25th Anniversary Profile: Danny Gathings
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – As part of the Big South Conference’s 25th Anniversary celebration in 2008-09, which is presented by Royal Purple, the Conference is profiling each week the Top 25 “Best of the Best” moments in League history. This week’s feature is national sportsmanship honoree Danny Gathings.
A video vignette and first person retrospective featuring Gathings can be viewed on the Big South’s website, www.BigSouthSports.com, under the 25th Anniversary Media Center banner. In addition, video vignettes around all the Top 25 “Best of the Best” moments are available for viewing online.
As a junior at High Point University during the 2003-04 season, Danny Gathings led the Panthers to a 10-6 Big South record and 19-9 overall mark in head coach Bart Lundy’s first year directing the HPU program. Gathings averaged 15.8 points and 8.0 rebounds and was voted the Big South’s Player of the Year that season. He played three years at High Point and received countless accolades for his performance on the court, including being named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-America after his junior season, in addition to All-Big South honors in 2003 and 2004.
Gathings’ junior season featured a Big South-best 12 double-doubles, his 1,000th career point, and two spectacular buzzer-beaters, including a turnaround 22-footer in midair just before time expired to defeat Charleston Southern. The game-winning basket made ESPN’s “SportsCenter” program.
Gathings led High Point to the No. 2 seed in the Advance Auto Parts Big South Men’s Basketball Championship in 2004. In the quarterfinals against No. 7 seed VMI, he scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-10 field goals to lead HPU to a 75-43 victory. Against No. 6 seed UNC Asheville in the semifinals, Gathings had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, in addition to three assists and two steals, as the Panthers knocked off the Bulldogs, 63-49 to reach its second Big South title game in three years.
On the other side of the Big South Tournament bracket, No. 1 seed Liberty was making its way to the Championship game behind Big South Freshman of the Year Larry Blair. Blair scored 11 points in the Flames’ quarterfinal victory over Charleston Southern, then tossed in 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting in Liberty’s 88-73 semifinal win over Coastal Carolina. For the first time since 2001, the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds would play for the Big South’s NCAA Tournament automatic berth.
In the title game, the Flames jumped out to a quick 20-7 lead in the first eight minutes and cruised to an 89-44 victory. Gathings managed just seven points and seven rebounds on the day. Blair made a Championship game record seven three-point field goals and finished with a game-high 29 points, but Gathings was selected as the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player at the conclusion of the championship.
In a stunning move, Gathings felt that Blair was more deserving of the MVP trophy and decided to present it to him, which he did on Liberty’s campus shortly thereafter. For his gracious act, Gathings was awarded the NCAA’s 2004 National Co-Sportsman of the Year.
“No one asked Danny to give up his MVP award,” said Lundy in 2004. “He could have kept the trophy and moved on like 99 percent of people in his shoes would have done. But he chose to take a stand and try to right something he thought was wrong, regardless of how people would react.”
Gathings, who was High Point’s first student-athlete to receive a national NCAA-sponsored award, also earned the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) Award. The award recognizes athletes for their contributions to the highest ethical standards in sport and for their outstanding citizenship, sportsmanship and community service.
Danny Gathings’ national sportsmanship honor is one of the Top 25 “Best of the Best” moments in League history. The Conference is conducting an online fan poll to help determine the Top Moment in the first 25 years of the Big South Conference. Voting is open on www.BigSouthSports.com and continues through March 25. Fan voting will be combined with the 25th Anniversary Committee’s votes to come up with the official rank order of the “Best of the Best” moments. The countdown will be unveiled at the concluding 25th Anniversary banquet in May 2009.
(Portions of this profile provided by High Point’s Sports Information Office).
Next week’s featured “Best of the Best” moment and vignette: Liberty’s Track & Field Championship Supremacy