Sports Today
Sports Hall of Fame inducts four
By CAL BRYANT
Special to Chowan Today
Despite having to watch Chowan
College suffer a heartbreaking two-point
loss to Nassau on Oct. 26, the mood
was much more jovial inside Thomas
Cafeteria that night as four new names
were added to the growing list of
inductees into the school's Sports Hall
of Fame.
The seventh annual induction banquet,
hosted by the Hall of Fame’s sponsor.
The Braves Club, began with a welcome
from Braves Club executive secretary
Jack Goldberg and ended approximately
two hours later with Janet Collins, Joe
Gro, Don Redford and Ted Rollins
joining the 25 previous honorces.
Collins, who has guided the Lady
Braves volleyball fortunes since her
arrival on Chowan campus in 1964, is
the first-ever female to be enshrined in
the Sports Hall of Fame. She was
inducted by Chowan administrator, Dr.
B. Franklin Lowe.
"Janet's induction Is long overdue,"
stated Lx)we. "She has meant so much
to Chowan College other than her
successful volleyball programs, as it
was her id6as from which our annual
Spring Festival, Spring Court and Fall
Court were developed."
Collins, who was also instrumental
in beginning community wide swim
ming classes at Chowan, has twice been
named as Region Ten Coach of the Year
and possesses a trio of District Nine
Coach of the Year plaques.
Hailed as "one of the finest athletes to
ever grace the campus of Chowan
College," according to longtime
Chowan head football coach and aihlelic
director Jim Garrison, Richmond,
Virginia native Don Redford was the
evening's next honoree.
"Don was a versatile three-spori
player (a football, basketball and
baseball letterman) during his 1960
through 1962 stopover here at
Chowan," added Garrison, "and he was a
key part of one of the greatest teams
(the '61 squad) that I've ever had the
pleasure of coaching."
Redford indeed placed his de
velopmental skills acquired during his
days as a Brave to good use after
departing the Murfreesboro campus as
his first stopover was at the University
of Alabama where he finished his
college education thanks to a two-year
baseball scholarship.
Following his stay at Alabama,
Redford returned to his native Virginia
where he played quarterback for the
Richmond Roadrunners, a member of
the Continental Football League, before
entering the business world. After stints
with the Phillip Morris Company and
Pilot Life Insurance Company, Redford
has spent the past 12 years with the
Union Camp Corporation serving as a
supervisor In their Richmond office.
"I have a lot of fond memories of
Chowan College," stressed Redford. "i
remember our top ten national ranking
in the football polls and that team
accomplished so much off the field as
our success bonded together the students
and the staff."
Selma native, Ted Rollins, who
attended Chowan from 1954-1956 where
he was a key performer for coach Herb
Appenzeller's football program, was the
evening's next honoree and he was
inducted by former Braves teammate
Herman Clark.
"There's a special thing about Ted's
being inducted and that is he becomes
the fifth member of our successful 1955
football team to be enshrined into the
Chowan College Sports Hall of Fame."
"This is a very proud moment for me,"
conceded Rollins who retired in 1989
following a distinguished 32-year career
with the North Carolina Stale
Department of Public Instruction,
where, after receiving his doctorate of
education degree from NCSU in 1973,
he served for 16 years as assistant
director of the Division of Vocational
Educadon.
"The honor bestowed upon me
tonight by Chowan College and the
Braves Club would not, however, have
been achieved without the support of
my teammates," added Rollins who also
i
During a banquet conducted in Thomas Cafeteria, this foursome was honored as the
latest inductees into the Chowan College Sports Hall of Fame. The honorees are,
from left, Richmond, Va. native Don Redford (class of 1965), Janet Collins
(Chowan's veteran volleyball coach), Selma native Ted Rollins (class of 1956) and
Joe Gro, of Delaware, Pennsylvania who was a NJCAA football All-American for
the Braves in 1972. (Cal Bryant Photo)
holds a bachelor of science degree from
Wake Forest University, where he
received a full football scholarship upon
his graduation from Chowan, and a
master of education degree from East
Carolina University.
The evening's final inductee was Gro,
a Delaware County, Pennsylvania native
who headed south to Murfreesboro upon
his high school graduation where he was
selected as a NJCAA First Team All-
American defensive end during his
sophomore season (1972).
"It was a privilege for me to have
coached Joe," concluded Surface, "and
it's my honor to induct him into the
Chowan College Sports Hall of Fame."
Following his graduation from Elon,
where he obtained his bachelor of
science degree, Gro returned to his
native Pennsylvania where he began his
teaching and coaching career as defensive
line coach at Glen Mills School before
being promoted to defensive coordinator
in 1987. Gro later accepted the defensive
coordinator position at Chetenham High
School in Wyncote, Penn, and served In
that capacity until being named as the
school's head football coach one year
later.
He was Montgomery County's Coach
of the Year in 1989 and has served as a
coach in the Montgomery County All-
Star game on three occasions.
"I would like to thank everyone here
at Chowan College for this great
honor," said Gro, "but any award or
honor I receive must be shared by my
teammates because without them, I'm
nothing.
"I'd also like to thank coaches
Garrison and Surface for all they did for
me while I was here at Chowan," closed
Gro. "The character I developed while I
was here at Chowan College is the same
ideals I use today as a high school
coach. I'm touching the lives of many
young men now and thanks to what I
learned from coach Garrison and Surface,
I'm hopefully doing that in a positive
way."
Chowan football rolled on with week by week excitement
Week 4
As a near capacity homecoming crowd
looked on, the Chowan Braves scored in
the final ten seconds to snatch victory
from sure defeat in nipping Georgia
Military Junior College 14-13.
Week 5
Amidst the beautiful fall pageantry; of
tkhhsl
The Braves scrambled all season, finishing 4-5.
PAGE 10 — Chowan Today — Winter, 1991
the West Virginia mountains, the
Chowan defense set the tone shutting
down Potomac State College in their
Coastal Conference opener. The Braves
took the early lead as Chris Feggins
broke a tackle and raced 69 yards before
being knocked out of bounds on the
Catamounts' two-yard line. Feggins put
the Braves on the scoreboard on the next
snap as he crashed into the end zone,
with Eddie Giersbrook's extra point
Chowan took a 7-0 lead with only forty-
nine seconds elapsed in the game.
The Catamounts scored their only
touchdown four minutes later and took
the lead as Potomac Stale was suc
cessful on a two-point conversion pass.
With the Braves trailing 8-7 they
turned to thier defense to come up with
the big play and "Big Play" freshman
cornerback, Kevin Burgess (Winlon,
NC), turned in another patented per
formance. Burgess picked off an errant
Catamount aerial on his own 22-yard
line sprinting 78 yards to give Chowan
back the lead they would never re
linquish.
The Braves improved their record to 3-
2 overall and 1-0 In the Coastal Con
ference.
Week 6
Roaring into Garrison Stadium the
Lions of Nassau Community College,
the No. 7 team in the nation, blocked 2
field goals and 1 extra point to hold off
Chowan in a 21-19 victory.
Week 7
The Knights of Montgomery College
took advantage of 10 turnovers to defeat
the Chowan Braves 50-16 in a Coastal
Conference matchup. The tone of the
game was set early as Chowan fumbled
the opening kick-off which Mont
gomery recovered on the Braves' nine-
yard line. The Braves saw their record
drop to 3-4 overall and 1-2 in Coastal
Conference.
Week 8
The Mounties of North Greenville
College, ranked No. 7 in the nation,
used in the inclement weather to their
advantage in defeating Chowan College
28-7.
Despite the 21 point loss, the Braves
held the potent North Greenville offense
to only 261 total yards. Chowan's pre
season All-American, Bill Lofton, led
the Braves defense with 14 tackles and
six quarterback hurries to lead the team
in those categories.
Week 9
The Chowan Braves concluded their
season by defeating Hargrove Military
Academy 21-13 in Chatham, Va. They
finished the season with a 4-5 overall
recortL