President Taylor, Colleagues on the Board of Trustees, Members of the Knox College Family, Alumni and Friends. On behalf of the Hamblin Family, and the extended Hamblin Family, I thank all who had anything to do with the renovation and rededication of Hamblin Hall in the name of Adolph "Ziggy" Hamblin.
Adolph "Ziggy" Hamblin is truly deserving of this honor. The term student-athlete has only recently become fashionable, but my father was a shining example of a student-athlete. In truth, Adolph "Ziggy" Hamblin could have been called a scholar-athlete. I say that because he was a better than "B" average student, as a biology/chemistry major here at Knox College, while performing those athletic feats for which he is better known. His scholarship did not go unnoticed; for the Hunter Trophy, which is presented annually to the junior athlete who letters in at least two sports, while maintaining a "B" average, was originated in order to honor my father. Thus, the first name on the first Hunter Trophy is that of Adolph P. "Ziggy" Hamblin.
This morning, I want to introduce to you some Hamblins, most of whom carry the Hamblin surname. First, I would like for you to meet my sister, Ethel Hamblin Andrews, an honors graduate of West Virginia State University, where Adolph "Ziggy" Hamblin was head of the biology department for 44 years and head football coach for 23 years. Whatever I may have accomplished in life, I could not have done without Ethel's support. Next, I introduce my nephew and grandson of Ziggy Hamblin, Neil Hamblin. Neil is an engineering graduate of MIT who has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Northwestern University. His wife, Christine Hamblin, for the present a "stay at home mom," is an engineering graduate of Clemson and has an MBA from the University of Georgia. I must thank Christine ? without her persistence in "engineering" this family presence, we would not be here today. Then, there is my nephew, and grandson of Ziggy Hamblin, Dr. Craig Hamblin, who has a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in public administration from the University of California system, and then decided to become a pharmacist. Last May, Craig, with several of us proudly looking on, graduated from the Hampton University School of Pharmacy.
Now, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you two great-grandchildren of Adolph P. "Ziggy" Hamblin ? Brianna Hamblin who has just begun middle school, and Brandon Hamblin, who is in second grade. Brandon has just started playing football. Both children are honor roll students and also swim competitively.
So, as you can see, Adolph "Ziggy" Hamblin's legacy to his family was the determination to become well-educated. He also had the good sense to marry our mother, Miriam Atkins Hamblin, daughter of the founder of what is now Winston-Salem State University, a woman with views about education similar to his own. I might add here that, for most African Americans, becoming well-educated is still the key to success in life.
Important people in the extended Hamblin Family are also here today, including Cyd and Randy Pelotte. Cyd's mother, Dolores Finley Ford, was a Knox graduate and taught English at Galesburg High School for many years. Dorothy Finley Newman, now in her 80s and living in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a Knox graduate. An uncle, Sidney Finley attended Knox when I was here. A great-uncle, William Finley, was in the class of 1929 with Chuck Bednar; whom some of you may have known. Just a few days ago, when I spoke with Dorothy Finley Newman, she said, "You see, your father started it all. That's how we became a Knox family."
I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to the members of ABLE (Allied Black for Liberty and Equality), who spearheaded the initial effort to have Hamblin Hall named for my father. Mary Crawford, then a student, and now a professor at Knox, was the President of ABLE at that time, and without her leadership and ABLE'S insistence, there probably would not be a Hamblin Hall.
Thanks, again, to all of you who had anything to do with the extensive, six-million-dollar, renovation of Hamblin Hall and the rededication of it in the name of Adolph "Ziggy" Hamblin. Whenever you, particularly you students, enter through the doors of Hamblin Hall and walk past the likeness of Adolph P. "Ziggy" Hamblin, I hope you will think of the term "student-athlete," and reflect on the fact that the word ?student? still comes first at Knox College.
