1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Athletics

In Memoriam: Original Transylvania titan C.M. Newton passes away at age 88

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Lexington, Ky. – Legendary coach and administrator C.M. Newton, a Transylvania Athletics Hall-of-Famer, passed away on Monday at the age of 88. Revered as a pioneer and monolith in collegiate athletics, Newton’s career spanned over five decades and began at Transylvania University as the men’s basketball coach in 1951. While he was known by many as an athletic administrator at multiple institutions, including the University of Kentucky, and a fixture in NCAA basketball, Newton’s legacy transcended his title and location. “Newton’s influence as a coach and an administrator was undeniable,” said Transylvania Vice President for Enrollment and Student Life, Dr. Holly Sheilley. “He was instrumental in breaking down racial barriers for players and coaches.” “Coach Newton was one of the classiest men in college sports,” stated 17th-year Transylvania men’s basketball head coach Brian Lane on his predecessor’s passing. “Every day when I sit in my office, I have a picture of Coach Newton behind me on the wall to remind me how important the coach-player relationship is. He started his career at Transylvania but he never forgot his roots. I will always cherish the day he asked if he could come by to talk a little bit.” Newton’s legacy of leadership and service included the recruitment of the first African-American players at both Transylvania and the University of Alabama and later the hiring of the first African-American coaches at the University of Kentucky in Tubby Smith and Bernadette Mattox. In

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RAFYs celebrate Transylvania Pioneers on Sunday

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University celebrated its standout student-athletes Sunday during The RAFYs, the school’s newly renamed sports banquet held at the end of each academic year at the Clive M. Beck Center. The event recognized the achievements of more than 400 Transylvania athletes on 26 varsity teams—not only on their fields of play, but also in the classrooms and community. The RAFYs culminated a successful athletic season at Transylvania, with six teams competing in NCAA Division III national championships. Some of the top honors this year went to the women’s lacrosse and golf teams, which had the most successful seasons in their programs’ history. The awards are named after the Pioneers’ new bat mascot, Raf.   2017-18 winners at The RAFYs Pioneer Team of the Year – Women’s Lacrosse Female Pioneer Athlete of the Year – Renae Morton, Softball Male Pioneer Athlete of the Year – Tyler Joy-Brandon, Men’s Soccer Coach of the Year – Tyrus York, Women’s Golf Female Rookie of the Year – Shelby Wuest, Women’s Lacrosse Male Rookie of the Year – Drew Dodds, Men’s Swimming Team Community Service Award – Men’s Soccer Inspiration Award – Carlee Clemons, Women’s Basketball George Stopp Academic Achievement Award – J.T. Henderson, Men’s Tennis Highest Team GPA – Women’s Golf Female Senior Leadership Award – Katherine Stachowski, Women’s Lacrosse Male Senior Leadership Award – Brandon Heller, Men’s Lacrosse

And the Assist Goes To…

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Transylvania Women’s Basketball Try to picture a basketball player at the pinnacle of success. Multimillion-dollar shoe contract. Flashy cars. Autographs. Ego. Of course not all successful basketball players are like this. In fact, members of Transylvania’s women’s basketball team strive not for individual glory but for humility and generosity. Coach Juli Fulks drills into her players’ heads this culture of giving, which she sees as necessary to the game as shot blocking and lay-ups. Fulks goes around to every player as they stretch to get ready for each Monday’s practice, and she asks them to talk about how they’ve served others during the past week. And it’s not just the players who are expected to give of themselves. It’s a top down thing—the coaches serve the players just as the seniors are asked to serve their younger teammates, and so on. “We are not the program that expects the freshmen to come in and do the laundry,” Fulks says. “The core fundamental of our team is servant leadership.” This ethic is most evident with the team’s many community engagement efforts—whether they are teaching basketball skills to youth at the YMCA, playing a game with Special Olympics athletes or spending an afternoon at a local retirement home. Perhaps less evident is how being servant-leaders helps them win games. “I think team culture is the number-one factor in being able to win high-level championships,” Fulks says. “And you can’t do that without

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Our Mascot

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In 2017, Transylvania announced a new Pioneer athletic mascot, Raf, who pays homage to the university’s legendary professor, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, a charismatic naturalist whose tomb is on the first floor of Transylvania’s main administrative building, Old Morrison. The campus also boasts a café bearing his name.  For nearly two decades, Transy was without a Pioneer mascot. Raf was developed through a combination of two years of interviews with current and prospective student-athletes and extensive marketing research. Rafinesque’s passion for bats is the stuff of legend. John James Audubon described hearing a loud commotion one night while Rafinesque was staying at his cottage. Apparently, some bats had fluttered into Rafinesque’s candlelit room through an open window to feed on moths. Raf attacked the bats with the famous ornithologist’s favorite violin, destroying the instrument in the process. While Rafinesque was overjoyed at what he thought was the discovery of a new species, Audubon didn’t share his excitement—both because he doubted it was even a new species, and obviously because of the violin. Today, Transylvania’s mascot is a Rafinesque’s big-eared bat. These Kentucky forest dwellers with freakishly large listeners play an important ecological role by keeping insect populations in check—just as Raf plays an important role at Transy by firing up crowds at Pioneer sporting events and helping recruit new students.

Transylvania Athletics inducts five standouts into Hall of Fame

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LEXINGTON, Ky.—Transylvania University on Saturday inducted five of the school’s former athletes into the Pioneer Hall of Fame. These standouts—Billy Bradford, Brian Macy, Lee Morrison, Ashley Sanders and Greg White—were honored during a banquet and ceremony at the Clive M. Beck Center. “All five embody the spirit of what it means to be a Transylvania Pioneer Hall-of-Famer,” said Holly Sheilley, vice president for enrollment and student life and director of athletics. “They all had a tremendous impact upon their Transylvania community during their time as undergraduates and continue to represent Transylvania in their lives as stellar ambassadors.” Bradford, who graduated in 2002, competed as a diver for the Transylvania swimming and diving team for four seasons, going on to qualify for the 1999 NAIA National Championships where he finished as the national runner-up in the 1-meter diving event. Bradford appeared in two NAIA National Championships (1999, 2001) and was undefeated in conference championship meets. He then served as the diving coach at Transylvania from 2003 until 2009. Macy ’00 excelled in two sports during his time at Transylvania. He was a foundational member of the revived baseball program, playing from 1997 through 2000. As a junior, Macy set the Transylvania single-season record for strikeouts in a season with 70. In his senior season, he commanded a 10-5 record and compiled a team-best 3.53 ERA. In four years at Transylvania, Macy collected 270 career strikeouts. He also competed for the Transylvania

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