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APSU presents Alumni Awards

Six alumni from Austin Peay State University will be honored next weekend during the Alumni Awards Brunch, held as part of the University’s Homecoming 2008 festivities.

The brunch will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 25 in the Morgan University Center Ballroom. Cost is $25 per person, and advance reservations are required by Wednesday, Oct. 22. The event is open to the public.
For more information or reservations, call the Alumni Relations Office, (931) 221-7979 or 1-800-264-2586.

The following individuals, with information about each provided, will be presented with outstanding alumni awards:

Outstanding Service: Michael L. Schrecker (’69, ‘75)

At most home games since 1985, Michael L. Schrecker, of Clarksville, has sold Austin Peay State University apparel and signs for fans to hold as part of his duties for Active Screen Graphics.

He founded the printing business in 1984 and sold the venture in April 2008, now serving as the establishment’s consultant and sales representative. He also is owner of the Riverwalk Business Center on Main Street, Clarksville.

Schrecker, 61, moved to Tennessee in 1955 when his father started Schrecker Moving and Storage, a Mayflower agent. He began his academic career at APSU following graduation in 1965 from Clarksville High School, attending on baseball and basketball scholarships and lettering three years in each sport.

He earned a Bachelor of Science in education, focusing on health and physical education, from APSU. After teaching and coaching at Cheatham County High School and Clarksville Academy, he returned to APSU for graduate studies. In 1975, he received a master’s degree in secondary education with emphasis on curriculum and instruction.

From 1975-78, Schrecker worked at Fort Campbell (Ky.) Independent Schools, first as transportation director then intramural director and men’s basketball coach. He was a farmer from 1979-83.

Joe Hendricks Fox (’51)

During half-time of the APSU vs. Eastern Kentucky University football game on Nov. 10, 2007, Joe Hendricks Fox presented to APSU a check for more than a half million dollars to establish the Fox Endowed Scholarship for football scholarships.

Fox, 79, of Nashville, came to APSU in 1947 on a football scholarship. He wanted to make sure student-athletes have the same opportunity to attend college.

“Without the scholarship I received to Austin Peay State University in 1947, I could not have done what I’ve done,” he said in an earlier news story. “I’ve had a successful life, and I want to give back to help someone else.”

After graduating from APSU in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education, Fox served 27 months with the U.S. Marine Corps in Korea. When he returned to civilian life, Fox taught health, physical education, mathematics and social studies and coached football for seven years at Nashville’s now-defunct North High School before serving another 29 years as assistant principal in Nashville. After retiring in 1989, he went to work as a security guard for Aladdin Industries until it closed in 2002.

Fox played football at APSU during 1947-50 under famed coach Dave Aaron. Fox was among a group of former Aaron players, called the Dave Aaron Founding Fathers, who started reuniting several years ago during Homecoming to raise funds for a scholarship endowment in Aaron’s memory. The Dave Aaron Endowment, at more than $250,000, is one of APSU’s largest endowments.

Also, in 2007, Fox was appointed as a member of the Austin Peay State University Foundation Board of Directors.

Outstanding Alumnus: Carlton Flatt (’65)

Brentwood Academy’s football program is recognized as one of the premier programs in the South. It’s a football powerhouse built from scratch in 1970 by Carlton Flatt.

Flatt retired from the private school in Brentwood in 2007 as athletic director and head football coach. He is Tennessee’s winningest football coach in the state’s history, with a 355-67-1 record. That includes 10 state championships and 20 state championship appearances – the latter being the most by any coach in the state.

Brentwood and football are practically synonymous. In the 1990s, Sports Scholastic America ranked Brentwood Academy as the fifth best high school football program in the nation. During the same era, the team was voted third best in the country by the National Prep Poll and, since 1983, was noted five times in USA Today’s Top 10 in the nation.

In his 35-year career, Flatt has coached six All-Americans, had more than 75 players sign college scholarships and sent 10 players to the University of Tennessee Volunteers, including a couple who started in the NFL.
In addition to his coaching talent, Flatt served as head of Brentwood’s math department from 1970-84. He has taught algebra, geometry, trigonometry, precalculus and calculus. From 2007-08 Flatt was a math teacher at Eagleville High School.

For Flatt, 1965 was a good year when he was a student at APSU. Varsity football captain, Flatt was named All Ohio Valley Conference quarterback and Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year. He also was Mr. Austin Peay State University.

Flatt earned his bachelor’s in both mathematics and physics from APSU and a Master of Science in Mathematics from Tennessee Tech University in 1967. 

Outstanding Alumna: Barbara M. Wesner (’72)

Barbara M. Wesner is theater arts teacher at Clarksville High School, where she strives to incorporate her professional experience into the classroom and raise the level of appreciation for and involvement in theater.

Since teaching and directing at CHS in 1995, the theater curriculum has grown to include multiple classes – Theater I, II, III and IV and Dual Enrollment Theater. Consequently, Wesner has been recognized throughout the state for her accomplishments in education. In 1998, she was named Humanities Teacher of the Year by the Tennessee humanities Council. In 2006, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Mid-Continent University for her lifetime contributions as an educator.

A former adjunct faculty member at APSU, Wesner has served on the state committee to develop standards for a theater curriculum for Tennessee schools.

Before teaching at CHS, Wesner and her husband, David Wesner, formed an outreach theater group – Off West Broadway Theatre Company – in 1992 for inner-city artists in Manhattan, N.Y. The company operated three successful seasons in Times Square before moving to Clarksville in 1995 to care for Wesner’s aging parents.

Also, in 1991, the couple completed a three-year program of study at the New York Center for Christian Studies and became ordained ministers. Her husband was appointed associate pastor, and she as minister of administration for an independent, interdenominational and multicultural church in New York City.

Wesner graduated from APSU with a bachelor’s in both English and secondary education.

Outstanding Young Alumnus: Ron Carryl (’93)

Ron Carryl is the owner and CEO of Accurate Placement, which he acquired in 2007. He spent the last 12 years working for Florida Power and Light, a Fortune 500 energy company with operations in 26 states. He served in a variety of management and professional positions in employee relations, recruiting and executive development. In 2004, he was named director of talent management with responsibility for employee and leadership development, internal and external recruiting, HR compliance, diversity strategies and performance management.

In 2007, Carryl was recognized as one of the “50 Most Powerful and Influential Black Professionals” by Success Magazine. After receiving a bachelor’s in finance from APSU, he earned his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan with an emphasis in human resources and corporate strategy. He also served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic with tours of duty in Germany and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Ky.

Currently, Carryl serves as a board member of Sickle Cell Foundation of Palm Beach County. His professional memberships include Ambassador Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches, the Business Development Board, Florida Regional Minority Business Council, Staffing Management Association and HR Association of Palm Beach County. He is a past board member of Urban League of Palm Beach County, INROADS of Florida and the American Association for Blacks in Energy.

Carryl also served on the Florida Energy Workforce Consortium to help address the work force shortage of qualified craft workers in the energy industry in Florida.

At APSU, Carryl was named Mr. Governor and received the Drane Award at the 1993 commencement.

Dr. Marty Gentry (’96)

Dr. Marty Gentry, of Nashville, is a partner with Community Pharmacy Care Inc., based in Dickson and composed of three separate pharmacies. One of the pharmacies is Kingston Springs Pharmacy, where he is the pharmacist in charge.

As pharmacist in charge, Gentry is accountable for the filling of prescription and over-the-counter medication, licensing, staffing, billing reconciliations and other routine pharmaceutical responsibilities.

In addition, he speaks about pharmaceutical benefits such Medicare Part D for area groups and teaches pharmacy-related matters at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in Memphis. He also is a preceptor for students from Dickson County High School, UT College of Pharmacy and Mercer University.

Gentry is a member of the American Pharmacists Association and Tennessee Pharmacists Association, the latter of which he launched a new district consisting of Dickson, Hickman, Houston and Humphreys counties. As a result, he was voted president, serving from 2004-06.

He was one of the first team leaders and planners of the recently developed Relay for Life event in Dickson County.

Gentry’s ability to initiate new efforts also was evident at APSU, becoming the founding father of Sigma Phi Epsilon’s chapter in 1995.

After earning his degree from APSU with a bachelor’s degree in both biology and chemistry, he graduated in 2001 with a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences in Memphis. He then worked for CVS Pharmacy until 2002 when he became a partner with Community Pharmacy Care.

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