The Benedict College athletic department will host its annual Athletic Awards Banquet featuring Dr. Timothy J. Autry as the keynote speaker. The banquet will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, 2008 in the Benjamin E. Mays Human Resources Center Arena on the College's campus.
The event is an all-sports banquet that recognizes the achievements of Benedict College student-athletes, those who have proudly worn the purple and gold during the last year.
Currently, Dr. Timothy Autry is Athletic Director at Claflin University. With over 40 years in the field, Dr. Autry has enjoyed a stellar career in athletics. He earned a Doctor of Education from the International Graduate School in St. Louis, Missouri, a Master of Education from South Carolina State University, and a Bachelor of Science from Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Dr. Autry began his coaching career at the Fredrick Douglas High School in Elm City, North Carolina, where he served as a head track coach and assistant basketball coach. In 1965, he was appointed head basketball coach at Jones High School in Trenton, North Carolina, where he led his teams to conference championship wins in basketball, football and baseball.
He went on to serve as head coach at Wilmington (Delaware) High School. During his three years there, his teams won two conference championships and a state title. Dr. Autry left Wilmington to become Assistant Coach at the University of Maryland at College Park, Maryland. After two years, he was hired to coach the South Carolina State Bulldogs. He coached the Bulldogs for seven years, and won the university’s first MEAC basketball conference championship. He was named Coach of the Year in 1976-77.
Dr. Autry served for ten years as commissioner of the Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (EIAC). He was instrumental in the Conference receiving an automatic berth for seven sponsored sports to the NAIA championships, and established the first Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. He became Athletics Director at South Carolina State University in 1996 and was responsible for reviving the SCSU Hall of Fame after a fifteen-year hiatus, and renewed the SCSU/Benedict College football rivalry after a 30-year absence.
Banquet tickets are $15 per person and are available at the Athletic Director’s Office at Benedict College. For additional information on the banquet, please call (803) 705-4498.