CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – Former Winthrop University men’s tennis player Clayton Almeida ’06, ’09, and former Winthrop Softball Head Coach Mark Cooke will be inducted next year into the Big South Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place on May 30, 2024, at the Isle of Palms, South Carolina.
The third member of the 2024 class is former Presbyterian College football player Justin Bethel.
The Big South Hall of Fame, created in 2003 as part of the league’s 20th anniversary celebration, now totals 81 former Big South Conference student-athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors with the addition of the 2024 class. Below is a look at the newly elected Winthrop inductees:
Clayton Almeida, Men’s Tennis, 2002-05
Almeida was voted Big South Player of the Year four times, in 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, including a 40-1 mark in Big South matches.
He 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.
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.
He is a certified coach by the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) and earned the certification of Master of Tennis - Performance in 2012. Almeida, who was elected 2016 PTR Player of the Year, was inducted into the Winthrop Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
Mark Cooke, Softball Head Coach, 1990-2018
Cooke spent 29 years as Winthrop’s softball coach before retiring after the 2018 season. He passed away on May 15, 2023, just days after learning that he would be inducted into the Big South Hall of Fame. A three-time Big South Softball Coach of the Year honoree (2005, 2007 and 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 in 1990, 1991, 2007 and 2008 and 11 conference championship game appearances. Cooke directed Winthrop to the Big South’s first 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, 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.
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 ’91 and the late Janiva Willis ’05, ’08. Three of his players (Willis, Stephanie Reid ’08 and Tessa Thomas ’09) played for Team Canada, and all three were named Arthur Ashe Sports Scholars.
In addition, Willis was the Big South’s first national finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year. Cooke also coached volleyball at Winthrop from 1990-96, and finished with 74 overall wins while coaching the 1994 Big South Freshman/Rookie of the Year.
After retiring from Winthrop, Cooke was hired by Pinnacle Charter Academies in 2019 to launch the girls high school softball program at Legion Collegiate Academy. He coached the Lancers to the 2021 South Carolina Class AA State Championship, with nine of his players receiving college scholarships. In addition, Cooke traveled to Europe as a representative of Little League Softball to promote the game and conducted clinics in Poland and the Netherlands, in which players from all over Europe and Africa traveled to participate. He was inducted into the Winthrop Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019.
For more information, contact Jordan Parry at the Big South at jordanp@bigsouth.org.
