News        from ABAC

Michael D. Chason Director of Public Relations ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601 Phone 229-391-5055 Fax 229-391-4781 mchason@abac.edu

IMMEDIATE FEBRUARY 7, 2008

ABAC Selects Six For Inaugural Athletics Hall of Fame

TIFTON—Six legends from the athletics field at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will be the first inductees in the first ever ABAC Athletics Hall of Fame on Feb. 21 during the Centennial Celebration Week.

ABAC Athletics Director Alan Kramer said the event will take place between games of the ABAC-South Georgia Tech basketball games that evening in Gressette Gym.  The women’s game begins at 5:30 p.m., and the men’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

“I think it’s great that we’re honoring these men and women during our 100^th birthday celebration,” Kramer said.  “All of them made significant accomplishments in their particular sports either while they were here at ABAC or after they moved on.”

The first members of the Hall of Fame include Orion Mitchell, Bruce Gressette, Thomas Cheney, Philip Simpson, Norman Hill, and Milena Stanoytcheva.  Mitchell, Gressette, Cheney, and Stanoytcheva will be honored posthumously.

A reception and dinner involving family and friends of the recipients will be held at 4 p.m. on Feb. 21 in the Donaldson Dining Hall.  A limited number of tickets at $12 each are available from the ABAC Athletics Office.  Interested persons can call (229) 391-4932 to secure tickets.  The deadline to purchase tickets is Feb. 18.

Mitchell coached football, basketball, and baseball at ABAC from 1931-45.  His 1931 team defeated the University of Miami 13-12 when ABAC was a four-year college called the Georgia State College For Men.  His 1937 and 1943 basketball teams were the Georgia junior college state champions.  Mitchell Hall, a former residence hall on the campus, was named for him.

Gressette coached basketball, baseball, and track and field at ABAC from 1945-63.   His teams won Georgia junior college basketball titles in 1946, 1947, and 1949.  The 1949 and 1952 teams won National Junior College Athletic Association Region championships.  Gressette’s track and field teams won state championships in 1961 and 1962.  His cross country team won the state title in 1961.  He also served as a mathematics professor during his ABAC tenure.  Gressette Gym is named for him.

Cheney attended ABAC from 1951-53.  He was a standout for the ABAC baseball team which went 7-1 in league play and won the 1952 state title.  Cheney really made his mark in major league baseball when he set the record for striking out the highest number of batters in a single game on Sept. 12, 1962 when he fanned 21 batters in a 16-inning 2-1 Washington Senators’ victory over the Baltimore Orioles.  During his eight-year career, the Morgan, Ga., righthander also played for St. Louis and Pittsburgh. He was on the 1960 Pirates’ team that beat the New York Yankees for the title on Bill Mazeroski’s historic walk-off home run in the ninth inning of the seventh game.

Simpson was a terrific basketball player at ABAC from 1956-58.  During his sophomore season, he averaged 24 points a game for the Stallions and was recognized for being the ninth highest scoring player in the nation.  Simpson, from Dixie, Ga., was selected for All-America status and was chosen as the most valuable player in the state tournament where ABAC finished second.  He finished his college career as a two-year starter for the University of Georgia where legendary Kentucky Coach Adolph Rupp called him “:the best rebounder in the SEC” in 1960.

Hill was the longtime tennis coach at ABAC who won two national championships, one in 1984 and the other on the final point of his last match at ABAC in 1999 before he retired.  His teams won 29 region titles and made an unprecedented 34 consecutive national tournament appearances.  On three different occasions, Hill was named the National Coach of the Year.  At the time of his retirement, Hill had won more men’s college tennis matches than any other coach in America.  The Red Hill Athletic Center at the tennis courts is named for him.

Stanoytcheva, a native of Sofia Bulgaria, became the only two-time, back-to-back number one singles champion in the history of the National Junior College Athletic Association when she played for ABAC in1999 and 2000. The Fillies finished second in the national tournament in 1999. She moved on to Clemson University where she was a first team All-ACC selection.  Stanoytcheva was a Dean’s List student at ABAC and was also named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll when she was at Clemson. She passed away in an airplane crash in 2004.

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