October 15, 2007
Lyon College News Bureau

As part of Homecoming ’07, slated to run Oct. 19 – 21, Lyon College will induct three former standout student athletes into its Athletic Hall of Fame, and will also honor the late Dr. C. Fitzhugh Spragins '57 with its Hall of Fame Service Award,.

The inductions will happen during a banquet at Edwards Commons at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. A reception at Bradley Manor at 5 p.m. will precede the award ceremony.

Martin Jacobs ’75 played basketball for the College. He attended Phillips County Community College in Helena from 1970–1972, where he led the Ozark Conference in rebounding and was an All Conference selection in 1972. From 1972–74, he attended Lyon College where he earned MVP honors at the Thanksgiving Holiday Classic during the ’72-’73 season, and was an honorable mention All Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference. The following season he was an All Conference AIC selection, All District 17 selection and he led the AIC in rebounding. In 1974, he earned MVP honors at the All-Arkansas Classic College All Star game.

Tammy Peten ’92 played basketball and was a standout talent on the track and field team. For four years straight, she was Outstanding Athlete and All AIC in track, and made it to the National Track Qualifier in 1990. Also that year, she was named NAIA All American in the Heptathlon and was invited to the U.S. Olympic Training Camp for the Heptathlon.

Brandi Love Higginbotham ’94 played basketball for Lyon for four full years, earning All AIC distinction from 1992-’94, and All District 17 honors in 1992 and 1994. Also in 1994, she won the Winnie Marable Award, which is given to Lyon’s outstanding female student athlete

The Service Award will be presented posthumously to the late Dr. C. Fitzhugh Spragins '57, a longtime leader in education, church and civic affairs in Batesville and a beloved member of the Lyon College community. He died March 10, 2005, at the age of 69.

Dr. Spragins was a member of the Lyon College family almost his entire life. His father, John D. Spragins, was president of Lyon from 1942-52. Spragins Hall on the Lyon campus was named in honor of his father and the Spragins family. After graduating from Lyon, Dr. Spragins earned a master of divinity degree at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and a Ph.D. at Aberdeen University in Scotland. When he was hired in 1965 to be professor of religion, he became the first alumnus of the college with an earned doctorate to serve on the faculty. He became one of the college’s first endowed professors when in the 1980s he was appointed the Josephine Emily Brown Professor of Religion, the title he held upon retirement. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was actively involved in First Presbyterian Church in Batesville.

Lyon College founded the Hall of Fame in 1983 to honor the athletic standouts from Lyon College in all sports. The Service Award is presented to individuals who have been outstanding supporters of the athletic program.

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Martin Jacobs '75

Tammy Peten '92

Brandi Love Higginbotham '94