April Thornton & David Jones Win Dancing Trophies
at 2011 Dancing with the Randolph Stars FundraiserASHEBORO (June 6, 2011)
TOP: David Jones, director of the N.C. Zoological Park, and April Thornton, director of public relations and development for Randolph Hospital, won the 1st place trophies at the 2011 Dancing with the Randolph Stars fundraiser held June 4 by the Randolph Community College Foundation.
MIDDLE: Coming in 2nd place in the 2011 Dancing with the Randolph Stars fundraising competition were Lonnie Keogh, a certified public accountant at Cherry, Bekaert and Holland, and John Revell, plant manager for Oliver Rubber Company. The couple performed to "The Time of My Life" from "Dirty Dancing."
BOTTOM: Darrell Frye, vice president of finance for Harriss and Covington Hosiery Mills, and Diane Winnemuller, publisher of The Courier-Tribune, claimed 4th place in the 2011 Dancing with the Randolph Stars competition with their dance to "Feeling Good."
CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE EVENING. Photos by professional photographer Jerry Wolford, an RCC Photojournalism graduate.
For an encore, it had all of the excitement of a main event. The Randolph Community College Foundation's second Dancing with the Randolph Stars repeated the success of 2010's inaugural event. Preliminary figures reported Saturday night showed the fundraiser had collected over $97,000 before expenses. All proceeds will go directly to scholarships for Randolph Community College students.
April Thornton, director of public relations and development at Randolph Hospital, and David Jones, director of the N.C. Zoological Park, took home the 2011 Dancing with the Randolph Stars trophies by getting the most votes from the community at $10 a vote. Votes were solicited before the event and during the evening at the dinner show held at AVS Catering and Banquet Centre for the second year. Thornton and Jones, who were dancing together for the second year, performed to Elvis Presley's "Fever." The winning trophies were presented to them by last year's winner Bill Hoover, who carried a life-size cutout of dance partner Laura Wilson, who could not attend.
New this year, the Foundation announced the top five vote-getters in the friendly competition. Coming in 2nd place were Lonnie Keogh, a certified public accountant at Cherry, Bekaert and Holland, and John Revell, plant manager for Oliver Rubber Company. The pair danced to "The Time of My Life," made famous by Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in the movie "Dirty Dancing."
Third place went to Mary Lisk, an exercise instructor for the Randolph-Asheboro YMCA and Nautilus Fitness Center, and Stuart Fountain, a retired endodontist who serves on the RCC Foundation Board of Directors and the State Board of Community College. The couple performed a cha-cha.
Diane Winnemuller, publisher of The Courier-Tribune, and Darrell Frye, a Randolph County commissioner and vice president of finance for Harriss and Covington Hosiery Mills, claimed 4th place with their dance to "Feeling Good."
Bringing a little hip-hop into the mix to the song "The Time (Dirty Bits)" by the Black Eyed Peas to claim 5th place were Aaryn Slafky, communications and marketing director for Randolph Telephone Membership Corporation, and Tyler Wilhoit, a broker with RE/MAX Central Realty.
Each costumed couple danced for 90 seconds to a song of their choice soliciting cheers and applause from the crowd of around 300 supporters. Judges Clark Bell, an Asheboro attorney; Rick Morgan, a retired music teacher; and Lynne Qualls, recently retired from the Randolph County Cooperative Extension Service, provided commentary at the end of each dance. Larry Reid, a radio personality with WKXR Radio in Asheboro and the emcee for the event for the second year, kept the show moving between dancers especially when a temporary power outage struck the stage lights and video, briefly halting the production.
The other couples competing were as follows:
Susan Stevenson, a curriculum support instructor at Coleridge Elementary School, and Steve Schmidly, senior partner, Moser, Schmidly and Roose, were the first dancers with a slick 1970s dance to "You Should Be Dancing."
Potter Betsy Browne and David Smith, Asheboro mayor and owner and manager of Credit Bureau Collection Systems, absolutely "thrilled" the crowd when they brought along some friends to play zombies for their rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The dancing zombies were Rick Crawford, Les Caison, Patricia Gordon, and Derrick Sides.
Sançia Coble, an Adult High School/GED instructor at RCC, and Juan Villa, owner of Villa Photography, tapped into Villa's Latin roots by dancing a mambo to "La Pantera Mambo."
Randolph County Attorney Aimee Scotton was paired with Sam Ramsey, owner and operator of two Chick-Fil-A stores in Asheboro, dancing to the jazz tune "Relax Max."
First-time dancers Jacquie Reininger, owner and instructor of Santosha Yoga Studio, and Darin DeNamur, a chiropractor, showed off some exercise/dance moves to "Kung Fu Fighting."
RCC students Lily Reed and Shane Bryson charmed the crowd with their dance to a "Grease Medley."
Rebecca Briles, who works in Congressman Howard Coble's office, and Greg Spainhour, regional president for CommunityONE Bank, came dressed as the Blues Brothers, performing to "Sweet Home Chicago," with one surprise. Asheboro Police Lt. Maxine Wright joined in on the act by "arresting" the wayward pair.
Chris Osteen and her son, Patrick, danced to Barry Manilow's "Copacabana." Osteen is retired from her husband Tom's orthopaedic practice, and Patrick was filling in after another dancer had to drop out.
Another lively hip-hop performance was given by Beth Knott, audiologist with Greensboro Ear, Nose and Throat, and Ken Grady, owner of KG Computer Solutions.
Kim Black, a teacher at Southwestern Randolph High School, dressed as Princess Leia complete with the "doughnut" hairstyle, and Zach Ausband, marketing operations manager for Klaussner Home Furnishings, dressed as Darth Vader, squared off and sparred with laser swords to a "Star Wars Medley."
Last, but not least, MiMi Cooper, health director for the Randolph County Health Department, and J.B. Griffith III, financial planner for Liberty Advisors, dressed in their 1970s finest and danced to Donna Summer's "Last Dance."
Additional entertainment was provided by Raziel Blanco, a student at UNC-Charlotte and former Asheboro High School Park Street Player, who sang "All I Need is the Girl" from "Gypsy" and "Bring Him Home" from "Les Miserables." Recent RCC graduate Daniel Smith and Randolph Early College High School student Emily Smith performed a dance medley. Payton Burnette, an Asheboro High School senior and Park Street Player, sang "Maybe This Time" from Glee. Megan Jarrell, another senior at Asheboro High School, sang "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" from "Phantom of the Opera." Jamey Williams, also an Asheboro High School senior, sang two numbers, "If I Can't Love Her" from "Beauty and the Beast" and "Music of the Night" from "Phantom of the Opera."
Lane Ragsdale served as director of this year's production.
Co-chairs of the Dancing with the Randolph Stars Planning Committee for the second year were Ann Hoover and Vickie Gallimore. Subcommittee chairs were Kaye Bryan, Sponsorship Committee; Lisa Huffman, Volunteers Committee; and Gail McDowell and Cindy Schroder, Dancer Committee co-chairs. Other committee members included Pat Allred, Sara Baker, Talmadge Baker, Jim Campbell, Gail Crawford, Jane Crisco, Rhonda Eblin, Carol Fountain, Dr. Stuart Fountain, Carla Freemyer, Cindy Hart, Sheila Hedrick, Kathy Homiller, Lisa Huffman, Janet Jones, Curt Lorimer, Dean Sexton, Terri Sexton, Mac Sherill, Janice Simpson, Laura Wilson, and Diane Winnemuller.
