Durham Sports Club

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Boo Corrigan, Director of Athletics at NC State University. Boo Corrigan began his tenure as NC State’s Director of Athletics in April of 2019, and the Wolfpack has enjoyed unprecedented success under his leadership.

Since he arrived in Raleigh after spending eight years as Director of Athletics at West Point, NC State has led the ACC in team championships. The Wolfpack has also posted back-to-back top-25 finishes in the Learfield Directors’ Cup for the first time in school history, recording its second-highest finish ever with a No. 17 mark for the 2021-22 academic year.

Four Wolfpack teams finished in the top five of the national rankings in 2021-22, led by the women’s cross country squad that won the first NCAA title ever by a Wolfpack women’s team and the school’s first national team title in any sport since 1983. In addition, men’s swimming and diving finished fourth nationally, while women’s basketball and women’s swimming and diving finished fifth. In total, 11 teams finished in the top 25 of their sport’s national rankings.

Wolfpack teams brought four ACC titles home to Raleigh in 2021-22. Women’s cross country won their sixth straight league crown, wrestling won a fourth straight and women’s basketball won a third straight. The men’s swimming and diving team won its seventh ACC title in the last eight years. NC State boasted 102 All-Americans and 21 individual conference titles, while five Wolfpack student-athletes won national titles. Academically, 21 of the Wolfpack’s 23 teams posted 3.0 GPAs or higher in both the fall and spring semesters of that academic year.

You can learn more about Corrigan at https://gopack.com/staff-directory/boo-corrigan/2752
(Thanks, www.GoPack.com)

Mark Your Calendar

9/21/22 – Steve Vacendak, Former Duke and ABA Basketball player
10/5/22 – Mike Maniscalco, Carolina Hurricanes Play-By-Play Announcer
10/19/22 – Steve Wiseman, Reporter, News & Observer

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Kelly Miller, President of three Southern Pines-area golf courses. Miller grew up in Indiana and attended the University of Alabama to play golf, and there he met Peggy Ann Bell, the middle child of Peggy and Warren “Bullet” Bell, the owners since 1953 of the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club that featured a 1928 Donald Ross course. Since the Bells’ oldest daughter, Bonnie, was traveling the country with her husband, Pat McGowan, on the PGA Tour, and son Kirk was just entering college, it fell to Kelly and Peggy Ann to follow in the footsteps of Peggy and Bullet in running the golf course and lodge. In 1994, they partnered with three individuals in buying the Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club across Midland Road – yet another Donald Ross course. Over the ensuing years, Miller would occasionally play Southern Pines Elks Club, another Ross course from the early 1900s owned since 1951 by the Benevolent Order of Elks. He tried at various junctures to either buy, lease or have a management contract for the course, but none of those initiatives worked until he was able to acquire the course in July 2020. You can learn more about Miller at https://www.homeofgolf.com/pine-needles-kelly-miller-golf-profile/

Mark Your Calendar

9/7/22 – “Boo” Corrigan, Director of Athletics, NC State University
9/21/22 – Steve Vacendak, Former Duke and ABA Basketball player
10/5/22 – Mike Maniscalco, Carolina Hurricanes Play-By-Play Announcer

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Chip Allen, the Assistant General Manager of Revenue for the Durham Bulls Baseball Club.  Allen is responsible for helping companies grow their brands, build sales teams, increase revenue, and create a great fan experience. He is on a mission to build better sponsorship, ticketing, and marketing departments, focusing on improving processes to allow more creative thinking that leads to better experiences for fans and marketers.

Prior to taking on his role at the Durham Bulls, Chip gained experience in advertising and sales as the Vice President of New Business with numerous advertising/marketing agencies located here in the Triangle and GSDM in Austin, Texas.

Chip is a United States Air Force veteran and holds a Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin.

It should be interesting to learn what happens “behind the scenes” of Minor League Baseball’s most famous season. Please be sure to RSVP for this meeting.

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Mark Your Calendar

8/17/22 – Kelly Miller, President/Owner of three Southern Pines-area Golf Courses
9/7/22 – “Boo” Corrigan, Director of Athletics, NC State University
9/21/22 – Steve Vacendak, Former Duke and ABA Basketball player

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Brian Clark, Former NFL & NC State University Wide Receiver. Clark, who now serves as the Executive Director of Development and External Relations for the Poole College of Management at NC State, played 5 seasons in the NFL, including time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Denver Broncos and the Detroit Lions.

In his role as executive director, Clark will be working with the dean and the assistant vice chancellor of university development to plan, direct and implement fundraising goals and major gift programs. He will also be responsible for donor cultivation and relations as well as events like Day of Giving. Clark will also provide innovative leadership, mentoring and strategic direction to a team of four fundraising professionals.

Clark comes to Poole College after previously working for the NC State Wolfpack Club as the director of major gifts where he oversaw all major gift fundraising for capital campaigns and endowment. He led the Wolfpack Club’s $110 million commitment to the Think and Do the Extraordinary campaign. Before joining the Wolfpack Club, he also oversaw athletics major giving at the University of South Florida.

Clark is an alumnus of NC State with a Bachelor of Science in Parks, Recreation and Tourism degree he received in 2006. During his undergraduate career, Clark was a four-year letter winner on the Wolfpack football team and a two-year letter winner on the Men’s track and field team. He also holds a Masters degree in Sports Management Administration from Liberty University.

Mark Your Calendar

8/3/22 – Jenny Levy, Head Coach, UNC Women’s Lacrosse
8/17/22 – Kelly Miller, President/Owner of three Southern Pines-area Golf Courses
9/7/22 – Special Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Omar Banks, Director of Athletics at Campbell University. Banks oversees Campbell’s 21 Division I varsity programs and more than 400 student-athletes. He was the former executive associate athletics director at Virginia Tech. In his role at Virginia Tech, Banks served as chief financial officer for two years in the 44th-largest collegiate athletics department in the nation. In 2018, Virginia Tech saw an $11 million increase in total revenue over the previous year and generated a surplus for the first time since 2015.

Prior to Virginia Tech, Banks served as the executive senior associate athletics director for the University of Cincinnati for eight years. At Cincinnati, he oversaw all aspects of a $61 million budget and provided strategic advisement to the athletics director on contracts, capital project financing, revenue agreements, personnel planning, departmental policies and procedures, and scholarship support for 19 sport programs. He also handled oversight for football, men’s basketball, men’s soccer, facilities, information technology, athletics equipment operations, and he managed human resource operations for more than 300 coaches, staff members, graduate assistants, and volunteers.

Banks earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of Richmond before earning master’s degrees in business administration and sports leadership from North Carolina Central University and Virginia Commonwealth University, respectively. Banks played football at the University of Richmond in 1993 to 1997 and once participated in the NCAA’s Leadership Institute.

Mark Your Calendar

6/1/22 – Scholar-Athlete Awards Night Banquet – 5:30!!!!
SUMMER BREAK

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Nina King, Duke’s Vice-President, Director of Athletics, and Adjunct Professor of Business Administration. In her former role within the Duke Athletics leadership group, King facilitated daily operation and oversight of the department, had oversight responsibilities for the Human Resource operation, Recreation and Physical Education program, and all legal matters, including the development and execution of department contracts while serving as the liaison to the University Legal Counsel Office. She led the senior staff/sport administrator group that is responsible for administration of Duke’s 27 varsity sports. In addition, she assisted with oversight and planning for special projects within the department, coordinated strategic planning initiatives and is the primary contact between Duke Athletics and the university administration, including the Board of Trustees, President’s office, and senior administration. She also handled the primary administrative duties for Duke’s women’s basketball and football programs.

This year, King served as the Chair of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee for the second consecutive year. The 10-person group’s charge, among many duties, is the selection, seeding, and bracketing for the annual NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.

King is a member of Women Leaders in College Sports, Sports Lawyers Association, University of Notre Dame National Monogram Club and the Florida Bar Association. Additionally, King serves on the Arizona State University College of Law Sports Law and Business Program Advisory Board as well as the Durham Academy Board of Trustees.

King and her husband, Rick, reside in Durham and are the parents of Connor Stephan and Austin Casey.

Mark Your Calendar

5/18/22 – Special Guest Speaker to be announced
6/1/22 – Scholar-Athlete Awards Night Banquet
SUMMER BREAK

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Larry Gallo, Executive Associate Athletic Director at UNC.  Over the course of his career, Gallo has served as an academic instructor, chair of an academic department, assistant and head baseball coach, and at every level of athletic administration. Immediately before coming to UNC, he spent three years as Director of Athletics at Indiana State. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Wake Forest University in a variety of roles.

Gallo earned a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 1973. He went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Physical Education, Health and Recreation in 1977 from URI. He played baseball for the Rams and was selected to the Yankee Conference All-Academic Team. In 1999, Gallo was elected to the University of Rhode Island Athletic Hall of Fame.

He started his coaching career at his alma mater as an assistant baseball coach from 1974-79. He also was an instructor in the Department of Physical Education, Health and Recreation.

Gallo spent 1979-1987 at the University of Notre Dame and was the head baseball coach for the Irish from 1980-87. He also chaired the Department of Physical Education from 1984-87. While at Notre Dame, Gallo spent his summers coaching the Cotuit Kettleers in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. In that role, he coached a number of players who went on to Major Leagues careers, among them Joe Girardi, Will Clark, Greg Vaughn, Terry Steinbach, Ruben Amaro Jr., Ken Howell, Derek Lilliquist, Chris Carpenter, Joe Hesketh, Jeff Innis, Tim Naehring, and Tim Teufel.

Mark Your Calendar

5/4/22 – Nina King, Athletic Director, Duke
5/18/22 – Special Guest Speaker to be announced
6/1/22 – Scholar-Athlete Awards Night Banquet

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be NFL Referee Brad Allen. Allen, a 1991 graduate of UNC-Pembroke, has been officiating games for more than 35 years. On March, 21, 2014, Allen reached the pinnacle of his career, receiving a call from Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, asking him to “come work for me on Sundays.” He was originally going to be an umpire, but when long-time referee Mike Carey announced his retirement on June 24, 2014, Allen was given the referee position instead – this was the first time since 1962 that an NFL official in his first year of officiating was given that honor.

Allen’s journey to becoming a referee started well before his days at UNCP. In 1986, he became an official with the Southeastern Athletic Officials Association. He continued to call local games after advancing to the college ranks as an Atlantic Coast Conference official. Among his biggest games are the 2012 Rose Bowl, the 2014 Sugar Bowl and the Army-Navy game.

In addition to being a referee, Allen is the Executive Director/President of the North Carolina Senior Games and the regional supervisor of high school basketball officials. He juggles his full-time duties with his “full-time, part-time job” in the NFL, relying on a strong work ethic, support from home and a hunger for improvement to help him maintain a standard of excellence in all three jobs.

Mark Your Calendar!

4/20/22 – Larry Gallo, Executive Associate Athletic Director, UNC Athletics
5/4/22 – Special Guest Speaker to be announced
5/18/22 – Another Special Guest Speaker to be announced
6/1/22 – Scholar Athlete Awards Night Banquet

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Dave Odom, Former Head Basketball Coach at Wake Forest, University of South Carolina and others. In 1965, Odom accepted a job as the coach of Goldsboro High School while enrolled at East Carolina University in pursuit of a master’s degree in physical education. Odom coached Goldsboro High School for four seasons between 1965 and 1969, he was also a drivers ed instructor during this time. After graduating from East Carolina in 1969, Odom took a job at Durham High School. He coached at Durham for seven years (1969–1976) where he was voted his league’s coach of the year five times.

Odom began his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at Wake Forest University in 1976 under head coach Carl Tacy. After three years at Wake Forest (1976–1979), Odom became the head coach at East Carolina University, where his squad compiled a 16-11 record, the university’s best since 1965. Odom stayed with the program until 1982, when he was offered a chance to return to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) as an assistant at the University of Virginia. Upon his arrival in Winston-Salem, Odom inherited a team that had suffered four straight losing seasons under head coach Bob Staak. In his 12 seasons (1989–2001) as head coach, Odom compiled a record of 240-132, making him the second-highest winning coach in Wake Forest history, as well as the second highest winning percentage in school history. During this time, Wake Forest earned 7 straight NCAA Tournament appearances and one NIT championship. Odom was named ACC coach of the year in 1991, 1994 and 1995.

Odom left Wake Forest to accept the job as head coach of the University of South Carolina in 2001, replacing former coach Eddie Fogler. During his tenure at South Carolina, his team earned one NCAA tournament bid, and made three appearances in the NIT, winning the championship in 2005 and 2006. He was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2004. On January 2, 2008, Odom coached his 400th collegiate victory as a head coach. Later that month, on January 18, he announced that he would retire at the end of the 2007-2008 basketball season, his seventh at South Carolina. He coached his final game for USC on March 14, 2008, in the SEC tournament.

Mark Your Calendar

All Meetings at Croasdaile Country Club
4/6/22 –Brad Allen, NFL Referee
4/20/22 – Special Guest Speaker to be announced
5/4/22 – Another Special Guest Speaker to be announced

Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Steve Vacendak, former Duke and ABA Basketball player, and 2017 inductee into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. After graduating from Duke University, he was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors in the fourth round of the 1966 NBA draft, but he never played for them. Instead, he played professional basketball for the American Basketball Association and later joined the sales staff at Converse Rubber Company.

In 1980, he went back to work at Duke as an associate athletic director for five years. Perhaps his most significant contribution to his alma mater came during this period when he strongly recommended an unknown young coach at Army – Mike Krzyzewski or Coach K – for the Duke head coaching job. Ironically, Vacendak also played a big role in recommending that NC State consider Jim Valvano for their open head coaching job and State hired Jimmy V just nine days after Duke hired Coach K. After working at Duke, he became the director of athletics and head basketball coach at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

You can learn more about Vacendak at https://www.ncshof.org/stevevacendak

Mark Your Calendar

3/6/24 – Kevin Kelly, Club Member and Senior Games Leader
3/20/24 – Bob Bender, Retired College and Pro Basketball Coach
4/3/24 – Special Guest Speaker