Longtime Furman tennis coach Paul Scarpa among five set for SoCon hall

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo Furman tennis coach Paul Scarpa
Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Longtime Furman tennis coach Paul Scarpa will join three-time football All-American Dick Modzelewski from Maryland, track and field standouts Angie Barker from East Tennessee State and Percy Beard from Auburn and trailblazing basketball official Jim Burch in the fourth class of Southern Conference Hall of Fame inductees. Auburn and Maryland were league members before the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences were formed. The five will be enshrined March 1 in Asheville, N.C., before the SoCon basketball tournament. Scarpa, whose championship players were headed by Manker Patten and Baylor School director of tennis Ned Caswell, is the NCAA's all-time leader in men's tennis wins with 853, and 817 of those came at Furman. He also developed the current 3-6 dual-match scoring system adopted by the NCAA in 1993 and the Tenex tape used to mark clay courts throughout the world. Burch was the first black official to work SoCon and ACC games, beginning in 1967, and was an active official for 21 years before serving 24 as the SoCon's officials coordinator. Modzelewski won the Outland Trophy before a 14-year NFL career in which he helped win two championships and never missed a game. Beard set a world record in the 120-yard hurdles, won SoCon titles in high and low hurdles and was the NCAA high hurdles champion and an Olympic silver medalist in 1932. He coached from 1937 to '64 at Florida, where the track is named in his honor. Barker was a three-time league shot put champion, the 1988 NCAA indoor champion and a two-time All-American, and she still holds the SoCon women's indoor record with a 54-6 throw.

Longtime Furman tennis coach Paul Scarpa will join three-time football All-American Dick Modzelewski from Maryland, track and field standouts Angie Barker from East Tennessee State and Percy Beard from Auburn and trailblazing basketball official Jim Burch in the fourth class of Southern Conference Hall of Fame inductees. Auburn and Maryland were league members before the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences were formed. The five will be enshrined March 1 in Asheville, N.C., before the SoCon basketball tournament. Scarpa, whose championship players were headed by Manker Patten and Baylor School director of tennis Ned Caswell, is the NCAA's all-time leader in men's tennis wins with 853, and 817 of those came at Furman. He also developed the current 3-6 dual-match scoring system adopted by the NCAA in 1993 and the Tenex tape used to mark clay courts throughout the world. Burch was the first black official to work SoCon and ACC games, beginning in 1967, and was an active official for 21 years before serving 24 as the SoCon's officials coordinator. Modzelewski won the Outland Trophy before a 14-year NFL career in which he helped win two championships and never missed a game. Beard set a world record in the 120-yard hurdles, won SoCon titles in high and low hurdles and was the NCAA high hurdles champion and an Olympic silver medalist in 1932. He coached from 1937 to '64 at Florida, where the track is named in his honor. Barker was a three-time league shot put champion, the 1988 NCAA indoor champion and a two-time All-American, and she still holds the SoCon women's indoor record with a 54-6 throw.

Basketball

  • Damian Dixon scored 18 points to lead Greensboro College to a 71-60 win Monday afternoon in NCAA Division III men's basketball at Covenant College. Brock Moorman added 13 points for the visiting Pride (6-3), who trailed by three points at halftime but shot 65 percent from the field in the second half. Jon DeVries and Joey Danek each scored 14 points for Covenant (4-6), Danek with nine rebounds, and Colton McGriff added 12 points. TJ Cox had five assists.