Barton’s dramatic win in the 2007 Division II Men’s Basketball Championship not only made national news – it was considered an emergency in the school’s hometown of Wilson, North Carolina.

After Anthony Atkinson single-handedly snatched victory from Winona State by scoring 10 points in the last 45 seconds, the Wilson community heard about the team’s arrival at the airport through a test of the mayor’s newly installed urgent-message phone system.

The clarion call was effective. Thousands gathered along the route from the Raleigh/Durham airport, and thousands more assembled on campus to celebrate the school’s first national title.

“Before we arrived at the championship,” Atkinson told the throng, “people would ask me, ‘Where’s Wilson, North Carolina?’ Now, there are a lot of people who know where Wilson is.”

That “lot of people” may grow exponentially now that town and gown are redoubling efforts to market each other. If Division II is all about community relationships, the Barton-Wilson bond may be a poster child.

“The strength of the relationship with the community was developed long before the basketball championship, but that game expedited it,” said Barton President Norval Kneten.

Barton already was committing its limited funds to a long-term marketing campaign to benefit the school and its community, but the championship prompted Wilson officials to pump $150,000 into that effort. Kneten was delighted with the financial collaboration, but he was quick to point out that dollars don’t make the relationship.

“We’ve been working hard to develop our bond with the city and the region for many years. This recent commitment takes us a step further in that it attracts the attention of the people we were not able to reach with our initial efforts,” he said.

In other words, while many North Carolinians are loyal to Division I Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest, they now include Barton in that crowd.

Kneten said the school has used some of the extra funding to research Barton/Wilson constituents, including about 90,000 prospective students. Other initiatives will follow.

“Any institution that lives within a city or town has a responsibility of developing and maintaining a relationship with its surroundings,” Kneten said. “The championship has led to the kind of synergies that can take place if one is prepared to take advantage of them. I’m not sure I would call it a tipping point, but it’s getting close.”