The Apex Cougar Club is excited to announce this year’s Apex High School/Apex Consolidated 2019 Hall of Fame Nominees:
John Hayden
Forrest Moog
Chris Penland
James “Butch” Snelling
John Hayden
COACH 2001-PRESENT
John Hayden started the Apex High School Men’s Lacrosse Program in 2001 as a club team and it became a varsity program in 2002. Coach Hayden has won three men’s lacrosse state championships and has finished as state runner-up three additional times. Coach Hayden has won over 300 games, and over 60 of his players have earned All-State Honors. In 2018 Coach Hayden was elected to the North Carolina Lacrosse Hall of Fame. As an ambassador for lacrosse on a county and state level, John has volunteered countless hours in camps and clinics to grow the sport.
Coach Hayden is an alumnus of Farmingdale High School on Long Island where his 1983 team won the Nassau County Championship and Hayden earned All Nassau County Honors as a defenseman. Hayden also played Division I Lacrosse at Rutgers University and participated in the NCAA playoffs two times while playing “On the Banks.”
Coach Hayden’s teams are involved with the Apex Turkey Trot community event and several charities — most recently, the Wounded Warrior Project and the Vs Cancer Foundation. A true testament to Coach Hayden’s program is how involved the Apex Lacrosse Alumni remain and how many come from all over the country to attend games and the alumni reunion each year. Coach Hayden is proud to live in the Apex community with his wife, Susan, and his children, Jack and Lindsay, who were both athletes at Apex High School. John continues to coach Men’s Lacrosse at Apex High School today.
Forrest Moog
CLASS OF 2007
Forrest Moog is a 2007 graduate of Apex High and later returned to coach at Apex High School from 2012-2018. In total, Forrest was a four-sport varsity athlete, a two-time State Championship winner as an athlete, and a two-time State Championship coach as well while at Apex High School. As an athlete, Forrest was the starting point guard on two conference championship basketball teams (2006, 2007). In lacrosse, Forrest was a key member of a state championship team in 2005 and the second leading scorer and Captain in 2007. As a soccer player, Forrest won a State Championship in 2005 and was the second leading scorer in 2007. Forrest also managed to kick for the football team and had a legendary game-winning field goal to win the game against Green Hope.
Forrest returned to his alma mater to coach and had many successful seasons as the Head JV and Varsity assistant coach for Men’s Basketball and Men’s Lacrosse. Both Lacrosse (2015) and Men’s Basketball (2014) won State Championships with Forrest on the coaching staff. Despite being a hall-of-fame athlete, Forrest is best known around Apex today for the work he does in the local community with special needs children through Special Olympics and Theater Performances.
Chris Penland
CLASS OF 1985
Chris Penland was a 1985 graduate of Apex High School and a Varsity Soccer four-year letterman, The Conference Player of the Year (1984-1985), All-State (1984-1985), three-time All-Region, and four-time All-Conference. Penland captained the 1984 squad that went on to win Apex High School’s first soccer title in school history, and he was the first Apex soccer player to be awarded a full athletic scholarship (Pfieffer University). Chris also had perfect attendance during his 12-years of public school. Chris is currently serving as the Vice President of Bio Pharma Programs for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
James “Butch” Snelling
CLASS OF 1968
James “Butch” Snelling is a 1968 graduate of Apex Consolidated and was selected to the All-Conference and All-Tournament teams. After graduation, he became one of the pillars of the Apex community. James has improved Apex and the local area by serving as an Auxiliary Officer for the Apex Police Department, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and as a co-founder for the Capital City Cruisers of Raleigh. Furthermore, he has worked for many years as President and Vice President of the Apex Consolidated Alumni Association and has helped provide a lot of scholarships for local students. James continues to be an avid lover of sports and spends much of his time today with his daughters and grandchildren.