Montgomery County superintendent among Brewton-Parker alumni honorees

MOUNT VERNON -- Dale Conner Clark, superintendent of the Montgomery County School System, was presented with the Brewton-Parker College Alumni of the Year award during the Alumni Weekend chapel service in Saliba Chapel on campus April 12.

Clark, a recipient of an associate of arts degree from Brewton-Parker in 1969, was honored along with Dr. Eugene Tyre of Newnan, a 1960 graduate who was named Minister of the Year, and Marvin Johnson of Newnan, a member of the Brewton-Parker Board of Trustees who was honored as Friend of the Year.

Four former Brewton-Parker student-athletes also were inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame during the service. Inductees present were Graham Fletcher, a soccer team member from 1997-2000, and Sug Parker, a men's basketball player from 1995-99. Other athletic inductees were Steven Carver for baseball (1999 and 2000 seasons) and Chassidy Rankin for women's soccer and softball (1996-2000).

Clark continued from Brewton-Parker to earn a bachelor's degree, and three graduate degrees, from Georgia Southern University. She was a teacher at Jeff Davis County Middle School from 1971-75, a counselor at Wheeler County High School from 1975-85, and from 1975-86 served as an adjunct professor in Brewton-Parker's Evening College.

In 1977, Clark became director of student services for the Appling County School System, and was principal of Appling County Primary School from 1985-2001 before she was selected Montgomery County superintendent in 2001.

Clark was named to Who's Who among American Women in 1989, and from 1992-94 was the Georgia Title I representative to the Southern Region Consortium and member of the Georgia Compensatory Educational Leaders Executive Board. Clark was the Georgia delegate to the American School Counselors Association from 1993-96 and president of the Georgia School Counselors Association in 1994-95.

Clark is married to Randal Clark, and they are the parents of a daughter, Carrie O'Connor, and a son, Ben.

Johnson was elected as a Brewton-Parker trustee in 2001 and is a vocal and financial supporter of the college. In October 2002, Johnson planned, organized and funded a luncheon meeting for 25 business, government and civic leaders to promote a future external programs center in Newnan and Coweta County.

After spending 30 years as a pilot for Eastern Airlines, Johnson was a farmer for five years before he founded Child Safety Products, Inc., in 1992. He then founded Cardinal Gates, Inc., a manufacturer of child safety gates, in 1997.

Johnson and his wife, Joyce, have three children and celebrated 50 years of marriage on Dec. 23.

Tyre, who was unable to attend the ceremony, is pastor of First Baptist Church in Newnan. A 1960 graduate of Brewton-Parker, he also has pastored churches in Calhoun, East Point, Cartersville and Decatur.

Tyre's education following Brewton-Parker includes a bachelor of arts degree from Mercer University, and a master of divinity degree and an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

Tyre has served the Georgia Baptist Convention in numerous chair and officer positions. He has represented the Southern Baptist Convention on preaching missions to South Africa, South America and Kenya for the Foreign Mission Board, evangelistic crusades in New York, Idaho and New Mexico for the Home Mission Board, and as a preacher at the Annual Meeting of Southern Baptist Missionaries in Monrovia, Liberia.

Among the honors Tyre has received, he was listed in Outstanding Young Men of America in 1977, named the Man and Boy Award from the Boy Scouts of America and given the James P. Westberry Award for services to the Baptist denomination by Mercer University. He also has been a visiting professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and spoken at several colleges and conferences.

Tyre is married to the former Margaret Maddox, who was in Brewton-Parker's Class of 1961.

Carver was an All-Conference selection by the Georgia-Alabama-Carolina Conference in 2000, a season in which he had a pitching record of 12-5 with a 1.99 earned-run average and struck out 110 opposing hitters. Carver was the starting pitcher for Brewton-Parker in the first game of the 2000 NAIA World Series.

Fletcher came to Brewton-Parker from the Olympic Development Program in Toronto, Ontario, in 1996 and played outside back and sweeper for the Barons.

He was named senior captain in both 1999 and 2000, and he made the GACC All-Conference Team and postseason tournament team and was Player of the Year runner-up in 1999. In 2000, Fletcher received All-Conference, NAIA All-Region and All-America recognition, and the defender scored two goals and had four assists during his Brewton-Parker career.

Parker played point guard for the Barons basketball team and was named to the Georgia-Alabama Conference All-Freshman Team for 1995-96 after he averaged 13 points per game, led the conference in free-throw shooting at 86 percent and was fourth in the conference in 3-point shooting with 42 percent accuracy.

Parker averaged 16.4 points per game during the 1996-97 season and scored his 1,000th career point in the 1997-98 season opener against Morris College (S.C.). Parker made the All-GAC first team for 1997-98.

In 1999, he was named Most Valuable Player of the Inn at Vidalia Tournament in 1999 and selected to the All-Tournament Team in the Warner Southern College (Fla.) Invitational. Parker completed his Brewton-Parker career with 2,045 points.

Rankin played goalkeeper for the Lady Barons soccer team and recorded eight shutouts as a freshman in 1996, including one against Mercer in her first college game. Rankin allowed just 31 goals for an average 1.9 per match as a freshman and was an All-Conference and NAIA All-America selection.

Rankin scored her first goal in 1997 and was named to the All-GACC first team and NAIA All-Region team in 1999.

Rankin played third base and pitched for the Lady Barons softball team, earning a conference Pitcher of the Week honor in 1997, and was named to the conference's All-Freshman Team. She set a Brewton-Parker record for home runs in a game with five in a game against Thomas College in which she was 6-for-8 and scored six runs.


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Brewton-Parker College honored (from left) Marvin Johnson of Newnan as Friend of the Year, Montgomery County School System Superintendent Dale Conner Clark as Alumni of the Year and Sug Parker (men's basketball) and Graham Fletcher (men's soccer) as inductees into the Brewton-Parker Athletic Hall of Fame during the Alumni Weekend chapel service April 12 in Saliba Chapel on the campus in Mount Vernon. Other honorees unable to attend were Dr. Eugene Tyre as Minister of the Year and Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Steven Carver (baseball) and Chassidy Rankin (women's soccer and softball).
 

Members of the 1946 Brewton-Parker College football team, who were honored at Brewton-Parker's Alumni Weekend festivities April 12, 2003, in Mount Vernon, Ga., are: (from left) Coach Franklin Ross Jones, Elton "Junior" Sikes, Jack Phares, Grant "Spider" Wilbanks, Paul Price, Billy Bivins and Ryle Tatum.