Elon Phoenix Athletics

Elon trustee Dr. Bryan Latham and his wife Janet are among 12 recipients of the Southern Conference's 2011 Distinguished Service Award. Each of the SoCon member institutions select honorees for their contributions to the advancement of the schools and their athletics programs. The Lathams will be honored at a dinner in Charleston, S.C. on June 1.

Elon Director of Athletics Dave Blank has been appointed to the NCAA Division I Leadership Council. Blank will complete his current term on the NCAA Championships/Sports Management Cabinet prior to beginning a four-year term with the leadership committee in September. He will represent the Southern Conference on the 31-member council, which is made up of one ambassador from each Division I conference.

The Elon Phoenix secured a share of its fourth Southern Conference regular-season title, and third in four years, by rallying for four runs in the bottom of the eight for an 8-7 win over the visiting Furman Paladins on May 19. The win was the 11th for Elon in its final at bat this season.

Six Elon athletics teams rank among the nation’s top 10 percent in their sports in the annual NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) report. The Elon Phoenix men’s basketball, women’s cross country, women’s golf, women’s indoor and outdoor track and volleyball teams are among the NCAA Division I teams receiving public recognition awards for their APR scores, the NCAA announced May 17.

Jerry Tolley and Tom Parham, two of Elon’s all-time greatest coaches, were formally inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame during a May 12 banquet in Raleigh. Read more about the ceremony through a recap of media coverage on the event.

Elon University trustees gathered with Phoenix athletics fans and many other friends of the university to dedicate Alumni Field House on April 16. The 30,000-square-foot facility at the north end of Rhodes Stadium in the North Athletics Complex serves as the headquarters for Elon’s sports programs.

A wellness program for local fourth and fifth graders concluded Tuesday at the Koury Athletic Center when two dozen boys learned about physical fitness and setting goals from their Elon University mentors. And if Elon junior Brett Brawerman has his way, the CHAMPS program – short for “Coaching Health and Mentoring Positive Students” – will be something colleges elsewhere can replicate.

Elon University senior Drew Gardner travels to Washington, D.C., this week to share with lawmakers his research on concussions in student-athletes during the annual Posters on the Hill event sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Leslie Johnson needs your help to win $10,000 for Elon University. The manager of the Phoenix men’s basketball team, Johnson, a junior marketing major from Raleigh, N.C., is one of four finalists in a video contest sponsored by the UPS Store in which people can vote for their favorite collegiate basketball manager.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Athletics Certification announced that Elon University is one of 26 institutions to be fully certified as part of the NCAA’s regularly scheduled, ongoing athletics certification process.