SoCon announces 1997-98 athletes of the year

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Georgia Southern’s Anita Buggins and East Tennessee State’s B.J. Adigun were honored as the 1997-98 recipients of the Southern Conference’s Female and Male Athlete-of-the-Year awards as announced Tuesday night at the league’s honors dinner.  The dinner was held at the Wachesaw Plantation Country Club in conjunction with the conference’s annual spring meeting.

Georgia Southern’s Anita Buggins garnered Female Athlete-of-the-Year honors after being named SoCon Player-of-the-Year in women’s tennis for the second consecutive season.  East Tennessee State’s B.J. Adigun was tabbed for the Bob Waters Award for the Male Athlete-of-the-Year after earning the league’s Offensive Player-of-the-Year in football. 

Both awards are based 70 percent on athletic accomplishment, 20 percent on academic performance and 10 percent on civic involvement.  Beginning in 1991-92, the Male Athlete-of-the-Year award was named after Bob Waters, Western Carolina football coach from 1977-88.

Anita Buggins, a senior tennis player for Georgia Southern, is a four-time all-conference player in singles and three-time all-conference player in doubles.  She posted career records of 30-0 (singles) and 29-1 (doubles) in conference action and has consistently been ranked nationally and regionally by the ITA in both singles and doubles.  This season, she helped the Eagles to the regular season title, going undefeated at number-one singles.

Buggins carries a 3.81 GPA with a major in geology and has recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA over the past four quarters.  She was named GSU Scholar-Athlete of the Year and has earned ITA All-America Scholar-Athlete honors.  She is the 1997-98 recipient of the Southern Conference’s Mike Wood Foundation Graduate Scholarship for a Female. 

Buggins has been involved with a variety of service projects.  She has participated in a Thanksgiving Dinner project in Statesboro and Walktoberfest in Savannah.  In her native London, she helped clear a towpath and lay cement for a canal and helped raise money for multiple sclerosis.

B.J. Adigun, a senior wide receiver at East Tennessee State, was a first team All-America in football after being a unanimous first team pick for All-Southern Conference.  He caught a league-high 68 passes for 1,389 yards and 12 touchdowns.  He is the owner of all of ETSU’s major career receiving records and ended 1997 ranked second nationally in receiving.  He was also a finalist for the Walter Payton Award after earning the league’s Offensive Player-of-the-Year recognition.