ICC selects 2017 Alumnus of the Year and Athletic Hall of Fame inductees
Donna Thomas/LetsGoICC.com
FULTON, Miss. - Itawamba Community College will honor its 2017 Alumnus of the Year and Athletic Hall of Fame inductees during Homecoming activities, Oct. 28, at the Fulton Campus. They include John and Beth Reed Cleveland of Kingwood, Tex., Alumnus of the Year; and Elaine Fagan Battigan of Dublin, Ireland and Duce Staley of Philadelphia, Penn., Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Clevelands, who are Itawamba County natives, participated in intercollegiate athletics at ICC, where they pursued majors in the fields of engineering and math and science education. John graduated from Itawamba Agricultural High School and attended ICC on a basketball scholarship. He earned the associate's degree from ICC in 1985 and is a cum laude graduate of the University of Mississippi with a degree in civil engineering. For 26 years he has been employed by ExxonMobil, and he serves as an Ole Miss campus recruiter. He is married to the former Beth Reed, who attended ICC. A 1983 graduate of IAHS, she earned the bachelor's degree in secondary education at Ole Miss, and she has worked as a math and science teacher, private tutor, homemaker and volunteer. They are the parents of three daughters, Megan, Courtney and Kellie Reed. The Clevelands have contributed two endowments to ICC, most recently the John and Beth Cleveland Excellence in Education Outstanding Faculty award.
Battigan, who graduated from ICC in 2001, played tennis for the Lady Indians. Among her honors include first women's tennis player to reach the semifinals of the NJCAA national championship, NJCAA All-American, 2000 state and region singles championship, ranked fifth in the NJCAA in 2000, selected Rookie of the Year by the International Tennis Association, placed twelfth in the 2000 NJCAA Tournament and reached No. 1 doubles semifinals in the NJCAA National Tournament with Kristi Andrews. She also served as manager for the women's basketball team. Battigan played at Mississippi State University where she was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2003.
A 1995 graduate of ICC, where he was an NJCAA All-American, Staley has been the running backs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles since 2013. Prior to coaching, he served as the Eagles' special teams quality control coach, assisting with both special teams as well as the team's rushing corps. He was a third round draft choice for the Eagles in 1997 from the University of South Carolina, where he was elected to the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012. A multi-talented running back for the Eagles (1997-2003) and Pittsburgh Steelers (2004-06), Staley gained 5,785 yards during his career, including 4,807 with the Eagles (fifth most in team history). He was voted by his teammates as the Eagles offensive MVP three times and earned a Super Bowl.