WFU students discuss election on MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour

A new era began in Wake Forest's athletic program Tuesday, when President Thomas K. Hearn Jr. announced that Ronald D. Wellman had accepted appointment as the new director of athletics. The announcement came 138 days after G. Eugene Hooks announced his retirement from the position, ending a 28-year career. Wellman comes to Wake Forest after a sixyear term as the director of athletics at Illinois State University at Normal. He will assume full-time duty Oct. 26. "Wake Forest wanted to seek the bestqualified person in the country to build on the strong foundation which has been established," Hearn said. "In Ron Wellman, we have found the person who understands, shares and supports this Wake Forest point-of-view, and we have someoneofboundless energy and determination." Edwin G. Wilson, the vice president for special projects, was the Ronald D. chairmanofthecommitWellman tee of 10 that selected Wellman. The committee also interviewed Terry Holland, the athletic director at Davidson University; Dave Hart, the athletic director at East Carolina University; and Alan White, the athletic director at Elon College. "We felt that, in general. of all the people we saw, he was the one that had the most experience and best fitted Wake Forest," Wilson said. "He has a strong academic commitment, he had a fine experience at Northwestem as a baseball coach, he understands Wake Forest, and he impressed everybody he met. I think we have as fine a person as we could have anywhere." Wellman, 44, is a 1970 graduate of Bowling Green State University and received his master's degree from Bowling Green in 1971. He served at Elmhurst College from 1971 to 1981 in a variety of positions, including athletic director, before moving to Northwestern University to coach baseball. Wellman accepted the position of athletic director at Mankato State University in 1986, where he served until moving to Illinois State in 1987. See Wellman, Page 5