ELVIN BETHEA
- Sep 22, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 19
Trenton Central High School 1964 -- Thrower
A 1964 graduate of Trenton High, Elvin "The Bear" Bethea not only played football in the NFL for16 seasons, he was also a phenomenal thrower during his high school years.
From 1962 to 1964 Bethea won three straight shot put state titles for Group IV. In the 1964 state meet he was a double champion as he also won the state crown for the discus.
Bethea was county champion in the shot and disc in 1964 and he held the county record in both throws until the 1990s. He had personal bests in the shot put of 66ft 4 1/2 inches, and 185ft 8 1/2 inches in the discus. In 1964 he also won the Penn Relays High School Championship in the shot.
Perhaps his greatest high school achievement in track and field was putting the winning shot and tossing the winning discus at the 1964 Golden West Invitational--the national high school championship of his era.
Bethea graduated from Trenton Central and attended college at North Carolina A&T where he played football and continued to throw in track and field. At A&T he won both the Shot Put and Discus at three CIAA Championships (1965, '66 and '68) breaking records for that meet multiple times. With the international weighted implements he had personal bests of 60' 5 1/4" with the shot and 181' 0 3/4"" with the discus.
After his athletic career at North Carolina A&T he played pro football as an offensive lineman with the Houston Oilers from 1968 to 1983.
In 2003 Bethea was elected into the National Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame (2005).
MAJOR TITLES
2x Golden West Champion - Shot Put & Discus 1964
4x State Champion Group IV - Shot Put 1962, '63, '64, & Discus 1964
2x Mercer County Champion - Shot Put & Discus 1964
Penn Relays Champion - Shot Put 1964
