THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511181641
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY RONALD L. SPEER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHAPEL HILL LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Five of the recipients of the treasured William Richardson Davie Award for 1995 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are graduates turned movers and shakers whose corporate walls are covered with academic accolades.
Thomas S. Kenan III, class of '59, can trace his university ancestry back to the 1700s, and founded the Kenan Institute for the Arts at the university. Maurice J. Koury, class of '48, provided the campus with an unrivaled swimming center. William Octavius McCoy, class of '55, became a chairman of BellSouth Corp. and has played a key role in the university's growth. Earl Norfleet Phillips Jr., class of '62, founded First Factors Corp. and is credited with the development of university programs to promote global business. Anthony Eden Rand, class of '61, was named for a British prime minister and can trace his university roots back for several generations.
The sixth man honored by the prestigious old university Thursday night graduated with the class of '66 - at Manteo High School.
And he concedes he set no academic records there before leaving the classroom for good to become a contractor.
Nevertheless, Marc Basnight drew applause and plaudits even from the other recipients when he was introduced as one of those selected by the Board of Trustees for the award named for the university's founder for extraordinary service to the Chapel Hill institution.
``Senator Basnight is one of the great legislators of our time,'' said Rand, a state Senate colleague. ``Without him, the university of North Carolina would be a far different place.''
Said trustee Annette F. Wood: ``Marc Basnight is a champion of the university. His love for North Carolina runs deep.''
Basnight, the homespun president pro tem of the Senate and one of North Carolina's most powerful politicians, said, ``When I see the others, I don't feel I belong in this crowd, but I am very pleased to have been selected.''
At the awards banquet in the newly renovated Carolina Inn, Basnight wore a blue suit and tie and was surrounded by family and friends from Manteo.
Some of them are his coffee-drinking cronies at the Courthouse Cafe in tiny Manteo on Roanoke Island, where he drops in casually clad on weekend mornings to talk about fishing problems, gun control, politics, roads and other issues that raise the hackles of Outer Bankers.
He'll probably be there this morning - but you can bet he won't be wearing a suit.
Suits and ties are for special occasions such as being singled out by the trustees for his commitment to higher education.
``When it comes to nurturing what most consider the key to North Carolina's future - educating its young people - there is no greater champion of that cause than Marc Basnight,'' the trustees said.
``Students, teachers and administrators at every level and in every community, from Manteo to Murphy, have benefited from Basnight's leadership and deft skill in building consensus and support for key education issues and projects.
``The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has had no greater advocate, no greater friend, than Marc Basnight.''
And without pointing out that unlike the other recipients, Basnight never went to college, let alone the university, the trustees described him as highly educated:
``Education is understanding what you need to know, where to find it and how to use it when you get the information.
``Marc Basnight has mastered that concept.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW C. WILSON, The Virginian-Pilot
State Sen. Marc Basnight's support for higher education earned him
the William Richardson Davie Award from UNC-Chapel Hill on
Thursday.
by CNB