7/31/2015
Cumberland University Athletics announced its newest Sports Hall of Fame members on Thursday, which include softball player Ashley Putman Serbin and the 1966 men’s basketball team, the first to ever reach the national tournament.
Serbin and the 1966 team will be inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame the weekend of October 30-31 this year as part of Homecoming festivities at Cumberland.
Putman Serbin earned All-TCAC honors as a junior and senior for the Bulldogs, helping CU to the conference title in 1997, the first regular season conference championship in school history, and the program’s first-ever appearance in the Region XI Tournament that same season. She amassed over 40 career wins in the circle and tossed more than 400 innings during her tenure at CU.
She went on to coach at Wilson Central High School for seven seasons, winning a pair of regular season district championships and reaching the region tournament three times as well as one sectional round appearance.
The 1966 men’s basketball squad was coached by Van Washer and included team members Ronnie House, Roy Williams, Jim Kerley, Tommy Kirkpatrick, Jim Farley, Tommy Woodward, Tony Woodward, Pete Headrick, Wayne Starks, Mickey Meguiar, Tom Pile, Mark Riggins, Dave Skinner, Dave Smith and Kenny Brooks.
The team defeated Marion College (now Marion Military Institute), Perkinston (now Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College), Mary Holmes College (now Holmes Community College) and Freed-Hardeman en route to the NJCAA Region VII Tournament championship at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tenn. They were the only men’s basketball team in Cumberland’s 20-plus years as a two-year institution to reach the national tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.
The cheerleaders from the 1966 team will also be honored during the event, including Lynda Miller, Liz Jenkins McCormack, Sherry Krantz Perdue, Terry Jenkins Del Bello and Linda Brown Odenbaugh.
A full slate of activities is scheduled for Hall of Fame and Homecoming weekend at CU, with the full list at http://www.cumberland.edu/homecoming/. The Sports Hall of Fame dinner takes place Friday at 6 p.m. in Baird Chapel and the Hall of Fame members will also be recognized at Saturday’s football game against Bethel University as well.