Cindy Alford and LaRue Fields named to FMU Athletic Hall of Fame

Francis Marion University athletic officials have announced that former women's softball Academic All-American Cindy Alford and a former two-sport standout (women's basketball and volleyball) on some of the school's first women's athletic teams, LaRue Fields, will be inducted into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Induction ceremonies will take place between games of the Homecoming basketball double header at approximately 3:45 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Smith University Center.  Francis Marion will play Kennesaw State University on that day, with the women's game starting at 2 p.m. and the men's contest at 4 p.m.

Alford, a native of Hemingway and a graduate of Pleasant Hill High School, was a four-year letterwinner on the Lady Patriot softball team from 1986 to 1989.  She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in English in 1989.  Now a resident of Statesboro, Ga., she is the campus minister intern for the Baptist Student Union and First Baptist Church College Department at Georgia Southern University and currently pursuing a master of divinity degree at the Mercer University School of Theology.

Alford excelled both in the classroom and on the diamond.  She was a two-time Academic All-American (1988 and 1989) and twice earned the Patriots Brigade Academic Award, given annually to the Francis Marion student-athlete with the highest grade point average.  On the field, she was a three-time NAIA District Six All-District performer (1986, 1988, 1989).

She compiled a career batting average of .326 with 129 runs scored in 167 games.  She drove in 63 runs, stole 44 bases (in 49 attempts), and recorded a .969 fielding percentage, while striking out only seven times in 611 career plate appearances.  During her career, she played every infield position, catcher, rightfield, and was the designated hitter.

Alford helped lead FMU to a four-year record of 142-35 and three NAIA World Series appearances.  In 1987, she batted .342 with 19 runs batted in and 40 runs scored, while the Patriots finished 42-4 and advanced to the NAIA national championship game.

While at Francis Marion, she was an FMU Marshal and a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Kappa, Dean Moran's Academic Advisory Council, the Baptist Student Union, and the school's Athletic Advisory Council.  She earned the President's Award for Outstanding Senior, given by the Student Government Association, and was selected to Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.

Fields, a native of Effingham and a graduate of Southside High School, was a member of the first three Lady Patriot basketball and volleyball teams (1973-1976).  She earned the B.A. degree in sociology in 1976 and currently resides in Minneapolis, Minn., where she is an advocacy administrator with the Minneapolis Urban League.  In this senior management position, she is responsible for the general administration and management of the Policy Advocacy and Community Education Division of the local organization.

On the basketball court at Francis Marion, she amassed 1,158 career points and 1,186 rebounds, while the Lady Patriots compiled a three-year record of 50-24.  She is one of only four Patriot cagers to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.  She still holds the FMU (male or female) single-game record for rebounds with 32.  As a senior, she helped lead Francis Marion to a sixth-place finish at the AIAW Small College National Tournament in Ashland, Ohio.

On the volleyball court, she helped the Lady Patriots to a three-year mark of 45-37.  While earning SCAIAW Tournament All-Tournament honors in 1974, she helped Francis Marion gain a berth in the AIAW Region II Tournament.  She was also a member of the 1976 Francis Marion women's track and field club team.

Following graduation, Fields served as a graduate assistant basketball coach for two years at Salisbury State College.   After earning the M.Ed. degree from Salisbury State, she was named the head women's basketball coach at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.  In seven seasons, she recorded a 123-61 mark and guided the Lady Bears to three 20-win seasons, five regional tournaments, and two national tournaments.  Following a 24-4 season in 1980-81, she was named the AIAW Division II national "Coach of the Year."

In 1986, she took the position of assistant coach at the University of Minnesota and became head coach a year later.  Prior to leaving the university in 1990 to pursue new career opportunities outside of coaching, she compiled a 24-59 record in three seasons.  In 10 seasons as a college head coach, she amassed a 147-120 record.

Beginning in 1990, Fields worked for four years with the Minneapolis YWCA as director of youth services and the Ruth Hawkins Program Center.  She joined the staff of the Urban League in 1994 as director of the Police Community Training Project and the Minneapolis Curfew/Truancy Center, before taking her current position in 1996.

She is a member of several Minneapolis area committees and is a board member for The Bridge for Runaway Youth, the Minneapolis Municipal Athletic Association, the Minneapolis Police Athletic League, and the Leadership for Black Women.  Fields has also done some motivational speaking engagements, in addition to numerous electronic and print media interviews.