Gary Hamill '94, '08 (MASM) has had a storied career as men’s soccer head coach at Wingate. As of early December, he had won 342 matches, been named league coach of the year eight times, and brought Wingate its first-ever team national championship as a four-year school.

His latest leadership role is slightly different. In November, Hamill was elected mayor of the town of Wingate.

“I’m not one of those guys who wants to sit around and say people should do this, that and the other,” he says. “I prefer to get in there and get involved.”

Hamill, 52, moved from the town council, of which he was a member for nine years, to the mayor’s office.

He’s coming in at a good time. Under the former mayor, Bill Braswell, the town replaced all of its underground water and sewer piping and built a new town hall and fire department.

With the opening of the Monroe Expressway, a toll road that bypasses U.S. 74 to the north of Wingate and runs just past the University’s football stadium, the town of Wingate is poised for growth over the next few years – potentially game-changing growth.

“Bill took care of the growth of everything underneath the ground,” Hamill says. “Now, to me it’s time to do everything above ground so everybody can see growth. Between the Union County Chamber of Commerce and the University, I think we can get some good growth going, as far as possible hotels, restaurants, a gas station out by the bypass.”

Hamill, a native of Northern Ireland, has lived in Wingate since 1992, when he was hired to coach the men’s soccer team. Over the years he became attached to his adopted hometown while becoming one of the most successful head coaches in the South Atlantic Conference. He has a 342-157-31 career record in 27 seasons, including the men’s NCAA Division II national title in 2016.

During his time at Wingate, Hamill has also served in leadership positions within the NCAA. He has chaired both the men’s and women’s Division II soccer committees, as well as the rules committees for both.

That gave him a taste for putting his words into action on a broader scale. Then, nine years ago, Hamill took over the town council seat that had been held by Johnny Jacumin, former Wingate women’s basketball coach who died in June of 2010. Hamill said that, at the time, he felt compelled to “better the community.”

For the next three years, he’ll have an opportunity to continue doing that, only this time as mayor.