(left
to right) Charles Jordan, Kathryn Whitmire, and
Wayne McKinney
Athletic Hall of Fame To Induct Three New Members
Erskine College will induct three new members into the Flying Fleet Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday during Homecoming 2000, including the first two student-athletes to enter the hall of fame from the decade of the 90s.
The three inductees are Charles "Bruiser" Jordan, Class of 1992, in basketball; Kathryn Whitmire, Class of 1990, in soccer; and Wayne McKinney, Class of 1970, in baseball.
When Erskine compiled its finest basketball season in history in 1991-92, the most valuable player was not the top scorer, rebounder, or shot blocker but a guard who had received so little attention in high school that he was not signed to a scholarship until a year after his graduation.
Charles Jordan received a lot of attention at the 1992 NAIA National Tournament, however. More than one coach there told Flying Fleet Coach Robbie Hicklin that he was the finest guard among the 32 teams in the tournament.
Jordan’s speed, defense, and pin-point passes to Eric Wesley, Joey Rice, and Greg Owen led Erskine into the quarterfinals of that tournament, climaxing a 27-7 season for the Flying Fleet.
That culminated a season in which he set new team records with 298 assists and 145 steals (4.4 per game), placing him among the national leaders in both categories. His 298 assists ranks him seventh in NCAA Division II for a single season total.
In addition, he was an outstanding rebounder for a guard, averaging almost four per game, and contributed almost 10 points per game to the Erskine offense. His determination earned him the nickname, "Bruiser," and he also gave leadership as tri-captain.
"Bruiser’s" unlikely trip from obscurity to success mirrored that of the Erskine basketball team from his freshman to senior season. Though he broke into the starting lineup as a freshman in 1988-89 and contributed 125 assists and 67 steals, he averaged only 5.5 points per game and was part of a team whose record and morale collapsed at mid-season.
Coach Robbie Hicklin was hired for his sophomore season, and the new coach brought in new players at almost every position. However, he showed confidence in Jordan by starting him at point guard.
Jordan improved in every statistic as a sophomore and was particularly outstanding in a near-upset of Davidson and a 20-point playoff effort against USC-Spartanburg.
In 1990-91, after two impressive recruiting seasons, Hicklin unveiled his own system, an intensive pressing defense and fast-break offense that led the state with 91.8 points per game.
As the point-man of the new system, Jordan had 197 assists, 110 steals, and 113 rebounds in the 1990-91 campaign that featured 14 wins. Most impressively, he improved his scoring average to 9.3 points per game.
When at the end of the year Hicklin was diagnosed with cancer, Erskine became a team with a mission in 1991-92, to give the Fleet’s dying coach a championship season in his final year. Jordan led the way, quarterbacking an attack that 10 times scored more than 100 points. He personally improved in every statistic for the third consecutive year.
Kathryn Whitmire faced her first athletic challenge at Cambridge Academy in Greenwood, playing goalkeeper for the boys’ soccer team. She did so well in that effort that she earned a scholarship in 1986 to play on Erskine’s fledgling women’s soccer team.
There she met a second challenge –making a team that already included an All-American goalkeeper, Michelle Adamson. She met that challenge twice, first making the team as a field player and then winning the goalkeeper position as Adamson moved to the field.
Whitmire had nine of Erskine’s 12 shutouts her freshman season as the Lady Fleet compiled a 15-6-1 record. In the 1987 season she met her next challenge, goalkeeping for Erskine in the NAIA National Tournament after helping the Fleet to a 13-4-1 regular-season record.
Against Puget Sound in the national semifinals, she helped stop two shots in a shootout as Erskine took a 2-1 victory. She was equally brilliant in a 1-0 loss to Berry for the national title and captured the tournament’s Defensive Most Valuable Player Award. Her goals per game average for the season was 1.03, and she had eight more shutouts.
Whitmire won NAIA All-American honors in 1988 with her finest season statistically, with 10 shutouts and a 0.53 goals allowed per game average. Though Erskine failed to make the nationals, the Lady Fleet gained revenge against Berry, 1-0, and tied nemesis Methodist College, 2-2.
In 1989 Erskine hosted the NAIA National Tournament for the second time, following a 10-7 regular-season record against a schedule including eight nationally-ranked teams.
Highlighting the regular season was a 4-0 victory over Elon, a team that had kept Erskine from the nationals in 1986 and 1988. With Whitmire in goal, Erskine battled Berry to a 0-0 tie through four overtimes before losing 1-0 in a shootout.
The Lady Fleet finished fourth in the tournament after losing 2-0 to Lindenwood the next day, but Whitmire’s tournament play was so outstanding that she won defensive MVP honors for the second time. She had a 1.38 goals allowed average and added six shutouts for the season, giving her a team record 33 shutouts for her career.
Even without Erskine’s NAIA District Six championship in 1970, Wayne McKinney’s four-year career for the Flying Fleet would be noteworthy. In 1969 the second baseman from Greer hit .456, an Erskine team record with a wooden bat. That average was first in the District and third in the nation in 1969 and is still the third highest batting average ever by an Erskine player. McKinney also hit almost .400 during Erskine’s championship season in 1970. Annually he was among the team leaders in runs, hits, runs batted in, and stolen bases.
At second base he was among the excellent fielders on a team that annually ranked near the best in the nation in fielding, teaming with shortstops Ronnie Wilson and Gary Boetsch to give Erskine an excellent double-play combination. Erskine Thomason, who later pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies, was his teammate on the 1969 and 1970 teams.
The 1969 Erskine team blanked nationally-ranked Ohio University, a team including the Phillies’ future All Star third baseman Mike Schmidt, 9-0. McKinney received All-District and honorable mention All-American honors in 1969 and 1970, receiving the Topps All-Star Award in those years.
McKinney played in an era in which Erskine’s district competition still included Appalachian, Western Carolina, and Wofford, all now NCAA Division I teams. Erskine also annually played such Division I powers as Ohio University, Georgia Tech, and South Carolina.
All those teams, plus perennial NAIA power Georgia Southern, today a Division I team, were on the schedule of the 1970 district championship team that finished 18-10 and went unbeaten in the district.
McKinney was a four-year starter on the baseball team while compiling an excellent 3.45 average in the classroom. After receiving his degree in physical education, he worked nine years with the School District of Greenville County, five years as a teacher and coach and four as an administrator. For the past two decades he has been a banking executive, currently serving as a vice president and city executive.
At the completion of the induction ceremony Saturday, there will be a total of 107 members in Erskine’s Flying Fleet Hall of Fame.
