CHARLOTTE, N.C.- On Saturday, Feb. 20, Queens University of Charlotte will honor the athletes who helped make the Royals program what it is today by recognizing the inaugural athletics Hall of Fame class.
“We've chosen a 'Remembering the Times' theme for this event because we'll be looking back at our programs' roots and celebrating the great athletes who helped set the foundation for what we've become,” said Jeannie King, director of athletics at Queens.
The inaugural class is comprised of 10 members, five student-athletes participating in Queens athletics after 1989, three administrators, and two student-athletes who truly founded athletics at Queens with their participation years ago.
Included in the student-athlete inductees include possibly the most well known Queens men's basketball player, Walter Aikens, the women's basketball all-time scorer, Sequoya Friday, and three founding members of the men's and women's soccer teams, Bill Kennedy, Kevin Yearick and Suzy Sulsona.
Leading the way for the coach and administrator inductees are former Queens President Dr. Billy O. Wireman, the person who was instrumental in the move to Division II athletics, past women's tennis coach Phyllis Pharr, who still teaches at the school including tennis class, and Dale Layer, the Director of Athletics brought in by Wireman to steer the department from women's only to co-educational.
Moving forward, any person who was not a coach or administrator in the Department of Athletics will be awarded the Dr. Billy O. Wireman award to honor his true dedication to the athletics programs at Queens.
Rounding out the 10 inductees are two women earning the Royals Lifetime Achievement Award. Both Christine Stafford Beck and Jane Mack participated in Queens athletics before the department made the move to co-education and Division II participation.
The timing of the announcement of the inductees falls in correspondence with Queens Homecoming. Homecoming weekend is always a big draw for alumni and a full schedule of events, both athletic related and non-athletic, is planned for the weekend.
Below is a list of 2010 Hall of Fame inductees along with short biographies and the day's schedule.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
9:00am Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (Sports Complex)
11:30am Women's Basketball Alumnae Game (Ovens Athletic Center, Queens campus)
1:00pm Men's Basketball Alumni Game (Ovens)
2:30pm Men's Soccer Alumni Game (Sports Complex)
4:00pm Young Alumni Tailgate (Grady Cole Center)
5:30pm Women's Basketball Homecoming Game (Grady Cole Center)
7:00pm Recognition of Hall of Fame Inductees (Grady Cole Center)
7:30pm Men's Basketball Homecoming Game (Grady Cole Center)
9:30pm Young Alumni After Party Celebration (Whiskey River, Uptown)
