Five former Airport High School athletes will be inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame next month.

Airport High School’s Eagle Club will recognize the 2025 inductees on Thursday, October 30. There will be a drop-in at 5:30 p.m. in the arena/commons area of Airport High School, with the formal induction at 6 p.m.  Inductees will also be recognized during halftime of the football game.    

This year’s inductees are:

Taylor Payne Aaron, Class of 2015: Taylor was a three-sport athlete at Airport High School, earning six letters in softball, four in basketball and three in golf. She was selected as an All Region softball player in 2013, 2014 and 2015, and was selected to the High School Sports Report Softball All State Team in 2013. She was voted as Airport’s Best Offensive Player for softball in 2012 and won the Coaches Award in 2013. Taylor was also an All State selection in 2013 for basketball and named the 2013 Region 5-3A Player of the Year, and was named to the All Region team again in 2014. In golf, she was All Region in 2013 and 2014 and finished as region champs and Lower State Runner-Up in 2014. She was a member of the 2010 Co-Region Championship Softball Team and the back-to-back Region Championship girls basketball teams in 2013 and 2014. She was also chosen as the Best All Around senior superlative in 2015 by her classmates and received the 2015 Eagle Club scholarship. After graduation, Taylor played softball for Erskine College from 2015-2019 and was a member of the 2019 National Christian College Athletic Association National Champions and selected as the NCCAA Best Defensive Player as well as the 2019 Conference Carolinas Softball Player of the Week. She returned to Lexington School District Two after college, coaching girls basketball at Fulmer Middle School in 2019 and 2020 and was an assistant softball coach at Airport High School in 2021 and 2022.

Connie Beall, Class of 1987: Connie was a three-sport athlete at Airport High School, earning two varsity letters in tennis, four in basketball and four in softball. In 1986, her junior year, she was voted as Athlete of the Year at Airport, Girls Basketball MVP, and was selected to the All Region 3-4A Softball Team and was a member of the 4A State Championship Team. In 1987, she was again a member of the 4A State Championship Softball Team at Airport, and selected to the All Region 3-4A  softball team, All Area Team, 4A All State Team, and North/South All Star Team, where she was chosen as MVP. In her earlier years, she received the girls basketball Hustle Award in 1984 and 1985, and the Softball Rookie of the Year in 1984.  Connie was an Academic All American as a junior, a member of the National Junior Honor Society, and listed in National Who’s Who as a senior. She received a scholarship to Francis Marion University after graduation.

Tyler Corbitt, Class of 2018: Corbitt played baseball, earning four varsity letters from 2015-2018.  Tyler received many accolades during his time at Airport, including All Region four times (2015-2018), Region 4A Player of the Year in 2018, SCBCA All State team four times (2015-2018), selection to the SC/NC Select All Star Game (2018), and was a member of the Airport 2018 4A State Runner-Up team.  In 2018, his senior year, Tyler was named WLTX Player of the Week, NaturChem Invitational MVP, and the Bojangles’ Invitational MVP.  Tyler also holds many Airport baseball career individual records, including runs scored (117), hits (151), extra base hits (54), and doubles (37).  Corbitt finished his career with a .401 batting average, ranked third-highest in Airport history.  After high school, Tyler had a successful college career at The Citadel (2019-2021), where he was named to the 2019 All Southern Conference Freshman Team, and at Clemson University (2022-2023).

Alex Pappas, Class of 1993:  Alex was a three-sport athlete at Airport High School, earning two letters in football, two in soccer and four in wrestling. Alex was an accomplished wrestler, amassing an overall record of 84 wins, 26 losses and two ties with 51 pins from 1989-1993. He was the third place finisher in the state in 1992 in the 135 pound weight class and in 1993 was the 4A State Champion and Region 3-4A Champion in the 140 pound weight class. He was also honored as a 1993 Farm Best SC Super 25 Wrestler and had a record of 26 wins and only four losses that year. Alex had multiple scholarship offers after his senior season, including The Citadel and Clemson University. Today, he is a sports orthopedic physician.

Carl Van Sewell, Class of 1978:  Carl was a two-sport athlete at Airport High School, earning two letters in football and four in wrestling. He was an outstanding wrestler, winning the individual 4A State Championship in his weight class four consecutive times from 1975-1978. He was the state of South Carolina’s first-ever four-time individual state wrestling champion (there are still only 32 to this date). He helped lead his teams, coached by Jim Barnes, to the 4A Wrestling State Championships in 1976, 1977 and 1978. He earned an honorary mention in 1978 in Sports Illustrated for his prep wrestling accomplishments.