The West Virginia University Alumni Association will honor three distinguished members of the University community �€all from Morgantown �€at this years Homecoming celebration.

Past chair of the WVU Board of Governors Vaughn Kiger will receive the 2002 Outstanding Alumnus Award, while Horace and Geraldine Belmear will serve as Homecoming parade marshals. All will participate in the annual Homecoming parade at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, as it travels down High Street. They will also be honored during halftime of the WVU -Syracuse game, which begins at noon Saturday, Oct. 19, at Mountaineer Field.

“These individuals have honored WVU for decades by tirelessly working to advance the interests of the University, its students and the cause of higher education in West Virginia,”said Stephen L. Douglas, chief executive officer of the WVU Alumni Association..”It is, therefore, only fitting that we all should take this opportunity to honor them. They are proof that the Mountaineer spirit of loyalty and service is alive and well.”

Vaughn Kiger, president of Dorsey&Kiger Realtors of Morgantown, is past chairman of the WVU Board of Advisors and WVU Board of Governors, where he remains a member and serves on the Executive, Business Affairs, Compensation and University Relations Committees.

The Morgantown native obtained a bachelors degree in history from WVU in 1966 and is a graduate of the Realtors Institute at the University of Virginia. He has been a member of the WVU Alumni Association for more than 25 years, serving as president of its board of directors from 1992-93. He has led the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity at WVU as president and chapter advisor and was elected to Mountain Honorary in 1984. In 1996, the WVU Foundation named him”Most Loyal Mountaineer.”

Kiger is a member of the WVU Historical Art Collection Visiting Committee and a former member of the WVUMedicalCenters Senior Advisory Council and the WVU Libraries Visiting Committee.

Outside the University, Kiger has served as president or chairman of the West Virginia Association of Realtors, the Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce, the National Bank of West Virginia, the Morgantown Salvation Army Advisory Board and the Monongalia Historical Society. He is a member of the board of directors of Wesbanco Bank, the George D. Hott Foundation and the Greater Morgantown Community Trust. He serves currently as chairman of the West Virginia Real Estate Commission. He received both the 1984 and 1994 Governors Distinguished West Virginian Awards.

Horace Belmear, a native of Bardstown, Ky., received a bachelors degree from West Virginia State College in 1940 and a masters degree in physical education from WVU in 1951.

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Belmear taught social studies and physical education at DunbarHigh School in Fairmont for 18 years. While at Dunbar, he also coached football, basketball, track and baseball. Subsequently, Belmear became director of admissions for the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh.

In 1971, Belmear came to WVU as director of foreign student admissions. In seven years, he tripled the number of foreign students and the number of countries represented at WVU . In

1979, he was named assistant dean of admissions and records. The following year, Belmear took

on formal responsibility for the recruitment and retention of black students at WVU , which became his full-time role until his retirement in 1993.

During these years, he succeeded in personalizing the Universitys procedures through home visitation and cooperation with myriad community organizations. He also developed mentoring relationships with thousands of students, supporting and encouraging them as they worked toward their degrees.

Since 1993, Belmear has served on the visiting committee in the WVU School of Physical Education, traveling extensively throughout the eastern United States to recruit students and instructors and promoting physical education as an important component of the curriculum.

Belmear was selected West Virginia Coach of the Year and inducted into the West Virginia State College Sports Hall of Fame and the WVU Physical Education Hall of Fame. He will receive this years Outstanding Alumnus Award from WVU s School of Physical Education. He was named a Distinguished West Virginian by former Gov. Gaston Caperton.

His wife, Bertha Geraldine Carpenter Belmear, pictured above with Horace, was valedictorian of DunbarHigh School, earned a bachelors degree in home economics from West Virginia State College in 1940 and obtained a masters degree in home economics education from WVU in 1962.

For nearly 30 years, Mrs. Belmear worked with the State Cooperative Extension Service, ultimately supervising a staff of 15. She made history when she was placed in charge of the Marion County Homemakers Program, becoming the first black woman in the nation to hold this rank.

After retiring from the Extension Service, Mrs. Belmear joined her husband at WVU , serving successively as black student advisor, assistant dean for minority affairs and assistant coordinator of minority affairs from 1978 until her retirement in 1987. She helped create the Center for Black Culture and Research and counseled high- and low-achieving students and their parents, making a lasting impact upon a generation of students by serving as a”surrogate grandmother.”

Mrs. Belmear has served as a member of the board of the Marion County Human Resources Association, the Fairmont YWCA , the Morgantown Salvation Army, the Morgantown NAACP and the Fairmont Human Rights Commission. She has also been president of the Fairmont Catholic School Parent Teachers Association and the Epworth League; member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; graduate adviser of the Eta Omicron Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at WVU and Basileus of the Gamma Chi Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority; and Girl Scout and Cub Scout leader. She received the National Association of Extension Home Economists Award for Distinguished Service in 1971 and was recognized by then-Gov. Jay Rockefeller for her outstanding contribution to the founding of the ValleyCommunityMentalHealthCenter in 1980.

Together, the Belmears created an annual welcome reception for incoming minority freshmen; this event is now named in their honor.