President Anne Kerr with Barney Barnett, at the 2012 FSC Athletics Hall of Fame Dinner
Longtime Florida Southern College Trustee Barney Barnett and former student Terrence McGriff ’01 were among the five people that were enshrined in the Polk County Sports Hall of Fame during the Polk County All-Sports Awards banquet at the RP Funding Center.Florida Southern’s women’s lacrosse team was also honored on the night, winning the Female Collegiate Team of the Year and for Jackie Stoller’s win in the Female Collegiate Athlete of the Year category.
Barney Barnett
Barnett’s philanthropy within the sports programs at Florida Southern has been critical
to the advancement of the Moccasins’ programs.With direct gifts to the basketball,
baseball, softball, golf, soccer and volleyball programs, Barnett’s influence has
been felt across his many years of service to the College. In 2018, the multi-million
dollar Barnett Athletic Complex was opened, providing a renovation to fields that
the men’s and women’s soccer teams, men’s and women’s lacrosse teams and softball
team now call home.“I’m honored to receive this award tonight,” Barnett said during
his acceptance speech. “I was lucky that my parents both loved sports. I was exposed
at a very early age to sports. If I was going to do anything with my father, it was
going to go to sports. That’s just the way it was.”Terrence McGriff
McGriff has spent the past two decades turning Bartow High School’s boys basketball
team into a state power.Before that, McGriff was a student at Florida Southern when
he got a chance to coach junior varsity boys basketball at Kathleen High School. McGriff
had previously founded the Lakeland Fire youth basketball program. As the head coach
at Bartow High School, he won three state championships, and is the only coach to
be named the Florida Dairy Farmers Boys Basketball Coach of the Year in consecutive
seasons.Women’s Lacrosse Team
The Moccasins put together an 18-4 overall record and a 6-1 mark in the Sunshine State
Conference. Advancing to its seventh NCAA tournament, the Mocs won their way to the
National Semifinals, falling to the eventual National Champion. As a team, the Mocs
ended the year ranked no. 2 in the nation in Division II in the final Inside Lacrosse
Women / Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association Coaches' Poll.Jackie Stoller
Stoller, a graduate student from Wayland, Mass., scored 107 points for the women’s
lacrosse team that made it to the NCAA Division II Final Four. In 22 games Stoller
tallied 66 goals and 41 assists to help the Moccasins to an NCAA South Region crown.
Stoller picked up two First Team All-America honors following the season after being
named to the USA Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA lists. The awards add to her 2023 SSC
Player of the Year and First Team selection while she was also named First Team All-South
Region by the IWLCA. Additionally, she earned 2023 College Sports Communicators Academic
All-District® Women's At-Large Academic All-America® honors.
