Outstanding Alumni for 2002
(Oct. 18, 2002) — The East Carolina University Alumni Association has announced Outstanding Alumni Award winners for 2002. The awards, given annually at Homecoming, recognize East Carolina alumni for exceptional professional, cultural and civic accomplishments. This year’s honorees are:
* Carol Mabe ’67, president and chief executive officer of Russell Athletic. Mabe is an accomplished business leader whose experience includes associations with Russell, VF Jeanswear, Victoria’s Secret, Sara Lee, and Integon Insurance. Russell Athletic has joined in a sponsorship with ECU to provide uniforms, coach and staff apparel, and workout apparel for the university’s football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball programs.
* William “Griff” Garner ’80, a business consultant, manager and entrepreneur, who followed his undergraduate degree from ECU with an MBA from Harvard University in 1982. Garner assisted in developing the first graduate endowment in special education at ECU, and he helped fund the Christina P. Garner Scholarship, named for his wife, who is also an ECU graduate.
* Howell Binkley ’78, an accomplished lighting designer who has worked on more than 60 productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in regional theaters across the United States, Great Britain and Europe. Binkley has been awarded the Helen Hayes Award four times, and has been nominated 11 times. In 1993, he received a Tony Award nomination, the Sir Lawrence Olivier Award, and the Canadian Dora Award for his work on “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Binkley is also co-founder of the Parsons Dance Company.
* Kelly Edward Green ’66, a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Raleigh. Judge Green is a past member of the ECU Board of Trustees and the Board of Visitors. He is an adjunct professor of law at UNC Chapel Hill and Campbell University. Green served as Judge of the 11th Judicial District from 1979 to 1986. He is the recipient of an array of awards and honors, including the Outstanding Appellate Judge Award, the James Iredell Award, and the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence from Campbell University.
* James Walter Dodson ’75, a columnist for Golf Magazine and author. His work has appeared in Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Sports Illustrated, Travel and Leisure, Outside Magazine, and numerous other national publications. Dodson has written four books, including “Final Rounds” (currently being produced as a feature film) and “A Golfer’s Life,” his New York Times bestseller that “showed the world the true Arnold Palmer.”
Awards were presented at the annual awards banquet on Friday, Oct. 18, at the Hilton of Greenville.
The 2002 Outstanding Alumni Award winners were also featured in the university’s Homecoming Parade on Saturday, and during halftime of the ECU-South Florida football game.