FLORENCE, S.C. – The Francis Marion University men’s and women’s basketball teams will play host to Georgia College & State University in a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader as part of Homecoming 2007 festivities, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 17).

The women’s basketball game will tip-off at 2 p.m. in the Smith University Center, followed by the men’s contest at 4 p.m.

Homecoming activities will begin Saturday at 11 a.m. with an Old Timers’ women’s basketball game in the gym, followed at 11:30 a.m. by an Old Timers’ Game for men’s basketball.   Admission to the Old Timers’ events and the regularly scheduled basketball doubleheader is free.

Between 12:30 and 2 p.m., PatriotFest will be held in the Smith University Center. This will include live music, a picnic lunch, an opportunity for alumni to interact, and activities for children.

At 1 p.m., the 5-1 FMU softball team will look to remain atop the PBC standings when the Patriots entertain Armstrong Atlantic State University for a conference doubleheader.

At 2 p.m., the 11th-ranked Patriot baseball team (4-2 record) will open its conference schedule with a home game against Augusta State University (6-2).

From 1:30 p.m. until approximately 5 p.m., the ninth-annual Swamp Fox Club Benefit Silent Auction, featuring sports memorabilia and merchandise, will be held in the Smith University Center gym. Admission to the silent auction is also free.

Between games of the regularly scheduled basketball doubleheader, at approximately 3:45 p.m., former Patriot cross country runner and track and field athlete David Stafford will be inducted into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame.

A native of Hanahan, Stafford was a member of the inaugural Patriot cross country squad in 1976, missed the 1977 season with an injury, and ran again in 1978. He was also a member of the FMU track and field team for four years (1976-79).   He earned the B.S. degree in sociology in 1980 and now resides in Summerville. He has been employed by Federal Express since 1983.

Both of his years on the cross country squad, he won the NAIA District Six individual championship (time of 26:15 in 1976 and 25:32 in 1978), was named to the All-District Team, and helped the Patriots to the District Six team title. As a senior, he set the FMU course record with a time of 25:34.

On the track, he earned team most valuable player honors twice (1976 and 1978) and helped Francis Marion to a four-year team record of 86-18. He was named to the All-District track and field squad in 1979. By the end of his junior year, he held four school records: 880-yard dash, mile run, 3-mile run, and 6-mile run, and his record time of 4:17.2 in the mile run still stands today.

He joins 30 current members in the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame, which was formed in 1991.

The 2007 Homecoming King and Queen will be crowned at halftime of the FMU/GCSU men’s game.

The FMU women are 5-19 overall and 2-11 in the PBC, and looking to snap a seven-game skid. The GCSU women are 17-7 overall and at 8-5 are tied for third in the PBC’s South Division.

The FMU men’s basketball team is 8-16 overall and 4-9 in the PBC, one game out of third place in the North Division standings; while the Bobcat men are 16-8 and 6-7.