If childhoods had soundtracks, April Sigmon Harte’s would be the thuunk, thuunk, thuunk of a basketball on a driveway, followed by the soft swiiish of rubber through a net.

With her father beside her, Harte played for hours, a little kid falling deeper and deeper in love with the game. “After playing on a team for the first time at 8 years old, there was no looking back,” she says. “Except basketball season at 8 didn’t last that long, and I was hooked, so that led me to becoming obsessed with making free throws.”

In the driveway, from a home-made free throw line, it went on relentlessly. Thuunk, thuunk, thuunk, swiiish…

Her self-created training had one unbreakable rule:

“Never end on a miss.”

Rewards during Harte’s basketball career began at age 9 at Pinewood Elementary, when she became the school, district and state free-throw champion, and continued through junior high, high school and college. And into the Mount Holly Sports Hall of Fame.

“It means a lot to me that people today looked back and remembered me, and felt I was worthy of this honor,” she says. “I have been reminiscing at all the old photos and articles, and it really makes me miss playing. It also makes me truly appreciate my mom for keeping and organizing all the pictures and articles, as well as running me all over town to whatever practice, game or event was going on at the time.”

Harte dabbled in softball and track and field at Stanley Junior High, mostly for the camaraderie and because “off-season” wasn’t in her dictionary. She was the county Division II basketball Player of the Year at Stanley in 1994 and 1995.

“I had great coaches at Stanley Junior High and whatever the season was, I played the sport. I feel like all of these coaches helped build me into a better overall athlete, and it was there that I really started to flourish as a basketball player,” she says. “I had some great teammates, and we all worked together to win. I may have stood out, but we always won together.”

The summer before ninth grade, the momentum stopped. Harte tore her ACL at basketball camp.

Her mom, she says, sought the best doctors and therapists, and her family and friends helped her cope. She also thought about players she admired – the Charlotte Hornets’ Dell Curry, Muggsy Bogues and Larry Johnson, and the University of North Carolina’s Jerry Stackhouse and Eric Montross – and decided that, to be her best at this game, one ripped ACL was no reason to give up.

“I was determined this was not going to stop me,” she says.

Harte came back to play for East Gaston, where she was All-Gazette first team in 1996-97 and 1997-98. The team won the Mega 7 Championship in 1997 and was NCHSAA 4-A Sectionals runners-up.

“My favorite high school memory has to be playing with the group of girls and coaches for my junior and senior years at East Gaston. We won the conference championship both years under Coach Ernie Bridges. He was definitely one of my favorite coaches through the years,” she says. “He was intense, fair and dedicated to coaching. He truly cared about every player and gave all of us the support and encouragement we needed to be successful.”

Harte averaged 20 points and eight rebounds as a senior and totaled 1,153 points at East Gaston from 1995 through 1998 while earning a 4.19 GPA. Being a Carolina fan, her dream was take her game to Chapel Hill. Academically, she was good to go, but basketball would mean hoping for a walk-on.

“I had been contacted by a handful of Division II schools to play, several that were too far away, but Coach Eliane Kebbe from Belmont Abbey had reached out to me several times and convinced me to at least come visit,” she says. “Coach Kebbe did an amazing job of recruiting local talent and putting together great teams, so there were several familiar faces from the area already at the Abbey. After visiting the campus and meeting some of the players, it just felt like the right decision for me.”

Harte totaled 909 points in her Abbey career, with 454 rebounds and 112 three-pointers.

“My favorite college game would be when we played Pfeiffer during my senior year.  In high school I played down low, so the opportunity to shoot outside wasn’t often,” she says. “By my senior year at college, I had become a shooting guard. The game against Pfeiffer that year I hit six three-point shots. It was definitely a personal best for me.”  

She married Abbey graduate Jimmy Harte in 2007.

She earned her Master’s in Health Administration from UNC-Charlotte, worked several years with Alzheimer’s and dementia residents at a care community and now is a systems administrator with OrthoCarolina.

“I have always had a desire to care for other people, and I formed bonds with the (Alzheimer’s/ dementia) residents and their families that I will always cherish,” she says. “It is, however, hard to work in that setting and lose residents who become like family to you. While working as an Alzheimer’s Dementia Care director, I chose to pursue my Master’s degree in Health Administration, and it was during that time that I shifted gears and took a different position at OrthoCarolina. I have been with OC for almost 14 years. I enjoy supporting the doctors and staff who work with patients who are overcoming injuries similar to what I experienced when I was a teenager.”

Joining the Hall of Fame brings that back. “I often smile when I look back at all the memories and experiences I was given because of basketball and other sports I played,” she says. “I am excited to be able to share this one with my children.”

She and Jimmy have three children: James Patrick, 10; Bella, 8; and Blaise, 3.

“My husband played college baseball, and is a huge sports fan too,” she says, “so hopefully our kids will continue the tradition.  It is pretty exciting to see their love for sports growing, and I love watching them play.” 

Now, if she hears a basketball soundtrack, it will be from inside the house while little feet scurry about the driveway.

Thuunk, thuunk, thuunk….swiiish…

Kids got next.