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Wingate University dedicates basketball court to Tom Koontz family
12/12/2012
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Kim Williams
Communications Writer
k.williams@wingate.edu 704-233-8320
Wingate, N.C. – Wingate University held a reception and dedication ceremony in Cuddy Arena on Saturday, Dec. 8 to honor the Tom Koontz family for their support and generosity. Koontz graduated from Wingate College with an associate’s degree in 1960 as valedictorian of his class. He also played basketball on a basketball scholarship while attending.
Upon his graduation, Koontz was the first junior college graduate to receive a Morehead scholarship to attend UNC-Chapel Hill where he double-majored in history and pre-med. Once he finished medical school, he completed his internship and surgery residency at Yale. Dr. Koontz served as a major in the Air Force in Florida and worked in a 22-bed hospital as chief of surgery for two years.
His career brought him back to North Carolina, and, for 35 years, he practiced in a multi-specialty group – Salem Surgical Associates, located in Winston-Salem. Dr. Koontz also initiated a major outreach project to help and serve others. He started a Doctors Care program in 1993 that has helped the working poor receive low-cost health care. To date, the program has given away more than $8 million of medical care in the Winston-Salem area.
Dr. Koontz remains a dedicated athletics enthusiast and continues to support the athletic programs at Wingate University. He is a charter member of Wingate University’s Bulldog Club.
Wingate University
Wingate University, ranked as the 6th "best value" in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves nearly 2,700 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration, and doctorates in pharmacy and education. With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life.
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past six years. For more information, go to www.wingate.edu.