BCSpireMagazine_Spring2016

alumni

Preserving the Glory Days Members of Bluefield College’s 1985 national runner-up men’s basketball squad, one of the many teams that made 1984 to 1992 the “glory days” for BC athletics.

The years 1984 to 1992 have often been dubbed the “glory days” for Bluefield College athletics. During that era, the men’s basketball team averaged 24 wins per season and earned three national runner-up distinctions. The baseball team averaged 23 wins a season and claimed the first ever Tennessee-Virginia Athletic Conference championship. In addition, the men’s golf team won a national championship. These teams and other BC squads accomplished their success despite fewer scholarship dollars than their competitors, limited travel and recruiting funds, and other budgetary limitations. “When you look at what these athletic programs accomplished, it truly is amazing,” said former BC alumni director Mark Hipes. “We didn’t have a lot of resources back then, and athletic scholarships were small and numbered. What our program didn’t have in resources it made up for in grit, heart and determination. These athletes sacrificed a lot to represent Bluefield College.” Then how fitting it is that Bluefield College, through the encouragement of alumni and friends, establish the Glory Days Scholarship as a tribute to the heroics of the athletes from 1984 to 1992 and as a means to provide vital financial aid to future BC student-athletes hoping to achieve the same greatness of those from the “glory days.” Spearheaded by Coach Mark Blevins, who led the men’s basketball and baseball teams from 1984 to 1992 and who envisioned and made the seed gift, the Glory Days Scholarship will not only preserve the heroics of the “glory days” athletes, but also provide additional funds to support current and future Rams.

As part of the overall BC Fund for Scholarships, the Glory Days Scholarship will help underwrite the cost of athletic scholarships at Bluefield College. “I hope this scholarship fund grows for the ‘glory days’ era,” said Coach Blevins, now retired after eight years with BC and another 22 years at Bearden High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. “Hopefully donations will build into a substantial foundation for the college.” In fact, additional gifts are encouraged to endow the Glory Days Scholarship so that it remains as a tribute and a source of financial aid in perpetuity. Scholarship funds at Bluefield College that reach a seed amount of $10,000 in gifts are deemed endowed and destined to last forever. To give to the Glory Days Scholarship, visit bluefield.edu/giving or call 276-326-4211.

Members of BC’s 1985 men’s basketball team during a 30-year reunion on campus in the spring of 2015.

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