Elon trustee Howard Arner ’63 and his wife, Beverly Frye Arner ’66, of Jacksonville, Fla., together with family and friends of Burl Ray Clements Sr. ’63 have made a generous gift to the Ever Elon Campaign to endow a scholarship in memory of Clements, a former Elon football standout.
Clements was a close friend and former teammate of Arner’s and served as tri-captain of Elon’s 1963 football team. He was inducted into Elon’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Arner has encouraged former teammates to support the Burl Ray Clements Football Scholarship, which will assist deserving students on the Phoenix football team.
The Arners have been loyal donors to the university and the athletics program in particular. The couple have faithfully supported annual scholarships with gifts to the Phoenix Club and are members of the IMPACT Circle, its premier annual giving group. They also supported construction of Rhodes Stadium and are members of The Elon Society Chairman’s Circle and Order of the Oak following a $1 million planned gift to the university.
Howard Arner served with Beverly on Elon’s Board of Visitors until he was elected to the board of trustees in 2006. Beverly Arner remains an active member of the Board of Visitors.
Howard retired in 2001 as president and chief operating officer of Insurance Solutions Group, where he managed technology for insurance products and services. The company is a division of Fiserv, the world’s largest provider of financial services technology solutions. Previously, he served as CEO of Network Data Processing Corp., which offered innovative technology and software for managing long-term care insurance. Fiserv purchased the company in 1999. Howard also served as a senior vice president of Continuum Co. in Austin, Texas, executive vice president of American General and president of Financial Computer Services in Jacksonville, Fla.
Attracting additional scholarship support for Elon’s student athletes is one of the goals of the comprehensive $100 million Ever Elon Campaign.