Born November 18, 1919, in Greenville, SC,

Elizabeth ‘Lib’ Mahon very early on demonstrated the athletic prowess that was to make her an all-star with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.  She was playing for a women’s basketball team before she even reached her teens and during her junior and senior years in high school she joined a women’s fast-pitch softball team.

  In 1938, a year after graduating from high school, Lib was able to attend Winthrop when an aunt offered to pay the tuition.  She excelled in both academics and athletics during her 4 years at the college.  Majoring in physical education with minors in science and English, Lib played basketball, softball, and field hockey.  She also assumed a leadership role, serving as a member of the student senate and manager of the freshman basketball team and captain of the sophomore hockey team.  During her junior year, she was a captain of the hockey and basketball teams and treasurer of the Athletic Association.   Her senior year saw her selected as one of three “Best All Around” students by the Winthrop Board of Trustees for her athletic accomplishments and campus leadership.

  Lib taught for a year after graduation before going to work at the Greenville post office.  She continued to play fast-pitch softball during this period. Her outstanding play brought her to the attention of the manager of the minor league Greenville Spinners, who encouraged her to try out for the fledgling All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (subject of the 1992 feature film, A League of Their Own).  In early 1944, she traveled to LaSalle-Peru, Illinois, for 10 days of spring training.  Lib made the cut and played that first year for the Minneapolis Millerettes and the Kenosha Comets.  The following year she was traded to the South Bend Blue Sox, where she would remain until her retirement at the end of the 1952 season.

 Lib was one of the premier players in the League.  Playing mainly outfield with some time at second base, she was twice selected to the League’s all-star team (1946 and 1949).  In 1946 she lead the League in RBI’s with 72 and in 1949 repeated as League RBI leader with 60.  Her 400 career RBI’s tied her for fourth place in League history.  She was also a key member of the 1951 League champion South Bend Blue Sox.  Her career .248 batting average, 721 hits, 364 stolen bases, and 432 runs scored put her in the top tier of all League players.

  Lib began teaching physical education in the South Bend public schools while she played for the Blue Sox.  She continued to teach in South Bend upon leaving the League in 1952.  In 1960 she became a guidance counselor after completing a master’s degree from the University of Indiana, a position she held until her retirement in 1981.  This stellar teacher and athlete passed away on September 6, 2001.  In 2005 she was inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

  In a 1997 interview, Lib acknowledged the importance of her years at Winthrop.  “Thank God for a college education and for the opportunity to play ball, too.  That changed my life completely.”  It is with great pleasure that we, the current staff and faculty, welcome Elizabeth ‘Lib’ Mahon as a member of the class of 2006

Martha “Marty” Washington graduated from Winthrop in 1956 with a BS in Physical Education with a minor in science.  She completed her Master of Education degree at the University of North Carolina Women’s College at Greensboro in 1961, and finished her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1981. 

 Dr. Washington has spent her career at the collegiate level.  She began her career at Coker in 1959, and spent 1960 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before returning to Coker from 1961-1963.  In 1963, she joined the faculty at the University of Georgia and spent the next 33 years at Georgia.  While at Georgia, she was active in aquatics and senior fitness.  She served on the National Red Cross faculty at Aquatic School and directed the waterfront at the Rockbrook Summer Camp.  She coached the first women’s swim team at Georgia in 1974 and met with immediate success.  Her relay team qualified for the AIAW National Championship and Veronica Stroup qualified in an individual event.  When Stroup was named the Lady Bulldog’s first All-American, she credited Dr. Washington’s coaching for her success. 

 Marty Washington created a number of programs to address fitness levels of seniors.  In 1980, she developed a “Stay Fit’ program for individuals 55 and up.  The program began with 13 seniors, but soon grew to its capacity of 50.  Most of the participants were in their 60s and 70s.  Tom and Inez Jackson were typical of the seniors who participated.  Both joined the program a year after his open heart surgery.  Mr. Jackson talked about his transformation through the program – “I learned to swim within a month and not I can swim across the pool 12 times with rest in between.  The program has made a new person out of me.  With all this exercise, I sleep good at night and I’ve lost 10 pounds.  Now I can eat anything I want.”  When funding for the program was jeopardized, Dr. Washington sought and received outside funding for the continuation of the program. 

 Dr. Washington is the author or co-author of eight publications, has made numerous presentations, and  successfully received external funding for her senior fitness programs.  Her professional service includes serving on editorial boards or as a reviewer for Georgia AAHPERD, Quest, and Therapeutic Recreation Journal.  She has been active in the Southern Association for Physical Education of College Women, Georgia AAHPERD, the American Red Cross, and the AIAW.  Throughout her career, Marty Washington has provided leadership and guidance to undergraduate and graduate students. The University of Georgia recognized her teaching effectiveness early in her career by naming her the Outstanding Teacher in Women Physical Education in 1965. She continued to be a mentor and teacher for generations of students at Georgia.  It is with great pleasure that we, the current staff and faculty, welcome Dr. Martha Sue Washington as a member of the class of 2006 Distinguished Alumni.

Pam Osteen King

Pamela Osteen King graduated from Winthrop in 1970 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education.  While a student as Winthrop, Pam Osteen served as a Committee and Sports Chair for the Winthrop Recreation Association (with Jane La Roche) and was a member of Sigma Gamma Nu.  Upon graduation she married Bill King and taught elementary and middle school physical education in the Florence and Darlington School Districts until 1977.

 In 1981, she opened the Golden Strip Gymnastics Center in Simpsonville, SC.   At the time, her gymnastics center was one of the largest in South Carolina.  In 1983, she was named the South Carolina Coach of the Year by the South Carolina Gymnastics Federation.  In just two years, her teams won the Class IV USGF Class III Novice Compulsory, and the Class III Novice Optional State.  In addition, she hosted the most prestigious meet of the year drawing a record crowed to the event.  At one point her center enrolled over 750 students.   In her spare time, she was the mother of two boys, Sid and Lonnie.  She is now a proud grandmother of two granddaughters.

 Pam Osteen King’s government teacher at Winthrop would never have predicted her next career path.  Although she claimed to have had a D average in her government class while at Winthrop, she became the first woman mayor of Simpsonville, SC in 1992.  She was responsible for a $3.4 million annual budget, supervised and coordinated administrative activities of 105 employees, acquired $1.2 million in federal grants, and established a city wide recycling program.  In 1992, she was a recipient of the Order of the Jessamine and VFW Distinguished Service Award.  She finished her term as mayor in 1995 and moved with her family to Morristown, TN.

 In 1996, Mrs. King changed career paths once again.  From 1996 to 1999, she served as the Public Relations Director for the Hamblen County United Way.  In this capacity, she worked closely with the local media, planned and organized the annual campaign, developed a training manual and extensive program for volunteers, and organized quarterly meetings for the 32 agency directors.  In 1999, she became the Executive Director the United Way of Hamblen County, where she was responsible for a $1.2 million budget, set and achieved her fundraising goal ($1.29 million), and implemented a new computer system for the organization.  In 2001, she moved to Gatlinburg where she opened an upscale gift shop.  Once the gift shop was up and running, she found her way to Dollywood, where she is the Core Value Training Coordinator.

 I do not know about any one else in the room, but I am dizzy just trying to keep up with the many accomplishments of Ms. King.  I am sure her former government teacher at Winthrop would be proud.  It is with great pleasure that we, the current staff and faculty, welcome Pamela Osteen King as a member of the class of 2006 Distinguished Alumni.

Alcides “Cid” Carvalho graduated with his degree in Physical Education from Winthrop College in 1981, adding a Master of Science degree in 1989.  The Sao Paulo, Brazil native played in the number one slot for the varsity tennis during his undergraduate career.   After graduating from Winthrop, Cid served as tennis Director for the City of Rock Hill from 1983 through 1997.  In 1986, he was named head women’s tennis coach and in 1987, head men’s tennis coach for Winthrop, making this his 21^st season.

 His winning percentage over the 21 years as head women’s coach is .620 with 222 victories to 136 loses.  His women’s teams have won the Big South Conference Championship nine times with two runner-up finishes.  In 2000, he took the women’s team to its first ever NCAA tournament appearance, and made repeat appearances in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.  He has been voted Big South Conference Women’s Coach of the Year nine times.  In his 20 year career as the men’s coach, Coach Carvalho has a .651 winning percentage with 244 wins and 131 loses.  His men’s teams have won three Big South titles and finished as runner-up six times.  Under his leadership, the men’s team earned its first NCAA bid in 2004 and returned to the tournament in 2005.  He has been named Men’s Coach of the Year for the Big South three times. 

 One of the most common sites on Winthrop’s campus is Cid coaching on the tennis courts.  His passion is tennis and he has shared this passion with hundreds of athletes in his career from children on the City of Rock Hill courts to adults at the tennis complex.  He was awarded the title of “High Performance Coach” by the USTA’s player Development Program in 2000.  He is a member of the U.S. Professional Tennis Registry, the South Carolina Professional Tennis Association, where he continues to compete in doubles and mixed doubles, and U.S. Professional Tennis Association.  He is a past member of the NCAA Division I Regional Advisory Committee. 

 As much as the faculty and staff are excited by the upcoming completion of the West Center, we all miss the sound and sight of Cid’s athletes on the tennis courts outside of our offices.  One of the great pleasures of Peabody was to watch Cid coach quality players in tennis.  He is a master teacher, a great coach, but more importantly a quality human being.   Two of the players we use to watch him coach were Joseph and Gabriela Carvalho.  Joseph is 21 and plays for the University of the South and Gabriela is19 and plays for Virginia Tech.  Cid is married to the former Sherri Houston from Easley, South Carolina.