Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Marissa Young, Head Softball Coach at Duke. After being named the first head softball coach at Duke University on July 29, 2015, Marissa Young has put together a 213-97 record in her six years at the helm of the Duke softball program. In just 4 seasons, Duke claimed the ACC Championship under Young’s leadership.
Prior to being tabbed to build the Duke softball program, Young spent the prior two seasons at UNC, where her primary responsibilities included coaching the pitchers and catchers. In the spring of 2015, Young helped the Tar Heels to a 37-16 overall record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Young’s pitchers posted a 3.30 earned run average with 234 strikeouts in 335.1 innings pitched.
As a player, Young was a three-time All-America selection as a pitcher at the University of Michigan and was named the 2002 Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and 2003 Big Ten Player of the Year. Young graduated from Michigan in 2003 as the all-time strikeout leader (927) and her 88 career wins became the second highest in program history. She also matched the then-program single-season home run record with 13 in 2003.
As of April 14, Duke softball is ranked 3rd in the nation!
Mark Your Calendar
5/15/24 – Special Guest Speaker
6/5/24 – Scholar-Athlete Awards Luncheon
6/19/24 – Another Special Guest Speaker
Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Bobby Cremins, Former Head Basketball Coach at Appalachian State (100-70 in 6 seasons), Georgia Tech (354-237 in 19 seasons), and the College of Charleston (125-68 in 6 seasons). His greatest success came with the Yellow Jackets where Tech made 10 NCAA tournament appearances, including 9 in a row, as well as reaching the Final Four in 1990 before losing in the national semifinal to Nevada-Las Vegas.
Our guest speaker for this meeting will be 
Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Bob Bender, former Professional and College Basketball Coach. Robert Michael Bender (born April 28, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach, who last served an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association. Born in Quantico, Virginia, he attended Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Illinois, where he was an All-American in basketball. Bender has the distinction of being the only individual to play on two teams in two NCAA Championship games. He was a freshman on Bob Knight’s undefeated 1976 Indiana team and played point guard at Duke from 1977 to 1980, including an appearance in the title game against Kentucky. Bender was drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the sixth round before his senior year.
Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Durham Sports Club Member Kevin Kelly. Kevin will be speaking to us about the North Carolina Senior Games, of which he has participated in since 2009. Since then, he has established a Senior Games Basketball team that has qualified for SIX National Senior Games competitions, winning the gold medal for his team’s division in their age group at the 2022 National Senior Games in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Our guest speaker for this meeting will be Steve Vacendak, former Duke and ABA Basketball player, and 2017 inductee into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. After graduating from Duke University, he was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors in the fourth round of the 1966 NBA draft, but he never played for them. Instead, he played professional basketball for the American Basketball Association and later joined the sales staff at Converse Rubber Company.
The Speaker for our next meeting will be Tyler Parsons, General Manager of the Durham Bulls. Parsons joined the Bulls in December 2022 after serving as the General Manager of the Lansing Lugnuts for the previous five seasons. During his tenure in Lansing, he helped usher in a new affiliation with the Oakland Athletics in 2021, as well as league-promotion to the High-A Central League. He was named the High-A Central League’s Executive of the Year in 2021. Prior to Lansing, he was the General Manager of the Johnson City Cardinals and Martinsville Mustangs. He began his career in baseball with the Forest City Owls as the Director of Fun, and has previous sports experience with Central Michigan Athletics, Mid-Michigan Community College, Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart Academy and Rivals.com. Tyler is a graduate of Central Michigan University, where he received both his Bachelors and Masters degrees.
The Speaker for our next meeting will be Elliott Avent, Head Baseball Coach at NC State. Avent, who is NC State’s all-time winningest coach with 998 victories (1,222 in his 35-year head coaching career), has taken the Wolfpack to the NCAA Tournament in 20 of the last 27 seasons and 15 of the last 19. Avent captured both ACC and National Coach of the Year honors in 2003 and was named USA Baseball’s College Coach of the Year in 2021.
The Speaker for our next meeting will be Braden Holloway, Head Swimming and Diving Coach at NC State. Since being named to the position, Holloway’s tenure has been full of success. After capturing the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men’s Coach of the Year honor, he has gone on to win that award nine times (2013, 2015-2020, 2022, 2023). Holloway was also the 2017 ACC Women’s Coach of the Year.
The Speaker for our next meeting will be Wes Moore, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at NC State. Since taking over the Wolfpack on April 5, 2013, Moore has posted a 242-81 (.749) record and led NC State to seven NCAA Tournament appearances and postseason invitations each year. He has guided the Pack to a 115-49 (.701) clip in the ACC, a league that consistently ranks among the top conferences in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. Seven of Moore’s 10 seasons have concluded in top-four finishes in the 15-member league. All 10 of his seasons in Raleigh have been winning seasons, and nine have included 20+ victories. He guided his team to four-straight NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 berths (2018, 19, 21, 22), highlighted by the program’s second-ever Elite Eight appearance in 2022.