Guilford To Induct Six Into Athletics Hall of Fame

Greensboro, NC (10/31/06) -- Guilford College will recognize six former student-athletes as the 36th class inducted into its Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday. Jennifer Friend-Kerr '87 of Hilton Head Island, S.C., Steve Harwell '85 of Mooresville, N.C., Calvin Hunter '92 of Browns Summit, N.C., Walter "Buddy" Smith '69 of Chesapeake, Va., R. Jay Terrell '72 of Greensboro, N.C., and Tony Womack '92 of Waxhaw, N.C., are this year’s inductees.

The group will be formally inducted at a 10:00 a.m. ceremony in Guilford’s Dana Auditorium and honored prior to the start of the Quakers’ football game versus Catholic University later in the day. Individuals who wish to attend the ceremony should contact Guilford's athletics department at 336-316-2190.

Friend-Kerr starred for coach Gayle Currie's tennis teams in the 1980s and earned honorable mention All-America recognition in 1983 and 1984. A Maryland state champion from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, she broke into the Quakers' lineup as a freshman in 1983-84 and reached the 1984 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) semifinals as an unseeded competitor. She moved from fourth to second singles as a sophomore and remained there for the rest of her career. Friend-Kerr captained the 1987 team and won its Most Valuable Player Award after posting a 26-6 singles mark that ranks fourth in school history. Her 91-19 career singles record stands third all time at Guilford and the Quakers won 70 of 85 dual matches in her tenure. After graduating with her bachelor's degree in French, she spent four years as a certified tennis professional at the Sea Pines Racquet Club under Stan Smith. Now an academic tutor with the Beaufort County School District, Friend-Kerr remains a competitive athlete and has placed first in her age group in half marathons in 2005 and 2006.

Harwell was an All-America golfer for the Quakers in 1985 and remains a top amateur golfer. After an exemplary scholastic career at Mooresville High School, he continued his education and athletics at Guilford where he compiled a 76.5 stroke average in a school-record 123.5 rounds from 1981-85. Harwell won three college tournaments and captured All-America honors as a senior after placing ninth at the NAIA Championships, which helped coach Jack Jensen's club place second. He received his bachelor's degree in business management and now works as an agent for New York Life Insurance. A two-time North Carolina Amateur Championship finalist, Harwell has played in 12 United States Golf Association Championships and won the River Run Golf and Country Club Championship 11 times. He captured the 2005 Club Managers Association of America National Club Championship at the Pinehurst Country Club last November.

One of the top quarterbacks in Guilford history, Hunter won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference's (ODAC) Football Player of the Year Award and guided the Quakers to the league title in 1991. Nicknamed "Poise" by his teammates, the North Pitt (N.C.) High School product tested the opposition with his running and passing. He ranked among the national total offense leaders in 1990 and graduated with 13 school records, three of which stand today. A recipient of Guilford's 1991 English Athletic Leadership Award, Hunter earned his bachelor's degree in sport management. He joined Mike Ketchum's '78 football staff and coached six years over three terms, helping the Quakers to ODAC titles in 1994 and 1997. Hunter earned his master's degree in sport management from Georgia Southern University in 1994 and a doctorate in sport management from the United States Sports Academy in 2005. He works as an assistant professor of sport management at Catawba College, where he also coaches the receivers for head coach Chip Hester's '92 football staff.

Smith started four years for the Quakers' football team in the late 1960s and played in the 1969 North Carolina Shriners All-Star Game. Guilford won 21 games and compiled three straight winning seasons in his tenure. He enjoyed a successful scholastic career at Norview (Va.) High School and won the 1964 Outstanding Football Player Award from the Norfolk Sports Club. Smith earned NAIA All-District and All-Carolinas Conference recognition as a two-way sophomore in 1966. He served as a co-captain of Guilford's 1968 team and won the Quakers' Best Tackler and Most Valuable Player Awards. Smith works as a logistics manager at Designs by Jo in Chesapeake, Va.

A four-year baseball letter winner at Guilford, Terrell earned all-state, all-district and All-Carolinas Conference honors as a senior. He graduated from Southeast Guilford (N.C.) High School in 1968 before coming to play for coach Stuart Maynard's '43 Quakers. Terrell was an all-conference catcher as a junior and also played football in his third year at Guilford. In 1996, he received the National Agriscience Teacher of the Year Award and three years later received Guilford's Alumni Excellence Award. An instructor at Southern Guilford (N.C.) High School for 32 years, Terrell received the 1998 Evon Dean Outstanding High School Educator Award from the Guilford County Council of Parent Teacher Associations. He earned his master's degree in education from North Carolina A&T State University in 1998 and works as an area program manager with Erickson-USA.

Womack recently finished his 16th season as a professional baseball player. The former Guilford baseball and football standout is a free agent after playing parts of 13 seasons with seven major-league clubs. The Gretna (Va.) High School product played two baseball seasons at Guilford and the 1990 football season (with Hunter) before the Pittsburgh Pirates made him a seventh-round selection in the 1991 Major League Baseball draft. While at Guilford, Womack hit .337 with 37 stolen bases for coach Robert Fulton's '74 baseball teams and ranked among the national kickoff returns leaders in his lone football season under coach Charles Forbes. He received the 1991 Best Undergraduate Male Athlete Award and the 1992 English Athletic Leadership Award. After starting his professional career in 1991, Womack returned to Guilford to complete requirements for his bachelor's degree in sport management.

Womack worked his way through the Pirates' minor-league system and broke into the big leagues Sept. 10, 1993. He split time between the Pirates and the minor leagues before taking over as Pittsburgh's starting second baseman in 1997. He led the National League in stolen bases for the first of three consecutive seasons that year and also represented his team in the Major League All-Star Game. Pittsburgh traded Womack to Arizona in 1999 where he moved to the outfield and helped the Diamondbacks to the National League West title. He returned to the infield and played a key role on Arizona's 2001 World Series champions. The Wall Street Journal recently noted Womack's game-tying double in the ninth inning of the Series' seventh game against New York as the most significant clutch hit in the Major League's postseason history. Since leaving Arizona in 2003, Womack has played with five different teams and played in five of the past eight postseasons, most recently with the 2005 New York Yankees.

This year’s class raises Guilford’s Athletics Hall of Fame membership to 199. 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, and professional golfer Lee Porter '89.