Guilford County Sports Hall of Famer begins new role as Guilford County Athletics Director

One of the Tar Heel State’s top female athletes has been tapped to lead Guilford County Schools athletics. The list of accolades for triple sport athlete Angela Polk-Jones is a long one: state softball champion, UNC Greensboro basketball all-time leading scorer, North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 100 to Remember, and Guilford County Sports Hall of Famer. And, last month, Polk-Jones added another career milestone when she began her tenure as the county’s athletics director and director of driver’s education — the first Black person and the first Black woman to do so.

The former classroom teacher and coach says her sports training taught her the benefits of hard work and perseverance. Her more recent experiences as principal of UNCG’s Middle College, Early College at Guilford, and Middle College at GTCC High Point, made her appreciate the administrative role and the critical importance of social and emotional wellness.

"Because at the end of the day, if a student or staff or anyone is not in a good place emotionally or mentally, then they’re not going to be productive," she says. "And so, just starting off and saying, ‘Okay, I’m not in a good place right now. What can I do?’ And we talk about strategies that we can use or you can use to help get through the day."

Polk-Jones says she’s currently working towards her doctorate in organizational leadership with an emphasis on K-12 education.