Author: Dsp9048sjasdf

The guest speaker for our upcoming meeting will be Dr. Frank Bonner, President of Gardner-Webb University and a Director on the NCAA Division I Board of Directors. Bonner joined Gardner-Webb in 1987 as vice president for Academic Affairs. His role later evolved into vice president for Academic and Student Affairs and then provost and senior vice president. In May, 2005, he was named president and took office on July 1. Prior to GWU, he was a faculty member and associate dean for Special Programs at Anderson College in Anderson, S.C. A 1969 graduate of Furman University in Greenville, S.C., with a bachelor’s degree in English, Bonner earned his master’s degree from the University of Georgia in 1971 and his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977.

President Bonner has been heavily involved in intercollegiate athletics. In 2017, he was appointed to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, which includes 24 presidents and chancellors. He also serves on the NCAA Board of Directors and the Division I Committee on Academics. In addition, Bonner is a member of the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU). He is also a past president of the Big South Conference and a past chair of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities.

Bonner is married to Florence (Flossie) Black of Chester, South Carolina, also a Furman graduate. She is a retired high school mathematics teacher. They have two daughters, Alison Bonner Dalton of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Florence Bonner Crawford of Fort Myers, Florida. The Bonners have six grandchildren.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

3/21/18 – Dave Odom, NCAA Basketball Guru
4/4/18 – Special Guest Speaker!!!!!
4/18/18 – Larry Fedora, Head Football Coach, UNC

The guest speaker for our upcoming meeting will be Jim Koerner, Head Baseball Coach at North Carolina Central University. Koerner came to NCCU in 2011 from the University at Buffalo, where he was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.

During the 2015 season the Eagles were once again in the hunt for a division title, and featured one of the best pitching staffs in NCCU’s modern era. The team kept the second-lowest earned run average (4.55) and second-lowest opposing batting average (.286) in the program’s modern history.

In 2014, Koerner and the Eagles were right in the thick of the MEAC’s Southern Division race throughout the entire season, putting together one of the best season’s offensively since the program restarted. NCCU recorded 454 hits, the second-most since 2007, and ripped a Division I high 22 home runs, along with the most doubles in the modern era of the program (75). New standards were set in the 2013 campaign for Koerner and his program as the Eagles set a new modern era record with 27 wins overtaking the 21 victories collected in the 2007 season, the only year NCCU played at the NCAA Division II level. Despite finishing third in the Southern Division and dropping its opening round matchup against Norfolk State in the 2013 MEAC Baseball Championships, the Eagles recovered to win two of the next three to advance all the way to semifinals as one of the four remaining teams left in the tournament, going 2-2 during the week.

He received his bachelor’s degree in economics in 1997 from St. John Fisher College (N.Y.), and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Marshall University. Koerner and his wife, Kylie, have two children, Sam and Elizabeth.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

3/7/18 – Dr. Frank Bonner, President, Gardner-Webb University and NCAA D-I Director
3/21/18 – Dave Odom, NCAA Basketball Guru
4/4/18 – Special Guest Speaker!!!!!

The guest speaker for our next meeting will be Jones Angell, the play-by-play voice of North Carolina Tar Heels football and men’s basketball.  Angell graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001 and immediately joined the Tar Heel Sports Network.  In 2003, he became the voice of Tar Heel baseball, and called the Tar Heels’ appearances in the finals of the 2006 and 2007 College World Series. In 2005, after Mick Mixon became the play-by-play man for the Carolina Panthers, Angell succeeded him as longtime announcer Woody Durham’s partner, and was on hand for two Final Fours and the Tar Heels’ most recent national championship, in 2009.  Durham announced his retirement after the 2010-11 basketball season, and Angell was named his successor on June 27, 2011.

Additionally, Angell is assistant director of new media at UNC, and has produced many features that have been shown on the video boards at Kenan Stadium and the Dean Smith Center
Angell’s best-known call to date came with Gio Bernard’s game-winning 73-yard punt return over North Carolina State, which clinched the Tar Heels’ first win over State in six years.

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Mark Your Calendar

2/21/18 – Jim Koerner, Head Baseball Coach, NC Central University
3/7/18 – Dr. Frank Bonner, NCAA Division I Board of Directors & President, Gardner Webb University
3/21/18 – Dave Odom, NCAA Basketball Wizard

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Elliott Avent, Head Baseball Coach at North Carolina State University. Beginning his 20th season as head baseball coach at NC State, Elliott Avent has molded the Wolfpack into one of the nation’s best and most consistent programs. Starting with his hiring in 1996, Avent has taken the Wolfpack to the NCAA Tournament in 14 of the last 19 seasons, and 11 of the last 13. Avent captured both ACC and National Coach of the Year honors in 2003.

Avent’s 2015 campaign knocked on the door of a surprise Super Regional berth, taking national fourth-seed TCU to the brink on their home turf. A nucleus of senior leadership piloted the Wolfpack through a 32-20 regular season. In the ACC Tournament, Preston Palmeiro’s walk-off homer pushed NC State to its first title game since 2010.

The 2014 NC State baseball squad saw seven players taken in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, tied for the third-most all-time at NC State. Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner became the Wolfpack’s first-ever three-time All-Americans and gave State a pair of first round picks for the first time in program history. Andrew Knizner earned Freshman All-America honors and a spot on the All-ACC third team. Brett Austin joined Turner and Rodon on the All-ACC first team.

In 2013, the Wolfpack returned to Omaha for the first time since 1968. Avent was named the 2013 ABCA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year for his efforts.  In his NC State career, Avent has 717 career victories, produced 21 All-Americans, and six of the eight first-team All-Americans in NC State’s 108-year baseball tradition.

Thanks, www.gopack.com

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Mark Your Calendar

2/7/18 – Jones Angell, Radio Play-by-Play, UNC
2/21/18 – Jim Koerner, Head Baseball Coach, NC Central University
3/7/18 – Dr. Frank Bonner, NCAA Division I Board of Directors & President, Gardner Webb University

The guest speaker for this meeting will be Miles Wolff, Commissioner of the Can-Am Baseball League and former Owner of the Durham Bulls. Wolff entered baseball in 1971. His first job was general manager of the Atlanta Braves Double-A team in Savannah, Ga., where he was named The Sporting News Class AA Executive of the Year. Later he was general manager for teams in Anderson, SC., and Jacksonville, Fla. He has also served as the play-by-play announcer for the Triple-A Richmond Braves for one year.

In 1980, Wolff turned his attention to ownership. He purchased a Carolina League franchise and re-started the Durham Bulls. The team enjoyed tremendous local success initially. Ten years and one Hollywood film later, the Bulls became a national phenomenon.

Wolff has owned other professional baseball teams in Butte, MT, Asheville, NC, Utica, NY, Quebec City, QC and Pulaski, VA. He currently operates the Kansas City Royals Appalachian League affiliate in Burlington, NC. He also once owned the Raleigh Icecaps hockey team. For 18 years he was president and publisher of Baseball America, the trade publication of professional baseball.

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Mark Your Calendar

12/20/17 – Durham Sports Club “Christmas Party”, Luke DeCock, guest Speaker
1/3/18 – NO MEETING
1/17/18 – Elliot Avent, Head Baseball Coach, NC State

The guest speaker for this meeting will be Donna J. Papa, the NFCA Hall of Fame head softball coach at North Carolina since 1986. Papa has helped build Carolina Softball into one of the top programs in the country. She has led Carolina to the NCAA Tournament in 14 of the last 17 years, five regular-season ACC titles and the 2001 ACC Tournament crown. UNC has posted a winning record in 29 of her 32 seasons, with 14 40-win seasons, including a 50-12-1 campaign in 2008, which included an ACC regular-season title at 18-2.

In her remarkable 34-year head coaching career, she has compiled a 1,227-677-5 record, including a 1,198-662-5 mark in 32 years as head coach at Carolina. Papa ranks 11th all time in NCAA victories, eighth in Division I wins and fifth among active DI coaches.

In 2017, Papa guided a team of 12 freshmen and just seven returning letterwinners to one of the best campaigns in program history, reaching both the ACC Championship game and the NCAA Regional Final in the same season for the first time. The Heels captured four wins over ranked opponents, third-most in school history. Among those was a three-game sweep of No. 21 Pittsburgh, which included Papa’s 1,200th career victory on March 3, 2017 – the 11th coach in NCAA history to reach the milestone.

Thanks, goheels.com

Mark Your Calendar

12/6/17 – Miles Wolfe, Baseball/Durham Bulls Legend
12/20/17 – Durham Sports Club “Christmas Party”, Luke DeCock, guest Speaker
1/3/18 – NO MEETING
1/17/18 – Elliot Avent, Head Baseball Coach, NC State

The guest speaker for this meeting will be Trisha Stafford-Odom, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at NC Central University. The former WNBA player and collegiate hall of fame inductee returns to the Triangle to continue her head coaching career after last coaching three seasons at Concordia University Irvine from 2013-2016. Prior to that, Stafford-Odom was a successful assistant coach for four seasons with both the UNC Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils. She began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant for the UCLA Bruins.

As an assistant coach at UNC from 2011-2013, Stafford-Odom was a valuable recruiter for the No. 1 nationally-ranked recruiting class in 2013. She aided the development of two WNBA players, two ACC Players of the Year and two ACC Freshmen of the Year while working under the leadership of Naismith Hall of Fame coach Sylvia Hatchell.

Stafford-Odom brought her first No. 1 nationally-ranked recruiting class to Durham when she was an assistant at Duke from 2009-2011. The Blue Devils won the ACC Championship both seasons as she mentored WNBA draft picks, an ACC Tournament MVP, a two-time ACC Academic All-American and a ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Trisha is married to DeWayne and the couple has two sons, Amari and Trajen.

Thanks, www.NCCUEaglePride.com!

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Mark Your Calendar

11/15/17 – Donna Papa, Head Women’s Softball Coach, UNC
12/6/17 – Special Guest Speaker
12/20/17 – Durham Sports Club “Christmas Party”, Luke DeCock, guest Speaker

The guest speaker for this meeting will be Mike Krzyzewski, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Duke (as if you didn’t know). In 37 seasons at Duke, Mike Krzyzewski – a Naismith Hall of Fame coach, five-time national champion and 12-time Final Four participant – has built a dynasty that few programs in the history of the game can match.

Krzyzewski will enter the 2017-18 season with a 1,071-330 record in 42 years as a head coach, including a 998-271 mark in 37 seasons at Duke. No coach in Division I men’s basketball history has won more games than Coach K’s 1,071.

He has tutored 57 NBA Draft picks while at Duke, including a total of 35 first-round selections that leads all active coaches. Duke has had at least one player taken in 30 of the 37 NBA Drafts during the Krzyzewski Era.

Under Coach K’s watch, Duke has produced multiple All-ACC Academic selections in 10 consecutive years. The 2015 NCAA championship featured a program-high five All-ACC Academic honorees. Three-time captain Amile Jefferson became the only player in Duke history to earn All-ACC Academic honors four times and departed the university in 2017 with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Thanks, www.GoDuke.com!

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Mark Your Calendar

11/1/17 – Trisha Stafford-Odom, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, North Carolina Central University
11/15/17 – Donna Papa, Head Women’s Softball Coach, UNC
12/6/17 – Special Guest Speaker

The guest speaker for this meeting will be David Shumate, who will be handling the radio play-by-play for Duke football and basketball. Shumate was named the Director of Broadcasting for the Blue Devil IMG Sports Network in June, 2017. In this role, he serves as the play-by-play voice for Duke football and men’s basketball games.

Prior to moving to Durham, Shumate spent the previous five years as IMG’s Director of Audio Operations. His broadcasting experience includes play-by-play duties for the Mid-American Conference championship football game (2010-16), SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament (2011-17) and SEC Baseball Tournament (2013-17). Shumate also handled basketball play-by-play responsibilities for Auburn, Connecticut, Duke, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, Washington and West Virginia between 2011-17.

“I am extremely thankful for this incredible opportunity as I’ve admired and respected the Duke brand from afar for many, many years and could not be more excited to join two championship caliber programs,” Shumate said. “I will strive to represent Duke University and IMG in the same manner as the legendary Bob Harris – his legacy as the Voice of the Blue Devils is unrivaled and I’m humbled to follow him. I’m grateful to Pat Streko of IMG and Dr. White, Coach Cutcliffe and Coach Krzyzewski at Duke for their support and I can’t wait to get to work.”

A native North Carolinian, Shumate graduated from Appalachian State University in 2006 with a bachelor of science degree in communication with a concentration in electric media and broadcasting.

Thanks, GoDuke.com!

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Mark Your Calendar

10/18/17 – Mike Krzyzewski, Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Duke University  (11:30 Start Time)
11/1/17 – Trisha Stafford-Odom, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, North Carolina Central University
11/15/17 – Special Guest Speaker!

The guest speaker for this meeting will be Jim Dodson, acclaimed author and Editor of award-winning PineStraw Magazine in Southern Pines, the arts and culture magazine of the Carolina Sandhills. He is also Founding Editor of O.Henry Magazine, the arts and culture sister publication in Greensboro, Dodson’s hometown, and Salt Magazine in Wilmington. Upon the acquisition of Business North Carolina Magazine in early 2015 by Old North State Magazines, Dodson was named Editorial Director.

A Distinguished Alumni of East Carolina University, his weekly Sunday essay for The Pilot has won numerous awards from the North Carolina Press Association. Over the course of a 40-year journalism career, his work has earned more than a dozen major awards from the Golf Writers of America and other industry organizations. For two decades he was a Contributing Editor and regular columnist for Golf Magazine, and Golf and Travel Correspondent for Departures Magazine of American Express.

His critically-acclaimed and bestselling books include Final Rounds, Faithful Travelers, The Dewsweepers, Beautiful Madness, The Road to Somewhere, A Golfer’s Life (with Arnold Palmer), Ben Hogan – An American Life, which won the Herbert Warren Wind/USGA International Book Award for 2004. A Son of the Game, published in 2009 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, was named “Top Golf Book of the Year” by the International Network of Golf, the same award Final Rounds won in 1997. American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and the Age of Modern Golf, published by Knopf in early 2012, won the USGA Herbert Warren Wind Award for 2012, his second USGA Book of he Year award (Ben Hogan, An American Life won in 2005.

Dodson and his wife Wendy reside in Greensboro, North Carolina. His current book, titled The Range Bucket List, is published by Simon & Schuster.

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Mark Your Calendar

10/4/17 – David Schumate, New Play-By-Play Radio Announcer for Duke
10/18/17 – Mike Krzyzewski, Head Men’s Basketball Coach, Duke University  (11:30 Start Time)
11/1/17 – Trisha Stafford-Odom, Head Women’s Basketball Coach, North Carolina Central University