Erskine Inducts Six Into Athletic Hall Of Fame

Erskine College will induct six new members into its Flying Fleet Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday, as part of the Homecoming 2002 celebration, including the late Robbie Hicklin, a basketball coach who led the Fleet to its finest season ever while battling stomach cancer that would eventually take his life.

Also being inducted are basketball player Eric Wesley, Class of 1993, who starred for Hicklin’s teams; men’s tennis legend Manoj Chandani, Class of 1990; three-sport standout Margie Everett Barnes, Class of 1980; New Jersey basketball scoring threat Francis ‘Sol’ Salerno, Class of 1951; and baseball record-setter Ralph Dalton, Class of 1986.

 

ROBBIE HICKLIN
In 1989 Robbie Hicklin took over an Erskine College men’s basketball program that had produced only two winning seasons in the 1980s.

In three seasons he built the Flying Fleet’s most successful team in history, leading the 1991-92 Flying Fleet to a 27-7 record and into the ‘Elite Eight’ of the 32-team NAIA National Tournament.

He developed the talents of players he inherited, especially guard Charles Jordan and forward Greg Owen, brought in two of Erskine’s best recruiting classes, introduced a fast-paced offense that fit the strengths of his players, and produced two of the three highest scoring teams ever at Erskine.

Hicklin had a brilliant and creative coaching mind and the ability to communicate his ideas and confidence to his players. What Hicklin didn’t have was time. On March 11, 1991, he was diagnosed with cancer of the stomach, esophagus, and liver and given only three months to a year to live.

Hicklin expressed to his players his determination to beat the cancer and to coach in 1991-92. He and his players had missions to complete.

His were personal and professional: to share with his wife Linda seeing his daughter Mandy start first grade, and to produce a championship team.

His players’ mission was to fulfill the potential they had shown in 1990-91 when a late season slump had short-circuited a district championship bid.

After surgery and 60 days of chemotherapy treatment at Duke and six weeks of radiation treatment, Hicklin’s cancer was in remission, and he was ready to resume coaching duties.

He ascribed the remission to his “faith in God and a positive attitude.”

Hicklin missed coaching only two games during the 1991-92 season. He utilized breaks in the schedule for monthly five-day treatments at Duke and sometimes coached in a face mask because chemotherapy had weakened his immune system.

After a disappointing loss to Newberry in early January, in a game Hicklin missed, the Fleet was virtually unstoppable the remainder of the season, setting a new single game scoring record and scoring over 100 points 10 times.

On March 11, 1992, exactly one year after Hicklin’s cancer diagnosis, the Fleet defeated Francis Marion in the District Six championship game to earn a place in the NAIA Nationals.

Eight days later the team had claimed two victories in Kansas City, defeating McKendree in the opening round and upsetting second-seeded Wisconsin-Stevens Point to advance to the quarterfinals.

Central Arkansas ended Erskine’s national championship dream but did little to dim the accomplishments of Hicklin and his team.

Hicklin continued to fulfill all his recruiting and camp obligations until cancer took his life in July 1992.

Perhaps Robbie Hicklin’s greatest contributions to Erskine were the examples of courage and pride he gave the entire Erskine family and the joy and pride he brought to the campus.

 

ERIC WESLEY
Eric Wesley was the player Head Coach Robbie Hicklin chose as the cornerstone of his rebuilding effort for the Flying Fleet men's basketball program when he assumed the Erskine coaching reins in 1989.

While working as an assistant coach for Davidson, Hicklin had been impressed by the 6-foot-5 forward from Virginia Beach, Va., both as a player and a person.

Fortunately for Erskine, Davidson had completed its recruiting and Hicklin was able to bring Wesley to Erskine as part of an outstanding recruiting class.

Starting in 28 of 29 games his freshman year, Wesley established himself as a strong scorer and rebounder, averaging 11.4 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Wesley’s good hands and variety of inside moves made him the “go-to” man for guard Charles Jordan in his sophomore year, and he blossomed into the Palmetto State Conference’s Player of the Year with a 19.1 point per game average.

His shooting percentage improved from 54.7 to 57.7, and he averaged 6.5 rebounds per game as Erskine doubled its victory total from seven in 1989-90 to 14 in 1990-91. Teammates elected him their most valuable player.

In the Fleet’s District Six championship season of 1991-92, Wesley joined with Joey Rice and Greg Owen as part of a triumvirate of players averaging 14 to 15 points per game.
He averaged 14.2 points and 7.2 rebounds and hit 54.8 percent of his floor shots and was again Palmetto State Conference Player of the Year.

Against McKendree College in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City, Wesley led Erskine to a 101-90 win with 22 points and 13 rebounds.

He turned in two other outstanding performances in Kansas City, the first in a 54-52 upset of No. 2 ranked Wisconsin-Stevens Point and the second in a quarterfinal loss to the University of Central Arkansas.

Wesley carried the load for the Fleet his senior season, despite shoulder separations before and during the year. The Fleet struggled during the year with both the new NCAA Division II schedule and the death of Robbie Hicklin.

He was named team MVP for the second time. His 318 points in injury-limited play gave him 1,686 career points, which places him third in career scoring in Erskine history.

 

MANOJ CHANDANI
Erskine College Head Men's Tennis Coach Vardon Cox considers the day in 1985 when he opened a letter from a young man in India the most fortunate in his 34 years of coaching tennis.

Manoj Chandani had written a letter to him inquiring about attending and playing tennis at Erskine. The following year Manoj began an outstanding four-year tennis career at Erskine, during which he compiled a remarkable 70-19 singles record, with all of his losses coming to highly ranked players.

He had a 17-5 record in 1986, his freshman season, as the team finished 10-12. As he was joined by outstanding teammates, the Fleet began to improve, anchored by Manoj's stellar play at No. 1 singles and doubles.

The 1987 season saw him win 17 of 20 matches, and the team moved to 13-5. The 1988 and 1989 teams both went 16-4, while he was 18-5 and 18-6 respectively.

In 1989, Chandani advanced to the NAIA District Six singles final before losing a tough, three-set championship match.

As a fixture at No. 1 singles and doubles for four seasons, Chandani made Erskine competitive in an NAIA district that was considered the most difficult NAIA tennis district in the nation, with three teams that were highly ranked.

He played a power game that enabled him to compete with the best players in the nation. His 17-3 record in 1987 included a victory over a member of Lander’s national championship team.

The success Erskine men's tennis enjoyed in the late 1980's helped Coach Cox lay the recruiting foundation for his NCAA Division II regional and national tournament teams of the 1990s.

Cox says Chandani’s “leadership and work ethic made him a tremendous asset to both our tennis program and our student body. He was exemplary in his conduct on and off the court. He’s very deserving of being the first player of mine to be inducted into the Flying Fleet Hall of Fame.”

Following his graduation, Chandani returned to India, married, and is a successful businessman.

 

MARGIE EVERETT BARNES
In the fall of 1976, two years after women’s intercollegiate sports were introduced at Erskine, volleyball coach Betty Carol Fite and women’s basketball coach John Neiswender combined resources to offer a scholarship to Margie Everett of Westminster, an extraordinary player in both sports.

Teaming with fellow 6-footer Tammie Hardy of Irmo, Everett helped Erskine achieve four consecutive winning seasons in each sport.

During these seasons the basketball team had a combined 70-30 record, won the consolation championship of the 1977 SCAIAW Tournament (which included South Carolina and Clemson), and in 1979 and 1980 finished fourth in the SCAIAW Tournament, against the strongest women’s competition in the nation.

In 1980 she was honored as the first Erskine women’s player to score 1,000 career points and ended her career with 1,175 points.

She also grabbed 825 career rebounds, an average of 8.3 per game.

She was MVP of the 1977-78 team and also of the 1979-80 team that finished 20-6 and defeated three nationally ranked teams. That year she was honorable mention All-State.

The 1976-79 volleyball teams had a combined record of 84-52, with a second place and three fourth place finishes in state competition that in the first two years also included South Carolina and Clemson. The 1977 team twice beat Clemson.

Everett was co-captain of the 1978 and 1979 teams. The 1978 Lady Fleet finished second in the state and third in regional competition behind College of Charleston and High Point, both now Division I teams.

Everett hit .472 for the 1977 softball team, which finished 10-3, defeating South Carolina in the regular season and finishing second to the Lady Gamecocks in the state tournament.

The 1978 softball team lost two one-run decisions to South Carolina and finished third in the state tournament.

In 1979 she made the State Tournament All-Star team as Erskine finished 9-6 and fifth in the tournament.

She completed her college athletic career in 1980 by keeping intact in softball her record of starting for four years in three sports for the Lady Fleet.

 

FRANCIS ‘SOL’ SALERNO
When Coach John McMillan greeted the 1950-51 Erskine basketball team, he saw only two familiar faces among that year's team, senior center Francis “Sol” Salerno and sophomore guard Bob "Country" Cathers.

In fact, McMillan was coaching the team because another familiar face, Coach Gene Alexander, had been called to active duty in the Korean Conflict.

Except for Salerno, the team’s only senior, the players had graduated who had led Erskine to the NAIA Nationals in 1948-49 and narrowly missed a championship in 1949-50.

For the first time since entering Erskine in 1947, Salerno was called upon to lead the team rather than serve in an important supporting role.

He answered the call brilliantly during his senior season, scoring 26 points against Newberry, 24 against North Georgia, and 26 in a close loss to Presbyterian.

The Mirror praised his “brilliant rebounding and tip-ins” and noted that he led the team in seven different offensive categories and was averaging 17.4 points per game.

His most outstanding performance came in a 77-75 upset of Wofford, in which he had 24 points and held in check Wofford's star player Ellerbe Neal, acknowledged as the top collegiate center in South Carolina that season.

Salerno's fine play during the 1951 Little Four tournament landed him an All-Tournament selection.

The affable crewcut player from New Jersey had waited three years to show what he could accomplish, playing a supportive role during his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons to fine players such as Jack Olive, Bill Browning, and Joe Franza.

He had made major contributions to three strong teams, including the 194849 season in which the Flying Fleet was the Carolinas’ small college champion and played in the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City.

Although the team did not reach these heights during his senior season, Salerno's outstanding play clearly demonstrated his value to the team.

Salerno’s greatest asset during his senior season may have been the fact that he was a steadying influence on an outstanding group of newcomers Coach Alexander had recruited from Corbin, Ky., for the 1950-51 season.

These newcomers would bring the Flying Fleet back into basketball prominence when Alexander returned from Korea for the 1952-53 season.

 

RALPH DALTON
Ralph Dalton entered Erskine College in the fall of 1984 as a relatively unheralded junior college transfer from New Jersey.

After the spring of 1985, in a season in which he literally rewrote the Erskine record books, he was unheralded no longer.

Though some of his records have since fallen to players participating in much longer seasons, his team record batting average of .488 is likely to stand for years to come.

He also set new team records for hits, 63; triples, 10; stolen bases, 21; runs, 46; and on-base percentage, .571.

In 1986 he stole 25 bases to break his own record, and his .387 batting average gave him a two-year average of .435, also an Erskine team record.

During his two years at Erskine, the Flying Fleet compiled 22-16 and 24-15 records, giving Erskine three consecutive 20-win seasons in baseball for the first time in history. The team made the district playoffs both seasons.

In mid-season of his first year, Dalton went on a 14-for-20 tear that included five doubles, five triples and 10 RBI.

Virtually everything he hit for the remainder of the season was a line drive, and many drives hit the gaps.

His 63 hits included 12 doubles, 10 triples, and two homers, and he had a slugging percentage of .783. He batted in 39 runs.

He was thrown out only seven times in 53 base-stealing attempts, and his speed also made him an excellent leftfielder. His 10 triples led the nation in 1985 in all classifications.

Dalton’s record season came against strong competition, with the schedule including South Carolina, Clemson, Wake Forest, district powerhouses Coastal Carolina, USC-Aiken, USC-Spartanburg, Francis Marion, Wofford and Newberry, and a number of teams that have since moved to Division I.

Dalton was on-deck when the Fleet’s 6-5 loss to Clemson in 1985 ended with the tying and winning runs on base.

One of the last great players of the Harry Stille coaching era at Erskine, Dalton broke records that had stood for decades.