Area sports notes: 'Zaney' Barker going into Sewanee hall of fame

Sewanee hall of fame logo
Sewanee hall of fame logo

Sewanee announced Friday the 2019 inductees for the university's sports hall of fame, and the class being honored officially Nov. 2-3 is led chronologically by Falling Water native and Baylor School alumnus George "Zaney" Barker, who worked at both alma maters with World War II Army service in between. He graduated from Sewanee in 1926, having lettered twice each in basketball and golf and three years in football. A quarterback, he was part of a 16-0 win over Vanderbilt in 1924 and won the Porter Cup his senior year as the school's top overall athlete. Barker went into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 1983 and died in April 1986. Sewanee's other 2019 inductees are football offensive and defensive end Mike Knickelbine (class of 1968), women's tennis All-Americans Katy Morrissey (1990) and Gabriela Carvalho (2008), former athletic director Bill Huyck (1984-95) and the 1993 men's tennis and 1996-97 men's basketball teams coached, respectively, by John Shackelford and Joe Thoni. Knickelbine was a two-time first-team all-conference footballer known for his blocking at the edge of the single-wing offense, and he was part of 8-1 and 7-1 teams in 1964 and 1965. Off campus he was captain of the Sewanee Volunteer Fire Department. Morrissey will join her doubles partner, Ellen Gray-Maybank (Hogan), in the Sewanee Athletics Hall of Fame; they were All-Americans together twice and led the Tigers to their first two NCAA tournaments with a top-eight and then a top-four finish. Carvalho was a four-time All-American who went 6-4 in NCAA tournament singles play, was fourth in the final 2006 national rankings and was the ITA's national senior player of the year in 2008. Her team finished third in the nation in 2007. Part of Huyck's Sewanee legacy is the Fowler Athletic Center on campus, and he oversaw 17 conference championships in his 12 years and spent time coaching men's cross country and track and field. He went into the Minnesota Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2010. The 1993 men's tennis Tigers went 19-6 and won the program's first of many league championships under Shackelford, and Thoni's Tigers of 1996-97 were 19-7 and won Sewanee's first conference basketball title in 21 years.

Running

» Ryan McGinnis won the 10-kilometer version of the Center for Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics Riverbend Run in 35 minutes, 49 seconds Saturday morning in Chattanooga, and Kristen Bonsor was the first female and seventh overall in 41:12. Noah Cochran in 17:06 and Natalie Sims in 21:56 were the 5k overall winners. Owen Speer, Chad Dean and masters winner Van Dick were second through fourth in the 10k in 36:12, 36:20 and 36:28, and Matt Wallace and Mark Malecky were fifth and sixth in 40:25 and 41:00. Roberta Sturm in 44:53 and masters winner Lisa Logan in 47:01 were the second and third women and 17th and 24th overall out of 181 finishers. The 5k had 249 finishers, and masters winner Paul Archambault (17:55) and grand masters victor Ryan Shrum (18:44) were second and fifth with teenagers Gavin Chandler (18:04) and Coe Booker (18:19) in between. Jennifer Curtis (22:23) was the female runner-up with Jenne Sofield (23:26) and masters winner Jennie Gentry (23:38) third and fourth. The Riverbend Run also had corporate competition, and the Chattanooga Track Club race team of McGinnis, Dick, Bonsor, grand masters winner Mitchell Phariss and Logan won the 10k by nearly 46 seconds. The CTC 5k group of Cochran, Archambault, Tripp McCallie, Gentry and Leslie Latterman won by 25 seconds.

Basketball

» Cleveland State women's basketball coach Evelyn Thompson, assistant Jake Wright and players Britnay Gore, Za'kkria Robinson and Michaela Bennefield and Lee University student Georgia Waters helped Friday morning at two McDonald's restaurants in Cleveland in the "Day of Change" fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House in Chattanooga. "The opportunity to volunteer for a cause such as 'A Day of Change' is such a privilege," Thompson said in a school release. "Ronald McDonald House does such important work for children and families. It is an organization that is near and dear to my heart. I have been involved for a very long time, and I will continue to make every effort to contribute whenever possible." As for her Lady Cougars, Thompson added, "Our young women do a great job of carrying out a commitment to service and leading the charge. I am so very proud of the way they tackle every service opportunity with open hearts."

Upcoming Events