Summer/Fall 2010 - University of the Cumberlands

Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies
February 27, 2010
During half-time of the last
men’s basketball game of the season,
University of the Cumberlands
proudly inducted three new members
into the Alumni Athletic Hall of
Fame (AHF), representing football,
baseball and track and cross country.
Mark Barrett, a member
of Cumberlands’ first, and only,
undefeated football team (1988), who
played for Cumberland from 1988-
1991, still holds school records for
most tackles in a game (26), season
and career (381). The Frankfort native and graduate of Western
Hills High School played in all 40 games of his Cumberland career,
with a team record of 28-11-1. He received NAIA All American
and All Mid South Conference honors each of his four collegiate
seasons at Cumberland.
“Mark put the fear in us that winning was the only
option,” said a former teammate. “Put simply, he made everyone
better, stronger, faster, and tougher.”
In 2007, Barrett completed his Bachelor of Science
degree in physical education with a minor in sports management
from Kentucky State University. He resides in Frankfort with wife,
Michele, and daughters, Kennedy and Addison, where he has been
a director in Franklin County Government since 1998. Since 1997,
he has been assistant head football coach at his alma mater, Western
Hills High School.
As a freshman, Wayne Seivers, ’79, a native of Clinton,
Tenn., hit a homerun in his first at bat during a road trip to
Pikeville College. He was outstanding as both pitcher and hitter.
In double header games, he served as the
designated hitter (DH) for the pitcher in
one game, and then as both pitcher and
batter in the second game. In his debut
season in 1975, Seivers received the team
award for the lowest ERA –1.20 on a
record of 9-1, which, three decades later,
is still the second best all-time record at
Cumberlands.
“Wayne is probably the best two-way
player that our college has had in its baseball history.” said Coach
Terry Stigall. “He was definitely an NCAA Division I prospect.”
Seivers holds a career batting average of .373, and with 28 home
runs, he is tied for 5th best at Cumberlands. As a pitcher, Seivers
had a career record of 12-3. He was selected for All Conference
KIAC Honors in 1975-77.
Seivers has worked as a chemist, compounder, lab
manager, project coordinator, quality control engineer, statistical
quality control engineer and statistical consultant. He has been a
2 CumberlandToday Summer 2010
All the AHF inductees were escorted by their coaches. From left to right:
Gareth Wilford, Coach Floyd Stroud, head coach of men’s and women’s track
and cross country, for 18 years; Wayne Seivers; Coach Terry Stigall, head
baseball coach from 1983 to 2001 and a member of the Athletic Hall of
Fame; Mark Barrett; and Coach Tom Dowling,
head football coach from 1985-1995.
high school and college umpire and
currently, he serves as East Tennessee
umpire in charge for the Independent
Softball Association.
He and his wife, Libbye,
have been married 11 years and
have one daughter, Megan, and four
grandchildren: Payton, Paige, Grace,
and Hope.
When Gareth Wilford,
’00, arrived on campus in 1994,
from Cape Town, Republic of South
Africa, his presence on the cross
country team was immediately felt as
the team won the KIAC Conference
and the regionals and qualified for
the national championships all four
years that he competed. His team also
won the National Christian Colleges
championships. Wilford was a 14-time All-American in both cross
country and track and still holds the school record in the mile at
4:01.69.
As a freshman, Wilford finished 1st at the Regional
Cross Country Championships, 2nd at the National Christian
College Championships and 9th at the National Cross Country
Championships. As a sophomore, in the Indoor Track Mile, he
finished 5th and followed that with a 2nd place finish in the
1000m. At the NCCAA Outdoor Track Championship he finished
2nd in the 1500M and 3rd in the 800m. At the NAIA National
Championships he finished 2nd. In Cross Country NCCAA he
finished 1st and at the NAIA National Championships he was 5th.
In 1999, with a time of 4.01.69, at the indoor mile, Wilford was
ranked in the top 50 in the world by Track and Field News. The
same year, his distance medley relay team placed 5th in the Penn
Relays, for a top ten ranking in the world. Later, at the Outdoor
Championships he placed 5th in the 1500m.
Wilford is general manager of The Running Company in
Indianapolis, Indiana. He and his wife, Laura Walker Wilford, ’00,
who lettered in volleyball and track and field, have two daughters,
Aislinn and Charlotte who was born April 22, 2010.
September 18, 2010
Just prior to the home football game with Georgetown,
at approximately 1:15 p.m., two additional members who were
unable to attend the ceremony in February will be inducted into
Cumberlands’ AHF.
Anthony Kabara, ’04, track and field, broke eight school
Several of Gareth Wilford’s
teammates attended the
induction ceremony and
the reception that followed.
From left to right: Adam
Schaffner, ’97, Gerry
Emerson, ’97, Wilford,
Derrick Ingersol, ’97, Floyd
Stroud, ’74, Jason Liddle, ’96