GREENVILLE, S.C. – A record-breaking season for the UNC Pembroke athletics department was accentuated on Wednesday morning when the Braves were announced as winners of the Conference Carolinas Joby Hawn Cup for the first time since the 1991-92 season, while also being lauded with both the men's and women's sports Joby Hawn trophies as well. 
 
Aided by five Conference Carolinas tournament titles, as well as a pair of regular season championships and a divisional crown, the Black & Gold collected 93.3 percent (154 of 165) of its maximum points possible during the 2022-23 athletic season to edge second-place Mount Olive by more than 15 percentage points. That compilation was also helped by runner-up showings in four other Conference Carolinas-sponsored sports. 
 
The Black & Gold raked in the Hawn Cup trophy for men's sports for the second-straight season by collecting 100 percent (60 of 60) of its maximum possible points, and out-pacing the remaining 13 league institutions by 29 percent. The story was much of the same in the race for the women's sports trophy as the Braves edged out Mount Olive by 4.8 percent to collect that hardware as well. UNCP's women's teams raked in 94 of a possible 105 points (89.5 percent) during the 2022-23 athletic season. 
 
The Joby Hawn Cup is the annual all-sports award for Conference Carolinas. Hawn Cup points are awarded in each sport based on the order of regular-season finish and the number of participating teams in each sport. In addition, bonus points are awarded to the tournament champion (two bonus points) and runner-up finisher (one bonus point). The total points earned from all sports for each institution is divided by the total possible points (excluding bonus points) for each institution based on sports sponsorship for each participating sport. 
 
Wednesday's release marked the fourth time that UNCP has picked up the Hawn Cup, but signaled its first all-sports title in more than three decades. The Braves also claimed the conference's biggest athletic prize following the 1983-84, 1988-89 and 1991-92 athletic seasons. The 1991-92 campaign was the last for UNCP as a member of both the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the then-Carolinas Conference. The Braves rejoined the league prior to the start of the 2021-22 campaign. 
 
The athletics department has now raked in 17 conference regular season and/or tournament championships and 20 league runner-up finishes over the last five full seasons, while also adding an additional four conference crowns during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 athletic campaign. Black & Gold teams have also combined to register 37 postseason appearances (four more during the 2019-20 campaign) across that span, including a record 10 NCAA tournament berths in 2022-23. 
 
The women's squads at UNCP have contributed a lion's share to that success rate, logging a dozen conference championships and nine runner-up showings since the close of the 2016-17 season, while also compiling 15 NCAA postseason appearances amid that time frame as well. A record six women's athletic teams combined to register appearances in the NCAA postseason this year. 
 
 The unprecedented run of success over the last five years can also be attributed to staff continuity as well. Ten of UNCP's 16 varsity athletic teams boasted head coaches who had been a part of the athletic department family for five or more seasons leading up to 2022-23, while six squads were aided by assistant coaches who had logged five or more years in the department. Eight members of the department's senior administrative staff have called UNCP home for at least five seasons, including five that have been on campus for 10 years or longer. 
 
The Joby Hawn Cup is named after H.C. "Joby" Hawn, who in 1962 became the first full-time Commissioner of what was then known as the Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC) and now Conference Carolinas. Following his retirement from the league in 1976, Conference Carolinas began awarding the Hawn Cup annually in his honor.