The Kinston native participated in football, baseball, and basketball at Grainger High School but basketball is what he excelled in and became his passion.  He graduated from Grainger High School in 1957 before attending Wake Forest University.  On April 14, 1961, the city of Kinston proclaimed it “Alley Hart Day.”

At Wake Forest, Hart averaged 20.5 points per game as a freshman and in his Junior year he helped lead Wake to the school’s first and only Dixie Classic Championship, and first ACC regular season title.

• Guard on the 1956 Grainger High School State Championship Basketball Team
• He Played in the North Carolina East/West All Star Game
• 2009 George Whitfield Hall of Fame
• 2010 Kinston-Lenoir County Sports Hall of Fame

As a senior he co-captained Wake’s first ACC Championship team averaging 13.7 points a game alongside broadcaster Bill Packer and All-American Lenny Chappell.

The medals now dangle on a shelf in the den of Hart’s Wilmington home:  Five state Senior Olympic gold medals, and two national golds.

In two trophy cases on either side of the medals sit his Dixie Classic and ACC championship trophies. On the walls hang pictures from his playing days at Wake Forest, each paired with a yarn Hart can spin for hours.