Denton, Downing, Towns Inducted into SCC Athletics Hall of Fame
Fourteen years ago, Aaron Denton was hired as athletic director and men's basketball coach to lead the reintroduction of athletic programs at Sandhills Community College.
In recognition of a job well done during his 10 years at Sandhills, the current athletic director at North Carolina Wesleyan, was recently inducted into the Sandhills Athletics Hall of Fame.
Others inducted during a banquet held in the Clement Dining Room at the Dempsey Student Center were Spartans tennis standout Matt Downing, and Daquain Towns who helped lead the 2012 Flyers basketball team to the college's first national championship.
Following some opening remarks by current Athletic Director and Basketball Coach Mike Apple, Ruth Bondurant, a member of the first Hall of Fame class in 2013, introduced Downing.
A physical education professor at the college for 25 years, Bondurant coached tennis and volleyball during the Spartan era of sports at the college and later club teams after Sandhills left the NJCAA for a period of time.
Bondurant described Matt Downing, a member of the college's first men's tennis team, as a good person and student-athlete who was always the first to arrive at practice and the last to leave.
A conference champion while playing tennis at Pinecrest High School and at Sandhills, Downing was accompanied by his wife Mandy, a son Caleb and a daughter Abbey.
After earning a degree in business administration at Sandhills, Downing began his professional tennis career at the Lawn and Tennis Club of North Carolina before becoming the Head Tennis Professional at the Pinehurst Resort and Country Club.
He became the Director of Tennis there in 2003, responsible for all member and resort programming, including managing tournaments, pickleball, croquet, lawn bowls and fitness center operations.
Later, Downing said that a career in tennis was not something he aspired to before college.
"I knew I loved tennis, but I didn't know I was going to be a tennis professional," he said. "It was an honor to play for Ruth. I'm very privileged to be a part of this Hall of Fame induction and I'm very humbled by it."
In his 10th and final year at Sandhills, Aaron Denton was named the 2018 Junior/Community College Athletic Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. Sandhills Community College President Dr. John R. Dempsey had this to say at the time:
"This is an incredible honor and it is well-deserved. Aaron has built our athletic program from scratch, into one of the most successful programs in the country - and he's done it with dignity, integrity and a genuine dedication to the mission of Sandhills."
Denton arrived at Sandhills in 2008 at the age of 29 to take on the dual responsibilities of athletic director and coach. Before turning the basketball coaching position over to Apple in 2011, his final team compiled a record of 24-7 and finished the season with a No. 8 ranking in NJCAA Division III.
The 2014 men's golf team also won a national championship. The number of sports grew to eight during his tenure.
He was introduced by Tim Nocton, currently a Professor of Education and Sports Performance at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, who was a member of the physical education faculty at Sandhills at that time.
"I was struck by how young he was to be an athletic director," Nocton said. "I was in the physical education department and it was a great partnership. Aaron hired some amazing coaches, established a culture here where academics came first and he established an academic advisor.
"That's why Sandhills has blossomed not only in athletics, but otherwise. This celebration was Aaron's idea to make sure athletics were giving back. He worked tirelessly, started his family here."
Joining Denton for the occasion were his wife Ami and children Savannah, Noah and Parker.
Savannah was introduced by her father at the podium and told the audience she had been attending games since she was born, and her first birthday party was held at the Clement Hall dining room. And that she was proud of him for what he accomplished at Sandhills.
"He's a great dad too," she said. "I'm so proud of you, dad."
In his remarks, Denton acknowledged he came into the job with much to learn and that Sandhills is a place that supports its people when they are trying to do something. As he drove on campus and walked around earlier, he wasn't sure he could put his feelings into words.
The people he recognized included Dr. Dempsey, Chief Operating Officer Ron Layne, photographer Donna Ford and the late Union Pines High School Athletic Director and Coach Bobby Purvis.
Speaking to Apple and Associate A.D. and Volleyball Coach Alicia Riggan, he said, "What you've done here is incredible. You've changed people's lives.
"The people here are special and that's what makes this place special to me and always will."
Later he said, "I miss these great people and I'm so grateful to the state of North Carolina that they have places like Sandhills Community College and Sandhills Athletics."
The video of Daquain Towns taking the ball the length of the court in 3.8 seconds for the floater that beat Brookdale CC 93-92 on the buzzer in the first round of the national tournament in March of 2012 has over 5,000 views on You Tube.
The Flyers went on to win the title and Towns was named the tournament MVP. He and teammates Markell Lotharp, who earned All-American honors that season, and Tramaine Pride, are now all members of Apple's coaching staff.
In 2015, Towns and several other members of the title team attended the first basketball game at the expanded Heins Gymnasium now known as The Hangar.
"It has been suggested that Daquain's shot might have built the gym and there is a lot of truth to that," Apple once said. "Nobody can go back and replay history if he misses the shot, but all the nice things that have happened in Sandhills basketball since that shot are a result of our winning that national championship."
A 6-foot forward, Towns was recruited by Denton at Pinecrest High School where he was the conference player of the year under then-Patriot Coach Apple.
In his introduction, Apple recalled first coming across Towns at a basketball camp where there was a commotion about a pre-high schooler who was dunking the basketball. He describes him as a great teammate on both of his teams and an excellent listener and communicator as a coach.
Attending the induction with Towns were his mother Regina Jefferson and a friend Caitlin Terry. He described the camp where he met his future coach as a life-changing event that for him was like his NBA draft.
He thanked his mother for keeping his head on straight, the support of his brothers, and Denton for believing in him as a college basketball player. He also thanked his coaches and teammates for their support as well as that coming from Dr. Dempsey, Layne and Nocton.
"We all believed in each other," he said. "I'm just so proud to be a part of this school. It changed my life."