2011 Wall of Fame Class Highlights Homecoming Festivities
General - November 8, 2011
MC Sports Information
On Friday, October 21st five outstanding student-athlete alumni were honored by Maryville College by being inducted into the Maryville College Athletic Wall of Fame. A ceremony took place at 10:00 a.m. in the Alumni Gymnasium on campus. The five honorees include Nikki Boop (Volleyball/Softball), Dave Osborne (Baseball), Pat Moyer (Football/Baseball), Tim Lawrence (Men’s Basketball), and Pepe Fernandez (Head Coach MC Men’s and Women’s Soccer).
NIKKI BOOP (Watch Video)
2011 Wall of Fame inductee Nikki Boop excelled for the Lady Scots from 1990-1994 in a pair of sports while at MC.
This Northwestern High School graduate from Springfield, Ohio made her way south to display her talents in the fall on the Lady Scots volleyball court and could not resist the dirt in the spring to play for the Softball Scots.
She was a defensive specialist on the volleyball court that helped her Scots to earn a bid to the NCAA National Tournament. This NCAA trip was the first for MC Volleyball since 1982 and the first of seven trips by Head Coach Kandis Schram to the NCAA post-season.
In the spring she was a standout pitcher and third baseman while excelling at the plate.
Coach Kandis Schram had this to say about her leader. “Nikki won numerous All-Tournament, All-Conference and All-Region honors due to her flawless defensive skills and savvy playing style. She was simply the glue to our defense.”
DAVE OSBORNE (Watch Video)
Dave Osborne came to Maryville College from Easton, Pennsylvania, following in the steps of his brother who played football at MC. His sites were set on excelling on the baseball diamond and taking advantage of the East Tennessee warm weather. The weather may not have cooperated, but Dave sure did leave his mark on the baseball program.
Osborne started on the diamond for four seasons and played three different positions. He excelled in right field, centerfield, behind the plate, and was even called upon as a reliever on the mound.
During the spring of 1977, Dave was the only freshman to have earned a starting role while roaming right field. He started every game on a squad that produced only the second 20-win season in MC’s then 101 year history. MC’s 20-12 mark helped propel the Scots to their second NCAA post-season tournament in school history and the feet has yet to be reached since then by any Scots diamond squad. Over his career he continued to build on his freshman season where he hit .317 and finished with a .400 mark in 1980.
In the fall of 1979, MC Head Football Coach Steve Fickert encouraged David to walk-on the football team as a punter during his senior season. He promptly booted for a 36 yard average throughout the season and helped the Scots to a 7-2 record.
Upon the completion of his senior year David joined the Army. As an officer, David was selected for the Presidential Honor Guard in Washington and participated in two Presidential Inaugurations. He was selected for the Army’s prestigious Douglas MacArthur Leadership award and had the distinct pleasure of personally meeting three presidents-George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.
In addition to his 27 military medals and numerous accolades within his military service, MC was excited to give David one more distinction.
PAT MOYER (Watch Video)
Known equally for the strength of his arm and his leadership qualities, Pat Moyer, a native of Hialeah, Florida, starred in two sports for Maryville College during a stint which spanned 1981 to 1986. As a quarterback for coaches Art Ogden and Bobby Saylor, Moyer started all four years at the position, shattering several school records along the way. On the baseball diamond, the Hialeah, Florida native showed off his versatility – playing pitcher, catcher, and third base for four different coaches in four seasons. He was also instrumental in organizing a Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization on campus.
In 1981 he hit for the MC triple crown and earned baseball MVP honors. In 1983, his junior year, Moyer took over sole responsibility as football signal-caller under first-year head coach Bobby Saylor. In an abbreviated eight-game season, he set new school records for passes attempted, passes completed, and yards passing. He also set the third-best mark for passing touchdowns.
Moyer returned to captain the Scots’ football team in 1985, and had an outstanding senior year at quarterback. He eclipsed or equaled all of his season records from two years prior, and finished among the top five players in the nation for passing yardage and completions. His single game achievements included a school-record 38 completions against Cumberland, and a 63-yard touchdown pass versus Sewanee. When the dust settled from his senior campaign, Moyer was far and away the career leader at Maryville for passing completions with 228, attempts with 499, and yards with 2,475 – all records which still stand today.
TIM LAWRENCE (Watch Video)
A true point guard is arguably the rarest player to find in college basketball today. In 1988 Coach Randy Lambert brought in his missing ingredient to foster a succession of team success that is unrivaled in school history. Tim Lawrence, a 5’9” 150 pound product out of Decatur, Georgia, was prepared to learn how to take a young and talented program to the next level and beyond.
Randy Lambert's orange and garnet squad of 1991-1992 left a legacy that has yet to be equaled, ending the season with a 25-4 record. This outstanding team was ranked sixth nationally in the final poll and received the No.1 seed in the South for the national tournament. Lawrence excelled in each of MC’s 29 games. He recorded his career high in points scored (412) while averaging 14.2 points a game. He continued to be a deadly free-throw and three-point shooter. His assists, over 8 per game, were legendary.
Coach Randy Lambert stated that the 1991-92 team was one of the best teams he had ever coached because he had one of the surest point guards controlling his team. “He could execute our game strategies to a tee and it was always nice knowing that you has a guy to take care of the ball, he had that sureness. “We went how Tim played, exclaimed Lambert…and Tim never had a bad game.”
His final collegiate team advanced to the final round of eight after defeating Ferrum College 94-92 and a strong Illinois Wesleyan team 73-71. His Scots were defeated in the finals of the sectional by Wisconsin-Platteville 87-83 in overtime on the Boydson Gymnasium floor.
With 884 career points and an astounding 660 career assists, Tim Lawrence will always be remembered as the leader of one of the most successful teams in MC’s stories basketball tradition. His career assist numbers ranks him 21st All-Time in the NCAA Division III record book and his career average of 6.2 assists per game ranks him 22nd All-Time within the NCAA Division III.
PEPE FERNANDEZ (Watch Video)
It is so rare to have three 500+ career win coaches on a collegiate staff, but Maryville College has been blessed with this predicament. So rare indeed that to this date only Maryville College and Washington University in St. Louis are the only Division III schools in the country with three 500+ active program leaders. After today all three, Randy Lambert, Kandis Schram, and now Pepe Fernandez have been honored for their career contributions to their sport at MC with induction into the Maryville College Wall of Fame.
A dedicated and successful high school soccer coach, Fernandez was challenged to direct the men’s program beginning in the fall of 1989 and organize a new women’s program beginning in the fall of 1991.
From 1989-1994, Coach Fernandez wasted little time creating a successful program mentality within each squad. His women posted four consecutive winning seasons winning at a 70% clip while his men finished with winning seasons in five of the six campaigns.
Coach Fernandez’s next five seasons (1995-2000) mirrored the success of the previous six campaigns. Both programs collectively posted 109 wins with a combined winning percentage of 62%. Coach Fernandez’s 1995 and 1996 men earned NCAA Tournament bids.
From 2000-present, Coach Fernandez’s Scots competed within and simply dominated the Great South Athletic Conference in Soccer. For eleven seasons his Scots have accumulated an amazing 293 wins and 15 Great South Championships. His 2005 men advanced to the NCAA’s “Sweet Sixteen” going futher than any Scots team on the pitch. His women have also done some great things during this Great South dominance. Nine consecutive GSAC titles beginning in 2002 highlight this era. His women have posted a 109 match unbeaten streak within the league while going 149-58-12 with a 72% overall winning percentage.
Coach Fernandez, with his 248 women’s victories and 68% winning percentage, is the NCAA Division III’s 44th winningest active coach by percentage and 14th by victories. Among women coaches all-time he is the 49th best by percentage and 21st best by wins. On the men’s side he is the 29th top active coach by percentage with his 274-116-25 career mark. His mark of 274 men’s wins is 27th best among active coaches. Among All-Time Coaches Fernandez is ranked 39th with his 69% win percentage and 43rd in victories.
Collectively, these numbers are just hard to beat: 70 All-South Region performers, 121 All-Great South honorees, 5 Academic All-Americans, 3 All-Americans, 7X GSAC Coach of the Year, 15 GSAC Championships, and 11 NCAA Tournaments.
Simply the best soccer coach in the history of Maryville College, Pepe Fernandez.
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Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.
