MORROW, Ga. – The Clayton State Athletics Department is introducing a new feature series that highlights members of the Athletics Hall of Fame. The first spotlight will feature Clayton State's first Director of Athletics, Mason Barfield.
 
Established in 2013, the Clayton State Athletics Hall of Fame was created to honor former Laker student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty/staff and community members who have, by their outstanding achievements, contributed to the ideals of the Clayton State Department of Athletics. Seven classes and 27 former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and special inductees have been enshrined. 
 
Barfield was a member of the inaugural class of four that was inducted in 2014.
 
A native of Hahira, Ga., Barfield served as Clayton State's first athletic director and first men's basketball coach. He laid the groundwork for the program, beginning in 1989 and oversaw and led the program for more than 20 years until his retirement in 2011. The University also recognized Barfield by naming the basketball court in the Loch in his honor in 2012.

Barfield was instrumental in establishing the Laker sports programs in the early 1990s and also in Clayton State's transition to NCAA Division II in 1995. He also served as the school's first men's basketball coach from 1990-95.

After the first few years of transition into the Peach Belt Conference, Laker Athletics began to take shape at the Division II level in 2000. Under his leadership from 2000 to 2011, Clayton State won 15 Peach Belt Conference regular season championships and finished conference runner-up on 12 occasions. In addition, Laker teams won eight Peach Belt tournament titles and finished as tournament runner-up four times, establishing Clayton State as an elite power in the league.

At the national level, Clayton State teams advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament 48 times during that span, including three "Final Four," six "Elite Eight" and fourteen "Sweet 16" appearances. The culmination of that success was in 2011 when the Laker women's basketball team captured the school's first NCAA Division II national championship.
 
 
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