Page 24 - Laker Connection Spring 2012

He started the athletic program at Clayton State University from scratch in 1989, with little more than a commitment to success. Twenty-two years later, Mason Barfield retired as athletic director with Laker athletics at an historic high.
The only athletic director in the history of athletics at Clayton State, Barfield’s last official day was Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. He left behind a program that he started with one sport at the NAIA level in 1990, and developed it into a highly-competitive pro- gram at the NCAA Division II level, and a program that won its first national cham- pionship, in women’s basketball, this past March.
“Mason Barfield was first and fore- most a university leader. While his more than two-decade focus was on athletics and student athletes and athletic pro- grams, that focus was guided by his com- mitment to this University and its commitment to learning,” says Clayton State President Dr. Tim Hynes. “He fol- lowed the rules; he put student learning and student success first; he believed and proved, together with his coaches and staff, that a program could do those things, and succeed competitively.”
Barfield’s biggest challenge at Clayton State came in the winter of 1995, when to raise the athletic program to NCAA Divi- sion II status, he oversaw the unprece- dented move of starting up five new sports in six months.
Dr. Richard A. Skinner, Clayton State’s president at that time, recalls the most important aspects to this dramatic ex-
pansion of Clayton State athletics.
“When I told Mason the time was right for us to move into NCAA Division II, I told him I would help him recruit stu- dent-athletes but only if I could say the fol- lowing to them: you are a STUDENT-athlete, so graduate; we owe you and your teammates the chance to be competitive; you represent Clayton State University every time you put on a uni- form, grab a golf club, or run any distance -- make us proud of you as a person,” he
says.
Skinner also recalls Barfield’s re-
sponse.
“Mason paused and took a deep
breath and said, ‘we can do better than that.’” remembers Skinner. “He was right and the student-athletes did do better, much better than any of us could have imagined. Mason created an environment in which much was expected and more was delivered. Mason Barfield IS athletics at Clayton State and we shall not see his like again.”
And Barfield was right, he did better than that, for both the University and its students. In looking back on his 22 years at Clayton State, it’s not surprising to realize that Barfield’s sense of accomplishment still fits within the parameters of his 1994 conversation with Skinner.
“I fulfilled my obligation to the Uni- versity, and have done so with a great sense of pride in that we did it the right way,” he says. “We respected our respon- sibility to the academic integrity of our programs and student-athletes, and our
athletes’ responsibility to represent Clay- ton State as good citizens has brought a great deal of positive recognition to this in- stitution. My philosophy of success has al- ways put a higher value on people of substance who represent your program over the style of uniform or shoes that you wear.”
“Mason Barfield is not only a superb athletics director, he is one of the finest people I have known,” says University of Wisconsin – Green Bay Chancellor Dr. Thomas K. Harden, president of Clayton State University from 2000 to 2009. “As president, I was always confident that in all his decisions and actions, Mason kept the interest of students foremost in his mind. Always honest and forthcoming, I knew I could trust him to make excellent decisions and lead the Lakers in ways that made me proud to be associated with the program.”
As for his time at Clayton State, the University’s only administrator to serve under all four presidents says that all four men, beginning with Dr. Harry S. Downs, have been in the right place at the right time, and not just for the athletic program, but for the institution.
The same might be said for the athletic director. When he was hired by Downs in 1989, as a one-year college coach with no experience as an athletic director, Downs told him, “Mason, you’ve never done this before, but neither have we. So we’re going to learn how to do this together.”
And learn they did.
22 THE LAKER CONNECTION