Legends set to play in RCC Foundation Golf Tournament
Robeson Community College is excited to announce that Football Legend Johnny Evans along with Basketball Legends Dereck Whittenburg and Al Wood will be in attendance at RCC Foundation’s 38th Anniversary Clifford Bullard Memorial Golf Tournament.
Whittenburg and Wood both played in the tournament held last year.
“We are so excited to have such amazing athletes playing in our annual golf tournament,” stated Lisa Hunt, assistant vice president of the RCC Foundation and grants. “This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to play in a tournament with such great legends who have done so much for our community, and we are so thankful that they will be here to highlight our fundraising efforts.”
The tournament will be held on Thursday, October 6 with two shotgun starts, the first at 8:30 a.m. and the second at 1:30 p.m. at Pinecrest Golf Course in Lumberton.
“We are so thankful that Johnny Evans, Dereck Whittenburg, and Al Wood will be in Lumberton to headline our tournament, as we work tirelessly to raise money for our students,” RCC President Melissa Singler said. “The golf classic is truly a ‘homecoming,’ and to have Mr. Whittenburg and Mr. Wood return again this year just shows how phenomenal our event has become….Each year our players look forward to returning, coming back and catching up with friends, and just having a great time.”
The RCC Foundation is still accepting registrations and sponsorships for the tournament. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Carol Cummings at ccummings@robeson.edu or 910-272-3236.
About Johnny Evans
Johnny Evans is a former NFL and Canadian Football League punter and quarterback. He was a standout at NC State, where he led the team to an 8-4 record his senior season, and was named MVP of the 1977 Peach Bowl. He completed three years in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and three years in the CFL for the Montreal Alouettes/Concordes and the Edmonton Eskimos.
Since 1985, Johnny has been the radio sportscaster and game day analyst for the NC State Wolfpack football team.
Johnny also serves as the Eastern NC director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. As the Eastern NC Director for FCA, he manages a team of 20 staff from the Triangle to the coast who are dedicated to “seeing the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of athletes and coaches.”
Johnny and his wife, Beth, co-lead a FCA Adult Chapter Bible Study for nearly 800 people in the Triangle community. They have four adult children—quadruplets, two of whom played football for NC State – and they have three grandchildren.
About Dereck Whittenburg
One of the most revered athletes in North Carolina history, Dereck Whittenburg, is a former collegiate basketball player who played for North Carolina State University, where he was a member of the 1982-83 team that won the NCAA national championship. As a star guard on the men’s basketball team, he helped lead former coach Jim Valvano’s squad to a historic 54-52 victory over heavily-favored University of Houston and clinched the title of game MVP.
Whittenburg was a third-round selection of the Phoenix Suns in the 1983 NBA Draft and earned a degree in business administration from the prestigious Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University in 1984. He has more than 25 years of college basketball coaching experience and has worked as an analyst for ESPN and as a regional NBA scout for the Utah Jazz. Whittenburg was an executive producer for “Survive and Advance,” a 30 for 30 documentary detailing NC State’s 1983 title run. He was also an executive producer for “The Gospel According to Mac,” a 30 for 30 documentary about Colorado football coach Bill McCartney.
Committed to giving back to his community, Whittenburg serves on the Board of Directors for The V Foundation for cancer research. Whittenburg is the co-founder of the Dereck Whittenburg Foundation, with a mission to extend the hands of financial assistance to deserving college students that find themselves facing the hindrance of finance as the barrier to their completion of college degrees. The mantra of The Foundation is “Dream. Believe. Work. Now Finish!”
Whittenburg is currently employed by the athletic department at his alma mater, serving as Associate Athletic Director for Community Relations and Student Support.
Dereck currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Jim Valvano foundation for cancer research, and holds the position of Director of Basketball Operations at North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C.
About Al Wood
Al Wood is a native of Gray, Georgia, and a 1981 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Growing up, he quickly became successful in basketball, where he earned All-American status in high school and college. Al went on to set scoring records in the ACC and NCAA, was a member of the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Basketball team, and became the fourth player picked in the first round of the 1981 NBA draft. At North Carolina, he averaged 16 points a game, averaged 5 rebounds a game and shot 56 percent from the field.
In his NBA career, Wood played in 417 games and scored a total of 4,902 points. His best year as a professional came during the 1985–86 season as a member of the SuperSonics, appearing in 80 games and averaging 15.0 ppg. After the NBA, Al played professional basketball overseas but eventually moved back to the States and traveled around the country as a motivational speaker, trainer and team builder, evangelist, platform guest, sports radio and TV spokesperson, prison minister, and private consultant. He also served five years as Principal, Athletic Director, and Head Basketball Coach at Comenius School of Creative Leadership. Al is currently an ordained minister with MorningStar Ministries. Al met his wife Robin at UNC-Chapel Hill. They have four adult children, all graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
