VIDEO: Mike Clowney induction and speech
VIDEO: Mike Clowney interview
VIDEO: Ken Sparks Interview
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Former Carson-Newman All-America linebacker and current defensive coordinator Mike Clowney was inducted into the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame Thursday during a ceremony at the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville, N.C.
"It still really hasn't sunk in yet," Clowney said. "My son asked me why I was getting this award. I told him it was from when I played football. His response was, 'Daddy! You played football?'"
Clowney enters the SAC Hall of Fame with former Mars Hill tight end David Cassell, longtime SAC football official Charles "Slim" Carriker, Tusculum cross country runner Amanda Musick Hale and Wingate University football player Dr. Russell Booker.
"Mike Clowney typifies hall of fame," Carson-Newman Director of Athletics Allen Morgan said. "He's a man of character, he was a superb football player and finally his faith stands out. I'm pleased to know him and to say that he's a Carson-Newman Eagle."
"He's very deserving," the man who recruited and hired Clowney, head football coach Ken Sparks said. "He's been a difference maker and impacted lives wherever he's been. He's an impact person for the Lord. He was a quality athlete here no doubt. But he was also one of the greatest leaders we ever had on the field."
With Clowney's induction, the Eagles will have 13 individuals in the SAC Hall of Fame, including five affiliated with the football program.
Clowney finished his career at Carson-Newman as one of the best linebackers in school history. He ranks sixth all time with 353 career stops and still holds the single-game tackle record. He had 23 stops against Wingate in 1996.
"Family is something that's so important to me," Clowney said. "To share in this moment with them is priceless."
The performance against the Bulldogs was the culmination of a superb senior season for Clowney that was remarkable for the fact that he spent a quarter of it injured. He also had games of 15 (Edinboro), 19 (Mars Hill) and 21 (Presbyterian) tackles in his senior season. Clowney owns five of the top 15 tackle games in Carson-Newman's annals.
"Truly this is one of the highlights of my life," Sparks said. "I know what kind of player he was and what kind of a man he is. It's fun when this happens and these guys start coming around."
Clowney earned first-team All-America honors in 1996 from the AFCA, American Football Quarterly, the Associated Press, Don Hansen's Football Gazette and the NCAA during the 1996 season. He is one of six Eagles to earn consensus All-America honors for C-N, a distinction he shares with Andy Hibbett (2014), Kevin Day (2012), Reggie Perkins (2003), Michael Rigdon (2001), Clay Clevenger (2000), Cedric Killings (1999) and Steve Mellon (1995).
With 153 tackles, he was named the South Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year and led Carson-Newman to its first NCAA Division II National Championship game appearance during the 1996 campaign.
"We don't go to that national championship game without Mike Clowney," Sparks said, "He's a quiet unassuming man that never points his finger at himself. So it's good for us to point our finger at him and say, 'way to go.'"
After his playing days at Carson-Newman, Clowney spent three seasons as head football coach and athletic director at Emerald High School in Greenwood, S.C. Clowney then went to Greenwood High School where he served as the defensive coordinator from 1999-2003. Under his tutelage, Greenwood won back-to-back South Carolina State Championships during 1999 and 2000.
Clowney returned to C-N and has spent the last five seasons as the program's defensive coordinator. In his time with the defense he has seen 15 All-South Atlantic Conference performers, including nine First-Team honorees. In 2013, Clowney coached his first defensive All-American when Jaycob Coleman garnered the accolade while chasing down some of Clowney's own records.
Carson-Newman in the SAC Hall of Fame
Class of 1999-200
Albert R. Sloan – College Administrator
Cordell Maddox – President
Class of 2002-03
Todd Collins – Football
Class of 2003-04
Heather Randolph – Softball
Class of 2005-06
Boyce Green – Football
Class of 2006-07
Ken Sparks – Football coach
Carol Zachary Mitchell – Softball
Class of 2007-08
Danny Sanders – Football
Class of 2008-09
Leah Jackson Smith – Women's Basketball
Class of 2011-12
Sammi Hatcher Chafin – Softball
Class of 2012-13
David Barger – Athletic Director
Class of 2013-14
Vickee Kazee-Hollfield – Softball coach
Class of 2014-15
Mike Clowney – Football
Mike Clowney SAC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony 6-4-15
