Twelve Honorees to be Recognized at SoCon Honors Dinner
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Southern Conference announced today the 12 recipients of the league's 2011 Distinguished Service Award. Each member institution selects an honoree based on that person's contribution to the institution. Each award winner will be honored for their contributions at the Southern Conference Honors Dinner in Charleston, S.C., on June 1.
The Distinguished Service Award program was started in 2002 as a way for the Southern Conference to recognize those individuals from its member institutions who have contributed to all aspects of the university. This year's honorees include Mark Harrill (Appalachian State), Tomi Youngblood (College of Charleston), Jesse B. Jackson (The Citadel), Ben T. Vernon, Jr. (Davidson), Dr. and Mrs. W. Bryan Latham (Elon), Ray and Pat Ballew (Furman), Ted S. Smith (Georgia Southern), Lynne Agee (UNCG), Michael Rice (Samford), J. Lewis Card, Jr. (Chattanooga), Kevin and Lynn Stanberry (Western Carolina) and Harry Pinkney Williams, Jr. (Wofford).
A successful real estate developer in the High Country and longtime supporter of ASU athletics, Harrill and his family have been supporters of the Mountaineers for many years. His generous contributions have helped provide state of the art facilities for not only student-athletes but for coaches and staff as well. Harrill annually supports the Yosef Club scholarship fund as well as special projects that improve the student-athlete experience at Appalachian State. The Harrills are significant financial supporters of the Appalachian State University Athletics Department but more importantly, Mark also serves as a mentor to coaches and students, making an effort to help mold, teach and change the lives of the staff and students through his words and by example.
Youngblood has been a tireless ambassador for the Charleston athletics department. She currently serves on the Cougar Club Board as an Executive Committee member and also chairs the Long Range Planning Committee. On top of her volunteer record, she is also a philanthropic leader. Youngblood has been a high ranking member of the Cougar Club since 2002 and in 2008 participated in the Legacy Seat program. During the 2011 fundraising campaign, Youngblood has committed to be the first donor at the newly-created $10,000 (Scholarship) level. Not only has Tomi contributed to the Cougar Club, she also serves on the College of Charleston Foundation Board.
A native of rural Hickory Tavern, S.C., Jackson was the first in his family to earn a college degree when he graduated from The Citadel in 1980. Following his father's advice of "play sports, get involved, but do well in class first," Jackson has always had a great admiration to the student-athletes who are able to succeed on the field and in the classroom. With his loyalty to his alma mater, Jackson donated $1 million to The Citadel for football and baseball scholarships. In 2010, Jackson was presented with the Society 1842 medal, celebrating his generosity by inducting him into The Citadel's most prestigious lifetime giving society.
Ever since Vernon arrived on the campus of Davidson in 1946, he has enriched the college in many difference ways with his biggest impact coming on the golf course. Vernon, a member of the 1949 men's golf team that upset Arnold Palmer and Wake Forest, was a key figure in developing the Tom Scott Memorial Golf Tournament, and he remains a member of its annual planning committee, as well as the golf endowment committee. A successful stockbroker from 1955 until his retirement in 1991 from Charlotte's Dean Witter Reynolds, Vernon has served as the president of the Charlotte alumni chapter and an officer in the Rocky Mount, N.C., alumni chapter. In 2000, Davidson awarded Vernon with the Alumni Service Award for his contributions to the college.
Dr. Bryan Latham and his wife, Janet, have been major benefactors to Elon and have been key figures in the development of the university and its athletic programs. The Latham have contributed several major gifts to Latham Park, the Elon baseball facility, which is named after the late Walter Latham, father of Bryan, and an outstanding Elon athlete and a 1934 alumnus. The Lathams are members of the Numen Lumen Society, Elon's premier donor society, which recognizes benefactors whose cumulative giving to the university has met or exceeded $1 million. They are also members of the Legacy Phoenix Society, which recognizes donors whose lifetime giving to athletics has surpassed $1 million, and inductees in the IMPACT Club, which provides scholarship support to the Phoenix Club.
Founder of Ballew's Aluminum Products, Ray Ballew and his wife Pat have been loyal supports of Furman for over 50 years. Ray, a 1951 graduate, has been giving to Furman personally and through the family owned and operated business. Benefactors to Furman since the 1960s, the Ballew's joined the Order of the Paladin, an organization that recognizes the most generous donors of the athletic scholarship fund, in 2003. Ray and Pat truly love the Paladins and attend athletic events at Furman whenever possible.
A successful Georgia businessman in minerals, mining and land development, Smith serves on the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation Executive Board of Directors. Smith, whose youngest son attends GSU, has taken an active leadership role in heading the GSU athletic department's $40 million capital campaign, which focuses on the funding of the 50,000 square foot football operations center at Paulson Stadium.
After 30 years of coaching at UNCG and over 600 career wins, Lynne Agee retired from coaching women's basketball at the end of the 2010-11 season. Agee led the Spartans to 13 regular season and seven tournament titles, including nine NCAA berths, while at the helm at UNCG. In 2004, Agee became the first active coach to be enshrined in the UNCG's Athletic Hall of Fame. Agee has not only directed her student-athletes to success on the court but also in the classroom. Agee's team posted perfect Academic Progress Report (APR) scores for six straight seasons, earning the Spartans the Public Recognition Award, celebrating a perfect score of 1,000 over a four-year academic span. UNCG was honored with the distinction for three consecutive years. In honor of Agee's commitment to Spartan athletics, UNCG has named the basketball court after its legendary coach.
An Alabama native whose son was a baseball player at Samford, Rice has been an enthusiastic supporter of baseball on all levels, including the Bulldogs. The owner and operator of Master Boat Builders, Inc., Rice is a member of the Board of Trustees at his alma mater, Mississippi College, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Distinguished Young Women of America. In addition to his philanthropic efforts, Rice was also inducted into the Mississippi College Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
Card serves as a leader and volunteer for a number of Chattanooga area charitable organizations with the Chattanooga Mocs topping his list of important endeavors for many years. Card is the vice-chairman/secretary of the Card-Monroe Corporation in Hixson, Tennessee. Over the past four years, he has served on the Campaign Leadership Committee, a strong volunteer team leading UTC's $65 million comprehensive fundraising effort which achieved the goal last year. As a campaign leader, much of Card's work focused on the planning, implementation, and fundraising for the UTC men's and women's golf Player Development Complex. For more than a decade, he also has served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Chattanooga Foundation, most recently as a member of the Executive Committee.
A two-time Catamount Club Board of Director, Kevin Stanberry is the co-owner of Stanberry Insurance and member of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. He has been an ambassador for Western Carolina University in the local community and has been involved in numerous membership initiatives that have resulted in record-breaking annual fundraising in support of Catamount Athletics. As owner/operator of O'Malley's of Sylva, Lynn Stanberry was the driving force to the pre-game donor reception "The Purple Zone" which has been integral to doubling membership in the Catamount Club since June 2009.
A 1942 graduate of Wofford, Williams has been paying it forward for Wofford student-athletes since he graduated from the college. A founder of CWS Insurance Company in Spartanburg, Williams has now retired as chairman, partner and CEO. Still, he and his company continue to support the college at leadership giving levels that fund scholarships for Wofford student-athletes. Williams has served several terms on the Terrier Club Board of Directors and was one of the college's most successful callers and team captains during the era of Terrier Club volunteer phone-athons. In 1993, Williams was the first Distinguished Service Award inductee into the Wofford College Athletic Hall of Fame. During that time, Williams was working on a committee of Spartanburg-area community leaders leading fund-raising efforts to update Wofford's athletic facilities and bring the Carolina Panthers to Wofford for their summer training camp.