University of Tennessee Athletics
SEC and National Champions Honored at Annual Track Banquet
October 07, 2002 | Men's Track
Oct. 7, 2002
KNOXVILLE-- The 2002 edition of the Tennessee track and field squad gathered one last time Sunday night to look back on the season and celebrate one of the finest chapters in the proud history of the program. The national indoor and SEC outdoor champions, their families and special guests joined for the two-hour banquet at The Foundry in Knoxville where awards and warm memories served as the currency of the day.
Architects of the most successful calendar year in Tennessee track and field history, head coach Bill Webb and assistant coaches George Watts and Vince Anderson split up master of ceremonies duties and painted the accomplishments of the 2002 season. Four standing ovations punctuated the celebratory nature of the banquet. It took four tables to hold all the trophies garnered during the 2002 campaign and the awards that were passed out during the banquet. Indeed, the All-America and school-record plaques were stacked like cordwood.
Two Tennessee Olympians in Tony Cosey, a 2000 steeplechase competitor, and Jose' Parrilla, an 800M man in 1992 and 1996, attended the festivities. Likewise, two of the most successful former Vols in the current professional ranks helped the current squad celebrate the season. Anthony Famiglietti, the 2002 USA steeplechase champion and fourth-place finisher at the World Cup, and Tim Mack, a pole vaulter who has broken the 19-feet barrier and finished as the third-best pole vaulter on the world Grand Prix scene, were in attendance. Both men still train in Knoxville on the friendly confines of Tom Black Track.
However, the parade of former Vols was a multigenerational affair. Alf Holmberg, Tennessee's first cross country All-America in 1951 and SEC champion in 1950 and 1951, traveled all the way from his home in Sweden to catch the banquet and visit with old teammates like Lou Schneider. Additionally, Frank Albertson, the 1952 SEC cross country champion, took in the banquet to help represent the Vols of the old school who established the tradition of greatness.
The banquet began with a highlight tape full of memories from Tennessee's 2002 team and individual championships.
"As coach of this team, you pinch yourself knowing that every year can't be like this one," Webb said. "It's been unbelievably exciting."
Webb opened the program with staff introductions and congratulations before turning to recognizing the 2003 senior class, newcomers and those returning from redshirt seasons.
Fresh off a trip to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Indiana Invitational, Watts then gave a cross country update. He gave highlights from the three meets thus far in the 2002 season, including a Volunteer victory at the Tennessee Invitational in September. Watts previewed the rest of the schedule and looks forward to the championship portion of meets, including the South Regional at home.
The distribution of awards followed with Webb, Watts and Anderson splitting presentation duties. Traditionally presented first, the Will Pritchett Award, given to the most dedicated senior, was earned by thrower Steve Pitlik and hurdler/relay specialist Hassaan Stamps. Pritchett was a Tennessee letterman and longtime meet official who set the school pole vault record in the early 1930s with a bamboo pole.
Academic plaudits followed as distance man and exercise science major Matthew Lapp took home the James Snow Award for the most outstanding academic performance by a freshman. Likewise, decathlete Kevin Thompson took a break from law school homework to claim the Dr. Jack Chesney Award for the most outstanding academic performance by a senior.
Tim Bell, Stephen Harris and Hassaan Stamps were then presented with the Jon Young Captain's Award. Young was a speedster and a key cog in the foundation for Tennessee's storied relay tradition. The captains were congratulated for steering the Vol ship to a national and SEC title for the second consecutive year.
Stamps then addressed the crowd in one of the most emotional moments of the night. He talked about how as a freshman he'd meet with the guys in his 1998 signing class at night and talk about how they would return Tennessee to the glory they'd heard about in the 1970s and 1980s, even though the present then offered few such signs. He thanked his coaches and talked of lessons learned on his thousands of miles logged across the country donning the orange.
"I'd tell my teammates when I first got here that `We're going to be champions someday,'" Stamps then turned around and looked at the tables overflowing with trophies and awards. "I guess we did it. The best in Tennessee history is yet to come. We have plenty of people here who will keep Tennessee where it needs to be -- on top. I bleed orange."
Next, each Vol who broke one of the 11 school records waylaid in the 2002 season was honored (a complete accounting is listed above). Most Valuable Freshman honors went to 800M specialist Marc Sylvester for track and decathlete Brett Frykberg for field.
In his first campaign as a dual-sport athlete, high hurdler Jabari Greer won the second Herb Neff Award, presented to a walk-on-type student-athlete who makes an important contribution. Herb's brother and longtime local meet official Bob Neff presented the award named for his brother. Herb Neff was a Vol walk-on track athlete who won the SEC high jump twice, in addition to playing basketball where he still holds the school record for most rebounds in a game with 36 against Georgia Tech in 1952.
The Comeback of the Year Award went to SEC indoor high jump champion Bell and decathlon All-America Thompson for overcoming injuries to make sizeable contributions to the Vol effort. Pole vaulter Clint Binder, triple jumper Rondell Mershon, thrower Pitlik and decathlete Thompson took home Most Improved honors. The Volunteer Award for the toughest competitor went to Gary Kikaya, who won the NCAA outdoor 400M dash title just six months after setting foot on the continent, and Camron Howard, who put together an All-America senior campaign and clutch SEC runner-up finish in the long jump. A jack of all trades by his nature as a decathlete, Harris grabbed the Ironman Award for his exploits in any event to which he was called.
In a presentation of a new award, Leonard Scott earned the Career Achievement Award for his trailblazing 11 All-America performances and NCAA 60M dash title in reestablishing the proud Tennessee sprint corps. Sprint coach Anderson called Scott the "Father of Tennessee Sprinting" and said he "made it easier for others to follow."
Gatlin and SEC indoor and outdoor pole vault champion Rocky Danners were awarded Most Valuable Track and Field Athlete, respectively. Gatlin and Kikaya won the Ed Murphey Award for the most outstanding performance, traditionally the last award presented. Gatlin's four individual titles in 2002 firmly entrench him as one of the finest collegiate sprinters in the history of the NCAA. Kikaya's 400M dash winner at the NCAA Outdoors when his team needed him most shattered a 28-year school record. Murphey, a former Vol distance great, was an All-America selection in 1956 as a miler and SEC cross country champion the same year. The award is also traditionally presented at the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball game.
Gatlin, who entered the professional ranks earlier this fall, gave a brief speech thanking all of his coaches and athletic department staffers who've helped him along the way. "Whoever said that your college friends are your best friends for life told the truth," Gatlin said in thanking his teammates. After the banquet in a photo chock full of Tennessee legends, Gatlin wanted to have his photo made with longtime Tennessee staffers/resident living legends Gus Manning and Haywood Harris as well as 1948 hurdler Bob "Rhino" Rinearson, who all three historically attend the track and field banquet.
To close the banquet, Webb displayed artwork previewing the design of Tennessee's SEC and NCAA championship rings to be delivered early in the winter. As a line in the highlight film said, "Because at Tennessee, success is measured in trophies and diamonds and gold." The crowd then applauded as each member of the NCAA Indoor championship squad assembled on the stage. To close the banquet, the entire Volunteer 30 comprising the travel squad for the SEC Outdoor championship team joined on stage in what was very likely the greatest assemblage of track and field talent on one stage in the history of the state of Tennessee.
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