Lenoir-Rhyne University Athletics

Donald Stafford graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne in 1948 after an active college athletic career saw him attain letters in three sports.  Stafford was a captain on the 1947-48 Bear basketball team and participated on two conference championship baseball squads as a first baseman and pitcher. He was president of his senior class, a member of the student cabinet and selected to Who's Who in Colleges and Universities.  A minor league baseball player from 1948 to 1955, Stafford was honored with the A.G. Spaulding National Award as 'Rookie of the Year' in 1948.  He was awarded the Hillerich-Bradsby Silver Bat in 1952 for compiling the best minor league batting average (.408) in the U.S. Minor Leagues.  In his time away from baseball, Stafford served as a teacher and coach in the North Carolina Public School system before entering the business world with General Paper Company in 1956.