Donald G. Bryant ’45 Bryant enrolled at Davidson in the fall of 1941 on the eve of World War II. His college days were interrupted by the war as he served his country for several years before returning in the fall of 1945. Most athletic teams had stopped participating in varsity competition, and the golf team was no exception. Bryant was the key figure in reforming the program, served as the team captain for two years. Bryant’s service to the college began as an undergraduate, and that service continues to this day. Bryant has been an authority figure behind the scenes, serving on the Davidson Athletic Foundation Board, and was instrumental in the resurgence of the golf program that led to the hiring of the first full-time coach. Bryant is also a key figure in the organization of the annual Tom Scott Memorial Golf Tournament.
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Catharine Inabnet Lovejoy ’81 One of the stars of the early field hockey teams, Cathy Inabnet was the top scorer for the Wildcats in 1980 as she set single-game, season and career scoring records that still stand today. Powered by Inabnet’s record 18 goals, Davidson went 15-7-1 with an 11-game winning streak and a 14-game unbeaten streak, both of which remain the longest such streaks for the field hockey team. The 15 wins are also a school record.
Davidson won the North Carolina state title that year and finished as runners-up in the region to become the first Wildcat women’s team to advance to a national tournament in any sport. The Wildcats advanced as far as the quarterfinals before being beaten by the top-ranked squad.
Inabnet posted a streak of seven straight games with at least one goal, including five goals in a 10-0 win over East Carolina. Only two other Wildcats have matched that total, one coming this season. For her career, she tallied 37 goals, another record that still stands 24 years after she graduated, as the team posted a 39-24-6 record. After her senior season, she was awarded the Rebecca Stimson Award as Davidson’s top female athlete.
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David A. Turgeon ’87
Turgeon, simply put, is one of Davidson’s greatest hitters ever for the baseball squad. A three-time All-Southern Conference third baseman, Turgeon batted .366 for his career, fourth all-time in the Wildcat annals. He set numerous offensive records, including hits (227), home runs (38), RBIs (182), doubles (46) and total bases (397), all in an era before 50-plus-game seasons. His career home run and RBI totals are still atop the charts.
Turgeon followed up a fine rookie campaign with a superb sophomore season, batting .369 with eight long balls and 53 RBIs to help Davidson to its only first-place finish in the Southern Conference. After another terrific season as a junior in which he hit .356 with nine home runs and a team-high 53 RBIs, Turgeon exploded in 1987, his final year. He hit a whopping .403 with a school-record 15 home runs (on a team that led the nation in home runs per game) and 49 RBIs. In addition to his third selection to the All-SoCon squad, he was named to the All-Atlantic Region second team.
After being drafted by the New York Yankees in the 13th round, Turgeon enjoyed more than a decade as a professional player with stops in Taiwan and Mexico before returning to the states with the Baltimore Orioles Triple-A affiliate. Most of his pro experience, surprisingly, was as a pitcher. He now is the associate head baseball coach at the University of Connecticut.
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Walter L. Walker ’74
Walker was the premier wide receiver for the Wildcat football team in the early ’70s. In his junior and senior seasons, he was named to the All-Southern Conference first team (the last Wildcat to do so) while leading Davidson in receiving both years. Six times in his career, Walker amassed at least 100 yards in a game as a junior, including 194 yards on 10 catches with two touchdowns in a 51-35 victory over Furman. He was fifth nationally in receptions in 1972, helping him earn honorable mention All-America honors from both the Associated Press and United Press International.
In Walker’s junior campaign, he hauled in a team-best 62 passes for 1,031 yards to become the second of only two receivers ever at Davidson to accumulate more than 1,000 yards receiving in one season. As a senior, Walker caught 52 more passes for 606 yards, putting his career totals at 130 catches for 1,940 yards. Both marks rank fifth all-time in the Davidson record books.
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