Athletes and visitors entering Jack Jensen Gym will see a new display in the show case which has fresh photos and information about the athletes being honored there.
After feeling concern every time she passed the show case at the entrance to the gym, alumna Linda Mercer, ’69, decided to do something about it.
“The faces in a lot of the athletes’ photos were completely faded away, and there were no words at all to explain who they were and why they deserved to be in the show case,” Mercer said.
After she mentioned it to AD Bill Foti over the years, he passed word to women’s basketball coach Sarah Mathews that she and Mercer could work on the case.
They did.
Coach Mathews researched for outstanding players to include, and also located a jersey in the archives that Archivist Gwen Gosney-Erickson donated to the case.
Mercer typed up the information and placed the photos and words in frames—some donated by Susan Hester, ’71, and ones she donated.
Now there are photos of the basketball players who went on to the pros in both their Guilford uniforms and one in their pro shirts, too. And, there is a write-up about each one’s accomplishments.
“As an English and journalism teacher, I could not let there be no information to go with the photos,” Mercer said. “I am so grateful to Coach Mathews for being able to find so much information about Guilford’s outstanding players.”
Mathews and Mercer made sure to include the championship winning teams—both men and women—and other outstanding athletes—some of whom were firsts in their careers to reach certain levels.
Elizabeth Parker Haskins was the first Guilford woman to receive an athletic scholarship— for both volleyball and basketball! The 1973 men’s team was the first to win a national championship and the 2001 women’s team won Guilford’s first ODAC championship.
Now folks entering the gym will have a way to learn about Guilford’s outstanding athletes.