Isle of Palms, S.C. – Former Winthrop head softball coach Mark Cooke and former men's tennis standout Clayton Almeida were officially inducted into the Big South Conference Hall of Fame, Thursday evening at the Wild Dunes Resort as part of the Spring Meeting Awards and Hall of Fame ceremony.
Cooke, inducted posthumously, and Almeida are some of the most decorated in their respective sports in the history of Winthrop and the Big South Conference.
Cooke and Almeida joined Presbyterian College's Justin Bethel (football) to make up the 2024 Big South Hall of Fame Induction Class. The inductions increase the Big South's Hall of Fame membership to 81 former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors.
As part of the ceremony, Winthrop baseball player Parker Whittle was recognized as the Big South's male recipient of the Bob McCloskey Big South Conference Graduate Fellowships. For more,
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CLAYTON ALMEIDA, Winthrop, Men's Tennis, 2002-05
Almeida was voted Big South Player of the Year four times -- 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, and became just the third Big South student-athlete at the time to be voted a sport's player of the year all four years. He was a four-time First-Team All-Conference selection in singles, and earned three All-Conference plaudits for his doubles play. Voted to the Big South's 2000-09 Men's Tennis All-Decade Team for both singles and doubles, Almeida compiled an impressive career singles record of 113-27 ( =80.7 winning percentage) -- including a 40-1 mark in Big South matches. He was the Big South Freshman of the Year and ITA Region 2 Rookie of the Year in 2002, a season in which he became the first Winthrop player in program history to finish undefeated with a 23-0 record. Almeida led the Eagles to consecutive Big South championships in 2004 and 2005, and finished his senior year ranked among the ITA's Top 50 players nationally. He battled Georgia's John Isner in a three-set match at the 2005 NCAA's, which included a 7-6 win. Almeida also excelled in the classroom and was a two-time Big South Conference All-Academic Team selection as well as an ITA Scholar-Athlete in 2004 and 2005. In 2005, he received the Arthur Ashe Sportsmanship Award. Following his time at Winthrop, he played professionally and earned his first professional win capturing the Brazil F39, which was an ATP World Tour event. Almeida was inducted into the Winthrop Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
WATCH CLAYON ALMEIDA INDUCTION SPEECH
MARK COOKE, Winthrop, Softball Head Coach, 1990-2018
Cooke spent 29 years as Winthrop's softball coach before retiring after the 2018 season. A three-time Big South Softball Coach of the Year honoree (2005, 2007, 2008), Cooke is the league's all-time winningest coach for overall victories (767), Big South wins (218) and Conference Tournament victories (53). He led the Eagles to four Big South titles (1990, 1991, 2007 and 2008) and 11 Conference Championship Game appearances. Cooke directed Winthrop to the Big South's first-ever berth in an NCAA Regional Final in 2007, and he is just one of two head coaches in league annals to guide a team to a 50-win season (50-18 in 2007). During his time in the Eagle dugout, Cooke coached 91 All-Conference players (48 First-Team honorees), five All-Freshman Team members since the award began in 2013, 54 Big South All-Tournament team selections, 11 National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region honorees, six Big South Tournament MVPs, five Big South Players of the Year, four Big South Freshman/Rookies of the Year, four Academic All-Americans and one Division I All-American. He had 14 winning conference seasons, won at least 30 games eight times, and averaged 39.4 victories during a five-year span from 2004-08, in which the Eagles went 47-19 in Big South play. Cooke tallied more than 40 wins against programs from Power 5 conferences -- including a 1-0 victory over Oklahoma in just his fourth game at the helm. Six of Cooke's former players have been inducted into the Winthrop Hall of Fame -- two of which are Big South Hall of Fame members (Lisa Kemme and Janiva Willis). Three of his players (Willis, Stephanie Reid and Tessa Thomas) played for Team Canada, and all three were named Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars. In addition, Willis was the Big South's first-ever national finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year, while his squad earned NFCA All-Academic Team distinction in 2007, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Cooke also coached volleyball at Winthrop from 1990-1996, and finished with 74 overall wins while coaching the 1994 Big South Freshman/Rookie of the Year. Following his time at Winthrop, Cooke traveled to Europe as a representative of Little League Softball to promote the game and conduct clinics in Poland and the Netherlands, in which players from all over Europe and Africa traveled to participate. In 2021 he led Legion Academy softball to a Class 2A state championship. He was inducted into the Winthrop Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
WATCH INDUCTION SPEECH - APRIL COOKE
Winthrop's All-Time List of Big South Conference Hall of Fame Inductees
Year Name/Sport
2003 Lisa Kemme (Student-Athlete / Softball)
2006 Bryan Link (Student-Athlete / Baseball)
2007 Horace Turbeville (Coach / Baseball)
2008 Jeff Greene (Student-Athlete / Cross Country-Track & Field)
2009 Kevin Pendley (Student-Athlete / Men's Golf)
2012 Jason Colson (Student-Athlete / Baseball)
2012 Gregg Marshall (Coach / Men's Basketball)
2013 Dr. Anthony G. DiGiorgio (Administrator / University President)
2017 Tom Hickman (Administrator / Athletic Director)
2018 Janiva Willis (Student-Athlete / Softball)
2022 Mary Hock (Student-Athlete / Volleyball)
2022 Cid Carvalho (Coach / Men's & Women's Tennis)
2024 Mark Cooke (Coach / Softball)
2024 Clayton Almeida (Student-Athlete / Men's Tennis)
