The Peach Belt was also the first league to begin mandatory testing
of softball bats for the 2015-16 season.
“The health and safety of our student-athletes is our top priority,”
said PBC commissioner David Brunk. “I applaud the leadership of our
athletic directors and board of directors for taking this step which will
remove unsafe equipment from the game.”
Starting this season, each bat used in a PBC conference baseball
game will be compression tested for barrel stiffness. The devices
will determine when a bat has exceeded its intended life and also
reveals when bat barrels have been tampered with (i.e. when a bat
has been rolled or when the bat barrel has been shaved). The tester
is commonly used to test bats before games, tournaments, and is also
used for quality control purposes.
“It’s a positive step in the right direction for player safety and the
integrity of the game,” said North Georgia head baseball coach Tom
Cantrell. “We’ve always been ahead of the curve in the PBC, and
hopefully people will follow our lead. I think it’s going to be good for
everyone.”
The device can identify ‘hot bats’ whose use becomes dange rous
to players on the field. The policy outlines testing procedures and
timelines as well. The PBC will also provide data on failed bats to the
NCAA.
baseball. Over 300 PBC student-athletes were named All-Ameri-
cans in Vanover’s tenure.
“Marvin’s greatest strength was in the relationships he forged,”
said PBC assistant commissioner Ken Gerlinger, who joined the
league in 2000. “No matter where he went, there was somebody
he knew or wanted to know. He was a very outgoing and generous
person and I will be forever thankful to him for giving me the op-
portunity to become a part of this league. He has had a big impact
on my life.”
Vanover served as men’s basketball coach and athletic director
at Augusta University for 25 years before becoming PBC commis-
sioner. He led the Jaguars for 23 years including two straight NAIA
District 25 championships in 1970 and ‘71. Aside from winning
the regional and advancing to the NAIA national tournament, the
1969-70 team was ranked #5 in the nation with a 27-3 overall
record, the best by a Vanover-led team.
“He is one of the nicest human beings I have ever known,” said
PBC associate commissioner Diana Kling, who Vanover hired in
2005. “He took a chance on someone who was out of the business
and raising a family at the time. I wanted to get back to collegiate
athletics and he gave me that opportunity. I wouldn’t be here
today if it were not for him.”
Vanover served as the commissioner of the South Atlantic Con-
ference in 1981-82 and was instrumental in moving the Augusta
PBC Mourns Passing of Former
College program up to the NCAA Division I level as a part of the
Commissioner Marvin Vanover
newly formed Big South Conference in 1983.
AUGUSTA, GA – Former Peach Belt Conference A native of Harlan, Ky., Vanover graduated from Georgia South-
ern University with a B.S. in Physical Education and has served on
commissioner Marvin Vanover passed away
in the early morning hours of May 19 after a the GSU alumni board. He was awarded the Lettermen Club Award
from his alma mater in 1980 and also holds a master’s degree in
brief illness. The longtime men’s basketball
Physical Education from Peabody College. He is the proud father of
coach and athletic director at Augusta Uni-
two children, a daughter, Holly, and a son, Derek.
versity was the first commissioner of the Peach Belt, serving in that
“It is hard to fathom how many lives Marvin touched,” said
capacity from 1990 to 2007.
Brunk. “When you think of the student-athletes and coaches he
“Marvin was a great man and a great commissioner,” said PBC
recruited and taught, the staff and administration at Augusta Uni-
commissioner David Brunk, who came to the league after Vanover
retired in 2007. “I worked with him when I was the commissioner of versity, and then the thousands of student-athletes at the Peach
the Northeast 10 Conference and when I arrived in Augusta he was so Belt Conference, you begin to understand just how impactful one
kind to me and my family as we made the transition. The foundation person can be. That was Marvin Vanover. Add to it the generos-
ity, humanity, humor and compassion he brought to all of those
and legacy he left at the Peach Belt was tremendous and I am per-
sonally thankful to him for the work he did for all of us at the league relationships and the scale of what we have lost becomes clear.”
Vanover was inducted into the inaugural class of the PBC Hall
and beyond.”
of Fame in 2016 as a Founding Father, part of the league’s 25th
Beginning in 1989, Vanover became involved with the initial
planning of the Peach Belt Conference and was asked to serve as an anniversary celebration. The road to Augusta’s Christenberry Field-
house was named in his honor in 2003. The PBC officially renamed
interim commissioner in April of 1990 for one year. He was named
its basketball championship the Marvin Vanover PBC Men’s and
the PBC’s first full-time commissioner in June of 1991.
Under his tenure, the Peach Belt Conference grew into one of the Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2008.
preeminent Division II Conferences in the nation with 24 National
Championships in only 16 years. Peach Belt Conference won national
titles in men’s basketball, women’s tennis, men’s tennis, softball and
2016-17
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