August 30, 2001

FOOTBALL'S SORRELLS, HURST, KENDRICK, AND GILSTRAP
HIGHLIGHT SEVEN FURMAN ATHLETIC HALL-OF-FAME INDUCTEES

GREENVILLE -- Former football standouts Tim Sorrells '81, Rock Hurst '86, Kevin Kendrick '91, and Hazel Gilstrap '43 are among seven honorees who will be inducted into the Furman Athletic Hall-of-Fame in ceremonies prior to Furman's football game against VMI on Sept. 22, it was announced today by Paladin Club director Ken Pettus.

Also selected for induction are Will Ertel '92 (baseball) and Heather VandeBrake '96 (cross country/track & field). Dan Foster '49, former sports editor and columnist with The Greenville News-Piedmont, will also be inducted as an honorary member of the Furman Athletic Hall-of-Fame.

Tickets to this year's dinner and induction ceremony, which begin at 5:00 p.m. at Timmons Arena, are $10 and can be purchased by calling the Paladin Club (864) 294-3565.

Sorrells, a four-year letterman and two-time All-Southern Conference selection as a quarterback, helped lead Furman to a pair of conference championships in 1980 and '81. A Greeneville, Tenn., product and two-time Paladin (MVP) Award recipient, he paced Furman to a 20-5-1 record as a starter and currently ranks fourth on Furman's career passing touchdowns chart (31) and 10th in passing yards with (2,945 yards). He has served as an assistant coach at Furman since 1986, helping direct the Paladins to four league championships and the 1988 NCAA I-AA national title.

A two-sport standout in football and baseball, Hurst was named 1984-85 Southern Conference Athlete-of-the-Year. He served as co-captain and led Furman with 160 tackles in 1984 on the way to earning team MVP and AFCA/Kodak All-America honors as a linebacker. In four seasons of play, the Knoxville, Tenn., product helped the Paladins notch a 35-11-1 record and claim three league championships, and his 364 career tackles rank 11th on the school's career charts. In baseball, Hurst twice earned all-conference honors as a catcher, and he batted .382 with 12 home runs and 48 RBI his senior year. Ranked third on the Paladin career charts in home runs (31) and fourth in RBI (117), his .340 career batting average is the third best all-time at Furman, and his .616 career slugging percentage is still a school standard.

Kendrick served as a team co-captain and earned Southern Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Year and consensus All-America honors as a linebacker in 1990 after totaling a team high 179 tackles. A starter on Furman's 1988 NCAA I-AA championship team that posted a 13-2 record and led the nation in scoring defense (9.5 ppg), the Smyrna, Ga., native helped the Paladins to three straight league titles in 1988, '89, and '90 and a 41-12 mark during his career -- the winningest four-year stretch in school history. His 574 career tackles ranks second all-time at Furman.

An Easley, S.C, product and three-year letterman as a tackle in 1939, '40, '41, Gilstrap played on Furman squads that posted wins over Georgia, North Carolina State, and South Carolina (twice), among others. A two-time honorable mention All-South Carolina selection and team MVP in 1941, he also played in the Carolinas Lions Bowl his senior year. A successful prep coach at Charleston's St. Andrews High School, where he went 108-48-7 and won two state championships, he later served as president of the Southern Conference, director of athletics at Appalachian State, and as a member of the NCAA Steering Committee.

Ertel, a four-year letterman for Furman's baseball team, posted a school best, single season record of 12-6 in 1991 while leading Furman to a Southern Conference Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth. Named league pitcher of-the-year that season, he is one of only two players in Furman baseball history to earn All-Atlantic Region honors. The Elkhart, Ind., native still holds several school season records, including complete games (11), innings pitched (132.1), decisions (18), and wins (12).

VandeBrake racked up a total of 16 All-Southern Conference citations as a member of Furman's cross country and track & field teams from 1993-96. A three-time league individual cross country champion and runner-of-the-year award recipient, and five-time conference individual event track & field champion, she was named both Furman female and overall athlete-of-the-the-year and conference female athlete of the year in 1996. The Englewood, Co., native still holds nine school records.

Foster, whose sports writing career began with The Greenville Piedmont as a Furman undergraduate in 1948, covered many of the state and nation's greatest sporting events over the last 50 years until his retirement last year. Following a three-year tenure in the United States Air Force from 1950-53, he returned to Greenville as a sports writer with the Piedmont until being named sports editor and columnist in 1958, and later with the News in 1968. In 1986 he served as president of the Football Writers Association of America and in 1998 was inducted into the United States Basketball Writers Association Hall-of-Fame. Prior to his retirement in 2000, the Greenville native received the Order of Palmetto -- the highest honor that can be bestowed on a citizen by the state of South Carolina.