Inspire, Spring 2010

campus news yellow jacket sports Yellow Jackets Honor Elvin King After 41 years of service at Cedarville, Elvin King ’64 stepped down as head coach of the Lady Jacket cross country program following the 2009 season. He will retire from the department of exercise and sport science at the end of the 2009–10 academic year. “It’s just the right time for me,” King stated. “The Lord has blessed me immensely, and my wife, Joyce, and I are still looking forward to helping the athletic program however we can.” King has been involved with the distance running program since coming to Cedarville in 1969. He started the women’s track and cross country programs in 1979 and is the only coach the University’s highly regarded women’s cross country team has ever had. In 2002, he devoted his coaching time to women’s cross country, having previously coached women’s track and men’s cross country. “We certainly appreciate all that Elvin has done, not only at Cedarville but also throughout the state and nation,” remarked Dr. Alan Geist ’83, athletic director. “We will miss his influence on the women’s cross country program and on the entire athletic department.” King’s teams have won 18 track and cross country titles in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA). Sixteen of his runners have received the Wheeler Award (men) or the Bullock Award (women), which symbolize the NCCAA’s Athlete of the Year in either track or cross country. The biggest highlight of King’s coaching career occurred in 2001 when Cedarville captured the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national championship, becoming the only Yellow Jacket team to receive an NAIA title. That same year, he was named the NAIA Coach of the Year. In 2008, the women’s cross country team won the All‑Ohio Intercollegiate Championship, competing against all major colleges in Ohio and becoming the first NAIA school to win the trophy. King’s efforts earned him inductions into Cedarville’s Athletic Hall of Fame (1988), the NCCAA Hall of Fame (1993), and the NAIA Hall of Fame (2005). In recognition of his longtime service to Cedarville, the University’s new distance running venue was named the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course in 2006. Elvin and Joyce — who was inducted into Cedarville’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 for her meritorious service to Yellow Jacket athletics — reside in Cedarville. Making Him Known: The 2010 Missions Conference For the last 51 years, students have looked forward to the annual Missions Conference that now signifies the start of spring semester. This year, more than 90 missions agencies sent representatives to campus to talk with students and lead workshops. Dr. George Murray, a former missionary and evangelist and current chancellor of Columbia International University, was the featured speaker for the conference. By reaffirming the power of prayer, he challenged students to actively participate in global missions by praying fervently for believers and unbelievers around the world. 4 SPRING 2010