Athletics Hall of Fame – April 9, 2000
Joann Kemp, A Coker University faculty member from 1967-1978, served as Chairman of the Physical Education Department and coordinated all athletic activities. Joann held a wide variety of responsibilities ranging from teacher education, academic advising, and coaching tennis, as well as assisting with various other sports.
Under Joann’s leadership, Coker was renowned as housing one of the premier physical education programs in the region, which was responsible for developing some of the finest teachers and coaches in the nation. Joann was elected President of the South Carolina Association of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation in 1978. In 1980 she was honored with the President’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in Physical Education from that same association.
Joann also received recognition on a national level. While working on her Ph. D. at the University of Georgia, Joann helped develop one of the most widely used tennis-skills tests, the Kemp Wall Volley. Joann left Coker to become Chairman of the Physical Education Department at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina.