Erskine To Induct Seven Into Athletic Hall Of Fame
By
RICHARD HALDEMAN
Class
of 1999
Erskine College will induct seven new members into the Flying Fleet Athletic Hall of Fame during its 20th annual banquet Saturday — including four of the best soccer players in school history — culminating the celebration of Homecoming 2001.
Being inducted this year are Matt Beyer, Class of 1984, men’s soccer; Karrie Miller, Class of 1990, women’s soccer; Tom Okubo, Class of 1972, men’s soccer and baseball; Garth Pollonais, Class of 1990, men’s soccer; Bill Walters, Class of 1964, men’s basketball; Tim Whipple, Class of 1977, men’s basketball and baseball; and Mark Wilson, Class of 1983, special category.
Okubo was elected last year with the class of 2000, but was unable to attend the banquet and will join the six members of the class of 2001 this year.
"The accomplishments of these outstanding people need to be recognized," said Erskine Athletic Director Chip Sherer. "Each one accomplished many things while they were here at Erskine, and they have continued their success after they moved on.
"They all played on excellent teams and their fine play on those teams has a great deal to do with why they are coming back for this ceremony," said Sherer.
The seven inductees will participate in the homecoming parade Saturday prior to the banquet.
Sherer said the Class of 2001 is large and has the maximum number of inductees allowed by the Flying Fleet Club.
"It was just the will of the committee," Sherer said, speaking of the Flying Fleet Club committee that meets in June to vote on inductees that are nominated by Erskine alumni and others. "There were enough strong candidates to fill all the slots."
Matt Beyer
When Matt Beyer arrived at Erskine in 1980, he was faced with the task of battling two veteran goalkeepers and another freshman for a starting position.
By the start of the season, the Atlanta freshman had accomplished that goal and by the end he had set a new Erskine record with 10 shutouts, holding opponents to 15 goals in 18 matches during an 11-5-3 season.
One of the shutouts came against the University of South Carolina, which Erskine battled to a 0-0 tie. Duke managed just one goal against the Fleet in a 1-0 victory and Clemson just two in a 2-0 win.
The Erskine student newspaper, The Mirror, proclaimed: "Freshman Matt Beyer could break all the goalie records of Van Taylor before his career is over."
The Fleet took the 1980 NAIA District Six championship, finished second in Area Nine, and was ranked No. 17 nationally in the NAIA.
Beyer was selected to participate in the U.S. Olympic Committee Sports Festival, where he was a starting goalie. He was elected team co-captain for his sophomore year.
Beyer’s sophomore year seemed headed for even more success; the Fleet put South Carolina into overtime before losing and compiled an 11-5 record through its district championship win over USC-Spartanburg, but fell to Spartanburg in the area playoffs.
That left Beyer and the Fleet with a goal for 1982, a trip to the NAIA Nationals. Although Beyer’s play was superior in goal, the season started slowly, with losses in three of the first five matches, but four of these five opponents were NCAA Division I teams, against which Erskine suffered all three losses.
The Fleet was to lose just once more in 15 regular season games, to Division I South Carolina. It claimed wins over NAIA powers Alabama-Huntsville, Berry, and USC-Spartanburg; and Beyer was spectacular in three 1-0 shutouts over Winthrop on consecutive Saturdays–the regular season, the district championship, and the area championship games.
Advancing to the National Tournament for the first time in five years, Erskine won its first game before losing to top-ranked Avila. The Fleet finished with a 17-5 record, its most wins ever at that time.
Beyer’s senior season had several high points, including breaking Taylor’s career record with his 25th shutout in a 2-0 victory over NAIA power Belhaven and winning Erskine’s first (and still only) victory over South Carolina, 3-2 in overtime.
His career ended on a disappointing note, a 2-1 loss to Winthrop in the district playoffs, ending a string of three consecutive district championships.
As predicted by The Mirror, however, Beyer had rewritten the Erskine record book for goalkeepers, setting not only season and career shutout records but also the record for career saves, with 566, records that still stand today.
He was selected to participate in the Senior Soccer Bowl, where he was starting goalkeeper. He was three times All-South and three times NAIA All-American.
Karrie Miller
When former Erskine Soccer Coach Ralph Lundy took over the Erskine College women’s soccer team in 1986, he brought in the first group of South Carolina recruits, hardened by playing on boys’ teams.
Leading this group were Karrie Miller of Greenville and Kathryn Whitmire (also a member of the Erskine Hall of Fame) of Greenwood, who were to become the defensive backbones of teams twice to be ranked number one in the NAIA.
So highly regarded was Miller that a Greenville sports writer asked if she was being recruited for the Erskine men’s team.
That 1986 women’s team compiled a 15-6-1 record and received a first- place national ranking in the NAIA after playing North Carolina State to a scoreless halftime tie before losing.
Playing at midfield, Miller had 11 goals and won Most Valuable Player honors. That was only a prelude to a 14-5-1 record and NAIA national runnerup finish in 1987 under Coach Brett Teach.
Moving to sweeper, Miller anchored a defense that scored 10 shutouts and allowed only 21 goals.
With her great field vision, she was also adept at distributing the ball and moving forward in the attack, contributing nine goals and three assists.
Erskine tied eventual national champion Berry, 1-1, in the regular season and lost 1-0 to the Vikings in the national title game after a four-overtime win the previous night over University of Puget Sound.
Miller was named All-Region, Honorable Mention All-American, and All-National Tournament.
Though the 1988 team fell short of the nationals, Miller was a key player in an even stronger defense that allowed only 10 goals in 17 games during a 12-4-1 season. A 1-0 win over Berry again gave the Fleet a number one national ranking at one point in the season.
The Fleet returned to the Nationals in 1989, suffering a four-overtime shootout loss to Berry, 1-0, after losing a 3-2 match to the Vikings in the regular season. While continuing her fine defensive play, Miller contributed eight goals and an assist. She and Whitmire shared MVP honors.
For her career, the versatile Miller tallied 31 goals and 18 assists while being utilized at midfield, stopper, and sweeper. She was named All-American three times and All-National Tournament twice.
Miller’s building of women’s soccer teams did not end with her Erskine playing career. As assistant coach at South Carolina and head coach at three other colleges, she helped to build outstanding programs. She is currently head coach at Coastal Carolina University.
Tom Okubo
Before current professional baseball rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki was born, Erskine College third baseman Tom Okubo was already proving a Japanese player could do well in American baseball.
However, Okubo’s greatest contribution to Flying Fleet Athletics was not in America’s sport, baseball, but in helping to introduce the international sport of soccer, a sport in which the Fleet had won only one game in its first two seasons.
During the next four seasons, 1968-1971, he was the backbone of the team. His 45 career assists and 35 career goals still rank him second and No. 13 respectively in Erskine men’s soccer history.
The team improved to four wins his first season and compiled a record of 36-6-1 over the next three seasons, making the Area Playoffs each season and the NAIA National Tournament in 1971, his senior season.
His goal total would have been higher if Okubo were not, in the words of teammate Charlie McGinty, "the most unselfish player ever to play the game."
McGinty attributed many of his 106 career goals to Okubo assists. Okubo’s unselfishness was further shown by his moving from forward to center halfback and then to defender as injuries and game conditions dictated. Teammates recognized his unselfish play by naming him Most Valuable Player and captain.
In his junior year he joined the baseball team as a utility infielder and was second on the team in stolen bases.
His senior season he won a starting position at third base, where his excellent fielding, speed on the basepaths, and clutch hitting helped Erskine finish third in the district.
He had the most important hit of the season, a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the ninth against Newberry, previously unbeaten in the district, that gave Erskine a 10-9 victory. He led the team in triples and was third in runs scored.
The son of an American soldier who died in Korea in 1950, Okubo grew up with his Japanese mother in Amagasaki, Japan.
His father had requested that Tom be educated in American Catholic schools, and he attended Marist Brothers Academy in Kobe, Japan, where he starred in baseball and twice won a place on the All-Japan soccer team.
Proficient in English, Japanese, and French, Okubo was a fine student at Erskine, earning his B.S. in business administration in 1972 and beginning a business career that year in Miami, Fla. In Miami he has coached youth soccer for more than 25 years, serving hundreds of Florida youth.
Garth Pollonais
Erskine College soccer reached its zenith – both for men and women – during Garth Pollonais’ four years as a player, from 1986-1989.
In 2001, now as coach of the men’s team and interim coach of the women’s team, the Trinidad native is attempting to return the Flying Fleet to those heights.
He made a great start toward this objective in 2000, when he won Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference men’s "Coach of the Year" honors in his first year as the Erskine head coach.
Fourteen years earlier he had also experienced success in his first year as an Erskine player, teaming with fellow Trinidadian Brian Haynes to lead Erskine to an Area championship and its last NAIA National Tournament appearance.
As a freshman, Pollonais led that team with 23 goals. The Fleet fielded strong teams his sophomore and junior seasons, with Pollonais leading the team in scoring and Erskine finishing second in District Six both years, but he was vastly underrated until a spectacular senior year that propelled the Fleet to its finest record ever.
In that 1989 season Pollonais was NAIA District Six "Player of the Year," leading the nation with 34 goals and adding 15 assists, to propel Erskine to a 19-4 record.
The Fleet won 17 of its first 18 matches, with the only loss coming in overtime to the University of South Carolina in a contest the Gamecocks tied as time ran out in regulation.
Erskine’s other regular-season losses were to Division I powers Clemson and College of Charleston. The Fleet’s only loss to an NAIA team came in the Area Nine finals, 2-1 in overtime, to nationally top-ranked Boca Raton.
For his career, Pollonais had 88 goals, second all-time in Erskine history, and 40 assists, fourth all-time. He was a three-time NAIA All-American. During his four years the Fleet won 53 games, an Erskine record for a four-year period.
Pollonais was one of the few NAIA players invited to play in the NCAA Soccer Senior Bowl in St. Louis April 21, 1990, where he starred with a goal and an assist.
Later he participated in the MISL All-Star Indoor Game. A stellar seven-year professional career followed for the Erskine graduate.
While still playing professionally, he began his coaching career at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, N.C., a private high school where he coached both the boys’ and girls’ teams. He also coached boys’ and girls’ club teams in Raleigh.
Bill Walters
When Bill Walters joined the Erskine men’s basketball program in 1960, the team had experienced two losing seasons under new coach Red Myers.
During the four years Walters played for the Flying Fleet, the team compiled a 79-36 record, won more than 20 games twice, made the NAIA District 26 playoffs three consecutive seasons, and established Myers as one of the top small college coaches in the south.
Walters’ 1,395 points were the most contributed by any Erskine player in those four outstanding seasons, and he was the leading scorer on the 1962-63 and 1963-64 teams.
In fact, Walters and guard John Santamaria were the only 1960-61 freshmen to play on all the district playoff teams the next three years.
Originally from Charlotte, the 6-foot-4-inch Walters was nicknamed "Stork" and normally played inside, but his agility and ball-handling were good enough for him also to play at guard.
Myers used him there to field a tall lineup in the 1963-64 season, especially after an injury to Santamaria.
Walters’ consistency and versatility were often taken for granted. He was overshadowed his first two seasons by fellow forward Bob Tuttle, whose 1,190 points are still an Erskine two-year record.
His junior season he was part of the "Iron Five," which also included Gary Boldry, Santamaria, Don Helms, and Hogan Hancock.
In Walters’ senior season the team added Bill Simpson and Don Whitehead. Individually, there seemed to be a different star each game, but when final statistics were tallied, Walters led the team in scoring.
Teammates acknowledged Walters’ value as a player and leader by naming him co-captain in 1962-63 and 1963-64.
The 1962-63 team lost 51-50 in the district playoffs to Western Carolina, which went on to finish second in the NAIA National Tournament. The 1963-64 team finished 22-7, including a 53-48 upset of then nationally third-ranked Western Carolina, but lost the district championship game to High Point.
Tim Whipple
His speed, his coachability, and his knowledge of fundamentals enabled Tim Whipple to excel in basketball and baseball at Erskine College.
The latter two abilities, and the learning experiences he had at Erskine under Hall of Fame coaches Red Myers and Harry Stille, have helped make him one of the premier high school basketball coaches in South Carolina, where he has coached Irmo High School to three state 4A basketball championships.
Whipple had an immediate impact for the Erskine baseball team, starting at second base his freshman year. That season he hit .321, second on the team.
By the close of his career he had set records for stolen bases in a season (14) and stolen bases for a career (39).
Erskine finished second in NAIA District Six in Whipple’s junior year, 1976, perhaps his finest season. That year he hit .292, led the team with 28 runs scored, and stole 12 bases. He had two doubles in a 4-1 District 6 playoff win over Coastal Carolina.
His senior year was highlighted by a 5-for-5 day against Baptist College and his record-setting 14 stolen bases.
For a player with Whipple’s determination to succeed, it was difficult in basketball to play behind Corky Cunningham, perhaps Erskine’s finest point guard ever.
Whipple was redshirted as a freshman as Cunningham led the 1974 Fleet to the NAIA National Tournament.
Following Cunningham’s graduation in 1976, Whipple stepped into the starting point guard position and ran the team brilliantly in a 17-11 season that included a one-point loss to unbeaten Newberry in the regular season, an upset of second-seeded Central Wesleyan, and an overtime loss to third-seeded Coastal Carolina in the 1977 NAIA District Six playoffs.
Though he had a year of eligibility remaining, Whipple graduated with his class in 1977.
Whipple’s coaching philosophy mirrors that of Myers, who has commented on the similarity: "He teaches his players to protect the basketball and take good shots, run disciplined offenses, and stresses defense. He has a great love and a great feel for the game."
Mark Wilson
Although Mark Wilson never scored a point, saved a goal, or rounded the bases for the Flying Fleet, his efforts as Sports Information Director on behalf of countless athletes, coaches, and his alma mater made incalculable contributions to Erskine Athletics.
Even before entering Erskine in 1974, Wilson had two loves; one was sports writing, and the second was Erskine athletics.
That fall he wrote about Erskine’s championship soccer team for the Public Relations office and The Mirror. Though he enjoyed these activities, Wilson left Erskine to write sports for his hometown newspaper in Franklin, North Carolina.
Later, Wilson moved to North Greenville College, where he became Sports Information Director.
In 1980 Wilson re-entered Erskine. After three years as a student sports information assistant, he graduated in 1983 and became Sports Information Director and Assistant Director of Public Relations.
He held these positions until 1992, when he became Sports Information Director at Gardner-Webb University, where his publications won numerous honors.
During Wilson’s 12 years at Erskine, his promotions led to 43 Flying Fleet athletes winning All-American honors, the women’s soccer team being twice ranked number one in the nation, the men’s basketball and soccer teams earning high national rankings, and Erskine receiving exposure in such national publications as Soccer America, The Sporting News, Basketball Times, and USA Today.
He designed and wrote more than 50 brochures in various sports, edited The Flying Fleet Newsletter, and handled such other Erskine responsibilities as resident director, intramural director, and assistant basketball coach.
His tireless efforts ranged from painting bleachers and helping to set up the Flying Fleet Hall of Fame to recruiting basketball prospects and serving on the National Tournament Committee for the NAIA Women’s Soccer Tournament.
His promotional efforts helped secure Erskine a favorable seeding in the 1992 NAIA Men’s National Basketball Tournament that contributed to the Fleet’s national quarter-final finish.
