General Release - 2002-03 Hall of Fame - Guilford College
GUILFORD COLLEGE ADDS FOUR TO ATHLETICS HALL
OF FAME
Greensboro, NC (01/31/03) -- Four former student-athletes will be inducted as the 32nd class to be inducted into the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame February 1. Elton Gross '78 of Charlotte, NC, Lisa Miller '86 of Summerfield, NC, Amy Parrish '84 of Stamford, CT, and Lee Porter '89 of Greensboro are this year's inductees.
The inductees will be honored at halftime of Guilford's men's basketball game with Virginia Wesleyan and formally inducted at an evening banquet in Sternberger Auditorium on campus.
Gross
earned All-Carolinas Conference honors twice and scored 1,362 points in four
seasons as a post player on the basketball team. Guilford went 85-32 in his
tenure and reached the NAIA National Tournament in 1976. Gross captained
coach Jack Jensen's club as a junior and senior and shared the its Most Valuable
Player prize in 1978. He averaged 12.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game in 112
career contests and shot 56.7 percent from the floor. A two-time winner of
Guilford's English Athletic Leadership Award, he played professional basketball
in Finland from 1979-83 after earning a history degree from Guilford. Gross signed
a free-agent contract with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks despite not having played
football in college. He was released just prior to the start of the 1978 season.
While at Bayside High School in his native Virginia Beach, he starred for
Guilford alumnus Conrad Parker's '62 basketball teams and also
played football. An employee of US Airways for 19 years, he lives in Charlotte
with his wife and two children. Gross serves as president and a coach for
the Charlotte Lady Stars AAU Basketball Association.
Miller
lettered for the Quakers' basketball and tennis teams in each of her four
years at Guilford. She enjoyed her most success in tennis where she earned NAIA
Academic All-America and Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches' Association
Scholar-Athlete recognition in 1985 and 1986. Miller compiled a 93-14
record at fifth singles and also played third doubles for coach Gayle Currie's
teams. She earned All-Carolinas Conference honors all four years and was a
two-time All-NAIA District 26 performer. The Quakers captured three District 26
and three Carolinas Conference titles in her tenure and won 70 of 84 dual
matches. On the basketball court, Miller played point guard on the first
three winning teams in Guilford history. She received the school's Best Senior
Athlete Award and graduated with honors in sport management in 1986. A
Greensboro native and Grimsley High School graduate, Miller resides in
Summerfield where she owns and operates a tax consultation company.
Following
a standout career at Starmount High School, Parrish left Yadkinville, NC,
to play for Currie's successful volleyball team and the Quakers' growing
basketball and softball programs. By the time she graduated with honors in
psychology in 1984, she had 12 varsity letters and the Best Senior Athlete
Award. Parrish excelled in volleyball and played on two Carolinas
Conference championship teams, including the 1980 squad that went 31-13 and
reached the NAIA National Tournament. She captained the club and earned
All-District 26 and all-conference honors as a junior and senior. The Quakers'
volleyball teams went 92-42 in Parrish's four seasons. She played forward
alongside Miller on Guilford's 1983-84 basketball team that logged the
program's first winning season (14-13). Parrish had a similar effect as a
catcher on the Quakers' softball squad and played on the school's first two
winning teams in 1983 (16-13) and 1984 (16-12). She received the English
Athletic Leadership Award in 1984. Parrish received her master's and
doctoral degrees from UNC Greensboro and works as a clinical psychologist in
Stamford, CT.
Porter
parlayed his Guilford golfing achievements into a 14-year career as a
professional golfer, including six years on the Professional Golfers'
Association of America (PGA) Tour, golf's most competitive level. He made his
PGA Tour debut in 1993 and also played with the world's best golfers from
1997-99 and 2001-02. Porter will play his sixth season on the Nationwide
Tour (formerly the buy.com Tour) in 2003. He has also made stops on the European
PGA, the Asian PGA, the South American, the Japanese and the Canadian tours. Porter
qualified for the U.S. Open in 1998 and 2001, and finished 32nd both times.
He started 2003 ranked 294th on the PGA Tour's career money leaders list with
over $1 million. Porter was a two-time NAIA performance All-American and
a two-time Academic All-American at Guilford. He ranks third on the Quakers'
career stroke average list (75.053) and has three of the school's low-20 season
stroke averages. Porter took medalist honors at the 1988 World University
Games, the 1989 North and South Amateur and the 1988 Cardinal Amateur. Coach
Jack Jensen's Quakers finished no lower than sixth at the NAIA National
Tournament in Porter's four years. Guilford won the 1989 national title
after runner-up finishes in 1986 and 1987. The Page High School graduate lives
in Greensboro with his wife and two children.
This year's class raises Guilford's Athletics Hall of Fame membership to 181. Past inductees include NBA stars M.L. Carr '73 and World B. Free '76, major-league baseball players Ernie Shore '13, Rick Ferrell '28 and Tom Zachary '18.