The South Atlantic Conference Announces 2015 Hall of Fame Class
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – The South Atlantic Conference will induct five members into the 2015 Hall of Fame Class, the League announced today. Those earning honors are longtime SAC football official Charles “Slim” Carriker , Mars Hill Alum David Cassell, Carson-Newman Alum Mike Clowney, Tusculum grad Amanda Musick Hale and Wingate University graduate Dr. Russell Booker. The honorees will be formally inducted into the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame at the Hall of Fame Banquet in Asheville, N.C. on June 4, 2015.
Carriker has officiated for more than 35 years and has refereed a League-record 226 South Atlantic Conference football games. He has served as a position chief for 18 years and has trained more than 25 officials who went on to officiate at the Division II level. A well respected official in the League, he has refereed five NCAA first round playoff games, two second round games, one semi-final game and in 1997 he worked the NCAA Division II National Championship. He has also served as an official’s observer in the South Atlantic Conference to help in the development of officials for a League he holds dear to his heart.
A former varsity football player at the University of South Carolina, Carriker is involved in numerous community service projects in the Winston-Salem area.
Cassell joins the Hall of Fame after finishing his career as one of the most storied tight ends in SAC history. He earned the Jacob’s Blocking Trophy during the 2001 season and earned numerous All-American plaudits during his career. He started in 42 games for the Lions and finished his career with 143 catches, 1,929 receiving yards and 20 scores. Cassell was named First-Team All-South Atlantic Conference during the 1999, 2000 and 2001 seasons and was a Second-Team honoree in 1998. He averaged 45.9 receiving yards per game and 13.3 yards per catch during his career. In the 2001 season, Cassell was named to the D-II Senior Cactus Bowl.
Since graduation, Cassell has become a successful business man and an engaged community leader. He currently serves at the Melting Pot on a weekly basis to provide meals to the homeless community. Cassell also serves as a volunteer coach in the Pioneer League, a League which provides athletic opportunities to home-schooled children.
Clowney finished his career at Carson-Newman as one of the best linebackers in school history. He still holds the single-game tackles record that he set in 1996 as he posted 23 stops against Wingate. A First-Team All-American during the 1996 season, Clowney led his squad with 153 tackles that season to become one of only six Carson-Newman Eagles to be named to five different All-America squads in a single season. He was named the South Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and led Carson-Newman to its first NCAA Division II National Championship game appearance during the 1996 campaign.
After his playing days at Carson-Newman, Clowney spent three seasons as head football coach and athletic director at Emerald High School in Greenwood, S.C. Clowney then went to Greenwood High School where he served as the defensive coordinator from 1999-2003. Under his tutelage, Greenwood won back-to-back South Carolina State Championships during 1999 and 2000. Clowney returned to C-N and has spent the last five seasons as the program’s defensive coordinator. In his time with the defense he has seen 15 All-South Atlantic Conference performers, including nine First-Team honorees. In 2013, Clowney coached his first defensive All-American when Jaycob Coleman garnered the accolade while chasing down some of Clowney’s own records.
Musick Hale graduated from Tusculum as the most decorated cross country runner in school history. She was tabbed the 2003 South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Year and the 2001 SAC Freshman of the Year. She earned All-Conference honors in each of her four years as a Pioneer and qualified for the NCAA Division D-II National Championship during the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons. She won a school-record 10 individual meets during her career and claimed the South Atlantic Conference Championship in 2003. Musick Hale owns eight of the top 13 5K times in Tusculum history and earned runner-up finishes at the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional twice in her career. Her fastest 5K came during her junior year as she clocked in at 19:15 at the SAC Championship, a time that is currently No. 4 All-Time at Tusculum. She also became Tusculum’s first runner to ever earn All-SAC First-Team honors in consecutive seasons during her time as a Pioneer harrier.
In the classroom, Musick Hale was a member of the South Atlantic Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll, the Tusculum Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and a NCAA Division II Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team member. During the 2003-04 academic year, she was tabbed the Tusculum College Female Athlete of the Year.
An active volunteer in the community, she volunteers as a reader for 3rd grade elementary school students and has helped with storm clean-ups in her area.
Dr. Booker joins the Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Alumnus after playing football at Wingate. Dr. Booker currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Wingate University and in 2008 was recognized as Wingate’s Outstanding Young Alumnus. He received the York County Citizen of the Year in 2008 and in 2009 was recognized as South Carolina’s Superintendent of the Year by the CATE Division. Dr. Booker was awarded the 2013 Whitney M. Young Humanitarian Award by the Urban League of the Upstate. A member of the NAACP, he serves as the board chair of the United Way of the Piedmont, the Spartanburg Commission of Higher Education Board, the Spartanburg College Hub Board and is the President-elect of the Superintendent’s Division of South Carolina Association of School Administrators.
As the Superintendent of Spartanburg School District Seven, the Spartanburg High School class of 2014 earned a school-record 18.4 million dollars in merit-based scholarships. His district is the only school district in Spartanburg County to exceed the national SAT average.
The 2015 South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame Banquet will take place as a part of the League’s Spring Meetings in Asheville, N.C.