Guilford Quakers

Origins of the school mascot, named "Quaker Man", are unclear. Since the early 1900s, members of the cheerleading squad would attend baseball and football games dressed as Quakers. Whenever the team scored a touchdown, Quaker Man would fire a musket. Regarding a logo, the athletics department had been using the Quaker Oats Company logo, fashioned after William Penn, but, in 1968, athletic director John Lambeth called for a redesign and a "mean-looking" Quaker caricature was chosen. However, the logo was not fashioned for all team athletics, so the logo was reverted and/or changed to the school's crimson and gray initial. Since around the year 2000, the mascot has been referred to as "Nathan the Quaker", after school founder Nathan Hunt. A costumed "Quaker" has appeared at sporting events dating back to late 1980s.[1]

Despite its small size, Guilford College has achieved great athletics success over the course of the school's history. Guilford teams have won five (5) national team championships and one (1) individual national title.

1972-73 Men's Basketball

After building a nationally competitive team in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Guilford finally cracked through to win its first national championship in 1972–73. Under the direction of third-year head coach Jack Jensen, the unseeded Quakers (29-5) completed an improbable run through the NAIA Tournament field with a 99–96 win over eighth-seeded Maryland-Eastern Shore in Kansas City, Mo. Three student-athletes from the 1972-73 team played in the NBA: M.L. Carr '73, World B. Free '76 and Greg Jackson '74. Seven have been inducted into the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame, including Free, the 1973 Chuck Taylor NAIA Tournament MVP.

1980-81 Women's Tennis

The 1980-81 women's tennis team shared the inaugural NAIA championship with Grand Canyon (Ariz.) University for the school's second national title. Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Gayle Currie, the Quakers earned 27 team points. Currie garnered co-National Coach of the Year honors with Marlene Bjornsrud from Grand Canyon.

Tarja Koho, 1981-82 Women's Tennis National Singles Champion

While Guilford lost the NAIA team title to Westmont College (Calif.), 28–25, freshman Tarja Koho finished the season with a perfect 31–0 record in singles competition. The Finland native earned the tournament's top seed after cruising through the regular season and District 26 Tournament without losing a set, a streak she continued through the national tournament.

1988-89 Men's Golf

After coming in second to Huntingdon College from 1985–87, Guilford rebounded to beat the Hawks and take the NAIA Championship in 1989. Mike Hutcheon '89 placed third with a three-round total of 219. Classmate Lee Porter took 12th with a 299, while juniors Jed Venhuizen and Mitch Clodfelter took 17th and 24th, with a 302 and 304, respectively. The title made coach Jack Jensen just the second coach in NAIA history to coach national championship teams in two different sports.

2001-02 Men's Golf

After taking second in the 2001 championships by one stroke, Guilford won the first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship in school history. The Quakers trailed first-place Methodist College by three strokes after three rounds, but rallied to clinch first place by six strokes on the last day. Coach Jack Jensen received his second Eaton Golf Pride National Coach of the Year Award after the victory. Dave Patterson paced the Quakers with a 295 that placed second among individuals. Andrew Biggadike '02 joined Patterson as a First Team All-American by shooting 299, good enough for sixth place. Classmate Savio Nazareth '03 placed 18th with a 306.

2004-05 Men's Golf

Guilford placed three students among the top-five finishers and won the 22-team tournament by 25 strokes, the seventh-largest margin in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III history. The Quakers' Colin Clark '07 won a playoff over teammate Dave Patterson to take medalist honors and become the Quakers' third national champion. Brant Stovall '11 placed fifth with a 294.

Dr. Herbert T. Appenzeller (September 28, 1925 – January 5, 2018) was an American football player and coach.[2] He served as the head football coach at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina from 1956 to 1962, compiling a record of 10–50–1.[3]

In nearly 40 years at Guilford College, "Dr. A" worked as a professor and administrator and produced countless scholars, athletes and leaders in their fields. Guilford's Jefferson-Pilot professor of sport studies emeritus, he served as a professor, coach, and, for 31 years, as the Quakers’ athletic director. During his tenure, Guilford captured national titles in men's basketball (1973) and women's tennis (1981). It was Appenzeller's vision that provided the impetus for the college to create one of the nation's first majors in sport management in the early 1980s. At the time, there were roughly 20 such programs across the nation, and Guilford's was one of the first anywhere with a focus at the undergraduate level.

Appenzeller played football at Wake Forest for N.C. Sports Hall of Famer “Peahead” Walker and played in the first Gator Bowl where Wake defeated South Carolina, 26–14. Appenzeller came to Guilford in 1956 following eight years as a coach, teacher and director of athletics at Rolesville (N.C.) High School, Wakelon (N.C.) High School and Chowan College. He was credited with turning four athletic programs around, winning championships at three of the four schools. The game field of Guilford's Armfield Athletic Center was renamed Herb Appenzeller Field in 2006. Appenzeller is a member of no less than seven sports halls of fame, including NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics) Hall of Fame, NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, Wake Forest University Athletics Hall of Fame and Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1993 Appenzeller received the Distinguished Service Award from the North Carolina Coaches Association and Guilford College recognized his career contributions to the college with its Distinguished Service Award. He received the received the Leadership Award from the Society for the Study of the Legal Aspects of Sport and Physical Activity (SSLASPA) in 1999, the Simon Terrell Director's Choice Award in 2001, the SSLASPA President's Award in 2002, the Guy M. Lewis Academic Achievement Award from the International Conference on Sport and Entertainment Business in 2002, the 2004 Outstanding Achievement Award, Sport Management Council of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, the George Whitfield Baseball Clinic Honor Award, Presidential Award from the Safety and Risk Management Council of AAHPERD, received three presidential awards from three presidents of the SRLA (Sport and Recreation Law Association). Appenzeller died in 2018.

World B. Free [4] is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1975 to 1988. Free was known as the "Prince of Midair" as well as "All-World".

Born in Atlanta, Free attended Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, New York before attending Guilford College in North Carolina. As a freshman, he led Guilford's basketball team and helped the team win the NAIA National Championship and was named MVP of the NAIA Tournament.

M.L. Carr Carr is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA), and former head coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics. He coached the Celtics for two seasons, posting a career record of 48 wins and 116 losses.

After graduating from Guilford College, Carr was selected by the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association with the 7th pick of the 5th round of the 1973 NBA draft. However, he was one of the final roster cuts the Colonels made in camp, and was subsequently released.[5] The following season, Carr played in Israel for the Israel Sabras in the European Pro Basketball league. For leading his team to the championship, leading the league in scoring, and emerging second in rebounding, he was named Most Valuable Player.

Bob Kauffman Kauffman was an American professional basketball player and coach. Kaufmann was a three time NBA All-Star.[6]

Kauffman, from Scarsdale, New York, starred at NAIA Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1964–1968, playing for Coach Jerry Steele.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound center is credited with turning the Quakers into an NAIA basketball powerhouse that won 86 games with three straight trips to the NAIA Tournament in his four seasons.

Kauffman scored 2,570 points on 64% shooting with 1,801 rebounds in his 113-game career. He averaged 22.7 points and 15.9 rebounds in his career. He has Guilford records for single-game rebounds (32), single-season rebounds (698, 1967–68), career field goals (943), single-season field goal percentage (.712, 1967–68), single-season free throws (273, 1966–67), career free throws (684) and single-season free-throw attempts (344, 1966–67).[7]

Kauffman graduated with a history degree in 1968.[8][9]

Rick Ferrell Ferrell attended Guilford College where he played both baseball and basketball.[10] and went on to great fame as an American professional baseball player, coach, scout, and executive. He played for 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox, and Washington Senators, from 1929 through 1947. His brother, Wes Ferrell, was a major league pitcher for 15 seasons, and they were teammates from 1933 through part of 1938 on the Red Sox and Senators. Following his three seasons in minor league baseball, he appealed to the Commissioner of Baseball to become a free agent, claiming that he was being held in the minors though he deserved promotion. The Commissioner agreed, and he was granted free agency; he signed with the St. Louis Browns.

Ferrell was regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball during the 1930s and early 1940s. While playing for the Red Sox in 1933, he and his brother Wes were selected to play for the American League (AL) team in the inaugural 1933 Major League Baseball All-Star Game held on July 6, 1933. His 1,806 games played as a catcher set an AL longevity record which stood for more than 40 years. A seven-time All-Star,[lower-alpha 1] Ferrell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 by the Veterans Committee. After his playing career, he became a coach with the Senators, and later a scout and general manager with the Detroit Tigers. He died in July 1995.

Dave Odom[11] (born October 9, 1942) is a retired American men's college basketball coach, who most recently coached at the University of South Carolina. He had previously held the same position at East Carolina University and Wake Forest University, and was an assistant coach at the University of Virginia.

Odom began his career in sports at Goldsboro High School, in North Carolina, as the captain of his basketball and baseball teams. After graduating in 1961, he attended Guilford College where he played quarterback on the football team for three years, as well as playing basketball for all four years. As a senior in 1965, Odom was named the college's most outstanding athlete. He was also inducted into the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1983.

Anthony Darrell Womack (born September 25, 1969) is a former Quaker Baseball and Football athlete who later made fame as a professional baseball player who played all or part of thirteen seasons in Major League Baseball, with most of his career spent with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks, then with several other teams during his last four years. A middle infielder, Womack was recognized for his speed and base-stealing prowess and his key hits in the 2001 playoffs which led to the 2001 World Series win over the New York Yankees.

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