ELON, N.C. – The 47th class of Elon University’s Sports Hall of Fame, which will be inducted in a ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16 in Whitley Auditorium, includes women’s track and field standout Jessica Clendenning ’07, women’s soccer player Shannon Currin ’95 and football players Steven Ferguson ’00 and Andrew Wilcox ’09. The ceremony is free and open to the public.
Clendenning earned four letters as a part of Elon’s women’s track and field team from 2003-07. While she ran sprints and relays, Clendenning made her mark in the pole vault where she was a three-time conference champion. Clendenning owns Elon’s indoor and outdoor program pole vault records, clearing 3.97 meters indoors and 3.90 meters outdoors. At the time, her 3.97-meter vault at the 2007 Southern Conference Indoor Meet was a league record. A three-time team MVP, Clendenning placed 16th in the pole vault at the 2006 NCAA East Regional and finished eighth in the event at the 2007 NCAA East Regional. She earned all-conference honors in both indoor and outdoor competition in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and indoor accolades in 2004. As a freshman, Clendenning placed third at the SoCon Indoor Meet. The following season she earned second-place showings at both the league indoor and outdoor meet. In 2006, she won the conference outdoor pole vault event and was second at the indoor meet. As a senior, Clendenning captured SoCon pole vault titles at both meets. The seven-time all-conference honoree was a member of the Southern Conference’s 25th Anniversary Team for women’s sports. She was selected as Elon’s 2007 recipient of the Basnight Outstanding Female Athlete Award.
Currin was a four-year letter-winner for the Elon women’s soccer program from 1991-94. A four-time first-team All-South Atlantic Conference honoree, Currin’s career numbers currently rank third in program history in goals (50), second in assists (41), second in points (141) and sixth in games played (78). In her freshman season, Currin picked up first-team All-South Region, all-district and honorable mention All-America accolades after a 32-point season that saw her score 11 goals and tally 10 assists. Her 10 assists that year currently rate as the eighth-most ever in a season by an Elon player. In 1992, Currin was named a first-team All-American as well as first-team All-South Region and all-district player. That year she set a program record with 50 points after scoring 19 goals (the second-most in Elon history) and passing for 12 assists (tied for the third-most in program history). She would match her 12 assists in her junior season before netting 12 goals during her senior campaign. Currin’s play helped Elon earn a share of the SAC regular-season titles in 1992 and 1993. In 1992, the maroon and gold participated in the NAIA National Tournament and concluded the year ranked 10th nationally.
Ferguson lettered from 1996-98 for the Elon football program. The running back appeared in 36 career games, toting the ball 429 times for 2,270 yards (5.3 yards per carry) and 26 touchdowns. He caught 11 passes for 114 yards. Ferguson also served as a kick returner where he brought back 21 kicks for 401 yards, averaging 19.1 yards per return. As a junior in 1998, Ferguson scored 12 touchdowns on 144 carries. He ran for 743 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. The following season he posted a team-high 1,003 rushing yards on 190 attempts, an average of 5.3 yards per carry, and scored nine times. Only one Elon running back has eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark in a season in the 17 seasons since Ferguson accomplished the feat. Over his four seasons, Ferguson tallied 2,835 all-purpose yards. He was selected as Elon’s recipient of the 2000 Basnight Outstanding Male Athlete Award.
Wilcox earned four letters as a kicker on the Elon football team from 2005-08. Over his four seasons, Wilcox made a program-record 59 field goals and his 130 PATs were a program record and currently rank as the second-most ever by an Elon kicker. Wilcox also holds the program record with a 70.2 career field goal percentage. His 307 career points currently rank third in program history and are the most by a kicker. He twice made a program-best five field goals in a game and tied the Elon record with nine PATs made in a game. As a freshman Wilcox led the team with 51 points. Following a sophomore campaign in which he scored a team-best 65 points, Wilcox garnered first-team All-Southern Conference honors from the media and second-team recognition from the coaches. He was a second-team Football Gazette All-South Region player and a Football Gazette honorable mention All-American in 2006. The next year he earned national special teams player of the week distinction from The Sports Network, College Sporting News and Football Gazette. As a junior he went a perfect 50-for-50 on PATs, an Elon record for PATs made in a season, and added 14 field goals for 92 total points. After a senior campaign in which Wilcox made 22-of-27 field goals and 33 PATs for 99 points, he was named first-team All-SoCon by both the coaches and media. The Associated Press, College Sporting News and the Walter Camp Football Foundation named him a first-team All-American, while The Sports Network and CollegeSportsReport.com named him a second-team All-American. The 2008 team MVP led the FCS in field goals made per game (1.83) and scoring by kicking that season. During Wilcox’s time with the program, Elon won six games against top-25 opponents, including a double-overtime win against Georgia Southern in which Wilcox booted a game-winning, 49-yard field goal. The team ended the 2008 season rated 17th in the nation and the 2007 campaign ranked 23rd. During the 2008 season, Elon peaked at an NCAA Division I program-record third place in the national polls.