Former Bulldog adds on accolade to football career
Pembroke – Luke Charles played football at Murphy High School from 2004-08, breaking the Bulldogs’ passing record and being named Smoky Mountain Conference Back of the Year in 2008.
During his senior season at Murphy, he led the Dogs to the third round of the state 1AA playoffs. Charles finished fourth in passing yards on all of western North Carolina with 137 completions for 2319 yards for 35 touchdowns. He was named to the All-Western North Carolina second team.
Charles gave credit his coaches at Murphy for part of his development as a quarterback. He said, “Coach Gentry and coach Campana were instrumental in my early development as a quarterback.”
After his time at Murphy, Charles accepted a scholarship to play football at University of North Carolina-Pembroke, where he continued to break records.
Charles started for the Braves during his redshirt sophomore year and led them to a 9-3 record. He completed 60.54% of his passes for 2,978 yards, 25 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. He also received honorable mention All-American honors that season. Charles’ junior season was cut short due to an injury, but he made up for it during his senior year.
In 2013, Charles averaged 326 yards per game, with a 68.5% completion average. He completed 332 passes on 485 attempts for 33 touchdowns and 15 picks. He broke several school records, including most completions in a game, most passing yards in a game, most passing touchdowns in a game and longest pass completions in a game.
Charles was a finalist for the best quarterback at the Division II level that year and was an honorable mention All-American. He is the only Pembroke player in school history to garner postseason All-American nods in multiple seasons.
On Oct. 26 at the game against West Virginia State, Charles was one of five athletes inducted into the UNC-Pembroke Hall of Fame.
“My coach at Pembroke, Pete Shinnick, actually inducted me into the Hall of Fame,” Charles said. “He couldn’t be there because he is coaching, but he did the induction via a video and that was really special to me because we have remained close over the years.”
Charles followed Shinnick to the University of West Florida after graduating from Pembroke to become a graduate assistant and quarterbacks coach.
“It was special for me because my whole family came to the induction. My wife, Morgan, and my two young sons, my parents and my grandma and my papa were there,” Charles said. “My sons might be too young to remember, but I’ll be able to show them they were a part of it when they get older.”
Charles’ sons are Jonathan Laith, 5, and Bennett Dean, 4 months.
Charles said the experience was nice, with a parade through Pembroke on Thursday night, a banquet Friday and the announcement at the game Saturday. He has left the coaching profession and today is general manager for a construction and roofing company in Pensacola, Fla. When asked if he might return to coaching, he said you never know.