TWC ARCHES Fall 2012

More documents

Recommendations

Info

TOP DOGS TWC BASEBALL BRINGS HOME NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP T he successful history of Tennessee Wesleyan athletics is no secret. Eleven All-American Athletes, 16 All-American Honorable Mentions, 27 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athletes, five Champions of Character Teams, one Champions of Character Institution Award, one AAC Duard Walker All Sports Trophy, 34 Conference Titles, 26 National Tournament Appearances and now one National Championship are all accomplishments the 155 yearold college can be proud of. TWC’s baseball team celebrated a record-setting season this year when they won the championship game of the Avista NAIA World Series with a 10-6 victory over Oklahoma’s Rogers State University. The Bulldogs finished the season 53-12, earning their first NAIA title in their third straight World Series appearance. While the 2012 baseball season ended with a boisterous championship win, it started with a quiet determination. “At the beginning of every athletic year, our athletes meet in the gym and the coaches and I talk about what we expect out of them,” said Donny Mayfield, TWC athletic director. “This year I told them, ‘Guys, we have close to 300 student athletes on this campus. We need to have 300 student leaders on this campus.’” “It was uncharted territory.” - Head Baseball Coach, Billy Berry 10 ARCHES | Fall 2012 And lead the 2012 men’s baseball team did. With a season that included a nation’s best 21-game winning streak that was followed by a 17-game winning streak that took them to the World Series, this season TWC Head Baseball Baseball Coach Billy Berry continued coaching under under a restructured approach he implemented in in 2010, while his Bulldogs embraced their their coach’s techniques and focused their efforts on playing hard. “Three years ago we started to change the way we did things,” said Berry, who just finished his seventh season coaching coaching at the college. “After all of these years coaching, coaching, I started to realize that I was coaching somebody somebody else’s else’s son and that it it was up to me to not just be their coach but to be somebody that they could trust, somebody they could look up to, somebody they could learn from.” Berry believes it’s not a fluke that in 2010, the first year he began to change his coaching strategy, his Bulldogs made it to the NAIA World Series for the first time. They once again made an appearance at the World Series the following year before ultimately winning the championship this 2011-2012 season. “Good things happen to good people and we had a lot of good people this year,” said Berry. “This group had a rare combination of talent and chemistry and I think we knew early on this could be something special. I don’t know if I’ll ever have another group like them.” Words of encouragement from Berry coached and inspired the TWC Bulldogs before each game throughout the season, especially those they played in the World Series. “Before every game I told them, ‘You’re going to find out something after this game about yourself, you as a person, that you didn’t know before it started. That’s what it takes. You have to find another gear. And I know that’s hard,’” said Berry. “I told them before those last few games, ‘You’re going to be able to ask yourself a question at the end of each night, and you’re going to find out something new and different about yourself.’” Berry compared playing in the final games of the NAIA World Series to being out in the ocean without a compass.
“It was uncharted territory,” he said. Uncharted territory or not, the Bulldogs brought home the national title to Athens, Tenn., stepping off of the bus to a crowd of hundreds of supporters. Family members, friends, TWC faculty and staff and Athens community members welcomed home the new national champions with pride. The championship win was a dream come true for the TWC men’s baseball team players and coaching staff. “Dreams are a funny thing,” said Coach Berry. “Now I have to find a new dream. I had it written on my bucket list that I wanted to win a national championship. I didn’t know if it was possible. I know now that it was. It is. Dreams come true.” Having accomplished a 308-114 record under Berry, the TWC baseball team team has established a a legacy legacy of achievement for for new players and TWC recruits to to live up to and become a part of. “I don’t want to be one of of those teams teams that win the championship and and then you never never hear from them again,” said Berry. Although Berry and his assistant coaches are moving forward forward with plans for their their future players, Berry will always remember his national champion group with pride. “This was a special group group who played hard and were dedicated to doing doing their best,” said Berry. Berry. “They “They were great student student athletes and and exceptional student leaders.” 2012: A SEASON OF ACHIEVEMENT NOTABLE SEASON ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 2012 NAIA Nati onal Champions Appalachian Athleti c Conference regular season champions, sixth in the past seven years Appalachian Athleti c Conference tournament champions for sixth straight year NAIA fi rst-round bracket playoff champions A third straight appearance in the NAIA World Series A 5-1 record in the World Series Single season school record for wins (53) Win streaks of 21 and 17 games The program’s fi rst-ever No. 1 fi nal Top 25 poll ranking No. 1 nati onally in total hits (716) No. 1 in total runs scored (573) No. 1 in total RBIs (531) No. 1 in RBIs per game (8.2) No. 2 in slugging percentage (.541) No. 2 in home runs per game (1.4) No. 2 in total runs per game (8.8) No. 3 in total batt ers struck out (508) No. 7 in batti ng average (.337) www.twcnet.edu 11
Page 1 and 2: ARCHES The Magazine of Tennessee We
Page 3 and 4: The Magazine of Tennessee Wesleyan
Page 5 and 6: “The college’s greatest resourc
Page 7 and 8: L ast May’s 155th Commencement st
Page 9: “You are committi ng today to be
Page 13 and 14: Matching gift from George R. Johnso
Page 15 and 16: VALUING VETERANS Womacks donate sch
Page 17: NEW ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AT TENNESSEE
Page 20 and 21: T 20 ARCHES | Fall 2012 Holston Con
Page 22 and 23: TRACK ADDED TO TENNESSEE WESLEYAN A
Page 24 and 25: S ince joining Tennessee Wesleyan C
Page 26 and 27: TENNESSEE WESLEYAN STUDENT WINS MIS
Page 28 and 29: M ay 2013 one Sweetwater High Schoo
Page 30 and 31: MEMORIALS & HONORARIUMS IN HONOR OF
Page 32 and 33: MEMORIALS & HONORARIUMS IN HONOR OF
Page 34 and 35: Cathy Adderhold ‘70, was featured
Page 36: Tennessee Wesleyan College 204 East

TWC ARCHES Fall 2012

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?