40007
NORTH CAE. COLLECTION
LIBRARY UNC-CH
CHAPEL HILL NC 27514
Belmont Abbey Collese
VOLUME III ISSUE 3
OCTOBER, 1974
Abbey Hosts WFL Hornets
Football fans
throughout the Carolinas
are becoming steady
visitors to Belmont
Abbey now that the new
Charlotte Hornets of the
World Football League
are using the Abbey for
their training and
practice facilities.
The Charlotte team has
been using the baseball
field as a practice site
since Monday, October
7th and will continue to do
so at least through the
remainder of the current
football season. If the
present situation proves
suitable to both parties, it
will be continued on a
permanent basis in
cluding pre-season
training starting in June
1975.
This development
resulted from the efforts
of Abbey president,
Father John Bradley,
who contacted the
BBgSI
Charlotte Chamber of
Commerce and offered
BAC facilities for the
Hornets’ use, upon their
arrival in Charlotte.
Representatives of the
then New York Stars
visited the Abbey campus
and were most im
pressed.
The Charlotte players
have taken over the large
P.E. locker room, and the
former visiting team
dressing room has been
converted into a training
room. The team’s
campus office is located
upstairs in the Wheeler
Center, in what had been
the weight training room.
Weight lifting equipment
has been relocated in the
vacant area beside the
basketball floor.
One of the bottom floor
storerooms is now the
Hornets’ equipment
room, where an im
pressive inventory of
material needed to
operate a pro football
team is presided over by
Mike “Tiger” Ferraro
and Mike Ferraro, Jr.,
the only father - son
equipment manager
team in pro football.
Their job includes not
only ordering and
maintaining helmets,
pads, dummies, shoes,
balls, uniforms and
countless other essen
tials, but also such things
as doing laundry, taking
care of equipment and
personnel during games,
and, in Tiger’s words,
(Continued On P. 7)
Thomas New VP
-J*;'
■ ■ ■ '-.'.V.'i
Charlotte Hornets have workout on Abhey baseball field.
Increases Shown
Enrollment Study Brings Smiles
With enrollment
worries prevalent at
most private colleges and
universities, a 21 per cent
increase in total student
enrollment since the fall
of 1972 has given Belmont
Abbey officials
something to smile about.
The number of full-time
students has also risen
from 533 two years ago to
today’s 609, a growth of 14
per cent.
Growth in total
enrollment has resulted,
to a large extent, from an
influx of coeds to the
campus since the Abbey
first began accepting
women as resident
students in the fall of
1973. Belmont Abbey’s
first year of resident
coeducation brought 104
women to the college.
According to just
released enrollment
figures for the Fall
semester, the number
has increased by 73 per
cent compared to a 6.9
per cent increase in male
students.
The ability to keep the
students they already
have is still another
contributing factor to the
Abbey’s bullish
enrollment picture.
Ninety-one per cent of ali
eligible students returned
to Belmont Abbey this
fall, as compared to only
73 per cent in the fall of
1972 and 85 per cent a
year later.
Commuters are adding
new dimensions to the
future of the college, as
they now comprise
almost one-third of the
total student body. This
growth has come about
steadily during the past
several years, beginning
in 1972 when they were
outnumbered by resident
students by 3.5 to one.
The margin has been cut
to only two to one, as the
percentage of day
(Continued On P. 5)
John C. Thomas has
joined Belmont Abbey as
Vice . President for
Development, Public
Relations and Alumni
Affairs. He will also
serve on the Ad
ministrative Committee,
the Budget Committee,
and the Committee in
charge of planning the
Abbey’s Centennial in
1976.
The Thomases, in
cluding wife Jerry and
six of their nine children,
live in Charlotte, where
Thomas has been Vice
President of Marketing
for Kar-Kare Cor
poration. All the family
are active members of St.
Gabriel’s parish. In
addition to being co-
Presidents of the Home-
School Association, the
Thomases teach CCD and
he is a member of the
Parish Advisory Board.
The family came to
Charlotte from Cin
cinnati, where Thomas
was with Northlich,
Stolley, Inc. advertising
agency and then became
Director of Advertising
and Sales Promotion for
Philip Carey Company, a
major building materials
manufacturer.
A native of Green-
sburg, Indiana, Thomas
holds a BA from the
University of Notre
Dame. He is a 1965 Dale
Carnegie graduate, and
completed the AMA
Advanced Industrial
Advertising course in
1966.
A dedicated hard
worker, Thomas has
already launched a
number of projects and is
making plans for more,
several of which have to
do with alumni ind the
alumni newspaper.
JOHN C. THOMAS