SIX INDUCTED INTO GUILFORD ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME
Greensboro, NC (10/30/99) — Six former student-athletes will be inducted as the 29th class into the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday, October 30 as part of the school’s Homecoming Weekend festivities. The inductees will be honored at a banquet Saturday night in the Walnut Room of the college's Founders Hall.
The class of 1999 includes an award-winning sportswriter, a member of Guilford's 1972-73 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national champion men's basketball team, the college's all-time leading baseball hitter, a retired Episcopal priest who was an all-conference quarterback for Guilford, a two-time Academic All-American basketball player and a former Guilford student-body president who started four years for the football team.
The inductees, as selected by the Guilford College Quaker Club Hall of Fame Nominating Committee are: A.J. Carr Jr. '65, Ted L. East '73, Mark Guenther '79, Carl E. Jones Sr. '54, Lois L. Wright '85, and Gary York '65.
One of North Carolina's most accomplished sportswriters, A.J. Carr Jr. '65 began writing with the Wallace Enterprise as a high school student. He came to Guilford in 1961 after a successful three-sport athletic career at Wallace-Rose Hill High School where he was an All-State 2-A Tournament basketball player. Although he never played a varsity sport in college, Carr served as Guilford's sports publicist and wrote for the Greensboro Daily News sports department. A year after graduating from Guilford, Carr left Greensboro for The News & Observer in Raleigh where he works today as a sportswriter. In 33 years with the News & Observer, he has received an impressive list of awards and achievements, including the 1978 North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year Award. He won the North Carolina Tennis Writer of the Year prize and has been recognized by the North Carolina Press Association, the Raleigh Hot Stove League and the Triangle Chapter of the National College Football Hall of Fame Foundation. Carr lives in Raleigh where he is an active member of the Millbrook United Methodist Church and has taught a high school Sunday School class there for 27 years.
Ted L. East '73 becomes the seventh member of Guilford's 1972-73 NAIA national champion basketball team to enter the Hall and the third in the last four years. After helping Winston-Salem Atkins High School to the 1968 state 4-A championship, East came to Guilford and started all four seasons for coaches Jerry Steele and Jack Jensen. A three-time team Defensive Most Valuable Player, he played on the 1970 squad that reached the NAIA National Semifinals. East averaged 9.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game over his career and helped the Quakers to a 101-25 overall record in four seasons. He averaged a career-high 13.7 points per game as a junior and a personal-best 8.4 rebounds per game in the Quakers' championship season. East will be presented at Saturday's banquet by his good friend and fellow captain of the 1972-73 team, former National Basketball Association (NBA) standout M.L Carr '73. East lives in Winston-Salem and works as an Intensive Probation Officer in Forsyth County. He is a member of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Youth Council and the Federal Strategic Law Enforcement Corrections Task Force.
Mark Guenther '79 ranks as one of the top Guilford baseball players in school history. He holds the college's career batting record with a .368 average over his three seasons with the team. Following an accomplished athletics career at Western Guilford High School, Guenther played baseball at Appalachian State for one season before transferring to Guilford for the 1977 campaign. A shortstop and center-fielder, he earned All-Carolinas Conference and All-District 26 honors in his junior and senior seasons. Guenther enjoyed his finest year in 1978 when he led the NAIA Area 7 with a school-record .454 average. In addition to his record batting average, he ranks seventh on the Quakers' career slugging percentage chart (.545). Guenther received Guilford's Senior Male Athlete of the Year Award in 1979. He remains an active member of the Guilford athletics community by serving on the Quaker Club Board of Directors and served as the group's president for the 1997-98 school year. A Jamestown, NC resident, Guenther works as an insurance sales broker and coaches various youth teams in the area.
Carl E. Jones Sr. '54 started three years at quarterback for Coach Stuart Maynard's football team and also played tennis for the Quakers. A three-sport standout at Smithfield (NC) High School, He began his collegiate career at Atlantic Christian College (ACC) in 1949 after serving four years in the United States Navy. Jones transferred to Guilford when ACC dropped its football program after the 1950 season. Maynard needed a quarterback in his first season at the helm and made Jones his initial recruit. A fine passer, Jones earned All-North State Conference recognition as a senior in 1953 and also received the Quakers' Most Valuable Player Award that season. After graduation, he earned a master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and spent some time coaching and teaching in Guilford County. Jones enrolled in the University of the South in Sewanee, TN, and earned his bachelor's degree in divinity in 1964 and his master's degree in divinity a year later. A retired Episcopal priest and former Alabama Department of Education mathematics specialist, Jones now lives in Daphne, AL.
After helping Chapel Hill (NC) High School to the 1980-81 state basketball championship, Lois L. Wright '85 became the first woman from her high school to receive an athletic scholarship when she signed with Guilford. She lettered four seasons with the Quakers' basketball team and also played softball for three years. On the hardcourts, Wright received honorable mention All-Carolinas Conference laurels as a freshman and first team all-league honors as a sophomore. She earned NAIA Academic All-America recognition in her junior and senior seasons and received Guilford's highest athletic honor, the English Athletic Leadership Award, in 1984. She ranks ninth on Guilford's career scoring list with 982 points and stands among the Quakers' leaders in career field goals (412), field-goal percentage (.516) and scoring average (14.4 ppg). Wright graduated with honors from Guilford and received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics. She received the Aspri Graduate Scholarship and applied it to her studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She earned her master's degree in physics in 1987 and presently conducts AIDS research for the Glaxo Wellcome Company in Research Triangle Park, NC. Wright received the Glaxo Wellcome Excellence Award in 1998 and has written a number of articles and abstracts dealing with AIDS research. The Chapel Hill, NC resident has a green belt in TaeKwonDo and volunteers in the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women by performing prison visitation.
Gary York '65 was an All-Carolinas Conference lineman under Coach John Stewart. He started all four years on the line and received the teams' Best Blocker Award three times. As a team captain in 1964, he received Guilford's Most Valuable Senior Award. York also served as Guilford's student body president. He attended Bucknell University after graduating from Guilford and received his master's degree in business administration in 1968. The founder of York Oil Company of Mount Airy, NC, York owns the Neighbors Stores Chain in central North Carolina. He is an active member of the community as he serves on the Salvation Army Advisory Board as well as the boards of directors for the Mount Airy Rotary Club and the Surry County Smart Start program. York's son, Alan, is a senior on Guilford's football team and played four seasons with the Quakers' baseball squad.
This year’s class brings Guilford’s Sports Hall of Fame membership to 171. Past inductees include NBA stars M.L. Carr '73 and World B. Free, major-league baseball players Ernie Shore '13, Rick Ferrell '28 and Tom Zachary.
