If people drive by Erskine College next semester and see students throwing around bananas, they can thank new President David A. Norman.

Ultimate Banana — the same thing as Ultimate Frisbee, only with bananas — is a game students from Norman’s previous university invented, something K.D. Norman, his high school sweetheart and wife of 13 years, joked that he should introduce to Erskine.

K.D. Norman also described other things her husband will bring to the college.

“He’s a hard worker,” she said. “He’s a good listener, he thinks of others and he’s a good vision-caster. He unites people well.”

David A. Norman will put those skills to use beginning July 1 when he takes over the presidency of Erskine from the retiring President Randall Ruble.

The college’s board of trustees unanimously chose Norman for the presidency Friday.

One of his first priorities will be repairing the relationship between the college and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, in turmoil since the church’s General Synod voted to oust 14 members of the college’s board of trustees in March, which has resulted in a lawsuit between some of those ousted members, the alumni association and the synod.

“I think that the first priority is to improve the relationship between the greater Erskine community and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church,” Norman said.