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Campus Review
January 31, 2014
Page 20
Mason Barfield
A native of Hahira, Ga., Barfield served as
Clayton State’s first athletic director and
first men’s basketball coach. He laid the
groundwork for the program, beginning in
1990 and oversaw and led the program for
more than 20 years until his retirement in
2011. The University also recognized
Barfield by naming the basketball floor at
the Athletics Center in his honor in 2012.
Barfield was instrumental in establishing
the Laker sports programs in the early
1990s and also in Clayton State’s transi-
tion to NCAADivision II in 1995. He also
served as the school’s first men’s basket-
ball coach from 1990-95.
After the first few years of transition into
the Peach Belt Conference, Laker
Athletics began to take shape at the
Division II level in 2000. Under his lead-
ership from 2000 to 2011, Clayton State
won 15 Peach Belt Conference regular
season championships and finished con-
ference runner-up on 12 occasions. In
addition, Laker teams won eight Peach
Belt tournament titles and finished as
tournament runner-up four times, estab-
lishing Clayton State as an elite power in
the league.
At the national level, Clayton State teams
advanced to the NCAA Division II
National Tournament 48 times during that
span, including three “Final Four,” six
“Elite Eight” and fourteen “Sweet 16”
appearances. The culmination of that suc-
cess was in 2011 when the Laker women’s
basketball team captured the school’s first
NCAA Division II national champi-
onship.
Alex Dowling
A native of Benoni, South Africa,
Dowling was a four-year letterwinner
(2001, 2003-05) and one of the most dec-
orated men’s soccer players in Laker his-
tory. He was a two-time NCAA Division
II All-American in 2004 and 2005, a two-
time NCAA Division II All-Southeast
Region selection and a two-time All-
Peach Belt member.
Dowling served as the team captain and
sweeper on the second and third best
Clayton State defensive teams in Laker
soccer history. The squad posted a .72
goals against average in 2004 and a .73
goals against average in 2005, and both
defenses ranked among the nation’s best.
He also helped lead the Lakers to a trio
Peach Belt Conference Championships,
the 2001 and 2005 Peach Belt Conference
Regular Season Championship teams and
2005 PBC Tournament Championship.
During his tenure, the Lakers advanced to
the NCAADivision II “Sweet Sixteen” on
three occasions in 2001, 2004 and 2005.
Dowling was a recipient of Clayton
State’s Laker Award in 2006, given to
Clayton State’s top student-athlete each
year. He graduated in 2006 with a 3.2
GPA and a bachelor’s degree in
Management (BBA).
Carlos Head
A native of Morrow, Ga., Head was a
four-year letterwinner (1990-94) and
played on Barfield’s first basketball
teams. After more than 20 years in men’s
basketball , he still holds many of Clayton
State’s all-time records.
Head is the school’s all-time leading scor-
er with 1,682 points. He ranks second all-
time in games played with 114 and third
all-time in games started with 78. He
ranks first all-time in field goals made
with 608 and first in all-time in field goals
attempted with 1,287. Head ranks second
in 3-point field goals made with 132, third
in all-time in rebounds with 523 and third
all-time in steals with 125.
He led the Lakers to school’s first champi-
onship, the 1993-94 Georgia Athletic
Conference Championship. He averagedmore
than 18 points for the team that finished the
season with a 25-7 record, Clayton State’s best
record in men’s basketball. He was selected to
the NAIA All-District All-Freshman team in
1990-01 and to the All-Georgia Athletic
Conference Team in 1993-94.
Head graduated with a bachelor’s degree
in Management (BBA) in 1995.
Nkiru Okosieme
A native of Onitsha, Nigeria, Okosieme
was a three-year letter-winner (2001-02 &
2004) for the Clayton State’s women’s
soccer program. Okosieme was a NCAA
Division II All-American in 2004 and a
three-time All-Southeast Region selection
in 2001, 2002 and 2003. She was the
Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year
in 2004 and named All-Conference all
three years. She finished the 2001 season
ranked second in the country in scoring
with 33 goals on the year.
At Clayton State, Okosieme ranks second
in single season scoring with 33 goals in
2001 and second in single season assists
in 2004 with 10. She also ranks second
all-time in goals scored at Clayton State
with 64 and second all-time in assists with
24. She led the Lakers to their first NCAA
Division II national tournament appear-
ance in 2004.
Along with her standout career at Clayton
State, Okosieme also played in four World
Cups for her native country of Nigeria
(1991, 1995, 1999, 2004). She scored
three goals in her World Cup career,
including a goal against the 1999 World
Cup Champion U.S. squad.
She was a two-time winner of Clayton
State’s Laker Award in 2003 and 2005 and
the only female Clayton State student-ath-
lete to win the Laker Award twice.
Okosieme was also the recipient of the
Bumbalough Academic Award in 2005,
Hall of Fame, cont’d., p. 24
Hall of Fame, cont’d. from p. 1