Leaving on a High Note - Austin Peay State University

APSU Sports Information
Bill Persinger
Susan Sheather-
Kliebert
Gardner built the
Lady Govs basketball
program into the
OVC’s best during the
early part of this
decade. APSU compiled
an impressive
112-92 record during
her seven-season
tenure but a spectacular
63-29 mark over her final three seasons,
including 27-4 record in 2002-03.
For three straight seasons, Savage was second
on the team in scoring, culminating with
a 17.5 average as a senior when he was chosen
second-team All-OVC. His record included
a career-high 34-point effort at Eastern
Kentucky where he launched the game-winning
basket from near midcourt.
Sheather was one of the OVC’s most dominant
tennis players in the early 1990s. Twice the
Kelso, Australia, native won the OVC at No. 1
singles (1992, 1994) and once at No. 2 doubles
(1991). She also captured OVC titles at No. 1
doubles (1994) and No. 2 doubles (1991).
Former Govs baseball star,
Walker, signs with Orioles
Jamie “Cat” Walker, who starred for Govs
baseball in the early 1990s, signed a threeyear
free-agent, $12 million contract in late
November with the Baltimore Orioles.
The southpaw, who spent the last five seasons
with Detroit, said the length of the deal
was the deciding factor.
“It’s always a tough decision once you’ve
been somewhere for so long,” he said about
leaving the Tigers. “The Tigers weren’t able
to make a three-year commitment, and that’s
what we started with in April of last year. ...
They never really offered me a three-year
deal, and Baltimore came out aggressive from
Bill Persinger
the get-go.”
Walker, 35, appeared in 56 games for the
2006 Tigers, American League champions,
and posted a 2.81 earned-run average as a situational
lefthander.
Walker, who was OVC Pitcher of the Year
in 1992, was the first former APSU player to
appear in a World Series game since Jimmy
Stewart played in 1970 for the Reds.
Walker spoke Feb. 5 at APSU’s 2007 First
Pitch Banquet. The event was an opportunity
for the public to meet the Govs baseball team
for the 2007 season.
McCray leaving APSU
Govs head football
coach Carroll McCray,
who was to begin his
fifth season this fall,
resigned in February to
become the offensive
line coach at Furman
University in
Carroll McCray Greenville, S.C.
The move also
allows McCray to be closer to his family.
Both McCray’s and his wife Angel’s parents
live in North Carolina.
McCray’s son, Trey, is going to play football
at Furman, and that also factored into his
resignation.
McCray, who last fall completed the first
year of a three-year contract extension, was
11-33 overall and went 3-8 last season in
Austin Peay’s return to scholarship football.
Assistant head coach and offensive line
coach Steve Haywood has been named interim
head coach until a new successor to
McCray is named.
Former APSU coach, Bo
Brown, remembered with
scholarship in his name
Woodson Oliver, Clarksville, wanted to pay
tribute to his former college coach, Fred “Bo”
Brown, in a meaningful way, so Oliver
recently established a football scholarship in
Brown’s name at Austin Peay.
He’s encouraging others to support the
Coach Fred “Bo” Brown Memorial
Scholarship, named in memory of the man
who, according to Oliver, had a profound
impact on the lives of many people during the
short time he was Austin Peay’s head basketball,
baseball and football coach.
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the family farm near Clarksville, Oliver was
determined to get a college degree. Although his
father saved $25 so he could attend Austin Peay
in Fall 1941, the money ran out after one term.
Oliver found odd jobs around campus to
fund his education until Bo Brown, coach of
the Govs’ struggling football team, offered
him a football scholarship.
After graduation, Oliver began a career
with a U.S. Steel-affiliated company—a job
that would take him around the world—
before he retired and returned to Clarksville.
If interested in contributing to the Coach
Fred “Bo” Brown Memorial Scholarship,
contact Margaret Bentley by telephone at
(931) 221-7127.
Kimmel retires as head
athletic trainer
Chuck Kimmel, Austin Peay’s longtime
athletic trainer and assistant athletics director,
retired from the University in December.
Kimmel began a new career in January as
director of rehabilitation and a lecturer at
Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C.
Kimmel, a member of the Austin Peay
Athletics Hall of Fame, arrived at APSU in
August 1981 from East Tennessee State
University.
Joni Johnson, APSU’s assistant athletic trainer
for the past 14 years, is interim head athletic
trainer. APSU will conduct a search this spring
for a permanent position replacement.
Bivins receives OVC
Scholar-Athlete Award
Adonia Bivins, a senior defender for the
women’s soccer team, was named one of six
recipients of the Ohio Valley Conference’s
prestigious Scholar-Athlete Award for 2006-07.
Jamie “Cat” Walker speaks at the annual “First
Pitch” Governors baseball banquet in February. After a childhood of “following a mule” on
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