The legacy of leadership behind Azusa Pacific University's successful athletics program:

Cliff Hamlow (1954-93)

• Served 39 years as Azusa Pacific’s Director of Athletics
• Inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in March of 1980
• Brought Azusa Pacific into NAIA membership in 1965
• Grew the program from 4 intercollegiate sports in the mid-1950s to 13 by the early 1990s
• Was a primary figure in the creation of the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) and has served as the conference’s commissioner from 1992 to the present (19 years)
• Served 14 years as the chairman of the NAIA District III
• Azusa Pacific won 13 national championships, including:
  • 4 straight National Christian College men’s basketball crowns (1969-72)
  • The school’s first AIAW title – women’s volleyball (1979)
  • The school’s first NAIA championship – women’s volleyball (1980), the first year the NAIA sponsored women’s national championships

• Filled roles on numerous NAIA committees including:
  • National Executive
  • National Men’s Basketball Tournament
  • National Administrative
  • Blue Ribbon
  • Rater’s Oversight
• Was Azusa Pacific men’s basketball head coach for 32 years, accumulating 570 victories, tops among all active NAIA coaches upon his retirement from coaching in 1988
• Oversaw the construction of Azusa Pacific University’s Felix Event Center

Terry Franson (1993-96)

• Served 3 years as Azusa Pacific’s Director of Athletics
• Inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in May of 1996
• Instrumental figure in bringing the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet to Azusa Pacific in 1988-89-94-95, the first NAIA championships hosted by the university
• Leader in establishing the first lighted athletic facility on campus – football/track complex
• Was Azusa Pacific’s track & field head coach from 1981–95 (15 years)
• Led Azusa Pacific to 11 NAIA men’s outdoor track & field championships
• Was a 10-time NAIA Coach of the Year

Bill Odell (1996-2011)

• Served 15 years as Azusa Pacific’s Director of Athletics
• Inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in March of 2011
• Cougar teams captured 22 NAIA titles under Odell’s watch, the most by any school in that span
• Guided Azusa Pacific to an unprecedented 6 straight NAIA Directors’ Cup crowns (2005-10)
• Had 12 different Cougar sports win an NAIA title, play in NAIA championship game or finish second in the NAIA Tournament
• Added the following women’s sports to the university’s athletic offerings: tennis (1999), water polo (2009), swimming & diving (2009), and acrobatics & tumbling (2010)
• Initiated Azusa Pacific’s pursuit of NCAA Division II membership
• Spent 16 years as Azusa Pacific’s men’s basketball head coach (1991–2007)
• Led the Cougars to the NAIA Tournament 14 years, including 12 straight (1996-2007)
• Named 2005 NAIA Coach of the Year after leading Azusa Pacific to its first-ever NAIA championship game