BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS

Basketball champs celebrated

“It was a perfect night!”

That’s how Sam Cotton ’83 described the Jan. 18 salute to the 1982-83 Georgia Independent College Association Men’s Basketball Championship Team.

Cotton, one of the team’s captains, helped organize the event.

“A bunch of us usually get together at Homecoming events and we noticed there wasn’t anything in Mariotti (Gym) about our championship season in 1982,” he said. “I mentioned it to (Men’s Basketball Coach) Kendal Wallace, and he jumped right on it.” While Cotton contacted teammates, Wallace met with Terlynn Olds, Director of Athletics and Recreation, and Martha Pirkle, Director of Alumni and Community Relations, to plan the ceremony. Olds said she was immediately on board. “I thought of how great it would be if I had a reunion with my old college teammates,” she said. “As the AD at LC, my goal is to move from ‘good to great.’ I believe that to do so, we must honor those who came before us. I have made it my mission to connect and bring back athletic alums as active members of the LC Panther Nation.”

Held during halftime of the men’s game, 18 players from the 1982 squad were celebrated for their accomplishments, with some members traveling from Florida and South Carolina to participate. Before the game, the athletes gathered to look over scrapbooks, yearbooks and memorabilia from their time on the Hill – and to catch up.

“Seeing everybody again was my favorite part of the night,” Cotton said. “We may have changed physically, but everyone still had the same personalities. It didn’t feel like 40 years had passed.”

Team members were Ken Alexander, Mark Carter, Jeff Cotton, Sam Cotton, Michael Fay, Frank Hall, Mitch Hanson, Wayne Johnson, Ray Lail, Chip Lawson, Kim Lillie, Xavier Mann, Doug Mason, Paul Minter, Joe Page, Tim Reeve, Brian Sani, David Shealy, Carl Sills, Rick Smith, Fred White, Wayne Williams and Jerome Woodyard.

Members of the championship team return to the Mariotti court to be recognized at halftime.

Enjoying some time to reminisce in the bottom photo are former Panther players, from left, Carl Sills ’83, Mike Fay ’84 and Mitch Hanson ’83. They are joined by Fay’s children, Maria and Merrett Fay.

From left, Jeff Cotton ’83, Callaway High School coach Terry Hayes and Sam Cotton ’83 pause for a photo during the pre-game reception.