Spring 2007 -- Vol. 60, No. 2

Meet Clemson Alumni Association’s 2007 Distinguished Service Award recipients — five individuals who have achieved personal and professional success while making invaluable contributions to the University and
the world around them.

Frederick W. Faircloth III

Fred Faircloth’s hospitality and generous giving are as legendary as his business. He’s a third generation Coca-Cola bottler in Rock Hill and the company’s president.

Faircloth grew up in the 100-year-old company and entered as a full-time employee when he graduated from the University in 1972 in political science.

A leader in the York County Clemson Club and a past president of the Clemson Alumni Association, Faircloth has served on the Alumni National Council and Clemson University Foundation board of directors.
He’s been an IPTAY representative for more than 25 years, serving on various committees and supporting University initiatives including the WestZone project.

In York County, Faircloth welcomes Clemson visitors, hosting receptions for officials and other groups such as the Lady Tigers.

His interest in helping his area of the state grow and prosper has kept him involved in the York County Sports and Tourism Board and the county’s Cultural and Heritage Commission. He’s been the city’s Beyond the Order of the Glen award recipient for community service and the Chamber of Commerce’s Rock Hill Business Person of the Year. He’s a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary and has served as president of his club.

He and his wife, Phyllis, are the parents of twins, Freddy, a Clemson graduate, and Virginia.

John H. Holcombe Jr.

With a little help from his father, John Holcombe joined IPTAY at the tender age of six. He’s maintained his membership every year since.

When he made the difficult decision to leave his studies at Clemson in the mid-1950s to work in the family automobile dealership in Myrtle Beach, one of the first things he did was become an active supporter of the Alumni Association. He’s been one now for 50 years.

The poster child for “One Clemson,” Holcombe has supported athletics — from Vickery Hall to the WestZone — while equally supporting academics and campus life. A former president of IPTAY, he’s served on the IPTAY board, the Alumni National Council and the Clemson University Foundation board of directors. His fund-raising efforts are extraordinary.
He’s been a driving force in the Myrtle Beach business community, owning Volkswagen/Audi and Jaguar/Mazda dealerships and having an interest in other local businesses. He has been a leader on automobile dealership boards for the local to the national level. Even though he’s sold his car businesses and officially retired, he continues to play a role in the smaller investments.

Johnny and his wife, Julia, have been active in community efforts in their coastal town including Jaycees, Civitan Club and other areas.

The Holcombes have three daughters — Deborah, Julie and Lisa.

Manning N. “Nick” Lomax

Nick Lomax has had one foot in Abbeville and the other in Clemson for just about all his life. He grew up in Abbeville where his father owned a hardware store and his mother taught school. There he met and married his high school sweetheart, Sally Thurmond.

From the 1960s through the 1990s, Clemson was his home.

An education major in the Class of 1963, he was an All-ACC Tiger baseball player. After military service, he returned to Clemson to join the housing staff.

From there, he progressed to associate vice president to vice president for student affairs. State leadership and regional awards dotted those years, and major projects such as Vickery Hall and the Madren Center bear his fingerprints. The atrium in Clemson’s Hendrix Student Center is named in his honor.

During his tenure, he helped open more leadership roles to women and minorities, advancing Clemson as a progressive and visionary institution. His support for both Clemson academics and athletics has been unflagging.

When he retired from his final University position as executive secretary to the Clemson Board of Trustees in 1996, he and Sally returned to Abbeville, where they each have their own businesses. He says the site of his final retirement will be on Cemetery Hill.

Nick and Sally’s children, Jeanie and Nick Jr., are both Clemson graduates.

John W. Rheney Jr.

Longtime pediatrician Jack Rheney always liked working with teen-agers. Now semi-retired, he’s still working with teens at Fort Jackson in Columbia where he gives physicals to new Army recruits. He says that they remind him of his own war-interrupted Clemson Class of 1947.

Returning to school a decorated veteran, Rheney received a pre-med degree and went on to the Medical University of South Carolina. Four years later, he established a pediatrics clinic in Orangeburg.

In the early 1960s, he organized the state’s first polio immunization program. With the help of the community and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, children whose parents couldn’t have paid for the oral vaccine were immunized. Other cities based their program on his model.

Rheney is a past recipient of the William Weston Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Pediatrics and the S.C. Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics Career Achievement Award. In addition to state leadership roles, he has served the Regional Medical Center as trustee and chief of staff.

A former member of Clemson’s Board of Visitors, he’s given generous support to academics and athletics. His wife, Joyce, has been Tiger Brotherhood’s Mother of the Year, and all four of their children — John III, Betsy, Bruce and David — are Clemson graduates.

Roger J. Troutman

Veterinarian Roger Troutman ’74 and his wife, Kathy Cheek ’74, met in the registration line at Clemson, and their first date was a Tiger basketball game. Since then, Clemson has been a huge part of their lives.

After completing Clemson with honors in preprofessional studies, Troutman received his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Georgia with honors.

Now, the busy founder of an eight-doctor veterinary practice in Rock Hill, he has served as president of the S.C. Association of Veterinarians and chairman of the S.C. Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. For the past few years, Troutman has been on the elite team of Alaska’s Iditarod Sled Dog Race trail veterinarians.

At Clemson, he’s a longtime IPTAY member and representative. Past president of the York County Clemson Club, he’s served on the Alumni National Council and is upcoming chairman of the Student Affairs Advisory Board. Each summer, the Troutmans host a York County Clemson Club Send-Off Cookout for York County students, family and alumni.

In the community, he’s a longtime member of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary. He has led the Catawba School Athletic Booster Club, served as a scout leader and shared his Iditarod experiences with schoolchildren.

The Troutmans have two children, Katie and Ryan, along with daughter-in-law, Lindsay.