Personal Information

• Textiles, Alice Manufacturing Company
• Residing in Pickens
• Graduate of Pickens High School
• Attended Tri-County Technical College
• Married to Susan Lynn Evatt, 3 children
• Pickens First Baptist Church
• Moderator and Sunday School Teacher
• Past Chairman of Board, South Carolina 4-H Foundation
• President, Pickens County United Way, 1983
• Advisory Board, Pickens First National Bank, 1987-90
• Economic Development Commission, Southern Legislative Conference
• Advisory Board, Rocky Bottom Camp of the Blind
• Board for Partnership & Career Education
• Chairman, Governor's School-to-Work Council, 1997-99
• Tax Study Commission, 1998
• Listed in Outstanding Young Men of America, 1979
• Who's Who in American Politics, 1981-82, 1983-84
• Personalities of the South, 1982-83
• National Federation of Independent Businesses "Guardian of Small Business" Award, 1999
• South Carolina Chamber of Commerce Public Servant of the Year, 2002
• South Carolina Associaiton of Counties "Guardian of Home Rule" Award, 2003
• Anderson-Oconee-Pickens Area Mental Health "Patrick B. Harris Humanitarian Award for Public Service," 2003
• Honorary member, Pickens Rotary Club
• 2004 Legislator of the Year Award by the National Federation of the Blind of South Carolina
• Legislator of the Year for the Senate by the South Carolina Human Services Providers Association, 2005
• National Alliance on Mental Illness "Mental Illness Champion 2006"
• Greenville Hospital System Children's Hospital Development Council "Legislative Advocacy Award for 2006"
• South Carolina Commission for the Blind Legislator of the Year, 2006
• Conservation Voters of South Carolina, 2006 "Conservation Champion"
• South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance "Defender of Manufacturing 2007" Award
• Fraternal Order of Police, "2007 Senator of the Year"
• South Carolina Apartment Association, "2007 Legislator of the Year"
• Chairman, Joint Study Committee on Criminal Domestic Violence
• Home Builders Association of South Carolina, "2008 Hammer & Trowel Award"
• Palmetto Family Council, "2008 Legislator of the Year"
• Special recognition of service by South Carolina Baptist Convention, November 2008
• South Carolina REALTORS, "2009 Legislator of the Year"
• South Carolina Education Association Friend of Education, 2011