Class Notes
2017
Davon Grayson was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs.
2009
Blair Heffner was inducted into the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame on May 12. Heffner led the Pirates women’s soccer team in scoring her junior and senior seasons and scored the winning goal against Marshall in double overtime that gave ECU its first Conference USA crown.
Taylor Mazzone is outside receivers coach for the University of Arizona football team.
2007
Taylor Justin Whitford ’05 married Mary Catherine Stokes April 21 in Morehead City.
2006
Todd Kornegay ’02 was named the 2017 New Hanover Regional Medical Center Physician of Excellence.
2005
Brian Colligan received the Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership from the American Society of News Editors and a Sigma Delta Chi Award for Editorial Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Crystal Hodges ’03 earned her National Board Certification. She teaches third grade at LaGrange Elementary School in Lenoir County.
2004
Dr. Lisa Broyles has opened Saluda Family Medicine in Polk County, filling a void in local medical care since the previous medical practice closed four years ago.
Cara Friez assumed the role of faculty chair May 1 at Point Park University in Pittsburgh.
Jocelyn Cooper Ruffin was crowned Mrs. Black North Carolina USA 2018 on March 18 at the Garner (N.C.) Performing Arts Center.
2003
Jessica Holton was named an ECU 2018 40 Under 40 leadership award recipient.
2000
Matt Hege ’94 was an executive producer for “Broadway Profiles with Tamsen Fadal: And the Tony Goes To…,” which received a 2018 Emmy Award in the hosting/commentator/editorialist/program host/moderator category.
1998
Stephen Moody ’96 has joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Southern Coast Real Estate in Charleston, S.C., as an agent based in the West Ashley office.
1997
Amy Funderburk ’95 was appointed as clerk of court for the Supreme Court of North Carolina in February.
1991
Sonja Felton was recently promoted to executive director at Huron Valley PACE in Ypsilanti, Mich.
1990
Stuart Blount ’88 has retired as superintendent of Clinton City Schools and has joined the University of Mount Olive on the New Bern campus.
1989
John Marshall joined the city of Hickory as transportation planning manager in January.
Ron Sheppard was inducted into the Morristown (Tenn.) East High School Hall of Fame.
Steve Vutsinas of Chesapeake, Va., received the Orchestra Director of the Year award from the Virginia String Teachers Association.
1984
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey B. Clark has been named deputy commanding general of operations for U.S. Army Medical Command at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. He previously was director of health care operations at the Defense Health Agency in Falls Church, Virginia.
1982
Rick Ramey, who recently retired after 25 years as coach of the Magna Vista High School baseball team in Ridgeway, Va., was honored April 27 with “Rick Ramey Day” in Ridgeway. Ramey wore No. 19 as a player for the ECU Pirates baseball team.
1978
Brent Funderburk ’75 has retired from the art faculty at Mississippi State University. The work of Atlantic artist and photographer
Susan Mason is on exhibit until June 1 at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.
1974
David Reavis received the 2018 John Esten Cooke Award for Fiction for his historical novel Upon These Steps.
1971
Henry Wise Gorham has been named to Best Lawyers in America in the areas of commercial litigation, insurance law and municipal litigation and selected to North Carolina Super Lawyers.
1966
Edward D. Barnes has been ranked by Super Lawyers magazine as the No. 1 lawyer in Virginia for 2018. Barnes is founder and CEO of Barnes & Diehl, one of the largest law firms in Virginia.
1955
Paul Jones was a 2018 posthumous inductee into the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame. Jones coached basketball at Kinston High School for 38 seasons, winning 662 games, 18 conference championships and two state titles and notching four runner-up finishes. He also coached a team to a state title in baseball. Jones died in 2009.