ALUMNI CONTRIBUTE TO PANTHERS first time before heading to the Super Bowl.


The Carolina Panthers professional football team capped its best season in its 21-season history in February by playing in Super Bowl 50. Although the team lost 24-10 to the Denver Broncos, the Panthers’ 15-1 record is among the best regular seasons in National Football League history. The team hosted and won two playoff games for the


Panthers staff and Winthrop sports management graduates gathered for a Super Bowl 50 game photo: Bonnie Almond ’10, Ryan Petrus ’06, top left, and Brian Pille ’14.


All season, the Charlotte region turned black and blue in support of the team. The popular social media hashtag #keeppounding allowed fans to encourage the team. Several Winthrop alumni were part of the action, drawing on their Win- throp education and work experience to contrib- ute to the record-breaking season. They praised team owner Jerry Richardson, whose wife Rosalind attended Winthrop in the 1950s, who paid for Panthers staff and guests to attend the big game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Read on the next page what these alumni and Panthers employees shared about their memories from the season.


James Hammond ’88 took Lisa Harris, associate professor of education, as his Super Bowl 50 guest.


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