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Stillman College

Home of the Stillman College Tigers, Established 1876
Stillman College Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023

General Chris Megginson

Stillman College Announces Inaugural Hall of Fame Class

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Six individuals have been selected for enshrinement into the inaugural Stillman College Athletics Hall of Fame when the Class of 2023 is inducted Feb. 17, 2023.

The inaugural class includes three former student-athletes and three championship coaches. Student-athletes selected are Jeffery Henderson (men's track and field), Chester Hightower Jr (men's track and field / football), and Dr. Jamila McKinnis Riley (women's volleyball / women's basketball). Coaches are Dr. Richard Cosby (Baseball), Donny Crawford (Baseball), and William Riley (Men's & Women's Tennis).

The induction ceremony and honorees breakfast, presented by CDW, is set for Friday, Feb. 17 in the Wynn Center Presentation Room at 8:30 a.m. during Homecoming Week. The inductees will also be recognized at the Feb. 18 Homecoming basketball games against Talladega College at noon and 2 p.m. CST.

STUDENT-ATHLETE INDUCTEES

JEFFERY HENDERSON


Winner of the 2016 Olympic Gold Medal in the long jump for Team USA, Jeffery Henderson ('12) won two NCAA Division II national championships during his Stillman College career. Considered one of the most decorated student-athletes to ever come through Stillman, Henderson won both the SIAC West Division Track Athlete of the Year and SIAC West Division Field Athlete of the Year honors while leading Stillman to the 2013 SIAC West Division Championship as a team. He won numerous SIAC individual titles, and won national titles in both the 100-meter dash (10.18) and long jump (7.81m) at the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championship.

Since graduating from Stillman, Henderson turned pro, winning two gold medals and two silver medals for long jump at the U.S. Championships. He was a member of Team USA for four World Championships and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he won the long jump gold medal.

Prior to Stillman, he set the Arkansas high school state record in the triple jump and decathlon 100m. He went on to win five national championships at Hinds Community College before transfering to SC.

A native of North Little Rock, Arkansas, Henderson currently resides in Chula Vista, California.



CHESTER HIGHTOWER JR

A three-time NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championship qualifier, Chester Hightower Jr ('13) won two SIAC championships and two NCAA DII South Region championships. During his career, Hightower set the Stillman College speed records in the 100-meter dash (10.54), 200-meter dash (20.94), 4x100 relay (41.24), 4x400 relay (3:14.53). While all three records have since been broken, he remains Top 3 in each category. He also has a Top 10 time all-time in the 400-meter dash (49.59). In 2011, Hightower won the SIAC championship in the 200m and 4x400m relay. He also won the NCAA DII South Region 200m in both 2010 and 2011. In 2011, he was selected to the first NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor Track & Field South All-Region Team by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for his performances in both the 200-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay. On campus, he was named the Stillman Men's Track & Field MVP in 2008 and 2011, the program's Top Performer in 2009 and received the Stillman Best Track Athlete honor in 2010. In addition to track and field, Hightower was a First Team All-SIAC selection in football as a kick returner.

A native of Boston, Georgia, Hightower currently resides in Thomasville, Georgia and is a track and football coach at Cairo High School. His coaching career began in 2018 as an assistant track coach at Southeastern University (Fla.), where he  helped coach nine total individual Sun Conference champions in 2021 and coached the NAIA Women's Indoor 4x400 and 200m national champions. He became head coach at Montreat College (N.C.) in 2021-2022, winning the Appalachian Athletic Conference Men's Outdoor Championship in 2022.

 
DR. JAMILA MCKINNIS RILEY
A two-sport athlete at Stillman College, Jamila McKinnis ('12) scored more than 1,000 kills in women's volleyball and more than 1,000 points in women's basketball. McKinnis was twice named the SIAC Women's Volleyball Player of the Year in 2009 and 2011. She was a three-time First-Team All-SIAC selection and was a Second-Team selection in 2010. As a senior in 2011, she led the SIAC with 545 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. She also had 417 assists, 328 digs, 63 blocks and 62 service aces while helping Stillman to a program-best 20 wins. Her .938 hitting percentage (15 kills, 0 errors, 16 total attacks) against Miles College in September 2009, remains a Stillman record.

McKinnis was also a two-time All-SIAC selection in women's basketball.

She was a two-time recipient of the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Awards, sponsored by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, to honor students of color who have excelled in the classroom as well as on the athletic field.

A native of Prichard, Alabama, McKinnis Riley followed her Stillman career by graduating with honors from Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry in 2017 and currently serves the Mobile, Alabama area as a dentist.

COACH INDUCTEES

DR. RICHARD COSBY


A winner of five Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Division III conference titles, Richard Cosby is Stillman College's all-time winningest baseball coach. He compiled a 387-154-4 record over 16 seasons between 1974-1990. His .714 career win percentage is the best in program history. The Tigers set a single-season wins record (32-15-1) in 1981. His program produced five Major League Baseball Amateur Draft selections. In addition to baseball, Cosby coached men's cross country, which won the SIAC Division III conference title in 1985. In addition to coaching, Cosby was an assistant professor of sociology, chairman of the Business and Social Science Division and served as athletic director several different stints from 1988-2004. As athletic director, he helped facilitate the college's move from NCAA Division III to NCAA Division II in 2002. In 2022, the road leading to the Stillman baseball field was named in his honor.


DONNY CRAWFORD
One of the most successful coaches in Stillman College history, Donny Crawford amassed 272 career wins and seven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) baseball championships during his 11-year career as Stillman College's head coach, from 2005-2015. Stillman was runner-up in the SIAC three times. His 272-236 career record is second all-time at Stillman for wins and win percentage. His nine-year streak of 20-win seasons from 2006-2014 is the longest in school history. The program's 32 wins in 2009 and 2012 matched the 1981 team for most single-season wins in school history, but set the record for most Stillman baseball wins in its NCAA Division II era. The 2012 team went 21-0 in SIAC action and collected the program's first NCAA DII Tournament wins, advancing to the South Region championship series.

The Tigers would then win the SIAC titles in 2007-2009 and 2011-2014; in 2010 and 2015 the Tigers would finish as runner-up at the SIAC tournament.

Prior to Stillman, Crawford was the head coach at Tuscaloosa area high schools Brookwood, Holt, and Tuscaloosa County as well as serving three seasons as an assistant at the University of Alabama. Since his departure from Stillman, he helped Gordo High School to a 3A Alabama High School Athletic Association state title in 2017 and multiple state semifinal appearances. He is currently head baseball coach at Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.


WILLIAM RILEY
A former All-Conference tennis athlete himself, William Riley ('93) served as Stillman College's men's and women's tennis head coach for 23 seasons, compiling an 818-316 combined record (.721). He coached his teams to two SIAC men's tennis conference championships (2013, 2014) and three women's tennis championships (2013, 2014, 2015). He was named the SIAC Coach of the Year six times in five separate years (men: 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and women 2014, 2015). He coached Stillman's women's team to three-straight SIAC championships, including the school's first SIAC tennis title in 2013.  Combined between the two programs, in his final six seasons, he coached 28 SIAC First Team All-Conference selections, six SIAC Player of the Year recipients and four SIAC Freshman of the Year awards from 2010-2015. In addition to coaching student-athletes, Wiley worked with disadvantaged groups, providing free lessons to students and adults in West Alabama communities.

In addition to tennis, Riley was the first male cheerleader at Stillman College as an undergraduate in the early 1990s.

A native of Sallis, Mississippi, Riley currently resides in Conyers, Georgia and is head coach of the Point University tennis program.
 
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