April Emory
May 01, 2013
The Elizabeth City State University Athletic Department officially brought the sports season to a close with a Awards Ceremony held April 27 at the Fine Arts Auditorium. For the first time the department under the leadership of Interim Athletic Director Dr. Angelia Nelson, changed the format of the post season awards program. In favor of the traditional sit down dinner, the Athletic Department and supporters were treated to an "ESPY" style awards ceremony, including a video montage and picture projections of the night’s honorees. Stan Lewter of Urban Sports & Entertainment was the Master of Ceremony for the evening’s festivities. The top student-athlete honors of the evening went to Paneisha Eure (bowling, pictured left) as the 2013 Female Athlete of the year while Brad Davis (football) and Angelo Sharpless (men’s basketball) headlined as Co-Male Athletes of the Year. As MVP of the Lady Viking bowling team, Paneisha Eure led ECSU to a tie in the CIAA Northern Division and a semi-final berth at the 2013 Bowling Championship. Next fall she will enter her junior season on the lane as a two-time All-CIAA honoree. Throughout her teams’ season, she was one of the top performers, twice being named MVP at individual conference meets by other CIAA coaches. The Portsmouth, VA native was very active in the Student-Athlete Advisory committee and also was a member of the Academic Honor roll boasting a 3.213 GPA. Brad Davis and Angelo Sharpless were both MVPs of their respective sports. Davis was the Defensive MVP and the first Viking to ever be named a First Team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. He was a two-time All-CIAA performer and ECSU’s MVP of the 2012 CIAA Football Championship. Sharpless just wrapped a solid career for the Viking basketball team as the CIAA Men’s Player of the Year and Box To Row Player of the Year. In under three full seasons he scored 1,000 career points, reached the Final Four of the State Farm Slam Dunk Contest and was named an All-American for both Daktronics and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The Athletic Department also took time to honor former coach Alvin T. Kelley with the Lifetime Achievement Award Coach Robert L. Vaughan with the ECSU Legacy Award Bruce Biggs (Biggs Cadillac, Buick, GMC) and Chief Eddie M. Buffaloe (EC Police Department) both were recognized with Community Service Awards and the Distinguished Sports Alumnus Award went to Abdul Rasheed. The ECSU Pep Squad was also honored with a Spirit Award for their dedicated support of all the Athletic Teams. Student-Athletes with a GPA of 3.0 or better were honored with Academic Recognitions while the Highest Overall GPA award went to Valerie Edwards (3.882 women’s tennis). The Women’s Basketball team took the team GPA award with an average of 3.145. Other special awards went to Jairus Wilkins (Thurlis & Brenda Offensive Lineman Award), Jasmine Whitehurst (RL Vaughan Basketball Award-female & the Ralph and Joyce Cole Award), Angelo Sharpless (RL Vaughan Basketball Award-male) & Nigel Rios (Thomas Caldwell Award). The Team MVP Awards are as follows Football- DaRont’e McNeill (Offensive MVP), Brad Davis (Defensive MVP), Brett Symonds (Special Teams MVP), Volleyball- Morghan Stallings, Men’s Cross Country- Derek Gore, Women’s Cross Country- Mariah Powell, Women’s Basketball- Jasmine Whitehurst, Men’s Basketball- Angelo Sharpless, Bowling- Paneisha Eure, Cheerleading- Asia Long, Women’s Tennis- Co-MVPs- Samantha Craig & Valerie Edwards, Golf- Curtis Vinson, Baseball- Lee Person, Softball- Danielle Horn 2013 Pepsi Awards winners are Football- Namon Jones, Men’s Cross Country- Deon Rice, Women’s Cross Country- De’Rya Wylie, Volleyball- Kelsey Smith, Men’s Basketball- Dominique Byrd, Women’s Basketball- Stephanie Harper, Bowling- Melissa Borum, Cheerleading- Tonieka Lassiter, Tennis- Tyra Spell, Softball- Patricia Jackson, Golf- Bobby Harmon, Baseball- Cameron Cecil For more information on ECSU Athletics, visit www.ecsuvikings.com and follow on Twitter @ECSUVikings.
