Campbell Magazine Summer 2015

48 PAGES CELEBRATING THE NATION’S FIRST BASKETBALL SCHOOL Summer 2015

SUMMER 2015

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Spring 2015

FEATURES

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500 Questions

Campbell librarian Steve Bahnaman won $110,000 on ABCTV’s “500 Questions” this past May, performing the best of any of the contestants — billed as “the smartest people in the country” — who appeared on the game show.

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THE BASKETBALL SCHOOL

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Among Golf’s Giants

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The Urban Farmer

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COVER STORY

Campbell Basketball School — the nation’s first longest-running summer camp of its kind — is an important part of not only Campbell University’s history, but of basketball history as well.

Follow Campbell’s women’s golf team on its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships in Bradenton, Fla., and find out what separates them from other elite programs.

Matthew “Trog” Trogdon found his calling in Dallas, Texas, helping grow an urban garden and a ministry in the low-income “food desert” community of Bonton.

<< IL CAROSELLO | Seventeen students from the School of Business spent 10 days in Italy as part of a requirement for a course on entrepreneurship. In addition to Italian culture and great food, students experienced a series of seminars exploring historic, economic and cultural factors that have shaped Italian small businesses in Florence, Rome and Assisi. Pictured, senior Emily Labonte and recent graduate Rebecca Felts enjoyed some of their downtime on a carousel in Assisi. | Photo by Haven Hottel w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e Campbell

Magazine

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From the editor Summer 2015 | Volume 10 | Issue 2 __________________________________ President

J. Bradley Creed Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Assistant to the President

Britt Davis

Assistant Vice President for Communications & Marketing

Haven Hottel (‘00)

__________________________________ Director of Publications & Magazine Editor

Billy Liggett

Director of Visual Identity & Magazine Art Director

Jonathan Bronsink (‘05) Director of Digital Media & Senior Staff Writer

Cherry Crayton

Web Designer / Developer

Carlos Cano

Graphic Designer

Nikki Zawol Contributors

Bob Dry Salvatore Mercogliano Leah Whitt Photographers

Bill Parish Bennett Scarborough

__________________________________ Accolades

2015 CASE III Grand Award Most Improved

2014 CASE III Grand Award Most Improved

2013 CASE III Grand Awards

Best Magazine, Most Improved __________________________________

Founded in 1887, Campbell University is a private, coeducational institution where faith and learning excel.

Campbell offers programs in the liberal arts, sciences and professions with undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees. The University is comprised of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, the School of Education, the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, the Divinity School, the Catherine W. Wood School of Nursing and the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine. Campbell University was ranked among the Best Regional Universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report in its America’s Best Colleges 2015 edition and named one of the “100 Best College Buys” in the nation by Institutional Research & Evaluation, Inc.

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Campbell University is an equal opportunity employer. www.campbell.edu/employment Spring 2015

YOUNG GUN

Campbell isn’t my only connection with ‘Pistol Pete’

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ete Maravich didn’t look like the most prolific scorer in the history of college basketball.

Tall and gangly with boyish features and moppish Beatlesque hair, Maravich was a Pittsburgh-area kid who followed his family to North and South Carolina and eventually Louisiana as his pop, Press Maravich, bounced around several coaching gigs at big-name schools. Pete became a big name himself — a legend — at LSU in the late 1960s, averaging 44 points a game in a four-year span and doing things with a basketball few thought possible.

My own father — also a Pittsburgh-area kid (actually, Southeastern Ohio, but a steel town nonetheless) — was entering his teens when Pete became “Pistol Pete.” For him and his friends, the Pistol was a ready-made hero. He looked like them. He talked like them. He had signature moves they could only try to emulate on their city park asphalt courts or in their driveways.

I was 4 when Pete Maravich retired from the NBA. My father had said his name so many times growing up, he was basketball to me … even if I had no idea what he looked like.

Before I entered my teens, my family moved to Texas, where football is king, and basketball is mostly an afterthought in small towns like the one I called home. My heroes wore stars on their helmets and won Super Bowls. I was Troy Aikman in our front yard football games — fast and confident, a field general among my friends.

When the occasional pick-up basketball game came around, I was reduced to the awkward kid who couldn’t dribble and avoided most chances to handle that foreign orange sphere.

I was 12 when Pete Maravich died of heart failure, brought on by a rare congenital defect he’d had since birth. He was 40. I don’t remember hearing the news when it happened, and if I did, it had no impact, sadly. “Pistol Pete” was only a name to me, and there’s too much already going on in the mind of a 12-year-old boy to dwell on such things as death and what losing a childhood hero means to your dad.

It wasn’t two days after I started my current job at Campbell when I was asked (told) for the first time, “You need to do a story about the basketball school.” I knew very little about Campbell, much less some old summer camp,

when I joined the University four years ago. The requests soon came with more details — “You know John Wooden coached in it, right?” “Did you know Michael Jordan was a counselor twice?” “Pete Maravich came to the camp as a boy and put on clinics as a pro …”

There was that name. And I’ll admit, I was very interested. More amazing than the names associated with Campbell Basketball School is the lack of information about its brilliant history online. It was covered to death by newspapers and regional TV stations during its heyday, and the school is mentioned in the occasional story or column each time a milestone anniversary pops up.

But for the most part, the story of the world’s first basketball school is scattered. There are no books (a few have been “in the works” for years), no websites and no real definitive historical source of an important part of not only Campbell history, but basketball history.

I didn’t intend to write 15,000 words on it. I wasn’t expecting to spend hours in Campbell’s photo archive room poring through 40-year-old never-published negatives. But I’m glad I did — this is a story that deserves to be told. And it deserves more than the few months I could afford to put into it.

It’s my hope this edition of Campbell Magazine sparks memories of the thousands of boys and girls who “graduated” from Campbell Basketball School. We still want to hear those stories — the 48 pages in this magazine only scratch the surface.

And for those who didn’t sweat it out in Carter Gym — it’s a cool part of what Campbell is today.

As for me, it all comes back to Pete. I’ll be 40 next year, and I have two sons who are still a few years away from having any interest in basketball and the sport’s biggest names. But when they start to notice the Lebrons or Steph Currys of the game, I’ll make sure they hear about Pistol Pete, how their grandfather idolized him and how their dad got to write a small piece of his story.

Billy Liggett Editor, Campbell Magazine

An Evening with J. Bradley Creed Campbell University â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fifth President

youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re invited

attend any (or all) of these locations

Campbell University cordially

Dunn, NC Sept. 15, 2015

Wilmington, NC Oct. 6, 2015

San Diego, CA Nov. 7, 2015

Richmond, VA Jan. 12, 2016

Fayetteville, NC Sept. 22, 2015

Greenville, NC Oct. 13, 2015

Winston-Salem, NC Nov. 17, 2015

Charlotte, NC Jan. 19, 2016

Raleigh, NC Sept. 24, 2015

Sanford, NC Nov. 3, 2015

Norfolk, VA Jan. 11, 2016

invites you to spend an evening with Dr. Creed as he answers your questions and listens as you share your Campbell stories.

To register and learn more about this event, please visit

www.campbell.edu/presidentialtour w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e

#MeetDrCreed Campbell Magazine

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Library of Congress

Current EVENTS

Look away, Dixie Land

150 years later, our Viewpoints vary on the civil war

BY Salvatore R. Mercogliano Assistant professor of history

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was born and raised in New York, sailed the world as a merchant marine and received my graduate education in North Carolina and Alabama. So I have seen how the Civil War is viewed differently.

With the sesquicentennial of the conflict, battlefields around the nation were home to reenactments between new armies of blue and gray soldiers.

Not many conflicts or cultures celebrate the deadliest wars in their history in such a manner — it is doubtful that in the future, players will be dressed up as American and Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan.

Yet, as many historians have noted, it was the Civil War that made citizens of 35 different states into Americans. Reminders of the issues are important and serve a useful purpose in teaching historical courses and lessons.

On the first day of my Civil War course, I will ask students a series of basic questions on the war, including what is the cause for the struggle.

The answers will range from slavery, to states’ rights, to federal government overreach, to Manifest Destiny and many others. Then at the end of the class, I will pose the same question and see how the students have either changed, reinforced or modified their views because history can have several answers — unlike the way it is usually taught in high school, where students are expected to devolve into giving oneword “No Child Left Behind” answers.

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The response to what caused the Civil War is complex. Yes, the Deep South states seceded over slavery — just read South Carolina’s statement on it. Yet, North Carolina voted to remain in the Union at first, but changed its view after the firing on Fort Sumter and the federal government’s decision to call out state troops to suppress the insurrection.

President Lincoln took to task military commanders who liberated slaves early in the war, but with the war stretching on, he used the threat of emancipation to change the character of the conflict. When the war concluded, the Confederacy became a free-slave zone, yet slavery persisted in the United States until the implementation of the 13th Amendment.

The shooting deaths of nine parishioners in the historic Emanuel Church in Charleston, S.C., has sparked debates on Confederate flags, Southern heritage and, yes, our history. It’s a stark reminder that history remains alive and, at times, subjective.

However, there’s an old saying — you are entitled to your opinions, but not your own facts. The Civil War is a seminal event in the creation and formation of the United States. The Confederate Battle Flag reminds us that wars are not fought for specific or one-sided issues, but it also raises key issues about who we are as Americans.

Wars never end cleanly, and once you let slip the dogs of war, beware of the havoc. Even 150 years later.

Photo by Billy Liggett

Get to know

Founding Engineering School Dean Jenna P. Carpenter

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enna P. Carpenter began her duties as founding dean of Campbell University’s School of Engineering this summer. As the founding dean, Carpenter will lead and oversee the university’s efforts to bring to fruition its proposal to establish an engineering school.

When the school enrolls its first students in August 2016, pending SACSCOC approval, Campbell will be only the second private college or university in North Carolina home to an engineering school. Below are five things you need to know about Campbell’s newest dean.

1 Her favorite toys growing up were building blocks. “I have loved math for as long as I can remember, and I really enjoy building things from scratch. And here at Campbell, we get to start with a fresh slate and develop some innovative opportunities.”

2 She comes from a family of educators. “I have a number of teachers in my family, so it’s probably not a surprise that I have wanted to be a teacher myself since elementary school.

A career as a college faculty member has provided me with the perfect combination of teaching and mentoring students in STEM fields, together with the opportunity to serve in a variety of leadership roles.”

3 She has a long history with Louisiana Tech, where she earned her undergraduate degree and served on the faculty for 25 years, most recently as associate dean for undergraduate studies. “Many things I loved about Louisiana Tech I have found here at Campbell – the people, the students, and the strong emphasis on education.”

4 She continues to teach one class a semester.

“Right after I received tenure at Louisiana Tech, they approached me and asked me to take on administrative work. I have stayed on board doing that for the past 17 years. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able continue to teach at least one class a semester along the way. I love teaching. It’s sort of my fuel.”

5 Her research has helped prepare her to build an engineering school. “I have a solid understanding of the key issues in engineering education, effective solution strategies, and innovative initiatives across the country, as well as a great network of engineering education colleagues from coast to coast. It has given me a rich background on which to draw to help make Campbell Engineering a success.”

— by Cherry Crayton w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e

Campbell Magazine

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your Letters #ThanksDrWallace

Editor’s Note: The spring 2015 edition of Campbell Magazine paid homage to former President Jerry Wallace and his legacy. In it, we asked readers to send their own “thank you” notes to Dr. Wallace, and the response was overwhelming.

Below are just a sample of your kind words. Read more and learn more about Campbell’s fourth president at campbell.edu/thanksdrwallace

The outpouring of love and support for outgoing President Jerry Wallace has warmed our hearts. Below are a sample of the letters from alumni and friends of the university thanking Dr. Wallace for his 40 years of service (12 as president) of Campbell University.

Read more letters (and add your own) at our site dedicated to his presidency, www.campbell.edu/thanksdrwallace

To the Editor:

�������������������������

When the Spring 2015 Campbell Magazine was delivered to my home, I was intrigued to read it.

The caption, “Thank you” and photograph of Dr. Wallace was inviting and before the evening was over, I had read the entire publication.

Dr. Wallace,

The articles on page 31 specifically spoke to me. I have told many friends about the “... For the Books” column, and I frequently review it to refresh my memory about the power of appreciation and gratitude. This edition succinctly identified the myriad of gifts that Dr. Wallace gave to the Campbell University community.

My husband (Ronald W. Scott) is a 1978 graduate of Campbell, and I am grateful for his education. His degree in government prepared him for a career as a deputy sheriff in Guilford County. He retired with 30 years of service.

Ten years ago, he received a heart transplant, and our lives were forever changed. I enjoy hearing him share an occasional memory or two as a student at Campbell.

The education he received at Campbell 37 years ago continues to educate.

I usually save articles rather than an entire magazine but this is an exception, and it will be given to our only child as part of her dad’s legacy.

ANGELA SCOTT

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Spring 2015

Thank you for your wonderful service and for keeping Campbell University a better place to learn and grow in our faith. I have not met anyone who was so kind and can be silly as you are. I remember the time when you photobombed a picture my friend and I took at a basketball game — it still makes me smile looking at that picture.

Campbell students, faculty and staff are so blessed to have had a leader like you. Once a camel, always a camel!

You shook my hand and then walked off. I know that’s a completely random story, but I want you to know that, to this day, I have never forgotten it and tell it often as a reflection of how personable a president you were to know many of the students by name and to have conversations whenever and wherever you ran into them.

I wish you all the best and many more happy and healthy years.

Godspeed, and God bless.

JUSTIN TILGHMAN ������������������������

AINHA DERRY

Dr. Wallace,

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You had such an amazing impact on my life during my time at Campbell. I began to know you on a more personal level while working at Food Lion in Lillington. Each time you came to shop, you asked me how things were going and remembered things that we had talked about the last time — some of which I didn’t remember myself.

Dr. Wallace, Thank you for being a president who was connected with the students. You didn’t sit in an “ivory tower” away from everyone; you were involved in students’ lives.

Every time I tell people about my years at Campbell, a conversation that I had with you always comes up. You most assuredly don’t remember this, as you’ve had millions of conversations with students, but I was sitting in Marshbanks Dining Hall one morning drinking a cup of coffee before class. You walked in and came up to me and said, “Well, Mr. Tilghman, I’m impressed to see a young man drinking straight black coffee.”

To have the president of your university call you by name and remember things about you is so rare. I was fortunate enough to be in the final class graduating under you, and I couldn’t be more proud of that. I have never seen an individual care so deeply for something as you did (and still do) for Campbell.

I am certain that my time at Campbell would not have been the same had I not had the chance to interact with you, Dr. Wallace. You will be greatly missed as president, but I know that you will continue to have an impact on the university.

AUSTIN OWEN ������������������������ Dr. Wallace, “This is the day the Lord has made …”

You have been my professor and boss, and I learned from you about families and how to run an office. You hired Vivian Simpson, who became my mentor and friend. Through the years, I saw you at many Baptist meetings, and you always smiled and called me by name. You became my friend.

You welcomed my son to the class of 2013 and honored me when you asked me to voice the invocation at his graduation. Thank you for being an influence in my life and for being my friend. I am Campbell Proud of you!

Now, if we could just do something about that “Rule of the Evaluator.”

KAY ABBOTT BISSETTE (’79) �������������������������

Thank you Dr. Wallace. I am a life changed because of your faithful work.

Dr. Wallace, Blessings on the next part of your sojourn. Dr. Norman Wiggins shared a chairside with me as he battled cancer, and I got treatments for a chronic blood condition at Baptist Hospital.

I felt his hopes were that his successor would lead Campbell to higher levels. I feel you have. I think Dr. Wiggins would as well.

LAWRENCE POWERS ������������������������� Dr. Wallace, Vision, courage and leadership are the words that I would use to describe your presidency.

A “sojourn” is a journey with vision and purpose. I wish you the best as the road ahead turns prayerfully toward family, friends, for greater times to cherish and for what He has in store for you.

Photo by Lissa Gotwals

My Dear Campbell Family:

MITCH WATSON (’85)

Serving as president for the past 12 years has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life. Please know I am deeply grateful to our faculty, staff, students, alumni, friends, trustees, and presidential advisors for your encouragement, support, and hard work throughout these years we have shared together.

������������������������� Dr. Wallace, Thank you for your years of service to our great university. I am a proud 2001 graduate of the School of Pharmacy, and I came to Campbell as an undergraduate in 1995.

I am confident Campbell’s best years are ahead. Our new president, Dr. J Bradley Creed, will be a superb president. His proven record as a teacher and administrator at two outstanding faith-based universities will enable him to be an effective, inspiring and visionary president. Above all else, I am optimistic about Campbell’s future because of our heritage as a Christian university.

I remember your prayers at orientation and convocation each year as an undergrad and how comforting it was to know that I was at a place that honored the Lord. I knew Campbell was “home.”

Again, thank you for your goodness to me all of my 45 years in the Campbell family. I look forward to my sabbatical year and return to serve as chancellor.

GO CAMELS!!

It has been exciting to see the growth Campbell has made under your leadership. Blessings to you and your family.

Sincerely,

Jerry M. Wallace

GINNA PIKE TUCKER (’01) ������������������������� Dr. Wallace, During my time as both an undergraduate and graduate student in the Divinity school, Campbell literally changed before my eyes. The admissions office I walked in to receive more information before applying is now just a memory, replaced by a great convocation center (the place where I would graduate from).

The dorm that I lived in during my time as a student is now gone, replaced by a beautiful chapel.

The track I used to run on to stay in shape replaced by a football stadium that brings pride to the university every season.

These things and more are a tribute to your legacy. But more so than those, your legacy lives on in my life through the memories of you waving any time you saw

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a student and your tendency to smile and say hello when we passed you on campus.

Every time I look up from my desk at work and see my two degrees hanging on the wall, I fill with pride at what, and where, they represent. Your name is located on both, and I look forward to sharing the story of “my Campbell president” for years to come.

I have a gold shovel and an orange hard hat signed by you the day we broke ground on the new residence hall way back when the convocation center, the football team and the medical school were still dreams.

You have done wonderful work and have touched many lives in a good way. God bless you, Betty and your family. I hope our paths cross many times in the future.

TEDDY BYRD (’81) ������������������������� Dr. Wallace, Thank you for the amazing leadership and direction you fostered during your time at Campbell University.

I knew Campbell was a special place during move-in day when you and the higher administration served us dinner. Through my short time here, I got to know how great of a leader and person you truly are.

I was blessed to attend Campbell under your tenure as president — to see the groundbreaking of the medical school, the beautification across campus and so much more.

Campbell was extremely blessed to have such a wonderful Godfearing person lead this school.

Campbell was a big miracle at little Buies Creek, and you were a big miracle to the now not-solittle Campbell University. God bless you, Dr. Wallace.

JON GOFORTH (’13)

Campbell Magazine

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Embrace the full Campbell University experience by completing each of these items on our #CampbellTraditions list.

WEAR ORANGE on Wednesday. Every Wednesday.

• Celebrate our founders during Founders Week

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Spring 2015

• Dive in at mud volleyball

• Attend SGA’s Christmas tree lighting

• Brave the #CampbellHauntings ghost walk

• Go to the Homecoming parade

• Stroll through the street fair (and get freebies!)

• Learn the words to our Alma Mater and sing it at our events

• Play FootGolf or traditional golf at Keith Hills

• Memorize our motto: Ad Astra per Aspera, or to the stars through difficulties

• Participate in our Running of the Camels 5k

TAILGATE WITH ALUMNI before a football game and network

Use this emoji often

Build lifelong

FRIENDSHIPS

Rub J.A. Campbell’s

MUSTACHE for good luck

• Receive and keep your Campbell medallion

SAY THANKS to our supporters on

#CampbellTAGDay

• Ask President Creed a question during periodical Twitter chats • Jog through our cross country course • Participate in our days of service • Worship at our Sunday evening services • Attend Fine Arts department events • Toss a round on our disc golf course

Join an

ALUMNI CHAPTER Be a

• Ride a real camel

the J.A. Campbell statue

the university seal

CAMEL CRAZIE

and cheer on the Fighting Camels

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the camel statue

HOME OF CAMPBELL UNIVERSITY

President J. Bradley Creed

Gaylord

Campbell gateway signs

GRADUATE! Then stay connected with other alumni

Campbell Magazine Share your #CampbellTraditions with us

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THE LUCKY MUSTACHE | It didn’t take long for the new J.A. Campbell statue on campus to become a “tradition.” Students have been touching, rubbing and tapping the bronze statue’s mustache for luck since it went up in February. Freshmen at this summer’s orientations have caught on … Dr. Campbell’s soup-catcher was well-groomed by the end of the two sessions. | Photo by Billy Liggett w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e

Campbell Magazine

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Around Campus #ASKDRCREED On just his eighth day in office, Campbell President J. Bradley Creed took over the University’s main Twitter account for one hour and held an #AskDrCreed Q&A session.

#NewStudentCenter

@campbelledu Most popular question. Student Center. I’ve clearly heard the interest. This will be given strong consideration in the coming months.

#PlanForCampbell

@campbelledu Building on its strengths while seizing new opportunities.

#NewDorms

@campbelledu 1st thing on drawing board is a new residence hall to open fall of 2016. Wherever you live, be sure & make your bed.

#FavoriteRunningSpot

@campbelledu Still learning the trails and routes. Ran 5.2 yesterday morning which included the cross country trail.

#FavoriteNASCARdriver

@campbelledu Anybody who drives a Ford and Dale, Jr.

#GolfAtKeithHills?

@campbelledu I have clubs that are covered with cobwebs. Kathy and I are interested in taking a few lessons.

#FavoriteBibleVerse

@campbelledu Philippians 2:5-11 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus …

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Photos by Billy Liggett

During the hour, he received more than 70 questions, which touched on a variety of topics from his favorite NASCAR driver to his vision for Campbell University.

Here’s a recap of some of his presidential tweets:

Creed’s FIRST DAY

President calls Campbell a ‘School of Opportunities’ In a new blue suit, orange tie and Camel lapel pin, J. Bradley Creed arrived on campus at 7:30 a.m. on July 1, to begin his first official day as Campbell University’s fifth president.

Most of that first day was spent indoors in meetings with his vice presidents and school deans. But in the days leading up to the official “Day 1,” Creed and his wife, Kathy, were active on campus, hosting ice cream socials for students and faculty and staff and attending the first freshman summer orientation.

“It was clear to me from the beginning that Campbell was a very special place with a wonderful, rich history,” Creed told the recordsetting freshman crowd in June. “I believe that God opened a door for me; and when God

MORE ONLINE

opens a door, by faith, you walk through the door.”

Creed called Campbell a “school of opportunities,” a place where students not only develop skills to make a living, but also to learn how to make a life.

“There is not a more exciting university in the country right now,” he said, referring to recent big announcements such as the proposed School of Engineering and the School of Nursing, as well as the recently established School of Osteopathic Medicine and other programs such as physical therapy, homeland security and finance. “Great things are happening at Campbell, and great things are in store for Campbell. I want to be part of that.”

Keep up with J. Bradley Creed’s inaugural year as president and learn more about this fall’s speaking tour online at campbell.edu/presidential-office

@paigerentz What’s life like for @CampbellUSOM #medstudents on their 1st rotation? Busy. (Exciting, too)

Hospitals welcome med school’s first residents, third-year students on rotations More than once, the words “perfect match” were used to describe the new partnership between Campbell University and Southeastern Health in Lumberton.

“This partnership has changed Southeastern Health forever,” the health system’s CEO and President Joann Anderson said. “Our footprint is no longer the same. Our peer group is no longer the same. Our goal has always been to be the best. We want to be the health care provider of choice to the people of our region. Working in a partnership like this, we can realize that.”

The 40 students make up a fourth of the inaugural class of the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine, entering its third year this fall. The group of nearly 160 students have been split up among five sites, including Southeastern — 44 students began their

COMING THIS FALL

Photo by Billy Liggett

The two institutions celebrated that partnership — which includes resident doctors and thirdyear medical students starting their rotations in Southeastern Regional Medical Center’s new 10,000-square-foot section for medical education — with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with more than 200 in attendance.

rotations at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville this summer, and the other half of the class will be split among WakeMed, Harnett Health, Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, Wayne Memorial Hospital and Sampson Regional Medical Center.

Southeastern renovated a 10,000-square-foot space at its existing hospital in Lumberton to include classrooms, study areas, staff offices and a conference room.

“Too long have we sought health care in places like Lumberton and have been underserved,” said former Campbell President Jerry Wallace.

“Too long have we attempted to recruit health care professionals to underserved areas, and they’ve gone somewhere else. It’s something we’ve all suffered from, and I believe today we’re taking a step in the right direction, serving the underserved in this region, state and nation.

That’s at the very core of what Campbell is about.”

Campbell Magazine will follow five third-year medical students during their first week of rotations at Southeastern Regional Medical Center. Their experiences will be chronicled in the cover story of our fall edition.

Staff earns first national CASE awards Campbell University’s Office of Advancement won two CASE Circle of Excellence awards for social media and fundraising for its work on the 2014 Thank-A-Giver (TAG) Day.

Photo by Billy Liggett

Campbell’s two bronze awards were the University’s first at the national level, competing against more than 625 higher ed institutions, independent schools and nonprofits from around the world.

Spring Graduation | Nearly 1,000 students (972 in all — 598 undergrads and 374 graduate and professional students) earned Campbell degrees in May, making a total of 1,460 degrees handed out at Campbell during the 2014-15 academic year. | Photo by Billy Liggett

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Director of Annual Giving Sarah Swain, Director of Digital Media Cherry Crayton, Director of Visual Identity Jonathan Bronsink and Web Developer Carlos Cano teamed to plan and execute the TAG Day effort, with Crayton heading social media and Swain the fundraising side.

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@Shelle_My_Belle We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone #Haiti

Photo by Karl DeBlaker

Around Campus

AMERICA’S MOST UNDERRATED LAW SCHOOL Campbell Law School deserves notice, according to the folks at Bloomberg Business, who named the Raleigh school the most underrated law school in America.

Campbell held the top spot in Bloomberg’s list of 10, with rankings made according to student employment outcomes, median scores on the Law School Admission Test and the number of citations received by the school’s law review.

“It’s exciting for a respected national outlet to share what we’ve been telling folks all along,” said Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard. “Campbell Law is a special place in the middle of a first-class city, and we have a lot to offer the next generation of attorneys and leading legal professionals.”

In February, The National Jurist tabbed Campbell Law as the second best school in the country for bar exam preparation.

WELCOME TO MOE’S! Moe’s Southwest Grill will bring its overachieving tacos and homewrecking burritos to Buies Creek this fall.

Construction on the interior of the new restaurant began in the spring and will continue at least through October.

Moe’s will open in the building formerly occupied by Quiznos.

Meaningful May in Haiti Public Health team helps ‘Build Capacity’ for Rural clinic in Hatian village of Zorangé

BY LEAH WHITT

As campus was clearing out after exams and graduation, six students and one faculty member from the Master of Science in Public Health program were packing their bags and preparing for the journey of a lifetime.

David Tillman and six of his students traveled from Raleigh to the small village of Zorangé, Haiti, for 15 days to assist the Hope for Haiti Foundation, a non-governmental organization, with headquarters in North Carolina.

to a reliance on solar power. Work began for the public health team when the solar power supply became available and lasted until the power had been depleted through solar panels and back-up computer batteries. If the limited power supply was not enough of a hoop to jump through, the team also had to decipher and interpret up to four languages to figure out most of the records involved.

The group traveled to Haiti with the purpose of building capacity for staff members of the local clinic in Zorangé. This clinic not only served the residents of Zorangé; it served residents from neighboring towns and is the only clinic in the immediate area that has a physician on site every day of the week. The clinic also staffs a midwife, a nurse, a laboratory technician and pharmacy technician.

“It was as hard as it could possibly be,” said Tillman. “The physician only spoke Creole, the official language of Haiti is French, and most of our students only knew English and Spanish.

So we would essentially have to go through Spanish to interpret medical records written in French and Creole then check for accuracy.

It was a tedious process, but our team was incredible. Within a few days, they transcribed 1,400 medical records.”

Building capacity took form in several ways.

The students spent most of their working hours transcribing medical records. Working hours in Zorangé vary significantly from day to day due

In addition to the transcription process, Tillman and his team spent hours creating and coding a reliable, user-friendly, digital medical record system. This process was vital

“I learned things from Campbell’s students about people in our area that they had gotten to know through the exercises that they did. The students worked hard in hard circumstances and with integrity and were appreciated by the community.”

— Marlene Rickert, medical director for the Hope for Haiti Foundation

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in a visit to the village physician. With this level of reporting available to the clinic, the Foundation can now provide enough of the right medications and treatment therapies to the village. Also, volunteer health care providers can review those records and possibly suggest alternative care plans that make better sense for residents of Zorangé and surrounding areas.

“If we took students to go down there to triage in the clinic, the work would stop the day we left,” said Tillman. “But the work was just getting started when we left. It is so valuable to them. It was, without a doubt, the most significant two weeks of work in my life.”

Back to School On the weekends of this trip, the public health team taught English in the Foundation’s school.

This teaching was not just one-sided. While the Haitian children were learning English, the Campbell team learned about family dynamics and responsibilities in Haitian culture.

to the clinic, which used any source of paper to document patient encounters.

“The creation of an electronic medical record was one of our chief objectives. It was extremely important to us that our work did not stop when our trip ended, but that we left behind something of value and something useful to the clinic,” said Tillman.

The electronic medical record was built on-site using the exact variables that were relevant to the clinic. The transcription process was vital to the creation of the interface because the team learned what was most often recorded

MORE ONLINE

“This gave us more insight into their culture without having to ask one of the few people who were mostly fluent in English (all were male),” shared Michelle Hanna, current public health student. “Talking to the students was a humbling and life changing experience for me. We take simple things, such as education and indoor plumbing for granted. We met a smart young man named David while we were at the school. He and his brother walk an hour to school every day and an hour back, over a mountain, in their school uniforms. David is a daily reminder that I should be passionate about my education and willing to walk over a mountain every day to be educated.”

Engineering joins national DIVERSITY pledge Jenna P. Carpenter, founding dean of the School of Engineering, was one of 102 deans from across the nation to sign a letter to President Barack Obama pledging to create opportunities on campus that support diversity in engineering.

The American Society for Engineering Education released the letter to coincide with the White House’s first Demo Day, which brought together entrepreneurs from across the U.S. to share their success stories. ASEE sent the letter to President Obama on behalf of the deans.

“The issue of diversity is one of significant importance to us as a nation if we hope to remain competitive economically, to continue to generate the innovation and creativity needed to solve the engineering challenges of the 21st century, and to meet workforce demands,” Carpenter said.

As part of the initiative, engineering deans who signed the letter vowed to provide educational experiences that are inclusive and prevent the marginalization of any groups of people, as well as to take specific actions that increase opportunities for women and other under-represented demographic groups to pursue engineering careers.

Read personal accounts on the Public Health program’s trip to Haiti from students Michelle Hanna and Tess Wells by clicking this story at campbell.edu/magazine.

STATE BEGINS WORK ON TUNNEL UNDER U.S. 421 In an effort to make crossing the busy fourlane highway separating main campus from Barker-Lane Stadium, student apartments and student parking safer, the North Carolina Department of Transportation began work on a pedestrian tunnel over the summer.

The DOT announced a $2.6 million contract to construct the tunnel over the summer — the price will include paving, drainage, retaining walls and an underground culvert.

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“Student access across 421 is vital to the growth of the university. We have housing for more than 150 students on the south side of the highway, the PGA/PGM golf facility is there and our football stadium is there as well,” said Jim Roberts, Campbell’s vice president for business and treasurer.

The construction will mean the state will shut down all four lanes of the highway for about a month beginning in October. The tunnel is expected to open in July 2016.

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@campbelledu Update from Faculty Orientation: Chicken Tender Tuesdays are back at Shouse this year.

Behold! What your Convocation Center might have looked like had former President Norman A. Wiggins’ 1968 Master Plan gone through with its construction (according to an artist’s rendering at the time). #cameldome

2014–15

2,302

2010–11

1,716

Campbell Law School’s incoming Class of 2018 celebrated the start of their three-year journey with a dinner (and selfies) at Haywood Hall in Raleigh.

katelynmhowell A new tradition started this semester at Campbell. They say if you rub the mustache of J.A. Campbell that it will bring you good luck on your finals. I figured it was worth a shot because I need all the luck/prayers I can get for my last final tomorrow.

Tracey F. Smith Hall of Nursing & Health Sciences First Citizens Wealth Management Center (Opens Fall 2015)

CATHERINE W. WOOD SCHOOL OF NURSING held first class in fall 2014

STEINWAY PIANOS

purchased to continue our initiative to become an All-Steinway School

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

to welcome students fall 2016

emilyann2458 Gaylord visited OIB today! #campbellproud @gocamels @campbell_cab @campbelladmissions @campbelledu @kerrybnorman She said yes!!! #camelwedding #camelsforlife

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By The Numbers

RECORD SUMMER Erica Aviles cheers during the opening ceremony for the first of two record-setting summer orientations. A total of 1,076 incoming freshmen and transfer students and more than 2,787 overall guests came to Buies Creek to start their college careers on the right foot. The two sessions were the biggest in Campbell history. | Photo by Bill Parish

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When Matt Marksberry was called up by the Atlanta Braves this summer, he became the eighth Camel (all pitchers) to make the Major Leagues and the first since Gaylord Perry retired in 1983.

The other six: Jim Perry, Cal Koonce, Rube Melton, Earl Stephenson, Woody Upchurch and Don Prince.

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The Divinity School will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding on Sept. 21.

University leaders then desired to develop a new model of theological education, with a vision to educate Christian ministers who would be “intellectually prepared, spiritually mature and capable of inspiring and leading churches to fulfill their unique role in the world.”

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There have been 22 United State presidents since Grover Cleveland led the country in 1887, the year J.A. Campbell founded Buies Creek Academy. In the 128 years since, there have been only five leaders at Campbell with the fifth, J. Bradley Creed, taking office on July 1.

1,398

Campbell will open the 2015-16 academic year with 1,398 new undergraduate students — the largest incoming group in the university’s 128-year history. It is the third year in a row that Campbell will begin an academic year setting an enrollment record for new students.

5,221

Applications received for the Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine’s third class, which begins classes this fall in the Levine Hall of Medical Sciences.

The school chose 600 of those students for interviews, and of those, about 160 students were chosen to become future Campbell doctors.

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Photo by Billy Liggett

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Staff spotlight

ASK BAHNAMAN

Librarian Steve Bahnaman bested the other geniuses on ABC’s ‘500 Questions’

By Cherry Crayton

Steve Bahnaman just might be the smartest guy in America.

Consider that the Campbell University librarian won $110,000 on ABC-TV’s “500 Questions” this past May. That was the best of any of the contestants who appeared on the game show, which billed itself as a sevennight event “where the smartest people in the country” tried to answer as many questions correctly as they could through multiple rounds of 50 questions, winning money along the way. If they missed three questions in a row, they were out of the game.

Bahnaman was the only contestant to clear at least three boards of questions before getting knocked out at question 168. So that makes him the smartest among us. Right?

“No!” he says, laughing.

A genius, at least? “Geniuses,” after all, is what “500 Questions” called its contestants.

“I don’t know,” he says, chuckling. “I guess it’s flattering and fun, and I get to wear ‘the genius’ label for the rest of my life. But it also means that for the rest of my life, people are going to want to find out things I don’t know or make fun of things I don’t know.”

A self-described “hardcore trivia nut,” Bahnaman was recruited for “500 Questions” through websites for trivia hobbyists. He chose to compete on the show because “I wanted to prove myself in a place where everyone can see it.”

Prove himself he did. And though summer break already had begun when “500 Questions” premiered, the Campbell community noticed. Students, faculty and staff attended live-watch parties Wiggins Memorial Library hosted. Many stopped by the library to offer their congratulations in person. And thousands posted their support on social media. It’s no coincidence that #500Questions

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trended on Twitter in the Research Triangle area only on the nights Bahnaman appeared on the show.

The attention? “Very, very, very flattering,” says Bahnaman, who became a librarian because he likes research and helping others conduct research. “It’s the exact thing you’d want out of a TV appearance. People recognize you at work – the place you care about – but then the rest of the time, you’re able to wander anonymously through life like you always have.”

that settles in because you have had so long to think about it.

Have you gotten over that little bit of regret?

When I got to question 39 or so, I started getting really emotional. It was because I was finally believing that I could do it. It’s one thing when you’re at question 12 and you just have to keep plugging through. But when you reach a certain point, it dawns on you that you might win $40,000 and that would be almost like a vindication for an entire life’s work. It would have felt like a dagger if I lost on the first @asianflamme Grandma’s response to board. But as soon as I won that #500Questions : He’s so smart it makes me sick. first board, the rest was all gravy. @Rafferbee I’m changing my simple rule: I’ll always root for the librarian, unless I could win lots of money by beating him. #500Questions @cescamarissa I’ve never been sadder to see anyone leave a game show before. Steve, you’re both a gentleman and a scholar. #500Questions @Bojica87 NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Poor Steve, he was so likable. #GoodJob #500Questions Never thought I’d like this show. @PBunches I miss Steve already. #incrediblycharmingnerd #howcanyouNOTlikealibrarian #500Questions

Bahnaman talked with Campbell Magazine about his appearance on “500 Questions,” how he got interested in trivia, and what’s next for him.

What was it like to watch yourself on TV? I did the show back in March. At that time, I felt like I did well and I was happy with everything. But it had time to sink in for about two and a half months before it aired on TV. So when I watched it, I was suddenly confronted with, ‘Oh, yeah I lost.’ The things I thought were, ‘How come I didn’t know that? Geez.’ Or ‘Wow. I couldn’t come up with a better guess.’ There is a little bit of regret

What didn’t we see or hear on TV? I was on TV for about three and a half hours, but we were in that studio for about 15 hours to film.

It’s quite the marathon. There was a lot of talking. Probably about 8 percent of what I said made it on air, and that was every moment when I was actually funny or something memorable happened.

I talked about Campbell, but it didn’t make it on the show. I talked about loving my job here. I talked about how Campbell was a small enough college that it might be fun for the students to watch.

And how about that reaction you got from students?

It makes me excited that people cared so much. I think a lot of that had to do with Campbell and people here wanting to root for somebody whom they might have encountered at the library. I hope, ultimately, it made people think, ‘Those librarians sure do know their stuff.’

How did you get interested in trivia?

I was always drawn to books that had a lot of facts in them. In college [at Emory University], I was on the Quiz Bowl team.

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Steve Bahnaman librarian and trivia enthusiast

Where he studied: Master of Science in Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Master of Theological Studies, Emory University; Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Political Science, Emory University.

What he does at Campbell: Manages the library’s electronic resources, serves as liaison for the Divinity School and Department of Religion, and has taught a Campbell University Freshman Seminar (CUFS). Also hosts trivia nights at Wiggins at least once a year.

The event this past spring drew around 70 students.

His claim to fame: A trivia hobbyist who won $110,000 and reached question 168 on ABC-TV’s game show “500 Questions” this past May – the best of any contestant. The question that knocked him out of the game?

“Originally built for World War II, what kind of corrugated metal structure was named for the Rhode Island location where it was first manufactured?” The answer: Quonset hut.

His other game show appearance: Appeared on NPR’s “Ask Me Another” in January when the quiz show broadcasted in Durham. The topic?

College sports teams. And yes, he mentions Campbell is home to the only Fighting Camels in the world.

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That’s when I started doing what’s called quizzing. Trivia to most people means going to the bar and answering questions with your friends. Quizzing is more taking written tests, doing crazy trivia games, competing against people from England, and going to conventions. It’s the equivalent of being a crossword nerd; but instead of being a nut for words, you’re nuts for knowledge. The good news is that it helps my work as a librarian.

How so?

I get all kinds of questions about all different kinds of things. It turns out that knowing a little bit about a lot of things helps me do my job.

What is your daily trivia routine like?

I wake up every morning and have six trivia questions waiting for me from LearnedLeague.com. Most of them are on the difficult end. With that comes a message board with other recommendations for trivia.

On there are people who write for companies that run trivia questions, former “Jeopardy!” champs, ex-quiz bowl champions, and people who just love trivia. We have Facebook groups, too, and play different kinds of games over Google Hangout. We do these hangouts for two hours about four times a week. After the kids go to bed and my wife goes to bed, I stay up trivia-ing.

Why have you stayed with trivia?

Part of it is the social aspect. A huge percentage of my friends are trivia people one way or another. The other part of it is that trivia is an amazing hobby when you have children who are 3 and 1. It’s way better than other hobbies you can have. It’s free, mostly.

It’s portable. And it’s routinely interesting.

Do you ever get tired of answering questions?

Are you kidding?! I’ve answered 500 questions in a day a ton of times. I frequently do 14 rounds of 40 questions each, and half of those are three-parters. It’s just the thing I’m most excited about. If you ask someone who loves college basketball, if they ever get tired of basketball, they’ll say no. It’s the same with trivia questions. You just want to do it again.

What’s next for you?

My wife and I are going on an Alaska cruise and will probably go to England for our 10th anniversary. I’ll be at the Trivia Championships of North America in August.

I’m also going to be writing more, and I’m playing with the idea of a one-off podcast.

But, really, it’s right back to it. I’m still playing trivia, but now for a lot of less money.

IMAGINE. CREATE. INNOVATE. ENGINEER. Campbell University School of Engineering Opening August 2016*

APPLY TODAY

www.campbell.edu/engineering * Pending SACSCOC approval.

“With its location in the Research Triangle Region, its strong programs and facilities in the health sciences and pharmacy, and its personalized approach to education, Campbell University is the ideal place to create an innovative, nationally-recognized engineering program to train the engineering leaders of tomorrow.”

Dr. Jenna P. Carpenter Dean, School of Engineering Campbell University

Start your journey toward becoming an engineering leader of tomorrow, today. w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e EEO/AA/Minorities/Females/Disabled/Protected Veterans – http://www.campbell.edu/employment

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LEGENDARY Campbell Basketball school The history, big names and experiences that made the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first basketball school world famous STORIES BY BILLY LIGGETT | ILLUSTRATIONS BY BOB DRY w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e

Photo by Bennett Scarborough Campbell Magazine 23

In the heart of North Carolina is a place called Buies Creek, Where countless young men gather every summer for a week.

Do you wonder why they go there? Do you wonder what they seek? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; John Wooden, 1966

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FRED & BONES

Fred McCall needed a name to get his idea off the ground. He got that in Bones McKinney.

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any North Carolinians joke that basketball is a religion in this state. The rest agree, only they aren’t joking. Its chapels are found in Chapel Hill and Durham. Raleigh and Winston-Salem. Greensboro and Charlotte. Its preachers are men like Dean and Roy. Coach K and Coach Kay. The Gray Fox and Jimmy V. Hidden away among the many pages in the Basketball Bible of the Old North State is the story of a basketball camp that began in a tiny rural town at a school considered a David to the sport’s Goliaths.

THE WIZARD

The greatest basketball coach in the world fell in love with Campbell, its camp and its people.

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The Hot Box

Cramped, outdated and lacking air conditioning, Carter Gym still became a historic treasure.

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Every June, for a span of about 30 years beginning in 1956, Campbell College and its unimpressive Carter Gymnasium was the center of the basketball universe. The brainchild of Campbell coach Fred McCall, the nation’s first summer camp dedicated to round-ball fundamentals had humble beginnings, attracting about 150 kids in its first year. At its peak, Campbell Basketball School was a three-week adventure that brought in more than 2,000 kids, in addition to the biggest names the sport had to offer.

John Wooden, the greatest coach of all time.

Pete & Press

“Pistol Pete” Maravich, the greatest showman of all time.

Basketball’s greatest showman attended the camp with his dad as both a kid and a pro.

Michael Jordan, the greatest player of all time.

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The list goes on. You could build an impressive Hall of Fame using it alone.

The Kids

For generations of young men and women, June in Buies Creek was the highlight of their summer.

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Generations of young men and women who’d go on to become professional athletes or coaches — as well as lawyers, doctors, writers and teachers — sweated through the lessons in cramped un-air conditioned gyms and came away not only better ball players, but better people, too.

The stories behind the school are the stories of legends. The two men who made it a reality. The legendary coach who fell in love with it. The meager gym that holds so many memories.

The boy prodigy who grew up with it alongside his father.

The kids whose Christmases came in June. The camper and counselor who went on to run an NBA franchise.

THE Chief

Fred Whitfield met his friend Michael Jordan at Campbell’s camp. The rest is history.

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The Legacy

While not the draw it was in the 70s and 80s, the nation’s oldest basketball school is still going strong.

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There are bigger camps today. But none can boast the history of Campbell Basketball School.

“There will never be anything like it,” insists Danny Roberts, who ran the camp in the 1970s and 80s after McCall, his mentor, left the sport. “It’s hard to put into words what this camp meant to people and to this community.”

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FRED & BONES

Fred McCall needed a name to get his big idea off the ground. He got that and more in Bones McKinney.

H

e was a bull of a man, 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, his hairline long gone by his 30s. He was a stickler for the fundamentals of basketball (and life) who rarely uttered a word of profanity.

His partner was tall and lanky enough to earn the nickname “Bones.” His head was crowned with wavy locks of autumn gold hair. Despite being an ordained minister, he was a loose cannon who admitted to cussing out and threatening the lives of several hundred referees.

They were a motley pair, Fred McCall and Horace “Bones” McKinney, but if Campbell Basketball School was ever to succeed, they, together, had to make it work.

McCall came to Campbell in 1953, the same

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year the college opened Carter Gymnasium, and was an instant success, compiling a 6311 record in his first three years and winning a pair of state junior college championships in the process. After that third year, McCall — a great athlete in his own right, lettering in football, basketball and baseball at Lenoir Rhyne (fighting in the Philippines in WWII in the process) — followed through on an idea to start a summertime basketball camp for boys.

His camp would serve two main purposes.

First, and most importantly, it would bring in teens and preteens hungry for knowledge of basketball, a sport growing by leaps and bounds in popularity in the 1950s thanks to stars like Bill Sharman, Dolph Schayes and Bob Cousy. Second, it would give basketball coaches something to do — and perhaps

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a few extra bucks — during the summer months when many of them had to find other work to make ends meet.

“Coach McCall not only taught others and me about basketball; he taught us about life. Coach McCall not only helped make me a better player; he helped to make me a better human being. The life lessons taught to me and countless others by Coach McCall’s special brand of coaching are lessons we live by to this day. Coach McCall helped strengthen Campbell University, his community, and his country.

On behalf of the people of North Carolina, I rise today to offer our eternal gratitude.”

— Former U.S. Representative Bob Etheridge in a speech to Congress honoring Fred McCall on Oct. 3, 2001

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“He knew he had a great idea, but he knew for it to be successful, he had to have a name associated with it,” said Leah Devlin, McCall’s daughter and former North Carolina state health director. “He called Bones McKinney and said, ‘You’re a name.

I’m not. Will you partner with me?’ The two then became friends for life.”

In 1956, Bones was coach at Wake Forest University, where he’d become an even bigger North Carolina legend with a Final Four appearance in 1962. He’d already made a name for himself by being the rare basketball player to have suited up for both N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill (he fought in the war between playing stints and led the Tar Heels to the 1946 Final Four). He played six seasons in the NBA with the Washington Capitols and Boston Celtics before retiring in ‘52.

McCall’s idea worked. His little rural basketball camp drew about 150 campers

that first year, split into groups of 75 for two weeks. Cost to attend was $25 a camper, a rate that would go up to $29.50 by 1960.

McCall and McKinney joined five other coaches for that first camp and split the boys into groups of 25 for three stations — the new Carter Gym, the old gymnasium on campus and the high school in Lillington, accessed by an old bus driving by Coach Hoggie Davis. Each station featured a specific fundamental of the game, from shooting to rebounding, passing to defense.

“He was a basketball genius,” said Danny Roberts, who joined McCall’s staff at Campbell in the early 60s and eventually succeeded him as head coach in ‘69. “We did drills that nobody else in the world was doing. When I played for him, he had us climbing over rails, crawling on the floors and even slapping each other to get tough. And he’d run you to death, too. But we learned a great deal from him, and so did those campers. He was very innovative.”

Not all the students were into it, McKinney

recalled in his autobiography, “Honk if You Love Basketball.” ___________________________________

“During that first year, I taught pivot play,” McKinney wrote.

“My group was very small, and I could tell those youngsters weren’t too interested in pivot play. One little fella was standing off to the side, not talking or participating. I said, ‘Son, why did you come to the camp?’ He answered, ‘Mother and Daddy wanted to go to the beach, and this was the cheapest place they could send me.’” ___________________________________ Word did spread quickly throughout the state and the East Coast about the new basketball school in the middle of nowhere. Bones was teammates in his final year with the Celtics with a young upand-comer named Bob Cousy. In 1957, Cousy had just won his first of six NBA championships and was the league’s MVP

and All-Star Game MVP. “Mr. Basketball” was one of the first “big names” to lend his celebrity to Campbell’s camp. Schayes and Sharman showed up, too, giving for more respectability and marketing to the camp than McCall ever dreamed.

Each June brought in more big names — none bigger than Coach John Wooden in 1966, who’d already won two of his 10 national titles at UCLA by the time he first stepped foot inside Carter Gym. Wooden found out about the camp through Bones (coaching Wake Forest at the time) whom Wooden bested in recruiting the nation’s best high school big man, Lew Alcindor (a.k.a.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) the previous year.

Wooden accepted the invitation to Buies Creek after receiving a call from McCall. From there, another frienship blossomed.

“John Wooden loved my father,” Devlin recalled. “Outside of the camp, they became genuine friends. He always remembered my family at Christmas and on birthdays. There wasn’t a kinder, nicer man around.”

The camp was drawing more than 1,000 kids by the late 60s, and every June, Campbell College was drawing more than just kids and big name counselors and instructors. It was drawing media coverage never before seen in Buies Creek. TV cameras and reporters from multiple states were taking advantage of the impressive gatherings, and eventually, the camp’s press

THE ‘FATHER OF REBOUNDING’ Coach McCall’s Camels weren’t a great shooting team in his early years. It needed more shots to outscore most teams, and the best way to assure more shots is to dominate on the boards.

So McCall created “The Rebounder,” a device that amounts to a wire basket on an adjustable pole that holds several basketballs at one time, dispensing them each time someone grabs a ball. He tried to get his friend and Campbell Basketball School co-founder Bones McKinney to partner with him to sell the contraption, but McKinney wasn’t sold.

“I told him, ‘Fred, you’re just wasting your time,’” McKinney told a Raleigh columnist in 1994, but then added, “That’s what Roebuck said to Sears.”

McCall did sell his Rebounder and the patent to Roald Sorensen, president of Angier-based Sorensen-Christian Industries Inc., for $300. By 1990, the company had

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sold more than 10,000 of them. At one time, nearly every high school and college basketball team in the country was using a McCall’s Rebounder.

The device sells for anywhere between $2,100 and $3,000 online these days. But McCall, known to many as the “Father of Rebounding,” didn’t become a rich man through his invention, according to his daughter, Leah Devlin.

“I asked him once, ‘Daddy, what are you thinking? We could have been rich.’” Devin recalled. “But money and notoriety, that’s not what he was about. He really didn’t care about the money at all.”

McKinney would eventually endorse the Rebounder, calling it the “greatest implement to basketball since nets were first put on hoops” in an early 1960s magazine ad that also featured NBA legend Bob Cousy.

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conferences became as common as the morning convocation.

In 1969, in the middle of his 16th season as Campbell’s head basketball coach, McCall was approached by Campbell President Norman A. Wiggins with an offer to become the school’s first vice president of advancement.

McCall had turned down higher-paying coaching positions at big-name schools because of his love for Campbell and Buies Creek in the past, but this was his first offer to leave the sport he loved.

Challenged with the task of developing a new giving program at the school, McCall accepted the job and traded in his whistle for a tie.

“It was a hard decision to leave the bench,” his daughter said. “But he was devoted and loyal to Dr. Wiggins and Dr. [Leslie] Campbell before him. Campbell was his life.

He would do anything for the school.”

THE ICE CREAM CREW Pearle McCall played a huge part in making Campbell Basketball School more than just a sports camp. It was a community event, and one of the more popular gatherings every year amassed around a bucket of homemade ice cream.

“One of the biggest things to ever come out of the school was Coach McCall and Pearle teaching us how to make freezer ice cream that first year,” Boone Trail High School Coach Al Black said during a ceremony marking five decades of the camp in 2004.

“All seven of the coaches that year ate it in Pearle’s kitchen, and it was so good, we made it every year for the next 37 years.”

Ice cream was a popular treat during those steamy mid-June days spent in even steamier basketball gyms.

“Coach John Wooden once gave both of my boys a dollar bill for something they did, and I didn’t have the sense back then to tell them to frame it,” Black joked. “They turned around and spent it on ice cream.”

25 A DAY “I calculate I’ve drunk close to 60,000 Pepsi-Colas during my lifetime. That may not be a record, but if anyone has drunk more, he’s floatin’. I’ve spilled more Pepsi than most people have drunk.

“When I was head basketball coach at Wake Forest, I was drinking 25 Pepsis a day. I loved the taste of ‘em, and I also sweat off about 10 pounds during a ball game. Without those Pepsis, I would have salted away to nothing.”

— Bones McKinney, from his autobiography, “Honk if You Love Basketball”

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McCall transitioned into the role of VP seamlessly. His skills as a recruiter came in handy in building better alumni relations and fundraising. McCall would serve Campbell a total of 33 years, guiding the men’s basketball team to a 221-104 record for 16 of those years and helping guide Campbell from a college to a university as a vice president before his retirement in 1986.

He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame in ‘95.

His friend Bones McKinney, once called the “Forrest Gump” of basketball for his ability to be around for some of the sport’s greatest moments, died in 1997. McCall passed away in 2008 at the age of 85.

Wooden — the man considered by many to be the greatest coach and one of the most inspirational sports figures of all time — once called Fred McCall one of the finest men he’s ever known.

“He’s a wonderful person in every respect,” he told The News & Observer.

“He believed fundamentals in sports translated into everyday life,” said Devlin, today a trustee for the University her father loved. “Hard work, team building, discipline, practice, leadership. Sharing glory and sharing pain. The lessons learned in team sports helped shape young men and women for real life. My father taught this to thousands of young men and women.”

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“Hard work, team building, discipline, practice, leadership.

Sharing glory and sharing pain.

The lessons learned in team sports helped shape young men and women for real life. [Fred McCall] taught this to thousands of young men and women.”

— Leah Devlin �������������������������������������

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THE WIZARD

The greatest basketball coach in the world fell in love with Campbell, its camp and its people.

T

he book is barely larger than a legal pad. Its hardbound cover is free of words or pictures. And its location — in the far reaches of Wiggins Memorial Library, tucked away on the fourth floor among other sports-related biographies — does nothing to suggest its huge historical significance to Campbell University.

But open the book, and it hits you. In dark blue, loopy cursive writing reads four words.

The Wizard of Westwood. The greatest coach in the history of college basketball. Winner of seven consecutive national titles and 10

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in 12 years at UCLA. Winner of a record 88 consecutive games. Basketball’s first Hall of Famer as both a player and coach. Creator of the “Pyramid of Success.”

The “Greatest Coach of All Time in Any Sport,” The Sporting News recently crowned him.

Unknown to the rest of the world, but a pride point in these parts, was Wooden’s love for Buies Creek, North Carolina. He was an avid believer of and regular participant in the Campbell Basketball School.

For 11 years — during the peak of his college basketball dominance from the mid-1960s to the mid-70s — Wooden took a break from his busy schedule every June to spend a week in Buies Creek. Usually wearing a white UCLA polo, coach shorts and a

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whistle, Wooden spent his days and his nights at Campbell, speaking and teaching in the same high school gyms as the other instructors and eating in Marshbanks Cafeteria like anyone else.

“He didn’t just come in and talk to the kids for 45 minutes and leave,” the Fayetteville Observer’s Khary McGhee wrote in 2003 for a column on the 50th anniversary of the first camp. “He stayed here, stood in line in the cafeteria like the rest of us. He also played softball with the counselors in the evening after the basketball instruction was done.”

He became just one of the guys, said Caulton Tudor, who first met Wooden as a young man attending the camps and later in life as a sports writer/columnist for the Raleigh News & Observer.

“He just loved Buies Creek. He loved the village-like atmosphere,” Tudor said. “At heart, he was still an Indiana farm boy, and this area was such a far cry from Los Angeles and Buies Creek reminded him of where he grew up. He could have made millions with his own basketball camps, and he could have gone anywhere. But he came for this camp, and he just loved it.”

Tudor said Wooden first learned of Campbell through Wake Forest coach Horace “Bones” McKinney, who led his Demon Deacons to the Final Four in 1962, the same year Wooden’s Bruins made their first of 12 appearances (both teams lost in the semifinals, and McKinney’s squad beat Wooden’s 82-80 in the third-place game).

Three years later, according to Tudor, the two coaches were locked in a recruiting battle to land the nation’s best big man, Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Alcindor’s final two choices coming out of high school were Wake and UCLA, and many told him to go east to play for McKinney, known at the time as the best coach for big men in the country. Alcindor instead chose Wooden, and the duo led UCLA to an 88-2 record in his three years there.

(Above) College basketball’s greatest coach and the sport’s all-time leading scorer pictured together at Campbell Basketball School. John Wooden (back left) and Pete Maravich (back right) were regular participants at Fred McCall’s summer camp in the 1960s and 70s. (Below) Wooden, in the middle of his unprecedented run of 10 national titles in 12 years, was a huge draw for local and regional media during his visits. Because of him and the many other big-name coaches and players who took part, Campbell Basketball School regularly set aside a “Media Day.”

“Bones and Coach Wooden were good friends before that and even after,” Tudor said. “Not long after Alcindor [picked UCLA in 1965], Bones told him he needed to come to North Carolina and see this basketball camp Campbell had begun.”

Wooden’s arrival provided an unneeded stamp of legitimacy to the camp, which was

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already enjoying increased attendance year after year by the time he arrived in ‘66, toward the beginning of his historic national championship run. The camp was already being run by the top coaches in the region, with counselors who made up the ACC’s best and brightest young stars assisting them. Even the big names had trouble, at times, getting their group’s attention.

But when Wooden spoke? Crickets.

“Us campers were a bunch of knucklehead kids,” wrote former camper Michael Hunt, who would go on to enjoy 35 years as a sports columnist in Milwaukee. “But when Wooden spoke, we all went silent, hanging on to his every word.”

“Man, we listened to every word,” said Fred Whitfield, former camper, counselor and Campbell stand-out, now president and chief operating officer of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. “You’d hear about Coach Wooden, and you knew his legacy coming in. But to see him in person at this camp in Carter Gym? Unbelievable.”

Whitfield said Wooden had a “calmness and demeanor” that drew the students in, but even the coaches — successful in their own right — gravitated toward him.

“I don’t use this word often, but he was almost God-like,” said one of those coaches, Danny Roberts, an assistant at Campbell from 1963-69 before succeeding Fred McCall as Campbell’s head coach. “We had coaches at this camp who swore a lot … used tons of profanity. But in front of Coach Wooden? Not a word. They were angels.”

Scott Colclough — former camper, Campbell alumnus and assistant basketball coach at UNC-Pembroke — remembered Wooden as a deeply religious man who never went anywhere without his Bible.

“And for all of his success and credentials, there wasn’t an ounce of arrogance in the man,” Colclough said. “And for the other coaches, there was no animosity. No jealousy. Coach Wooden loved coming to Campbell because he really, really enjoyed the camaraderie. Yes, he liked the smallness of the campus and the town, but he also came back every year because he felt like one of the boys.”

A PLACE CALLED BUIES CREEK John Wooden wrote a poem about his experience at Campbell College in 1966 while returning to Los Angeles from the Campbell Basketball School. He sent it to Fred McCall upon his return home.

Dear Fred, In the heart of North Carolina is a place called Buies Creek, Where countless young men gather every summer for a week.

Do you wonder why they go there, do you wonder what they seek?

It’s to supplement their knowledge of the greatest game of all, It’s to learn the many secrets of the game of basketball.

It’s to learn to play with others, to place team above oneself.

It’s to experience many lessons more important than much wealth.

The site is Campbell College, the director is Fred McCall, A man who adds much stature to the game of basketball, And a man who’s quick to answer every youngster’s beckon call.

With Bayou Press to help him and his able Campbell Crew, It’s no wonder this camp rates ahead of No. 2.

It’s no wonder that the boys here, every Bill and Tom and Jack, Leave for home at week’s end with the thought of coming back.

All the staff assembled there I’ll pleasantly recall, Especially the boss of them, ever-thoughtful Fred McCall.

I’ll remember Big Jim Gudger and the way he liked to eat, And the fact that on his home ground he’s impossible to beat.

And T-Pot Fry and Jerry Steele will often come to mind, Because they too are men of class, Fred wants no other kind.

Friendly Sam & Pleasant Red also took my eye, I’m sure the teams with whom they work will always rate quite high.

And for the essick man from Pfeiffer the Pride of Sibatan, I’ll wish for all his rivals the title also-ran.

For Ira of Norfolk’s easy way I’ll e’re be grateful too, And all the wise who know his size would not dispute this view.

Bill Miller’s way with both young and old, Gruff outside, but inside gold.

A friend of mine I hope he’ll be, Because he made a friend of me.

I’m also pleased I got to know, Victrola Dolph of the swarmy show.

His gentle humor can’t be beat, His presence gave us all a treat.

Of course there’s Press, my snoring roomie, Known to some as the great, great swamie, Who’s threat to use his commander drill, Would keep the loudest campers still.

To him most special thanks I give, With him it was a joy to live.

And the Belgium coach, John Heisicum From Brussels I believe he’s from, Proved that at this school to be, Was worth a trip from across the sea.

For Hargrove Davis, kind words I use, He’s saved my feet with his own shoes.

To Cliff and Ray and James and Dan, And Ronnie and Bob of the Camel Clan, And Al and Jack of the Ice Cream Crew, My sincere thanks to all of you.

I’ll often think of Sorensen, And of his advice “Keep on Keeping on.”

There’s many things I will recall, The Golden voice of Fred McCall.

But I just heard the pilot say, Twenty minutes to L.A. So I will close with one more thought, To me much pleasure you all brought.

So good luck friends, best wishes too, May all your dreams quite soon come true.

Written by John Wooden in June 1966 on a flight back to California

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__________________________________

“I really felt more at home there, to be honest with you, since it was a smaller community. Most of the other coaches there were from the smaller schools from the area, and I just felt more comfortable with them.”

— John Wooden __________________________________ In May 1973, Wooden accepted an honorary degree from Campbell College and spoke briefly at the commencement ceremony two months after winning his seventh consecutive national title. The occasion was significant because Wooden, though he had been offered similar honors from countless schools over the years, accepted Campbell’s invitation and honorary Doctor of Humanities degree because of his respect for President Norman A. Wiggins and his love for the school.

“I have said before that I do not believe in honorary degrees, and I have refused them at some universities,” Wooden said at the time. “This is the first one I have accepted.

That I chose to accept one here shows my feelings toward the people of Campbell College.”

Not that he didn’t make the most of his trip to North Carolina that spring. While in town, he negotiated a game with North Carolina State for the following season.

UCLA and its 78-game winning streak at the time would face a Wolfpack team enjoying its own 29-game streak and embarrass them, 84-66 (N.C. State got its revenge that season in the Final Four).

Wooden quit coaching at the top of his game — announcing his retirement just before his 10th national title in 1977.

Tudor reached out to Wooden years later by phone and after introducing himself, told him he was once a young camper in the Campbell Basketball School — a note that landed him a few one-on-one interviews when Duke was on the road. The two would talk about Wooden’s Campbell days, and the old coach confided in Tudor that had things

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THE HONORARY DEGREE On May 14, 1973, John Wooden received an honorary degree from Campbell College (one of the few he accepted despite being offered many during his career). The citation from President Norman A. Wiggins read: Seventy-five victories without a loss! Seven consecutive national championships! The sports world acclaims him as a master coach. He has achieved immortality among followers of basketball.

But Campbell College chooses to honor Coach John Wooden as a master of the art of teaching. He stresses fundamentals. He sets a powerful example. He builds character and demands self respect. Each player is an individual. He communicates. He motivates. He inspires. In the words of one writer, “He is the most admirable sportsman of our times.”

To Coach Wooden, “success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

His “Pyramid of Success” embodies old-fashioned virtues: ambition, adaptability, resourcefulness, fight, faith, patience, reliability, integrity, honesty and sincerity. Coach Wooden is not a pious man. He is truly a religious man.

The faculty and trustees of Campbell take pleasure in awarding the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities in recognition of Coach John Wooden’s cooperation with Campbell College, his eloquent witness, his genuine modesty, his competent scholarship, his love for his family and children, and his sound philosophy of life and of play, which provide an excellent blueprint for the game of life.

Norman A. Wiggins President

gone differently, he would have spent his retirement in Buies Creek. “‘I loved that place. I always loved it,’” Tudor recalled Wooden telling him. “But he said Nell’s health started failing, and Harnett County wasn’t really known for its health care system at the time. Raleigh was a good 40 miles away … too far for the Woodens at that time.”

Wooden’s wife, his rock, Nell Wooden died on March 22, 1985. After leaving the game, John

stayed by her side during a lengthy illness, which included double hip replacement, two heart attacks and a 93-day coma.

The two had met in high school in Martinsville, Indiana, when John was a basketball star and she a trumpet player who “faked her way into the band” just to watch him play. Legend has it she marched with the team, holding the trumpet to her lips but never blowing a note.

An April 3, 1989, Sports Illustrated article on

Wooden’s life after Nell detailed the coach and Nell’s pre-game ritual during his playing days:

Wooden sitting at the base of a tree (the photo that begins this chapter) surrounded by young campers as the perfect representation

“Before every tip-off back at Martinsville High, Wooden had looked up from his guard position and caught her eye in the stands, where she played the cornet in the band. She would give him the O.K. sign and he would wave back. They kept up that ritual even as Johnny Wooden (Hall of Fame, inducted as a player in 1960) became John R. Wooden (Hall of Fame, inducted as a coach in 1972).

Few knew that he clutched a cross in his hand.

Fewer knew that she clutched an identical one in hers. She took it with her to the grave.”

of what he meant to not only the camp or the college, but the community.

Wooden’s retirement also meant the end of his involvement with Campbell. The Basketball School would enjoy continued success for another decade, partly because it was now the camp once regularly coached by the great John Wooden.

The Wizard’s impact on Campbell is most recognized in the memories and stories from those he coached and became true friends with — many in their 70s, 80s and 90s now — and the kids he taught.

Colclough points to an old photo of

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“He enjoyed being around the kids,” Colclough said. “He enjoyed talking to them, learning about them and most of all, teaching them. He liked what this camp was all about … that it taught fundamentals and wasn’t just a babysitting camp. It was a true basketball school, and that’s what brought him back every year.”

Had Wooden stayed in North Carolina, perhaps it would be different. But today, there is no monument on Campbell’s campus observing the decade it hosted greatness. A trove of black and white photos and never-before-made-public negatives sit in a closet behind Campbell’s human resources office today, and a few old yearbooks and school newspapers tell little about the coach’s time here.

But the book sitting in Wiggins Library — plain, hardbound and full of wisdom, much like the man himself — remains. A personal, hand-delivered gift to a school he loved.

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“Bill Miller, the Elon College Coach, had a beer in front of him. When Coach [Wooden] walked into the room, Bill hid the beer behind his chair. Can you imagine a grown man doing that? That’s how Coach affected people.”

— Danny Roberts, “How to Be Like Coach Wooden” by Pat Williams and David Wimbish __________________________________

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THE HOT BOX Cramped, unbearably hot and out-of-date, Carter Gymnasium is a historical treasure

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t was a hotter-than-usual day for midMay, which meant Carter Gym would be unbearable, despite the open windows and three large floor fans going full speed.

“He’d point to a spot down there,” he said, pointing to the baseline at the far end of the gym, “and toss it behind his back … hitting the spot every time.”

“Oh, it got way worse than this,” Danny Roberts said, dismissing the trapped heat inside the 60-year-old relic still standing with much newer buildings on Campbell’s campus.

Then there was the time Pete was surrounded by adoring kids after one of his famous clinics, and in an effort to escape the crowd, tossed a ball behind him from that same spot, swishing it at the far end. By the time the campers, jaws accordingly dropped, turned back around to offer praise to their basketball idol, Pete was out the door.

The man who took over for the legendary Fred McCall in 1969 and led the ‘77 squad to the NAIA National Championship game was standing at the free-throw line — the one just feet away from the tiny arena’s entrance — when a smile appeared as he launched into a story about “Pistol Pete” Maravich and the miracles he once performed on this court.

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“You know Michael Jordan came here?”

Roberts continued. “Met Fred Whitfield here. They became really good friends. I talked to Fred just yesterday.”

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The stories came one after another. The time Dean Smith spoke here. How the entire gym went silent when John Wooden spoke.

The time Davidson coach Bo Brickels and a counselor kicked each other in the groin during a 1-on-1 game one night.

“That was hilarious,” Roberts laughed.

The tiny gym, which held just 947 fans when Campbell added seat backs to the metal bleachers in the 90s, was once the second-smallest Division I men’s basketball arena in the nation. That the un-air conditioned, two-bathroom facility remained the home for Camel Basketball until 2008 (when the superior-in-everyway Pope Convocation Center was built) is almost unbelievable today.

13 OVERTIMES Stan Cole is convinced you’ll see Joe Dimaggio’s 56-game hitting streak topped before the world sees another 13-overtime basketball game like the one played in Carter Gymnasium on Feb. 29, 1964.

On that cold Leap Day 51 years ago, Boone Trail and Angier high schools met at Campbell College to decide the Harnett 1-A Conference tournament championship.

Boone Trail eventually won 56-54 in the game once recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest basketball game ever played.

In a gym steeped in rich basketball history, many believe this to be the best game Carter Gym has ever seen. Consider the following: • The game began with mounting emotions thanks to a controversial football game played by the two schools the previous fall.

• Regulation ended with Boone Trail tying the game 46-46 on a buzzer beater by 6-foot-7 William Brown.

• In the third overtime, Caulton Tudor of Angier missed a potential game-winning free throw. In the eighth, Johnny Gardner’s apparent game-winning bucket was disallowed by a lane violation.

• Angier coach Rudolph Brown and Boone Trail’s Al Black were so worried about losing a lead in the back-andforth game that neither used substitutes.

The five starters from each team played the entire 71 minutes.

• The game was nearly halted after the seventh overtime because sanctioned sporting events in North Carolina couldn’t be played on Sundays. The 13-overtime game went well past midnight. When referees couldn’t reach the executive director of the N.C. High School Athletic Association by phone, they decided to keep the game going.

• Teams usually didn’t drink water during games back then, but they made an

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exception on this night. “A doctor came out of the stands and said he wouldn’t allow the game to go on unless we all got a drink,” Tudor told the Fayetteville Observer in 2003, on the 40th anniversary of the game.

• A capacity crowd of more than 1,000 packed tiny Carter Gym that night. As news of the multiple overtimes spread, more fans arrived. Some estimate more than 2,000 spectators at one point.

• The lack of a shot clock meant both teams approached overtime with a “don’t lose” attitude. Very few shots were taken.

Only 18 points combined were scored in the 13 extra periods. In nine of the 13, neither team scored a point.

• Fans and players grabbed any souvenir they could after the game, knowing its potential place in history. Coach Brown of Angier kept the game ball.

• The second-most overtimes in a high school game is said to be nine, between Swayzee and Liberty Central in Indiana.

The game was held just 15 days after the game in Carter Gym. • The players for both teams meet every 10 years for an organized reunion, the most recent in 2013.

“It opened in ‘53 and was obsolete by ‘61,” said Stan Cole, Campbell’s sports information director of the last 25 years and resident Camel Athletics historian.

“We called it ‘The Hot Box,’” recalled Fred Whitfield, president and chief operating officer of the Charlotte Hornets and Campbell Basketball School alum and instructor. “It was unbearable. Even with all the windows open, if you were a counselor there during the day, you could barely stand it. It was a great environment, don’t get me wrong. But it was flaming hot. As hot as you can imagine.”

It was also small. From baseline to baseline, the court in Carter Gym is 4 feet shorter than a regulation court. Those baselines are about a step and a half away from the concrete wall on one side and steel railing for the bleachers on the other. The two bathrooms (with a combined four toilets) meant fans either had to go before or after the game or wait in lines that would reach almost to Carrie Rich Library on nights when the house was rockin’.

And, boy, did it rock, recalled Cole.

“To have a thousand people in here going crazy when we beat someone like Radford or another conference opponent … you couldn’t hear yourself think,” he said. “I remember in [Coach Robbie} Laing’s third year we ran UNC-Wilmington out of the building, scoring 100 on them. We had people standing outside for hours before that game making sure they could get a seat. You could hear this place all the way across campus on those nights.”

Carter Gym was barely 3 years old when McCall hosted his first basketball school with seven other coaches and 150 boys spread out over two weeks. The building was a gem compared to the other two facilities McCall used to rotate the boys that first year — the “old gymnasium” near D. Rich Hall and the high school gym in Lillington, about five miles down the road.

Over the years, as the camp grew to 800 boys

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by the 1960s and nearly 2,000 in the late 70s/early 80s, the staff added more schools to the rotation — Angier, Erwin, Dunn, Lafayette, Bunnlevel to name a few. Carter Gym, however, remained the focal point. It’s where everyone’s favorite fundamental — shooting — was taught every year. It’s where Pete Maravich would put on his epic clinics to standing-room-only crowds.

And it’s where those legendary late-night counselor games would take place, also to a packed house, though these fans were often members of the community or basketball fans who didn’t mind the drive to Buies Creek to see the nation’s best young athletes play for nothing but the love of the sport.

__________________________________

“It was unbearable. Even with all the windows open, if you were a counselor there during the day, you could barely stand it. It was a great environment, don’t get me wrong. But it was flaming hot. As hot as you can imagine.”

— Fred Whitfield __________________________________

“I was a student here from ‘92 to ‘97, and they were a big deal even then,” said Andy Shell, director of campus recreation at Campbell who today occupies an office at the entrance of Carter Gym, one of only a few rooms in the building with air conditioning.

“But I’d heard the stories from people here

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THE BASEMENT

Even the basement in Carter Gymnasium can boast a history no other college basement can — it was once home to two brothers who’d go on to win a combined three Major League Baseball Cy Young awards. Jim (far right) and Gaylord Perry (second from the left) once used the small room — which today houses free weights for campus recreation — as a small apartment with a few other baseball players (including future Major League pitcher Cal Koonce, bottom center) in the late 1950s.

Jim, the 1970 Cy Young Award winner with the Minnesota Twins, and Gaylord, the only player to win it in both the American and National League with the Cleveland Indians in ‘72 and San Diego Padres in ‘78, used the basement during holidays when the campus dorms were closed. The Perrys had very little when they got to Campbell, according to Gaylor Perry’s biography, “Me and the Spitter.” Their parents were sharecroppers and didn’t have running water when the boys were young. Gaylord once said he took his first hot shower when he played varsity football in high school.

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in the 80s. You had James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson — there were games on this floor that were better than any you’d see on TV. There was barely room to stand in here those nights. It was amazing.”

When Carter Gym gave way to the convocation center and Gore Arena in 2008, university officials decided it still had use as the home for campus recreation. It serves other purposes as well — the community Christmas Store is housed there every November for less fortunate families to pick out toys to put under their trees.

In June, when the camp would be running at full speed in the past, Centrikid Christian camps use Carter for some of their physical activities. And new wrestling coach and former U.S. Olympian Cary Kolat has used Carter for some of his home matches recently because he likes the more intimate feel it provides over the more spacious convocation center.

When you factor in the building’s history — home of the nation’s first basketball camp, host to the biggest names in basketball and even home to the longest basketball game in U.S. history (a 13-overtime high school game back in 1965) — Carter Gym deserves to stick around, according to Cole.

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“You could see one of those gray historical markers out there on Main Street,” he said.

“I don’t know how you’d edit down the two sentences on that sign, though. So much has happened here. If something were to ever happen to this building, at least people would know how special it was.”

Not that there are plans to make room for a bigger and more modern building, said Shell.

He’s heard rumblings of renovations in the past. There was talk of a drop-down ceiling to properly air-condition the court. Cole said they once discussed a throw-back game, much like N.C. State does with old Reynolds Coliseum, but the “fixes” needed to support just one game — the wiring updates alone would take days — make it unlikely.

__________________________________

“We’d get that place so full, all the seats would be taken. Kids would have to lie down on the court to watch the clinics or the all-star games. It was quite an atmosphere. I’ll never forget it.”

— Danny Roberts __________________________________

“When they said they were considering tearing down Kivett Hall, there was an uproar,” said Shell. “That’s nothing compared to what would happen if people heard Carter was going away. You have several generations who have so many wonderful memories of this place. For three weeks in June for over 50 years, this was the place to be.”

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PETE & PRESS

Basketball’s greatest showman and his dad left a lasting legacy on Campbell and its basketball school “We were at a basketball camp at Campbell College back when Pete was in the 10th grade. Every night there was a counselors’ game with the college kids who were on staff. Sometimes they’d let a high school kid or two play. Pete was in there on a night when [Boston Celtics Hall of Famer] Bob Cousy was playing. … Pete comes across half-court and throws this amazing half-court pass with spin on it, and Cousy stops the game. Stops the game and says, ‘Time out. Who in the hell is that kid?’”

— Charlie Bryant, former assistant to Bones McKinney at Wake Forest

R

ick Houston had just finished his last junior varsity basketball game in 1972 at South Rowan High School when his coach told him if he had any chance to play varsity, he’d need to work on his game over the summer.

In a moment of serendipity, he opened up the Salisbury Post when he got home that evening and saw an ad for a basketball camp at Campbell College. The ad called it the

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best camp in the country with coaches like John Wooden and pros like Campbell’s own George Lehmann.

Then, he saw it.

Pete Maravich — “Pistol Pete” himself — would be putting on a Friday clinic at this camp.

“That sealed the deal for me,” said Houston.

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“What kind of basketball player is Pete Maravich? Far more than a gunner, you may be assured.

Maravich can do it all.”

— The Tuscaloosa News, 1968 __________________________________ “Pete had been my hero for years. I even tried to emulate him with the long hair, floppy socks and no-look passes. I hounded my parents every day until they finally gave in and let me have the entry fee.”

That summer, Pete had just finished his second season in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, already averaging just over 20 points a game. Where Maravich had already made his name, however, was college at Louisiana State. There, he averaged 44 points a game in his four seasons — this was before the advent of the three-point line — becoming the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader (a title he still owns today).

Friday, the day of Pete’s clinic, couldn’t come fast enough for Houston and his friends at the week-long Campbell camp in ‘72. They skipped breakfast that morning to get a good spot in Carter Gym to watch his hero’s clinic.

Pete entered the gym wearing sunglasses and a warm-up suit. Then, the show began.

impossible. He ended his performance by spinning the ball on his finger, bouncing it off his head for a bank shot into the hoop. I had died and gone to Heaven.”

But beyond his scoring prowess, Pete was a showman. The Basketball Hall of Fame cited him as “perhaps the greatest creative offensive talent in history,” and he’s widely considered the greatest ball-handler of all time.

“The fingertip figure-eight dribble drill was performed right in front of me,” Houston said. “He said that the ball would play a song as he dribbled it. The ball was so close to the ground and moving so quick that it seemed

It began in the late 1950s when a pre-teen Pete tagged along with his father — Clemson University head coach Press Maravich — for his trips north to Campbell College to help his friend Fred McCall run the now famous

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Pete’s legend in Buies Creek began long before LSU; long before he became “Pistol.”

Pete’s father, but he made a name for himself in the high school and college coaching ranks long before Pete’s rocket to stardom.

He served in the Naval Air Corps during World War II and played a few years of pro ball for the Youngstown Bears and Pittsburgh Ironmen shortly after the war. He earned his first head coaching job for West Virginia Wesleyan at the age of 34 and a year later, coached at his alma mater, Davis & Elkins.

After two short stints coaching high school from ‘52 to ‘56, Press was called in to turn around the worst basketball program in the ACC, Clemson, which had gone 1-39 in conference play the previous three seasons.

In his six seasons, the Tigers slowly climbed back to respectability before he left after the ‘62 season to coach at N.C. State. He’d later go on to coach Pete at LSU and Appalachian State in the 70s. His career ended as an assistant at Campbell in the early 80s.

It was during his time at Clemson and N.C. State when Press first got involved in Campbell Basketball School at the urging of Fred McCall. He roomed with John Wooden — forming a real-life “Odd Couple” with Wooden as the Bible-toting, scripturequoting adult and Press the over-cussing, beer-drinking sidekick.

But the relationship worked, and as Wooden told Kriegel for his book, “Pistol,” the game’s greatest coach of all time would often turn to his friend for basketball advice, despite Press’ career 234-289 coaching record in the college ranks.

Campbell Basketball School. Pete joined the other kids while his father coached, and his talent was obvious early on.

“He used to shoot for Pepsis against [Wake Forest star] Len Chappell, betting he could swish 24 of 25 free throws,” said Stan Cole, Campbell’s sports information director. “Not just make them, swish them. Nothing but net. And yeah, he won the bet. He won a lot of Pepsi as a kid.”

Pete was one of the few kids not in college (he wasn’t even in high school) allowed to take part in the epic counselor games at night.

“I saw him do things at Campbell I didn’t think anybody could do,” Coach Wooden

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told author Mark Kriegel in his book, ‘Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich.’ “I had the great pleasure of playing against the New York Rens many times. I watched the Globetrotters with Goose Tatum and Marques Haynes. None of them could do more than Pete. Pete Maravich could do more with a basketball than anybody I had ever seen.”

According to Kriegel, the glitz of Pete’s game also worried Wooden, who once asked Press if the kid would be better off learning proper footwork for defense.

“You don’t understand,” Press told him. “He’s going to be the first million-dollar pro.”

Press Maravich is remembered by most as

“One should never underestimate Press’ knowledge of the game,” Wooden was quoted. “Over the years, he was the one I would go to for analysis on several aspects of the game.”

And like McCall, who turned down bigger jobs to stay at Campbell, and Wooden, who once had plans to move to Keith Hills after retirement, Press fell in love with Buies Creek. He instructed at the Basketball School nearly every year from the early 60s until his death in 1985.

“He was a fixture there,” said Scott Colclough, former camper and instructor and now an assistant dean at Middle Tennessee State. “He was so entertaining, and he had a personality as big as life. He enjoyed all the coaches and working with the kids. And he was always so proud of his children. He did everything for them.”

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Press’ return to Campbell was contingent on one thing — he and his daughter (Pete’s little sister), Diana, were a “package deal.”

Diana enrolled as a freshman, and Press became the associate basketball coach in the fall of 1982.

Three years later, Press was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died in 1987 in a hospital in Covington, Louisiana.

Pete — a five-time NBA All-Star and onetime NBA scoring champion whose number would be retired by LSU, the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans — played in the NBA for 10 seasons before knee problems forced his retirement in 1980. He died suddenly in 1988 (just nine months after Press) from a rare natural heart defect at the age of 40.

A year later, Diana Maravich-May graduated with the charter class of Campbell’s School of Pharmacy.

LSU’s basketball arena today is the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Maravich name lives on at Campbell, too, through people like Fred Whitfield, president of the Charlotte Hornets who got there because of sound career advice from Press, who told him he was “too smart” to be a coach.

And through people like Rick Houston, who was wowed as a young camper and who would one day break out the old VHS Pistol Pete fundamental tapes for his son, Nick, a senior guard at Catawba College.

“Pete’s impact helped me understand the work ethic that I needed to become a better player,” Houston said. “My son has grown to almost the same build and height as Pete, and it’s amazing to see the similarities in his jump shot. I will never forget the glimpse of greatness.”

His lasting memory of Pete is the way he ended his clinic on that glorious Friday in Buies Creek.

“He spun the ball on his finger, bounced it with his hand, bounced it from his knee into the air, then banked it [into the goal] using his head,” he said. “Then he was gone.

To huge applause.”

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THE CAMP’S BIGGEST NAMES In 1996, the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary by naming its 50 Greatest Players in NBA history. The list included a combined 107 championship rings, more than 400 AllStar Game appearances and nearly 1 million points scored.

Seven of the 50 are part of Campbell Basketball School lore, from Bob Cousy pitching the McCall’s Rebounder in the late 1950s to Nate “Tiny” Archibald’s speech to campers in 2001. In between, Buies Creek hosted Bill Sharman, Dolph Schayes, Pete Maravich, James Worthy and the greatest of them all, Michael Jordan.

Below are just some of the basketball greats who have contributed to the school in the last 60 years, whether as an instructor or speaker.

1) John Wooden: The “Wizard of Westwood” and a staple at Campbell Basketball School for 10 years from the late 60s to his retirement. Winner of 10 NCAA national championships in a 12-year period at UCLA. Considered by many the greatest basketball coach of all time.

2) Michael Jordan: The greatest basketball player of all time. Six-time NBA

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champion, six-time NBA Finals MVP, five-time NBA MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star, NBA’s all-time playoff scoring leader. Owner of the Charlotte Hornets.

3) Pete Maravich: NCAA all-time scoring leader with 44.2 points per game in four years at LSU. Fivetime NBA All-Star and NBA scoring champion in 1977. Number retired by LSU, Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans.

4) Bob Cousy: Six-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, including five straight from 1959 to ‘63. NBA MVP in 1957 and a 13-time NBA All-Star. Led NBA in assists eight-straight seasons and introduced a new blend of ball-handling and passing skills that earned him the name, “Mr. Basketball.”

5 5) Dean Smith: Head coach at UNC-Chapel Hill for 36 years, winner of two national championships and 879 total games (fourth most in Division I men’s basketball history).

Appeared in 11 NCAA Final Fours and won 17 regularseason ACC titles.

6) Jerry West: NBA Champion in 1972 with the Lakers, 14-time NBA AllStar and 1970 NBA scoring champion. Nicknamed “The Logo,” West’s silhouette was incorporated into the NBA logo.

7) John Lucas: Two-time All-American player at Maryland and ACC Athlete of the Year in 1976. Played 14 seasons in the NBA, making it to the Finals in 1986 with Houston.

Coached for three teams in the NBA, taking the Spurs to the playoffs twice in the early 90s.

8) Ralph Sampson: No. 1 pick in the 1983 NBA Draft after winning NCAA College Player of the Year three times at Virginia. NBA Rookie of the Year with Houston Rockets in ‘84.

Four-time NBA All-Star and 1985 All-Star Game MVP. 9) Kay Yow: Five-time ACC champion as head coach of N.C. State, 1988 Olympic Gold medalist and 2002 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Had a 737-344 career record as head coach for Elon from 197175 and N.C. State from 1975-2009.

10) James Worthy: Hall of Famer, three-time NBA Champion, seven-time NBA All-Star and the 1988 NBA Finals MVP with the Los Angeles Lakers. No. 1 overall pick of the 1982 NBA Draft. Final Four CoMost Outstanding Player

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on UNC’s 1982 national championship team.

Appeared as a Klingon in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

11) “Tiny” Archibald: Hall of Famer who played 14 seasons in the NBA. NBA Champion in 1981 with Boston Celtics, six-time NBA All-Star and 1973 NBA scoring champion and assists leader (the only player to lead in both categories).

12) George Karl: Head coach of the Sacramento Kings and former coach of the Seattle Supersonics and Denver Nuggets. NBA Coach of the Year in 2013.

Became the seventh coach in NBA history to record 1,000 wins in 2010. Played six seasons for the San Antonio Spurs in the 70s after his college career at UNC-Chapel Hill.

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9 13) Dolph Schayes: Fourth-overall pick of the New York Knicks in 1948.

Played 16 seasons, winning the 1955 NBA title with the Syracuse Nationals. Twelvetime NBA All-Star. NBA Coach of the Year in 1966.

14) Christian Laettner: Hit game-winning shot in 1992 regional final against Kentucky for national champion Duke.

ACC Player of the Year in ‘92 and two-time ACC Athlete of the Year. Played 13 seasons in the NBA, earning an All-Star selection in 1997. No. 32 retired by Duke University.

15) Bill Sharman: Teamed with Cousy to form one of the greatest backcourts of all time with the Boston Celtics in the 50s. Ten-time NBA Champion (four as a player, one as a head coach, five as an executive) and eight-time NBA All-

Star. One of only four in Naismith Hall of Fame as a player and coach (John Wooden is another).

16) Lefty Driesell: Two-time ACC Coach of the Year at Maryland and four-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year at Davidson. Coached for 41 years and is the only coach to lead four different schools to 100 or more wins. Inducted into College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Other notable names: Sam Perkins, Eric Montross, Len Chappell, Danny Ferry, Vinny Del Negro, Bobby Cremins, Skip Brown, Chris Corchiani, Randolph Childress, J.R. Reid, Mike Curry, Tim McMillan, George Lehmann, Bobby Hurley, Billy Packer, Terry Holland, Rick Barnes, Kelvin Sampson and Dave Odom.

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THE KIDS

It was like Christmas in June for generations of young men and women who took part in the camp

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an Spainhour couldn’t pin down the exact year (“It was 1970-something”), and he thought he may have been 11 or 12 at the time … maybe 13. Those details were hazy. But everything else about his experiences at Campbell Basketball School were crystal clear over 40 years later.

even Georgia and Florida. Their days began with an early breakfast in Marshbanks Cafeteria and a devotional in Turner Auditorium, then drills from 8 to 11, lunch at Marshbanks, drills from 2 to 5, dinner at Marshbanks and drills from 6 to 9 before returning to the dorms for lights out.

“It was a big day for me. My family loaded up the station wagon, and drove me two hours south to Campbell,” he said. “This was my first experience on a college campus, and if you were a kid in North Carolina who liked basketball, this was the camp. It was the school.”

The boys, ages 8 to 18, would be split into groups and bussed all over Harnett County to gyms in Erwin, Dunn, Bunnlevel, Lafayette, Lillington and Angier, to name a few. Lessons would cover passing, dribbling, screening, “offball movement” and defense.

Spainhour and hundreds of other young men (“It seemed like 1,000”) arrived on Sunday and stayed through Saturday. They slept in dorms with roommates from other parts of the state … some from South Carolina and Virginia or

Their teachers were legends. The counselors, many of them were future legends.

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The experience was a dream come true for Spainhour and had an enormous impact on

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his eventual decision to make basketball his career. He would go on to become a successful high school coach before joining Florida State University as the director of basketball operations. And for the past 25 years, he’s run his own basketball school, East Coast Basketball Camps in Winston-Salem. He’s even penned a book, “How to Run a Basketball Camp: A Guide to Directing a Successful Basketball Camp,” which opens with his Campbell experience.

“Campbell’s camp was way ahead of its time,” he said. “That experience is what I try to offer in my camps. I want them to be fun, but I want the kids to come away having learned something valuable. The focus is on the fundamentals — that’s what I remember most about Campbell

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as a kid. The teaching. The lectures. Going to a gym on a hot summer day and getting all this knowledge from great coaches. It was hot and miserable, but it was awesome.”

School” when his parents asked him what he wanted from Santa that year. He was thinking ahead, as June was still a good seven months away in December.

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But at that time, forward thinking was necessary to guarantee a spot.

“Coach McCall never imagined how popular this thing had become.”

— Caulton Tudor ____________________________________ Twice — when he was 15 and 16 years old — Caulton Tudor answered “Campbell Basketball

“The camp just took off,” he said. “All of the sudden, if you didn’t get your application in shortly after the new year, you weren’t sure you’d get in.”

At its peak in the 70s and early 80s, Campbell Basketball School was bringing in more than 2,000 kids a year — about 800 boys a week for two weeks and about 400 girls for the third and final week. The camp had become a well-oiled

machine, equipped with an army of busses shipping kids, coaches and calendars to every elementary, middle and high school in the county where the students were met by coaches ready to spend the next 90 minutes pounding fundamentals into their heads.

“The one thing they kept telling us is, ‘You’re here to learn basketball,’” said Tudor, who’d go on to a successful career as a sports writer and columnist for the Raleigh News & Observer. “And you learned basketball.

Strictly fundamentals. Red Myers [former head coach at Erskine College] ran the Angier camp and taught defensive technique. He didn’t even bring a basketball with him. You worked on defense, footwork and boxing out.

You never even saw a basketball.”

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One stop was passing. Another was 90 minutes of free throw shooting.

It wasn’t all work and no play. There were games — competitive games — with the best saved for Fridays when that week’s top performers took part in an All-Star game. In the earlier years, students were given a report card at week’s end, grading them on offense, defense and rebounding.

“Fridays, that was your reward. It was basketball, morning, afternoon and night,” Tudor said. “They also handed out superlatives — the Top 10 guys in scoring, passing, rebounding or defense. You got better in all these areas. That was the true mission of the camp.”

For many, the skills they learned and developed were the biggest take-aways from Campbell Basketball School. For others, it was the friendships made.

Susanna Stevens was among the more than 300 girls who attended the camp each year in the early 1990s. A huge basketball fan who went on to play varsity ball in high school, Stevens enjoyed hanging out with other girls who loved the sport as much as she did. In the little free time they had, she and her roommates would organize pick-up games.

“I enjoyed meeting and making new friends,” she said. “One year, I kept in touch with my roommate by letter after camp. I have such great memories from those camps — I liked

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the small school feel, having independence … I enjoyed going to the cafeteria and eating as much as I wanted. I returned because I loved it. It was definitely the highlight of my summers.”

“We had a great time. There was a lot of laughing,” said Roberts. “And the pranks … once they lit a smoke bomb and tossed it into one of the coaches’ cars, and it looked like it just blew up.”

The coaches loved it, too, according to Danny Roberts, and not just because the camp served as an extra paycheck during the otherwise work-free summer months.

Though many of their respective schools faced off against each other from November through March, the coaches were a tight-knit bunch in Buies Creek. Many stayed in the dorms, rooming with their rivals. They ate in Marshbanks with the kids, and enjoyed latenight card games and a few cold ones when the younger visitors were fast asleep.

Coach McCall woke up one morning to find his car — a tiny French Renault that resembled a Volkswagen Beetle — missing in his usual parking spot. Overnight, the other coaches had opened the doors to Carter Gym and rolled the little car to the center of the court.

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“Something like that was happening all the time,” Roberts said. “We just all became really good friends. It didn’t matter if you were John Wooden or the coach down at the

high school. You were part of the group. I felt like I was working with my friends.”

The friendships were paramount to Campbell Basketball School’s success. But another important factor, according to Roberts, was the kids themselves — kids who were there for not only the experience, but to also learn and become better basketball players.

“To have more than 800 kids in a week and never have a problem is pretty impressive,” he said. “We never had a big fight. They were so tired come 11, we never had a problem getting them to bed. We never even had a wreck on one of those old busses. It just all ran smoothly.”

Orangeade Carroll Leggett worked the tobacco fields for as long as he was could remember when in 1955, at the age of 14, he walked into Stephenson Soda and Sundry Shop on the campus of Campbell College and asked for a job.

Working indoors during the summer — in a place with air conditioning no less — was like he’d died and gone to Heaven.

The following year, the soda shop (located where the Wallace Student Center is today, mere yards from Carter Gymnasium) became the “go-to stop” for thirsty athletes at the first-ever Campbell Basketball School. The shop’s specialty — and the drink all the kids were pining for — was Orangeade.

One whole orange. A generous amount of simple syrup. Ice nuggets (not cubes).

That was it. Yet the process was almost enough to make Leggett long for the tobacco fields, even in June.

“We made each one individually, by hand,” he said. “The store would be packed. You literally could not fit another body in there at times. By the end of the day, I’d be exhausted, and the palms of my hands would be bruised from pushing the orange squeezer over and over.”

Leggett served hundreds and hundreds of kids every June until he graduated high school and left Buies Creek in 1960. He also served his fair share of legends. Bob Cousy, the Hall of Famer and 1957 NBA Most Valuable Player for the Boston Celtics, was a regular. So was Len Chappell, the 6-foot-8 star from Wake Forest who went on to a nine-year career in the pros. “He was a huge guy, and the kids adored him,” Leggett said of Chappell. “He came in a lot, and I just remember him being very laid back.

We always wondered if he was totally awake; he was that gentle-natured.”

Orangeade became as legendary as the basketball camp. Long after the soda shop closed, the beverage could be found at the Oasis student snack bar and at the pro shop at Keith Hills golf course.

“It was like lemonade, but much sweeter,” said Susanna Stevens, who attended the girls camp for four years in the early 1990s. “It was perfect after a day of sweating so much. I looked forward to it … it was like a once-a-year treat for me.”

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The Chief

The Basketball School inspired many, perhaps none more than Charlotte Hornets President Fred Whitfield

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efore a crowd of media, microphones, cameras and anyone with a stake in the city of Charlotte, Fred Whitfield and his longtime friend Michael Jordan beamed.

For five years, the duo — the greatest basketball player of all time and one of the few members of his famous “inner circle” — had worked to revive a downtrodden NBA franchise and make the city and the state relevant to pro basketball at a level not seen since the early 1990s.

On June 22, their hard work paid off.

Commissioner Adam Silver was in town to announce Charlotte as the host of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, an event projected to have more than a $100 million economic impact on the city. An event that screams, “Charlotte is back, basketball fans.”

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With Whitfield at his side, Jordan spoke of his purchase of the then-Charlotte Bobcats in 2010, reteaming with Whitfield, named the franchise’s president and chief operating officer four years earlier. Jordan called the last five years “our passage back to the top,” a passage that included the revival of the “Hornets” name that left for New Orleans when the team did in 2002.

“It’s been a lot of work,” Jordan said over the sound of lens clicks and shuffling reporters. “Fred knows this.”

Rewind a few months earlier — Whitfield’s sitting in his office on the second floor of the Time Warner Cable Arena, one window overlooking a downtown parking garage and the other a practice court emblazoned with the new Hornets logo. He’s spent the past 45 minutes talking about his time at Campbell University

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Photo courtesy of the Charlotte Hornets Campbell Magazine

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Photo courtesy of the Charlotte Hornets

— where he was a member of the school’s first Division I men’s basketball team and later inducted into the program’s Hall of Fame — and how the world famous Campbell Basketball School shaped his life.

and seeing all my friends,” he said. “You had kids from all over the state and some from out of state, and the camaraderie we had … that’s what really stuck with me. That’s what I remember most.”

It was in Buies Creek, he says, where he learned about life and the game of basketball from great men like Wooden, McCall, McKinney and Maravich. It was in Buies Creek where met Jordan and became fast friends long before MJ’s meteoric rise to basketball stardom. It was in Buies Creek where Whitfield was convinced to pursue degrees in business and law — decisions that cleared the path that would eventually lead to Charlotte.

The camps helped his game tremendously as well. McCall’s camps had a strong focus on fundamental basketball skills, Whitfield said.

He was able to take those fundamentals and hone them in the weeks leading into his middle or high school basketball seasons. The result — Whitfield was recruited by Campbell after his senior year, but he instead chose to play for UNC-Greensboro, a Division III school at the time. After his freshman year, Whitfield was named an honorable mention All-American.

In less than an hour, it becomes clear that the Charlotte Hornets’ success wasn’t just the result of a five-year plan. The city’s return to basketball respectability was molded decades earlier, 136 miles east in a cramped, musty gym in Buies Creek.

Whitfield attended his first Campbell basketball camp when he was 8. Two hours away from his parents in Greensboro for a week, he attended the camps with his friends every summer until he was 18. He has fond memories of the gyms they learned in, the buses they rode in and the dorms they stayed in on campus.

“Every June I looked forward to coming back

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“Coincidentally, after Campbell’s run in the NAIA finals, they chose to become a Division I school that next year,” Whitfield said. “I reached out to Coach [Danny] Roberts, because I wanted to play against better talent.”

Campbell went 9-15 in its first year as a Division I independent and 10-16 the following season, playing most of its games on the road and even its “home” games in Raleigh or Fayetteville because Carter Gym didn’t meet certain specifications to host big games. In his senior year, the Camels went 15-12, and Whitfield earned a spot on the national All-Independent team (it would take another seven years before

Campbell earned a winning record again). He finished his career averaging 12.6 points per game.

Playing for Campbell offered Whitfield the opportunity each summer to take part in the camp he loved so much as a kid. By the late 1970s, Campbell Basketball School was still drawing more than 1,500 kids and dozens of bigname coaches and athletes from the ACC and other big conference schools. Whitfield became a counselor, which meant teaching kids throughout the day and taking part in some of the legendary pick-up games at Carter Gym at night.

“The counselor games at night … we had the entire community coming to see these games,” Whitfield said, recalling games that included mega-stars like Virginia’s Ralph Sampson, UNC’s James Worthy and Clyde Austin, Sidney Lowe and Hawkeye Whitney of N.C. State. “I took these games seriously. All the Campbell players took them seriously, at least more than the ACC players. This was our opportunity to gauge just how good we really were, as opposed to how good we thought we were.”

Another star Whitfield got to know was a young kid coming off a memorable freshman year at UNC that ended with him hitting the game-winning shot in the national title game. Whitfield, by then an assistant coach for Campbell, was in the Louisiana Superdome

Fred Whitfield was elected into the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995, on the same day as former head coach and Basketball School founder Fred McCall. A member of Campbellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Division I basketball squad, Whitfield still ranks among the all-time career scorers in school history. He played for the Camels for three years after spending his freshman season at UNC-Greensboro. In his senior season, he led the Camels to a 15-12 mark (its first winning season at the Division I level) and earned a spot on the national All-Independent team.

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ACHIEVEMENTS UNLIMITED Campbell Basketball School’s impact on Fred Whitfield’s life has extended much farther than his career. In 1984, he started his own summer hoops camp, Achievements Unlimited Basketball School, building on Campbell’s core goal of teaching basketball fundamentals and adding two others — encourage academic success and instill a powerful anti-drug message.

Now in its 31st year, Achievements Unlimited has reached more than 10,000 campers, many of them underprivileged young men who otherwise couldn’t afford a week-long basketball education featuring former and current NBA stars.

On the first day of camp, each student receives a list of vocabulary words they are required to define and study throughout the week. Participation in the camp’s All-Star Game depends on the campers’ vocabulary skills just as much as their basketball prowess. Charlotte-area drug abuse prevention agencies participate every year to educate and engage the campers, making their week about much more than basketball.

“Without having grown up with the Campbell experience, I never would have learned how to build a camp and build a culture,” Whitfield said.

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in New Orleans in March 1982 for a coaches’ conference when Michael Jordan became a national name by hitting a 16-foot jump shot from the left wing with 15 seconds to go to beat Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas, 63-62.

Jordan had first attended Campbell’s camp a year earlier after his senior year of high school and would return to Buies Creek two months after the big shot that made him a big shot. Pre-celeb Jordan was in Whitfield’s group during that first camp, and the two hit it off immediately. When Campbell wasn’t playing, Whitfield would drive up to Chapel Hill to catch Jordan’s Tar Heels and often go out to eat with him and Jordan’s roommate, Buzz Peterson, after those games.

In Buies Creek, Whitfield shared the bench as an assistant coach with Press Maravich, former head coach at Clemson, N.C. State and LSU and father to Hall of Famer “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

Whitfield earned his MBA during his return to Campbell, and the elder Maravich was on his case constantly about getting out of basketball and getting a law degree.

“Press was a father figure and a mentor to me,” Whitfield said. “I sat next to him for a whole year, and he kept on me about law school. ‘You’re too damn smart to be a coach,’ he’d tell me. I didn’t know what he meant by that, because it felt like some coaches were

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doing pretty well for themselves. But I took it to heart.”

Whitfield left Campbell, MBA in hand, and worked in marketing for Southern Bell. It took one more push by Maravich — this one in the form of a long hand-written letter — to convince him to seek another path. The next year, Whitfield was accepted to North Carolina Central’s law school.

This was in 1985. The following year, Michael Jordan set an NBA record with 63 points in a playoff game against the Boston Celtics. In ‘87, he wowed the world by winning his first of two straight Slam Dunk Contests.

Back in North Carolina, Whitfield would visit Jordan or Sampson during breaks from law school and catch as many games as possible, especially games in Charlotte. With law degree in hand, Whitfield went to work for the law firm that represented Jordan and other NBA stars like Ewing, Charlotte’s Alonzo Mourning, Muggsy Bogues and Dikembe Mutombo.

From there, Whitfield went on to Nike, where he managed more than 150 players in the NBA’s Eastern Conference and negotiated their shoe endorsement deals. He was a big factor in the highly successful “L’il Penny” ad campaigns featuring the Orlando Magic’s Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

Each step in his career — coach, marketing professional, lawyer and player agent — molded Whitfield to become the successful NBA team executive he is today. As president and chief operating officer, Whitfield oversees all business operations for the Hornets and Time Warner Cable Arena. Since his arrival, he’s overseen the most dramatic growth in both franchise and arena history — from simultaneously signing an arena naming rights deal and a television broadcast rights deal to doubling the number of corporate partners and launching the Cats Care community initiative.

In his time, Charlotte has attracted the CIAA, ACC and NCAA tournaments, global concert tours like Paul McCartney and Billy Joel and the 2012 Democratic National Convention. This year’s All-Star announcement was the icing on the cake for a man who says he’s “too busy” to sit back and reflect on his career and his success. But he is well aware of where it all started.

“The culture of the camps at Campbell, the great education I got there, having a guy like Press really push me to dream much bigger than I was dreaming at the time and to ultimately meet my boss,” said Whitfield, who was recently named to the University’s Board of Trustees. “Other than being fortunate to have the parents I have, Campbell is at the core of everything positive that’s happened in my life.”

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Photos by Billy Liggett

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LEGACY LIVES

It’s no longer the only camp around, but today’s Campbell Basketball School is still about fundamentals

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en-year-old Nicholas Avery of Angier was born two years after Michael Jordan played his last professional basketball game. He’s never heard of Pete Maravich, Ralph Sampson or the other big names who made Campbell Basketball School world famous.

But the fundamentals stressed by Fred McCall, Bones McKinney and those many, many stars who taught generations in Buies Creek are still the focal point of what is now the nation’s longest-running basketball camp. So, too, are the life lessons.

Asked to share what he learned most from his camp experience at Campbell, Avery didn’t hesitate. “Always have a good attitude and always give your best effort.”

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The message has changed little. Very little else has remained the same.

Entering its 60th year next year, Campbell Basketball School no longer boasts the biggest names in the sport. The cramped, musty gymnasiums spread throughout Harnett County have been replaced by the cool, modern confines of the Pope Convocation Center, which houses a practice court larger than Carter Gym’s wood floor. Buies Creek was once the temporary home to about 1,000 young men per week in the camp’s heyday.

This year’s weeklong camp hosted about 75 students, with similar numbers attending various weekend and elite camps spread throughout the summer.

Run today by third-year head basketball coach Kevin McGeehan, Campbell Basketball

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School isn’t a one-of-a-kind experience anymore. It isn’t the only camp around. In fact, it’s one of hundreds in North Carolina alone. It’s a reality McGeehan has accepted, but it’s by no means a reality that can’t be overcome.

“I think to gauge success by your numbers at this time is silly,” he said. “We’re focused today on continual growth. We want this year’s camp to be bigger than last year’s, and next year’s to be bigger than this year’s. I hope we’re in a situation in a few years where we’re hoping Buies Creek Elementary isn’t refinishing its floor, because we really need that extra gym to house another group. I want to get back to a point where our courts are full, and we’re looking for the next place to teach these guys.

I still want it to be a quality experience that kids are excited to be a part of.”

McGeehan has kept the overnight camp, though it runs four nights now instead of six. To work around busy schedules, year-round high schools, summer vacations and competition from other schools and camps, McGeehan added two “elite prospect” camps for high school recruits to not only showcase their skills, but get to know Campbell University as well. A weekend day camp was added for pre-teens and teens who aren’t interested in overnight stays, and a “miniCamels camp” was created for young boys, ages 5-10.

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“I saw the writing on the wall when Billy Lee was coach here [in the mid 1990s]. We had a player from Carolina — and he wasn’t even one of the good guys — come down to speak to the kids and sign autographs. I remember he came down, sat in his car, rolled down the window and signed autographs. They paid him good money to come down and be a part of this camp, and he wouldn’t even get out of his car.”

— Andy Shell, Campbell alumnus, campus recreation director ____________________________________ By the mid 90s, attendance at Campbell Basketball School began to dip. By that time, the big three basketball programs in the Triangle were hosting their own camps

(modeled after Campbell’s), but Stan Cole — who was still fairly new to his role as Campbell’s sports information director at the time — said new rules preventing camps from paying athletes more than other counselors played a big part in keeping the big names away.

“For years, a lot of the kids who visited our camp would not only come here to learn basketball, but if they were a Carolina or State fan, they also got to meet players like Danny Ferry,” Cole said. “When Campbell ceased to be able to do that, that was the first hit.”

Then in 2005, another hit. The NCAA passed legislation barring coaches from other colleges and universities from speaking at another school’s basketball camp (for fear of “increased access” to prospects and unfair recruiting advantages).

The boys’ camp soldiered on thanks to tweaks along the way. In 2005, after turning away coaches like Herb Sendek, Jeff Lebo and Dave Odom because of the new NCAA regulations, former Campbell head men’s basketball coach Robbie Laing added a “father-son” camp that drew more than 100 that year.

The girl’s camp, which peaked at about 450 to 500 campers in the 1980s, was not as fortunate. Wanda Watkins, who notched her 500th win as head coach of Campbell’s

women’s team in 2014 and a long-time instructor and eventually director for the girl’s summer camp, once attracted the state’s top coaches to her school, legends like the late Kay Yow and UNC’s Sylvia Hatchell.

But she shut down the camp in 2012 after enrolling barely 40 girls that year.

“It got to the point where there were so many other camps around and so many kids were involved in summer leagues like AAU, we just felt like it was time to give it a break,” said Watkins, who added that the rise in other women’s sports like soccer, volleyball and lacrosse also played a part in the declining numbers. “To say it’s totally deceased right now wouldn’t be accurate. Our camp was around for 41 years, and took quite an effort to keep it going.” ___________________________________

“When I was hired by Campbell, there wasn’t a person I met after who didn’t bring up the camp.

Every single person. I’d be in a restaurant, an airport … Indianapolis, Orlando, Virginia Beach … everybody would say, ‘Ah, Campbell.

The Basketball School. John Wooden.’”

— Current men’s head basketball coach Kevin McGeehan ___________________________________ McGeehan wasn’t thinking about summer camps when he accepted the challenge of turning around a program that hasn’t seen an NCAA Tournament bid since 1992. But he soon learned that just about anybody with a connection to Campbell basketball had a connection with the Basketball School. And many others who had no connection with Campbell still either attended the camp or had an uncle or father who attended.

In his first year, McGeehan looked at the feasibility of continuing the camp or possibly even doing away with the “overnight” part of it. But the history was too important, he said.

Fathers and sons Press and Pete Maravich are the most prominent, but they’re by far not the only family combo to leave a legacy at Campbell Basketball School. There have been several father-and-son, father-anddaughter, brother-and-sister combos over the decades.

Head Men’s Basketball Coach Kevin McGeehan and his sons, Jack, 9, and Connor, 7, kept that legacy alive this summer (4-year-old Grace has yet to show much interest). McGeehan’s boys took part in the basketball camp, and Dad said their presence has made him a better instructor.

“Any opportunity to be with them and share all the unbelievable experiences that come through sports is special to me, and I’m blessed to have that opportunity,” McGeehan said. “I hope it’s making me a better camp director, because I’m seeing it through their eyes. At the dinner table, they’d tell me about what they liked and didn’t like, whereas before, this was information I’d try to grab from a kid at the water fountain. Plus, I know I’m getting the truth of these guys.”

The camp was a learning experience for McGeehan’s collegiate players, too, as just about the whole team participated in instructing and providing demonstrations during the overnight camp. Not only is it an opportunity for them to “give back” to the community, the coach said, but it also introduces the guys to the young men who look up to them and idolize them.

“There’s something valuable about that for our players, and not just from a basketball

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perspective, but a life perspective,” McGeehan said. “It’s about more than just them. Somebody’s eyes are on them.

They’re watching how you work, and they’re emulating you. With that comes responsibility.”

McGeehan recalled seeing his younger son hit a long-range shot and celebrating with “3 Goggles,” making glasses around his eye with his thumbs and pointer fingers while lifting up the others to make a “three.”

“I told him, ‘Hey, we’re not doing that,’” he said. “And he said, ‘But Dad, I saw your guys do it.’ Yeah, but I’m getting them not to do it, too. It’s about being a good sport and a good teammate, and not showing up the competition. It’s a good example of how the little guys are paying attention to everything they do.”

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“We’re in such a basketball-rich state, 25 to 30 miles from Carolina, Duke and N.C. State,” he said. “The history is unbelievable, and for me, when you think of our camp, I feel like, ‘Gosh, we have a piece of that.’ There is a cool, rich tradition in this state, and Campbell is part of it.”

To keep the legacy alive, McGeehan continues to focus on the fundamentals at his camps. His most recent overnight camp included 3-on-3 drills where each possession had to begin with a pick-and-roll. The students also witnessed skill-development drills performed by current Campbell athletes — a fast-paced 25-minute workout that included fast-break passing and layups, shooting drills and more. Later in the week, the students were put through the same regimen.

“You’d be amazed at how even guys with college scholarships get better by doing that high-intensity warm-up every day, all the time while they have four coaches’ eyes on them, correcting them when mistakes arise,” McGeehan said. “We try to give that to the kids. It gives them a taste of how it’s done by athletes at the next level. It shows them how hard you have to work to get to that point. Not

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every kid who comes to our camp is going to be a college basketball player, but for those who dream of it … this is what it takes.”

McGeehan said he is also a firm believer in charting progress. If his 9-year-old son is in the driveway practicing, he’ll ask him how he did.

Whether or not he got better.

“If I made 25 of 50 shots in the driveway today, tomorrow I’m going to aim for making 26,” he said. “If you don’t have those goals, it’s hard to focus on improvement. And to get better, you focus on the fundamentals.”

It’s the same message delivered by Fred McCall and Bones McKinney in Carter Gym 59 years earlier, and it’s the reason there will always be a need for Campbell Basketball School, according to Watkins.

THE OLDEST SCHOOLS Snow Valley Basketball School in Santa Barbara, California, promotes itself each year as the longest-running basketball school in the country. It’s not the only one. Snow Valley, however, launched a full five years after the school at Campbell. The nation’s oldest hoops camps include: • Campbell Basketball School: 1956 • Taylor University Basketball Camp (Ind.): 1957 • Connecticut Basketball School: 1960 • Red Auerbach Basketball School (R.I.): 1960

“Campbell will always be known for it,” she said.

“I can be in California, wearing a Campbell shirt in an elevator, and someone will see it and tell me about their son or daughter who attended our camps.

• Snow Valley Basketball School (Calif.): 1961

“It still happens. It will always happen.”

• Five Star Basketball Camp: 1966

• Coach Wootten’s Basketball Camp (Neb.): 1961 • Hoop Group Skills Camp (N.J.): 1963

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Campbell Magazine

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930, Oil on Beaver Board, Friends of the American Art Collection, 1930.934, The Art Institute of Chicago. Illustration: Jonathan Bronsink

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Among

GIants

Any thought that Campbell didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belong among the best womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf programs in the nation was erased with its return to the NCAA Championship Story and Photos By Billy Liggett

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It’s a much-needed moment of levity before the biggest golf tournament of their lives.

Senior Lisbeth Brooks is approached by a reporter from the nearby Sarasota Herald-Tribune, who’s intrigued by Campbell’s mascot and the fuzzy Camel-head driver cover in Brooks’ bag.

“He’s Gaylord the Camel,” she tells the writer. “But most people think he’s a horse.”

He asks Brooks about the team’s chant before they tee off — a chant that ends with a “camel sound.” “Rawwrrgh!” she demonstrates as her teammates laugh behind her.

“Or,” she adds as the laughter dies down, “we could just spit.”

T

here aren’t many national title-worthy women’s golf teams like Campbell University’s, and this has nothing to do with the girls’ ability to crack jokes and laugh when the pressure’s on and nothing to do with their unique mascot with the funny name. Scroll down the list of the 24 schools in Bradenton, Florida, competing for the coveted NCAA Division I Championship, and you get the sense that Campbell doesn’t belong.

But Brooks, senior Brooke Bellomy, junior Tahnia Ravnjak and sophomores Louise Latorre and Nadine White do belong. Four of the five are here for the second year in a row, making Campbell one of only 15 teams in the field making a return appearance in 2015.

And while the camel is still getting its fair share of attention, fewer people are asking where Buies Creek is located. Fewer people are mistaking their orange for Tennessee. And nobody is calling Campbell’s appearance a “fluke.”

“Last year was special, and I’m not going to downplay that,” says Brooks. “But getting here two years in a row? It shows we deserve to be here.”

In 2014, Campbell (led by then-senior Kaylin Yost) entered regionals as the Big South champion and shot a school-record for a 54hole tournament at the NCAA Regionals

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Photo by Tahnia Ravnjak

USC. Duke. Arizona. LSU. Alabama. Texas A&M. Tennessee. UCLA. The opposition has an average enrollment of 33,300 students, more than five times that of Campbell’s 6,400.

in Tallahassee, Florida, to advance to the Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their road in 2015 was more difficult — the Camels finished second in the Big South Tournament behind Coastal Carolina and relied on an atlarge bid to get to Regionals in Raleigh. There, the girls entered the final round on the outside looking in at the Top 6 spots needed to move on.

we were good, but we didn’t want to do stupid things. At the regionals, I told them, ‘Forget doing stupid things. You’re real good. Go do what you do.’”

Led by the two seniors, Campbell finished the final three holes with a flurry of pin-point birdie and par putts to claim the sixth and final spot to advance to the championships.

“I just thought, ‘Wow,’” she says. “Seeing everybody’s faces and being able to pour water on Coach; and to see him smiling and his wife crying because she was so happy for us — that was a good moment.”

“We seemed to have approached a lot of tournaments this year as if we didn’t want to make mistakes and we wanted to be careful,” says their head coach, John Crooks. “We knew

Bellomy, on the eve of her final tournament as a Camel, calls Raleigh her favorite Campbell moment.

Photo by Tahnia Ravnjak w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e

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WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE North Carolinians think they know heat and humidity.

Not counting trips to Disney World, very few have ever spent four consecutive days outdoors in Central Florida in late May, walking the equivalent of six miles each day while breathing soup-thick steamy air in 95-degree heat.

The Concession — a grueling course without the heat — offers little by way of shade for both players and spectators. Those areas that do offer respite with towering pines and palm trees are surrounded by palmettos, other native vegetation and wetlands, hiding an array of snakes and more than a few alligators.

For teams like the University of Washington and Northwestern, Bradenton (about 30 minutes south of Tampa) may as well be Mars.

Even Campbell’s squad — represented by two Australians, one French and two Americans from West Virginia and Wisconsin — isn’t accustomed to these elements. Only White, from the northern (and thus, hotter) part of Australia, and assistant coach Ryan Ashburn (an alum and standout golfer from Stetson University near Orlando) feel at home this close to the Equator.

Day 1 of their four-day stint is 18 holes of practice-round golf — by far the most important hours leading up to any tournament, says Ashburn.

“You gather a lot of information about a golf course on a day like this,” she says, cool towel draped over her neck. “Today gets their mindset going. We’ve been working on a lot of things the past few weeks, and today is the day they get to try out what they’ve learned. They get to test the greens, see which way the ball rolls on what holes. The more you know about a course, the more confident you are.”

It gets them used to the climate, too, she says.

“It gets hot in North Carolina, but this … this is different,” she adds.

They spend 10 minutes on one green trying to master the six-foot drop that welcomes anyone who hits just right of the pin. At 4 p.m., with the heat at its most brutal, the five girls chip multiple times before they’re comfortable enough to move on.

Not that it’s all work and no play.

Ravnjak has fun with her GoPro camera,

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stopping for “selfies” in front of several bluecircled NCAA signs throughout the course, and getting her teammates to jump on the spot where the logo is painted on the 12th fairway. Brooks has been known to keep a water pistol in her bag (more welcome on a day like this), and it becomes evident while watching other teams — some of whom barely speak to each other while focusing solely on the next shot — that team chemistry isn’t just a strength for Campbell. It’s vital.

“I don’t even consider us a team. I consider us best friends,” says Brooks. “You hear all these stories about how other teams, especially girl teams, have a lot of personality clashes. But Coach recruits the person before the player, so all the people that come in are generally goodhearted people.”

When you’re around teammates this much, personality helps. During their 2014-15 campaign, the team traveled to South Carolina and Colorado in September; Daytona Beach and back to South Carolina in November; Orlando in February; South Carolina for a third time, Tucson, Arizona and Coral Gables in March and a final trip to South Carolina for the Big South Championship in April before the Regional in Raleigh in early May. Downtime, the girls say, is usually spent in their hotel rooms, watching mindless TV shows like “The Kardashians” or, ahem, “Dance Moms.”

Thursday evenings are dominated by “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal.”

“It sounds boring, but it’s not,” says White.

“After a round, we just want to relax. There isn’t a lot of time to do anything else.”

What they don’t do is fight. Ever, says Bellomy … which is an accomplishment in itself considering the long van trips, long flights and multiple nights in shared hotel rooms.

“We really care for each other, and that’s what you need,” she says. “When we go to tournaments, we’re gone for four or five days.

We’re spending so much extra time together … who else would you want to spend time with?”

ONE BIG FAMILY John Crooks won a USGA junior national championship and an NCAA championship as a player at the University of Houston. As a coach, he’s led Campbell’s men’s and women’s golf teams to 12 conference titles and 18 NCAA postseason berths. This year marked the women’s

third trip to the NCAA Championships under Crooks, who ranks fourth all-time and second among active Division I head coaches with 76 tournament victories.

Yet when the 2006 National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee is asked during his girls’ practice round in Bradenton what he was looking for, his answer has nothing to do with golf.

“The main thing is that some of their parents are here,” he says, sitting in his cart and mixing orange Powerade with ice-cold water. “Some of them haven’t seen their parents in four or five months. That’s taking priority right now.

“As far as golf goes … they’ll be OK.” The two Aussies are joined by their parents for the week, and Latorre’s parents and older sister will be coming in from France the following morning. For Vicki Ravnjak, Tahnia’s mother, this marks the first time she’s ever seen her daughter play in the United States. What amounted to a 30-hour trip because of flight delays and extended layovers can’t break the excitement she has to see Tahnia play against the world’s best collegiate golfers.

“Tahnia’s goal is to play on the LPGA Tour, and being here gives her the best opportunity,” she says. “Was it tough letting her go? Of course, but I want her to follow her dreams. I don’t want her looking back down the line and saying, ‘What if?’”

It helps, she says, that Tahnia is part of a “big, happy family” at Campbell. She views Coach Crooks as a father figure to the girls, a sentiment echoed by the other Australian parents in town, Nadine’s parents Bryan and Joanne.

“It’s not difficult to send them away when they’re living their dreams,” says Joanne.

“We have nothing like this in Australia,” Tahnia’s father says. “They don’t combine university and sports like they do here in the states. This is just fantastic.”

Tahnia and Nadine both credit Campbell alum and the team’s first Australian player Kylie Pratt (‘99) for helping make their transition easier.

Pratt, a consultant for Strive4College recruitment services and former caddie for LPGA Tour member Hee Young Park, helped get the girls’ paperwork together and had the girls interested in Campbell long before their first official visit.

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BIG FISH

A look at the enrollments of the 24 teams in the 2015 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship tournament, held in Bradenton, Fla. (numbers include graduate and undergraduate students): Texas A&M: 62,185 Washington: 45,213 UCLA: 43,239 USC: 43,000 Arizona: 40,621 Purdue: 38,770 California: 37,581 Alabama: 36,155 UC Davis: 35,415 NC State: 34,009 Texas Tech: 33,111 So. Carolina: 32,848

LSU: 30,451 Arkansas: 26,301 Tennessee: 27,410 Virginia: 21,238 Northwestern: 20,336 UNLV: 28,515 Baylor: 16,263 Stanford: 16,136 Duke: 14,850 Tulane: 13,531 Wake Forest: 7,591 Campbell: 6,435

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Latorre knew very little English when she arrived in Buies Creek, and called her choosing Campbell “an adventure.” Of the eight girls who played in tournaments for Campbell in 2014-15, five are foreign-born. Sophomore Mary-Katelyn Holanek is the team’s only North Carolinian and only returning American next year. In addition to White, Ravnjak and Latorre, freshman Annelie Sjoholm is from Sweden and freshman Ayelen Irizar is from Argentina.

Having their families follow them both during the practice round and for all three rounds of the tournament makes for an even lighter atmosphere, Tahnia says.

“Having them here is a big reason for our positive attitudes and our lively spirit,” she says.

“I haven’t seen my mum in almost a year. She’s making the experience that much better.”

PRISTINE AND DIFFICULT “As stressors go, the Concession Golf Club is groomed anxiety.”

Thus begins the description of the course hosting Campbell and 23 of the world’s best teams by a writer for NCAA.com. The course, designed

by Jack Nicklaus and British golfing great Tony Jacklin, owns the USGA’s highest slope rating of 155 — a number used to calculate the difficulty of a course for an expert golfer. By comparison, Augusta National (home of the Master’s) has a 137 slope rating. Pinehurst No. 2, site of the 2014 men’s and women’s U.S. Open, has a 147.

Bunkers are situated in typical landing zones for those with good tee shots. Approach shots that look and sound good often become

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disastrous even with the severe undulations of the lightning-fast greens.

“This course is designed to host major championships,” says Crooks, “and this is the biggest one they’ve held. They did everything to make it pristine and difficult. Some could argue the best women in the world shouldn’t be as many over par as this, but you know, it’s fair for everybody. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Defending national champion Duke finishes a collective 5-over par after the first round. Topranked Southern California is 9 over. South Carolina, ranked second in the national heading in, shoots 20 over.

Campbell’s day starts off in the worst way imaginable. Brooks is the first to tee off, matched with opponents from N.C. State and California, and her tee shot goes wide left into a patch of pine straw, palmetto and mud. Her group delays the next threesome as a judge carts over to her errant shot to explain the drop procedure.

Despite the disastrous start, Brooks escapes the first hole with a bogey. Her teammates start strong through 13 holes with White collecting two birdies against four bogeys to go 2-over par (good for 23rd overall among more than 130 players), and Campbell finds itself in 10th place before an evening thunderstorm accompanied by lightning halts play early. The postponement forces the girls to tee off at 8:30 a.m. the next day to finish their round, then play another 18 in the heat.

The team shoots four strokes better in the second round, but after adding their final six holes from the first round in the morning, they drop from a 10th-place tie to 21st (though only nine strokes behind Arkansas, Texas A&M and Alabama for a shot at playing a fourth round in the Top 15).

After two days, only two golfers in the entire field are under par.

But any hope for making it to a fourth round is squashed early on Day 3. Only White breaks 80 with a third-round 76, making her the team’s low individual leader at 14-over for the tournament, good for 46th place out of 132 golfers. Campbell drops from 21st to 23rd when it’s all said and done, besting California in the final standings.

“We’re humbled and disappointed that we didn’t make it further,” says Ravnjak, “because we definitely know we have it in us. We have the game to tee it up amongst the best in the country.

I’m definitely proud of my team for making it this far, and I know we gave our best efforts.”

MAKINGS OF A WINNER As director of compliance for Campbell Athletics, Justin Wilkins’ job is important — he makes sure Campbell is meeting NCAA guidelines and following all rules and regulations.

On trips like this, his job is equally important — he has towels, water and sunscreen ready for the girls and their coaches, and he’s there for moral support.

He’s dealt with hundreds of Campbell athletes this year. In Bellomy, Brooks, Latorre, Ravnjak and White, he sees a special group.

“Their work ethic is hard to be matched,” Wilkins says. “They’ll go out, put in their time and practice and play hard. They love each other, and they play for each other. They play hard for their coach. Combine all this, and you have a special group — four regionals and two nationals in the last four years. Heck, Louise Latorre and Nadine White don’t know what it means to not make it to nationals.”

Campbell women’s golf has all the makings, he says, of becoming one of those programs with staying power at the top. It loses Brooks (a four-time All-Big South Conference Team member) and Bellomy (a 2015 All-Big South Championship Team member and the team’s top performer at the Raleigh regional this year).

But the three returning — White, Latorre and Ravnjak — carrying an impressive resume with them heading into 2016. And the stable is stocked with two more international players — Anna Svanka, the top female amateur player in Latvia; and Sofie Huseby, winner of the Norwegian Junior Championship in 2013 and 2014 — joining a strong roster of underclassmen ready to compete for the two spots vacated by the graduating seniors.

Ravnjak, Campbell’s lone senior next year, says there’s pressure to keep the success going, but it’s a pressure she welcomes.

“I think we’re the ones putting pressure on ourselves, and it just makes us more determined to work harder and do it again,” she says. “We will be aiming for [the NCAA Championships, to be held in Eugene, Oregon, in 2016] for the third year in a row, and I’m confident we will be able to accomplish big things.”

�������������������������������� Cherry Crayton contributed to this story. Read Cherry’s “Campbell Proud” feature on the team at campbell.edu/features/campbell-proud-thewomens-golf-team

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Marksberry called up to Atlanta Braves

Photos by Bennett Scarborough

Athletic Notes

2015 MLB DRAFT

Matt Marksberry (‘13) started the 2015 season at the Class A level with the Carolina Mudcats. In August, he became the first Camel to reach the Major Leagues in 32 years when Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry pitched his last game in 1983.

The left-hander made his big league debut in the Atlanta Braves’ 9-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, allowing two hits and a walk in an inning-anda-third of work. His big break was the result of a strong 11-game stretch with Triple-A Gwinnett, where Marksberry went eight-straight relief appearances without giving up a run.

Atlanta selected Marksberry in the 15th round of 2013’s MLB Draft after he went 8-2 for the Camels that season, helping Campbell to a Big South regular season championship, along with a school-record 49 wins.

@SirLEFTYDuro Really blessed to have the opportunity to play professional baseball! Thank you to the @Braves for giving me the chance to live out a dream!

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Heath Bowers

Cedric Mullins

Steven Leonard

Campbell senior right-handed pitcher Heath Bowers was chosen by the Oakland Athletics in the 24th round of the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft. He was the 728th pick overall.

Junior centerfielder Cedric Mullins was picked by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round, the 403rd overall pick after one year at Campbell.

Campbell redshirt junior catcher Steven Leonard was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 23rd round, the 677th pick overall.

Mullins was the highest Camel to be picked in the MLB Draft since the Milwaukee Brewers took Nic Carter in the fourth round in 2002.

The Colorado native was a Second Team All-Big South selection in 2015, hitting .328 with 31 runs scored and 22 RBI. The redshirt junior added a pair of home runs with eight doubles. Leonard added 29 stolen bases for the Camels.

AThletics

Bowers picked up All-Big South honors for the third time (2013 second team, 2014 first team, 2015 second team) as a senior in 2015, becoming only the second Camel in the Division I era (since 1985) to accomplish the feat. He is Campbell’s all-time wins and strikeouts leader.

Orioles

A Snellville, Ga. native, Mullins hit 340 with 59 runs scored and an impressive 34 extra base hits. He hit 23 doubles, 7 triples and 4 home runs, tacking on 23 stolen bases.

Rockies

Koh gets first professional win

Courtesy of Campbell Athletics

Malaysian golfer Michelle Koh (’12) tasted her first professional victory by emerging triumphant in the CTBC Shanghai Ladies Classic at the Tianma Country Club in China.

Freshman Kipkoech Campbell’s first Outdoor track All-American in 32 years Lawrence Kipkoech’s track and field career at Campbell University has only begun, and it’s off to an All-American start.

Kipkoech, a freshman from Eldoret, Kenya, became the school’s second-ever outdoor track and field All-American this spring with his 10thplace finish in the men’s 10,000-meter run at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

He’s the first outdoor All-American since Orville Peterson accomplished the feat in 1983, placing second nationally in the decathlon.

He was also named the Big South Conference Male Runner of the Year, capping a strong freshman year that saw Kipkoech break four school records and claim a pair of conference championships in not only the 10,000-meter run, but the 5,000-meter run as well. He was also named the 2015 Big South Male Freshman of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor

Volleyball

Aug. 28 @ Texas Alington Aug. 29 vs. Texas A&M-CC Aug. 29 vs. Grambling Sept. 1 @ N.C. A&T Sept. 4 UNC Wilmington Sept. 5 Norfolk St. Sept. 5 Sacramento St.

Sept. 11 @ North Florida Sept. 12 vs. Fla. Atlantic Sept. 12 vs. Bethune-Cookman Sept. 18 @ NC State Sept. 19 vs. Tennessee Sept. 19 vs. Hampton Sept. 25 @ High Point

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campaigns after finishing the season with 12 Top-10 finishes in 13 total opportunities.

Kipkoech was Campbell’s first competitor in the outdoor championships since Adoniss Jones ran in the 110-meter hurdles in 2010.

“This year has been exciting with all of the training that I have done,” Kipkoech said, “and I believe that Coach [Michael] Kelly has plans to get even more of us to nationals next season.”

Kelly said the freshman’s appearance in Oregon was a great step for the entire program.

“Other coaches were coming up to me at regionals and saying that they had never seen Campbell there with that many athletes,” he said. “But to get one to move on to nationals will help with so many different aspects of the program such as recruiting and team morale.”

And it was a special occasion for Michelle, as her father Ricky Koh Hock Huat was the caddie. The 24-year-old Koh sizzled with a bogey-free six-under 66 for a two-stroke win. She finished with a three-day total of 10-under 206 to become the first Malaysian to win on the China LPGA Tour.

Polland qualifies for PGA Championship Campbell graduate Ben Polland (’12) qualified for the PGA Championship this summer by finishing as runner-up in the 48th PGA Professional National Championship at the Wissahickon Course at The Philadelphia Cricket Club.

In just his first PGA Professional National Championship, Polland earned one of 20 qualifying places for the 97th PGA Championship, Aug. 13-16, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. At 24 years, 11 months, Polland was the thirdyoungest contestant in the 311-player field.

Fritsch earns spot in U.S. Open Oct. 2 @ Charleston So. Oct. 3 @ Coastal Carolina Oct. 9 Liberty Oct. 10 Radford Oct. 16 Presbyterian Oct. 17 Winthrop Oct. 20 NC Central

Oct. 23 High Point Oct. 30 @ Gardner-Webb Oct. 31 @ UNC Asheville Nov. 6 @ Radford Nov. 7 @ Liberty Nov. 12 Coastal Carolina Nov. 14 Charleston Southern

Former Campbell golf standout Brad Fritsch (’00) secured a place in the 2015 U.S. Open by finishing in tie for seventh place at the Columbus, Ohio sectional qualifier in June.

A member of the Web.com Tour, Fritsch made the cut at the tournament held at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, and finished tied for 46th out of the 150-man field.

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Athletic Notes Football Sept. 3 Pikeville Sept. 12 Chowan Sept. 19 @ Presbyterian Sept. 26 @ Butler Oct. 3 Drake (Family Week) Oct. 10 Marist

Oct. 17 @ Stetson Oct. 24 Morehead St. (Homecoming) Oct. 31 @ Davidson Nov. 7 @ San Diego Nov. 14 Jacksonville

Men’s Soccer Aug. 28 @ Davidson Sept. 4 vs. Elon (@ UNCW) Sept. 6 @ UNC Wilmington Sept. 11 vs. Lipscomb (@ Belmont) Sept. 13 @ Belmont Sept. 18 Jacksonville Sept. 20 Stetson Sept. 26 Longwood Oct. 4 @ Coast. Carolina

Oct. 10 Radford Oct. 13 Wake Forest Oct. 17 Gardner-Webb Oct. 20 UNC Chapel Hill Oct. 24 @ Presbyterian Oct. 28 @ Hight Point Oct. 31 @ Winthrop Nov. 4 Liberty Nov. 7 @ UNC Asheville

Women’s Soccer Aug. 21 @ Richmond Aug. 24 Albany Aug. 29 Davidson Sept. 2 South Carolina St. Sept. 4 @ Western Carolina Sept. 11 vs. St. John’s (@ UNCW) Sept. 13 @ UNC Wilmington Sept. 18 East Tennessee St. Sept. 23 Charleston Southern

Sept. 26 UNC Asheville Sept. 30 @ Liberty Oct. 3 Radford Oct. 7 Gardner-Webb Oct. 10 @ Presbyterian Oct. 14 Coastal Carolina Oct. 17 @ Winthrop Oct. 21 @ Longwood Oct. 27 @ High Point

View all schedules at gocamels.com

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Dustin Fonder was named head men’s soccer coach over the summer after guiding High Point University to school records for Big South Conference and overall wins during the last eight seasons. Twice named Big South Conference Coach of the Year, Fonder led the Panthers to a 37-14-10 record in league play and a 73-49-17 overall in eight seasons. His team won the 2010 Big South regular season title with an 8-0-0 record and has earned the school’s first men’s soccer Division I national ranking. Under Fonder’s guidance, High Point earned national rankings, produced three Major League Soccer draft picks and its recruiting classes have consistently been rated among the nation’s best. | Photo by Will Bratton

2015 CAMMYS Campbell University Athletics presented the fourth annual CAMMYS on April 26. The event was led by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, which consists of male and female student-athletes from Campbell’s 21 NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics programs.

Mr. Campbell Scooter Oliver (Soccer) Miss Campbell Juli Osborne (Basketball) Unsung Hero Award Rebecca Sheinfeld (Lacrosse) Amanda Littlejohn Award Trae Bremer (Men’s Basketball) Outstanding Male Athlete Heath Bowers (Baseball) Outstanding Female Athlete Tahnia Ravnjak (Golf)

Male Rookie of the Year Lawrence Kipkoech (Cross Country/Track & Field) Female Rookie of the Year Michelle Case (Swimming) Breakthrough Athlete of the Year Summer Leverette (Women’s Basketball) Head Coach of the Year John Crooks (Golf) Assistant Coach of the Year Will Phillippi (Football) Team Performance of the Year Baseball (2014) Play of the Year Luke Hill (Football) interception vs. Valparaiso

Most Outstanding Team Women’s Golf (2014) Support Staff of the Year Jason Williams (Media Services) Athletic Trainer of the Year Greg Taylor (Men’s Soccer/ Swimming) Fan of the Year Jonathan Boggs Team GPA Award Women’s Tennis (3.605) Individual Performance of the Year Morgan Timiney (Men’s Indoor Track & Field) Mile and 800 meter win at Big South Championship

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Photos courtesy of Matthew Trogdon 80 Spring 2015

The Urban Farmer

ALUMNI spotlight

Minister and author Trog Trogdon found his calling in a South Dallas food desert

BY BILLY LIGGETT

Y

ou wouldn’t expect to find a “food desert” on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area like Dallas, Texas.

The term was new Campbell graduate Matthew “Trog” Trogdon (‘02), but the struggle was all too real when he visited the Bonton community in South Dallas for the first time. A low-income neighborhood, Bonton is considered a “food desert” because the majority of its residents lack easy access to healthy and affordable food.

The nearest grocery store is miles away, thus too many adults and children live off processed meats, sodas and honeybuns found in nearby convenience or liquor stores.

friends on his first day at Small Hall. Friends who would eventually move to Texas as well and work with Trog on his urban ministries.

Trog was called to Texas after earning his bachelor’s degree and MBA at Campbell, and in 2003, he met a pastor named Mike Fechner, a founder of BridgeBuilders, a nonprofit that began its urban ministry in Bonton and similar communities in the mid 90s.

Down On The Farm Trog’s re-awakening — his new calling — led him to Bonton Farm-Works.

It’s a community that has steadily been on the rise since Fechner began his ministry there in the mid-1990s. Habitat for Humanity has built or repaired nearly 170 homes there in that time.

New public housing, sidewalks, landscaping and other improvements are in the works.

Crime has fallen.

Bonton Farms was a calling to Trog, who’s also author of “A Walk to Wisdom,” a guidebook to the book of Proverbs and its 31 chapters.

AWAKE IN TEXAS Trog grew up in Missouri, his father a professor at Southwest Baptist. That job afforded Trog tuition assistance at a number of Baptist schools, and one of the schools he visited was Campbell University, a good 18 hours east of his hometown.

“I fell in love with it immediately,” he recalls. “I felt a sense of peace there. I was coming from a small town to an even smaller town, and it felt like home. I felt like I could really get to know people there.”

And that he did. He met a few of his best

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He was particularly inspired by Jesus’ actions among the poor and the sick. Matthew 16:25 struck a nerve with him — “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

“My three tenants are share your faith, make disciples and help the poor,” Trog says. “I feel a burden to do what Jesus did to help relieve the hurting however I can.”

Compelled to lead a “food awakening” in the community, Trogdon joined a team of Dallasarea ministers in launching an ambitious inner-city farm project. Today, Bonton Farms covers 12 city lots and harvests fish, vegetables and about 9,000 chicken eggs a year. The food is readily available to residents at a reduced cost, and the rest is sold to area supermarkets and stores, providing regular income to some Bonton residents.

“My life is about discipleship,” says “Trog,” as he’s known to friends. “And I felt like to do my calling in life and to be the man God wanted me to be, I had to go to the hardest part of our city or the world and help feed the hungry, help the poor and make disciples.”

Campbell either. But in Texas … I really started reading and studying the Bible. For the first time, I truly connected. God just ignited my heart and my mind for him.”

It was Fechner who who showed Trog what it meant to truly “walk the faith,” he says. Before Bonton Farms, Trog worked with Fechner in the community ministering to the less fortunate and helping clean portions of the neighborhood. By 2008, Trog dropped out of the rat race and went into full-time ministry at Christ Church in Plano, Texas, a suburb of North Dallas, a polar opposite (and not just directional) to Bonton.

It was there, he said, where he experienced a “re-awakening.” Where he fell in love with Jesus … a surprise to a man who felt he had lived a good, Christian life leading up to this realization.

“I had trusted Christ as a kid,” he says. “I really didn’t do anything I felt I shouldn’t be doing growing up. I didn’t do anything terrible at

But it has a ways to go, as a Dallas Morning News feature on the community pointed out in February. Poverty is still a big problem. The nearest elementary school has been closed for a few years. Many houses are empty and boarded.

The liquor stores continue to thrive.

The new urban farm — the one that now covers 12 city lots — is the bright spot.

It was Fechner — in his fourth year of a battle with cancer (he would die nine months later) — who convinced Trog to meet a man named Daron Babcock, a former corporate manager who, like Trog, gave it all up to follow his calling. Trog visited Babcock, who left the sprawling Frisco community to live in Bonton, and saw the beginnings of what he described as “the country in the middle of a city.”

“He planted the first garden in a lot next to his house,” he says. “When I came on board [in January 2014], he had just finished a aquaponics building. From there, we just started ramping things up.”

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Three months later, they got their first chickens and started selling eggs. By May, they were clearing out five new lots. By that summer, they had 200 chickens, eight milking goats, 12 turkeys and eight rabbits.

They’d also created new jobs. The food produced was given away to those who truly needed it, sold at a discount to others in the community and sold for a profit to a nearby Farmer’s Market. By 2015, Bonton Farm-Works was self-sustainable.

Trog — now a husband and the father of three young children (a daughter and two sons) — says through Bonton Farm-Works, HIS BridgeBuilders and other programs such as Project 25:40 (which raises money to send livestock overseas to less-developed countries), he is doing what he was “meant to do.”

“Candidly, when I graduated from Campbell, I wanted to be wealthy and rule the world.

Build my own kingdom,” he says. “I wanted to live what I thought was the American dream.

But I learned that God had so much more in store for me. Jesus came to Earth to seek and save the lost, to bind up the brokenhearted and help those in need. He also shared the keys to salvation and repentance. What he cared about

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Spring 2015

should be what I care about. That’s why I’ve been drawn to areas where the need is greatest.”

A WALK TO WISDOM At Campbell, a seed was planted that would one day make Trog a published author.

Close friend Aaron Helms one day suggested to him that if he really wanted to grow in Christ and understand the Scripture, he should read one chapter of the Bible a day, every day. The first book he recommended was Proverbs, which has 31 chapters. One chapter a day would take a full month.

“It was perfect,” he says. “It was a great beginning spot. I didn’t have a seminary degree, and I didn’t need to understand Calvinism or pre-destination to do this. I can read Proverbs and apply it quickly.”

Proverbs weighed heavily on his mind in Bonton, where too many fathers weren’t around — either working around the clock to support their family, incarcerated or simply out of the picture. When his mentor Fechner died in 2014, a Bible with his notes in it was given to each of Fechner’s children as a legacy.

“I wanted to write something that I could pass down to my children,” Trog says. “Something other moms and dads could pass down to their kids.”

“A Walk to Wisdom: 31 Days Through the Proverbs” was published in 2014 by Dallasbased Brown Christian Press, and Trog dedicated the book to Fechner, writing, “My life and ministry would not be the same without your incredible influence.” The book is designed to be used as a journal, a daily devotional, a legacy, a witnessing tool and a “foundation book for your faith.”

“The wisdom I’ve found in [Proverbs] has helped me in almost every aspect of my life; in marriage, in parenting, business, ministry, finances, relationships and more,” Trog writes in his introduction. “It’s hard to convey the impact this book has had on me, and it is my prayer that it will change the course of your life as well.”

�������������������������������� To purchase his book, visit awalktowisdom.com.

All profits go to Bonton Farm-Works and H.I.S. BridgeBuilders.

Photo by Bennett Scarborough

Class Notes

Former Major League Cy Young Award winner and 1959 Campbell alumnus Jim Perry (center) and his wife Daphne (’60) were recipients of the 2015 North Carolina Baptist Heritage Award this spring for their involvement in numerous charitable organizations. The Perrys were recognized at Marshbanks Hall during a luncheon attended by Bill Overby (left), director of development and trustor services for the N.C. Baptist Foundation and Clay Warf (right), executive director of the N.C. Baptist Foundation.

’65

Harold Falls (’65 BS) retired from Mosaic Fertilizer LLC after 48 years in the chemical manufacturing business.

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’75

Linwood Bunce II (’75 BA/’79 JD) was a 2015 recipient of the NCBA Citizen Lawyer Award.

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’79

N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory appointed Steve Messick (’79 JD) as District Court Judge in the 15A Judicial District.

Richard W. (Rick) Powell (’79 BS) retired from a 31-year career with United States Tobacco Cooperative (formerly Tobacco Growers Services) in Fuquay-Varina. After joining the company in 1984, he

noted throughout history as the first steps by one of the original 13 colonies to secede from Great Britain. The new design is available to North Carolinians for free during vehicle registrations or renewals.

was promoted to general manager within three years, overseeing the company’s transition from a regional storage and sales facility to a major international exporter of tobacco. He plans to utilize his sociology degree by becoming a volunteer in his community.

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’85

___________________

’90

Buxton “Buck” Copeland (’85 JD) is classified as a certified mediator with the North Carolina Dispute Resolution

Commission.

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’87

Robin Terry Hayes (’90 JD) received the 2015 Women in Business Award from the Triangle Business Journal.

Kristin Ruth (’90 JD) joined Raleigh-based law firm Smith Debnam.

___________________

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’93

Andy Bowman (’93 PH) was elected to serve on the North Carolina Board of Pharmacy.

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’95

N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory has appointed Richard Holloway (’95 JD) District Court Judge in the 25th Judicial District.

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’00

N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory nominated Charles M. “Casey” Viser (’00 JD) for a Special Superior Court Judgeship.

Charles Robinson (’87 BBA) designed Judge Marion the new N.C. Warren (’91 JD) “First in Freedom” license plate.

Elwood “Lee” Waters (’00 JD) was appointed Charles is a historian and license opened The Law Office of Elwood interim director of the North plate collector. The phrase “First L. Waters III, P.A. in Halifax.

Carolina Administrative Office of in Freedom” recognizes two the Courts.

Melanie Wade Goodwin (’00 JD) pivotal dates for North Carolina. was appointed as one of seven The Mecklenburg Declaration of Lori W. Gaines (’91 JD) was deputy commissioners of the N.C. Independence on May 20, 1775 appointed as one of seven deputy Industrial Commission. and the Halifax Resolves on April commissioners of the N.C. 12, 1776. These dates have been Industrial Commission.

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’91

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Class Notes Tara Davidson Muller (’00 JD) formed Muller Law Firm in Raleigh.

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’02

Leanne Dale (’02 JD) was elected to the North Carolina Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section Council.

Campbell grad, former pro pitcher gets a mural in downtown Sanford Howard Auman (’47) pitched only one season for the Sanford Spinners of the Tobacco State League in 1946. But, oh, what a season it was.

Auman was a star coming out of Campbell College in 1942 before postponing his baseball career to serve in World War II. He returned from war in ‘46 at the age of 24 and set the Tobacco State League — a Class D league that would eventually have 12 teams in North Carolina — on fire. Auman started 33 games for Sanford and went 22-8, with an ERA in the mid 3’s. He also set a league record with 26 complete games that year, leading Sanford to a 71-48 overall record and a Tobacco State League title.

Auman — the inspiration for the striking mural at the corner of Wicker and Horner in downtown Sanford by artist Scott Nurkin — died in April at the age of 93, just days before the painting’s completion. He was remembered as a “Southern gentleman” and a kind-hearted man at his funeral. Once asked if he ever threw at a batter on purpose, Auman paused before answering, “Well, not so it would hurt him.” After baseball, Auman enjoyed a long career with Sanford (eventually Singer) Furniture Company before retiring at the age of 62. Inducted into the Campbell Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, Auman was a longtime deacon, a member of the Elks Club and a regular Meals on Wheels volunteer. A native of West End, he was the last survivor of nine siblings — a distinction that allowed him to tell old family stories “without anybody correcting me.”

Wilmington.

J. Adam Bridwell (’05 JD) was named partner at Hardison & Cochran.

Ashley Brathwaite (’05 JD) was named partner at Ellis & Winters LLP.

’06

Andrew Page (’06 BA) became the co-owner of the law firm Randall Page, P.C. with three Virginia office locations in Suffolk, Courtland and Emporia.

Andrew, his wife Ann Dove (’04 BS) and their two children live in Franklin, Va.

Dhedra Lassiter Henry S. Morphis (’06 JD) (’02 MSA) was opened Morphis Law & named the 2014Mediation in Hickory, and 15 Principal of recently earned an AV Preeminent the Year by the Review Rating from MartindaleWake County Hubbell Rating Agency.

Public School ___________________ System. She has been employed

by Wake County schools since Ryan Bisplinghoff 1993. (’07 JD) was elected ___________________ as a member at McAngus Goudelock & Courie.

Meredith R. J. Timothy Wilson (’07 JD) Roberts (’05 was named partner at Lewis & JD) joined Roberts, PLLC. Gott Johnson Law Firm in

’05

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’07

Christopher S. Morden (’07 JD/ MBA) was named partner at Monroe Wallace Law Group.

Michael S. Rainey (’07 JD) was named a shareholder of Young Moore and Henderson, P.A.

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Shiau Yen Chin-Dennis (’05 JD/’07 MBA) was elected vice chairman of the Oregon District Export Council and named partner at K&L Gates in Portland.

The Sanford Spinners date back to the late 1930s — Lawrence “Crash” Davis, the inspiration for Kevin Costner’s character in “Bull Durham,” played for the Spinners in 1939 before his senior year at Duke University. Sanford never had a losing record in the league’s fiveyear run and won the title three of those five years, from ‘46-’48.

Auman was the catalyst for the club’s success in its first season in the TSL. He averaged nearly eight innings a start and once pitched a complete game that went 19 innings. For his Minor League career, the three-time All-Star had an 82-84 record, a 3.48 ERA in 239 games pitched.

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Stephanie Ricker (‘09 BA) and Ross Anderson

’08

Laura Roach (’08 MDiv/’11 MA) is the chaplain/ social worker at Burke Hospice in Valdese.

Lauren Elizabeth Hutson and Ryan Sterling Chriscoe (’08 BS) were married on May 2, in Robert B. and Anna Gardner Butler Chapel.

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’09

Joshua (’09 BA) and Rebekah Cheney (’13 BBA/ MBA) relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Rebekah is the assistant director of principal gifts at the LSU Foundation, and Joshua will begin study for the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting at Louisiana State

University in the fall of 2015.

Rebecca Miller Brady (’08 PH) and Philip Brady announced the birth of their son, Jaxon Nathaniel Brady, born on Nov. 25, weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

Ashley Baxter Curry (’09 JD) joined the Office of Joseph Benjamin McDonald (’08 BS) A. Bledsoe, III, in New Bern, and wife Lori (Layman) (’09 and was recently elected 2015 BS) announced the birth of their Chairman of the New Bern Young second daughter, Keegan Elise.

Professionals Group.

Keegan was born at WakeMed Raleigh on Feb.27. She weighed 9 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21.75 Samuel D. Fleder (’09 JD/MBA) was named partner at Smith inches long.

Debnam.

Mary Candace Lee (’08 BS) and Ian Mitchell Seagle were married on June 12, in Robert B. and Anna Gardner Butler Chapel.

Stephanie Ricker (’09 BA) and Ross Anderson were married on June 14, at Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh Meredith Austin Greene (’10 BS) and Stephen Alexander Rowe (’09 BA) were united in marriage on June 12, in Robert B. and Anna Gardner Butler Chapel.

Kendra Erickson (‘09) and Matthew Granger

Ken and Sandra Erickson, of Raleigh, and Steve and Brenda Granger, of Apex, delightfully announce the engagement of their children, Kendra Nicole Erickson (’09) and Matthew Steven Granger. Erickson is a graduate of Campbell University with a graduate degree from N.C. State University and is employed at Campbell University in the Office of Study Abroad. Granger is pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering at N.C. State University and is employed at The Point Church in Raleigh.

’11

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’10

Diane Bowker (’10 MDiv) is hospice chaplain at Lower Cape Fear Hospice Mercy Care in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Emily Parker Jordan (’11 MBA/ PH) and husband Paul “Andy” Jordan welcomed their son, Parker Anderson Jordan into the world Oct. 6, 2014. Parker weighed 8 pounds and 1 ounce and was 21.5 inches long.

William Shelton Bratton (’11 BA) and Sara Elizabeth Dockery were united in marriage on June 13, in Butler Chapel. Will is employed with admissions at Campbell, where Sara is currently a student working toward her pharmacy degree.

Historian’s design chosen for ‘First in Freedom’ plates “Sadly, I’m sure most people would not be able to tell you what those dates are,” Robinson told the Asheboro CourierTribune. “I hope this will encourage people to learn more about these events and why they are so important to North Carolina.”

Charles Robinson (‘87 BBA) designed the new “First in Freedom” license plate, unveiled by the North Carolina Department of Transportation this summer.

Robinson, a historian and license plate collector from Troy, and his design were chosen for the first plate in over 30 years recognizing two pivotal dates in North Carolina history — the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on May 20, 1775, and the Halifax Resolves on April

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12, 1776. These dates have been noted throughout history as the first steps by one of the original 13 colonies to secede from Great Britain.

Robinson used the amber color as a key component of the quill pen as a tribute to the primary color of the classic state license plates of the 1940’s, 50s and 60s.

Those plates were manufactured in amber and black.

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85

Class Notes

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’12

Amy McClure (’13 MDiv) is the minister of congregational care at First Baptist Church in WinstonSalem.

William Scott Harkey (’12 JD) was named as a Piedmont regional prosecutor.

Michelle Koh BBA) University ’s Fifth(’12President captured her first Kimberly Miller (’13 MDiv) University ’s Fifthprofessional President title published a devotional titled at the CTBC Shanghai Ladies “Room to Grieve” in the book, Classic in the China LPGA Tour.

Though the Darkness Gather

#MeetDrCreed

Blazing a path of firsts in the Town of Cary Police Department, Police Chief Patricia Bazemore (‘96) hung up her badge this summer after 29 years of service to the Cary community.

’13

Amy Smith (’13 BS) graduated with her master’s degree in athletic training from Missouri State University on May 15.

Andrew Shores (’13 JD), an experienced intellectual property attorney with a background in electrical engineering, joined William Mullen’s team as an associate in the Raleigh office.

Drew’s practice is focused on intellectual property matters, with a particular emphasis on electrical and software patent prosecution, litigation, post-grant proceedings and counseling.

questions and listens as you share

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Fayetteville, NC Sept. 22, 2015

with Dr. Creed as he answers your Campbell University cordially

you’re invited

Michael Hedgepeth (’13 JD) was recognized by Business North Carolina as a 2015 Legal Elite Young Gun.

invites you to spend an evening

Dunn, NC Sept. 15, 2015

Norfolk, VA Jan. 11, 2016

Sanford, NC Nov. 3, 2015

Winston-Salem, NC Nov. 17, 2015

Greenville, NC Oct. 13, 2015

San Diego, CA Nov. 7, 2015

Charlotte, NC Jan. 19, 2016

When Bazemore joined the Town of Cary, Cary’s population was about 32,000 people, and the police department had about 31 staff members. Today’s Cary has more than 153,000 citizens and a nationally accredited, gold standard police department with a staff of more than 230. Under Bazemore’s leadership, Cary spent consecutive years as the safest community in the Southeast and topped rankings for safest city in the country based on population.

Round: Devotions about Infertility, Miscarriage,and Infant Loss, by Hanchey and McClain.

To register and learn more about this event, please visit

Bazemore was promoted to chief in 2008, 22 years after she was hired as a patrol officer. She continued to move up in rank, serving as the department’s first female lieutenant, female captain, female major and female deputy chief.

Kristy Lynn Voss (’13 BBA) and Clinton Edward Cole (’12 BBA) were united in marriage on May 16, in Robert B. and Anna

Gardner Butler Chapel.

your Campbell stories.

Cary’s first female police chief retires after 29 years

Raleigh, NC Sept. 24, 2015

Campbell Campbell

Jonathan Lee (’13 MDiv) is the interim pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Whiteville.

Jonathan was ordained at the Baptist Fellowship in Angier.

www.campbell.edu/presidentialtour

Photo by Bennett Scarborough

An Evening with J. Bradley Creed An Evening with J. Bradley Creed

Wilmington, NC Oct. 6, 2015

Richmond, VA Jan. 12, 2016

attend any (or all) of these locations

An Evening with J. Bradley Creed Campbell University ’s Fifth President you’re invited you’re invited Campbell University cordially

attend any (or all) of these locations attend anyWilmington, (or all) these Dunn, NC NC of San Diego, CAlocations Richmond, VA

invites youUniversity to spend an evening Campbell cordially with Dr. Creed as hean answers your invites you to spend evening

Sept. NC 15, 2015 Dunn, Sept. 15, 2015 Fayetteville, NC

Oct. 6, 2015NC Wilmington, Oct. 6, 2015 Greenville, NC

Nov. 7, 2015 San Diego, CA Nov. 7, 2015 Winston-Salem, NC

Jan. 12, 2016 Richmond, VA Jan. 12, 2016 Charlotte, NC

questions and listens you share with Dr. Creed as he as answers your your Campbell stories. questions and listens as you share

Sept. 22, 2015 Fayetteville, NC Sept.

22, 2015 Raleigh, NC

Oct. 13, 2015 Greenville, NC Oct. 13, 2015 Sanford, NC

Nov. 17, 2015 NC Winston-Salem, Nov. 17,VA2015 Norfolk,

Jan. 19, 2016 Charlotte, NC Jan. 19, 2016

Sept. 24, 2015 Raleigh, NC Sept. 24, 2015

Nov. 3,NC 2015 Sanford, Nov. 3, 2015

Jan. 11,VA 2016 Norfolk, Jan. 11, 2016

your Campbell stories.

To register and learn more about this event, please visit

www.campbell.edu/presidentialtour To register and learn more about this event, please visit www.campbell.edu/presidentialtour 86

Spring 2015

#MeetDrCreed #MeetDrCreed

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’14

Sarah Beth Barnes (’14 JD) joined Young Moore and Henderson P.A. as an associate.

Jonathan Greer (’14 JD) is an assistant district attorney in Caldwell County.

Amanda Borchick (’14 MDiv) is serving as director of Missional Discipleship at 519 Church of Apex United Methodist Family Faith Communities and is the chaplain for the Morrisville Fire Department.

Nathan Morton (’14 MDiv) is serving as the search committee chairman for the Wilmington Baptist Association.

Joseph Miles Wobbleton (’14) of Greenville was awarded a fellowship worth $5,000 by the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi — the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Wobbleton graduated summa cum laude from Campbell University with a degree in political science. He currently attends the University of North Carolina School of Law and is a Phi Kappa Phi Fellow. He is also leading Jeb Bush’s youth efforts in North Carolina for his 2016 presidential campaign. After graduation, Wobbleton intends to practice in public policy and regulatory and international law, as well as serve in state and national political leadership.

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Photo by Bennett Scarborough

Colene Kelly (’14 MDiv) is serving as the financial aid officer at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C.

Carlie C. McLamb Sr. Carlie C. McLamb Sr., founder of the successful small-town grocery chain Carlie C’s IGA and a generous supporter of Campbell University, died at the age of 78.

McLamb opened his first store in 1961, and today, there are 14 Carlie C.’s in central North Carolina. In 2011, Campbell dedicated the Carlie C. and Joyce McLamb Environmental Science Center, home of four laboratories and equipment for research in environmental sciences, biology, chemistry and physics.

“Carlie C. McLamb was outstanding community leader, businessman and friend to Campbell University,” former Campbell President Jerry Wallace said Saturday. “Carlie C. and Joyce built one of the most successful independent grocery chains in the state and region. I could not be more proud that he spent his final years as a valued member of the Campbell University

Board of Trustees. I will miss his gentle spirit, stories and thoughtful insight.”

A recipient of the IGA International Retailer of the Year and the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association’s Retailer of the Year, McLamb was the founding president of the Mary Stewart Lions Club and founding member of Standard Bank and New Century Bank. In addition to his role as trustee at Campbell, he served on the board of trustees for Betsy Johnson Hospital and served on the Central Carolina Community College Foundation, Dunn Area Planning Board, Dunn Chamber of Commerce, Harnett County School Advisory Board, Aversboro Fire Department and other civic and charitable organizations.

McLamb is survived by his wife Joyce, two daughters, a son, seven grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, his mother and two sisters.

Friends We Will Miss Joyner Floyd Taylor (‘85), Feb. 10 Charles Lindy Mace (‘58), Feb. 11 Wellford L. Price (‘60), Feb. 13 Richard F. Mason (‘58), Feb. 16 Dr. Agnes Spell Williams (‘47/’98), Feb. 19 Donald T. Barefoot (‘67), Feb. 23 Dr. Edgar J. Boone (‘09), Feb. 26 Allyson Mary Plante (‘98), Mar. 15 Jessica Hendershot White (‘06), Mar. 15 William W. Moore (‘61), Mar. 15 Hollie Patrine Wells (‘00), Mar. 15 William Henry Black (‘67), Mar. 15

John Earl Gagan (‘82), April 15 Charles Edward Ruffin (‘71), April 15 Dr. William S. Powell (‘78), April 15 Betty O’Quinn Tyson (‘47), April 15 Uriah Hallman (‘88 ), April 15 Jean Hudson Lewis (‘66 ), April 15 Linwood Charles Cochran (‘72 ), April 15 Mona Allen Massengill (‘52), April 15 Shirley Robinson Hardee (‘47 ), April 15 Ruby G. Norris (‘64), April 15 William J. Miller (‘53 ), April 21 Howard Claude Auman (‘42 ), May 15

Lloyd S. Elkins (‘45 ), May 15 Dennis Allan Forgey (‘76 ), May 15 Robert H. Stone (‘49 ), May 15 Robert S. Denlinger (‘68 ), May 15 Ellis B Hartley (‘74 ), May 15 Gary Morris Akin (‘76 ), June 15 W.M. Park (‘52 ), June 15 Jackie Merchant Davis (‘48 ), June 15 Linda Cheryl McIntosh (‘76 ), June 15 Virginia Hancock Perry (‘49 ), June 15 Roy Hobbs Byrd (‘40), June 15

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From the Vault

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Spring 2015

SPRING FESTIVAL 1972 | Long before mud volleyball became a Welcome Week tradition at Campbell University, the tug-of-war over a mud pit was the dirtiest it got in Buies Creek during the school year. Big crowds turned out every year for the annual Spring Festival, which also included a tricycle race and live music. In 1972, the Allman Brothers played Carter Gymnasium to close out the week. w w w. c a m p b e l l . e d u / m a g a z i n e

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