County native elected to Big South Conference 2016 Hall of Fame Class
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two track & field stalwarts and two women’s basketball stars have been elected for enshrinement in the Big South Conference Hall of Fame. Former Coastal Carolina women’s track & field All-American Amber Campbell, former Chanticleer women’s track & field/cross country coach Alan Connie, former UNC Asheville women’s basketball player and Coshocton County native Vicki Giffin, and former Liberty women’s basketball player Katie Feenstra comprise the 2016 Big South Conference Hall of Fame Class. The four will be officially inducted on Thursday evening, June 2, during a special ceremony as part of the Big South’s annual spring meetings at the Marriott Resort in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
The Big South Hall of Fame, created in 2003 as part of the League’s 20th Anniversary celebration, now totals 61 former Big South Conference student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors with the addition of this year’s class. Below is a look at the 2016 enshrinees:
Vicki Giffin, UNC Asheville Women’s Basketball Player, 1993-97
Giffin capped her four-year career as the Big South Women’s Basketball Player of the Year in 1996-97, and was also the Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year that season — the first player in league history to win both awards in the same year. She completed her career as UNC Asheville’s third-leading scorer and seventh all-time in Big South history with 1,703 (now 14th in conference annals). Giffin also grabbed 540 rebounds in her career to become just the seventh player at the time with 1,500 points and 500 boards (now one of 15). She finished with 448 career free throws, third-most in Big South history at the time (now seventh) and she averaged 15.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in 109 career games. Giffin’s career totals also include 343 assists and 243 steals, and she was just the second Big South player with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 200 steals when she graduated (now one of five players).
The 1993-94 Women’s Basketball Rookie of the Year, Giffin led the Big South that season with a 59.7 field goal percentage. She was a three-time First-Team All-Conference selection (1995-96-97) and led the Bulldogs to their first-ever winning records as Big South members — both overall and conference — in her senior season of 1996-97, as the squad went 14-13 and posted a third-place standing in league games at 8-6 for its highest Big South finish at the time. She still holds Asheville’s single-season records for field goal accuracy and steals (71), as well as the all-time career marks for free throws made, steals and free throw percentage (74.1), in addition to the single-game record for steals (8). Named UNC Asheville’s Female Athlete of the Year in 1994 and 1997, Giffin was a two-time Academic All-District honoree (1996, 1997), and was voted to the Big South Women’s Basketball All-Decade Team for 1990-99. She moved into coaching as an assistant at Nicholls State for two years before four more at Marietta College where she was head coach her final three years. Giffin was inducted into UNC Asheville’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013 and currently resides in her hometown of Coshocton, Ohio, where she co-owns Vicklynds Conesville Store in Conesville, Ohio.
