Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1999
In 1988, upon his retirement from the University as a professor of mathematics, Dr. Sawyer was recognized as one of the premier athletic administrators in the country in that very role which he had known so little about 28 years earlier. Through his service to Wake Forest in that capacity, to the Atlantic Coast Conference, which he four times served as president, and to the NCAA through his membership and leadership of numerous high-profile committees, Sawyer gained the respect of his fellow-administrators in both the athletic and academic realms.
Though matters of conference and national consequence were of high importance to him, Dr. Sawyer was first and foremost a Wake Forester. A native of Raleigh, he earned both an undergraduate and master's degree from Wake Forest College before going to receive a doctorate from the University of Missouri in 1951. Six years later, he returned to his alma mater as a faculty member in mathematics. His impact in that area has been significant as well. He spearheaded the drive to purchase the college's first computer and established the computer science program, in which he taught for many years.
His administrative and academic responsibilities never prevented Dr. Sawyer from supporting intercollegiate athletics. One of his early "duties" involved playing the organ at Demon Deacon basketball games in old Memorial Coliseum.
Dr. Jack Sawyer's musical abilities, while noteworthy, are just a very small part of his place in Wake Forest history. It is his countless hours of devotion and service to this University and its athletic program in particular that will forever be remembered through his induction into the WFU Sports Hall of Fame.
