Clemson Alumni Association to honor five leaders with Distinguished Service Award
April 28, 2026
The Clemson Alumni Association will recognize five distinguished individuals with its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, during a May 2026 ceremony. The award celebrates alumni and friends of Clemson University whose personal and professional accomplishments, dedication to Clemson and commitment to community service exemplify the University’s highest ideals.
The 2026 Distinguished Service Award recipients are James Rhett Hendricks Jr., Witt Irion Langstaff Jr., Patricia “Patti” McAbee, Dr. Boyd Hobson Parr and Harrison F. “Hack” Trammell — leaders whose collective impact spans engineering, education, environmental stewardship, healthcare, business, agriculture and public service, all grounded in a deep and lasting connection to Clemson University.
2026 Distinguished Service Award recipients:
James Rhett Hendricks Jr.
Hendricks is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Clemson University, earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1968. He worked briefly for Exxon before beginning active duty as a first lieutenant in the United States Army, during which he served in the Ordnance Corps and spent a year in Vietnam. He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Bronze Star for Service.
After the Army, Hendricks returned to Clemson to earn a master’s degree in water resources engineering in 1971. Joining Duke Energy, he played a key role in its expansion into a wide variety of electric generation methods and helped the company become an industry leader in environmental compliance, stewardship and sustainability. In 1996, Duke presented him the Robinson Award for outstanding service and working to ensure the long-term preservation of the Jocassee Gorges area.
Hendricks received the South Carolina Wildlife Federation’s 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award for his conservation efforts at Duke. In 2007, following retirement as Duke Energy’s vice president of environmental, health and safety policies, he established Hendricks Consulting LLC.
He has held leadership roles with The Conference Board’s Chief EHS Officers’ Council and the Edison Electric Institute. He served on the Nature Conservancy’s International Leadership Council, the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and the Global Environmental Management Initiative’s board, including as chair of its Senior Advisory Committee.
Causes benefitting from his volunteerism and generosity include the Low Country Food Bank, Bread for the World, Wounded Warriors, Habitat for Humanity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hosiptal, the World Wildlife Fund and many others. He was a longtime active member of Pritchard Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
While at Duke, Hendricks nurtured strong relationships between the company and Clemson. He involved Clemson students and faculty members in various environmental and engineering projects and led the establishment of a Distinguished Professorship in Management Information Systems named for the late Duke executive William S. Lee.
He served on the boards of the Clemson University Foundation and the Wallace F. Pate Foundation for Environmental Research and Education. He has supported Clemson student-athletes as a member of IPTAY for more than 50 years. He and his wife, Paula, established the Jim and Paula Hendricks Family Scholarship Fund to assist students majoring in education and parks, recreation and tourism management. In addition to himself, his family includes five more Clemson graduates: his father, three daughters and a grandson. Two other grandsons are current Clemson students.
Witt Irion Langstaff Jr.
Langstaff graduated from Clemson in 1975 with a B.S. degree in forestry and in 1988 completed the Executive Program at the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina. Following graduation, he began a 23-year career with Sonoco where he held numerous general management positions including international roles as President of Sonoco’s Canadian operations and general manager of Sonoco-Marutsutsu, a Japanese joint venture.
In 1999, Langstaff formed his own consulting and training business focusing on leadership development and organizational effectiveness serving organizations ranging from non-profits to small, family-owned businesses to global corporations.
Langstaff is passionate about natural resource conservation. Working with local and regional land trusts, he has helped protect thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive land. He and his wife, Beth, have a cabin in the North Carolina mountains, where most of his conservation efforts are focused. He served as President of the board of Trustees for the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy based in Asheville and is a life member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.
Langstaff is an avid hiker, naturalist and photographer. His photographs have appeared in local and national publications and are frequently used by conservation groups. He enjoys leading hikes and educational outings in the mountains. These outings have included hosting multi-day visits by Clemson students studying Southern Appalachian Mountain ecology.
As a resident of Hartsville, South Carolina, for over 30 years, Langstaff served that community in several ways. He was president of the United Way and on the boards of directors for the Rotary Club and the YMCA.
Langstaff is an engaged Clemson alumnus. He has served on various boards and advisory committees, including a term as president of the Clemson Alumni National Council and co-chair of his class of 1975 Golden Tiger reunion committee. He and Beth served together on the Clemson Libraries Development Board. For many years, he was a volunteer organizational development resource for the Clemson Alumni Relations and Development staff as well as for the former College of Business and Behavioral Sciences leaders. He also mentored students through the “Ask a Tiger” program. Langstaff and Beth are generous donors to Clemson, including support for the new Nieri Family Alumni and Visitors Center. They support Clemson student-athletes as “Life” IPTAY donors.
Langstaff grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, and was the first Clemson student in what quickly became a “Clemson Family”. His brother and two of his sisters followed him to Clemson and in 1977 his mother, Helen Langstaff, was selected as Clemson’s Mother of the Year. Langstaff and Beth’s daughter Emily graduated from Clemson in 2003 as did her husband John Merrell.
Patricia “Patti” McAbee
A native of Ware Shoals, McAbee earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the College of Charleston and completed a postgraduate certificate in arts management from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. She also completed Leadership South Carolina and Palmetto Leadership. She is an Honorary Alumna of Clemson.
McAbee’s professional career began in McCormick, where she raised her family. As founder and executive director of the McCormick Arts Council and the MACK Endowment Fund, she developed a thriving multidisciplinary arts organization. Expanding across the state, she led strategic initiatives and capital fundraising campaigns for several nonprofits, ranging from the Piedmont Leadership Center at Piedmont Technical College to Greenville’s Tourism Leadership Council. She founded Patti McAbee Consulting Inc., where she continues to support nonprofit organizations. Additionally, she was a primary church organist for more than 25 years.
Inspired by her mother’s example of service to others, McAbee’s many volunteer roles include serving on the boards of the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, the Greenville Chorale, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina, Upstate Forever, Greenville Women Giving, the South Carolina Arts Alliance, Ten at the Top, the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education and Friends of the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts.
In addition to the Order of the Palmetto, the highest civilian honor awarded by the governor of South Carolina, her numerous recognitions include Clemson University’s Distinguished Contributor Award from the Commission on Women and the Trailblazer Award from the Clemson Women’s Council.
Clemson’s mascot, the Tiger, has special meaning to McAbee. In support of the Tigers United University Consortium, she and her husband, orthopaedic surgeon Thomas Eison, were members of a Clemson-led team of philanthropists, researchers and wildlife activists who traveled to India to see tigers in the wild and to learn about the challenges that are endangering them and what can be done to save them. She also is deeply invested in the stewardship of the Clemson University Forest, Clemson’s Historic Properties and the Lee Gallery.
McAbee and Eison have established two endowed scholarships at Clemson and contribute to athletics through IPTAY. They have three sons and four grandchildren. Their granddaughter, Mattie McAbee, is a current Clemson freshman.
Dr. Boyd Hobson Parr
Parr entered Clemson University in 1972 as a dairy science major and was accepted into the University of Georgia’s veterinary school in 1974. His Clemson degree in pre-professional studies was awarded in consideration of the hours he completed while earning his doctorate in veterinary medicine from UGA in 1978. He is a member of the Clemson class of 1976.
Parr began his professional private practice by starting Piedmont Farm Services, and for the next 25 years he was involved in animal production medicine in both of the Carolinas and Georgia. In 2004, he joined Clemson’s Livestock Poultry Health (LPH) programs, rising to become LPH director and South Carolina State Veterinarian.
Though Parr officially retired in 2021, he continued to support the establishment of Clemson’s Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine, which is under construction, by co-chairing the College’s steering committee from 2022 to 2025. He currently volunteers as a special assistant to the dean of the College and as an adjunct professor of animal and veterinary sciences in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.
Parr has held numerous positions in 4H, the South Carolina Farm Bureau, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the South Carolina Association of Veterinarians and other organizations. He served two terms on the United States Department of Agriculture Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Animal Heath and is a past president of United States Animal Heath Association.
Parr’s many awards include the Order of the Palmetto — South Carolina’s highest civilian honor. He received Clemson’s Rowland P. Alston Sr. Award for Excellence in Public Relations and UGA’s College of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Alumni recognition. He is in the South Carolina Dairy Hall of Fame and has received the South Carolina Pork Board’s Distinguished Service Award twice.
In Newberry County, Parr continues to work on his family farm, serves the dairy industry in various volunteer roles and supports the Farm Bureau as its county legislative chair. He and his wife, Cheryl, are active members of Aveleigh Presbyterian Church.
The Parrs’ son, Timothy, played football for Clemson, and they are longtime donors to IPTAY in support of student-athletes. Other Clemson alumni in the Parr family include Boyd Parr’s father, Henry, and brother, Calhoun.
Harrison F. “Hack” Trammell
After graduating from Clemson in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Trammell joined the audit division of Arthur Andersen & Co. In 1985, he moved to Carolinas HealthCare System and subsequently served for over 20 years as president of regional facilities.
In 2008, Trammell returned to Clemson to become president and chief executive officer of the Clemson University Foundation. The foundation is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes the welfare and future development of Clemson University by receiving, investing and managing gifts from donors, including long-term endowment gifts. He led the foundation through the Great Recession, revamped its business model to increase support of the fundraising enterprise by almost $4 million annually and had Clemson’s endowment surpass $1 billion by his retirement in 2021. During his tenure, the endowment provided over $200 million in payouts in support of the University.
Trammell provided leadership for the Clemson University Real Estate Foundation and the Clemson University Land Stewardship Foundation, which developed several projects at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) in Greenville, South Carolina. They also were drivers in the early development phase of the Nieri Family Alumni and Visitors Center.
Trammell himself is a major donor to Clemson. In addition to supporting the Samuel J. Cadden Chapel, the Nieri Family Alumni and Visitors Center and the Clemson University Foundation Tomorrow Begins Today Scholarship Endowment, he and his wife, Cheryl, established the Harrison F. “Hack” and Cheryl Trammell Family Scholarship Endowment. They support Clemson student-athletes as longtime IPTAY donors.
Along with Hack and Cheryl, all four of their children are Clemson graduates. Three of the children’s spouses are as well. Trammell and Cheryl co-chaired the Clemson University Parents’ Council Advisory Board.
Hack Trammell served on the Clemson University Institute for Parks advisory board and received the Institute’s Distinguished Service Award. He was honored with the Clemson chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, having served as an advisor for over a decade.
Trammell’s community activities include chairing the board of trustees of the Highland-Cashiers Hospital and serving as organizing board chair of the Healing Bridges Counseling Center. He is a volunteer and mentor for Ripple of One, an organization that helps impoverished families achieve financial independence.
He has been an elder and trustee of Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson and was a leader in Sardis Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He also served as treasurer and board member for the Charlotte Urban Ministry Center and on the board of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Senior Centers Inc.
The Clemson Alumni Distinguished Service Award is based on three main criteria: personal and professional accomplishments; dedication and service to Clemson University; and devotion to community and public service. Members of the Clemson family nominate potential honorees, who are then selected by the Clemson Alumni Association as outstanding alumni, public servants and examples to others. The 2026 award presentation will be in May.
The Clemson Alumni Association is an open-membership, nonprofit organization that exists to connect alumni with their alma mater. Through a variety of programs and services, the Alumni Association works with alumni around the world to ensure they have a Clemson Experience every day.
