Warren Payne '69 entered the hall of fame as an individual, having already been inducted in 2017 as a member of the 1968-69 men's basketball team. That team earned King its first-ever Volunteer State Athletic Conference (VSAC) title, posting an 18-4 overall record and 9-1 conference mark. Payne becomes the third member of that team to be inducted into the hall of fame as an individual, joining teammates Ballard Lee '72 and Randy Williams '70.

Payne was one of the most dominant inside players in Tornado history, but was also known for his ability to shoot from the outside. Statistics from his freshman and sophomore campaigns are incomplete, but he still ranks among King's all-time leaders in both scoring and rebounding. Despite having statistics from only 16 games during his first two seasons in Bristol, Payne has 929 career points, including his sophomore season when he averaged 14.2 points per game in the 11 games for which records exist. He is almost certainly amongst the 35 Tornado with 1,000 or more career points.

He averaged 15.4 points per game his junior season and followed that up with a 14.4 per game average on the 1968-69 VSAC championship team in his senior season. During that senior campaign, he posted the 11th-best single season field goal percentage in King history, knocking down 57.1 percent of his shots from the field.

Payne's impact on the floor was not limited to scoring, as he was a dominant force on the boards as well. In his junior and senior seasons alone, he pulled down 501 rebounds, which, if stats for his first two years were known, almost certainly places him in the top 10 at King all-time. His 120 offensive rebounds during his junior season still stands as King's best single season total in history.