Coach reflects on ex-athlete’s killing

Former Averett University head football coach Frank Fulton said he was stunned when he heard former football player Heath Clark Alloway had been shot and killed. Adding to the shock is the fact that another athlete he once coached, Christopher Wharton, is a suspect in the shooting.
Alloway, 26, was shot and killed Sunday night at his Martinsville home, according to a news release from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office.
Wharton is being sought by police for his alleged role in the shooting.
Fulton said he coached both Alloway and Wharton in local sports and they ate meals with his family. The coach said he thinks the world has lost a sense of responsibility and what it means to be a member of a community.
“It hurt me yesterday,” Fulton said Wednesday. “I’m about ready to cry today.”
Fulton coached Wharton in Danville Little League and in
basketball. He described the 17-year-old as someone who needed direction, but who learned the lessons athletics can teach a young man.
A player needs to learn how to act on and off the field, Fulton said, adding Wharton was a gentleman.
It was “yes, sir,” “no, sir,” when talking to coaches, he said.
Wharton helped out other players, Fulton said, adding he was no stranger to his home. He was a left-handed throwing catcher who also loved to play basketball.
Fulton worked with Wharton at the YMCA and worked to keep him on the George Washington High School roster, but his grades slipped.
“We kept him alive and out of trouble,” the coach said. “Then where do you go?”
Mike Smith, another one of Wharton’s Little League coaches, said that while Wharton lacked support from loved ones, he loved sports. Smith said he never saw Wharton happier than when he was on the field.
Alloway will be remembered for his desire to play college football and to have the chance to get an education, Fulton said.
Alloway was at Averett for about two years and was a linebacker on the upstart football team.
He was one of 104 students that signed up for the chance to play football at Averett before the program existed.
Fulton said there was no field and limited equipment, but people like retired GW basketball coach Harry Johnson, former NFL player Ferrell Edmunds and Mitchell Stewart, all part of the inaugural team’s coaching staff, wanted the Cougars program to get off the ground.
“Heath was tall, lanky. Country with a great personality. He was full of life,” Fulton said. “He wasn’t full of life with sports, but in other things he did.”
Fulton said he is grieving the loss of two athletes and went to a local baseball game Wednesday to ease his mind.
“I almost feel like I failed because I could not be there enough,” Fulton said.
The coach said he hopes the shooting will get people in the community talking about reviving youth programs. Fulton said Danville used to have athletic programs that helped children, no matter if they lived in Forest Hills or Almagro, but he doesn’t see it that way anymore.
  Contact Bernard Baker at or (434) 791-7986.