Alumni Award of Honor
Celebrating our leaders
The Alumni Award of Honor is the highest honor awarded by the College of Charleston Alumni Association. It is presented to those individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the Association or to the College. This was formerly known as the Honorary Life Membership Award. Both alumni and friends of the College are eligible for this award.
2020 Alumni Award of Honor
Otto B. German ’73
A native of Mount Pleasant, SC, Otto German has been a trailblazer since his years as a high school student. He was one of seven black students who helped integrate Moultrie High School and was the school’s first black basketball player. By his senior year in 1969, Mr. German was named Lowcountry Player of the Year and was an All-American Honorable Mention.
He was a four-year letter winner at the College of Charleston from 1970-73 under former head coach Alan LeForce. An all-conference selection in 1970, Mr. German was the second African-American student-athlete to receive a full basketball scholarship at the College.
After graduating in 1973 with a degree in education, he began working at the College of Charleston. Mr. German served as Assistant Director of Financial Aid and Veterans Affairs, Assistant Director of Student Activities, and Associate Dean of Admissions. In 1992, he moved to the Athletics Department, eventually becoming the College’s NCAA Compliance Officer and Associate Director of Athletics. After 46 years of devoted service, Mr. German retired from the College in 2019.
A 2009 Eddie Ganaway Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, he is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Avery Institute where he served as Secretary. Mr. German served a leadership role in the creating the College’s Black Alumni Council and is Immediate Past President of that distinguished group. In 2018, in recognition of his exemplary service to his alma mater, the Alumni Association renamed its Alumni Scholarships in Athletics for Mr. German.
He has been actively involved in his community of Mount Pleasant, having served on the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Mount Pleasant Election Commission, and as a recreational youth basketball and football coach. Mr. German also served as an assistant basketball coach at Porter Gaud School from 1976-80 and at Wando High School from 1989-92. He is a member of the Male and Adult Choir, Director of the Acolytes and Assistant Church School Superintendent at Friendship AME Church.
Until she passed away in 2017, Mr. German was married to the late Albertha Walker for 51 years. They have three children; Taron, Ronata, and Chadwick, and 10 grandchildren.
Alumni Award of Honor Past Recipients
Gregory D. Padgett ’79
George W. Barnette III '58
Charles J. Baker III '80
Michelle Baxley and Johnnie Baxley ’92
Norman A. Chamberlain '09 *
Louis E. Condon '50 *
Sylvester D. Craig '05 *
Alexander C. Dick '15 *
Charlotte Buist Dickson '37 *
Daniel S. Dukes IV '76
Elmina L. Eason '28 *
Emily Molony Swanson '89 and Steve D. Swanson '89
J. Harold Easterby '20 *
James B. Edwards '50 *
Margaret Ehrhardt '66
Yvonne duFort Evans '58
Harry W. Freeman '43 *
Alexander L. Geisenheimer '03 *
Kenneth S. (Gus) Gustafson, Sr. '75
Sylvia Craver Harvey '58
Robert Heffron, Sr. '39 *
William D. Hilton '51
Gedney M. Howe, Jr. '35 *
F. Mitchell Johnson '37 *
Jean Wayland Johnson & Tapley O. Johnson, Jr., FR
John M. Jordan, Jr. '62 *
John L. Kresse, FR
Edward Kronsberg, FR *
Marie M. Land, FR
Charles L. Latimer, Jr. '44 *
Lionel K. Legge '09 *
Wendell M. Levi '12 *
Harry M. Lightsey, Jr., FR *
Carl J. Likes '37 *
Tony Meyer '49 *
William V. Moore, FR *
Harold A. Mouzon '13 *
John D. Muller, FR *
J. Robertson Paul '10 *
Edwin S. Pearlstine, Jr., FR
Milly Deas Pinckney '51 *
Bernard F. Puckhaber '50 *
Mary Loretto Croghan Ramsay '42 *
Kitty Gianatos Rentiers '51
Myrtle Craver Riggs '46 *
G. L. Buist Rivers '16 *
George C. Rogers, Jr. '43 *
John Arthur Siegling '28 *
Mary Geraty Silcox '33 *
Willard A. Silcox '33 *
Willard A. (Billy) Silcox, Jr. '65
Robert Scott Small '36 *
Sam Stafford III '68
Theodore S. Stern, FR *
Gordan B. Stine '44 *
W. Leigh Thompson '57 *
Jane Lucas Thornhill '46 *
Edward E. Towell '34 *
Elizabeth Jenkins Young '39 *
John A. Zeigler, Jr., FR *
*Deceased
FR=Friend of the College
