Francis Marion University athletic director Gerald Griffin has
announced that a former Patriot basketball player and a former Lady
Patriot basketball coach will be inducted into the FMU Athletic
Hall of Fame this February. The two honorees will be men's
basketball player Allen Floyd, a native of
Mullins, and former women's basketball coach Sylvia Rhyne
Hatchell, a native of Gastonia, N.C.
Induction ceremonies will take place during the Homecoming
basketball doubleheader, Saturday, Feb. 13, 1993, in the Smith
University Center.
Hatchell served as the Francis Marion women's
basketball coach from 1975 to 1986. During those 11 seasons,
she compiled a 272-80 record and won two national
championships. Her 1981-82 squad compiled a 27-7 mark and
captured the AIAW Small College (Division II) National
Championship. Her final Lady Patriot squad (1985-86) had a
36-2 record and won the NAIA National Championship. Both
national championship squads were honored before the South Carolina
Legislature. Each of her teams won at least 19 games, and in
addition to the 1982 and 1986 squads, the 1976, 1977, 1978, and
1984 Lady Patriot teams all advanced to national tournaments.
While at Francis Marion, she earned the 1986 AMF Voit
Championship Coach Award, the 1986 Converse NAIA "Coach of the
Year" award, the 1986 NAIA District Six "Coach of the Year" award,
the 1985 Converse NAIA Regional "Coach of the Year" award, and the
1980 and 1986 South Carolina "Coach of the Year" awards. Her
program produced four All-Americans and her 1984 squad was awarded
the Fellowship of Christian Athletes National Team Sportsmanship
Award at the NAIA National Tournament.
Her other coaching honors included coaching in the 1979 Hanes
All-American Classic, coaching the South Team to a gold medal at
the 1982 United States Olympic Committee's National Sports
Festival, serving as assistant coach for the gold medal-winning
team at the 1983 World University Games, and working at both the
1984 Olympic Trials and Olympic Games. She also served as
assistant coach for U.S. teams at the 1985 World University Games,
and the 1986 Goodwill Games and World Championships and for the
gold medal-winning squad at the 1988 Olympics.
Off the court, she helped bring the 1978 AIAW Small College
National Tournament to Francis Marion, served on the Board of
Directors of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, and served
on the ABA-USA Women's Games Committee. She is a past
secretary-treasurer of the NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches
Association and in 1986 she received a special merit award from the
South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. She also served as
cheerleader advisor while at Francis Marion.
Now in her seventh year as head coach at the University of North
Carolina, Hatchell ranks among the top 25 winningest active
collegiate coaches with a 364-167 record.
Hatchell earned her undergraduate degree from Carson-Newman
College and her master's degree from the University of
Tennessee.
