The inductees are women’s golf’s Kelsey Babos ‘10, women’s basketball’s Lakai Brice ‘01, football’s Kevin Brown ‘98 and Matt Gross ‘02, baseball’s James “Jimbo” Davis ‘06 and Jerry Sands, men’s basketball’s Mike Feller ‘96, and volleyball’s Melissa Powers ‘09. Jim Lewis ‘89 and Patsy Rendleman ‘47 are Service Award honorary inductees.
The induction ceremony will be held on Saturday, Oct. 7 prior to Catawba football’s home matchup with Wingate University. The induction ceremony, sponsored by the Catawba College Chiefs Club, will be held at Peeler Crystal Lounge from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Kelsey Babos - Women’s Golf ‘10
Kelsey Babos ranks among the most successful women’s golfers in Catawba College history, becoming the first and only women’s golfer to date to reach the Division II National Tournament, which she accomplished in 2009. Babos, a member of the women’s golf team from 2006-2010, holds program records for 36- and 72-hole tournaments, including a two-under 142 at the McAmis Invitational as a senior, and a program-record low round of 73 in the 2009 SAC Tournament.
Babos recorded the highest NCAA Regional finish in program history with a fifth-place finish at the 2009 Super Region 2 with a 10-over par 226 across 54 holes. Babos also earned two individual wins in her career, each in a playoff in the 2007 Tusculum Classic and the 2008 Chick-Fil-A Invite. Babos earned NGCA All-America honorable mention and All-Region honors as well as an all-conference selection in each of her four years with three appearances on the First Team as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Lakai Brice - Women’s Basketball ‘01
Lakai Brice distinguished herself as one of the best defenders in Catawba women’s basketball history, as she holds the program’s record for most career steals with 324 in 112 career games from 1997-01. Brice set the program record for the most steals in a single game, with nine against Limestone, while ranking tenth all-time with 1,441 career points.
Brice was a 3-time all-conference selection, earning All-SAC First Team honors in 1999 and 2001. As a senior, she was selected for the All-SAC Tournament Team and led Catawba to its first-ever SAC regular season championship, a SAC Tournament championship, and its first Regional appearance at the Division II level.
Kevin Brown - Football ‘98
Kevin Brown, a four-year quarterback spanning the 1994-97 seasons, led the 1996 Catawba team to a SAC title, highlighted by Catawba’s first and only win to date over the top-ranked team in the country, a 17-3 win over No. 1 Carson-Newman on Oct. 5. That same season, Brown earned SAC Offensive Player of the Year and All-SAC First Team honors, throwing for 18 touchdowns.
Brown ranks fifth in program history in total offense, gaining 5,933 yards and ranks sixth with 4,807 career passing yards. Brown holds the distinction as the first player in Catawba football history to throw for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in his career.
James “Jimbo” Davis - Baseball ‘06
James “Jimbo” Davis was a standout on the baseball diamond for Catawba from 2003-2006, where he was a 3-time All-Region First Team selection and 3-time First Team All-SAC honoree. In 2005, Davis earned ABCA First Team and NCBWA Second Team All-American honors after hitting .380 with 17 homers and 65 RBI.
Davis is the program’s career leader with 235 RBI, while ranking second with 54 career home runs. In addition to individual accolades, Davis’ teams excelled, as the standout was a 3-time SAC regular season champion, 2-time SAC Tournament champion, and appeared in two NCAA Regionals.
Mike Feller - Men’s Basketball ‘96
Mike Feller donned a Catawba uniform from 1992-1996, culminating his career with a 1995-96 SAC regular season championship while earning the league’s Player of the Year award. Feller averaged 18.2 points and six rebounds per game in his senior season on 52 percent shooting from the field and 85 percent shooting from the free throw line.
Feller was a Division II Bulletin All-American honorable mention in both his junior and senior seasons. The Evansville, Ind. native was also a 3-time all-conference selection while earning a First Team nod as a senior. Feller ranks 14th in program history with 1,484 career points.
Matt Gross - Football ‘02
Matt Gross manned kicking duties as part of some of the most successful teams in Catawba football history. Gross holds program records with 55 career field goals and 311 career points, earning Consensus All-American honors as a senior including Second Team honors from the Associated Press and d2football.com. Gross was also a CoSIDA First Team All-Region selection.
Gross earned all-conference honors three times in his career, capping off his record-setting career with a First Team selection as a senior. With Gross on kicking duties, Catawba set school records with 23 consecutive regular season wins, 16 consecutive SAC wins and 14 straight home victories. While in Salisbury, Gross won two SAC titles and was a 3-time NCAA Play-off participant.
Melissa Powers - Volleyball ‘09
Melissa Powers was one of the most prolific volleyball players in Catawba volleyball history, highlighted by earning the 2008-09 SAC Female Athlete of the Year award. In that same senior season, Powers was named CoSIDA Region Player of the Year, an AVCA All-American, and a consensus First Team All-Region selection. That postseason, Powers helped lead Catawba to its first-ever wins in the NCAA Tournament, including knocking off top-seeded host Wingate en route to the regional final.
Powers holds program-records with 37 kills in a single match, 674 kills in a single season, 1,884 career kills and a .326 career hitting percentage. Powers earned SAC Player of the Year honors in 2008 while also winning the SAC Scholar Athlete award that season. She was a 3-time All-SAC First Team selection and was named to the 2007 All-SAC Tournament team.
Jerry Sands - Baseball
Jerry Sands was a three-year standout on the baseball field for Catawba from 2006-2008, before enjoying a 14-year professional career, including 156 games in his five seasons in the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. Sands, a 25th-round pick of the Dodgers in the 2008 MLB Draft, remains Catawba’s highest drafted player in program history.
While at Catawba, Sands was an NCBWA Third Team All-American as a freshman in 2006 before earning consensus All-America accolades in 2007. Sands was a First Team all-conference selection in each of his three seasons and was named the SAC Freshman of the Year in ‘06. Sands holds career program records with 61 home runs and 132 walks while leading Catawba to two SAC regular season titles, two NCAA Regional appearances and a then-program record 43 wins in 2008.
Service Award Inductees
The Catawba College Athletics Hall of Fame honorary inductees are individuals who have displayed extraordinary service to the College’s athletic department through efforts off the playing field. The Class of 2023 includes two honorary inductees:
Jim Lewis - Sports Information ‘89
Jim Lewis has been involved with the Sports Information Department at Catawba College since arriving on campus as a freshman in 1984. Upon being appointed Sports Information Director in June of 1996, Lewis assumed responsibilities of overseeing the publicity of each of Catawba’s athletic teams and the department as a whole. Lewis was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director in 2009 and Senior Assistant AD in 2015.
Lewis has created or expanded Catawba’s record books, which are among the most extensive in the conference and region. In addition to his roles at Catawba, Lewis has served as the treasurer for the North Carolina Sports Information Association, as well as the NCAA Division II Men’s Lacrosse South Region advisory committee and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Southeast Region ranking committee.
Patsy Rendleman - Women’s Golf ‘47
Patsy Rendleman is a Catawba College trustee emeritus and a former president of the Women’s Carolinas Golf Association. A stellar player as a 20-time club champion, six-time member of the Carolinas Golf Team and a qualifier for the 1955 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, Rendleman’s love for the game continued long after her playing days through her support of the Catawba College golf programs along with her husband Richard ‘41, Catawba HOF Class of 1987.
Patsy Rendleman started the First Tee Program in Salisbury and has continued to support Catawba’s golf programs both financially and through her enthusiastic hands-on encouragement. In 2005, Catawba women’s golf’s annual home event in the fall was renamed the Patsy Rendleman Invitational, in honor of her continued support for the program’s student-athletes and coaches.
