pruitt Football Center was dedicated as the "Faircloth Foyer" in honor of Faircloth's dedication and long-time service to the Wake Forest football program and University as a whole. Additionally, the coaches locker room inside Bridger Field House at Truist Field is named in his honor.
Faircloth also coached previously at Catawba College from 1966-75, including three years as head coach (1973-75), and was an assistant at Duke in 1976 and 1977.
Faircloth worked under head coaches John Mackovic and Al Groh in his five seasons as an assistant. He helped the Demon Deacons earn a spot in the Tangerine Bowl in 1979 after going 8-4 that season. It was Wake Forest's first bowl game in 30 years. In 1983, Faircloth moved away from coaching and became assistant athletic director for football, a position he would hold for 38 years.
Faircloth and his wife, Becky, have three sons -- all Wake Forest graduates -- Scott and wife Tricia, Woody, and Barry and wife Beth. They also are the proud grandparents of Rhett, Stowe, Grace, Mary Scott, Mac, Catherine, Spencer, Sophia, Olivia, Luna and great grandchildren Boone and Thatch.
