M AG A Z I N E
Our House
/
Jordan-Hare Turns 75
Back Forty: The Art & Craft of Beer Searching for an End to Ebola Michael O’Neill’s Role Call
W I N T E R
2 0 1 4
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All Fired Up Football night games not only give us more time for that all-important tailgating; they also provide a chance for the Auburn University fire-baton twirlers to put on a show, as in this shot taken before the game vs. South Carolina. (Photograph by Jeff Etheridge.)
See more online at facebook.com/aubands
W I N T E R
2 0 1 4
From the Editor
Paths of change
EDITOR
Suzanne Johnson
SUZANNE JOHNSON
Editor, Auburn Magazine As another issue of Auburn Magazine was ready to be put to bed, we heard the initial rankings put forth by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and the buzz flew around campus like rabid bees: the Auburn Tigers were among the top four, behind Mississippi State, Florida State and Ole Miss. Oh, the list had 25 teams, but everyone following the first year of the long-awaited playoff system knows only the top four matter at the end. Auburn, ranked sixth by AP, was the first week’s surprise. Only time will tell how those rankings change as the committee makes weekly adjustments. But anyone who watched the Tigers last year can’t help but believe that with just one magical play, one last second, anything is possible. Can you think of a better 75th birthday gift for that place we call home on so many Saturdays in the fall? In 1939, when API finally built a stadium for its football team after years of playing, well, almost anywhere but Auburn, could anyone have dreamed of the glories and stories that were to come? Of course, the path to the playoffs is a long one, and pathways are in many ways our theme for this issue. Auburn men and women take many paths through their lives. Take actor Michael O’Neill ’74. Even if you don’t recognize his name, you’ll know the face. You’ve seen him on dozens of television shows and movies over the years, and his journey has followed a circuitous path from the time he saw a Mark Twain theatrical presentation at Langdon Hall and thought maybe he’d AUBURN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1077–8640) is published quarterly; 4X per year; spring, summer, fall, winter, for dues-paying members of the Auburn Alumni Association. Periodicals-class postage paid in Auburn and additional mailing offices. Editorial offices are located in the Auburn Alumni Center, 317 South College St., Auburn University, AL 36849-5149. Phone 334-844–1164. Fax 334-844–1477. Email: aubmag@auburn.edu. Contents ©2014 by the Auburn Alumni Association, all rights reserved. ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Jessica King at 334-844– 2586 or see our media guide at www.aualum.org/magazine. POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149. LETTERS Auburn Magazine welcomes readers’ comments,
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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
prefer acting to economics. His path took him to a chance encounter with actor Will Geer, to Hollywood, and yet he’s still connected to his Alabama roots as he raises his family not among the palms of Southern California but the pines and oaks of Birmingham. Chances are good that Jason Wilson ’01 couldn’t have imagined as he sat in business classes at Auburn that in just over a decade he’d have one of the premier craft beer breweries in the Southeast, joining such luminaries as Good People Brewing Co. in Birmingham (cofounded by Michael Sellers ’95 and Jason Malone ’97, makers of the popular Coffee Oatmeal Stout and Snake Handler brews) and Oskar Blues Brewing Co. in Colorado (cofounded by Dale Katechis ’92, for whom the company’s top-selling Dale’s Pale Ale is named). Another path will be taking a new direction soon, as the Auburn Alumni Association bids adieu—but not goodbye— to Debbie Shaw ’84, who is retiring this winter after more than 30 years serving Auburn University in housing and residence life, student affairs and, for the past 12 years, vice president for alumni affairs and executive director of the Auburn Alumni Association. We all wish Debbie the happiest of journeys in wherever her path next leads her— knowing that Auburn will always be part of her life no matter where she is.
suzannejohnson@auburn.edu but reserves the right to edit letters or to refuse publication of letters judged libelous or distasteful. Space availability may prevent publication of all letters in the magazine, in which case, letters not printed will be available on the alumni association website at the address listed below. No writer is eligible for publication more often than once every two issues. No anonymous letters will be printed. Auburn Magazine is available in alternative formats for persons with disabilities. For information, call 334-844–1164. Auburn Magazine is a benefit of membership in the Auburn Alumni Association and is not available by individual subscription. Back issues may be found online at www.aualum.org/magazine. To join the association, call 334-844–2586 or visit our website at www.aualum.org.
Shannon Bryant-Hankes ’84 ART DIRECTOR
Audrey Lowry ’12 UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff Etheridge EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Kerry Coppinger ’15 DESIGN ASSISTANT
Diamone Scott ’14 IT SPECIALISTS
James Hammond ’13 Saicharan Reddy Chada ’16 PRESIDENT, AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Jay Gogue ’69 VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Deborah L. Shaw ’84 PRESIDENT, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Jack Fite ’85 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR
Neal Reynolds ’77 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Maria Baugh ’87 John Carvalho ’78 Jon Cole ’88 Christian Flathman ’97 Tom Ford ’67 Kay Fuston ’84 Julie Keith ’90 Mary Lou Foy ’66 Eric Ludgood ’78 Cindy McDaniel ’80 Napo Monasterio ’02 Carol Pappas ’77
Joyce Reynolds Ringer ’59 Allen Vaughan ’75
BLUE SKY YOUR CAREER
Would you advance within your company? Expand your authority and responsibility, take on a new challenge? Yes, of course. But how? How do you escape your routine and transform yourself?
WITH AN AUBURN EXECUTIVE MBA A Master of Business Administration degree from Auburn, tailored for you, the working executive, will round out your basic skill set, educate you in emerging business thought and practice, and equip you with the skills, knowledge, and qualifications the business world demands of its leaders. The Auburn program is a clever, flexible combination of on-campus residencies and distance technologies that allow you to continue in your job while receiving the first-class education that will send your career skyward.
Executive MBA Programs
Contact us for more info at: www.AuburnEMBA.org or 1.877.AUB.EMBA Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer.
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EXPECT
a place this crowded to have so much room.
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On the cover Jordan-Hare goes the way of the blimp in this 3D illustration. Visit auburnmagazine.auburn. edu to see how it was constructed.
Winter 2014 F R O N T 4 From the Editor
Looking at where our paths take us. 10 College Street
Grub from the garden feeds Lee County, nursing school colleagues team up to SERVE, and Auburn University bids a not-so-fond farewell to its old friend Styrofoam.
AU Soccer kicks it this season.
26 Tiger Walk
The Auburn Men’s basketball team has yet to take the court, but new coach Bruce Pearl is dropping names and winning over new fans. B A C K 49 Alumni Center
Changing times, new faces on the Auburn Alumni Association Board of Directors, and more.
There might not be a tiger in the tank, but there’s one behind the wheel.
16 Research
Crocs in Costa Rica, a treatment for ebola and the evolution of spiderwebs. 20 Roundup
What’s happening in your school or college? Check it out. 22 Concourse
An AU freshman actress goes “Under the Dome” and a senior’s riding high.
Hollywood’s calling? Actor Michael O’Neill might have other plans. Fresh off filming Dallas Buyers Club and the CBS-TV show “Extant,” O’Neill makes time for his family, Auburn football and volunteer work, as on this recent day volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. Ms. Burpo, a former medical assistant before becoming the caretaker for her mother, was a member of one of Habitat’s partner families.
52 Class Notes
F E A T U R E S
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The Art & Craft of Beer
Gadsden-based Back Forty Beer Co. might sell craft beer with catchy, Southern-tinged names like Naked Pig and Freckled Belly, but for founder Jason Wilson ’01 and his team of Auburn grads, beer is big business. By Suzanne Johnson Photography By Jeff Etheridge
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Welcome to Our House
Seventy-five years ago, after four decades without a home, Auburn football kicked off its first game in the new Auburn Stadium. Now, Jordan-Hare lies at the heart of Auburn. By Jeremy Henderson Illustration By Pushart: Megan Berkheiser & Mike Caldwell
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Jarrod Allen ’00, page 60
55 In Memoriam 64 The Last Word
Got your programs? Beverly Smith ’86 takes us behind the scenes on game day as she and her family work with the AU program sales enterprise.
The Journeyman
Michael O’Neill has played hundreds of roles as an in-demand actor, including in Dallas Buyers Club and CBS’ “Extant.” But he’s also father, husband, volunteer and Auburn Man. By Anna Claire Conrad Photography Bby Jeff Etheridge
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C A M P U S
N E W S
COLLEGE STREET
Protect and Serve Just call them warriors. Libba McMillan ’83 of the AU nursing faculty has teamed up with fellow nursing faculty members David Crumbley and Marilyn Rhodes to bring a warrior-centered elective course to the nursing students at both AU and Auburn Montgomery. The program, a partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, aims to help future nurses aid veterans and service members with mental and physical ailments, both acute and chronic. The program’s name is Project SERVE (Student’s Education Related to the Veteran Experience). The decision for Crumbley, Rhodes and herself to collaborate on this initiative happened naturally. Crumbley is a retired U.S. Navy commander who’d worked at Walter Reed, and Rhodes, a retired Air Force colonel, was a nurse-midwife during military service. “My husband was a retired fighter pilot,” McMillan said. “So the three of us had different varying degrees of exposure to the military.” Because of this exposure and their soft spot for military families, the trio organized a way to impact the community of those who serve. The program, said McMillan, will put equal emphasis on teaching nursing students holistic aspects of patient care depending on each unique patient-care case. “With any nursing care or with any healing, there always has to be that holistic way of looking at it. People are at different The inaugural group stages and at different points in their of AU and AUM nursing students for Project recovery and rehabilitation,” McMillan SERVE helped returning explained. “In time, you have to look veterans in a partnership at even what conditions they’re going with Walter Reed National home to upon discharge. What resourcMilitary Medical Center.
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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
es are available? Who’s there to help provide for them?” McMillan, Crumbley and Rhodes worked with Walter Reed to gain useful experience and knowledge. McMillan says some of the most powerful experiences they had were talking directly to families of injured veterans. “You have to know why you’re there in terms of the mission. You have to really understand the unique nursing-care challenges these patients have in order to be part of the healing team,” she said. Next for McMillan and her associates is Project INNOVATE, which will allow them to continue helping service members after they have returned home. —Kerry Coppinger
C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
Celebrating the Auburn Tiger in each of us. The 2014 official Auburn University ornament commemorates our winning season and our “ever to conquer, never to yield” moments. As the years pass, you will possess a meaningful collection your family will cherish for generations. The ornaments are designed and crafted exclusively for Auburn University by Orbix Hot Glass, a family-run glassblowing studio in Fort Payne, Alabama. For the Auburn Family by the Auburn Family.
®
www.auburn.edu/samfordcollection
Shop with your Auburn Alumni Association this holiday season!
We have the perfect gift for you! Interested in an item pictured? For more information, call 334-844-2960 or email aualumni@auburn.edu
A portion of all proceeds will benefit alumni programs and services.
w w w . a u a l u m . o r g /s h o p
A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N
a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine
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C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
Hospitality Leader Martin O’Neill, head of the nutrition, dietetics and hospitality management department in the College of Human Sciences, is serving as president of the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education. Auburn’s Ph.D. program in hotel and restaurant management is ranked sixth nationally.
Economic Outlook JAY GOGUE ’69
President, Auburn University According to J.P. dialyzers, a critical component used in Morgan’s June hemodialysis therapy. release of Alabama Baxter’s investment of nearly $300 Economic Outlook, million in the Opelika site will add Alabama’s economic 230,000 square feet and several producrecovery “has lagged tion lines. the nation’s so far, With a current workforce of about especially in the 170, the expansion will require hiring last year, and may an additional 200 workers in 2016, continue to do so for a while,” but it which is when the first commercial adds that the forecast for the state’s economy is that it could “speed up in 2014 and 2015.” “Building such relationships benefits What may very well be a vital part of that our students with learning experiences, acceleration could be the companies benefit from Auburn’s worldresult of two corporate expansions in Lee County. class faculty, and the community and This summer, GE Aviation state economies grow…” and Baxter International Inc. announced plans to invest millions of dollars and bring hundreds of jobs to this area. production on the new lines is slated to GE Aviation, a global leader in jet get started. engine and aircraft system production, For years, Auburn has served as plans to bring high-volume additive the primary source of instruction and manufacturing to its facility in Auburn. research for Alabama’s aerospace, This facility will be the first of its kind automotive, microelectronics, biotech, to mass produce additive components and wireless technology industries. for the jet propulsion industry. This As high-tech companies relocate decision represents an additional $50 or expand in this area, Auburn is eager million investment in Auburn and to partner with them because building will add more than 200 jobs when the such relationships benefits our students facility reaches full capacity. with learning experiences, companies We’re excited to expand our benefit from Auburn’s world-class partnership with a global aviation faculty, and the community and state leader to help enable the potential of economies grow. additive manufacturing in advanced jet engine production. We look forward to War Eagle! working with GE Aviation experts on the workforce, research and technology requirements for high-volume production of this critical engine component. Baxter International Inc. announced jgogue@auburn.edu plans to expand its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Opelika to help address the growing global demand for
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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
THIS IS MADAME ADÉLAÏDE. THIS IS THE GOLDEN AGE. THIS IS SCHOLARSHIP.
FEED NEED Near the hustle and bustle of the AU campus, eight rows of produce grow unnoticed, there for the sole purpose of feeding the residents of the local community. The Food Bank Garden flourishes with vegetables to be donated to the Food Bank of East Alabama. This spring and summer is the first time in several years that the garden is back in operation, helping those in Lee County and surrounding counties. “The Food Bank Garden was created to help out the community,” said Beth Guertal, professor of agronomy in the College of Agriculture, who started the garden in 2006. “I wanted to provide the local food bank with healthy and fresh vegetables to give to their customers.” After a brief hiatus due to a lack of volunteers needed to operate the garden, Guertal and Zach Ogles, an Auburn doctoral student, revived the garden last spring. “Dr. Guertal is a very generous person who really wants to do good for those less fortunate,” said Ogles. “I believe she saw this garden as an opportunity to do that.” Last summer, more than 1,000 pounds of produce were donated. Guertal says Ogles has been the main operator of the garden. He picks the overwhelming amount of produce every day or two, makes sure the garden is being watered on a regular schedule through the timed irrigation system and that it is being fertilized by the fertilizer injection system installed in the soil. “The garden is able to operate from grants and donations Dr. Guertal has received,” Ogles said. Last summer, about 500 tomato plants were planted, and produce including cucumbers, bell peppers, green beans, squash, zucchini, okra and cantaloupes grew in the garden.
THIS IS AUBURN. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French, 1749–1803), Portrait of Madame Adélaïde, about 1787, oil on canvas, collection of the Speed Art Museum, gift of Mrs. Berry V. Stoll, 1982.21.
ONE incredible exhibition. TWO fabulous museums!
Rembrandt, Rubens, Gainsborough, and the Golden Age of Painting in Europe At Auburn's Art Museum, October 19, 2014–January 4, 2015 and coming February 2015 to Huntsville Museum of Art The exhibition is organized by the Speed Art Museum and is generously underwritten at JCSM in part by Mrs. Dorothy Davidson.
J C S M . AU B U R N . E D U
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C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
Get with the program Special Collections and Archives in the Draughon Library welcomes visitors to examine its comprehensive collection. Not in Auburn? Browse the goodies online.
Auburn football programs date back more than a century, capturing everything from historic games to stadium expansions to coaching changes.
diglib.auburn.edu/
The covers by artist Phil Neel gave birth to Aubie in 1959 on the cover of the program for the game against Simmons College. Also shown here are tickets and sideline passes from the collection of Athletic Director David Housel.
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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
THIS IS ENDOWING SUCCESS. C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
AUBURN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES: C. HARRY KNOWLES COLLECTION
Software visionaries Walt ’69 and Ginger Woltosz are known internationally as engineering pioneers. Their software breakthroughs have improved the quality of life for those with speech disabilities and have enhanced discovery and development in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. At Auburn University, they are known for their generous, charitable support that will continue to transform educational and research programs in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. The couple’s recent philanthropic endowment of $10.55 million — the second-largest gift 1950 in the college’s history — will support the Auburn Tigers team educational needs of engineering captain Jim McGowenstudents and leads of thefaculty, team onto the bolstering the research needs while field in one of the early the technical advances of the college’s research incarnations of the facilities. Their support includes enhancing footballalso stadium. the current Woltosz Graduate Fellows Program and endowing a second professorship in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.
Flashback 100 years ago
75 years ago
50 years ago
25 years ago
Winter 1914
Winter 1939
Winter 1964
Winter 1989
The engineering Fourteen fraternities University President This year was the first department offered its entered teams for the Ralph B. Draughon year students could support Auburn first course in wireless Wefirst Infraternity Debate because… decided to step down register for, and drop, telegraphy, perhaps tournament, which from his position, setclasses from a distance. quality an Auburn engineering is setting a precedent for Thetook placeofover the ting off a education search by the Instead of requiring successes so many of students to walk to the beginning the nation’s evidenced course ofbya the few tremendous weeks. board for a of successor. college’s alumni, beenaone the very bursar’s office and wait first wireless technology theMany of the debateand I have Within year,ofHarry ones. I know was supported degree program almost fortunate issues had to do with my education M. Philpott took on the in long lines, the univerby the gifts offraternities others, so now presidential it’s our turn to “pay a century later. An questions title andit sity decided to offer a forward.” Ginger and I believe in Auburn apparatus that was had already faced, remained in and officehope for touchtone telephone sysour giftswhether will assist progressa previously used only for thatincluding or in continuing 15 years. its Draughon, tem. By entering one’s the forefront of engineering educationpresiin the student ID number and interpreting telegraphic toward not “deferred rushing” transformational andbeinpracticed the world. messages was adapted nation should by dent in Auburn history, then, when prompted, - Walt Woltosz to make sending and all fraternities on camgraduated from API ‘69 the last four course receiving messages pus. The winning team, in 1922 and joined the number digits of the possible as well. Alpha Tau Omega, was history faculty in 1931. class, schedules could be awarded a championmade more easily. ship cup.
THIS IS AUBURN.
In recognition of their continued, very generous support 10 years agoof Auburn University, the Board of Trustees has honored Walt and Winter 2004 Ginger by naming the college’s central research facility in University the Shelby Center for Engineering Auburn spent $6 million Technology as the Woltosz Engineering making campus more Research Laboratory. pedestrian-friendly, closing many two-way streets and enabling more students to walk to class and avoid parking issues. New walkways and car-free areas helped unify the campus and made Auburn more of a O F F I academic CE OF DEVELOPMENT collective community rather than several disconnected parts.
a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine
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C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
Styrofoam, no more... The
OFFICE of SUSTAINABILITY
&
TIGER DINING
As of the end of last summer, Auburn University is a Styrofoam cup-free campus.
This summer, Auburn University’s College of Education began requiring all students in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching to take English as a Second Language-infused literacy classes. “When a school system rapidly changes in terms of its language demographics, this can be very frustrating for teachers,” said Jamie Harrison, who specializes in teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, or English as a Second Language. “Requiring our pre-service teachers to develop the skills they will need before they go into the classroom demonstrates progressive thought and will make our graduates even more valuable.” Nearby Opelika City Schools are seeing an influx of Latino students whose native language is Spanish, and Auburn’s schools are seeing lots of Korean students whose families are here for the Kia-Hyundai industries along the I-85 corridor. “This literacy requirement is not at all common on college campuses, but I think it is a great thing we are doing here at Auburn,” Harrison said. “I worked in public
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Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
schools for 12 years as a mainstream reading teacher, but I always carried my ESL perspective into the classroom as well. I was in Georgia, and many of my Latino students did not even hear English spoken at home, so I know how important it is to be prepared for these settings.” Harrison also taught English in Korea for two years, in what she describes as a “living laboratory.” “The trend in ESL studies is to mainstream the students rather than take them out of the classroom,” Harrison said. “It really becomes an advocacy thing, where we can teach other teachers about language or at least collaborate in the classroom. The main thing our pre-service teachers here at Auburn must have is a good understanding of the language-acquisition process and the wide range of language abilities an English learner might present. Perhaps that student can read, but not speak, English. It takes time to learn a second language, especially the rigor of academic English in the classroom.” * Sí, hablo Inglés.
$5,000 The cost of moving from Styrofoam products to paper products per year
Takes up less space in trash cans because it breaks down in them better
Paper waste breaks down into mulch & other useful alternatives
$zero
¿Habla Inglés?*
Once you recycle paper it goes from waste to a resource
The move from Styrofoam to paper will not change student dining plans or costs of meals for private vendors on campus.
tthehan ks Samford Society T h e A u b u r n Fa m i l y
for its support
The Samford Society, named in honor of Samford Hall namesake William James Samford, recognizes Auburn University donors whose cumulative, lifetime irrevocable giving totals $25,000 to $100,000. Auburn proudly bestows Samford’s distinguished name on its generous donors whose contributions are a tribute to his pioneering spirit of championing higher education. Contributions to Auburn University by Samford Society members increase the availability of scholarships and fellowships, enhance classroom instruction, recruit and retain high-quality faculty, and enrich campus programs.
“I have been able to participate in [academic, undergraduate research, and other co-curricular] activities because of you. I receive an Auburn education because of your support. Thousands of other students receive an Auburn education and have the Auburn experience because of you. On behalf of all students depending on scholarships to attain this wonderful education at Auburn, thank you.” –Auburn senior Tekisha Rice of Lipscomb, Alabama, from her remarks at the Samford Society event
For more information, please contact
Donor rel ations donor.relations@auburn.edu 334.844.1322
The Samford Society held its biennial recognition program and reception in the Auburn Arena on Sept. 5, 2014, at which time the society included members from 2,954 households. At the event, the Society welcomed new members representing 557 households and congratulated members from 64 households whose continued support qualified them for membership and future induction into Auburn’s 1856 Society. Photos of the September 5 event and a complete list of Samford Society members can be viewed online at develop.auburn.edu/recognition/societies.html.
C O L L E G E
The
S T R E E T
Stacks
The first and only exhaustive guidebook to Alabama’s diverse mammal population, with hundreds of photos and fun facts. (University of Alabama Press)
An examination of African-American architects’ work in the mainstream architectural marketplace, which has remained “invisible” in architecture history. (Routledge)
A compilation of prayers and verses that glimpse into the lives of a hurting family and a fractured man through redemption, reconciliation and resurrection. (Xulon)
Troy Best & Julian Dusi
Carla J. Bell (Editor)
Scott Leeth ’88
Best is on the biology faculty at Auburn; the late Julian Dusi was also on the AU faculty.
Bell heads multicultural affairs for the AU College of Architecture, Design and Construction.
Leeth is a family physician and certified nutrition educator in the Atlanta area.
A glimpse of the early 1960s, when life’s innocence gave way to rock’n’roll cool even as a drug culture stirred underneath—even in Oak Bottom, Ala. (Ardent Writer Press)
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Brainy Campers Twenty high school students this past summer attended the first Auburn University Brain Imaging Visiting Fellowship (nicknamed AU Brain Camp), hosted by the psychology department in the College of Liberal Arts. Students got hands-on experience using advanced technology and learned about neuroscience from AU faculty.
In this January addition to the Serge Storms series, Serge gets to rescue his old flame Brook—and create havoc at Key West’s Fantasy Fest. (William Morrow)
From Bo and Cadillac to beating Bama, this book examines parallels between the Auburn coaching careers of Pat Dye and Tommy Tuberville. (Seven States)
Arthur B. Carroll III ’71
Tim Dorsey ’83
Josh Dowdy ’99
A retired pediatric dentist in Auburn, Toker’s Blood is Carroll’s second novel.
This is the 18th novel for Dorsey, a resident of Tampa, Fla., and former Tampa Tribune reporter.
Dowdy, a resident of Birmingham, published his first book, Orange is Our Color, in 2013.
Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
C O L L E G E
S T R E E T
Cloned Roots Run Deep Auburn fans can carry on the tradition of the Toomer’s Corner live oaks in their own yards. The Auburn University Department of Horticulture in the College of Agriculture sold seedlings and clones of the famed oaks at every home football game this season. The School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences has maintained a Toomer’s Oaks seedling project for the last eight years. Students collected acorns from the live oaks, grew them and sold them to members of the Auburn Family. The remaining seedlings, collected around 2007, are now from 8- to 10-feet tall. “After being poisoned, the oaks would no longer produce acorns,” said Gary Keever, a professor of horticulture at Auburn who was part of the Auburn Oaks
recovery process. “We’ve had acorns from the trees which were grown and sold, but the demand for more led us to develop clones, or genetically identical trees, as well as seedlings from the original trees.” There have been more than 6,000 requests for seedlings and clones of the famed oaks. “During our efforts to save the oaks, we attempted to propagate the rhizomatic shoots from the base of the tree but were unsuccessful,” Keever said. “When the trees were removed in 2013 we tried once more to propagate the shoots, and this time luck was on our side.” Keever and his team were able to propagate more than 2,000 of the shoots from the live oaks. They are now between 1 and 3 feet tall.
The clones are grown in an enclosed greenhouse where a mister runs constantly to provide the near 100 percent humidity required for them to take root. A sandy soil is used to provide drainage and to keep the shoots in place. Once the clones have taken root, they are moved outside. For more information email buyoaks@auburn.edu
it:
o vis For Franchise Inf
www.mommagoldbergsdeli.com or call 334.466.2007 a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine
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C O L L E G E
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Research
Fighting Ebola TANGLED WEBS A group of Auburn researchers has published a study that could overturn some long-held paradigms regarding spider web evolution. Because of similarities in behaviors associated with web construction and the complicated nature of the webs, it has long been thought that all orb-weaving spiders shared a common ancestor. The study shows that spiders that weave orb-shaped webs are not all closely related and that the orb web was likely not the pinnacle of web evolution. “Conversely, our data shows that rather than being highly derived, or evolved much later in spider evolutionary history, the orb web is actually quite primitive and evolved earlier than previously thought,” said Jason Bond, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History. “All spiders that make orb webs are not neces-
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sarily closely related. Based on our data, there are two unrelated lineages.” The data concluded that the classic orb web emerged in the Lower Jurassic more than 187 million years ago. “The majority of spider diversity comes from an ancestor that spun an orb web, but most lineages abandoned this web type in favor of other web architectures or different strategies for capturing prey,” said Bond. The study, “Phylogenomics Resolves a Spider Phylogeny and Rejects a Prevailing Paradigm for Orb Web Evolution,” is based on more than 300 genes sampled from 33 families of spiders to determine evolutionary, or phylogenetic, relationships. It was conducted in collaboration with graduate students Nicole Garrison, Chris Hamilton and Rebecca Godwin, and students and faculty at Auburn, San Diego State University and the University of Vermont.
Auburn Magazine a u a l u m . o r g
An Auburn University research team has produced a new drug candidate that could one day slow or even stop the deadly Ebola virus. The discovery will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry. The group, led by professor of chemistry and biochemistry Stewart Schneller, has designed a compound aimed at reversing the immune-blocking abilities of certain viruses, including Ebola. “In simple terms, the Ebola virus has the ability to turn off the body’s natural immune response,” Schneller said. “We have made a small tweak in compound structure that will turn that response back on.” Currently, there are no drugs to combat Ebola, and the death toll from recent
outbreaks in West Africa is approaching 5,000, according to late October figures from the World Health Organization. Immunizations might one day lessen the virus’ impact, but vaccines have limitations that other drugs do not. “Vaccines offer a promising therapeutic approach, but they can’t be given to everyone in a population, including the young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems,” said Schneller. “This and other factors support the need for drug therapy as we fight this disease.” Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness in humans. Outbreaks have occurred primarily in remote villages in Central and West Africa near tropical rainforests. It is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. Schneller has studied Ebola for the past decade. The drug design research taking place in his laboratory has focused on combating a variety of viruscaused infections, including smallpox, yellow fever, hepatitis C and others.
Reporting Recognition The Auburn Journalism Advisory Council recognized five individuals at a Sept. 12 annual luncheon to honor those in the journalism profession: Distinguished Community Sports Journalist, the late Bill Shelton; Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist, John Ehinger; Distinguished Auburn University Journalism Alumnus, Rob Rainey; Distinguished Special Achievement in Mass Media, Mark Winne; and the Roy Bain Distinguished Special Achievement Award in Journalism, Harvey H. “Hardy” Jackson.
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An Auburn graduate student and former “Gator Boy” who wrestled with alligators in Eufaula continues his research in Costa Rica, this time with crocodiles. “In terms of behavior, crocodiles seem to be a lot gnarlier than alligators,” said Chris Murray, a member of the Craig Guyer lab in the Department of Biological Sciences, who is investigating the physiological and ecological factors that affect crocodilians within that country. “They’re larger and don’t tire out nearly as fast, if ever, in some instances. They have a lot of fight and they’re more nimble and flexible than your average alligator.” He is seeking solutions for crocodile population issues identified by a Costa Rican commission that studies the animals. “What they’ve found recently is that there is a male bias in sex ratio, so some of their data suggests that there are too many males per female,” Murray said. “There has also seemingly been an increase in attacks throughout the past few years.” Murray and his team—field technician Mike Easter of Animal Planet’s television show “Gator Boys,” the staff of the Palo Verde Biological Research Center, Mahmood Sasa and Sergio Padilla, and others— are working to find potential management implications to combat the problem.
The team is testing hypotheses that examine why there may be an abundance of males. Some data suggests regional warming may play a role in nest temperatures and sex determination in the eggs, or the potential presence of ecotoxins within the system. Murray’s ultimate goal is to mediate the conflict between humans and crocodiles by gathering enough data to make an informed, biologically accurate decision on how the issues can be addressed. Last year, Murray worked with alligators at the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge exploring physiological differences between sexually and non-sexually active alligators, young versus old alligators and whether there were any seasonal differences. Some of the hypotheses tested in Eufaula are being used in his current research in Costa Rica. “We’re taking a few things from the Eufaula research—nest microhabitat, canopy cover, location within a microcosm of the nest—how that affects the thermal regime inside the nest, and thus, the sex of the embryos,” Murray said. “That’s really the component that we’ve removed and replaced in Costa Rica to address more practical questions there.” Murray credits the original Crocodile Hunter for his initial interest in research into crocodilians. “My inspiration came from watching Steve Irwin when I was a kid,” Murray said. “That’s when I realized I could make a job out of this, so I went down that road, and I’m still on that road.”
Auburn University researchers are testing the safety and efficacy of the ingredients of nutritional supplements with the help of a gift from 4Life, a company known for its immune system support products. Faculty and students in the Molecular and Applied Sciences Lab in the School of Kinesiology are interested in nutrition and exercise and how they improve biological or physiological markers. The researchers look at specific dietary ingredients and how they affect different physiological systems both with and without exercise. “For example, how does protein affect musclebuilding mechanisms if you work out or, if you resistance train, how can dietary protein enhance that response?” said Mike Roberts, lab director and an assistant professor in the College of Education. “In terms of how that fits in with 4Life and our partnership, they are marketing products for the im-
mune system. We’re currently doing phase one trials—we design the studies and share with them the assays we can do. The goal is to see if these products are efficacious. At the same time, their gift is providing funding for our lab.” The $100,000 gift from 4Life Research provides for student support, research projects, equipment purchase
and travel for the lab. The researchers already have completed a number of studies using 4Life’s hydrolyzed whey protein, which are being submitted for publication.
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Roundup evaluation, research design, data analysis and dissemination of findings to support the implementation and
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Agriculture Researchers with the Auburn University College of Agriculture and Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station will soon be farming more efficiently, thanks to a deal with farm machinery manufacturer Case IH and Kentucky-based H&R Agri-Power. In exchange for a minimal annual payment, the college and experiment station are now in possession of a highly advanced tractor that will be replaced with new equipment annually. The Case IH Magnum 340 tractor was delivered to Auburn’s E.V. Smith Research Center in Shorter in September. The lease arrangement was facilitated by Donnie Sanders ’69, a longtime supporter of the Department of Biosystems Engineering; Sanders leads H&R Agri-Power’s Aliceville dealership. John Fulton, Alfa Professor of Agriculture in the Department of Biosystems Engineering, AAES researcher and precision agriculture team leader with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, said the machine will greatly improve the agricultural research center’s work in the rapidly advancing field of precision agriculture.
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Architecture, Design and Construction Broadsides created by Auburn graphic designers enhanced this fall’s Third Thursday Poetry Series at Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Robert Finkel, assistant professor of graphic design, coordinated the graphic designers, who included faculty members Kelly Bryant, Finkel, Courtney Hurst-Windham and Samantha Lawrie, along with College of Architecture, Design and Construction graphic designer Courtney Collins. They worked with each of the scheduled poets to design a broadside of the writer’s poem. After the design was approved by the poet, Finkel hand-printed a limited edition of 75 of each of the eight poems. Copies of the entire letterpress broadside portfolio, as well as individual
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letterpress broadsides, are available at JCSM’s gift shop. The poetry series began on Sept. 18. RAYMOND J. HARBERT COLLEGE OF
Business In an effort to recognize Auburn University’s established and emerging business leaders and innovators, the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business has created a new entrepreneurship awards program. The first Auburn University Entrepreneurship Summit will be held Friday, April 24, 2015, and will honor individuals and businesses for their excellence. The daylong program will include the first inductions into the Auburn Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, presentations of Entrepreneur and Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, recognition of the fastest-growing companies owned or led by Auburn alumni and a contest in which
student entrepreneurs attempt to transform their ideas into viable business ventures. “Auburn University has built a remarkable legacy of entrepreneurs and industry leaders, from Main Street to Wall Street, from the one-person startup to the highest valued company in the world,” said Harbert College of Business Dean and Wells Fargo Professor Bill Hardgrave. For information on nominations, visit http://harbert.auburn. edu/entrepreneurshipsummit/index.php.
evaluation of education- and industryrelated endeavors across the Auburn campus, Alabama and beyond. The Center for Evaluation will conduct research and evaluation to inform the work of practitioners and policymakers concerning the efficacy of existing programs and the needs of specific populations for improvement of educational and social outcomes. The center is already in the process of soliciting business and grant opportunities on campus and across the state.
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Education
SAMUEL GINN
The College of Education has established the Auburn Center for Evaluation (ACE). Under the direction of Daniel Henry, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Technology, the center will bring together expertise in program
Engineering
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Through an endowment to enhance faculty support within the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Charles E. and Carol Ann Gavin of Dalton, Ga., have created a faculty chair within the college. The inaugural recipient of the Gavin Chair
is Bruce Tatarchuk, director of Auburn’s Microfibrous Materials Manufacturing Center and professor of chemical engineering. Gavin, chairman of the board for MFG Chemical Inc., received a bachelor’s degree in textile management from Auburn University in 1959, as well as an executive MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has held a number of senior-level positions within the carpet and chemical industries, including vice president of manufacturing for Columbus Mills and vice president and director of dyeing for Coronet Industries. In 1981, he formed MFG Chemical, which provides custom manufacturing for a broad segment of the chemical industry and produces a wide range of surfactants and polymers. During his career, Gavin was instrumental in new developments in acid-dyed carpet lines and the dyeing of polyester carpet. In 2003, he was named Auburn’s Outstanding Textile Engineering Alumnus. SCHOOL OF
Forestry & Wildlife Sciences Three faculty members working in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences have received a $529,000 grant
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from the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to study black bear populations in Alabama. The four-year project, led by associate professors Todd Steury, Wayde Morse and Mark Smith, will study the known black bear population in the Mobile River Basin area as well as a recently established, second population in northeast Alabama. The project has three main components: to collect DNA and behavior information from as much of the Alabama bear populations as possible; to assess public perceptions about bears and bear management; and to generate outreach
materials to educate the public about living with bears. COLLEGE OF
Human Sciences For almost 15 years, the Family Child Care Partnerships program at Auburn University has worked with family child care providers through mentoring, training and connecting providers with other professional organizations and by helping them work toward national accreditation. The program has recently been recognized for its practice-based work with family child-care providers with the 2014 Accreditation Facilitation Award from the
National Association of Family Child Care. This is the third time in five years the program has been recognized by the national association, but the first it was honored for its ongoing successes in coaching licensed family child care providers to achieve the highest standards of professional practice in child care. The program’s managing director, Ellaine Miller, accepted the award at the association’s annual conference in Orlando, Fla., in July.
measures of skill-based technology inequality in the United States. The project will produce several county-level estimates of online skills for the entire American adult population that will capture the importance of how economic status shapes technology adoption and use. These measures will allow researchers to better understand how recent advancements in broadband technology are creating a new system of social stratification.
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Liberal Arts
Nursing
Bill Franko, an assistant professor of political science, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to develop novel
Only some Auburn and Auburn Montgomery nursing students are able to travel to Quito, Ecuador, or Malawi, Africa, to provide health care to women and children, but they they all get to travel to the Alabama town of Lineville for a simulated experience. The small rural community is home to a Christian nonprofit organization called Servants in Faith and Technology (or SIFAT), where people from all over the world can learn practical skills to foster sustainable community development. For Auburn and AUM nursing students, a trek around parts of the 176-acre campus in Randolph County is designed to show them the living conditions in places like Uganda, Bolivia, Liberia and Nepal without actually touring
the world. Auburn and AUM faculty have been so impressed with SIFAT it is now part of the curriculum on both campuses. HARRISON SCHOOL OF
Pharmacy Richard Hansen is the recipient of a grant sub-award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to further research in medication management in the mental health population. Hansen is a Gilliland Professor and department head in health outcomes research and policy in the Harrison School of Pharmacy. The grant furthers research in Hansen’s project entitled “Rapid Secondary Analysis to Optimize Care for Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions.” The project is designed to study the continuity of medication management in Medicaid patients. Hansen’s portion of the grant is a component of the award made by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to a consortium of Auburn University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “In our prior work, we found that for patients with multiple conditions and taking multiple medications the most important predictor of having poor treatment outcomes was how
many different providers were involved in the patient’s care,” said Hansen. COLLEGE OF
Sciences & Mathematics Les Goertzen, an associate professor of biological sciences and director of the John D. Freeman Herbarium, received a National Science Foundation collaborative research grant for the proposal “Digitization TCN: The Key to the Cabinets: Building and Sustaining a Research Database for a Global Diversity Hotspot.” The proposal focuses on imaging and databasing plant collections in herbaria. The grant is a four-year, $2.5 million collaboration among institutions including the universities of Alabama and South Alabama. COLLEGE OF
Veterinary Medicine Auburn University’s internationally recognized detector dog program, operating since 2009 as Animal Health and Performance in the College of Veterinary Medicine, has been renamed Canine Performance Sciences. Interim director James Floyd said that it had become clear that the program should be renamed to better describe what it actually does.
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CONCOURSE TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND
Numbers Auburn University has reached its highest enrollment and its largest freshman class ever this fall, based on numbers from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. Here’s a look at the numbers. Wayne Alderman, dean of enrollment services, attributed the size of the freshman class to a record number of freshman applications and an increase in the share of admitted students who decided to enroll at Auburn.
NINE HUNDRED & TWELVE total student enrollment (up 1,048 from last year)
3.77 Avg. freshman GPA
Road Lessons
Lauren Terry was a toddler when she first attempted to ride a horse. She said she remembers falling off a pony when she was a little girl, but her dad told her to get back in the saddle and keep riding, helping her conquer any potential fear. It worked, and the rest is history. The senior in animal sciences is now an accomplished barrel racer and western pleasure rider and, last January, was crowned Miss Rodeo USA. Taking a year off from classes, Terry spent most of 2013 touring the country, making appearances as an official spokesperson for the International Professional Rodeo Association. In each city, she also took time to speak to schoolchildren about the importance of having good manners and showing respect for others. Now that she’s back on the Plains to finish her degree in animal sciences, she reflects on how her year as Miss Rodeo USA changed her and gave her the opportunity to be a positive influence in the lives of others. “There were two major things I learned from my travels around the country [as Miss Rodeo USA],” said the
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Moulton native, whose family owns and operates Iron Rail Arena. “First, I learned that Miranda Lambert’s song is very true: it takes all kinds of kinds. Each and every one of us is unique in our own way, but our differences are what help make the world go around. “Second, I was raised in the South where manners and respect are common, but I learned that the manners I was taught are not used everywhere. I am afraid that our country as a whole lacks what we Southerners consider to be good manners, and that is unfortunate.” Terry returned to Auburn after her year as Miss Rodeo USA with a different outlook. “I knew I loved to travel, but being on the road for a year made me realize even more how much I enjoyed it. I have always been a friendly person, but I became more outgoing last year. When I came back to campus I would speak to anyone and everyone.” She also got a big confidence boost. “The past year changed me, but in good ways,” she said. “I matured even more and realized I could do anything I set my mind to.”
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62 % of new class from Alabama
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IT’S GREEK TO US
From a ‘Dome’ to the Plains
At first glance, 17-year-old Mackenzie Lintz looks like a typical Auburn student. AU tshirt. Jeans. Hair pulled back in a ponytail. This freshman’s schedule looks a little different, however. For one thing, the Georgia native is the only one who can tune to CBS-TV on Monday nights and see herself on a hit TV drama. Lintz, who landed her first acting role in the topgrossing 2012 movie The Hunger Games, plays the role of Norrie Calvert-Hill in “Under the Dome,” a weekly summer series adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name. CBS recently renewed the show for its third season. Lintz comes from a family of actors and, while she was originally more involved in sports than on the screen, has become a seasoned industry veteran. “My three younger siblings all got into [acting] before me, and they’re now nine, 13 and 15,” Lintz explained. “So they’re younger than me and they were all doing it. So I was like, ‘O.K., fine. I’ll try it.’” After taking a step back from volleyball and softball, which she had previously been devoted to, Lintz landed her role on The Hunger Games at age 13. She’s appeared on every episode in two seasons of “Under the Dome,” which debuted as a summer series on CBS in 2013. Of her audition process, Lintz said, “It was funny because the night I had that audition I had a bunch of homework
and I actually had a sports practice. So I was like, ‘Mom, I do not want to do this audition at all.’ We were kind of backand-forth about whether or not I would do it, and the character is sort of like that. She’s sort of a brat.” Lintz laughs. “My mom was like, ‘We might as well just do it now because you’re acting just like her.’” Once she’d received a call-back and the possibility of landing the role became more real, Lintz began to take it more seriously. She spent hours studying the character and working on her portrayal of Calvert-Hill. She was offered the role a short time afterward, and two days later, at the ripe old age of 16, flew to Wilmington, N.C., to begin filming. The show might have changed her life, but what hasn’t changed was her plan to attend Auburn University. “There was never a question, from the time I was zero to the time I was 17, and I’m 17 now. My dad (Marc Lintz ’90) graduated from here, so I grew up in the Auburn Family. It was always not if I would be a student at Auburn but when.” Now, “Under the Dome” has begun filming its third season to air next summer, and Lintz is having to take a break from pursuing her political science degree. But she’ll be back. It won’t be if she completes her education at AU, but when. — Kerry Coppinger
The National Panhellenic Conference recently recognized Auburn University and 20 other campuses nationwide with the College Panhellenic Achievement Award. The distinction follows a record-breaking recruitment for Auburn, including the largest number of registered participants, 1,401, in the history of Auburn Panhellenic. At the end of Panhellenic recruitment, 100 percent of the potential new members who went through the final recruitment process step of bid-matching received an invitation to join one of Auburn’s 17 Panhellenic sororities. This resulted in a recordbreaking 1,278 bids, with a total of 92.3 percent of the participants placed. Panhellenic was able to predict a large number of participants because the number generally fluctuates with the size of the incoming freshman class, which is
one of the largest in Auburn’s history. Jill Moore ’01, director of Greek Life at Auburn University, credits Auburn Panhellenic’s national recognition and recruitment success to the executive board’s foresight and planning throughout the year. “Panhellenic Executive Board begins preparing for recruitment in early spring,” Moore said. “The application for the National Panhellenic Conference recognition is also due in the spring, so the success we are seeing now is a result of a great deal of hard work and preparation. Where other schools might have had an adviser complete the application, our Panhellenic Executive Board, composed entirely of students, worked together to complete the submission process. The recognition is confirmation on a job very well done.”
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S P O R T S
TIGER WALK
It’s a bird!
It’s a plane! It’s...Gus Malzahn? No, it’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl doing a darn good Malzahn impression during the Halloween preseason “Pearl Jam” student event.
Man of the People Everybody knew Bruce Pearl. Every person. The people you see behind the desk on TV knew him. Their assistants knew him. The assistants’ assistants knew him. Bruce Pearl, Auburn’s first-year men’s basketball coach, seemed to remember every single one of them with a smile and exuberance and kind words and funny words and, well, everything that makes Bruce Pearl Bruce Pearl. His return to ESPN, or the SEC Network version of it in Charlotte, was met with enthusiasm during the Southeastern Conference’s Tipoff ’15, an event for the media that brought all 14 conference coaches and 28 of their players to the network studios, and later to a media setting at a nearby hotel. Pearl worked at ESPN between his gig as Tennessee’s head coach and accepting the job as Auburn’s head coach last March. Media savvy, he needed little help navigating his way from studio to studio, and needed no help in telling Auburn’s bas-
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ketball story of looking forward while, unprompted, telling the story of how he erred at Tennessee. That’s Bruce Pearl, a coach who is going to tell you how it is while exposing his soul in some kind of way. So there goes Pearl, down the hall to tape a segment with a bunch of his fellow SEC coaches, and over to another studio to do another segment, and on and on to Internet writers and XM Radio and who knows what else. He’s smooth, a natural in front of the camera, just as he’s been making countless appearances on the Auburn campus, and down many a road, selling Auburn basketball to fans and alumni and to people who may or may not matter. They all matter to Pearl. “I’m blessed to be in Auburn. I’m an Auburn man now,” he tells the assembled media later. Pearl is talking about how ESPN gave him a chance when he ran afoul of the NCAA at Tennessee, and he thanks Auburn
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for taking a chance again. He says he had fun working at ESPN, but he likes coaching better. “It was frustrating when you couldn’t make a difference,” he said. “I loved what I did at ESPN; I loved the work. They treated me great. I tried to get better at what I was doing. But at the end of the broadcast, I didn’t know whether I had won or lost. I hadn’t really changed anybody’s life like you can in coaching.” The bright side? “I never lost at ESPN.” But Auburn came calling, and he was willing to put his record of appearing in 18 postseason tournaments in 19 years on the line. *** Everybody brought players to Charlotte. Auburn brought two potential headliners: Antoine Mason, the nation’s leading returning scorer from his good work at Niagara last year, and KT Harrell, the SEC’s leading returning scorer. They made the rounds, too, doing interviews, drawing Auburn’s mascot, or at least trying to draw Auburn’s mascot, shooting some hoops during yet another interview. Part of it was serious. Mason said Pearl is “the reason I came here. He’s so passionate about the team.” And there were other parts, like when they had to ’fess up on the most embarrassing song on their iPods. “It was not me who put it on my iPod,” Mason protested in advance. “It was one of my friends.” “ ‘Call Me Maybe.’ It was not me.” Harrell said it was a Beyoncé song. “But Drake’s on it!” The players made the rounds without Pearl. Pearl was his own traveling show, drawing the biggest media crowd in the afternoon. Pearl had a good answer about everything, even a sentimental one about his return to Tennessee this season to coach against the Vols. “I had a couple of children graduate in that building,” he said. Pearl showed his feelings, again. “I get pretty attached to different things. There were a lot of 5 o’clock-in-the-mornings walking into your office when nobody else is there, and a lot of times you’re the last guy to leave the building, and you become attached to the trash barrel, you become attached to the hallway. I know it will be emotional because I loved that place and I cared about it so much,” he said. Did somebody say he knows his extended audience? “Gus Malzahn is a genius in football. He’s gifted. He loves basketball, too,” he volunteered. Name-dropper? He said it was easy at Auburn. “When you put up some star power, I’ll put up Charles Barkley and you can put up Michael Jordan, but then I’ll raise you Bo Jackson and then Frank Thomas and Jason Dufner and then Tim Hudson. It’s got star power. I think I can sell that,” he said. He was working it, after a rare night off. “Every night we’ve had something and every night we will have something, and I love it,” Pearl said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” — Charles Goldberg
12/03
AT TEXAS TECH
12/05
VS. COASTAL CAROLINA
12/14
AT CLEMSON
12/17
VS. WINTHROP
12/20
VS. XAVIER
12/23
VS. TEXAS SOUTHERN
12/29
VS. MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE
01/03
VS. NORTH ALABAMA
01/06
AT VANDERBILT
01/10
VS. MISSOURI
01/15
AT FLORIDA
01/17
VS. SOUTH CAROLINA
01/21
VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
01/24
AT ALABAMA
01/27
VS. TEXAS A&M
01/31
AT TENNESSEE
02/05
AT LSU
02/07
VS. OLE MISS
02/10
VS. ARKANSAS
02/14
AT GEORGIA
02/17
VS. ALABAMA
02/21
AT KENTUCKY
02/24
VS. LSU
02/28
AT TEXAS A&M
03/03
AT MISSOURI
03/07
VS. GEORGIA
W W W . A U B U R N T I G E R S . C O M
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‘Quiet Courage’ of James Owens Auburn University was scheduled to host the premiere screening of the documentary film Quiet Courage: The James Curtis Owens Story on Nov. 10 at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. The film, produced in conjunction with Best Gurl Inc., a communication company founded by Thom Gossom ’75, chronicles the story of Auburn’s first African-American scholarship football player, James Curtis Owens.
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Sports Roundup Fore the Children
TAILGATE TECH Football season’s winding to a close, but you can still do postseason tailgating using AU Tailgate Times, an app for iPhones and iPads from the AU Food Systems Institute. The app, which can be downloaded at the iTunes store or on the Food Systems Institute website, brings together a wide range of information about the tradition of tailgating. A new issue was made available for each regular-season game, adding new tailgating traditions from opposing schools each time the Auburn Tigers played a home game. AU Tailgate Times, which is similar to an iBook, is nothing like the more familiar e-magazine. “E-books are just uploaded PDFs, and that’s not what we did,” said Pat Curtis, Food Systems Institute director. “We took it a step further and have included videos and links to related websites, as well as interactive kinds of kids’ activities.” AU Tailgate Times includes sections on the history of tailgating, the Auburn Alumni Association’s hospitality tent, Auburn University’s new beer brewing program and the regional personalities of barbecue. Recipes for popular tailgating foods are included, as well as information on fire, weather and alcohol safety. There are also sections on food poisoning and food safety. Download the App at apple.com/itunes
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Bruce Pearl’s Fore the Children Golf Classic raised more than $150,000 for Children’s Harbor the last weekend in October. “Our monetary goal was lofty,” said Pearl, head coach of men’s basketball. “We thought we would be able to write a check for $100,000 to Children’s Harbor. I’m pretty pleased to say that we will be writing a check closer to the area of $150,000 after everything gets paid for.” “I really appreciate everything coach has done for us and all the support he has lent to us,” said Myrle Grate, COO of Children’s Harbor. “Children’s Harbor raises every dime we have every year. We don’t get any government subsidies or funding. We raise everything through private individuals, so this fundraiser means that 5,000 kids can come to camp next summer and 35,000 people can come through our family center next year and receive support services.” The event, which was presented by Russell Lands and Alabama Power, began with a dinner auction at the Pearls’ house and concluded with
a golf tournament at Willow Point Golf and Country Club. Children’s Harbor helps children with serious illness and their families at their 66-acre Lake Martin campus and at the Birmingham Family Center, providing free counseling, educational opportunities, tutoring, scheduled activities and other services.
Cal Home & Home Auburn and the University of CaliforniaBerkeley have agreed to play a football home-and-home series in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Auburn will host Cal on Sept. 21, 2019, before traveling to California on Sept. 19, 2020. It will mark the first time the two programs have faced each other and the eighth time the Tigers have faced a Pac-12 opponent during the regular season. Auburn’s last game against a Pac-12 opponent was Washington State in 2013 at Auburn. The Tigers are 8-3 all-time versus Pac-12 schools. The 2020 trip to Berkeley, Calif., will be Auburn’s first regular season road game in the state of California since 2002 at USC.
The Other Iron Bowl It took a couple of extra minutes on a Sunday afternoon in October, but the Auburn soccer team defeated Alabama 1-0 in overtime after a game-winning, onetimer goal from senior Chelsea GandyCromer. With the win, Auburn claimed the Iron Bowl of Soccer trophy for the thirdconsecutive year and also won its third match in a row. Auburn went 10-5-3 for the season and 4-3-3 in conference play. It marked Auburn’s eighth 10 or more-win season in the last nine years. The loss dropped Alabama to 10-5-3 overall and 5-3-3 in Southeastern Conference play. It also broke a fourmatch winning streak the Tide had coming into the match.
At Center Court The Auburn women’s basketball team held its first official practice of the preseason in early October at Auburn Arena in preparation for the mid-November start of the 2014-15 regular season. The Tigers, entering their third season under head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy and the 44th season
of women’s basketball at Auburn, worked out for two-and-a-half hours in the practice gym at the arena. Auburn was permitted to conduct 30 practices in the 40 days leading up to the seasonopener versus Troy on Nov. 14. Auburn returns eight letter-winners and four starters from 2013-14 on its 13-player roster. Five newcomers, all freshmen, join the Tigers’ roster for the upcoming season. The Tigers went 19-15 overall last season, 7-9 in the Southeastern Conference, and advanced to the third round of the Women’s NIT. Senior Hasina Muhammad is Auburn’s leading returner on the defensive end. A selection to the 2014 SEC All-Defensive Team, Muhammad was the team’s leader in steals (2.37/game) and blocks (2.07/ game), ranking in the top five in the SEC in both categories. She also averaged 9.3 points per game. Three of Auburn’s top four scorers from 2013-14 return. Along with Muhammad, sophomore Brandy Montgomery (11.4 ppg) and junior Tra’Cee Tanner (10.5 ppg) will help pace the offense.
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by Suzanne Johnson Additional reporting by Troy Johnson
and Jordan Dale
Back Forty Beer Co. might sell a lot of brews with whimsical names like “Freckled Belly” and “Naked Pig,” but for Jason Wilson ’05 and his team of Auburn gray-collar workers, beer is serious business.
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he phrase Back Forty is loaded with meaning, imbued with a sense of history, modern yet timeless. For farmers during Civil War days, when the phrase first came into use, it meant the smallest parcel of land considered surveyable. Or it was the forty acres at the back of the homestead, as opposed to the “south forty” or the “north forty.” Later generations of farmers and ranchers referred to the back forty as that isolated piece of property where folks rarely ventured, or where the crop prospects were poor and not worth the work that went into them. In our urban culture, Back Forty is a name of a halfdozen sustainable farms around the country, a Hollywood movie backlot, a gun shop in Vermont and a country-rock band in Nebraska. For Jason Wilson ’05, it’s both a philosophy and a way of life. The back forty acres present a challenge. He believes in another familiar phrase—“work, hard work”—and knows that with a little care and a lot of perseverance, those neglected and unfruitful acres can be turned into something of value. Wilson and his employees at Back Forty Beer Co. in Gadsden are planting, irrigating and cultivating the back 40 acres of the craft beer industry: the Deep South.
“In the craft beer community the South is really overlooked,” he says. “It’s the back 40 of the country. It’s where the tractors go to die. But the irony of it is that if you take the time and put in the work in the back 40, you’ll get a tremendous yield. The same is true for us. We saw an opportunity and were willing to put in that hard work.”
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outhern beer drinkers have traditionally stuck with mass-produced, classic draft beer, so when Back Forty started, that was where Wilson hit first—trying to lure the traditional beer drinker into trying his own high-quality classic-style brew. What he didn’t do was go to the bar owners. Instead, Back Forty hit up restauranteurs, particularly those sensitive to the organic, local food movement and interested in the way craft beer could add complexity to their food offerings. The first gourmet convert was Leonardo Maurelli, formerly the chef at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center, who is now the award-winning executive chef at the Montgomery bistro, Central. With Maurelli came Billy Thompson, head chef at Union in downtown Mobile, and James Beard Award-winning chefs Chris Hastings at Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham and Michael Schwartz of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink and Harry’s Pizzeria in Miami. “We were foodies before we were brewers,” Wilson says. “Chefs, brewers, architects—we’re all the same. We’re craftsmen at the heart of it.” They weren’t just going through the motions when they talked to chefs about going local. It’s why they wanted to stay in Gadsden, and why Wilson says it’s a priority to stay committed to the community and local organizations as much as they can. “We use 10 tons of spent grain a week and give that to a cattle farmer who can feed 55 head of cattle for free,” he says. Local beekeepers have been utilized in the production of Back Forty’s Back Forty’s head cellarman Michael Blevins checks on the fermentation in a batch of Truck Stop Honey Brown Ale in the Gadsden brewery.
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honey ale, and the company has grown so much that it has now expanded its hive of beekeepers statewide. One near Gadsden has had to request additional hives to keep up with Back Forty’s growing demands. Back Forty Beer currently distributes statewide in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida, with plans to expand along the Eastern seaboard into Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland and the New York state area. Additionally, they export internationally to Canada, with plans to add Sweden, Japan and Brazil.
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he masterminds behind Back Forty Beer are good at their craft and sound in their business practices. They’re also good—really good—at marketing. Who can resist trying a beer with a name like Naked Pig? All the beers pay homage to their Southern roots. “All of them have a double-entendre,” Wilson says, and pauses. “I’m a sucker for a good double-entendre.” So Naked Pig, a pale ale, is named after—you guessed it—the palest animal on any farm. Ironically, it
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pairs well with barbecue. Truck Stop Honey, a brown ale, is created from that local Alabama honey, the sort that ends up in bear-shaped honey containers in gas stations and truckstops. “Late in the development process we realized in the Deep South there is a total other meaning for ‘truckstop honey,’ but we embraced the culture and rolled with it,” Wilson says. Yep, another double-entendre. Kudzu, a porter, has the tagline, “Careful, it’ll grow on you,” and Eric Tollison, Wilson said it’s amazing how many a brewer, checks a plate people from different parts of the streaked with native Alabama country ask, “What’s Kudzu?” He says yeast. All the spots are of yeast it’s great to be able to share a story colonies that have grown from about what kudzu is and enlighten a flower in CEO Wilson’s yard. people about Southern culture. Regular testing monitors Freckle Belly, an Indian pale ale, the fermentation just sounds Southern, Wilson says. It’s process. the sort of thing you might nickname a friend in high school, but it’s also the name of a fish native to Alabama. One of Back Forty’s newest beers, Fence Post, embodies how the South is different from other parts of the country. “Everywhere else in the world, fences are used to keep people apart,” Wilson says. “Fence posts are a sign of division. In the Deep South, fence posts are exactly the opposite. Sure, they serve a function, but they’re also a meeting place. They’re a place where neighbors gather to talk about the day’s events, or where a crew of farmers mark the stopping point of the day and enjoy a meal or a beer in the field after a long day. “In the South, fence posts bring people together.”
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ilson’s family bleeds Auburn orange and blue, so it makes sense that his company would too. A fifth-generation Alabamian, he said at one point he was at Auburn with seven first cousins, and his sister and brother both graduated from the university. Now, he deliberately searches for employees among Auburn graduates, with 10 of his 23 employees being AU alumni. They include chief operating officer Tripp Collins ’03, production manager Carrie Machen ’03, general council David Carn ’03, packaging manager Efe Orgen ’05, marketing manager Brad Wilson ’10, lead accountant Brittney Hill ’11, logistics analyst Ellis Colthorpe ’14, logistics intern Norm Brooks ’15 and production assistant Michael Moore ’15. “Auburn students have what we call a gray collar work ethic,” Wilson says. “It’s not a completely white collar—the
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suit and tie office work ethic, and it’s not blue collar—the operational folks, out there on the floor doing the heavy lifting. It’s this wonderful combination of both and you can see the embodiment of the Auburn Creed in it. That’s something that really resonates in the business world.” That work ethic allows Auburn grads to quickly adapt to varying conditions. Whether they’re needed in the production side of the business, the marketing side, or even to take out the trash, Auburn interns and alumni at Back Forty work hard and perform well. “It’s the ability to understand that combination of physical work and the analytical mindset,” Wilson says. Wilson’s relationship with his alma mater is symbiotic. He serves on the supply chain management council for the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, and has been instrumental in helping develop Auburn’s 32
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new brewing sciences program alongside AU professor Martin O’Neil. The brewing sciences program creates a stable of knowledgeable brewers as potential employees both for Back Forty and the country’s growing craft beer industry. “We realized that one of the biggest challenges in Alabama is that there has been a lack of quality employees in the brewing industry,” said Wilson,
AU in the Back Forty
Back Forty Tigers, L-R, chief operating officer Tripp Collins ’03, marketing manager Brad Wilson ’10, Austin Whitt ‘14, lead accountant Brittney Hill ’11, Jason Wilson ‘05, production manager Carrie Machen ’03, packaging manager Efe Orgen ’05, logistics analyst Ellis Colthorpe ’14, general council business manager David Carn ’03.
who also serves as president of the board for the Alabama Brewers Guild. “It’s hard for us to find employees with experience or knowledge.” With this in mind, Back Forty Beer also has worked with Brian Gibson in the Harbert College of Business to offer a six-month internship year round, allowing two students the opportunity to learn the brewing process on-site and gain valuable experience. A visit to the company’s website (backfortybeer. com) shows that Wilson & Co. are not just about beer but about a culture. A Back Forty TV video shows how to make popcorn with beer. Prefer to cook more than popcorn? There’s a link to a recipe for Paw Paw’s Peach Beignets, featuring the company’s seasonal brew, Paw Paw’s Peach Wheat, and other recipes from Truck Stop Honey Vinaigrette dress-
ing to Kudzu Honey Chili to Sex Truffles (dark chocolate, whipping cream, Naked Pig and maca, a Peruvian herb said to enhance energy and libido). If you just can’t get enough double-entendre, there’s also Back Forty underwear, t-shirts, baby bibs and hoodies. They’re not afraid to try new things, in other words. “At Back Forty, it starts with letting people know it’s A A says. A A A “Failure is not only inevitable; okay toAfail,” Wilson it’s necessary to achieve success. We are never afraid to A A A A A exploreAa new market or even a non-beer product like our boiled A vinegar A Amalt A A A and wildflower honey.” And if there’s a double-entendre to be had, all A A A A the better. See more online at backfortybeer.com. For backstory on the Back Forty photo shoot visit auburnmagazine.auburn.edu.
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by Jeremy Henderson ’04
Our House In 1939, as nations marched toward war, women bought newfangled nylon stockings, Bennie Goodman sat at the top of the popular music charts and the football team of Alabama Polytechnic Institute played its first game in the brand-new stadium that would become the heart of campus. Seventy-five years later, Jordan-Hare Stadium is still home sweet home.
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Room with a View
The David E. Housel Press Box gives announcers and media members an eagle’s-eye view of the sea of orange and blue on home game days.
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uburn Athletics let me up in the David E. Housel Press Box for the San Jose State game. I was writing a story on the history of the stadium. I wanted to write down the sights and smells of game day at Jordan-Hare without knees in my back. They said sure. I stayed up there for as long as I could. It was the longest I’d ever been in the stadium after a game. I finally looked up from the keyboard. The stands were mostly empty. The last official sound I heard over the PA was stadium announcer Ric Smith saying: “Tonight’s official attendance was 87,451. Thank you for your support of Auburn Football. Welcome home.” Watch an Auburn game day unfold on Twitter and Facebook, and it’s obvious, but hearing that is when it really hit me that writing about the 75-year history of Auburn’s stadium would be writing about the history of a home. Fans pack up, they pull out of their driveways, they leave their houses and they head home. They walk into Jordan-Hare and tweet a photo of a field that doesn’t need an Instagram filter and they hashtag it #home. “I’m home.” “We’re home.” “So happy to be home.” Once upon a time, Auburn football didn’t have a home. On Nov. 21, 1936, Auburn played Loyola for homecoming on Drake Field. It was the worst defeat in Loyola history. It also was the last Auburn home game for three years. The team was playing in Auburn only once a year by that point. There was more money to be made by playing in front of more fans than could be accommodated on campus. And when the team played squads across the nation, the school got national exposure.
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But when the fatigue of traveling hundreds, even thousands, of miles every weekend kept the team from winning, fan complaints began to outweigh the publicity. Money was great. Press was great. But Auburn students and alumni thought they deserved to see their team at home at least once a year, deserved to have homecomings at home, not in Columbus, Ga., like in 1937, when everyone (even the coaches) still thought “Drake Field” missing from the schedule was a one-time deal. By 1936, there were things a school needed in order to consider itself a big-time football program, and Auburn didn’t have them. Everything about Drake Field screamed makeshift, temporary. Auburn needed something permanent, something most every other Southeastern Conference school had had for years. Alabama Polytechnic Institute, aka Auburn, needed a stadium.
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There were several stabs in that direction in the decade before Auburn Stadium was built, and hopes and dreams stretching back even further. In 1930, six or so months after Bama dedicated a stadium that their president predicted would eventually house 66,000 people, wealthy Auburn alumni were writing $10,000 checks for Knapp Stadium (as in then-API president Bradford Knapp), Great Depression be damned. In early 1934, Coach Jack Meagher’s first year on the job, the Works Progress Administration halfheartedly broke ground for “a concrete stadium to put Auburn on the map,” as Physical Plant records put it. No one remembers why the project was stopped. By the time work “resumed” in 1938 thanks to Meagher’s continued insistence and a new $1.5 million dollar WPA-funded project ($160,000 of which would go toward a football stadium and field house), the nomads of the Plains were basically a national punch line. In 1939, mere weeks before reaching the promised land, Auburn was playing in Manhattan, a thousand miles away. Before the game, Auburn sports publicist Elmer Salter opened a New York City paper and found this parody of the poem that gave the city of Auburn its name, Oliver Goldsmith’s “Deserted Village.”
game, the first real homecoming in three years. Workers had hammered under lights to have it ready for the 1939 season, and no one was going to rain on the parade. Not Yankee sportswriters. And not FDR. In August, the great, unlikely benefactor of Auburn football, who’d visited campus that spring and had even hinted he might be pulling for the Tigers come fall, suddenly threatened to ruin the stadium dedication by moving Thanksgiving to Nov. 23 in order to feed the economy an extra week of Christmas shopping. Auburn had specifically rescheduled the game—it was originally set for Dec. 2 in Montgomery—to take place at Thanksgiving. Thankfully, deciding when to officially give thanks was still up to the states. Half the country kept the original date, Alabama included. The 15,000 people pouring into the Loveliest Village in caravans from Montgomery, Birmingham, Columbus and as far away as New York and Massachusetts arrived to the smell of turkey in the air. The Greeks had turned the entire campus into a Thanksgiving buffet. People milled in and out of fraternities and boardinghouses on their way to and from the new stadium with bellies full of bird and stuffing. The brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon stood outside in front of a giant crepe paper organ with the words “Welcome Alumni” on the pipes, singing carols and leading cheers. Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain The dedication ceremony was slated for 1:45 Whose football team is always on a train p.m., kickoff at 2. If you Whose football fans raise loud and loyal cheers didn’t have a ticket, you didn’t get in—even if you For playing feats they haven’t seen in years were the governor, even if you were George Petrie, Sweet Auburn, let your residents rejoice even if you were Coach Give ear, give eye and—as one man—give voice! Meagher. Every penny from the gate receipts was Your football favorites long wont to roam precious. More than half cost of the stadium This year—what, ho—will play a game at home! the would have to come from Auburn, and things like What ho, indeed. working bathrooms (all two of them) didn’t come cheap. It was going to be the biggest thing that had ever “On this Homecoming Day we witness the fulfillment happened in Auburn. Auburn vs. Florida, the first home of a dream of four decades—a dream that has taken form
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Babe McGehee & Dick McGowan re-enact the first touchdown with the 1939 team.
and substance through the cooperation of the federal and state governments,” API president Luther Duncan told the crowd before introducing George Petrie for the dedication speech. “This beautiful stadium and the new buildings now under construction are prophetic of a still greater Auburn that is yet to be—a triumph of the ‘Auburn Spirit’—symbolized by its desire to build a great Alabama, a greater Southland, and a greater America.” The Auburn Spirit might have triumphed, but the team didn’t. The game ended in a 7-7 tie, disappointing but not devastating. (The message in the Auburn casinothemed homecoming decorations in the front yard of the Pike house? “Roll The Dice—Any Number Wins.”) But if the scoreboard with the working clock had been erected at the time (it didn’t show up until 1941), things would have been different. Auburn was second and goal late in the fourth quarter. How much time was left? The official held up two fingers. Two minutes, plenty to work with. Auburn drove down to the two. The whistle blew. Two fingers had apparently meant two seconds. Game over. Fifty years later, there was a redemption of sorts. At
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halftime of the 1989 Auburn-Florida game, the 50th anniversary celebration of the stadium, players on the 1939 team, Dick McGowen (who threw the pass) and Babe McGehee (who caught it), re-enacted the first Auburn touchdown scored in Jordan-Hare. Two hours later, with 30 seconds left, Auburn’s Reggie Slack threw an almost identical touchdown pass to Shane Wasden, who caught the ball in the end zone pretty much on the same spot McGehee had half a century earlier. This time, Auburn won, 10-7. There were 85,214 people in Jordan-Hare on that night in 1989, tied for the most ever in the stadium and at that time the most people ever gathered for a night event in the state of Alabama. How many people were in Auburn Stadium on Nov. 30, 1939? What was the stadium’s capacity? Depends on which magazine or media guide you’re reading, but almost all of them are wrong. The current copy-and-paste consensus is that it could hold 7,500 people the day it opened. Fifty years later, a reminiscing Jeff Beard, former Auburn athletic director, swore there were only 7,290 at the game. Yet Auburn Coach Jack Meagher, in a thanks-forcoming note to students the following week, stated that the official attendance was 11,095. Most newspaper accounts estimated the first real crowd at between 12,000-14,000. The discrepancy is mostly semantic. Somewhere along the way, when people started talking about the stadium, what they really meant were the west stands. When you ponder the growth of the stadium, you ponder in terms of permanence. And the west stands were the first permanent portion of the stadium. They were concrete. They were the anchor. They weren’t going anywhere. Forgotten were the large wooden stands erected on the east side of the field. There were also temporary bleachers behind each end zone. But leading up to the game, no one—not the fans, not the reporters, not Auburn officials—thought the stadium only sat 7,500 people—more like twice that many.
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A line from an ad for a game running in papers: “The big new concrete stadium and wooden bleachers will have seating capacity of over 15,000…” In his letter, Meagher said he was happy with the turnout even though 11,095 “wasn’t a full house.” Regardless of the actual numbers, what’s important is that there was a place to sit at all, a place to finally be proud of. And because there was, there would never be another year without a football game in Auburn (except— blame Hitler—1943). Yet over the next 10 years, the Tigers opened their new home only 12 times. The stadium was a status symbol, but there was technically still more money to be made in Birmingham and Atlanta and Columbus. And for one split, wacky second, at least according to the newspapers, Auburn really wasn’t interested in using the stadium to make money. “Auburn Stadium will never be tread-worn, because it will be filled with football fans only once or twice a year,” the Opelika Daily News wrote. “The Plainsmen do not plan to commercialize on their new home... but it’s a good thing to have in case Auburn decides to have more homecomings.” Auburn had more homecomings. For years, that’s pretty much all they had. Not that they were selling them out. Auburn had only two winning seasons in the 1940s. In the final three years of the decade they only won five games. The teams might have been less-than-perfect, but the stadium wouldn’t be. On New Year’s Eve, 1948, Auburn issued a press release announcing a 13,000 permanent seat addition to what by the next home game would be known as Cliff Hare Stadium. Next time you see the image of that first Auburn football team, check out the guy relaxing on the front row, far left. That’s Cliff Hare, who later became dean of Auburn’s School of Chemistry, the faculty chairman of the Auburn Athletic Association, as well as commissioner of the then Southern Conference. He pretty much devoted his life to Auburn sports. You might hear less about him these days than, say, his former coach George Petrie, who, having passed away a year earlier (and being the father of Auburn football and
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all), was top of The Plainsman’s list of stadium namesake nominees, but Cliff L. Hare was straight-up beloved, on the Plains and across the South. When nearly 23,000 fans came home on Nov. 5, 1949, to see Auburn beat Mississippi State, it was his name they saw on the house, deservedly. Roger W. Allen, chairman of the faculty athletic committee, presided over the halftime rededication ceremony and echoed the decade-old sentiments that once again ruled the day. “This new stadium consummates the dreams of Auburn men and women over the 57 years that the Auburn
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Tiger has prowled the football fields of the South playing games away from home because here we could not take care of those who wished to see us play.” In 1950, the first year of Cliff Hare Stadium, Auburn played three home games, the most they had played in a single season in 28 years. They lost them all. They lost all of the away games, too. The final record: 0-10, the worst in Auburn history. Despite the inauspicious start to what was supposed to be the dawn of an even newer era, it was in Cliff Hare Stadium that Auburn football became relevant again, so relevant it eventually began being played in Jordan-Hare Stadium. You don’t put the name of your current head
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coach up on bricks unless he’s doing something right, and has been for a long time. And for the next 25 years, as often as he could, Ralph “Shug” Jordan did things right in Auburn. From 1949 to 1959, there were 36 home games, three times as many as in the previous decade. There were 45 more during the next decade. One by one, the old rivals came. “I have nothing against anyone in Birmingham,” Jordan told reporters, right before Cliff Hare became the second-largest stadium (61,000 seats) in the SEC in 1970, “but there just comes a time—and I can’t help but feel this—that Auburn’s destiny is in Auburn.” While Jordan had the keys, that destiny was fulfilled with additions, improvements and wins. And a national championship trophy—all the things rededications are made of. Leading up to the 1973 season, a reporter reminded Jordan that Florida had never beaten Auburn in Cliff Hare Stadium. Jordan looked at him and said, “And they never will if the senate gets through.” On Oct. 7, before Auburn’s home game against Ole Miss, Gov. George Wallace, a year earlier bound to a wheelchair, rolled up to the microphones and said the magic words: “Henceforth this stadium shall be known as the Jordan-Hare Stadium.” Jordan stepped up to the mic holding an old ticket stub. It was from the first game he—or anyone—attended in Auburn’s stadium: Auburn vs. Florida, 1939, a game
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that he watched from the sideline as an assistant coach. He told the crowd that years before, when he was a student at Auburn, he “spent many an afternoon” talking with Cliff Hare. “I loved the man,” he said. “And I want you to know that the Jordan part of the stadium is real proud to have our name up there with such a great person as ’Fesser Hare.’” Auburn played 12 games in 1973. Half of them were played in Auburn. The west upper deck was completed in 1980, Doug Barfield’s last year as Auburn’s head coach. But these days, when you close your eyes and think of home, in the bottom right corner of that mental picture (the one in the aerial photos on the backs of shirts and hanging in bank lobbies) should be the words: Copyright 1980s, Pat Dye. One of the first things Dye did as coach was to install a new field with new grass, the natural kind. (Jordan, whose greatest stadium legacy might have been adamantly saying no to the AstroTurf people, would have approved.) It was the best field in the country. It still is. In 2005, they named it after him: Pat Dye Field in JordanHare Stadium. In 1986 there would be an east upper deck, a massive new scoreboard and dozens of executive suites underwritten with bonds secured with the program-building power of one of Dye’s first star recruits (“Bo Bonds,” as they were only half-jokingly known on Wall Street). Under Pat Dye, Auburn was the most dominant team in the SEC and Jordan-Hare briefly the fifth largest on-campus football stadium (capacity 85,000) in the country. It’s currently the 11th largest on campus (14th overall) and still bigger than Nebraska, Oklahoma, Michigan State and Notre Dame. If Jordan-Hare is the house that Meagher built and that Shug Jordan made a happy home, it’s also the house that Pat Dye made a showpiece, an absolute “showcase for college football,” as former assistant AU Athletic Director Oval Jaynes described it to reporters before the massive 1986 expansion. And it was the nicest stadium Bama ever played in. On Dec. 2, 1989, two days after its 50th anniversary, Jordan-Hare eagerly threw open its doors to the upstate neighbors who said they’d never, ever come to Auburn. The Iron Bowl was finally played in Auburn. And there was a heck of a stadium in Auburn to play it in. And on Nov. 30, 2013, the 74th anniversary of JordanHare, the world watched the greatest game in the history of college football. It was played in Auburn. Because there was a heck of a stadium in Auburn to play it in.
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hour after the game. He was walking back to his car and using a walker. I went up to him. “Better than ’72, Mr. Housel?” “Oh yeah.” After rattling off the dates of some of the best games played in Jordan-Hare, he told the 100 or so members of the Auburn Family gathered at the alumni center that the last game played there in 2013, the Iron Bowl that was better than ’72, the game better than every other game, would be his last. “I want that to be my final memory in Jordan-Hare,” he said. The audience believed him. The journalism students tweeting his comments for a class assignment believed him. I believed him. He sat down the whole time. He wore a support boot on his left foot. Going out on the highest note imaginable made sense. But the day before I watched the San Jose State game from the David E. Housel Press Box, I called him up to confirm, just in case. “Was the 2013 your final game in A A really A AIron A A Bowl Jordan-Hare?” A A A“I Awas A just kidding about that.” “Oh, no,” heAreplied. Because forA asAlong as A he A can, David Housel will A A watch Auburn football games from Jordan-Hare, from A A A A home, with Family.
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The day before Auburn’s 2014 season opener against Arkansas, Auburn Athletics Director Emeritus David Housel gave a talk at the Auburn Alumni Center on the stadium’s 75-year history. Housel has trouble getting around these days. The last time I had seen him in person was after the Iron Bowl, right outside the stadium. It was about an
on the turf that would eventually bear his name, on Pat Dye Field.
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by Anna Claire Conrad ’13
The Journeyman With roles in Dallas Buyers Club and the Steven Spielberg-produced CBS-TV show “Extant,” actor Michael O’Neill ’74 has never been more in demand. All the more reason to keep his feet on Alabama soil.
You might not know his name; such is often the case with what Hollywood calls “character actors.” But you know Michael O’Neill’s face, whether as Special Agent Ron Butterfield in “The West Wing,” FDA head Richard Barkley in Dallas Buyers Club, Alan Sparks in “Extant,” Tom Banacheck in Transformers or roles in dozens of TV shows and feature films. Over the past 30 years, the soft-spoken, lanky actor has made a name for himself as one of the most sought-after professionals in Hollywood. But he doesn’t live there. Instead, he stays close to his Alabama roots by keeping his home and family based in Birmingham and engaging in a long commute during filming. He usually finds time to darken the doors of
Jordan-Hare Stadium once or twice a year as well. Growing up in Montgomery, O’Neill was raised an Auburn fan. “My dad had taken me to a football game when I was 7 or 8 years old,” he says. “It was the Auburn-Florida game, and it made such an impression on me. I can remember the smells of the day, primarily that of peanut shells. We sat on the west side, probably around the 15-yard line, and I remember seats painted orange and blue. My dad sat in a blue one, and I sat in an orange one.” O’Neill’s path to Auburn was a natural one, but not one that ended up where he expected. When he reached college age, most eligible 18-year-olds were being drafted to fight in Vietnam—unless they enrolled in college. He got in just under the wire. “My
1969 class was given the last student deferment,” he says. “As long as you were enrolled at a university and receiving passing marks, they would not draft you. That was not true as of 1970, but it was true in 1969. It was the cutoff.” That upped the stakes for O’Neill, who not only needed passing grades to avoid the draft but also had family expectations he wanted to fill: he was on track to be the first person in his family to go to college. “It was a big deal,” O’Neill says. “I was representing [people] who had made a lot of sacrifices in order for me to go there. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I needed to be a decent student.” Even being a decent student was challenging; the growing unrest evident across most American cam-
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MOVIES (Partial) One Heart (2014) The Grim Sleeper (2014) Dallas Buyers Club (2013) J. Edgar (2011) Green Zone (2010) Flying Lessons (2010) Crazy (2008) Transformers (2007) Secondhand Lions (2003) Seabiscuit (2003) Traffic (2000) The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) The Mod Squad (1999) Lorenzo’s Oil (1992) TV SERIES (Partial) Extant (2014) Rectify (2013-14) Bates Motel (2014) Rizzoli & Isles (2013) Necessary Roughness (2012-13)
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Rectify O’Neill portrays Sen. Roland Foulkes in the series Rectify, which is now in its second season on The Sundance Channel.
“The country was in an extraordinary transition and Auburn was kind of this little bubble, but it was not immune to everything that was going on. It was a golden age in many respects when we were there.” puses didn’t escape Auburn, where O’Neill and his incoming freshman class were the first students to use the new Haley Center. “During my first days there, primarily when walking to class in the Haley Center on the espla-
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nade, there was a protest, a memoriam being read with the names of the people who had been killed in Vietnam,” O’Neill says. “That was a pretty gutsy thing to do in the Deep South in 1969. I often say that when I arrived at
Auburn in 1969 they were reading memorials of the dead on the walls at Haley Center, and when I left [in 1974] they were streaking on the ROTC fields. “It was a crazy time to be there, but the country was in turmoil. You know,
Watergate was going on, the whole hippie movement, the riots in Chicago, Dr. [Martin Luther] King being killed and the riots that happened after that. The country was in an extraordinary transition. Auburn was kind of this little bubble, but it was not immune.” Despite the distractions, O’Neill graduated in 1974 with a degree in economics. He’d managed to keep his grades up to standards, serve as vice president of the SGA for the 1972-73 academic year, and was an active member of his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, of which he was the most outstanding
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undergraduate for 1973-74. He was all set to enter the business world—until a night in Langdon Hall and a visit with a successful Auburn alum. “I studied economics at Auburn because I had a decent grasp of it, but I wasn’t carbonated by it,” O’Neill says. “And then a funny thing happened. In Langdon Hall, at the end of my junior year, and then again in my senior year, I saw a man do Mark Twain.” Those two performances changed his life. “I decided I wanted to be able to do that,” he says. “And I wasn’t even sure what ‘that’ was. I had never done a play or been in a theater department. I had never stepped on a stage in my life, but that performance did something to me.”
Then, fate took over. O’Neill had written a speech for his national fraternity, which was then recorded and played for fraternity alums in other parts of the country. The recording reached actor Will Geer, who was making a name for himself as the grandfather on the hit TV show “The Waltons.” After listening to the recording of O’Neill’s speech, Geer picked up the phone. “He said, ‘Son, this is Will Geer. I think you should try acting before the corporate structure snaps you up,’” O’Neill says. “I stammered and said, ‘Uh, Mr. Geer, I don’t know anything about it.’ So he told me to come to California and that I could work with him. It was just so odd.” O’Neill was cautious, however. In hopes of get-
ting an honest opinion as to what he should do, he sought the advice of Edward Lee Spencer, who owned a lumber company in Auburn. “He was probably the most no-nonsense, intimidating man I have ever met in my life,” O’Neill says. “He was just a fellow that walked in the room and took stock.” After explaining the situation to him, O’Neill was taken aback at Spencer’s response. “Honest to God, I thought he would tell me to go get a job, but he leaned back and said, ‘You probably won’t make it, but you don’t want to look back on your life and wonder what it would’ve been like. You’ll probably fail, and that’s all right, but you’re going to have to go,’” O’Neill says.
J O U R N E Y M A N
TV SERIES, CONTINUED Vegas (2012) NCIS (2010-12) CSI: Miami (2012) Prime Suspect (2011) The Glades (2011) Law & Order: LA (2010) Miami Medical (2010) Grey’s Anatomy (2010) Fringe (2010) Numb3rs (2010) Sons of Anarchy (2009) FlashForward (2009) Army Wives (2009) Ghost Whisperer (2009) Leverage (2008) My Own Worst Enemy (2008) Prison Break (2008) The Mentalist (2008) Women’s Murder Club (2008) Criminal Minds (2007) K-Ville (2007) The Nine (2006-7)
Extant
DARREN MICHAELS/CBS
In this new CBS-TV science fiction series, O’Neill plays alongside actress Halle Berry. Steven Spielberg is the show’s executive producer.
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J O U R N E Y M A N
Ten days later, O’Neill called Geer back to take him up on his offer, packed his car to the brim with what little he owned and drove to California. “I truly had no idea where I was going,” O’Neill says. “I wasn’t sure where Hollywood was. I just followed the road maps. I passed right through a tornado in Amarillo, Texas. I began to think, wow, this is going to be tricky.” However, Geer passed on some words of wisdom that still resonate with O’Neill. “Will told me, ‘Son, it’s the road going—not the getting there—that you’re going to remember,’” O’Neill says. “When I was 22, I didn’t know anything about ‘the road going.’ I just knew that I wanted to get there. Now that I’m older, I understand what he was talking about.” He arrived in California with $88 in his pocket, $60 of which he spent on a guitar. He started off working the graveyard shift as a night attendant in the garage at the Hollywood-Roosevelt Hotel, which catered mostly to prostitutes and drug dealers during the ’70s. True to his word, Geer took O’Neill under his wing and had him train at his own open-air, Shakespearean theater in Topanga Canyon, where Geer’s daughter, Ellen, directed the first play O’Neill starred in, The Glass Menagerie. That first big break on stage would eventually lead O’Neill to New York in 1980 for his first film, Ghost Story. From that point on, O’Neill has worked in nearly 100 films and television shows, including his most recent
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blockbuster Dallas Buyers Club, a film and character that resonated with him on an intimate level. “The film was very personal, and I could put so many faces to that character,” O’Neill says. “I came of age in New York City when AIDS raised its ugly head. We lost a lot of people in the theater community.” In 2012, O’Neill had been waiting for a connecting flight in Houston, en route from Los Angeles to his home in Birmingham, when his agent called about the script for Dallas Buyers Club. His agent urged him to re-route to New Orleans and take on the role as Richard Barkley, an agent for the Food and Drug Administration. On the hour-and-ahalf flight from Houston to Birmingham, O’Neill read the script. As soon as he landed, he called his agent back and said yes to the key role as head of the FDA. After spending a little bit of time with his wife and three daughters, whom he hadn’t seen in three months, he hopped on a plane to New Orleans, where the renegade film was being produced. “They needed someone who could go toe to toe with [star Matthew McConaughey] as an adversary,” O’Neill says. “I felt like, ‘OK. Here’s a man fighting for his life. I’m not his primary adversary. The disease is his primary adversary, but I’m going to be the guy that makes sure nothing is crossing my border that’s going to jeopardize other people’s lives.’ A lot of people look at me as the villain in the film, but from my standpoint, I was a man that was doing his job.”
The movie, which was shot in 23 days on a budget of $5.5 million, has since received rave reviews. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, and it came home with three, including Best Actor for McConaughey and Best Supporting Actor for Jared Leto. Nowadays, as he splits his time between Los Angeles and Birmingham when he’s not working, O’Neill enjoys quality time with his family. And although he makes it back to Auburn for football games and to occasionally guest lecture in the theater department, he would like to be more involved with his alma mater. However, that’s not to say that he’s hoping to retire from acting anytime soon. He’s still on the hunt for the next perfect role. O’Neill has just finished filming Steven Spielberg’s new CBS-TV series, “Extant,” which premiered in June and also stars Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry. He is also working on “Rectify,” the first original series from Sundance TV. Its third season is set to premier in 2015. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, his next perfect role might be a romantic lead. “I’d love to play the olderAcharacter gets A A A A A who the girl,” he says. “It’s alA A A A waysAtheA younger guys that get toA doA that, A Abut A us Aolder guys deserve a chance at A A A A love too.”
See more online at auburnmagazine.auburn.edu
The shovel is an important symbol for O’Neill, who likens life to a garden, where one plants a seed, nurtures it, and sees what grows from it.
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A L U M N I
C E N T E R
Ginn
Society
Named for the visionary and philanthropic leadership of Samuel L. Ginn, Auburn Engineering’s Ginn Society recognizes alumni and friends whose ongoing support through cumulative giving represents a demonstrated commitment to the college’s current and future success. Names are listed according to donor preference and giving levels are as of September 30, 2014.
Visionary Circle – $5,000,000+
Mr. Daniel M. Bush ‘72 Mr. & Mrs.* Robert F. Bynum ‘75 Mr.* & Mrs. William E. Cannady ‘42 Mr. & Mrs. James H. Carroll Jr. ‘54 Mr. Philip R. Carroll ‘82 Mr. Steven G. Cates ‘85 1908 Founders Circle – $1,000,000+ Mr. Shawn E. ‘82 & Mrs. Anne M. ‘82 Cleary Mr. & Mrs. James O. Ballenger ‘59 Mr.* & Mrs. John B. Clopton Jr. ‘47 Mr. John W. ‘57 & Mrs. Rosemary Kopel ‘57 Brown Mr. Timothy D. Cook ‘82 Mr. & Mrs. Dwight T. Brown’69 Mrs. J. Fenimore Cooper Jr., Mr. & Mrs. Henry M. Burt Jr. ‘58 formerly Mrs. John P. Brandel Mr* & Mrs. James D. Caldwell ‘29 Mr. & Mrs. Wayne J. Crews ‘60 Dr. & Mrs. Dwight L. Carlisle Jr. ‘58 Mr. William J. Cutts ‘55 Ms. Mary F. Cordato Dr.* & Mrs. Julian Davidson ‘50 Mr.* & Mrs. Charles E. Davis ‘59 Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. DeMaioribus ‘76 Ms. Ada Nicole Faulk ‘96 Mr. George R. Dunlap Jr. ‘49 Mr. Joe W. ‘71 & Mrs. Gayle P. ‘70 Forehand Jr. Mr. Ronald M. Dykes ‘69 Mrs. Gwenn Smith Freeman ‘73 Mr. Phillip A. ‘81 Brig. Gen.* & Mrs. Bryghte D. Godbold ‘36 & Mrs. Margaret Long ‘81 Forsythe Dr. & Mrs.* Dame Scott Hamby ‘46 Mr. Maury D. Gaston ‘82 Dr. & Mrs.* John T. Hartley ‘51 Mr. M. Miller Gorrie ‘57 Mr. & Mrs. William F. Hayes ‘65 Dr. Griffin K. Gothard ‘88 Mrs. Melissa Herkt ‘77 & Dr. Katina Kodadek-Gothard ‘97 Mr. & Mrs. Michael D. Holmes ‘86 Mr. & Mrs. Cotton Hazelrig Maj. James M. ‘81 & Mrs. Bertha T. ‘80 Hoskins Mr. James A. ‘70 & Michele A. ‘71 Humphrey Mr. Lavon F. Jordan ‘62 Ms. Susan Hunnicutt ‘79 Mr.* & Mrs. Ronald D. Kenyon Dr.* & Mrs. Noah Jerome Hurst ‘55 Dr. Oliver D. ‘66 & Mrs. Sally Y.* ‘66 Kingsley Jr. Mr.* & Mrs. John D. Jones ‘47 Dr. & Mrs. Terry E. Lawler ‘68 Mr. Robert R. Keith Jr. ‘63 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas M. Lowe Jr. ‘49 & Mrs. Donna V. Keith ‘66 Mr. Raymond E. ‘61 & Mrs. Eleanor H. ‘58 Loyd Col. Randolph H. ‘76 & Mrs. Leigh P. ‘77 Kelly LCDR Clifton C. ‘74 & Mrs. Mary R. ‘74 Martin Jr. Mr. David M. Kudlak ‘86 Dr. & Mrs. Michael B. McCartney ‘57 Mr. Homer C. Lavender Jr. ‘66 Ms. Sheila J. McCartney Mr. Tommy C. Loggins ‘64 Mr. James H. McDaniel ‘68 Mr. Thomas H. Lowder ‘72 Mr. & Mrs. Joe T. McMillan ‘58 Mr. & Mrs. James J. Mallett ‘55 Mr. & Mrs. William R. McNair ‘68 Mr. & Mrs. C. Phillip McWane ‘80 Mr. & Mrs.* George A. Menendez ‘70 Mr. Joseph A. “Buzz” ‘83 Mr. & Mrs. Charles D. Miller ‘80 & Mrs. Donna J. ‘84 Miller Mr. & Mrs. Leonard L. Mitchum Jr. ‘51 Mr. and Mrs. Charles Munden Jr. ‘77 Dr. & Mrs. J. Tracy O’Rourke Jr. ‘56 Mr. Hal N. ‘59 & Mrs. Peggy S. Pennington Mr. & Mrs.* Francis T. Payne ‘48 Mr. Richard D. ‘48 & Mrs. Marjorie* Quina Mr. Albert M. Redd Jr. ‘59 Mr. David & Mrs. Jane Rankin Mr. & Mrs. A. J. Ronyak Mr. John L. Rawls Jr.* ‘58 & Mrs. Cindy Peterson Mr. Mark A. Spencer ‘00 Mr. W. Allen ‘70 & Mrs. Martha R. ‘69 Reed Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. Spina Jr. ‘63 Mr. & Mrs. William B. Reed ‘50 Mr. & Mrs. James H. Stewart Jr. ‘60 Mr. & Mrs. Edgar L. Reynolds ‘70 Mr. Jeffrey I. ‘79 & Dr. Linda J. ‘79 Stone Mr. C. Philip Saunders ‘74 Mrs. Susan Nolen Story ‘81 Mr. Wilbur C. * & Mrs. Margaret N. Schaeffner ‘46 Mr. Bill W. Sublett Jr. ‘79 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas D. Senkbeil ‘71 Mr. George E. ‘54 & Mrs. Dorothy S. ‘54 Uthlaut Dr. C. Herbert ‘75 & Mrs. Alisa W. Shivers ‘75 Mr. J. Thomas Walter Jr. ‘55 Mr. David Slovensky ‘71 Mr. & Mrs. John H. Watson ‘60 Mr. & Mrs. Albert J. Smith Jr. ‘47 Dr. & Mrs. Earle C. Williams ‘51 Mr. & Mrs. Danny G. Snow ‘62 Mr. William Johnston and Ms. Ronda Stryker Wilmore Circle – $250,000+ Mr. Jon Stryker Ms. Jennie D. Alley Ms. Pat Stryker Ms. Barbara Allison Mr. Stephen F. Thornton ‘63 Mr. Stephen T. ‘96 & Mrs. Kathleen M. ‘96 Armstrong Mr. Bo ‘08 & Mrs. Lindsay Ille ‘09 Tucker Mr. & Mrs. Thomas G. Avant ‘60 Mr. Jeffrey N. ‘85 & Mrs. Harriet W. ‘84 Vahle Mr. Ben Beasley ‘65 Dr.* & Mrs. William F. Walker Mr. Calvin Cutshaw & Dr. Mary Boudreaux Mr. William J. Ward ‘55 Mr. Paul C.* & Mrs. Marylin Box Mr. James W. Wesson ‘73 Dr. & Mrs. Daniel F. Breeden ‘57 Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Gavin III ‘59 Dr. Samuel L. Ginn ‘59 Mr. Dwight L. Jr. ‘62 & Mrs. Sally P. ‘62 Wiggins Mr. & Mrs. Walter S. Woltosz ‘69
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Dunstan Circle – $75,000+
Mr. Joseph W. Ackerman ‘60 Mr. Gerald B. Andrews Sr. ‘59 Mr. & Mrs. Diaco Aviki ‘95 Mr. Charles F. Bach ‘58 Dr. Kenneth J. Barr ‘47 Mr. & Mrs. Joseph F. Barth III ‘71 Mr. Robert W. Bledsoe ‘10 Mr. William M. Brackney ‘58 Mr.* & Mrs. Rodney Bradford ‘67 Mr. J. B. Braswell Mr. & Mrs. L. Owen Brown ‘64 Mr. & Mrs. David C. Brubaker ‘71 Mr. & Mrs. Roger J. Campbell ‘59 Dr. Tony J. ‘84 & Mrs. Tracey H. ‘83 Catanzaro Mr. & Mrs. Wiley M. Cauthen ‘62 Ms. Katherine Leigh Champion ‘11 Mr. J. Edward Chapman Jr. ‘56 Mr. Joseph Lamar ‘70 & Mrs. Jo Ann ‘69 Cowan Dr. Ralph S. Cunningham ‘62 Dr. Jan N. Davis ‘77 Mr. and Mrs. Walter Day Jr. ‘53 Mr. Joseph G. & Mrs. Amy Thomas ‘78 Dobbs Mr. William G. Dorriety ‘84 Mr.* & Mrs. C. Ware Gaston Jr. ‘50 Mr.* & Mrs. Alfred F. Gentle Sr. ‘50 Mr. Michael V. Ginn Mr. Gary ‘86 & Mrs. Carol Elsen ‘86 Godfrey Mr. & Mrs. Ralph B. Godfrey ‘64 Mr.* & Mrs. Rodney L. Grandy Jr. ‘55 Mrs. Linda Vanstrum Griggs ‘75 Mr. H. Vince Groome III Mr. & Mrs. Glenn H. Guthrie ‘62 Mr. Robert O. ‘83 & Mrs. Margaret F. ‘83 Haack Mr. William R. Hanlein ‘47 Dr. & Mrs. Elmer B. Harris ‘62 Mr. John P. Helmick Jr. ‘56 Mr. & Mrs. Roger R. Hemminghaus ‘58 Mr. John S. Henley II ‘63 Mr. & Mrs. Elmer C. Hill ‘49 Mr. Duke C. Horner ‘47 Mr. & Mrs. Clarence H. Hornsby Jr. ‘50 Mr. N. Wayne Houston ‘56 Mr.* & Mrs. Alan P. Hudgins ‘74 Mr. Charles M. ‘56 & Rosemary S. ‘57 Jager Mr. & Mrs. Carl M. Jeffcoat ‘60 Mr. & Mrs. Joseph S. Johnson Jr. ‘75 Mr.* & Mrs. Terry A. Kirkley ‘57 Mr. C. C. “Jack” Lee ‘47 Mr. J. Stewart Lee ‘83 & Ms. Dorothy D. Pappas ‘80 Mr. & Mrs. Donald R. Luger ‘62 Mr. Fred W. Mace ‘57 Mr. John A. ‘72 & Mrs. Anne W. ‘73 MacFarlane Mr. & Mrs. Charles Albert Machemehl Jr. Mr. Steven John Marcereau ‘65 Mr. George L. McGlamery ‘86 Dr. & Mrs. Gerald G. McGlamery Jr. ‘84 Mr. James D. ‘61 & Mrs. Paula S. ‘65 McMillan Mr. John F. Meagher Jr. ‘49 Mr. Jeff T. Meeks ‘73 Mr. & Mrs. William B. Millis ‘60 Mr. Charles N. Moody ‘63 Mr. & Mrs. M. John Morgan ‘71 Mr. Walter F. Morris ‘57
A L U M N I
Mr. David R. Motes ‘77 Dr. Robert Mark Nelms ‘80 Mr. Darren Glenn Norris ‘82 Mr. James B. Odom ‘55 Mr. David K. ‘77 & Mrs. Olivia Kelley ‘77 Owen Mr. Howard E. Palmes ‘60 Mr. Donald J. Parke ‘82 Mr. Earl B. Parsons Jr. ‘60 Mrs. Cindy Rawls Peterson Mr. & Mrs. Chris J. Peterson ‘71 Mr. Lee W. Richards ‘88 Mr. Raymond T. ‘49 & Mrs. Martina R. Roser ‘47 Mr. & Mrs. James S. Roy ‘57 Mr. Joseph A. ‘69 & MRs. Mary G. ‘69 Saiia Dr. Richard T. Scott Jr. Ms. Carol Richelle Sellers ‘01 Mr. & Mrs. John M. Sikes ‘60 Dr. & Mrs. R. E. Simpson ‘58 Mr. Stephen C. ‘86 & Mrs. Jody A. ‘88 Smith Mr. Stephen L. ‘75 & Mrs. Judith R. ‘74 Smith Mr. & Mrs. Douglas W. Smith Mr.* & Mrs. James M. Smith ‘43 Mr. John A. ‘70 & Mrs. Melanie W. ‘70 Smyth Mr.* & Mrs. Robert J. Sweeney Jr. ‘48 Mr. & Mrs.* L. Ray Taunton ‘56 Mr. K-Rob ‘01 & Mrs. Marcia ‘01 Thomas Mrs. Mary Lou Tolar Mr. Angelo ‘49 & Mrs. Joy L. ‘51 Tomasso Jr. Mr. Bolton W. ‘08 & Mrs. Lindsay I. ‘09 Tucker Mr.* & Mrs. Edwin P. Vaiden Jr. ‘51 Mr. Mark D. Vanstrum ‘79 Col. James S. ‘72 & Dr. Suzan Curry ‘71 Voss Mr. & Mrs. Harold P. Ward ‘49 Mr. & Mrs. William E. Warnock Jr. ‘74 Mr. J. Ernest Warren ‘65 Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Wellbaum III ‘93 Mr. Gary ‘74 & Mrs. Kathy ‘76 West Mr. Lee* ‘59 & Mrs. Nell Wetzel Mr. William H. ‘55 & Mrs. Margaret R. ‘56 Whitaker Jr. Mr.* & Mrs. George W. Whitmire Sr. ‘47 Mr. & Mrs. G. Edmond Williamson II ‘67 Mr. & Mrs. Terrell H. Yon III ‘83
Ramsay Circle – $25,000+
Gen. Jimmie V. Adams ‘57 Mr. John P. ‘76 & Mrs. Cynthia M. ‘76 Anderson Mr. Pete L. Anderson ‘75 Mr. Thomas Denny ‘94 & Mrs. Aneda Chandler ‘95 Anspach Mr. Joseph E. Atchison Mr. & Mrs. James G. Bagley Jr. ‘83 Mr. & Mrs. M. Patrick Batey ‘79 Mr. Rick Knop & Mrs. Leslee H. Belluchie ‘83 Dr. & Mrs. Larry Benefield ‘66 Dr. & Mrs. William Y. Bishop ‘68 Mr. Allan H. ‘75 & Mrs. Nancy P. ‘73 Bissinger Dr. J. Temple Black Dr. Dwight S. Bond ‘56 Mr. & Mrs. Russell F. Boren ‘54 Ms. Mildred Diane Boss ‘72 Dr. Brice H. Brackin ‘69 Mr. & Mrs. R. Joseph Brackin ‘80 Dr. David B. Bradley ‘65 Mr. Leonard D. Braswell ‘48 Mr. & Mrs. John R. Bray ‘57 Mr. Felix C. ‘73 & Mrs. Gail W. ‘76 Brendle Jr. Mr. Dan H. Broughton ‘63 Mr. Thomas D. ‘58 & Mrs. Frances W. ‘58 Burson Dr. Gisela Buschle-Diller Mr. Harris D. Bynum ‘58 Mr. J. Travis Capps, Jr. ‘94 and Mr. Lee Anthony Mr. & Mrs. Donald Edward Carmon ‘88 Mr. Benjamin F. & Mrs. Nancy B. ‘63Carr Jr. Mr. J. Mark ‘72 & Mrs. Elizabeth M. ‘76 Chambers Jr. Mr. & Mrs. James M. Chandler III ‘84
Mr. & Mrs. Randy Chase ‘85 Mr. N. Pat ‘70 & Mrs. Veronica Smith ‘70 Chesnut Mr. Jing-Yau Chung Mr. Terry ‘76 & Dr. Jo Anne ‘75 Coggins Mr. & Mrs. James L. Cooper Jr. ‘81 Mr.* & Mrs. James H. Corbitt ‘58 Ms. Trudy Craft-Austin Dr. Malcolm J. Crocker Brig. Gen. & Mrs. Robert L. Davis ‘74 Mr. Donald E. Dennis ‘54 Mr. Stanley G. DeShazo ‘57 Mr. Christopher R.’89 & Mrs. Barrett J. ‘86 Dozier Mr. Melvin Lee ‘77 & Mrs. Diane R. ‘77 Drake Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Wendell H. Duke ‘73 Mr. Lewis H. ‘54 & Mrs. Annette B. ‘53 Eberdt Jr. Mr. Joe D. ‘70 & Mrs. Jayne W. ‘71 Edge Mr. & Mrs. H. Wendell Ellis ‘67 Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Etheridge Mr. Edwin W. Evans ‘60 Mr. Jim W. Evans ‘67 Mr. Norman S. ‘59 & Mrs. Judith J. ‘58 Faris, Jr. Mrs. Linda A. Figg ‘81 Mr. Paul R. ‘66 & Mrs. Barbara M. ‘68 Flowers Jr. Capt. Gordon L. Flynn ‘57 Mr. & Mrs. Richard L. Franklin ‘49 Mr. Christian G. Gackstatter ‘84 Mr.* & Mrs. J Burl Galloway ‘48 CAPT & Mrs. Davis R. Gamble Jr. ‘74 Mr. Charles Early Gavin IV ‘82 Mr. John W. Gibbs ‘72 Mr. Vernon W. Gibson Jr. ‘57 Mr. & Mrs. Christopher L. Golden ‘96 Mr. & Mrs. Jefferson L. Grant Jr. ‘69 Mr. Stanley L. ‘67 & Mrs. Patsy H. ‘70 Graves Mr. Walter W. Griffin ‘47 Mr. Mark A. ‘94 & Mrs. Leah S. ‘93 Gulley Mr. Toby Eugene Gurley ‘65 Mr.* & Mrs. Bill M. Guthrie ‘57 Mr. & Mrs. W. George Hairston III ‘67 Mrs. Marjorie M. Hale ‘43 Mr. & Mrs. James H. Ham III ‘66 Mr. Frank A. ‘88 & Mrs. Lauren F. ‘90 Hamner Dr. Andrew Palmer Hanson ‘93 Mr. Lamar T. ‘63 & Mrs. Elaine T. ‘62 Hawkins Mr. Albert E. Hay ‘67 Ms. Karen Hayes ‘81 Mr. Dennis S. ‘79 & Mrs. Ann R. ‘77 Hill Mr.* & Mrs. Charles B. Hopkins Jr. ‘43 Mr. E. Erskine Hopkins ‘46 Mr. C. Fletcher Horn ‘40 Mr. & Mrs.* James G. Hughes Sr. ‘56 Mr. & Mrs. Bruce E. Imsand ‘74 Mr. William Russell James ‘69 Mr. & Mrs.* Bryan W. Johnson ‘53 Col. Scott ‘75 & Mrs. Penny ‘74 Johnson Mr. & Mrs. John K. Jones ‘59 Mr. & Mrs. Richard I. Kearley Jr. ‘49 Mr. & Mrs. Byron R. Kelley ‘70 Mr. Carver ‘52 & Mrs. Martha ‘54 Kennedy Mr. T. Keith King Sr. ‘58 Mr. Frederick D. Kuester ‘73 Mr. Push C. LaGrone Jr. ‘51 Mr. William F. Land ‘49 Mr. Ted Landers ‘71 Mr. Harald F. ‘57 & Mrs. Betty C. ‘54 Lassen Mr. William B. Lee ‘81 Mr. Edwin L. ‘72 & Mrs. Becky S. ‘72 Lewis Mr. Ronald C. Lipham ‘74 Mr. Lum M. Loo ‘78 Mr. Charles R. Lowman ‘49 Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth R. Luttrell Mr. & Mrs. Harry A. Manson ‘58 Mr. Gary C. Martin ‘57 Mr. & Mrs. Jesse D. May ‘85 Mr. Charles D. McCrary ‘73
C E N T E R
Dr. Donald McDonald ‘52 Mr. & Mrs. Albert F. McFadden Jr. ‘81 Mr. Gerald G. McGlamery Sr. ‘59 Mr. Milton E. McGregor ‘64 Mr. Morris G. Middleton ‘61 Mr. & Mrs. Stephen R. Miller ‘72 Mr. & Mrs. Max A. Mobley ‘72 Mr. William L. Moench Jr. ‘76 Dr. Larry S. Monroe ‘79 & Mrs. Cynthia C. Green ‘79 Mr. Phillip F. & Mrs. Jane H. ‘73 Moon Mr. & Mrs.* Brooks Moore ‘48 Mr. & Mrs. Larry J. Morgan ‘68 Mr. David Allen ‘96 & Mrs. Grace B. ‘95 Morris Mr. Kevin ‘99 & Mrs. Apryl T. ‘97 Mullins Mr. & Mrs. William K. Newman ‘69 Mr. Steve P. Osburne ‘65 Mr. Daniel J. Paul Jr. ‘64 & Mrs. Nancy M. Paul ‘64 Mr. James L. Peeler ‘58 Mr. Frederick A. ‘77 & Mrs. Rebecca C. ‘81 Pehler Jr. Dr. & Dr. Michael S. Pindzola Mr. Lonnie H. Pope Sr. Mr. Gerald L. Pouncey Jr. ‘82 Mr. Henry Frederick Rainey ‘42 Mr.* & Mrs. William L. Rainey ‘66 Mr. & Mrs. Thomas L. Ray ‘69 Mr. William Jasper Reaves ‘57 Mr. Emmett F. Reeder ‘62 Mr. Carl A. Register ‘63 Mr. & Mrs. Harry G. Rice ‘77 Mr. Mack A. Riley ‘50 Dr. Joyce R. ‘59 & Mr. Kenneth W. ‘59 Ringer Mr. Ray Albert Robinson ‘55 Mr. Kenneth B. ‘50 & Mrs. Nan C. ‘53 Roy Jr. Mrs. Linda Patterson Ryan ‘82 Ms. Regenia Rena Sanders ‘95 Mr. Sid Sanders ‘62 Mr. Thomas Saunders Sr. ‘62 Mr. David ‘65 & Mrs. Murriel W. ‘65 Scarborough Mr. Donald R. ‘84 & Mrs. Alice J. ‘85 Searcy Mr. George M. Sewell ‘59 Mr. E. Todd Sharley Jr. ‘65 Mr. & Mrs. William D. Shultz ‘95 Mr. David C. Sjolund ‘67 Ms. Janine M. Slick Mr. Kenneth L. Smith Jr. ‘78 Mr. William J. ‘67 & Mrs. Susan C. ‘70 Smith Mr. Randy L. Smith ‘76 Mr. Jerard Taggart Smith ‘97 Mrs. Dorothy Smith Mr. Kenneth L. Smith Jr. ‘78 Mr. Don L. Sollie ‘74 Dr. & Dr. William A. Spencer Mr. Joseph Stanfield Jr. ‘67 & Mrs. Nancy W. Payne Stanfield ‘64 Mrs. Gwyn B. Strickland Mr. John A. Taylor ‘53 Dr. Mrinal Thakur Mr. & Mrs. Jerry F. Thomas ‘63 Mr. Anthony J. ‘73 & Mrs. Patricia C. ‘73 Topazi Mr. Daniel Andrew Traynor ‘78 Mr. Terry Lee Tucker ‘98 Mr. M. Larry Tuggle Sr. ‘57 Mr. William J. ‘57 & Mrs. Jane ‘57 Turner Jr. Mr. John W. ‘69 & Mrs. Jane H. ‘68 Turrentine Mr. Gary W. ‘01 & Mrs. Summer ‘01 Vaughan Mr. W. Karl Vollberg ‘73 Mr. R. Conner Warren ‘67 Mr. Robert M. ‘71 & Mrs. Linda B. ‘70 Waters Mr. & Mrs. Joseph D. Weatherford ‘71 Mr.* & Mrs. Edward F. Williams III ‘56 Mr. Richard D. Williams III ‘51 Mr. Brock M. ‘09 & Mrs. Laura D. ‘09 Wilson Mr. & Mrs. D. Dale York ‘76
* deceased
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Samuel L. Ginn ’59 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Melissa B. Herkt ’77 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
David E. Housel ’69 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
William M. Warren ’68 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
The Auburn Alumni Association is pleased to announce the 2015 recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards, the university’s highest alumni recognition. The recipients are Wireless Pioneer and Auburn Trustee Emeritus Samuel L. Ginn; retired President and COO of Process Systems and Solutions Group of Emerson Process Management Melissa B. Herkt; Athletic Director Emeritus of Auburn University David E. Housel; and President and CEO of Children’s of Alabama William M. Warren. Benjamin Chappell, Owner and Principal of Interior Elements, will also be recognized as the recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement Award. To learn more about this year’s honorees, visit us online at www.aualum.org/laa.
J. Benjamin Chappell ’03 Young Alumni Achievement Award Recipient
ALUMNI CENTER
A Season of Change BILL STONE ’85
Calendar LOOKING FOR WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS TOURS?
See the listings on Page 53. ALL TIMES CENTRAL.
President, Auburn Alumni Association
Nov. 22
Greetings and War Eagle! The pageantry, the colors and the excitement of college football are still in full bloom in the South now. Fall is beautiful in our part of God’s creation. The change of summer to fall, and soon to winter, is spectacular. Fall is most often thought of for the changes it brings. Fall, too, is a time of change for your Auburn Alumni Association. For the last two years, I have enjoyed the honor and privilege of coming into your home once a quarter via this column. I have gotten to know you from emails, phone calls, texts, letters, Alumni Hospitality Tent visits on game day and at Auburn Club meetings and Tiger Treks. I have made new friends and been welcomed as family, Auburn Family. You have walked alongside me and my son, Trey, as our cherished wife and mother, Lisa Krueger Stone, won her final battle with cancer and went home to heaven, and as our God brought Marian Haynie Stone into our lives for new joys and adventures. Now it is time for new energy and ideas. I have truly been blessed to serve you, to be a steward of what has been built over decades. Thank you for the opportunities you have allowed me, and for the work and commitment that you put into making our association greater each day. New association president Jack Fite ’85 of Decatur is off to a great beginning. Jack has a strategy and plans to make our association even stronger. I encourage you to continue to work with Jack, as you have with me. We also say thank you to Jeremy Arthur, K-Rob Thomas, outgoing association board members, to Dusty Pritchett for serving us as treasurer for the last four years, and to Bobby Poundstone, past president, for your service. And we welcome Dion M. Aviki ’04 (Houston, Texas), Susan K. Black ’77 (LaGrange, Ga.), Robert M. Crabtree ’86 (Birmingham) and Angela S. Mitchell ’85 (Guntersville) to our association board. I can attest these will be some of the most wonderful times of your lives. My friend David Housel, poet laureate of Auburn and 2015 Auburn Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award winner, once told me “the Auburn outside of the gates of Toomer’s Corner belongs to us, the alumni. It lives in our memories, we celebrate our traditions, and we owe her back a portion of what she gave us. The Auburn inside those gates belongs to the students. They will write new stories, create new traditions, and yes, new memories of what Auburn is to them.” Give back, pay forward. Auburn and our Auburn Family need your time and, yes, your money to be all that we can be for the future. My son and grandchildren, and yours, need to know our Auburn, and to build their Auburn still to come. Also, I want to congratulate Debbie Shaw, vice president for alumni affairs and executive director of the Auburn Alumni Association, on her upcoming retirement. Thank you, Debbie, for your 30-plus years of service to Auburn University. Thanks, too, for 12 great years of making our Auburn Alumni Association one of the finest in the country. We all will miss you. I wish each of you and your families a blessed Thanksgiving and, soon to come, a very Merry Christmas! Now, it is time for me to say one final goodbye. I can find no better words than those of the late, former voice of our Auburn Tigers, the great Jim Fyffe: “My time is up, I thank you for yours!”
Football vs. Samford. The Alumni Hospitality Tent opens three hours prior to kickoff and closes 30 minutes prior to kickoff. Consult your local listings for game times. For more information on the Alumni Hospitality Tent, visit www.aualum. org/tent.
ALUMNI HOSPITALITY TENT/HOME GAME
God Bless, and WAR EAGLE!
Nov. 29 FOOTBALL AT ALABAMA
Consult your local listings for game time and broadcast schedule. DEC. 13 COMMENCEMENT
SAVE THE DATE Mark your calendars for these upcoming events. March 14, 2015 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes recipients for outstanding achievements in their professional lives, personal integrity and stature, and service to the university. A dinner to honor the 2015 recipients, as well as the recipient of the 2015 Young Alumni Achievement Award, will be held at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. For information on the 2015 recipients, visit www.aualum.org/laa.
BillStone@auburnalum.org
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War Eagle Forever Thank you, Auburn University, for a wonderful 32 years of serving my alma mater, and thank you to the Auburn Alumni Association for providing me the opportunity to develop great and meaningful relationships with alumni and friends— too many to count. As this is my final column in this magazine before I retire, I want to go out stating that I am tremendously grateful for all Auburn has done for me, and in return, I have with pleasure given her my time, dedication and love. Working for Auburn has been a way of life for me, and I’ve come to realize how fortunate I am to have a really big family—made up of people from all over the world I have come in touch with due to AU. Many of you were students when I advised the SGA, and later Greek Life, and the Aubie Program, and many other groups throughout the years. Staying in touch with you to see how you have become successful in your careers and family life really warms my heart. Seeing you engaged with the school that helped mold you during those years is gratifying. Your continued support is necessary for Auburn to remain of great value to us all, and we appreciate it. To those I have come to know during the last 12 years in alumni affairs, words can’t express how amazed I continue to be at the level of loyalty you feel toward Auburn, and the ways many of you choose to support our efforts to keep Auburn a top-ranked institution. So many of you have become great friends. It is our hope that the next issue of this magazine will highlight your new vice president for alumni affairs and executive director of the Auburn Alumni Asso-
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ciation. I can promise you that this person is coming into a very strong and fiscally sound organization, and one that works in collaboration with the university’s various units. There is no reason this person should not be successful. It is my personal wish that whoever replaces me will take the association to new heights, and do great things with a great staff in place. That should be everyone’s expectation, because Auburn deserves that. I will be supportive of the new leadership, and will be very pleased to see the great work we have done serve as a foundation for continued success. Lastly, thanks to the alumni association presidents with whom I have had the pleasure of serving: Owen Brown ’64, Andy Hornsby ’68, Ralph Jordan ’70, Nancy Fortner ’71, Bobby Poundstone ’95, Bill Stone ’85 and our current president, Jack Fite ’85. I have learned from all of them and have greatly appreciated their volunteer service. Jack was installed in September as our 32nd national president, and he will do a fantastic job for the association after serving on our board for six years. You can trust him to always put Auburn University first. All my best to each of you, and War Eagle Forever,
debbieshaw@auburn.edu EDITORS NOTE: Photos on this page were taken at a retirement dinner for Debbie Shaw held on Sept. 26.
From left: Laura Fite ’86; association president Jack Fite ‘85; Debbie Shaw ’84; past association president Bobby Poundstone ‘95; Katie Poundstone ‘96.
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For the Birds Auburn scientist Geoff Hill, professor and curator of birds in the Department of Biological Sciences, received the 2014 William Brewster Memorial Award from the American Ornithologists’ Union. It is the highest honor given to an ornithologist and is awarded annually to the author of an exceptional body of work on birds of the Western Hemisphere.
GOT NEWS? Auburn Magazine 317 S. College Street Auburn University, AL 36849-5149, or aubmag@auburn.edu.
position at CenturyLink in Bayou La Batre after retiring from Verizon in 2002. He plans to retire from CenturyLink at the end of the year.
Life Member
CURT HARRINGTON
Annual Member
’74 of Harrington &
1970-79 BILL RAMSEY ’70
of Fayetteville, Ga., has retired from a banking career that included work at Bank of America and Bank of North Georgia. He recently wrote a book about growing up in the 1950s and 1960s called I’m From Dothan. The book was published by Tate Publishing. GLENN WIMPEE ’71
accepted an engineering
Harrington has been confirmed by the California Bar Board of Trustees to assume the chair of the state bar’s California Board of Legal Specialization. He is a high-tech patent attorney and a California Board of Legal Specialization-certified tax specialist. In addition to his law degree, he holds an LL.M. in tax and master’s degrees in chemical and electrical engineering and in business.
PETE ANDERSON ’75 received the 2014
Alumni of the Year award by Enterprise State Community College. He is a civil engineer retired from the Alabama Department of Transportation and a retired 1st sergeant from the Alabama Army National Guard. He has lived in Montgomery since 1980. FRANK BOYD ’76 has
been named a Soil Conservationist of the Year as part of the 2014 Alabama Wildlife Federation Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards. He was honored on Aug. 8 at a banquet in Prattville. Boyd’s 35-year career has had a profound impact on
C E N T E R
Calendar the wildlife profession. He is involved in countless committees, programs and projects in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee, and also recently received the 2014 Distinguished Service Award from the Southeastern section of The Wildlife Society.
April 15-17, 2015 GOLDEN EAGLES REUNION
Golden Eagles honors those who have been alumni for more than 50 years. Each year, a new class is inducted into the Golden Eagles and a reunion is held to commemorate the event in April. For information, call 334-844-1145. BOOK AHEAD FOR WAR EAGLE TRAVELERS
In addition to the trips listed below, we have more than 30 tours being offered in 2015. Check out our website at aualum.org/travel for further information on these and all our trips!
THOMAS SIMS ’76
retired from Nestlé this past June and is living in Panama City, Fla. He writes that he is enjoying “travel, visiting friends and family, long walks on the beach, fishing, and spending time with my lovely wife and grandchildren.”
April 6-12, 2015 THE MASTERS
Select from numerous choices—ticket to a day’s round, private outdoor patios, gourmet meals, etc. Prices vary by the day you choose to visit. Enjoy one of the greatest events in the world in Augusta. April 16-25, 2015 ATHENS AND POROS, GREECE
Experience three nights in Athens and six on the island of Poros. The magic of this ancient land is yours to discover!
April 17-25, 2015 TRADE ROUTES OF COASTAL IBERIA
Enjoy this luxury cruise on a small ship, visiting Lisbon, Seville, Barcelona, and other fascinating cities. April 22-29, 2015 AMALFI, ITALY
Overlook the Amalfi Coast in a beautiful hotel with other Auburn travelers, visiting Sorrento, Capri, Naples, Ravello and other dazzling cities. Excursions and most meals included. May 2-10, 2015 ITALIAN RIVIERA AUBURN ENGINEERS “Fred, Carolyn, Sidney, Paul, Claude, Tom and Bobby” appear to all be hard at work on the next issue of The Auburn Engineer, a monthly publication sold to engineering alumni and industries. This image was taken from the 1960 Glomerata. Find past issues of the Glom online in the Auburn University Online Digital Library: diglib.auburn.edu.
Enjoy a small-group land trip staying in Sestri Levante, with excursions to Florence, Portofino, Genoa and other cities of great interest. There is no single supplement for solo travelers.
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REFUEL YOUR CAREER WITH THE BEST, ANYWHERE 1980-89 IN THE WORLD.
Great Adaptations A L U M N I C E N T E R The Auburn University Adapted Sports Program offered the inaugural Tiger Sports Day on Nov. 1, providing young people with physical disabilities or visual impairments a chance to participate in adapted sports, including wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis and hand-cyling. The Adapted Sports Program is a collaboration of the AU Office of Accessibility and the School of Kinesiology. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Aaron Allmon II
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financial officer of Teleserves on the board of STEPHEN PEKLENK MAERA NIX CARR California—Los Angeles ’85 celebrated a ’86 and David Bradberdyne’s Engineered Sysoverseers for Samford and was named 2013-14 tems segment, Teledyne University. Kim is a milestone this year with ry were married on Dec. Faculty Advisor of the JAN HESS ’81 has been Brown and Teledyne nationally certified sign the 25th anniversary 22, 2011, in First United Year for the Californianamed president of the Scientific and Imaging. language interpreter of his firm, Corporate Methodist Church of Nevada-Hawaii district The Executive MBA University engineered systems She has beenPrograms with the at Auburn and serves of the board Construction Services, Pensacola, Fla., where of Circle K Internationcan fuel your careerforwithout your schedule. segment of Teledyne company 14 yearsgrounding of directors for Lifeline LLC, based in Charlotte, they make their home. al. Thigpen advises the Technologies Inc. and and lives in Madison. Child Services. The famN.C. The firm specializes UCLA chapter of CKI, Ranked among the world’s best by the Times its subsidiary, Teledyne ily isFinancial very involved with in forensic investigation TIM O. CRAIG ’87, an which is one of the Brown Engineering BILLprograms CHRISTENBER(Un)Adopted/Lifeline of construction projects, AU forestry graduate, international service of London, the feature a uniquely flexible RY ’83 andcurriculum Inc. She is responsible KIM HOLTZ-delivery ministries in Uganda, construction claims, recently received an organization’s largest blend of advanced and short INGER for establishing the expert-witness work LL.M. in taxation from at more than 280 memcampus visits. CHRISTENBERRY China and Liberia. leadership, direction ’83 live in Birmingham, and numerous types of the University of Alabers. It is his second career and growth of theTake com- your where Billto is anew vet- heights. MICHAEL A. LAING inspections and testing. bama School of Law. He time to be honored ’83 was included in Best panies in the segment, erinarian and partner/ He can be found at www. practices forestry and with the award. Contact us forofinformation which include Teledyne owner Caldwell Mill at: Lawyers in America 2015 corpconstruction.com. Greenville. ClawO in LL EGE OF BUSINESS Brown, Teledyne Energy Animal Clinic. They for his work in employee MICHAEL C. BROSwww.AubEMBA.org or 1.877.AUB.EMBA E x e c ut i v e MB A Pr oSETT gr ams ’91 of Port Systems Inc., Teledyne have eight children. benefits law with the firm MICHAEL BEAM ’86 Turbine Engines and Bill is an elder at The Taft Stettinius & Hollister. married Vantrease Blair Wentworth, Ga., has Teledyne CML ComChurch at Brook Hills, A resident of Cincinnati, on Jan. 25, 2014. They RICH THIGPEN ’90 been named the varsity business.auburn.edu posites. She previously chairman of the board Ohio, he has been reclive in Orlando, Fla. works as an informaboys’ head basketball served as executive vice of trustees for Biblical ognized by Best Lawyers tion technology managcoach at Groves High president and chief Marriage Institute and since 1999. Auburn University is an equal opportunity educational institution/employer. er at the University of School in Savannah,
1990-99
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Ga. He also will be teaching physical education and assisting with the school’s football program. KENNETH THOMAS ’92 received his Ph.D.
from Auburn in administration of supervision and curriculum on May 3. He works at Enterprise State Community College in Enterprise.
2000-14 CRAIG CHRISTAKOS ’02 and his wife, Skye,
announce the birth of a daughter, Cordelia Josephine, on Aug. 6 in San Luis Obispo, Calif. She is their first child and the first grandchild for both of their parents. TIFFANY BAKER JACKSON ’04 and
RODERICK D.
KEITH MARSHALL
PERRY ’95, deputy
JACKSON ’04 announce
director of athletics at Wright State University, recently received his Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Dayton. He lives in Beavercreek, Ohio.
the birth of a daughter, Miller Kate, on July 23. She joins two big brothers, Sawyer and Graham. The family lives in Birmingham. JOHN GUNTER PRICE ’04 and KARI
JILL CASH
BETH BROWN PRICE
2014 Alabama Wildlife Federation Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards. She was honored on Aug. 8 at a banquet in Prattville. Brantley is associate professor and water resources specialist for the Auburn University Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences. She has conducted more than 100 workshops, training more than 3,000 natural resource professionals, and serves on the Alabama Erosion and Sediment Control Partnership Steering Committee. She also assists with the Clear Water Alabama seminar and Field Day program and is an adviser to the Urban Conservation Committee of the Alabama Association of Conservation Districts.
SUMNERS ’99 and
’06 announce the birth
MICHAEL THOMAS
of a daughter, Margaret “Maggie” Dowling, on July 16. The family lives in Dothan.
In Memoriam
JAY LURIE ’05 and
Auburn Magazine prints
SUMNERS JR. ’99
announce the birth of a daughter, Molly Grace, on March 5, 2014. The family lives in Birmingham. REGINALD MOSS ’99 recently started up the R.A.M. Mobile Pressure Washing Service, a company that covers the Tuskegee, Auburn, Opelika and Montgomery areas. He serves as CEO. He previously served as Bistro Bowl manager for Ready Pac Inc., but says, “I wanted to own my own business and provide superior services to my community and the AU Family.” He lives in Tuskegee.
C E N T E R
On the Board The following alumni joined the Auburn Alumni Association Board of Directors or assumed new offices following the association’s general meeting on Sept. 27. WILLIAM JACKSON “JACK” FITE ’85 of Decatur was
elected president of the association. Fite is president and CEO of Fite Building Co. Inc. He has served on the alumni association board for six years and is currently a member of the Foy Society, Circle of Excellence Society, Samford Society and the Petrie Society. WILLIAM C. “BEAU” BYRD II ’89 of Birmingham was elected vice president. An attorney in the Birmingham office of Bradley, Arant, Boult, and Cummings, Byrd has served on the association board for four years and is currently a member of the Foy Society, Circle of Excellence Society, Samford Society and Petrie Society. M. VAN HENLEY ’80 of Colleyville, Texas, was recently appointed treasurer of the association. Henley is a tax partner with Ernst & Young, LLP. He has served on the alumni association board for four years and is currently a member of the Foy Society, Circle of Excellence Society and the 1856 Society. DION M. AVIKI ’04 of Houston, Texas, is the vice president of sales and marketing for Taxman & Associates and is currently president of the Greater Houston Auburn Club. Aviki holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and is an inaugural member of the Auburn Engineering Young Alumni Council.
McCALL BRYANT ’08
brief “In Memoriam”
SUSAN KNOWLES BLACK ’77 of LaGrange, Ga., holds a
were married on Aug. 16. They live in Nashville, Tenn.
notices of Auburn Alumni
bachelor’s degree in accounting. Black is a CPA and is currently president of J.K. Boatwright Co., a public accounting firm with offices in LaGrange and Newnan. Black is president of the West Georgia Auburn Club, and is a member of the Foy Society, Circle of Excellence Society, Samford Society and Shareholders Club.
Association members or that have been submitted by members. For
CASEY OLIVER ’05
and her husband, Chris, announce the birth of a daughter, Clara Shea, on July 8. The family lives in Alexander City. JOSHUA INMAN
more “In Memoriam” notices, please visit us online at www.auburnmagazine.auburn.edu.
ROBERT “ROB” M. CRABTREE ’86 of Birmingham holds
1940-49
a bachelor’s in health services administration and serves as administrative director of orthopaedics for the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation at UAB. He served as president of the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club in 2012. Crabtree is a member of the Foy Society.
MOORE J. BURNS
’06 married KELLI
’40 of Auburn on
CRUMPTON ’09 on March 22, 2014. They live in Clanton.
May 21. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he taught at AU for 34 years.
EVE BRANTLEY ’08
has been named a Soil Conservationist of the Year as part of the
MAUD MCCALL DAVIS ’43 of Gadsden
on July 23. She taught
ANGELA S. MITCHELL ’85 is an active community volunteer and civic leader in her hometown of Guntersville. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Auburn and also is an active member of the Samford Society, the 1856 Society and the Foy Society.
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Tigersaurus Auburn geology professor David King gave a public presentation in Auburn recently about his 1982 discovery in Montgomery County of the most complete tyrannosaur ever found in eastern North America. His discovery led to a re-evaluation of the evolution of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs and where they might have originated. The dinosaur, Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis, lives at the McWane Center in Birmingham.
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In Memoriam nursing and was program coordinator of Gadsden State Community College’s nursing program.
Engineering and Raytech Engineering. CHESTER OLIVER “CHECK” STEPHENS
engineer with Georgia Power and a one-time Engineer of the Year honoree by the Georgia Engineering Society.
JR. ’47 of Selma on SARAH S. HART ’43
Aug. 18.
of Dothan on May 21. BRONZE CLIFFORD HERBERT TILLMAN SALTER JR. ’43
of Clanton on June 18. He was a founding member of the Chilton County Auburn Club and also was the founder and owner of Salter Distributing. TAYLOR BARTON BODKIN ’45 of
Tuscumbia on May 28. A member of Kappa Alpha at Auburn, he was owner of Bodkin
CALVIN MERCER WHITESELL ’48 of
YOUMANS ’47 of Patterson, Ga., on July 16. He was a practicing veterinarian for 65 years.
Pike Road on Aug. 16. A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he practiced law in Montgomery for 50 years.
’48 of Cary, N.C., on
May 27. A flight engineer during World War II, he conducted agricultural research for the USDA. MELVIN E. HUNT JR. ’48 of Columbus, Ga.,
ANDREWS ’49 of
Fairhope on June 1. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of World War II and recipient of a Purple Heart, he retired from the Air Force Reserve at the rank of major.
LESTER E. MCELROY ’49 of Mandeville, La.,
Brentwood, Tenn., on Aug. 3. Bagley was a widower and father, as well as a grandfather to four grandchildren. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was a manufacturer agent for Bagley & Associates.
on Aug. 11. He was a computer specialist for NASA’s Army Missile Command.
JEAN COPELAND WILLIAMS HAYES ’49
EDWARD EARL WILL ALLEN COPE
JOSEPH ANDERSON BAGLEY ’49 of
of Marietta, Ga., on June 26.
RUSSELL J. SUTHER
HOPTON ’49 of Casselberry, Fla., on July 17. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he spent his career at NASA, retiring in 1988.
on June 17. He was an
’51 of Nashville, Tenn.,
on July 7. A veteran of the U.S. Army, retiring with the rank of colonel, he was a member of Pi Kappa Phi.
on Aug. 15. He earned the Silver Star for his military duty and later became the SunTrust executive vice president until his retirement.
THEDFORD
Birmingham on Aug. 17. An Army veteran of World War II, he worked at U.S. Steel.
1950~59 Seabrook, Texas, on May 23. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he worked at Auburn as a professor for 38 years. VICTOR H. “DOC” DRISCOLL ’50 of
Wharton, Texas, on July 22. A veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, he later served as mayor of Wharton and as a member of the chamber of commerce, as well as working as a veterinarian. JONES FRANKLIN “JACK” HARBARGER ’50 of Huntsville on July 4. A Navy veteran of World War II and a Sigma Pi at Auburn, he worked as an engineer and stockbroker.
1 at Toomer’s Corner, near the site of his original commissioning in 1992 at Langdon Hall. Martin is pictured here with his wife, Catherine ’92, and son, Benjamin, a current Auburn sophomore and member of Navy ROTC.
EDNA SCOTT MONTGOMERY ‘50 of College
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CHARLES EVANS HUMPHRIES ’51 of
Montgomery on July 2. He was a founder of PH&J Architects, where he managed projects that included the Haley Center at AU.
LOUIS OSWELL ABNEY ’50 of
THE LEGACY CONTINUES Christopher Martin ’92 received his promotion to the rank of U.S. Navy captain on Sept.
W. JOE DIEHL JR.
’49 of of Birmingham
WHITLEY ’49 of CONRAD EDWARD
Park, Ga., on Nov. 30, 2013. She was an elementary school teacher at Jere Wells and Charles E. Riley Schools in Fulton County.
J. CLANTON JENKINS ’51 of Linden
on July 21. CLAUDE SMITHSON SWIFT ’51 of Monroe-
ville on Aug. 8. Swift served in the U.S. Merchant Marines and the Air Force before attending Auburn and competing on the swim team. He was a member of the Alabama Forestry Board. ROLAND B. WILSON ’51 of Birmingham on July 20. A U.S. military veteran of Korea, he retired from BE&K in Birmingham. FLORNN THEODORE “TED” BELLON ’52 of
Ocean Springs, Miss., on July 29. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II and a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, he worked
THIS IS A L U M N I
C E N T E R
ONE COOL CAT.
Aubie is the embodiment of our Auburn spirit. Just like our students who excel in the classroom and give of their time to help others, this is one seriously successful Tiger. Aubie has won a record eight mascot national championships and has been inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Women love him. Men want to be him. Just as Auburn graduates are sought after by companies around the world, our endearing, huggable, and mischievous Tiger is adored by young, old, and everyone in between.
THIS IS AUBURN.
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Alumni Snapshot
T.Licious Stuff Tiffany Denson ’95 would be the first to admit she went into business with more unknowns than knowns. Still, she’s been able to take a good product and a willingness to take risks and parlay them into the successful T.Lish salad dressing line that is now sold in more than 25 states at stores including Publix, Earth Fare, Whole Foods and Harris Teeter. “I think there’s a beauty to not knowing a whole lot, in a way, when it comes to business,” Denson said. It causes you to take more risks that you probably wouldn’t take if you knew too much.” The former communication major with a concentration in radio, television and film always had a passion for working in the kitchen and creating delicious concoctions with no set recipes. After finally enjoying salad for the first time at age 25 when she tried a yummy dressing at a friend’s house, Denson thought she could whip up something similar herself. “The joke is that it’s the dressing that will make a man eat a salad, but it worked for me too,” she said. “I got in my kitchen and did the basics—oil and vinegar. Then I added more ingredients and kind of came up with my own creation.” After making her first batch about 14 years ago, the requests from neighbors and friends alike started pouring in. Originally, Denson would bottle and give away dressing to about 30 of her friends each year during the Christmas holidays, but in 2009 her family fell on tough times when the
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real estate market hit an all-time-low and her husband’s business began to struggle. She knew some adjustments needed to be made. “[My business] really birthed as a need in our family,” said Denson, who worked four jobs to help support her two young boys before T-Lish’s took off. One of her many positions included a sales job at a local clothing store in Birmingham called the Pants Store. Her neighbor, who owned the store, suggested that Denson sell her dressing to customers. She thought it was crazy, but it worked. Within a few months, a local grocery store asked if she would be interested in taking her business up a notch. Denson agreed, and the rest is history. Today, T.Lish offers Chipotle Vinaigrette and Sweet Garlic Vinaigrette to more than 700 grocery stores nationwide, and she has been featured in several magazines and media outlets including Cooking with Paula Deen. Denson is in the process of making three new flavors of her dressing that she expects to release within the next six months. —Kerry Coppinger
Exclusively at
The Locker Room
.
in Auburn Shop online at plainswear.com
1 2 7 M a g n o l i a Av e . at Toomers Corner 3 3 4 .3 2 1 .4 9 6 2
The Auburn Alumni Association proudly recognizes the Circle of Excellence Society members for their generosity. For additional information, please contact us at 334-844-2995 or alumsch@auburn.edu.
Diamond Level Mrs. Georgia Ann Boutwell ’81 Mr. David E. Brown Mr. L. Owen Brown ’64 * Mrs. Deborah H. Carter ’72 Mr. Burt Cloud ’66 Dr. Rod Michael Duraski ’76 Mr. William Jackson Fite Sr. ’85 Mr. Phillip Alan Forsythe ’81 Mrs. Nancy Young Fortner ’71 * Dr. Charles D. Hart ’85 Mr. M. Van Henley ’80 Dr. Robert Edwin Hicks ’86 Maj James M. Hoskins ’81 Mrs. Bertha T. Hoskins ’80 Mr. Steven D. Inabinet ’78 Mr. Arthur Leadingham Jr. ’77 Dr. Timothy A. Martin ’78 Mr. William D. Nelson Sr. ’62 Mr. David Oberman ’80 Ms. Lisa Denise Page
Mr. Ben Tom Roberts ’72 * Mr. Kevin Thomas Rodgers ’96 Ms. Regenia R. Sanders ’95 Col (Ret) Robert W. Schorr ’61 Mr. Kurt Joseph Sehn ’94 Dr. Debbie L. Shaw ’84 * Mrs. Paula D. Steigerwald ’76 Mr. William Bryan Stone II ’85 * Mr David Robert Strain ’69 Dr. William C. Walley ’62 Mr. Ken C. Williams ’79 * Orange and Blue Level Mrs. Susan K. Black ’77 Mr. Isaac R. Britton Jr. ’82 Mr. William Crumbly Byrd II ’89 Dr. Neil E. Christopher ’55 * Dr. William O. Cowart ’58 Mr. Michael Ray Ingram ’87 Mrs. Emma Jean McKinley ’55 Ms. Janet Elaine Mertz ’91 Mr. Richard J. Robertson ’64
Mr. George Oliver Sneed Jr. ’96 Orange Level Mr. James Chesley Allred III ’86 Ms. Dion Aviki ’04 Ms. Belinda P. Ballard ’82 Mr. Vernell Edwin Barnes ’75 Mr. Jere L. Beasley Sr. ’59 Mrs. Rebecca Roy Cazana ’69 Mr. Ronald D. Dyson ’01 Mrs. Sandra M. Fisher ’59 Mr. James H. Ham III ’66 Mr. Randy Joe Ham ’73 * Mr. C. Dean Hansen ’49 Dr. Elmer B. Harris ’62 * Mr. Armstead L. Hayes III ’80 Mr. Robert “Bob” Jones ’74 Mrs. Lisa B. Mitchell ’88 Ms. Dawn LaTasha Oliver ’97 Dr. Laurie Beth Patrick ’83 Dr. Don Watson Powell ’60 Mr. Allen C. Rice ’68
Mr. Richard Saliba Dr. Scott Sprayberry ’93 Mr. Jeffrey Ira Stone ’79 Mr. William Frank Tait III ’96 Dr. Gaines Thomas ’72 Mr. K-Rob Thomas ’01 Ms. Barbara Wallace-Edwards ’79 Col Norajill N. Winstead ’80 Mrs. Lillian Auten Yates ’80 * Indicates Charter Member
www.aualum.org/coe
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C E N T E R
Alumni Snapshot
Hide & True When Jarrod Allen created his first leather bracelet, he never thought his passion for leather-making would grow into a business venture. The past two years have proven him very wrong.
Allen, a 2000 graduate of Auburn’s industrial design program, was inspired to create his own leather goods after he saw a leather watchband made by a fellow craftsman in Portland, Ore. “I wanted what he made, but I couldn’t really justify paying the price,” he said. “They were worth what they cost, but they were pricey.” Allen recruited a coworker to make a similar product, and was impressed by the process. “I took it home and started looking at it,” he said. “I started to dissect the way it went together, what I might do differently, and a bunch of different aspects of the construction. It wasn’t long before I had gone to the leather store, bought the materials to make my own, and I remade it. In two or three weeks, I had done it.” Soon afterward, Allen’s wife, Stacy, requested her own personalized work: a leather bracelet. Friends saw
the bracelet and soon, orders for watchbands and bracelets started coming in consistently. In 2012, Allen decided to make his business official, launching the brand Hide and True to sell his wide variety of leather products. At the heart of his business, Allen said, is family. “Someone that helped me to feel empowered and capable to make things was my dad,” he said. “Anything he did, he took the time to show me how to do it. He empowered me to have the know-how and the confidence to get after it.” Allen has taught his son, Jude, 5, some of the craft and spends time working with him just as his father did. He said he wants the business to be a family affair. “My wife is a huge supporter and help,” he said. “Her photography may be the single most important attribute in Hide & True’s recent growth and popularity.” Allen also said his background in industrial design at Auburn has helped him gain an appreciation for critique and criticism of his work. “I would never have felt as empowered to do what I do without my industrial design background,” he said. “In school, criticism comes hard. But something happens when you let the criticism become constructive.” —Ashley Selby
See more online at hideandtrue.com
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A L U M N I
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Tiger Trivia
PAUL OWEN DAVID JR. ’52 of Baton
Rouge, La., on July 18. A U.S. Army veteran, he founded P.O. David Inc., a real estate and land development company.
wholesale furniture business.
WINGO ’52 of Irondale on July 29. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II and a member of Alpha Tau Omega, he was director of purchasing at UAB prior to his retirement. NED THOMAS ELLIS
JERRY “MICK” MIKLIC ’54 of Moun-
tain Brook on Aug. 14. A member of Phi Delta Theta at Auburn, he was president of Birmingham Spring Service. ROBERT JAY
SR. ’53 of Fort Deposit
“BOB” FRITZ ’55 of
on July 7.
Cocoa Beach, Fla., on July 13. He was principal of Cocoa Beach Elementary and, later, principal of Roosevelt Middle School, which he helped transition into a K-8 facility.
MCDONALD ’53 of
Madison on July 6. He served on the Alabama State Senate and was later appointed execu-
Answer
L
E
S
RE U N ION
GARNER ’52 of Dothan on March 27. A U.S. Army veteran, he was in the
Which two SEC schools’ students traveled to Auburn in 1915 to celebrate “Festive Week”?
JAMES POPE
ALBERT CLYDE GIFFORD SUTTON
Question
tive director of the Alabama Farm Services Administration.
Alabama and Georgia, quite a few of whose students drove to the Plains for three separate dances and a rare soccer game. What the festivities of Festive Week were celebrating, we haven’t been able to ascertain!
several engineering jobs throughout his life and retired from Ingalls Shipbuilding’s engineering department after 24 years in the electrical engineering department.
GOLDEN
EA
G
Mark your calendars for April 15–17, when we induct the class of 1965 and honor the classes of 1960, 1955, 1950 and 1945. Enjoy fascinating presentations, catch up with former classmates and show off your smooth moves on the dance floor. To find out more about this program, contact: 334-844-1150 or goldeneagles@auburn.edu.
Register online at: www.aualum.org/goldeneagles
A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N
a u a l u m . o r g Auburn Magazine
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In Memoriam THOMAS CLIN-
THERESA ANNE
TON HURD JR. ’55 of
SNEAD HARRIS ’58 of
Opelika on July 6. A member of Alpha Tau Omega at Auburn, he was an OB-GYN practicing in the AuburnOpelika area.
Florence, S.C., on July 22. She was the chief pharmacist at a local infirmary and served as secretary of the Pee Dee Pharmaceutical Association. Additionally, Harris owned and operated her own store named The Leisure Shop.
JOHN W. ANDER-
Alumni Snapshot
Flying High
Bush Pilots
Rick ’82 and Teresa ’81 Dickson display trophies from the 1981 War Eagle Flying Team.
Flying in dangerous conditions has never been an issue for Rick and Teresa Dickson. Decades before he would fly cargo planes through some of the most dangerous terrain and weather in Africa and South America, Rick took his future wife flying for their first date in less than stellar conditions. “It was a very windy day, probably for the average pilot not a good day for flying, but he totally impressed me with his flying skills,” Teresa said. “I wasn’t about to wait for him to get up the nerve to ask me out again because it had taken him a couple of years already. We got married right after we graduated from Auburn.” The pull of aviation and engineering brought the Dicksons and their two children first to St. Louis, Mo., then Orlando, Fla. Life seemed pretty normal until Rick heeded the call of Mission Aviation Fellowship at an air show in Lakeland, Fla., a call that would soon bring them to a new home in Maseru, Lesotho, in Africa. Founded by former WWII pilots to bring aid and supplies to missionaries in distant parts of the world, MAF today operates in 14 countries around the world, transporting food, medical personnel, teachers and aid to people on five continents. Leaving America in their mid-30s with two young children, they headed for a country few had even heard of. It was a culture shock, Teresa said. While her husband was up in the skies, she and the children learned to live in a country with limited natural resources or wildlife, not to mention snowfall for a few weeks in July. For Rick, the goodwill his job promoted was worth its many risks. “Lesotho is known as the Switzerland of Africa. It’s very mountainous and therefore the transportation is very challenging,” Rick said. “One of the airstrips we flew into recently was named by National Geographic as one of top 10 most dangerous airstrips in the world.” Today their two grown children still consider the lands of southwest Africa their home, Teresa said. Though he does more ground work now than in the skies as the MAF’s financial director at their Idaho headquarters, Rick is still humbled by the risk and religious service of working as a bush pilot. “I think you have to hear the calling in your heart,” Rick said. “You don’t come out here to build hours, you have to want to help others and that’s your motivation for living in those tough areas. That makes it all worthwhile.” —Derek Herscovicci
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SON ’56 of Destin, Fla.,
on July 4. He was CEO of Alabama Farmer’s Cooperative until his retirement, after which he served as president of the Alabama Crop Improvement Association.
JAMES A. HUGHES ’58 of Cottonwood on
July 23. He was head of the Bank of Cottonwood before becoming a farmer and teacher.
MARY ANN WILLIAMS SUMRALL ’56
of Orlando, Fla., on Aug. 16. A Phi Mu at Auburn, she conducted research for her husband, Hal Sumrall ’56, a professor of international business. PIERCE REAVES GROSE ’57 of Fernandina Beach, Fla., on July 13. He enjoyed a career in the textile industry before retiring in 2000. GARY AUBREY HUFF ’57 of Brewton on June
11. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he worked in industry, since 1977 for McMillan Trust and McMillan Ltd.
WILLIAM E. ROYAL ’58 of Brunswick,
Ga., on June 26. He worked for Rayonier in Fernandina Beach, Fla., and was a Little League coach.
1960-69 EDWARD SNOW BOLEN ’60 of Warner
Robins, Ga., on July 21. A U.S. Air Force veteran of Vietnam, he was the wing commander of his transport unit. After retiring with the rank of colonel, Bolen taught special education in Houston County, Ga., elementary schools. CHARLES BRADEN ROBERSON ’60 of Rog-
EDWIN E. WILKERSON ’57 of Bryan,
Texas, on July 20. A member of Alpha Tau Omega at Auburn, he became vice president of Water Treatment Construction Co. and served in the U.S. Army Reserves.
ersville on July 8. A U.S. Army veteran of Korea, he was an agricultural entrepreneur. JAMES D. “BIG JIM” SELVEY ’60 of
Brandon, Fla., on July 20. He’d been involved with the Boy Scouts for more than 68 years.
A L U M N I
House Hunter Viewers of HGTV’s popular show “House Hunters” might have seen familiar terrain on Oct. 23 as Glenn Loughridge, director of campus dining at Auburn, and his family were featured on the show as they searched for a new home on the Plains. The family moved to Auburn in 2012, and Loughridge said they applied for the show on a whim.
HENRY STERN ’60
of Opelika on July 17. A U.S. Navy veteran, he retired as director of the Opelika Chamber of Commerce in 1988.
leader for the Survey Systems Support Branch and was a proud “friend to the animals,” adopting three greyhounds. ELIZABETH
PATRICIA P. TRACHY
BELSHAW HENDERSON
’60 of Gulf Breeze, Fla.,
’64 of Dadeville on
on June 19. She taught at Pensacola Junior College.
July 23. She worked in computer sales and lived on Lake Martin for much of her life.
GRADY HARMON ’61
of LaFayette on July 17. He taught at Auburn University in engineering and went on to found and serve as CEO of Harmon Engineering and Associates. ROBERT H. HODNETT ’61 of New Site on July
18. He was a structural engineer with Hodnett/Hurst Engineers Inc. in Huntsville. One of his recent volunteer projects included the design work for the restoration of Smith Mountain Fire overlooking Lake Martin. JERRY EDWARD LAMPKIN ’61 of Clem-
mons, N.C., on July 22. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he worked with Western Electric and AT&T for more than 30 years before retiring in 1995. DAVID E. LYONS ’62 of Montgomery on July 16. CHARLES F. BISCHOFF ’63 of New
LEWIS NEWTON STANTON JR. ’64 of Foster City, Calif., on Aug. 10. A member of Auburn’s 1957 National Championship team, he served in the U.S. Army and later worked for both Burlington Industries and Abbey Carpet & Floor. DEAN R. FREITAG ’65
of Cookeville, Tenn., on Sept. 1. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran of World War II, he worked a number of years with the Army Corps of Engineers before becoming a professor of civil engineering at Tennessee Technological University. ARLENE HOAG ’65 of Perrysburg, Ohio, on Sept. 15. She retired in 2009 as a full professor of economics at Owens Community College and authored a textbook, Introductory Economics.
the company’s operation throughout his life. DIANE BRENNAN KOART ’68 of Columbus, Ga., on July 25. She was retired as a math teacher in the Muscogee County, Ga., school district.
see Financial Planning and was a registered representative for Sagepoint Financial. JOSEPH ANDREW “DREW” RHODES ’73
’68 of Georgetown, S.C.,
of Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 12, 2013. He was a partner in the law firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart.
on June 30. He enjoyed a long, successful career in architecture.
’75 of Birmingham on
FRANK Y. PETEET II
JAMES RICHARD
RONALD U. HARRIS
Aug. 1. He was president of Krebs Engineering.
BLACKLEY ’69 of Cum-
ming, Ga., on Feb. 3.
JUDY SCOTT LANGSTON ’75 of Bir-
BUDDY HAMMOND
mingham on June 22.
’69 of Sylacauga on
June 5. He was a high school teacher and coach.
1970-79
of Pike Road on June 18. He was an anesthesiologist and chair of anesthesia at Baptist Medical Center South.
KERMIT EUGENE
C E N T E R
LORI MARION HENN ’83 of Mason, Ohio, on
July 12. She worked as a financial officer. DAVID ALLEN
CAROLYN JEAN PHILLIPPI ’76 of
Fernandina Beach, Fla., on July 5. A member of Alpha Omicron Pi at Auburn, she had a degree in speech pathology and audiology.
KIMBERL SR. ’83 of
Prattville on June 6. He was a member of Kappa Sigma at Auburn and later president of his local Auburn Club.
Faculty & Friends
JACQUELYN GAUT BRITT ’77 of Birming-
ham on June 30. She worked for Luckie & Co. for 26 years.
1980-89
KATHLEEN MOORE CHAPMAN of Opelika
on July 23. Chapman worked for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. CAROL LOUIS
“GENE” LEDBETTER
DONATELLA DON-
LOEBLER of Fultondale
JR. ’75 of Fairhope on
NELL ’81 of Daphne on Oct. 3, 2013. She worked for Carell Corp.
on Aug. 14, who worked with Birmingham Steel Erectors for 17 years.
June 27. DERRY R. SNELL ’75
LLOYD M. BROOKS ’70 of Somerville on June 1. A U.S. Army veteran, he worked as an Army civil service engineer. HORST KLEIN ’71 of Bishop, Ga., on June 10. He was born in Herborn, Germany, but lived and worked in the Athens, Ga., area. JANICE SMITH NOBLE ’71 of Tuscaloosa
on July 17. She practiced pharmacy in Anniston, Decatur and Tuscaloosa.
BARRY WILSON ’67 of
Huntsville on Feb. 7.
Orleans, La., on July 4. HINTON D. HALL ROLLAND L. “TONY”
’68 of Kinston on Aug.
GARDNER ’63 of Gulfport, Miss., on Aug. 19. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, he served as shop
7. He founded his own die-casting business, Dura-Cast Inc., and remained very active in
GLEN ATWELL ’72
of Montgomery on June 24. JOHN ROBERT MCANNALLY ’73 of Sig-
COLOR US AUBURN More than 550 hardy runners showed up in August for the 2014
nal Mountain, Tenn., on July 3. He owned Tennes-
Color Me Auburn 5K, hosted by the Auburn Student Alumni Association. The event, held annually, raised more than $7,000 for the SAA Scholarship Endowment.
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The Last Word by Beverly Smith ’86
Get Your Programs Here! The air is cool, crisp and clean. Brown leaves crunch and crackle under our feet as we walk. You can just catch the acrid smell of wood smoke and charcoal in the morning air. Overhead, the sky is clear blue with only a few wispy clouds. Perfect. We stop and park our handcart, reach down and take out the first few programs. It’s game day in Auburn. Just like Mr. Ed told us, we take out our change, a ten and three fives, and put it in our left hand along with two or three programs. Then, one program in our right hands, cover facing out, we are in business. There are already a few people milling about. When people walk in our direction we look them in the eye, smile and ask, “Program?” Some buy; most do not. It’s still early. We are prepared. Granola bars, fruit snacks and water bottles are in our backpacks; we are dressed in layers. Cool fall mornings can heat up fast as the day progresses. We are parked on Donahue just outside the concession area of Plainsman Park. Great traffic flow and close to all the pregame action. Ed Bagwell, program director extraordinaire, has been heading up program sales for 25 years. In 1989, he took over the job from his father, who had been in the position since 1972. Mr. Ed and his faithful crew are the experts and the heart of the business. Young people and family groups, under Ed’s guidance, make up the workforce. This amazing enterprise, considered by some to be a rite of passage for Auburn-area kids, has been a part of the childhood of more than one Auburn University football player. Every August, potential workers must fill out an application and attend the orientation and instructional meeting. There, Ed imparts the secrets and challenges of the program trade. He tells you where to stand, how to stand, how to hold your programs, how to make change, how much change to keep, and how to never ever walk away from your program box. Thus prepared, you normally check in about three hours before game time. After receiving your boxes (and Ed has an uncanny knack of knowing how many you need for each game), you count your programs and go to your assigned spot. Around two-and-one-half hours prior to kickoff, the crowd begins to increase. Security workers put the double row of barriers down Donahue. Fans begin to stake out their spot for that awesome game-day tradition called Tiger Walk. Program sales pick up a little, but it’s not quite time for the rush. Two hours pregame. Here come the Tigers! We have a front-row spot from our sales point. Through the years we have felt the excitement of watching the greats walk head and shoulders above the crowd down the walk. Coaches from Tuberville
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to Malzahn have walked with them, Aubie and the AU Cheerleaders leading the way. Once they have passed, sales pick up a little, but as the crowd disperses, the steady stream of people up and down the street is mostly interested in sightseeing, souvenirs and food. Forty-five minutes before kickoff, the AU Marching Band, split into four pep bands, converges on the intersection at the southwest corner of the stadium along with Aubie and the AU Cheerleaders for the exciting and deafening Spirit March. The crowd is packed tight and you need to hold on to your program cart. Our usual strategy—move to this intersection just before Spirit March. After selling programs for three years on that corner, the oldest of our three children was in the band for four years. She couldn’t wave or acknowledge us, but she usually picked us out in the crowd with her eyes and we loudly and proudly cheered for her. As soon as the band finishes, the rush begins. True to Ed’s predictions, you sell the bulk of your programs during the last hour before game time. All three of our children sold programs over the eight years we worked the games. They gained good business experience, people skills and paid for their school band trips out of their earnings. We have a small collection of programs from memorable games and many good memories. We met people over the years who became regular customers and watched our children grow up, asking about them if they missed a game. For our children, growing up on the Plains was special. The excitement of fall football, all the other things that living in a university town included, and the camaraderie of the Auburn spirit combined to make it unique. Selling programs was often hard work. Interacting with the fans on game day and moving among them week after week, however, was an enjoyable part of their growing-up years. Remembering those years and the close-knit spirit that is Auburn reminds me of something else from their childhood—Dash’s declaration at the end of the Pixar movie The Incredibles: “I love this family!” Pictured above: Kristen Smith, Beverly Smith’s youngest daughter, during her last year to sell programs. For the full text of Smith’s essay, please visit auburnmagazine.auburn.edu.
THIS IS A LEGACY OF
LEADERSHIP. Four decades after graduating from Auburn in mechanical engineering, Charles McCrary recently retired as president and CEO of Alabama Power Company. He is well known for his positive influence on providing affordable, reliable electricity, and driving economic growth in the state. To recognize his leadership and service, the Alabama Power Foundation is establishing the Charles D. McCrary Institute at Auburn University. The institute’s interdisciplinary research will focus on energy security and conservation research. Faculty will develop new technologies to address our nation’s most pressing energy challenges and improve our quality of life. The Alabama Power Foundation’s philanthropic investment will position Auburn as a leader in protecting and optimizing the nation’s power grid. In doing so, the institute will perpetuate McCrary’s legacy of leadership at Alabama Power Company and his unwavering service to the state of Alabama.
THIS IS AUBURN.
For more information about how you can give to Auburn, visit develop.auburn.edu.
Auburn Alumni Center 317 South College Street Auburn, AL 36849-5149 w w w.aualum.org
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