The late, great Horton remembered by UVA Wise

WISE — On February 28, 2024, UVA Wise women’s basketball fifth-year player Caitlyn Ross was having a game for the ages. Playing at Tusculum University, the team was locked in a tight contest before Ross stepped up her game and practically willed the team to the double-overtime win. When the dust had settled, Ross ended up with 47 points and a new school single-game record for points in a game. Naturally, when a record is broken attention turns to the former record holder. In this case the record was 44 points scored by Pam Horton in 1983. Horton has a fascinating story that until now has been largely untold or faded from memory but needs to be shared. Here is Pam’s story.

BORN TO BE A CAVALIER

Pamela Jean Horton was born on October 21, 1963, in Carroll County, Virginia. She grew up in the Austinville area and eventually attended Carroll County High School in nearby Hillsville. Known by her friends and family as “Hotdog”, she was into everything, from athletics to 4-H to art to French. Many who knew her say she always made those around her feel better and she lived life to the fullest. Her trademark motto upon meeting people, especially friends, was “How’s it hanging?”

Why was her nickname “Hotdog (her preferred spelling)”? Those close to her said that she wasn’t a “hotdog” as in showing off, but more as in she had a high confidence level that expressed itself in her hard-nosed playing style and dogged determination in anything she did. One person even said, “she wanted you to know who she was and that she was there.” The fact that she loved hot dogs and was known to always have hot dog wrappers, especially from the local Hardee’s, lying around in her car, probably helped her earn the nickname.

The passage of Title IX in 1972 led to major growth in athletic opportunities for women and girls, and Hotdog Horton thrived in athletics. While at Carroll County, she participated for the Cavaliers in basketball, track, and volleyball. If the school had offered softball at the time, she probably would have played it as she enjoyed the game. In track she competed in the long jump and was named the girls’ track team’s Most Outstanding Track & Field Athlete in 1982.

Basketball was where the 5’6” point guard shined. Horton was on the junior varsity team her first two years in high school, and each of those teams bested the previous team’s record for wins in a season. Moving to the varsity squad in 1980-81, she averaged 11.1 points a game that season while earning All-New River District Second Team honors. Her senior season was impressive as she averaged 20.5 points a game and set a program record for scoring in a game with 34 against Radford High School on October 29, 1981. (Until the early 2000s the girls’ basketball teams in A/AA in Virginia played from September to November and the volleyball teams played from November to February.) During her Carroll County career she was named All-New River District First Team, Second Team All-Region; First Team All-Tournament and earned the team’s Most Valuable Player Award.

Horton earned a spot on the Virginia High School Coaches Association West team for the annual East-West All-Star game in 1982. She came off the bench and scored six points in the West team’s 87-85 win over the East in Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum on July 16.

HORTON THE HIGHLAND CAVALIER

With her high school career winding down, Horton began being recruited by Clinch Valley College (now UVA Wise) and other schools. Carroll County was well represented in Wise, with former high school Cavalier coaches Dave Bentley and Hal Clery as well as golf standout and close friend Dirk Davis coming up Coeburn Mountain from Hillsville to Wise to play or coach. That probably had an effect on her recruitment, especially as Clery, who was the CVC coach in charge of recruiting, was also her junior varsity coach at CCHS. Clinch Valley announced on May 19, 1982, that she was coming to play for the Highland Cavaliers that fall. Her original plans were to play basketball and softball at CVC, but to her disappointment the school was unable to field a softball team in 1982-83.

That year the women’s basketball program had a new coach, Carol Almond, who liked what she saw in Horton, later praising her as an “exceptional athlete” and commenting on her “spunky and energetic manner” both on and off the court. Horton’s play style was described by one of her friends as being ahead of its time and more akin to the style seen today in teams like The University of South Carolina. She was very aggressive on both ends of the court and the majority of her shots were driving fast break layups made after stealing the ball.

Horton liked the number 12 and wore it on her jersey throughout her entire prep career up to when she entered college. Teammate Terri Dotson had already claimed that number, so she chose to wear the number 10. Pam made an immediate impact, scoring 22 points in a scrimmage at Emory & Henry College on November 4. She started every game that season and scored in double-digits in 22 of the team’s 26 contests. The team played in tournaments at Concord College and Alice Lloyd College and Hotdog was named to the All-Tournament Team in both. Against Union College on December 13, Horton broke the 30-point plateau for the first time, scoring 33 points against the Bulldogs.

Horton’s best game was on Jan. 26, 1983, against Pikeville College in CVC’s Greear Gym. She scored from seemingly everywhere and eventually scored her 42nd point with a few minutes left. The previous school record was 43, set by Sharon Morris. Horton attempted to block a shot and there was a collision. The Highland Cavalier story covering the game states she was knocked senseless while the Carroll News reported she was knocked out. So, she left the game and many there thought she would not be back that evening. No one told Horton that. After a few seconds she went over to the coach and soon after subbed back in. With one second remaining on the game clock, she hit another layup and notched her 44th point. Not only was that a school record but her 17 field goals she made were also a record. Looking back on it now, one amazing fact is that she was allowed back in the game at all. Modern concussion protocols would probably have prohibited it.

Horton followed up that performance with a 41-point performance at King College five days later, notching another school record as she went 13-13 at the free throw line. The season ended a few days later but her numbers were impressive. She scored almost 500 points for the season, averaging around 19.5 points per game. She led the team in assists and steals and the team voted her as the Women’s Basketball Player of the Year.

Days after the season ended, Debbie Shortridge of The Highland Cavalier interviewed Horton about the season. In it, Horton praised her teammates and talked about her style of play. She also said that she liked CVC because “the size of the college is good, because it’s on a personal level. I’m not just another number here.” The article ended with a question about her future and whether she would be returning for a sophomore season. She said that she felt she would be returning, and that “if we can get some height on the team, just wait until next year!”

TRAGEDY

Around 8 p.m. on Friday, July 29, 1983, Pam Horton was heading north on U.S. 52 near her home in Austinville with her younger brother in the car. She had been talking with a close friend in a church parking lot near her home. When they left, she turned right, and they turned left. Less than a half mile down the road, the tragic accident happened. According to police reports, just after rounding a curve in her 1972 Vega her car drifted into the other lane and collided with another car carrying two people heading southbound. The report stated that no one was wearing seat belts. Horton died instantly. The other three had serious injuries but survived.

The shocked community immediately rallied around her family and tributes poured in from all over. She was buried in the Thomas Beasley Cemetery near her home on August 1. According to The Carroll News and confirmed by her friends, Horton had once mentioned that she would like to be buried in her basketball uniform. That request was honored. Over a dozen people made the trip from Wise to attend the service, including several members of the CVC women’s basketball team who wore their jersey tops in her honor. In addition to the uniform, she also was wearing a pair of hot dog earrings.

LEGACY

CVC printed tributes to Horton in both The Highland Cavalier newspaper and The Outpost yearbook. The paper’s tribute included articles about Horton as a friend and as an athlete. They also featured a poem found by Horton’s parents that she had written. (That poem is printed in full below.) Her local papers re-printed the CVC paper’s articles, poem and all, on what would have been her 20th birthday.

Her parents made the trip to Wise for the first women’s basketball contest of the 1983-84 season and presented the school with a plaque commemorating Horton for the trophy case. A few days later they did the same at Carroll County High School with the school also retiring Horton’s #12 jersey. A few years ago, Horton was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.

Both schools have offered memorial scholarships in Horton’s name. Carroll County’s Pam Horton Memorial Scholarship was funded by a memorial softball tournament featuring area teams and was awarded to a Senior female athlete from CCHS.

Pam is still well remembered in the Carroll County area. When researching this article, the author traveled to Hillsville to check out the archives there and, when mentioning why he was there, the archives worker smiled and said “Hotdog Horton.”

Her legacy at CVC, now UVA Wise, is also still present even though memories of her for those on campus have faded over time. She set three single-game records, two of which still stand today. Extrapolating her point totals and figuring in similar totals for her remaining three years she probably would have scored over 2,000 points and held career records for assists and steals for many years. Almost certainly she would have been inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame. These are just athletic accomplishments. Based on her drive and her personality, her personal accomplishments would have been something to see.

Which brings us back to February 28, 2024. It had been 15,009 days (or 41 years, 1 month and three days) since Horton set her scoring record vs. Pikeville. Caitlyn Ross scored her 44th, 45th, 46th, and 47th points from the free throw line. Ross ended the night going 15-34 from the field, 8-15 from the three-point line (tying a school record), and 8-15 from the free throw line. The three-point shot comes into play here because Ross scored her 47 points from 15 field goals; Horton’s field goal record still stands, waiting for another player to eventually come and break it.

Learning about Horton’s personality and playing style and watching Ross over the past few seasons, one can see many similarities between Horton and Ross. Both were point guards who left everything on the court; both were aggressive defenders who created a lot of turnovers; and both were very athletic. They say records are made to be broken, and were she still around “Hotdog Horton” would probably be the loudest person cheering for Ross and the first person to congratulate her for breaking her record. And loving every minute of it.

Thanks to the UVA Wise Archives and the Carroll County Historical Society and Museum for their assistance with the research for this article.

For You My Friend — by Pam Horton

I send you a smile

For just being there

By my side when I’m down

And showing that you care

I send you love

For caring for me

When I was sick or hurt

Or wanted company

I send you a rainbow

For saying to me

The sun needs the rain

For a rainbow to be

I’d send you the world

If dreams could come true

For a friend takes it all

Then returns it to you.

Love,

Pam (Hotdog)