Former coach Pat Hielscher to be honored by SoCon

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - UNC Greensboro alumnae and former coach and administrator Pat Hielscher was among 12 individuals named Thursday as recipients of the Southern Conference's Distinguished Service Awards for 2010.

Each award winner will be honored for their contributions at the Southern Conference Honors Dinner presented by Carolina Ford Dealers in Hilton Head Island, S.C., on Tuesday, June 1. The dinner is held annually in conjunction with the conference's annual meetings.

The Distinguished Service Award program was started in 2002 as a way for the Southern Conference to recognize those individuals from its member institutions who have contributed to all aspects of the university. This year's honorees include Hielscher, G.A. Sywassink (Appalachian State), George (Tank) and Marie (Scooter) Barnette (College of Charleston), William (Bill) F. Schupp (The Citadel), Janet H. Wilson (Davidson), Wes and Cathy Elingburg (Elon), Colonel and Mrs. F. Pelzer Barry, Jr. (Furman), Phil Moore (Georgia Southern), Lynn Boggs (Samford), Robert T. (Bob) Davis (Chattanooga), Steve White (Western Carolina) and John Bauknight (Wofford).

Hielscher ('66, MSPE '70) has long been dedicated to Spartan athletics. After her beginnings as a basketball and volleyball student-athlete in the days before the formalization of the UNCG athletic program, she began the intercollegiate volleyball program in 1970. She served as the program's coach for five seasons, compiling a record of 106-30 and led the team to the 1974 NCAIAW title. For her coaching success and dedication to women's sports at the university, she was an inductee in the second class of the UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

After leaving UNCG, she went on to successful tenures as a head coach at Wisconsin and North Carolina State. Hielscher's involvement with UNCG has spanned more than her coaching tenure. She served on the Spartan Club Executive Committee from 2001-2004 and was a member of the UNCG Athletics Hall of Fame selection committee. The Raleigh, N.C., resident also served on the first annual Women's Weekend Planning Committee, which brought former UNCG female student-athletes back to the campus. In 2009, she helped spearhead the creation of the Celebration of Women in Sport Endowment, which will be awarded for the first time to a female student-athlete in 2010-11 - one of several ventures she has been a part of in fundraising for women's athletics at UNCG.

A strong contributor to Appalachian State athletics, Sywassink's generous contributions helped provide the first on-campus softball stadium which is named for the Sywassink/Lloyd women in his family. He also assisted in funding the new Athletics Facility which includes the new Hydro-Therapy room named after the Sywassink/Lloyd men in his family. Mr. Sywassink annually supports the scholarship fund as well as special projects that improve the student-athlete's experience at Appalachian State. He also serves as the Vice Chair of the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees and is a member of the Appalachian Foundation Corporation Board. Mr. Sywassink is an Honorary Alumnus of Appalachian and is a 1994 Beta Gamma Sigma Honoree.

The Barnettes are both former student-athletes at the College of Charleston, Tank with the freshman basketball team and Scooter with both the volleyball and basketball teams. One of the most decorated athletes in school history, her retired jersey for both sports (#13) currently hangs in the rafters of Carolina First Arena. The Barnettes have supported Cougar Athletics in a multitude of ways throughout the years and they currently rank among the Top 5 donors within the Cougar Club. In the late 1990s, Tank established the Robert I. and Maryland Barnette Limehouse Scholarship Fund to be given each year to a women's basketball player.  Scooter came back to serve as an assistant coach in both volleyball and basketball, and later took over as head coach of the women's basketball team, where she amassed a 184-104 record over ten seasons. She still works at the College today as a Senior Instructor in the Department of Health and Human Performance.

A 1962 The Citadel graduate, Schupp is always ready to lend a hand for the Bulldogs athletics program. As the founder of the highly-successful Citadel Basketball Association, Bill also served as a director of The Citadel Football Association, serving from the time it was known as the Alumni Football Association through its current structure. He established and personally funded "The Bill Schupp Scholarship" through The Citadel Brigadier Foundation at a cost of $100,000. He is the ultimate Citadel fan and supporter who has never asked for anything in return. Further, Schupp is a co-founder of The Citadel Alumni Club at the Harbour Club (in downtown Charleston), and continues to serve as a steering committee member.

Originally from New Jersey, Mrs. Janet Hostetter Wilson has lived in Lenoir, North Carolina since moving there with her late husband, T. Henry Wilson, Jr., a member of Davidson's class of 1951. Wilson has been an enthusiastic and generous supporter of Davidson athletics for many years, establishing (with her husband and children) the Thomas Henry Wilson athletic scholarship, and generously supporting the baseball, football and basketball programs at Davidson. Davidson's Wilson Baseball Field is named after the family. A current member of the Board of Trustees at Davidson, she is a member of the Athletics Policy Committee and played an integral role in establishing The Davidson Trust, Davidson's commitment to meet 100 percent of the demonstrated need of accepted students. Wilson is an enthusiastic and accomplished tennis player and is involved with church, civic, cultural and environmental sustainability initiatives in Western North Carolina.

The Elingburgs are familiar faces among Elon supporters, as the couple is a staple in the stands, encouraging and cheering on the Phoenix student-athletes. Wes and Cathy made a generous contribution in support of Alumni Field House, a project that will add a 30,000 square-foot facility at the north end of Rhodes Stadium and help to service more than half of Elon's student-athletes. Mr. and Mrs. Elingburg also play an active role in providing necessary scholarship support for Elon student-athletes as members of the IMPACT Circle, the premier giving group of the Phoenix Club, the athletic department fundraising arm. In addition, the pair is an active member of the men's basketball Champions Club. The Elingburgs have made many generous financial commitments to Elon, including endowing the Wesley R. Elingburg Professorship in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. They also contribute to the Elon Academy, a university-run academic enrichment program for high school students in the Alamance-Burlington School System.

The Barrys have tremendous supporters of Furman University. Their steadfast financial support is a tangible indication of their love for Furman. Bo arrived on campus on 1950, a product of Summerville High School. He was a busy man on campus as he played football and baseball and was also a member of Kappa Alpha Order and ROTC. After a stint in the armed forces, Bo returned to Summerville where he began a successful career specializing in real estate and land holdings. He soon took on another "partner" and now he and Mickey have been married for over 31 years. Bo and Mickey have graciously endowed a football scholarship, a baseball scholarship, and an additional baseball scholarship in the name of a dear classmate Lucius Weeks. Bo will be the first to state how his life has been positively impacted by his association with Furman. And he reinforces his words with a magnanimous spirit.

A 1982 graduate of Georgia Southern University, Moore is a managing partner in Porter Keadle Moore, LLP of Atlanta. He has been a long time member of the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation Board of Directors and served as its President from July 1, 2007 until June 30, 2009. Under his leadership the Foundation successfully effected a name change from Southern Boosters to the Georgia Southern University Athletic Foundation and managed the construction and renovation of several athletic facilities. Moore played an integral role in leading the organization through a two-year branding initiative which resulted in the adoption of key marketing slogans "Rings and Diplomas" and "For all the Right Reasons". Additionally, he was recognized as the College of Business Administration Alumnus of the year in 2001 as well as being the 1999 Georgia Southern Outstanding Accounting Alumnus. Even with his busy work schedule and family commitments, Moore is always willing to work to help his Alma Mater.

Boggs has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and turnaround specialist in companies providing payment services to community banks. In early 2005 he founded Captiva Solutions, a payments software and core processing company. Boggs is a 1979 graduate of Samford University where he currently serves the Brock School of Business Advisory Board. He was the recipient of the 2008 Brock Alumni of the Year award. Mr. Boggs is also a Charter Member for the Executive Council of the Samford Athletic Foundation, which recently raised $8.5 million for the new Cooney Family Football Field House. Mr. Boggs serves as the Co-Chair for the Fundraising Committee of the Executive Council for their latest project, a $4 million combination Softball Park and an Indoor Hitting Facility with Locker Rooms for Baseball and Softball. Mr. Boggs presently serves on the Marketing and Selection Committee of the Chick Fil A Bowl.

Davis and his late wife, Etta, who died in 2007, are known for having taken a personal interest in the lives of many UTC Athletes. They helped students in many unspoken ways with relationships that lasted with their "adopted children" long after graduation. One of Bob and Etta's first dates was to go to a high school football game together. Then they attended many UTC football games at Chamberlain Field. Their love for sports has been a lifelong one, and both remember attending games on the University of Chattanooga's campus, when legendary "Scrappy" Moore was coach. Bob is still affectionately referred to as "Coach Bob." Bob is truly part of the football family and can be seen on the sidelines with the team at almost every game. During Etta's life, she kept check on the team's progress from the press box. The bulk of their estate goes to their church and to UTC. Bob is a retired employee of the DuPont Company. UTC's student athletes will continue to benefit in future years because of this generous couple's love and support for Chattanooga's university.

Steve White has nearly a half century of involvement with and service to Western Carolina University in a variety of capacities ranging from undergraduate student assistant to sports information director and department historian; associate athletics director to radio network personality and finally the director of the school's letter winner's club. A 1967 graduate of Western Carolina, White served for over four decades in the University's athletics department before retiring in April, 2010. He officially took over as the school's sports information director in 1970, a capacity he held until 1998. White wrote millions of words publicizing WCU's student-athletes, coaches and teams, helping 35 football, basketball and baseball players to attain All-America honors; hundreds to become All-Southern Conference; and several football and baseball teams to achieve national rankings. During his storied professional career, White witnessed over 400-consecutive Catamount football games, one of the longest consecutive-games streaks in the profession. He was also an eight-time recipient of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards for "Outstanding Press Box Service."

White initially retired from full-time duty at Western Carolina in 1998, but remained active with the Catamount Sports Network providing color commentary on football, men's basketball and baseball broadcasts until 2007. He then took over as the Director of the Cats' "W" Club, an association for former Western Carolina student-athletes and letter winners.

Since graduating from Wofford in 1989, John Bauknight has devoted his time, talent and resources toward securing the Wofford experience for future generations of student-athletes. As a student-athlete in the 1980s, Bauknight played on the men's tennis team and was engaged socially and academically in the life of the college. The total Wofford experienced helped him build the skills he needed to start several entrepreneurial ventures, including founding his own secure document management, shredding and recycling company. Six years after opening its doors, Shred First was named to Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States; the company's 1,551 percent growth in its first five full years ranked it 92nd on the list. When Bauknight and his business partner, Nick Wildrick, also a Wofford graduate and loyal supporter of the Terrier Club, sold Shred First, they used a portion of the proceeds to fully fund an endowed scholarship for a student-athlete on the college's football team. The scholarship is awarded each year based on academic promise, leadership and character in addition to athletic ability. Bauknight recently completed a two-year term as chairman of the Terrier Club board of trustees. He continues to serve the college and as a member of the Presidents Advisory Board and Alumni Executive Council.

- UNCG -