SUPPORT LAGRANGE COLLEGE ATHLETICS THROUGH THE PANTHER CLUB!
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Members of the Panther Club Leadership Council include, clockwise from top right, Clay Hall, Athletic Director Jennifer Claybrook, Linda Cole, Assistant to the Athletic Director Jenna Jones, Marcia Lee and David Fowler. |
Whether you are a proud parent of a LaGrange College student-athlete or a LaGrange College Panther alumnus yourself, you’ll be glad to know that you can be a part of a vibrant organization for fans to support their favorite teams.
Known as the Panther Club, the group strives to raise the profile of the athletic program and the institution. The Panther Club began only two years ago, and its members are highly energized by how their collective efforts have been able to tangibly support several of LaGrange College 16 intercollegiate teams, which compete in NCAA Division III.
“Our athletes are fueled by the support of parents, students, alums—anyone who has an interest in helping them compete and succeed,” said Athletic Director Jennifer Claybrook. “More than one third of LaGrange students are part of a Panther team, and as a former student-athlete of LaGrange College, I can’t think of a better opportunity to support athletics than through the Panther Club.”
All funds the Panther Club raise go directly to support student-athletes. In its short existence, the club has helped provide charter buses for fans to an away football game and also funded a new website specifically for LaGrange College athletics (www.lagrangepanthers.com).
The Panther Club also purchased new benches for the soccer/lacrosse field, provided new lane lines and flags in the indoor swimming pool at the natatorium, provided new softball uniforms, and donated significant funding to resurface the tennis courts.
The club’s next endeavor is to provide the streaming of games on the Panthers website.
LaGrange College alumnus David Fowler serves on the club’s Leadership Team. In this role, he helps recruit new members for the group and the Leadership Team itself.
“Panther athletics have been a part of my life as long as I can remember,” says Fowler, a LaGrange attorney and class of 1985 member. “There’s just nothing quite like college competition—for participants and fans alike.
“I’ve been thrilled to see how the Panther Club has been able to make such a lasting significant impact on athletic teams in the relatively short amount of time the club has been around,” he says. “We have alums on the Leadership Council as well as parents of current student-athletes. The synergy of the alums and the parents working together to boost Panther athletics is very exciting.”
To learn more about the Panther Club, e-mail alumni@lagrange.edu or call (706) 880-8244.
PANTHER CLUB LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
Ken Boatwright graduated from LaGrange College in 1979 and was a two-year letterman in basketball for the Panthers from 1976 to 1978. He was a two-time All-GIAC selection. Ken also was the team’s Most Valuable Player for the 1976-77 season and led the team in rebounding for two straight seasons, finishing his LaGrange career with 519 rebounds. He was inducted into the LaGrange College Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. He is married to Lisa Weems Boatwright, who graduated from the college in 1980. Ken has been a member of the LaGrange College Board of Trustees since 1989 and represents the third generation of his family to serve as a trustee of the college. His father served from 1961 until his death in 1986, and his grandfather served from 1956 to 1962. The men’s J.K. Boatwright Sr. Residence Hall is named in his grandfather’s memory. Ken is a certified public accountant and business owner in LaGrange.
A native of Cumming, Linda Cole graduated from the Medical College of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree and an Executive Master’s in Business degree from Georgia State University. Over the past 26 years Linda has held various positions at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country. She is presently the vice president of ambulatory and emergency services. Linda serves as secretary/treasurer on the Georgia Trauma Care Network Commission, Safe Kids Georgia Board of Directors, Board of Directors of United Way Forsyth, second chair-elect for the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and a charter member of the Forsyth Healthcare Association. Linda is married to Charles Cole, a partner in a Cumming CPA firm. They have four children, two of which have attended LaGrange College. Alex Sapp, a 2010 graduate of LaGrange College, is presently a medical student at Mercer Medical School. Kevin Sapp is a senior history major at LaGrange College.
A LaGrange native, David Fowler graduated summa cum laude from LaGrange College in 1985 with a degree in political science. He earned his law degree from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 1988, and has been a partner in Meacham, Earley and Fowler, attorneys at law, since 2004. He also serves as a litigation attorney and assistant municipal court judge for the City of LaGrange. Fowler was named Rotarian of the Year by the LaGrange Rotary Club in 2009, as well as a Paul Harris Fellow. He has served as past vice president and past treasurer of the Troup County Bar Association; past president of Coweta Circuit Bar Association and member of the state bar of Georgia. He has been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Middle and Northern Districts of Georgia, the Georgia Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. He serves on the LaGrange College Alumni Council and has been named to LaGrange College’s Wall of Outstanding Alumni. He serves on the board of the LaGrange Art Museum, the planned giving committee of the West Georgia Health System Foundation, and as a member of the LaGrange Gridiron Club.
Clay Hall became an active member of the Panther Club because of his son, James Hall, a junior LaGrange College baseball player who is majoring in history. Clay and his wife, Sara, live in his hometown of Hawkinsville, where he has been a partner with his father, Johnson Hall, in the law practice of Hall & Hall since 1985. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Mercer University in 1982 and his law degree from Mercer in 1985.
Marcia Lee is a Registered Nurse with 28 years of nursing experience including acute care nursing, long-term care nursing and administration, and home health care administration. She is currently the quality improvement manager for Professional Case Management Services of America, a support coordination agency in Valdosta, which serves approximately 3,000 individuals with developmental disabilities throughout Georgia. She serves on a state-wide QI Council in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Developmental Disabilities. Marcia lives in Leary with her husband, Alan Lee. Her son Miles is a sophomore at LaGrange College and plays baseball for the Panthers.
Larcie Richardson graduated from LaGrange College in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology. She then earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While at LaGrange College, she played basketball and softball and ran cross-country. She also was a member of Phi Mu fraternity and served as president her junior year. Larcie lives in Dallas, Ga., and works as a physical therapist in Paulding County. Her husband, Jake, graduated from LaGrange College with a bachelor’s degree in art and design, and he played baseball for four years. They have a 1-year-old son, Jet.
