David Elder, longtime area high school football and girls basketball coach, mostly at Hickory High School, passed away on Monday, June 12, 2023 after a lengthy illness.

Born in Alexander County, Elder graduated Taylorsville High School in 1963 and was a four-year football starter at Lenoir-Rhyne College, ranks 10th on the L-R pass reception record. Elder taught and coached for over 35 years in five different high schools in the NCHSAA, most prominently at Hickory High School. After successfully coaching at West Lincoln, South Stanley, Lenoir and West Caldwell high schools, he joined Hickory High as an assistant in 1979, taking over as head football coach in 1994. While at Hickory High, Coach Elder was a football and women’s basketball coach, compiling a record of 418-129 in Women’s Basketball during his Hickory tenure. Those women’s hoops teams won three NCHSAA State Championships, 1994-1995, 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons. Elder’s football career spanned five schools as a head coach with a record of 143-71-1. Elder’s Hickory team won the NCHSAA 3A Football State Championship in 1996, defeating Ragsdale 42-0. He was named the Associated Press State Coach of the Year for Football in 1996. He was also named Associated Press State Coach of the Year for Girls Basketball in 1999.

He worked with us at WHKY as color commentator for Hickory High football and basketball games from 2005 until the 2021 season. The last game he called was a football game at West Iredell High School, sports director Jason Savage’s alma mater, and the first time the two schools had ever met in football.

He was a member of four hall of fames within the state of North Carolina. In 2000, he was named to the Lenoir-Rhyne Sports Hall of Fame. In 2007, he was inducted into the Catawba County Sports Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was one of the inaugural members of the Alexander County Sports Hall of Fame. He was named to the 2017 class of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.

His 2012 induction into the Alexander County Sports Hall of Fame

And a piece regarding his induction into the 2017 NCHSAA Hall of Fame
David Elder NCHSAA Induction Montage

Elder was an active member of the community, serving as alderman for ward 4 for the town of Long View and a member at Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hickory.