Auburn Magazine - Fall 2016 by Auburn Alumni Association

A Talk with NSA Director Mike Rogers

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Happiness awaits just outside Auburn University. Hidden away in the world-class golf courses at RTJ Grand National, the community of National Village offers everything youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll need for everyday living. Reside in award-winning craftsman-style cottages, explore miles of picturesque nature trails, and enjoy multiple fishing and boating options on our lakes. Dive into the new resort pools and serve up some fun at the new tennis and pickle ball complex. Golfers will love the three courses at Grand National on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Homes from $200,000â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to over $500,000 in three distinctive neighborhoods.

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Why are we compelled

TO DO MORE? Because the best students require the best teachers. And the best teachers are always in great demand. Gifts for faculty help Auburn remain competitive in faculty recruitment and retention, ensuring our students have access to top scholars and mentors. Together, the Auburn Family can ensure every school and college at Auburn boasts the best minds in their fields. Andrew Freear Director, Rural Studio Wiatt Professor

Because every dollar counts. GIVE TODAY AT BECAUSE.AUBURN.EDU

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Night Grooves Samford Hall (and the crane being used to construct a new classroom building on campus) overlooks downtown Auburn on a recent summer night. (Photograph by Jeff Etheridge.) See more online at www.facebook.com/AuburnUPhoto

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THIS IS THE CLIMATE FOR RESEARCH. In addition to being an award-winning educator and scholar, Professor Hanqin Tian of Auburn’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences is a pioneer in advancing climate change research. Tian’s first-of-a-kind study in Nature is helping the world understand human impacts on the earth’s ecosystems and climate. In looking at the net balance of the three major greenhouse gases for every region of Earth’s landmasses, Tian found that human-induced emissions of methane and nitrous oxide overwhelmingly surpass the ability of the land to soak up carbon dioxide emissions. This finding has revised our understanding of the agricultural impact on global climate change. Tian also helped launch Auburn’s Climate, Human, and Earth System Sciences Strategic Hire Initiative, a new faculty cluster that reaches across multiple fields in a cohesive, interdisciplinary, system-oriented program aimed at advancing the health and well-being of the human race. auburn.edu/climatechange

THIS IS AUBURN.

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FROM THE PRESIDENT

Mell Classroom Building

An artist's rendering shows the 69,000-square-foot building that is being constructed next to Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

In the Capitol and in the Classroom WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL amendment on the general election ballot this November, Alabama voters have an opportunity to help Auburn achieve more stability on its governing board of trustees. Act 2015-217, which the Alabama Legislature passed last year, is designed to adjust the procedure for trustee terms so that no more than three expire annually. Because the state senate has not always confirmed previous board nominees as the vacancy occurred, nine board member terms, or two-thirds, end in 2019, potentially creating a leadership vacuum, adversely impacting continuity of governance and leading to potential concerns with accreditors. The amendment on the ballot in November ensures that only three trustee terms will expire in a calendar year through an automatic adjustment process. Act 2015-217 will also allow the university to add two members, selected at-large. The additional at-large seats will increase opportunities for a more diverse board. Minority representation on the Auburn University Board of Trustees is a positive step that has been an ongoing discussion among trustees, alumni leadership, state officials and various stakeholder groups. As a land-grant institution with a mission of providing service and fostering economic opportunity, we want our board to have a permanent process to ensure smooth governance transitions and a balanced representation of the state. Act 2015-217 works to achieve both of these critical goals.

We want our board to have a permanent process to ensure smooth governance traditions and a balanced representation of the state. Act 2015-217 works to achieve both of these goals. Susie and I are grateful for the chance to serve Auburn. While many of my responsibilities revolve around the university’s daily operations, a role I tremendously enjoy is staying connected with students in the classroom by co-teaching a graduate course in higher education administration. We’re also developing a digital course to provide a presidential perspective on real-world challenges and solutions in today’s university environment to students across the country. When completed, we hope it’s a helpful tool for the next generation of higher education leaders. War Eagle,

Jay Gogue ’69 President, Auburn University

jgogue@auburn.edu

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FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS

Sani-Freeze….and Engagement EVEN THOUGH TEMPERATURES current and incoming board members as we work toward a vision are soaring into the upper 90s with of connecting and engaging our alumni to advance the mission of matched humidity, there is a noticeable Auburn University. uptick in energy as our campus A great number of our alumni base is already engaged with the community eagerly prepares for the university through a variety of activities, for which we are grateful. new academic year. As summer turns into fall and you return to the Plains, I invite you to join me at the Sani-Freeze. No, the summer heat has not caused me to hallucinate; there will actually be a new, modern version of this iconic Auburn landmark in front of the Auburn Alumni Center during our hospitality tailgates before every home game this year. Join me for a walk down memory lane and, of course, some delicious ice cream. A special thanks to the McWhorter School of Building Science and its students Eric Lynn and Tanner Mayfield, who provided the energy, leadership and attention to detail for this entire project. Please visit www.alumni.auburn.edu/hospitality-tailgate for game-day details, pre-registration tips, shuttle information and new food options for guests. This nostalgic experience is a reflection of the Auburn Alumni Association’s new strategic plan. There is an increased emphasis on diversifying Soft Serve: Auburn building science students re-created the iconic Auburn Sani-Freeze, which you can programs and services to increase meaningful alumni visit this year before each home football game at the Alumni Hospitality Tailgate in the Auburn Alumni Center. engagement as well as establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with our stakeholders. Another area of focus is For those of you who have not done so, I invite you to explore the to develop an integrated communications strategy to reach all countless possibilities. Please send us your news and updates, share Auburn alumni family and friends. Many of you may be hearing the Auburn Magazine with a friend, actively participate in your from us for the very first time and, if so, welcome to the Auburn local Auburn Club, attend homecoming, recruit new students, hire Magazine! I hope you will enjoy it and will become a regular new graduates, cheer on our Tigers, and make an annual gift to consumer of this award-winning publication. To review the help our university’s national rankings. association’s new strategic goals, please visit alumni.auburn.edu/ It’s great to be a part of the Auburn Family! board-of-directors. As the new strategic plan is adopted and implemented this War Eagle, fall, I would like to extend my appreciation to our alumni board members for their participation, guidance and leadership throughout this entire process. In particular, I am grateful to our president, Jack Fite, for the countless ways in which he has Gretchen VanValkenburg ’86 Vice President for Alumni Affairs & provided service and support during his term. He has provided Executive Director, Auburn Alumni Association a solid foundation and future direction for incoming board president Beau Byrd. I look forward to working with all of our gretchenvan@auburn.edu

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FROM THE EDITOR

Welcome Aboard WELCOME TO AUBURN MAGAZINE! For some of you, this magazine is a familiar sight in your mailbox. Four times a year, it is delivered to members of the Auburn Alumni Association, filled with news and feature stories about Auburn University and Auburn people. With this Fall 2016 issue, we’re happy to introduce about 160,000 new faces to what the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education recently named one of the five top college and university magazines in the nation. We hope you enjoy it. What do we hope you’ll do with the magazine? Read it, of course. Share it. Display it. Those are the primary goals. Of course, we also hope you’ll be inspired to attend an event, join a game-watching party this fall, attend a meeting of your local Auburn Club or join the Auburn Alumni Association (and get the magazine every quarter). The university is in the middle of a major fundraising campaign, and if you’re inspired to make a gift of any amount to the university using the envelope you'll find in these pages, that would be great, too. But mostly, we want to connect with all of our Auburn alumni, faculty, staff and friends. We’re a big family more

FEATURES

than 200,000 strong, and yet we all share that tie to the Plains. Whether you call your alma mater Auburn or API, I hope you’ll find something in the magazine to bring

back memories or pique your interest. This issue is much like Auburn. It keeps one foot firmly rooted in its traditions and history while its people and programs reach out into the world to improve lives and

A World on Watch

LISTEN IN! TWO INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS ON INTELLIGENCE AND CYBER SECURITY DISCUSS CHALLENGES FACING OUR COUNTRY TODAY AS LT. GEN. (RET.) RONALD L. BURGESS '74 INTERVIEWS U.S. NAVY ADM. MICHAEL ROGERS '81, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY.

advance knowledge. For those of you who regularly receive the magazine and for those who are seeing it for the first time (or the first time in a while), enjoy. We hope to see you on the Plains again soon!

An Auburn Hullabaloo

THE STORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES INVOLVING THE REMOVAL OF 1950 FOOTBALL COACH EARL BROWN, THE INVOLVEMENT OF A GOVERNOR, ONE GREAT TRIUMPH, MANY TRAGIC LOSSES, AND THE ARRIVAL OF RALPH "SHUG" JORDAN. BY LEAH RAWLS ATKINS '58 AND VINCE DOOLEY '54.

44 Suzanne Johnson Editor, Auburn Magazine suzannejohnson@auburn.edu

A Helping Hand

WHEN A FIREWORKS ACCIDENT TOOK MOST OF HIS RIGHT HAND, TALLAPOOSA COUNTY SHERIFF'S INVESTIGATOR TOM DOWLING '10 THOUGHT HIS STORY WAS OVER. WITH FAITH, PERSEVERANCE AND A FEW AUBURN STUDENTS, HE'S BEGUN A NEW CHAPTER. BY DEREK HERSCOVICI.

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EDITOR

Suzanne Johnson CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Shannon Bryant-Hankes ’84 ART DIRECTOR

Heather Peevy ASSISTANT EDITOR

Derek Herscovici '14

UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER

Jeff Etheridge EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Liz Maddux ’16 DESIGN ASSISTANTS

Conner Dungan ’16, Mitch McHargue ‘16, Kaleigh Peltack ‘17 IT SPECIALIST

Aaron Blackmon ’10 PRESIDENT, AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Jay Gogue ’69

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Gretchen VanValkenburg ’86 PRESIDENT, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

DEPARTMENTS 7 From the Editor Old, new, orange and blue. Welcome to Auburn Magazine!

CONCOURSE 10 Birds of a Feather An Auburn researcher discovers what makes a red bird red—and why it matters.

13 Inside the Archives The many, rarely seen faces of Auburn icon George Petrie, before and after the Creed.

16 Sports Football gets a new look on defense, while Auburn mourns the loss of two of its all-time legends.

18 Philanthropy As Auburn reaches a historic fundraising goal, plans progress for continued philanthropic support for the university's future.

Jack Fite ’85

THE CLASSES 59 Class Notes 61 Poarch's Porch Pies Robyn Poarch '95 turns a simple pie into a successful (and tasty) business.

64 In Memoriam

Enter to Win! Everyone needs a dose of Auburn spirit to start a new football season. Enter at alumni.auburn.edu/auburnmagazine to win one of our batch of Auburn gifts and goodies. Multiple winners will be chosen.

Agency, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Services—but he still finds time to shout out "War Eagle" on occasion.

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Neal Reynolds ’77 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL

Maria Baugh ’87, John Carvalho ’78, Jon Cole ’88, Christian Flathman ’97, Kay Fuston ’84, Bob Jones ’74, 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

68 Backchat

ON THE COVER Adm. Michael S. Rogers '81 stands watch over international security as director of the National Security

AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR

AUBURN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1077– 8640) is published quarterly; 4X per year; spring, summer, fall, winter, for 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. Email: aubmag@auburn.edu. Contents ©2016 by the Auburn Alumni Association, all rights reserved. ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Jessica King at (334) 844-2586 or see our media guide at aualum.org/magazine. POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149.

AUBURN NEWS & VIEWS

Concourse IN THIS SECTION Poultry Center 12 The Faces of George Petrie 13 Mixed Media 15 Athletics 16

Fly like an eagle?

Seeing Red Auburn ornithology and bird coloration expert Geoffrey Hill isolates what makes birds of a feather show their inner shade of scarlet. Story on Page 10. Hear Geoffrey Hill talking about his research at youtube.com/watch?v=4_9qjoh6S_4

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CONCOURSE > CAMPUS NEWS

Birds of a Feather Washington University in St. Louis, the key gene that enables birds to have red coloring in their feathers and skin is now identified. Their study can be found in the June 2016 issue of the journal Current Biology. “Red coloration is a prominent feature of many species of birds,” said Hill. “Most birds that show red coloration get the coloring from a special class of pigments called carotenoids. These are becoming more familiar to the public because carotenoids like lutein are now being put in vitamins. So, the same pigments that help with our vision and serve other vitamin functions are also the basis for red feathers in birds.” To make the discovery, the team focused on a special breed of canary—red factor canaries—which were developed in pre-World War II Germany. Breeders crossed yellow canaries with a South American finch known as a red siskin and then backcrossed with a canary. Game Watch with “These birds are called ‘red factor’ Auburn Fans no matter canaries because the genetic factor that enablesyou birdslive! to be red was where

Watch with rn Fans no matter e you live! WHY DO SOME BIRDS have red feathers? Geoffrey Hill, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University, finally found an answer to this deceptively challenging question. Thanks to modern genomics and a collaborative effort by Hill and an international team of scientists, including colleagues Miguel Carneiro at the University of Porto in Portugal and Joseph Corbo at

moved from siskins to canaries," Hill said. "With modern genomics, we set out to find the gene that was transferred. Using these new tools, the genes that had been inserted into the canary genome lit up like a Christmas tree.” NOT ONLY IS THIS DISCOVERY beneficial for basic biology, but the red pigment also has implications in food and medicine. “This gives us tremendous insight into the genetic mechanisms that control animal coloration,” said Hill. “This new enzyme is potentially a new synthetic pathway for creating valuable pigments for a global industry.” The pigments are also linked to cardiovascular health and control of oxidative stress in human bodies, which could be significant in developing new products and medications.

Can't make it to Jordan-Hare? Find alumni game-watch parties in your area by visiting

alumni.auburn.edu/clubs 10

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CONCOURSE > CAMPUS NEWS

Flying Free

On June 9, the Southeastern Raptor Center released this barred owl and several other rehabilitated birds back into the wild as part of the celebration to welcome a new member to the raptor team—a customized Ford Explorer purchased with a donation from the Auburn Alumni Association to the center's rehabilitation division. "The donation from the Auburn Alumni Association allowed us to replace a 14-year-old passenger van that was only being driven locally," said raptor center director Jamie Bellah. "The purchase of [this vehicle] will provide comfortable and safe transportation for our staff, volunteers and the raptors being transported by the center to releases."

Momma Turns 40

ROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS to an Auburn tradition to a growing franchise, Momma Goldberg’s Deli has withstood the test of time. This September, Momma G’s celebrates 40 years of Auburn tradition and marks its birthday with a new book, Momma’s Love, coming out in mid-September. “What has always stood out to me about Momma Goldberg’s is it’s a brand that has built itself around the word love,” said Nick Davis ’84, president of Momma G’s Inc. “That theme is in everything from the name of the signature sandwich to the passion our loyal fans continue to show.” Davis has been a fan of Momma Goldberg’s Deli for a long time, first as an Auburn student, later as a friend to founder Don DeMent ’63

and his wife, Betty ’71, and then as an lined up around the corner, waiting initial shareholder of Momma G’s Inc. to hug Don and have a picture taken in 2007. with him. They were laughing and cryBy 2009, he became a bigger part ing and the excitement was evident.” of Momma’s family as owner of the Now the headquarters is in Gainesoriginal location on Magnolia Avenue ville, Fla., and the corporate leaderand Momma Goldberg’s Deli Too on ship team has grown from three to Thach Avenue. more than a dozen. Most of the staff In December 2014, Davis purchased has worked together in some fashion the majority shares of Momma for years. G’s Inc., the franchisor of Momma This dynamic makes for a strong Goldberg’s Deli. infrastructure and demonstrates He had a chance to experience another word that stands out for some of that love and passion Momma G’s—family. firsthand as a franchisee Momma Goldberg's is a brand that when the has built itself around the word love. Boaz location opened its doors in August 2011. “This has always been a family “I’ve never seen anything like it,” business,” said Don DeMent. “When Davis said. “People were out the door, I opened the doors in 1976, it was

because I wanted to serve the community a high-quality deli product in a comfortable, fun environment. "It’s a business built on the Golden Rule, and we always tried to make everyone feel at home.”

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Chicken Big

Aug. 27, 2016–Jan. 7, 2017

adjust

your

This exhibition has been made possible in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Bill L. Harbert Gallery and Gallery C

(mind)

SET

UBURN UNIVERSITY’S DEPARTMENT of Poultry Science officially broke ground in May on the Charles C. Miller Jr. Poultry Research and Education Center, a new state-of-the-art research and teaching facility. Located about two miles north of Auburn’s main campus, the center will include a three-phase construction project beginning with two poultry research houses and a poultry equipment testing and evaluation house. “This project is significant for Auburn University and for the Alabama poultry industry,” said Paul Patterson, dean of the Auburn University College of Agriculture. “This facility will position Auburn University to become the world’s premiere poultry and food science program.” Completion of the first two research houses is expected this fall. The equipment evaluation facility will be the only place in the nation dedicated solely to testing and refining equipment to improve poultry farming efficiency and profitability. The second and third phases of the center will include facilities like live bird research houses, a visitors’ center and an administrative building with classrooms, offices and a reception area. The center will be named to honor poultry industry pioneer Charles C. Miller Jr., who earned a textile engineering degree from Auburn in 1938 and a degree in agricultural business and economics in 1940. Miller’s son, Charles C. “Buddy” Miller III, and daughter-in-law, Pinney Allen, have supported the construction of the new center through a $2.5 million gift in honor of Miller III’s parents. “We are deeply grateful to the Miller family and to the many individuals and organizations who have supported this project and helped bring it from a dream to a reality,” Patterson said. –Liz Maddux

For live webcam images and updates on the Miller Poultry Research and Education Center visit poul.auburn.edu/ charles-miller-jr-poultry-center/building-progress/

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We know George Petrie as the Auburn Creed author and all-around icon. Here are some other looks.

THE ARCHIVES Found in “Auburn’s Attic”

Photography courtesy of Auburn University Libraries—Special Collections and Archives

Above, Petrie (in black) might have coached football but here he poses with the dapper API baseball team. Petrie's knowing glance as a toddler, right, changed little for his faculty photo, left. In the classroom, below, he taught history to (mostly) attentive students.

diglab.auburn.ed/collections/phgosse

FALL 2016

Auburn Magazine

CONCOURSE > CAMPUS NEWS

PRESTIGIOUS

SCHOLARSHIPS In the fall of 2008, a national prestigious scholarships presence was established on the Auburn University campus. Housed in the Honors College, the national prestigious scholarships office has the chief responsibility of recruiting and assisting students in the application process for nationally competitive scholarships and awards. Before 2008, Auburn had an inconsistent track record in securing nationally competitive scholarships, running well behind its SEC peers.

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MIXED MEDIA Now Playing BOOKSHELF Toni Tennille: A Memoir, by Toni Tennille '64 and Caroline Tennille St. Clair (Taylor Trade Publishing, 2016). Since bursting onto the scene in the mid ‘70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. They were an irresistible pair to millions of fans all over the world, further underscored by the rousing “yes, we can!” gospel of their biggest hit, “Love Will Keep Us Together.” But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw: a woman who fought a lonely struggle against the controlling and often bizarre behavior of her emotionally inaccessible husband. Toni Tennille: A Memoir is a visceral account of Toni Tennille’s life from her childhood in the segregated South to her thrilling rise to fame in the world of pop music to where she is now: no longer one-half of a famed couple, but a stronger woman for all she has experienced— both the good and the bad. Tennille got her start in entertainment with the Auburn Knights Orchestra while in school. Troubling the Ashes, by Shirley A. Aaron '77 (WK Publishing Group, 2016). This work of historical fiction takes place in a small Alabama town, idyllic and wholesome but plagued by a bitter disease that blinds them to the impending upheaval they are about to face. The disease is racism—both aggressive and passive—and the town is not far from Auburn in Macon County. Blending the life experiences of the author with the violent history of the region, Ashes follows the fictional Marley Jane as she moves with her new husband, Winston, to Macon County for his new job at the high school, recently rebuilt after it was burned to the ground as payback for integration. As much a story of growing up as it is an allegory of hatred, forgiveness and rebirth, Aaron’s book captures what it was like to live through the chaos of the time. The novel is based on actual events that took place in Notasulga, where author Aaron lived and worked for 14 years as part of her 42-year career in education.

Occupied, 30" x 22," 2016, Terry Rodriguez ‘85, teresarodriguezart.com

Gospel Immersion, from Travels with Charlemagne’s Daughters, 24”x 16,” Terry Rodriguez ‘85, teresarodriguezart.com

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION Blake Burgess '13 (right), who played on the AU football team from 2009-12, played in Woodlawn, a film based on the true story of a high school football team that endured through the racial tensions of early 1970s Birmingham.

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CONCOURSE > SPORTS

Tigers to Tigers

Kevin Steele brings his defensive chops from LSU to Auburn.

IRST-YEAR DEFENSIVE coordinator Kevin Steele will step onto the football sideline this fall looking at his team from a new Tigers angle: Auburn instead of LSU. Steele served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at LSU in the 2015 season, moving to the Auburn DC position in January and now ready to face his inaugural season as the man charged with beefing up the Auburn defense. Steele’s background also includes stints at Alabama and Clemson, as well as the NFL with the Carolina Panthers. He was a member of the 1994 national championship staff at Nebraska and has worked under such head coaches as Tom Osborne (Nebraska), Bobby Bowden (Florida State), Nick Saban

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Strong

Steele

(Alabama), Les Miles (LSU), Johnny Majors (Tennessee) and Dom Capers (Carolina Panthers). But he’s always been a fan of Auburn. Steele says he wore No. 7 as a quarterback at Prattville Junior High because that was Pat Sullivan’s number. The first college game he ever attended in Auburn was when he was in the first grade in Gordo; he can still show you where he sat. His brother, Jeff, works in the AU athletics department. His daughter, Carolina, is an Auburn graduate. “We got the right guy,” said head coach Gus Malzahn. “I was looking for somebody who had SEC experience and has been successful in this league. He definitely has that, and then some. I was looking for a successful recruiter. He’s one of the top recruiters in all of college

football. I was also looking for someone with high character and integrity, and he definitely has that. And someone who would be a great example for players, which definitely fits with that. And, lastly, I was looking for stability, someone who would be here for a while to have a chance.”

Steele says he wore No. 7 as a quarterback at Prattville Junior High because that was Pat Sullivan’s number. Steele, Malzahn’s third defensive coordinator, says he’s here on the Plains to stay, calling the move from Baton Rouge to Auburn “a very, very easy decision for me for a lot of reasons.” Family was one reason. Coaching was another.

CONCOURSE > SPORTS “I’m just looking forward to getting started, to meet the players, obviously to get in off-season conditioning, spring practice, implement the defensive structure,” Steele said. “Auburn had a history of being a hard-nosed, physical defense for years, ever since I was a young guy growing up in this state with a high school coach as a father. I certainly know of the tradition and the history of Auburn’s hard-nosed defense. I’m looking forward to being part of that.” Steele said he made the move because of Malzahn “being the kind of person he is, being the kind of leader he is. That was a key component for me personally. Then the fact there is tradition and history here to win championships, to play hard-nosed defense. But from a personal standpoint, the state and this university has a large part of me in it.”

2016 Football Schedule (Check local TV listings for kickoff times and channels.)

Sept. 3 vs. Clemson Sept. 10 vs. Arkansas State Sept. 17 vs. Texas A&M Sept. 24 vs. LSU Oct. 1 vs. Louisiana-Monroe Oct. 8 at Mississippi State Oct. 22 vs. Arkansas Oct. 29 at Ole Miss Nov. 5 vs. Vanderbilt Nov. 12 at Georgia Nov. 19 vs. Alabama A&M Nov. 26 at Alabama

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY WADE RACKLEY

Two of the Best

SMIT H

THE AUBURN FAMILY has lost two of its 1950s Auburn football legends in recent months. Frank Thomas “Tommy” Lorino Jr. died on May 22 at the age of 79. Roger Duane “Zeke” Smith died on July 22, also at age 79. Both Lorino and Smith played on Auburn’s 1957 championship team. Lorino was the running back on the 1957 championship team and the undefeated 1958 Tigers team, leading the nation in rushing average in 1956 at 8.44 yards a carry, still one of the SEC’s best marks. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 after a high school career in Bessemer, a college career at Auburn and becoming a familiar face around the SEC as a football official for more than 25 years. He also punted, played defense and was an outfielder for Auburn’s 1958 SEC champion baseball team. Lorino lived in Panama City, Fla. In addition to playing lineman on the 1957 championship team, Zeke Smith won the Outland Trophy in 1958 as the top lineman in the country. Each year, Auburn’s top defensive player is given the Zeke Smith Award. “He set a high bar for Auburn football players to try to obtain, and very few have reached a level in college football that he did,” said Jay Jacobs, Auburn’s Director of Athletics. “The great thing is that as great a football player as he was, he was a finer man and always an inspiration to be around. The Auburn family will miss him, but his legacy and his expectations for all of us will never be forgotten.” Smith played in the NFL in 1960 and 1961 and in the CFL in 1962 and 1963. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. LORINO “Those were the toughest of the athletes because they played both ways,” Jacobs said, “and they didn’t have the benefit of the equipment we have today, the nutritionists and the sports medicine and the training. Those guys just gutted it out. They created an opportunity for those behind them.”—Charles Goldberg

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GOAL

CONCOURSE > PHILANTHROPY

Because This is Auburn — A Campaign for

HANKS TO THE GENEROUS PHILANTHROPY of alumni and friends who participated in Because This is Auburn — A Campaign for Auburn University, Auburn became the first university in the state to raise an unprecedented $1 billion in private giving. Auburn achieved this remarkable success in record time—more than a year earlier than projected. With 16 months remaining in the campaign, leaders say the university will continue raising funds. “The fact that we have achieved our goal so early in the campaign is an enormous commentary on the special place that Auburn has in the hearts and minds of people who are connected to it,” said Auburn University President Jay Gogue. “I couldn’t be more proud of or more grateful for all the people who have invested so generously. “But we have to keep moving forward. We are not finished advancing Auburn University’s mission through increased philanthropic investment.” The university publicly launched the campaign at the A-Day football game on April 18, 2015. Once the university issued the challenge of its largest campaign in history, the Auburn Family eagerly responded. To date, the university has received 393,113 gifts through the campaign from more than 95,000 donors, 131 of whom have given $1 million or more. Endowed gifts account for more than a third of the campaign’s total. The campaign’s co-chairs, whose leadership has contributed to its success, include Joe ’71 and Gayle ’70 Forehand of Dallas, Texas; Raymond ’82 and Kathryn ’81 Harbert of Birmingham; Wayne ’68 and Cheryl ’68 Smith of Nashville, Tenn.; and Beth Thorne Stukes of Jasper.

“A billion dollars is a lofty goal,” Stukes said. “But it tells the world we’re here; we’re ready to take on the challenge.” The campaign has inspired transformative gifts that forever will change the landscape at Auburn. The Harberts committed $40 million—at the time the largest gift in Auburn’s history— to name the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. The gift is strengthening the college’s position as a national and global leader in shaping business thought and practice. The Harberts said their gift contributes to a legacy of excellence at Auburn that is being created through the $1 billion campaign. “Hopefully, the next generation will see that this

“Every single gift in the campaign is important — not just for the size of the gift but because it represents commitment to the university.” generation stepped out and sacrificed to make Auburn better,” Raymond Harbert said. “Every single gift in the campaign is important—not just for the size of the gift but because it represents commitment to the university.” A $57 million gift from John ’57 and Rosemary ’57 Brown, the largest single gift in school history, will help fund two major new facilities: a new performing arts center and the Brown-Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center. Their gift will also fund the first eminent scholar chair in the College of Sciences and Mathematics. The Browns also committed $10 million to the College of Veterinary Medicine. John Brown noted that while achieving the goal is important, it is imperative to keep going. “It’s a continuous effort to bring additional funds into the university so that we can do what we need to do to make Auburn not just a good university, but a fantastic university.”

PICTURED ABOVE: John and Rosemary Brown, both 1957 graduates, announce their historic $57 million gift—the largest gift in school history—as part of the campaign’s kickoff gala the evening of Friday, April 17, 2015. The Browns’ gift will support a new performing arts center and the Brown-Kopel Engineering Student Achievement Center. Their gift will also fund the first eminent scholar chair in the College of Sciences and Mathematics.

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REACHED Auburn University reaches historic $1 billion goal more than a year early He emphasized that it isn’t the amount of one’s gift that matters. “It’s not a question of how much, but what could you afford to give? And will you do that?” Brown said. “There are thousands of Auburn graduates who are contributing the most they can give. And you can’t ask for more than that.” In fact, more than 70 percent of campaign funds have come from Auburn alumni and friends who want to see the university continue to offer students unparalleled educational experiences. Because This is Auburn supports four major areas: students, faculty, programs and facilities. To date, the campaign has resulted in the creation of nearly 1,000 new scholarships for students and 89 new endowed chairs and professorships for educators and researchers. Donors have invested more than $537 million in new programs, and gifts of more than $132 million are building new facilities and reimagining existing campus facilities. “If you look back at history, the Auburn that we enjoy today—somebody made possible for us 50 years ago,” said Thom Gossom ’75, chair of the Auburn University Foundation Board. “We are here to ensure that tomorrow is not only bright, but also rewarding for all those future students.” While the university has surpassed its campaign fundraising goals for students and programs, the remainder of the campaign will focus heavily on reaching the goals established to support faculty and facilities. “Auburn’s campaign goal is foundational—by meeting this one goal, we have the resources to pursue all others. But even as we celebrate reaching this important achievement, we recognize that there is much left to do,” said Jane DiFolco Parker, vice president for development and president of the Auburn University Foundation. “By making sure we meet all our campaign goals, we can do more than meet expectations; we can surpass them and realize our full potential.”

“There is no better way to make an indelible impact on the world than through education. And there is no better place to do it than at Auburn.”

Eleanor ’59 and Raymond ’61 Loyd, who provide scholarships for 15 students, are among those who have invested in scholarships. “I take great pride in meeting each and every one of our scholarship recipients,” Raymond said. “We get letters from them, their parents and their grandparents about how we have impacted their families for generations. The impact we have on young people’s lives has been very satisfying for us.”

From left: Jeremy Oyler, Jake Dean and Justin Oyler have all benefited from the philanthropy of Eleanor ’59 and Raymond ’61 Loyd. “Receiving the Ray Loyd Scholarship was such a blessing because not only did I receive the scholarship, but my identical twin brother did also,” said Jeremy. “My family is forever thankful and I cannot begin to explain how much it has impacted us.”

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N A U S A i R OTC N S A L W O R L D E PI A ISEC U R IT YJ G UO O N PWAT WATC HW H D FI WA R E A G L E By Suzanne Johnson

From terrorist attacks to international cyber-hacks, our daily lives are filled with danger and rumors. Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald Burgess â&#x20AC;&#x2122;74 interviews Adm. Michael S. Rogers â&#x20AC;&#x2122;81, director of the National Security Agency and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, about some of the challenges facing our nation.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

In May, while planning a story on U.S. Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers, we decided there could be no one better to interview him than Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald L. Burgess Jr. After all, Rogers, a

1981 Auburn graduate originally from Chicago, is director of the National Security Agency,

commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Service. (“You never know where life is going to take you,” he says.) Burgess, a 1974 Auburn graduate who grew

up in Opelika and recently retired from the U.S. Army, last held the post of director

of the Defense Intelligence Agency and commander of the Joint Functional Component

Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. Currently, he is senior counsel for National Security Programs, Cyber Programs and Military Affairs for Auburn

University. Who wouldn’t want to be a fly on the wall while these two experts talk shop? Join us as we listen in.

GEN.BURGESS: How did you as a young man from Chicago come to find yourself at Auburn University?

ADM.ROGERS: I had always wanted to be a naval officer— literally since I was 10, 11 years old. As I came out of high school, I was trying to get in the Naval Academy and, quite frankly, my grades just weren’t good enough. (Laughs.) I couldn’t get in. I thought, well, maybe I can get an ROTC scholarship with the Navy, but my grades still weren’t good enough. I come from a very working-class family. When I was a kid growing up, my father worked three jobs, so I thought I would take out loans, pay for school myself, and then join the Navy. I had decided at the time I wanted to be in forestry. I love the outdoors. So I went to the International Organization of Forestry and said: What schools do you recommend? I went to the Navy and asked five schools that were recommended for forestry and offered ROTC. Michigan was too big, Minnesota was too expensive, Washington was too far away from home, and the University of Illinois was way too close to home. So I went down to visit Auburn between my junior and senior year and talked to a guy named Bob Strong, and Mr. Strong starts talking to me about the Auburn family. And then he tells my parents, “If [Mike] wants to get down early and get a sense for Auburn before

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

school starts, I’d be glad to put him up in my house.” I just thought, what an amazing place. So one of my first takeaways from Auburn was that it’s always about the power of people. It was an amazing place that was focused on people. I loved the Auburn family idea. The power of the Creed really resonated with me.

GEN.BURGESS: So how did those four years—not only in Naval ROTC but also at Auburn—how did that prepare you for the military and for the place you find yourself in today?

ADM.ROGERS: When I was at Auburn, I was the battalion commander in the ROTC unit. I learned about leadership; it was the first major leadership position I ever had. It taught you all about how to build a strong team, how to keep people focused on a goal. You got to learn how to deal with a whole lot of different people with different motivation levels. I really enjoyed that. And that’s why I like the whole idea of the Auburn family. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. Somebody says Auburn, and I’m in a crowd and I’m giving a speech or I’m just talking to people, and I will just yell out “War Eagle” or “War Damn Eagle”! And you’ll get a group that come back: “War Eagle, War Damn Eagle!”

war eagle

Photograph by Melissa Humble

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GEN.BURGESS: Now you find yourself as the director of the NSA and the commander of U.S. Cyber Command. I think the role of the NSA as an intelligence agency has never been more critical than it is right now. What are the biggest challenges facing your organization today in terms of its mission–in terms of the cyber side of the house, the signals intelligence side of the house?

ADM.ROGERS: First, let’s talk about what NSA does. There are 17 different segments within the United States intelligence community. NSA is the largest, and it has a global footprint because it has a global mission. We are a foreign intelligence organization. We do not collect intelligence within the United States. We have two primary missions: First, we use signals intelligence as a vehicle to generate insights as to what nation-states, groups and individuals are doing outside the United States that are of concern to our citizens, our friends and our allies around the world. The second mission for NSA is to apply those capabilities to generate insights to help defend the computer network systems of both the Department of Defense, which NSA is a part of, and the broader U.S. government. We’re also partnering with others to help defend our private infrastructure. So we’re responding to the Sony security breach and other issues like that

NSA’S TWO PRIMARY MISSIONS

in the private sector. I never thought I’d be doing that as the director, and yet that’s the world we find ourselves in. I try to remind people that the NSA is focused on very specific missions that are driven by law and policy, and we always comply with the law and policy. We have a duty not only to generate insights to help protect our citizens, but we have a requirement to recognize and defend their privacy and their rights as individuals. We cannot arbitrarily collect [intelligence] against anyone anywhere in the world. It doesn’t work that way. It’s illegal, and we can’t do it.

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Part of our challenge in the post-media-leaks environment is to help educate the nation and have a broader dialogue about what NSA does and doesn’t do. NSA does not indiscriminately collect [intelligence] against U.S. citizens in the United States or around the world. NSA does not arbitrarily decide on any given day, well, today we’re going to collect against Bob, or Bill, or Betty, or Linda. It doesn’t work that way. We’re focused on generating insights to help defend our nation, not to try to systematically undermine the privacy of our citizens or their rights.

GEN.BURGESS: You talked about the entities that make up this United States intelligence community. And as those of us that have served know, our world fundamentally changed on 9/11 in terms of our focus, in terms of how we went about our business and our resourcing. All of that changed. So since 9/11, what are the challenges in cyberspace as you focus on that terrorism problem set?

ADM.ROGERS: Increasingly we’re dealing with this set of adversaries who employ the same systems and capabilities that you and I employ in our personal lives. They’re using the same programs on the same hardware using the same data paths that you are. Pick your email service provider, pick your social network app—they are using the same methods to communicate. So part of our challenge is how do we generate insights as to what they are doing? And how do we access those communications paths, realizing that when we do this we’re going to encounter many people who are using the same path and the same software and hardware for very valid purposes, whether it be communicating in their personal lives or conducting business? We operate in foreign space. We’re a foreign intelligence, not a domestic collection, organization. We’re not the FBI, which has responsibilities in the United States as a law enforcement entity. That is not us. But I’m the first to acknowledge that as we do our job in the digital world we’re all living in, we are going to encounter U.S. persons. How do we do that in a way that defends and supports the rights of those individuals and their privacy while at the same time enabling us to generate the insights that the nation needs to ensure those same individuals’ safety and security? In the aftermath of the media leaks, I remind people the same document that talks about the importance of our rights as citizens also talks about the responsibility of the state to provide for the safety and well-being of its citizens and to defend the nation. So we’ve got to figure out how to make sure those very

A WORLD ON WATCH

Tim Cook '82

important principles outlined in the Constitution are addressed as we’re dealing with this incredibly complicated world in which—good and bad—we’re all out there driving on the same information highways.

“ Hey, Tim, we come at this problem set from very different perspectives sometimes. I realize we have different roles, but I value your perspective. Tell me what you see.” GEN.BURGESS: You got your start in cryptology when you started in this field?

ADM.ROGERS: That dream I had when I was 10 or 11 of being in the Navy? I did it for about six years and then I decided to try something else. So I decided cryptology, this specialized field of intelligence, is what I would get into.

GEN.BURGESS: So how do you, as the director, keep an agency abreast of or, actually ahead of, technological changes?

ADM.ROGERS: We spend a lot of time partnering with other organizations in the private sector to talk about what they see coming in technology. What are you working on now that we won’t see in the marketplace for another two to five years? What are the broader trends that we think are going to shape the digital world we’re all living in five years from now? How do we, the NSA, try to get ahead of that, realizing that most of the technology we are trying to deal with is not developed by the government but by the private sector? Relationships with the private sector are incredibly important. This is one area where I appreciate that, hey, we’ve got an Auburn grad in the form of [Apple CEO and 1982 graduate] Tim Cook. I’ve had conversations with him where I say, “Hey, Tim, we come at this problem set from very different perspectives sometimes. I realize we have different roles, but I value your perspective. Tell me what you see. What do you think is shaping the world in terms of the digital communications that we’re dealing with? What does the future look like?” And I try to do that with a variety of individuals. It’s not unique to NSA. I would argue that at United States Cyber Command, my other primary responsibility, we try to do the same thing. Cyber Command’s mission is a little different.

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LT. GEN. (RET.) RONALD BURGESS 38-year Army veteran, retired director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.

Lt. Gen. Burgess, a Lifetime Achievement Award recepient of the Auburn Alumni Association, has brought his expertise to the Auburn University Cyber Initiative, an interdisciplinary program aimed at training a new generation in cyber security.

It is a very traditional military operational organization. And its mission set really is focused on both defending and operating the Department of Defense’s communications and digital networks, as well as its weapon systems, platforms and data sets. In November of 2014, the North Koreans launched a destructive malware designed to destroy data and the hardware associated with Sony’s laptops and desktop computer systems. And it worked. Sony had a loss between the theft of intellectual property and physical damage in the tens of millions of dollars. Not an insignificant event. And Cyber Command was part of the response to that, partnering with others.

GEN.BURGESS: You mentioned Tim Cook with Apple. Because it’s an ongoing dialogue on the front page of the newspapers right now [following the terrorist attack in San Bernardino and the conflict over access to the terrorist’s iPhone], can you talk a little bit about the inherent conflicts that arise between data encryption and privacy and the requirements of national security? You know, help people understand that a little bit.

ADM.ROGERS: Clearly, I think, this is an issue of significant consequence to us as a nation and one where, from my perspective, you want our citizens to sit down and be part of the dialogue.

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I would argue that you don’t want intelligence organizations like NSA dictating this or deciding what the right answer is. Likewise, I don’t think you want private industry unilaterally deciding this. [The privacy versus security debate] is something that, collectively as a nation, we’ve got to decide what we are comfortable with. As I’ve said, technology is doing amazing things for us in our everyday lives, and yet we live in a world where some want to use that same digital environment as a vehicle to generate harm and threat to our citizens and those of nations around the world. You saw how technology was used in Paris and Brussels to coordinate between groups in France or in Brussels and those back in Syria. The challenge is realizing that as a nation we have these two incredible imperatives. The privacy and the rights of our citizens are foundational to our very concept as a nation. It’s not by chance that the first 10 amendments to the Constitution are the Bill of Rights, and the Bill of Rights doesn’t talk about or begin by focusing on the power of the government. The Bill of Rights focuses on the inherent rights of each and every individual. And yet those same documents also talk about the role of the government in ensuring the safety, security and well-being of the citizens and of the nation. We’ve got to figure out, in this new world that we find ourselves in, how to do both. A challenge for us now is that technology has gotten way in

front of our legal frameworks and our policy frameworks and we’re trying to catch up and have this dialogue about, what’s the right answer here? The reason I’m interested in this dialogue happening now is that history would seem to suggest that in the aftermath of a major disaster—think 9/11—our emotions are up and we’re feeling the sense of loss and damage. That sometimes drives you to make choices you later regret. I don’t want to regret the choices we make here. We need to have that dialogue now. We need to figure out the right structure for us to put in place to deal with this admittedly very complicated issue.

GEN.BURGESS: So, we’ve talked a little bit about the world. We’ve talked about the technology. I mean, clearly, it’s all very complex and intricate. And you’re engaged every day in an ongoing set of issues because that’s the world in which we find ourselves. But you’ve just announced a major initiative here at NSA. Tell us a little bit about that initiative and what the American people ought to take from what it is you’re doing.

ADM.ROGERS: I’ve run these two organizations for just over two years now, but as I sat back after I’d been in the job about a year, I said to myself: How do we make sure that NSA 10 years from now is positioned to continue to generate those kinds of insights to help defend the nation? The world around us is changing. And we’ve got to change with it. So I challenged the team to spend some time thinking about the world of 2025. We spent about 10 months asking ourselves, what does the world of 2025 look like? What are the mission sets we’re going to

be expected to execute? What are the skills we need to execute those missions? What are our citizens’ expectations going to be? And how do we generate that insight, again, in foreign intelligence and in information assurance or computer network defense? We put a whole team together from across the organization that generated a little over 200 recommendations. We’re in the midst of implementing those changes. We call the overall program NSA21—NSA in the 21st century. We just started three months ago, and it’ll take us about two years. There are changes associated with our structure. There are changes associated with our priorities. There are changes associated with our ethos and our culture. This is probably the biggest set of changes that we have implemented at NSA since just before 9/11. I’ve always believed that as a leader, part of your job is not only to ensure that you are excelling in whatever the mission is today, but you are also asking yourself, how do I as a leader help position this organization for the future? I don’t want to wake up one day and be part of the team asking ourselves, “What happened? We used to be the best. And now we’re just good.” I don’t want to be just good. The nation needs us to be better than just good. To do what the nation expects of us and what the nation A A A A A A needs from us, we have to be great at what we do. I want A A A A A A NSA to continue to be great. A A A A A A And I know the men and women of NSA are committed to that goal A A A asAwell.

Special thanks to Lt. Gen. Burgess and his staff at Auburn, and Adm. Rogers’ staff in Washington, D.C., for their assistance in setting up the interview. See interview photos: auburnmagazine.auburn.edu.

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Auburn Magazine

The Aftermath of the 1950 Winless Football Season

In late summer 1950, the young men of the Alabama Polytechnic Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s football team arrived on campus for preseason practice. Enthusiasm filled the air. Although Coach Earl Brown, who had come to Auburn as head coach in 1948, had won only three games in those two years, the stunning December 1949, 14-13 Auburn victory over Alabama had lifted the spirits of the Tiger fans. Everyone expected 1950 to be a very good year. But Travis Tidwell, the senior quarterback who had directed that win, had graduated.

By Leah Rawls Atkins & Vince Dooley

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Celebrating the 1949 14-13 win over Alabama with the Birmingham Auburn Club were (L-R) Coach Wilbur Hutsell, President Ralph B. Draughon, Coach Earl Brown and insurance executive Alvin Biggio â&#x20AC;&#x2122;26 of Birmingham. There turned out to be little to celebrate during the 1950 season.

A HULLABALOO IN AUBURN!

Photography courtesy of Auburn University Libraries - Special Collections and Archives

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had signed a record number of scholarship players, including McGill High H AC O School quarterback Vince Dooley. C N Although Dooley had several scholarW ship offers and preferred basketball, he BRO signed a football scholarship, recalling that he “was impressed and encouraged with the Auburn spirit, especially after personally watching the War Eagles in a major upset of Alabama.” Dooley also came to Auburn because he wanted to play with two Mobile friends, Bobby Duke and Ed Baker, who had both signed with API. Dooley remembered being impressed with Auburn’s head coach Earl Brown, “a smooth-talking, bow tie-wearing Notre Dame man whose popularity was momentarily riding high after the Auburn upset of Alabama.” Brown had encouraged a large number of young men to walk on and try out for an Auburn scholarship. Whether they proved to be good players or not, their presence on the field would be fodder for the varsity. Those on scholarship moved into Graves Center, a WPA project of 30 duplex cottages clustered around Graves Amphitheater under huge longleaf pines. The student-athletes on scholarship ate in the nearby dining hall. Those young men who were trying out for a scholarship took rooms and meals at one of Auburn’s many boarding houses and paid their own expenses. Walk-on players wore distinctive orange jerseys so the coaches could quickly identify them. Practices were hard, spirited and long. Players who were not in top physical condition suffered and sometimes lost their last meal in the bushes. Some Vince Dooley

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quit before the next scrimmage. As the coaches challenged and drove the young men toward perfection on the Plains, the heat of summer still hung heavily. In those days, the varsity practiced on a field on the east side of the football stadium, behind a thick planting of shrubs and bushes where the student union is now located. Freshmen were not allowed to play in varsity games, and the freshman team practiced on Biggio Flats, where BeardEaves Coliseum was later constructed. The saying was that the freshmen “went up the hill” to scrimmage the varsity. And during the fall of 1950 in practice, the freshmen often defeated the varsity—if anyone was keeping score. Freshman quarterback Vince Dooley recently recalled a meeting after Auburn lost to “an underdog Wofford team 19-14,” as a disappointing season began to unfold. Coach Brown tried to motivate the varsity by asking the freshmen “to physically assault the varsity in a scrimmage in the stadium.” The freshmen, who were “quickly losing respect for the varsity,” were excited. Dooley remembered “a tough physical scrimmage resulting in several fights but did little to wake up the varsity.” The Auburn football season of 1950 was a disaster. As early as October 16, the Faculty Athletic Committee convened to apprise the situation and determine what could be done to support the team and coaches. Freshman quarterback Dooley remembered that Coach Brown called him into his office to discuss some “insignificant issue,” but when it was resolved Coach Brown “quickly shifted the conversation to bragging about all the telegrams of support he had received from the Auburn fans for almost upsetting a very average Georgia team by a 10-12 score.” Dooley thought, “We still lost!” Nothing helped. Auburn was defeated in every game they played, a dismal 0-10 record that still stands as the worst season in Auburn

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football history. The grumbling of faithful followers began to increase. Perhaps the most disappointed and vocal fans were members of the largest Auburn alumni group, the Jefferson County Auburn Club. For some years, the club had honored seniors with Auburn watches at a dinner when football season was over. That December there were sad, shaking heads as well as loud complaints. Students went home for Christmas. And when classes began in January, the controversy escalated. One event that changed the situation was the fall gubernatorial elections. Montgomery native and former Auburn student Gordon Persons became governor of Alabama and was inaugurated on Jan. 15, 1951. According to his biographer, Persons’ “first official act as governor was to call a meeting of the Auburn board of trustees for the purpose of firing that institution’s losing coach.” On Friday night, Jan. 19, Persons hosted a private meeting at the Governor’s Mansion to discuss Coach Brown. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, Persons’ nephew, API student Stanford Persons, served as doorkeeper and kept the press out. There was representation from the Auburn Alumni Association and various Auburn stakeholders. Allen Parks and Ed “Foots” Bauer, captains for the football team, represented the players, saying the team did not want their coach fired. George Atkins (in photo above), one of the successful walk-on players, had moved into Graves Center, was eating at the team’s training table, and his books and tuition were paid. He was not eager to change coaches, unsure of how a new coach might affect his scholarship. The

Auburn Faculty Athletic Committee presented Auburn President Ralph B. Draughon with a recommendation to retain Coach Brown. Draughon approved. The president and executive committee of the Auburn Athletic Association and president of the Auburn Football Foundation also supported Coach Brown’s present contract being upheld. Governor Gordon Persons did not get his way immediately, but he had not given up on ousting Brown. The Sunday Montgomery newspaper, in a follow-up to the Friday night meeting, quoted Coach Brown as appreciating the support and hoped that all Auburn men would “work together with us for a greater Auburn.” The anti-Brown students joked that the coach’s most outstanding victory was in defeating the governor of Alabama. On Tuesday, Jan. 23, the Montgomery Advertiser commented on its editorial page that “The Advertiser has nothing to add to its Sunday comment on Gov. Persons’ intervention in

Graves apartments for married students and barracks for single men located on Samford Avenue, 1947.

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football affairs at Auburn. What we submit here is that of all the football coaches on the North American continent, the one most secure in his job and the least likely to be canned is now one Earl Brown at Auburn. The governor is the coach’s equivalent to a winning schedule.” Vince Dooley remembers being at Toomer’s Corner with teammate Ed Baker. They were looking at the Montgomery Alabama Journal and “were shocked to see a picture of Baker in his football uniform kneeling and pointing with a caption that read, “Fire the Coach!” Baker did not want to be part of the public discussion, and they feared he was headed home to Mobile. Meanwhile, Auburn president Ralph Draughon, upset because the governor stepped on his university prerogatives, was trying to hold things together without alienating the governor as well as trying to support his coach to avoid paying $10,000 to buy off the last year on Brown’s contract. But the controversy would not go away, and various Auburn factions continued to advocate for the dismissal of Coach Brown. A group of Birmingham alums, including George Mattison, Perry Pepper, Bo Russell, Ruel Russell and Jimmy Brown, were among those President Ralph Draughon, Caroline Draughon and Gov. Big Jim Folsom welcome guests at the president's home, 1950.

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insisting that Brown must go. Students, faculty, townspeople, alumni, Extension Service—everyone had an opinion, and rumors were already flying about who would replace Brown even before he was fired. On Jan. 25, an exasperated Draughon was quoted in newspapers saying the situation at Auburn was “a hullabaloo!” By Feb. 12, the mood had changed. The Faculty Athletic Committee voted to terminate Brown’s contract. President Draughon approved. What happened? Did the story of three Birmingham alums visiting the governor to urge him to fire Coach Brown, and Governor Persons sending them on to Auburn to tell President Draughon “if he did not dismiss Brown, then he [the Governor] would have two jobs to fill at Auburn” have something to do with the change? Did Draughon worry about the approaching legislative session? Was the Auburn president concerned who the governor might appoint to the Auburn Board of Trustees? Did Draughon realize that this mild eruption had grown too large to handle and he couldn’t win? Did he finally question whether Coach Brown could ever win more than his three games in three years? Could Auburn people have come up with the $10,000 to pay off Coach Brown’s last year?

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Legendary Auburn track coach Wilbur Hutsell, who was also serving as athletics director during these months, told Draughon he could not stand the fighting and controversy. He wanted out of the AD’s responsibilities. The Birmingham Post-Herald reported on Feb. 16 that Hutsell had resigned. Draughon appointed athletics business manager Jeff Beard as athletics director. On Feb. 19, Draughon urged everyone “to settle down.” The newspapers wrote that Governor Persons’ “Huey Long-style burst [had] set off an explosion,” a reference to the flamboyant Populist governor who served Louisiana from 1928-1932. Governor Long was closely involved in LSU football and was often seen on the sideline and in the locker room. Around town, Beard was adamant he wanted Wally Butts’ line coach and the University of Georgia’s head basketball coach, former Auburn assistant coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan, for Auburn’s vacant head coaching position. For those who lived in the Loveliest Village and were careful observers of Auburn town and gown history and politics, Beard’s appointment signaled much. He was known as a strong leader with great integrity, and he had been adamant and vocal that he wanted Ralph Jordan as the Auburn head coach. Draughon knew Jordan, too. Ralph “Shug” Jordan was a player and assistant football coach when Draughon came to Auburn to teach in Ralph Jordan's first day on the history department in 1931. Jordan the job as coach, joined by athletic director Jeff Beard. and Draughon’s wife, Caroline Marshall Draughon of Orrville, had known each other in high school in Selma. But, regardless of all things, the Auburn Athletics Department was absolutely broke. Beard once said he did not have enough money to buy a pair of cleats. Vince Dooley remembers a story that at one time before Beard became athletics director the athletics department operated out of a cigar box full of cash. Although there is no paper trail to determine where the money to pay off Coach Brown’s contract came from, the best guess is that Roy Sewell of Bremen, Ga., and Frank Samford of Birmingham were probably involved, along with others.

Jordan, however, was miffed. He had been turned down by Auburn earlier when there was a coaching change, and believed that Auburn did not want an Auburn man for a head coach. He did not apply for the current open position. Only after calls from Beard did Jordan send his famous one-line application: “I hereby apply for the head football coaching position at Auburn.” Jordan got the job, and this news caused a small Georgia newspaper to headline: “API hires Head Georgia Basketball Coach to Coach Football.”

his staff, he began organizing for recruiting and spring training. H PH LP AL R RA Some people in the state were still N AN DA RD OR J JO upset that Governor Persons had intruded in Auburn football. But ASS E M B L E D Charles Thomason, an attorney in Anniston and a University of Alabama supporter, was not. On Oct. 14, 1951, after Alabama had lost to LSU, Vanderbilt and Villanova, Thomason wrote the governor noting that the state’s two “major industries” were “football and politics.” He was concerned about Alabama’s win record. Thomason thought it was time for the governor to take

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“a hand in the situation of Alabama’s football team or what is left of same. Otherwise, we will lose one-half of Alabama’s major industry.” Governor Persons responded that while he appreciated Thomason’s letter, he “got into the Auburn situation because I am an Auburn man and not because I happened to be Governor.” By the middle of the 1951 season, Jordan’s Auburn team had won five games and lost one. State Sen. John L. Whatley of Opelika sent Governor Persons a copy of the editorial in the Opelika Daily News congratulating the governor on his actions in solving the Auburn football problems. The governor responded on Nov. 8, thanking Whatley, but explaining that:

AFTER A 5-5 SEASON in 1951 and a 2-8 season in 1952, the real turning point was 1953. The record 7-3-1 was the best record at Auburn in 17 years. Jordan went on to coach Auburn players for 25 years, taking the team to 12 bowl games, winning a national championship in 1957, coaching 67 players who earned All-SEC honors and 21 All-Americans, with one A A A A A A player becoming a Heisman Trophy winner. Coach Jordan retired A AatAtheA A A end of the 1975 season. A A A A A A And the Auburn Spirit remains A A A A a vital part of Auburn football.

Coach Ralph Jordan with Ed

“TO ME, THE WINNING of Baker (left) and Vince Dooley. football games by Auburn was not the paramount issue involved. It was the gradual deterioration of the traditional spirit which had me worried. For longer than any of us care to remember, the only thing that Auburn had, which apparently very few other colleges enjoyed, was spirit. Nineteen thirty-two was the last championship team. Jack Meagher had some fine teams in the ’40s, but when he left, everything seemed to slide, slide and slide. I have always had a lot of Auburn boys at my house, both young and old. Last year, it became clear to me that once proud Auburn was rapidly going down and that something had to be done. So I began to push for a new coach. . . .let me say again that whatever small part I had in helping change the situation was not for the purpose of just winning football games. It is the rebirth of the old Auburn spirit of which I am most proud. You have only to walk around the campus to prove it to yourself. It is always a pleasure to hear from you. Sincerely yours, Gordon Persons Governor”

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EDITOR'S NOTE: In the fall of 1950, Mobile native Vince Dooley was a freshman quarterback on a football scholarship at Auburn University (then API). Leah Marie Rawls was a high school sophomore in Birmingham; her future husband, George Atkins, was a walk-on freshman football player at Auburn trying to earn a scholarship, which he did. In fall 1956, Dooley returned from two years in the military, and Atkins from a year in the NFL to join Coach Ralph Jordan’s football staff at Auburn. As a part-time student, Dooley began taking graduate courses in history, and two years later, Leah Rawls entered the history graduate program. They often studied together and both earned master’s degrees. Rawls later earned the first Auburn doctoral degree in history. She is now retired from Auburn University, and Dooley retired after a long and successful career as the head football coach and athletics director at the University of Georgia. They each have numerous publications, but this is their first collaboration.

See more archival photography from Auburn University Libraries-Special Collections and Archives online at wp.auburn.edu/auburnmagazine

ANOTHER TRIP INTO AUBURN HISTORY…

By Ralph Draughon Jr. '58

ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY of Dr. George Petrie’s birth, April 10, I happily recall his charisma and the extraordinary interest he took in, of all people, a shy child at a crowded dinner table. Although I was just a 9-year-old boy and in the third grade, Sunday dinner with Dr. Petrie made a lasting, lifelong impression on me that I would like to share. To set the stage, it was in the midst of World War II in the early 1940s. Sunday dinner took place after church, and since sugar, coffee, meat and new stoves were rationed, the no-frills main course consisted of chicken cooked in an ancient oven. As the youngest at the table, I always got slim pickings when the chicken was cut up and dispensed, so I perked up on this particular Sunday when Dr. Petrie, the honored guest, was asked which piece he preferred. To my astonishment, and indeed to the amazement of the entire table, he announced his preference for the gizzard! My parents demurred, but he insisted that he was not being polite, that the gizzard indeed was his favorite piece of chicken. I, of course, particularly appreciated his eccentric choice since it opened up the remote possibility of a better selection of chicken for someone last in the chow line. When we had guests for dinner my parents had the general rule that children should be seen and not heard, and most guests certainly shared this custom. Indeed, if a guest took any notice of me, it was usually to remark, inanely, “My, how you’ve grown!” But on this long-ago Sunday, in a lull in the dinner table chatter, Dr. Petrie turned his keen gaze my way and, to my surprise, broke with convention by speaking to me. He addressed me as if I actually had some intelligence and, most amazing of all, seemed really interested in what I had to say. What he asked me, simply, was what I had been reading lately! But what a question to ask a child in that era! What a question to ask a child even today! I was very flattered; it seemed to me that I was being singled out and treated like a grownup. And I did, very timidly, respond. I told him that I very much wanted to begin reading some Sherlock Holmes stories, but I had tackled first The Sign of the Four and was finding it really,

really hard going. “Ah yes,” he said, and promptly recommended that I begin instead with The Hound of the Baskervilles, which he declared to be his own favorite Sherlock Holmes story. He said I would like that much better. And when I took his advice the next day, I agreed. It is difficult to explain today why this seemingly insignificant incident proved to be so very significant to me, but on that long ago Sunday I fell completely under Dr. Petrie’s spell. And I would argue that my childhood experience testifies to an aspect of that gentleman’s important legacy to Auburn. And what a legacy to our college Dr. Petrie bequeathed, from football to the Auburn Creed! What I would emphasize would be his personal magnetism, his appeal to young minds and his drawing power: the qualities that somehow enabled him to recruit in a small, poorly funded college largely devoted to engineering and agriculture, what one important study of Southern history has described as “The Auburn Oasis,” a fertile spot in an intellectual desert. Under Dr. Petrie’s personal direction, Auburn turned out, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young men (and women!) who did important, often groundbreaking research in the primary resources of the Southern region. A A A A A Even today, an elderly historian can look back throughAthe A Aat A A A years and recall with affection and nostalgia a boy’s A elation discussing Sherlock Holmes with his newfound idol,AProfessor A A A A A George Petrie, over his chicken gizzard and my chicken A A A backbone, on a Sunday dinner in an Auburn of longAago.

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A Helping Hand By Derek Herscovici

A fireworks accident that destroyed part of his dominant hand left sheriff’s office investigator Tom Dowling ‘10 wondering what he’d be able to do. The answer, with the help of AU’s assistive technology program, turned out to be: “a lot.”

Photography by Jeff Etheridge

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IT WAS ONE OF THOSE

aw man, that was a lot louder than it should have been… WHY DOES MY LEG HURT… OH S**T MY HAND’S GONE.

J ULY 4, 20 1 5 Tom Dowling ’10 was enjoying a patch of calm weather with friends and family on an otherwise stormy holiday. The fireworks came out when the rain stopped. Dowling and his friends were launching mortar shells angled across Lake Martin, their tubes taped to a folding table buried in sand. The cheap table had already taken a beating from the repeated blasts. Night was falling and the weather looked increasingly treacherous. The fun would be ending soon. But the party lingered on. Some revelers were holding Roman candles and larger tubes to launch cherry bombs; it wasn’t long before they reached for the big mortar tubes. They started blasting fist-sized shells from the palms of their hands. Some encouraged Dowling to try shooting one of the big ones. “You gotta do it!” “Nah, that’s dangerous,” Dowling said. As the impending storm approached and the folding table perished under the strain, he weighed the considerations. “I was like, ‘Well… we’re gonna have to move them anyway.’ So I took one…”

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Dowling falls silent, the memories as real now as they were last July 4. He has not forgotten anything. “I was holding it. I wasn’t ready for it to be lit, but, y’know… I was probably going to hold it anyway. When it went off I heard a ‘pfff,’ but I didn’t register that it was bypassing the propellant, and then it detonated. It was one of those, ‘Aw man, that was a lot louder than it should have been… Why does my leg hurt… Oh s**t, my hand’s gone.’ ”

DEC EM B ER 2010 2010 was not a good year to enter the job market. Graduating from Auburn with a bachelor’s in criminology, Dowling followed the traditional “shotgun approach” to job applications. “I could feel the clock ticking on those student loans. I just needed a job and didn’t care where or what I was doing.” Around this time the Tallapoosa County Sheriff ’s Office put out an offer for corrections officers to work the county jail for $8.73 an hour. Dowling was sold. Hired in January 2011 as a CO (“a glorified babysitter”), he trained into excellent fitness and put in a letter to the sheriff, asking to be considered for the position of deputy.

Coincidentally, the sheriff ’s office was already hiring when Dowling applied; he was soon called in for testing. “I tested with eight other guys and outran them all, out-pushed them all, hands-down beat them in the physical,” he recalls. “Then we had the interview and they selected me.” He was promoted to deputy in April 2011 and left for the Academy a month later. Dowling separated himself from his class once training began. At graduation 14 weeks later, he was half a point shy from top score. After weeks of field training Dowling joined the Tallapoosa County Sheriff ’s Office, going on patrol right away. By April 1, 2012, he’d been promoted to investigator. “That was just a blast,” he said. “That’s where the real work is being a cop. I had about 15 cases a month, about 140 a year that I’d work on nonstop. “I was on call the week I blew my hand off.”

J ULY 4, 20 1 5 “I’ve got 10 seconds before this hurts,” Dowling thought as he stared at the remains of his right hand, sheared in half—the blast had taken his thumb, index and middle finger. “I told my brother to get me a bottle of water, and told my friend to put a tourniquet on my wrist. Keep pressure here; call 911; get me a chair so I can sit down…” Despite the pain and shock Dowling coordinated his own rescue effort, a credit to his emergency training. He told those who weren’t immediately tending to him to find his fingers, but soon realized they had been vaporized in the blast. “There was a 10-foot circle on the beach that looked like someone had put a pound of hamburger in a potato gun and shot it into the ground. The sand was pink. There was nothing left. The bones, the muscle, everything had just been shot out and gone.” When the ambulance arrived 30 minutes later Dowling walked himself inside, still under his own power, before being rushed first to Lake Martin Community Hospital, then to UAB Hospital in Birmingham.

By his side the entire time was Dowling’s wife, Kate, who despite being nine months pregnant, slept in the hospital every night he was there. Only weeks after being discharged from UAB the Dowlings were back in the hospital, this time for the birth of their daughter, Lana. “I was out of work for about a month, maybe a month and a half. I had plenty of sick time stored up because I never used it. I had vacation time stored up, I had comp time stored up that I didn’t even have to touch because I never ran out of sick time.” Dowling’s buddies in the sheriff ’s office donated sick time to cover his remaining leave. The office gave him plenty of support when he returned in August, but he wasn’t ready to go back to full capacity. He would need new combat training to use his residual hand in the field and would need to learn how to shoot with his left hand—training limited by the shorthanded staff.

“I’VE GOT 10 SECO NDS BEFO RE THIS HURT S.”

Photographs courtesy of Tom Dowling

In the meantime, Dowling could handle office work like sex-offender registration, crime scene investigation and evidence handling. “They would have found a way to keep me there, but I said no. I’d been doing it for four years. You need a guy who’s able to do the whole job and I liked the whole job. If I could only do half the job, it wouldn’t be the same.”

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lf yo u r h a n d , a h e s lo u yo n e nd , “ Wh pa rt of yo ur ha os t fu nc tio na l even if it’s th e m m pa nie s yo u th e ins ur an ce co of s ind m e th in yo u do n’ t ne ed an d th er ef or e st ill ha ve a ha nd ei r m on ey.” le as t no t fo r th a pr os th et ic . At

Dowling left the Tallapoosa County Sheriff ’s Office in October 2015 and returned to Auburn to help his dad start up a technology sales business, adjusting to civilian life, attending church and helping raise Lana (“have you ever tried to change a diaper one-handed?”) and his 3-year-old son, Liam. Around the same time, Dowling’s insurance provider denied his claim to receive financial support for a prosthetic hand, citing the residual limb as “enough.” “When you lose half your hand, even if it’s the most functional part of your hand, in the minds of the insurance companies you still have a hand and therefore you don’t need a prosthetic. At least not for their money.” A support fund was set up to raise money to help, drawing donations from friends, family, even a few people Dowling had locked up. Though they raised nearly $5,000, it wasn’t enough. Upper-limb prosthetics can cost up to $30,000 after fitting, construction and physical therapy. When Dowling learned about 3D printed prosthetic limbs and tools online, he used the donated money to buy an UltiMaker II 3D Printer. Though the price was right, he quickly understood there was a reason it took a college degree to use the design software. In the meantime, he returned to Covenant Presbyterian Church, which he’d frequented while a student at Auburn, and took a job as an administrative pastor. It was at church that Dowling met industrial design professor Shea Tillman.

Back in 2008, Tillman and AU College of Education Ph.D. student Chad Duncan ’08 had developed a program at Auburn that combined rehabilitation and prosthetic development with industrial design and 3D printing. Over the past six years, Scott Renner with Auburn’s Center for Disability Research and Service, and Jerrod Windham, a professor in industrial design, built a partnership that connects students in industrial design and rehabilitation with people facing challenges from disabilities. A recent focus has been helping wounded veterans, more than 1,600 of whom have lost full or partial limbs due to improvised explosive devices (IEDs). More than $9,000 was raised by the Auburn community on Dec. 1 during last year’s Tiger Giving Day to support the 3D Printing Prosthetics for Wounded Veterans program. 3D printing is relatively cheap and takes only a few hours to be fully functional, but the real benefit is being able to share design plans online. By uploading the design files to websites like Thingiverse, people like Dowling can print prosthetics from

Family 48

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“ If I couldn’t be a cop, I wanted to be a pastor.”

their own home. “It’s not the traditional way you manufacture or create products, but, as a land-grant institution, this is something that we want to do,” says Windham. The industrial design department recently acquired four printers through the Tiger Giving Day donations, each different models but all capable of the same work. Dowling attended several lectures and introductions to 3D printing technology in the beginning of Windham’s spring 2016 class before being introduced to his design team: Becca Harris ’17, Brittany Moore ’16 and Daniel Newton ’17. The dearth of partial-hand prosthetics was challenging at first. Because Dowling was interested in utility-based prosthetics he could use like tools, each member of the group chose a specific task to accomplish and designed his or her own prototype. “It sounds cheesy, but this was a life-changing experience,” said Harris, an industrial design major from Brevard, N.C. “I wanted to do something extremely small-scale, kind of a oneon-one relationship with a client, not focus on marketing or how to sell it, just the product itself and the need to be met.” Harris designed a prosthetic for small-range motions like pinching and picking up smaller items by creating a plastic shell that fits over Dowling’s residual hand, with a rotating thumb joint that can be moved and locked in place. Seeing the look on Dowling’s face when he realized he would have a thumb was her biggest inspiration during the project.

“The most amazing thing about that studio was that we want to design for people, but we don’t ever get to interact with those people,” said Newton, an industrial design major from Fayette. “We don’t get to say, ‘Hey, what about this product do you not like? What can be better?’ Even if our products are life-changing, we don’t get to see that change personally, so it was great to see the direct results of what we do.” Newton said his design was a partial-hand variation of designer Steve Wood’s Flexy-Hand 2, a prosthetic that uses flexion in the wrist to trigger wires that pull artificial fingers closed and open. An all-around hand designed for as much range and utility as possible, Newton’s creation made Dowling’s remaining ring finger the triggering mechanism for complete and partial closure so he can grip different surfaces and shapes. Dowling stayed excited through the process, envisioning specific applications for each prosthetic and gaining muchneeded insight into the design process. “You don’t know how many times you pinch things, especially when you’re working on electronics,” Dowling said. “Just being able to hold it and use the other hand would be fantastic. I’ve got a 3-year-old son that loves to play catch and I can sort of do it with this, but I’ll let you guess what my accuracy is when I throw it. That’s what really appealed to me, that finger control, catching and releasing.”

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THE CLASSES > CLASSNOTES

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S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

A HELPING HAND

A major feature that Moore said she wanted her design to address was giving Dowling back the shape and basic functionality of a hand. “One of the things that really stood out to us the first day was shaking hands,” said Moore, an environmental science major from Las Vegas. “That’s something you have to do every single day, especially working at a church. That’s your first interaction with somebody. He thought it invoked pity and he didn’t want that. He wanted to be proud of what he had and not make people uncomfortable.” Using handheld scanners and plaster casts of both hands, Moore was able to print a solid-body prosthetic with a Velcro strap that fits exactly on Dowling’s residual hand. The design also includes a notch between the thumb and index finger to hold a writing utensil and flexible rubber material molded like fingertips inside the hand to grip things better. Thick padding protects Dowling’s recovering skin from the rough material, something for which he is grateful. “My main goal was to give him something final,” Moore said. “We didn’t have much time and we had so many ideas, I just really wanted to make sure I got him a final piece that he could use later.” Even though Moore’s design was the only one to be completed by semester’s end, Harris and Newton each continue to work on their designs with the intention of delivering a finished

“ THIS WAS A LIFE -CHA NGIN G EXP ERIE NCE .” product. For Dowling, though, just having something to wear like Moore’s solid-body design is life-changing. “It’s annoying to look down at your shadow and see your hand on one side and what looks like a claw on the other,” Dowling says. “Even if you can mentally separate it, it’s still not a good feeling. When you put [this] on, you forget it’s there because it’s insanely comfortable. You look down and it looks normal and you go about your day. It’s fantastic.”

Before she graduated, Moore designed Dowling a set of guitar picks that fit between his ring and little finger so he can play the guitar again, one of the hobbies he had missed.

JULY 2016 A year after the accident, Dowling has learned to accept what he can’t change and make the most of every day. He’s still uncomfortable telling the story. “I shouldn’t have been holding it,” he says of the launcher. “I knew better. The first time someone picked one up I should’ve told them not to. I got cocky with it, so that was stupid. However, looking back, had I not been holding it, it would’ve been next to my face on the table. It also would have been next to the pile of kids watching it go off. It could have been so much worse, so that is the silver lining in it.” Things have resumed a sense of normalcy for Dowling and his family, who have adapted to the changes right alongside him, even learning to laugh about it along the way. The time to train his body for long-term prosthetic use has passed, but Dowling doesn’t mind; he never wanted to be dependent on one anyway. Thanks to the friends he made and the help he received through the assistive technology program, he has the tools to fight another day. But that’s just Auburn. “Brittany, Becca and Daniel treated me with more care and attention than some of the people I paid to treat me, and they did A A A A A said. A Dowling it for free,” “I never felt like I was a project. I knew the whole time they cared about what was being done and how it A A A A A A was being done and what they could do for me. It never felt like A A A A A A they were in it for a grade and I don’t think you get that anywhere A A A A but Auburn.” wp.auburn.edu/auburnmagazine

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Auburn Magazine

Why does your

GIFT OF REAL ESTATE MATTER?

Because it can make a difference for generations of Auburn students. “I think it is important to support Auburn because of the excellent education it gave me and keeps on giving to others.” – Ann Pearson ’63

Ann Pearson decided to give Sunny Slope to Auburn University because of her long-time family association with Auburn. Her grandfather, Luther N. Duncan, served as president of the university from 1935-1947. Her father, Allen M. Pearson ’31, taught zoology and entomology at Auburn for many years. Leaving a primary residence or vacation home to Auburn University, either through a bequest in your will or as a retained life estate, allows you to have a positive impact through a unique gift. It eliminates the burden on family members who may be handling the estate, and provides you with potential tax advantages.

For more information about how to make a difference for Auburn through the gift of real estate, contact the Auburn University Real Estate Foundation at 334-844-1137 or email stephan@auburn.edu.

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

OLA

ALUMNI

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Auburn Alumni Association

PP RY A

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VOLUNT

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CLUB

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FIND ALUMNI NEAR YOU!

you belong. No matter when you graduated and left the Plains, there are ways for you to stay connected to your global Auburn Family through your Auburn Alumni Association. You belong. Network with other alumni through more than 100 Auburn Clubs and affiliates around the world.

Support the association and university through membership! Benefits include an official car decal, lapel pin and membership card, along with nationwide shopping discounts and quarterly issues of Auburn Magazine. Visit alumni.auburn.edu/join for more info.

FA L L 2016

Auburn Magazine

A Special Event Deserves A Special Venue

Pebble Hill, also known as the Scott-Yarbrough House, is an 1847 traditional antebellum plantation house listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rich with Auburn history and known for its warm, elegant ambiance, it is certainly Southern Charm at its best. Only a few blocks from downtown, Pebble Hill sweeps you away with Southern Sophistication and offers serenity in the heart of Auburn. Whatever your needs, we welcome all to the newest spot in Auburn for your special occasion. For more information, visit us at www.auburn.edu/pebblehill or call us at 334.740.2267

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THIS IS AUBURN.

6/1/16 8:43 AM

ALUMNI CLASSNOTES > IN MEMORIAM

the Classes IN THIS SECTION Classnotes

59 Robyn Poarch

61 In Memoriam

64 Backchat

Chilled Out Remember those days at the Sani-Freeze (aka “The Flush”)? The Auburn icon is being re-created by building science students for this year’s Auburn Alumni Association Hospitality Tailgate, beginning at the Alumni Center three hours before home-game kickoffs. O-Town Ice Cream will even be offering vintage Sani-Freeze flavors.

FA L L 2016

Auburn Magazine

ALUMNI CLASSNOTES > IN MEMORIAM FROM THE AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Incoming

San Diego Auburn Club Freshman Send-Off at Mission Bay. Thanks to Rich McGlynn and his wife, Kristen, for coming out from Auburn and speaking.

The Auburn Spirit FIRST OF ALL, I’d like to welcome many new readers to Auburn Magazine as we reach out to all Auburn graduates with this issue. I hope that, through these pages, you’ll get reacquainted with Auburn, learn about a few of the exciting things happening on campus, reminisce about your own Auburn experiences, and consider giving back to Auburn through your membership in the Auburn Alumni Association. Serving as president of our alumni association the past two years has given me a unique opportunity to see firsthand all that is good with Auburn and her alumni. We have much to be proud of as alumni: world-class academics, research and development, community outreach projects, first-class facilities and many academic and social group opportunities for our students. All of these things help identify us as Auburn alumni, but what defines us and possibly separates us from our peers is the Spirit of Auburn. The Auburn Spirit can manifest itself in many ways but it is hard to put into words outside the talents of our own David Housel. Mr. Housel talked about the Auburn Spirit when we brought home the BCS National Championship: “That spirit and that attitude has been called many things. For us it is simply the Auburn Spirit. All of us want to be a part of something bigger than we are. And for those of us here today, that something is Auburn. What is Auburn? Far be it for me to try to answer that question. There are as many definitions of Auburn Men and Auburn Women as there ARE Auburn Men and Auburn

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

Women. It would be safe to say, however, that Auburn is much more than a football game and it’s much more than winning and losing. It’s a spirit. It’s an attitude. It is a way of looking at life and one another. It is almost a way of living. Unless you have experienced it, you will never know it. You will never understand it. But once you have experienced it, you will never be the same. A part of you will forevermore be an Auburn Man or an Auburn Woman.” —David Housel, Jan. 22, 2011. There is no bigger or more visual display of the Auburn Spirit than a Football Saturday on the Plains. I can hear the band. I can see a sea of orange and blue beneath an Auburn-orange sunset. The eagle is about to fly. It’s time for football and here come the Tigers! I have experienced it and I thank you! WAR EAGLE!

Jack Fite ’85 President, Auburn Alumni Association e jfite@fitebuilding.com

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

Send your classnotes and other

officer. Hoar consistently ranks

Medicine, attending on a U.S. Air

HANNIBAL HEREDIA ’89 accepted

updates to Auburn Magazine,

among the country’s largest

Force scholarship. After three years

the Atlanta Bar Association’s Small

317 S. College St., Auburn

construction companies, with offices

of military duty, he attained the

Firm Service Award for the family

in seven major cities. After retiring

rank of major. Herrick is board

law firm of Hedgepeth, Heredia &

in 2001, Keith continues to serve on

certified by the American Board of

Rieder. The award recognizes firms

the board of directors. He also

Anesthesiology in anesthesiology

that have provided significant

serves on the Auburn University

and pain management. He is a

leadership within the organization.

Civil Engineering Advisory board.

member of the Alabama Board of

He and his wife, DONNA VANDERV-

Medical Examiners and Alabama

ER KEITH ’66, live in Hoover. Their

Board of Public Health as well as

TERRY MURPHREE ’60 was

daughters, LAURIE KEITH LEGRONE

physician advisor for the Alabama

honored by The Heritage Founda-

’87 and SUSAN KEITH SHANAHAN

Quality Assurance Foundation.

tion with its George Washington

’90, live in Greensboro, N.C., and

“Generations Yet Unborn” Award.

Charlotte, N.C., respectively.

University, AL 36849 or aubmag@auburn.edu.

1960s

Billi Jean Murphree accepted the

1990s TODD MAY ’90 served as the guest

speaker for 1,221 new graduates and ROBERT "BO" LAUDER ‘84 was

their families at Auburn University’s

named Outstanding Principal/Head

summer commencement ceremo-

award, a bronze bust of Washington,

JOHN W. PENICK ’64 was cast in

of School by the Blackboard Awards,

nies on Saturday, Aug. 6. May is

on behalf of her late husband. Terry

the current production of the movie

which honor achievement in

director of NASA’s Marshall Space

Murphree died July 22, 2015, at the

Spiderman: Homecoming, in which

education in New York City. Lauder

Flight Center, one of the organiza-

age of 78, but he is still remembered

he plays the role of a high school

leads Friends Seminary, a K-12

tion’s largest field installations with

for his practice of “living by the list.”

teacher. The movie is being filmed

Quaker day school celebrating its

nearly 6,000 civil service and

“Every day he would draw up a list

in Atlanta. Penick also has appeared

230th anniversary this year. Located

contractor employees and an annual

of things to accomplish, and he

in two other movies, four stage

in lower Manhattan, it serves 770

budget of approximately $2.5

made a point of achieving every

productions and hopes to continue

students.

billion. He joined NASA in 1991 and

listed objective, even if sometimes it

his newfound profession as an actor.

had to roll over to the next day’s list.

was appointed to his current DAVID BALLEW ’85 was appointed

position in February. He was named

This organization and determina-

BENJAMIN SPRATLING III ’67,

chief operating officer of TD Artisan

the 2012 Distinguished Auburn

tion helped him achieve great

attorney with Haskell Slaughter &

Spirits. Ballew will oversee the

Engineer by the Samuel Ginn

success,” Murphree’s wife said.

Spratling of Birmingham, was

success of the joint venture recently

College of Engineering, from which

named the new president of the

formed by Terlato Artisan Spirits

he graduated in materials engineer-

National Genealogical Society.

and Distell USA. He brings more

ing. A native of Fairhope, May’s

than 30 years of experience in the

awards include NASA’s Exceptional

beverage industry, most recently as

Achievement Medal, the Presiden-

senior vice president of sales for the

tial Rank Award of Meritorious

Diageo Moët Hennessy portfolio at

Executive, NASA’s Outstanding

Glazer’s Inc. in Dallas, Texas.

Leadership Medal and the John W.

ROBERT R. (BOBBY) KEITH ’63

was recently inducted into the 2016 State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. This honor recognizes

1980s

contributions toward the advancement of engineering and technology,

THOMAS (TOMMY) H. TYNES ’83 is

leading to an enhanced economic

currently serving as president of the

and cultural future for the state and

board of directors of Red Mountain

DEREK CROWNOVER ’89 was

the nation. Keith began his

Theatre Co. in Birmingham. He is in

named “Best of the Bar” once again

engineering career with Northrop

credit risk management with

by the Nashville Business Journal.

RON HUGHES ’91 was recognized by

Space Labs in Huntsville in 1963. At

Regions Bank.

As group leader of Dickinson Wright

Barron’s magazine in its annual

PLLC’s entertainment law practice,

“America’s Top 1,200 Financial

Northrop, he was the team leader in

Hager Award for professionalism in materials engineering.

the development of the guidance

DAVID HERRICK ’84 of Montgomery

Crownover represents songwriters,

Advisors: 2016 State-by-State” list.

program for the Saturn V rocket

was named president of the Medical

publishers and producers, as well as

The rankings are based on assets

system used during the Apollo lunar

Association of Alabama during the

some of the most active entrepre-

under management, revenues

landing program. In 1970, Keith

organization’s annual meeting

neurs in the entertainment and

generated by advisors for their

began working at Hoar Construction

earlier this year. Herrick received

intellectual property (IP) sectors in

firms, and the quality of the

in Birmingham, rising through the

his medical degree from the

the South.

advisors’ practices.

ranks to become chief executive

University of Alabama School of

FA L L 2016

Auburn Magazine

THE CLASSES > CLASSNOTES

GENEVA (GINNY) BROWN DANIEL

PATRICK T. SCARBOROUGH ’96 was

MARY VAVRA ’97 joined the firm

Japan this year. Downing currently

’94 in December became the

recently elected to the national

Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and

serves as an international programs

Conference Minister for the

board of directors for The Human

Cannon Inc. as senior urban planner

officer at the Federal Aviation

Missouri Mid-South Conference of

Rights Campaign, America’s largest

and landscape architect. Vavra has

Administration. He is among 140

the United Church of Christ, based

LGBT civil rights organization.

17 years of design experience

fellows representing 27 U.S.

in St. Louis.

Scarborough has also been

focused on urban infill projects,

government agencies, commissions

recognized with the Visionary

transit-oriented developments,

and the U.S. Congress to enter the

MARC D. MILLER ’94 has been

Award for Project One America,

communitywide parks and

Mike Mansfield Fellowship Program

named dean of the School of

HRC’s efforts in furthering LGBT

recreation master plans, “blueway,”

since it was established by Congress

Business at Henderson State

equality across the South. He is the

“greenway” and “bikeway” master

in 1994. The fellowship program

University in Arkansas (which he

first director from Alabama for the

plans and town planning.

was created to build a corps of U.S.

notes is also the alma mater of

organization. While at Auburn,

Auburn Tigers head football coach

Scarborough served as vice

CHRIS HARDEN ’98 and his

tial Japan expertise. Mansfield

Gus Malzahn!).

president of the Student Govern-

business partner, Jeremy Schein-

Fellows have unprecedented access,

ment Association and held many

berg, appeared on the most recent

working side-by-side with their

DAVID REYNOLDS ’94 became

other campus leadership positions.

season of the hit ABC-TV reality

Japanese counterparts before

commanding officer of the Training

He and his husband, C.A. Lee III,

show, “Shark Tank.” The two pitched

returning to U.S. federal govern-

Squadron 31 in the Navy Reserves.

live in Birmingham.

their TROBO Storytelling Robot to

ment service for a minimum of

“the sharks” on the show, which

two years.

He is also a captain for Southwest

government officials with substan-

Airlines, living in and flying out of

BRIAN VALENTINE ’97 is currently

features entrepreneurs who try to

Denver, Colo.

in the Army Reserves, serving with

convince veteran business leaders to

the 452 Combat Support Hospital

invest in their companies. Although

KEVIN TAYLOR ’95 joined the

based in Fort Snelling, Minn. He

the duo’s “Shark Tank” deal with

staff of The Gadsden Times as a

was promoted to lieutenant-colonel

multimillionaire Robert Herjavec

NICOLE WILLIAMS ’00, a partner at

multimedia copy editor. Before

in June. His current medical

ultimately didn’t work out, the show

Thompson & Knight, has been

taking the position in Gadsden,

practice is located in Gadsden,

gave Harden and Scheinberg a lot of

selected for inclusion in the

Taylor served as an award-winning

where he is a radiologist at Gadsden

exposure for TROBO, which is now

Benchmark Litigation Under 40 Hot

copy editor and writer for The

Regional Medical Center.

sold through an exclusive partner-

List for 2016. She is a partner at

ship with Amazon.com. Their story

Thompson & Knight law firm, based

Wetumpka Herald for eight years.

2000s

recently was featured in an issue of

in Dallas, Texas. Benchmark

Florida High Tech magazine in an

Litigation identifies the leading U.S.

article on companies in the state’s

trial attorneys and firms at the local

high-tech corridor making inroads

and national levels.

into prime-time television. TROBO is based in Maitland, Fla., north

DEANNA BOYETT WOODS ’01 and

of Orlando.

her husband, Wesley, announce the birth of a son, Carter Wesley, on

JEFFREY STONE ’98 was named a

June 3. The family lives in

shareholder of TLC Engineering for

Tupelo, Miss.

Architecture Inc. TLC is one of the

WAR EAGLE WAY—HEY! Steve ‘15 and Northam T. ’96 Rempel recently participated in a charity auction for mothers in need and bought the rights to name the street in front of Lake Quivira Country Club near their home in Lake Quivira, Kansas. So if you’re ever traveling west of the Kansas City area, don’t be surprised if you see a familiar sentiment on the way to the lake.

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

largest consulting engineering firms

HENRY C. “DEE” DEBARDELEBEN

in the South, with headquarters in

IV ’02 has been named partner by

Orlando and offices across Florida,

Weinburg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn &

Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana.

Dial, a litigation firm based in Atlanta. His civil trial practice

RILEY DOWNING ’99 is among 10

focuses on cases involving allega-

federal government officials who

tions of professional negligence,

will begin the year-long Mike

litigation in the construction and

Mansfield Fellowship Program in

transportation industries, premises

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

THE CLASSES > CLASSNOTES

A NEUROSURGEON specializes in brain surgery. An archaeologist specializes in fossils. Robyn Poarch ’95 specializes in pies, more specifically, Porch Pies. Poarch (pronounced like ‘porch’) graduated from Auburn with a degree in history and immediately moved to New York City. She was planning on returning to get her master’s, but she found herself set upon a slightly different path when she was disappointed in the “Big Apple’s” dessert selection. “I moved to New York City after I graduated, and I could not find a good pecan pie anywhere. That’s the truth. Of course, I had my grandmother’s recipe, and I just started making them,” Poarch said. “Eventually, my friends were asking me if they could buy them, and that is how it started.” Eight years later, Poarch had met and married her husband, Michael Linstroth, an actor from Florida, and was packing her bags to move to Los Angeles. One night after a concert Poarch encountered an interesting offer. Actress Kathy Najimy was hosting a rock concert charity benefit and suggested Poarch’s pies and business cards be included in the guests’ swag bags. Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Ben Harper and his then-wife Laura Dern, were among other A-list guests who received a swag bag with Poarch’s delicious goods. The following Monday, Ben Harper’s assistant called Poarch and told her “We are never sending flowers again, we have got to send your pies.” Poarch then began filling a delivery order that included deliveries to Steven Spielberg, Courteney Cox, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. For a while, Poarch was baking pies for celebrities who would mail them to each other. In 2010, Poarch’s husband, Michael, joined the team and Porch Pies became a nationally recognized pie delivery service. Up next for Poarch, Music City. A center of national shipping, Poarch said she wants to have a Porch Pies “mini” franchise in Nashville up and running by September 2016. Although she’s heartbroken to leave Los Angeles, Poarch is excited to be closer to her family in the South. “I think if we don’t come now my kids will miss out on the experience of the South. They have L.A. in their bones, but they need to have the Southern experience as well.” Poarch caught wind of her family’s California inclinations while cooking dinner for New Year’s Day. “A few years ago my son asked me if next year we could have edamame as our green instead of collard greens,” Poarch laughed. “I thought to myself, ‘Oh no, I have failed as a Southern woman.” After all these years, pecan pie is still Poarch’s favorite. “That’s the one that started it all. You just cannot beat it.” –Liz Maddux

porchpies.com

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Auburn Magazine

THE CLASSES > CLASSNOTES

and product liability cases, and

contributions to NASA programs,

second son, Forrest “Hayes”

for the past five years. Heuton

catastrophic injury cases.

projects or initiatives. Burger is with

Watkins, on Oct. 24, 2015. He

assumed her duties at Montevallo in

Dynamic Concepts Inc. of Hunts-

joins a big brother, Brayden,

late August. She is a certified public

JOHN MICHAEL TIFFIN ’02 and

ville, which provides engineering

who is 2.

accountant and holds an MBA from

DAWN ADAMS TIFFIN ’02 announce

and software services to NASA and

the birth of their second child, Jane

the commercial aerospace industry.

Elizabeth Tiffin, on May 1, 2016. She

Auburn and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Georgia Tech. Prior

2010s

to her role as chief financial officer,

joins a big sister, Abigail. The family

JOSEPH “VIN” WEBSTER ‘06 and

lives in Tampa, Fla.

LAURA MILLWEE WEBSTER ‘06

RICHARD LAMMONS ’10 married

Marshall, after working as a

announce the birth of a son, Lucas

ERIN COMER ’11 in Hoover on

controller and director of advance-

JORDAN ERIC PHILLIPS ’03 and

Ryan Webster, on June 1. The family

Jan. 30. The couple said “I do”

ment services at Columbus (Ga.)

BRITNEY ROBERTS PHILLIPS ’08

lives in Lexington, Ky.

with the help of several members

State University. Heuton also held

of the Auburn Family by their side

positions in software, public

announce the birth of their son,

Heuton served as controller at

Harrison Lee Phillips, on May 2. The

CARMEN BRITTON ’07 received a

and currently reside in Warner

accounting and real estate before

family lives in Fyffe.

Fulbright Award to Sri Lanka

Robins, Ga.

entering higher education.

from the U.S. Department of State TIFFANY B. JACKSON ’03 and

and the J. William Fulbright

LAURA HANCOCK MILLER ‘10 and

KELSEY HENDRIX ’11 and DEVIN

KEITH M. JACKSON ’03 announce

Foreign Scholarship Board.

her husband, Ken, recently moved

LONG ’14 were married on July 23.

the birth of a daughter, Collins Lynn

Britton will be affiliated with the

to Texarkana, Texas, to become

They live in Birmingham, where

Jackson, on June 27. She joins

University of Colombo and

owner/operators of the Central Mall

Kelsey teaches third grade at Kermit

siblings Sawyer, Graham and Miller

conduct her research for the

Chick-fil-A franchise.

Johnson Elementary and Devin is a

Kate at the family home in

human development and family

Trussville.

studies doctoral program at the

CRISTINA MUNIZ ’10 married

compliance safety manager at P&S Transportation.

University of Connecticut. Her

TERRY CHRISTOPHER CRUMBLEY

CARLA HOLK MCCLINTON ’04 and

research will document the

’11 in Atlanta on April 9. They were

JOEL SEBASTIAN ALVARADO ’15 is

JASON MCCLINTON ’04 announce

experiences of people with

married at the Cathedral of Christ

working as a marketing field

the birth of their baby boy, Ellis

disabilities in community-based

the King and the wedding reception

representative for College Counts.

Holk McClinton, on Sept. 24, 2015.

rehabilitation in Sri Lanka.

was celebrated at the Ritz Carlton

He lives in Hoover.

Buckhead. The groom’s cake was a MATT WILSON ’04 and his wife,

MEREDITH ARDREY BAGGETT

Christy, announce the birth of a son,

’08 and ALAN STEPHEN

David Halstead Wilson, on July 7.

BAGGETT ’06 of Ocean Springs,

ALLIE CARR LOONEY ’11 completed

manager with the Addison Group in

The family lives near Troy.

Miss., announce the birth of their

her master’s degree at Samford

Nashville, Tenn. The design and

second daughter, Amelia Claire,

University in May from the Ida V.

development firm specializes in

BLAIR BLEDSOE BENNETT ’05

on Nov. 6, 2015. She joins a big

Moffett School of Nursing in nurse

mixed-use and residential real estate

and CHAD WASHBURN BENNETT

sister, Allyson Grace.

anesthesia. She has passed her

projects.

’05 announce the arrival of twin

replica of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

MOLLI HARRIS ‘15 was recently

promoted to business development

national board exam and planned to

girls on Nov. 27, 2015. Sally James

DANIEL W. LOWE ’08 married

begin her career as a certified nurse

BO LARKIN ‘15 lives in Auburn,

Bennett and Caroline Washburn

JENNIFER L. WALZ ’08 on May

anesthetist at Children’s Hospital in

where he works as football video

Bennett were welcomed into the

15, 2016.

Birmingham in July.

coordinator for Auburn University

Leighton Grace and Maggie. The

FRAN PFRIMMER ’09 married

MARY ELLEN HEUTON ’11 has been

family lives in Selma.

Drew Sutton on Sept. 19, 2015, in

named vice president for business

ANNA ASBURY LARKIN ‘15 lives in

Charlotte, N.C. The couple

affairs and treasurer of the

Arlington, Va., and is a digital

currently resides in Chicago.

University of Montevallo. She comes

marketing specialist for CME

to UM from Marshall University in

Outfitters, a medical education company.

family by their older sisters,

BENJAMIN S. BURGER ‘05 recently

Athletics.

received a NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal, awarded to

STEPHANIE HOLMES WATKINS

Huntington, W. Va., where she has

non-government employees for

’09 and Harman Watkins

served as senior vice president for

sustained performance and multiple

announce the birth of their

finance and chief financial officer

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

FOR KIMBERLY BOWLING ’96, every day at the office is a family affair and more than likely includes a conversation surrounding a sticky, sweet substance Americans love to eat with pancakes and waffles. Anyone who grew up around Northwest Alabama in the last century remembers Golden Eagle Table Syrup as a family staple. “Tradition,” Kimberly and Temple Bowling ‘94 said in unison when describing the syrup company that has been in business in Kimberly Bowling’s hometown in Fayette County since 1929. “It’s a really small company, but it has longevity,” Kimberly Bowling said. “We bought it so that it wouldn’t get swallowed up by some corporate company that would turn it into something that it wasn’t and do away with its original roots.”

Kimberly and Temple Bowling met at an Auburn football game and have been together ever since. They moved back to Kimberly’s home in Fayette County to be closer to family and Golden Eagle was for sale. “Golden Eagle was always around in my life. It was always on my grandfather’s table,” Kimberly said. Temple added, “The building we are in is the same building that it's been in since 1945. The old copper cooker from the 1950s is still there. That’s one of the reasons we bought it, the nostalgia of the place itself.” With three kids, a syrup company and a construction company to run, the Bowlings are one busy family. Temple still works full time so Kimberly is now the leading lady at Golden Eagle. “He just kind of handed me the keys and said, ‘Hey, here’s the syrup company,’ ” Kimberly laughed. “I didn’t know anything

about running a business or making syrup, but I learned quickly.” Golden Eagle got its name from founder Victor Patterson, who named his syrup company after an eagle because it flies the highest of any bird, symbolic of the highest quality, and golden after the color of the syrup. “The Pattersons lived on the fact that Golden Eagle was family owned and operated, and it was. So when we bought it we made sure we are still family owned and operated,” Kimberly said. “Right now it’s summer, and all three of my kids work at Golden Eagle; my dad is 82 and he works the syrup line with me on the days we run syrup, so it is still very family oriented.” “We use the same recipes, the same cooker,” Temple said. “Everything about it is based on tradition.”—Liz Maddux goldeneaglesyrup.com

FA L L 2016

Auburn Magazine

THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORIAM:

GAMMAGE WILLIAMS ’44 of

JAMES M. COOKE SR. ’49 of Five

HARVEY O. STEPHENSON ’50 of

For more obituaries, visit

Birmingham died on April 28, 2016.

Points died on April 26, 2016.

Dothan died on November 13, 2006.

auburnmagazine.auburn.edu.

MARY FURR DAVIS ’45 of

GLADYS SMITH FORKNER ’49

COTHA VEDDER WALLACE ’50 of

Enterprise died on March 26, 2016.

Montgomery died on March 6, 2016.

of Edwardsville, Ill., died on

PHILIP G. HARTUNG ’37 of

MARY FRANCES JACKSON MOORE

Dec. 1, 1985.

BILLIE EUGENE WHEELER ’50 of

Hanceville died on May 14, 2003.

’45 of Montgomery died on

ALBERT J. HAISTEN ’49 of

Anniston died on Aug. 30, 2015.

JOHN F. BAXTER ’38 of

Feb. 14, 2010.

Brundidge died on March 21, 2016.

A. D. BALLARD ’51 of

Auburn died on April 22, 2016.

NETTYE KATHRYN “KAY”

JACK A.Q. HAYNES ’49

Tallassee died on Dec. 21, 2002.

MILDRED GLASS WORSHAM ’38

TURNHAM ’45 of Birmingham

of Waynesboro, Miss., died on

EDWIN EUGENE BARNES ’51 of

of Panama City, Fla., died on

died on April 21, 2016.

March 31, 2016.

Metairie, La., died on July 10, 2010.

March 2, 2016.

THOMAS HENRY KENNELL ’46 of

ELMER CARLTON HILL ’49 of

C. MALONE BATTLE ’51 of

LUCY LISENBY ANDREWS ’39

Elgin, Ill., died on May 2, 2016.

Destin, Fla., died on April 6, 2015.

Memphis, Tenn., died on

of Dothan died on April 28, 2016.

DAVID DALLAM TOWNSEND ’46

MARY STEELE HOLLOWELL ’49 of

April 3, 2016.

FRANCINA BASS PERROTT ’39

of Bryn Mawr, Pa., died on

Albany, Ga., on April 24, 2016.

CHARLES THAXTON BURT ’51

of Gadsden died on March 25, 2016.

June 15, 2015.

ANDREW JOHN HUGHES ’49 of

of Ducktown, Tenn., died on

GRADY L. WISE ’39 of Coffee

MARGARET GILL YARBROUGH ’46

Auburn died on April 1, 2016.

Aug. 12, 2015.

Springs died on April 4, 2016.

of Huntsville died on March 1, 2016.

CHARLES D. KELLEY ’49 of

ARTHUR A. CAPELL JR. ’51 of

EUGENE MORELLI ’40 of

WESLEY MERRITT CHESSON ’47 of

Titus died on March 26, 2016.

Selma died on Nov. 6, 1997.

Altoona, Pa., died on Jan. 8, 2010.

Waverly, Va., died on Aug. 5, 2008.

R. NELSON LOLLAR ’49 of

MELVIN KING DURRETT ’51 of

JAMES MCCLAIN HOOPER ’41 of

MABEL MOORER EVANS ’47 of

Jasper died on April 21, 2016.

Eutaw died on April 22, 2016.

Oakman died on Feb. 15, 2013.

Huntsville died on April 19, 2016.

WILLIAM H. MCKINNEY ’49 of

JOHN W. HANCHEY III ’51 of

CHARLES RALTON PHILLIPS ’41 of

EUGENE MCKINNEY JR. ’47 of

Trussville died on March 4, 2016.

Houston, Texas, died on

Luverne died on March 27, 2009.

Florence died on March 26, 2016.

STEPHEN MALLORY PIERCE ’49

Feb. 3, 2013.

GORDON C. BROOKS ’42

ROBERT FRANKLIN “BOB”

of Birmingham died on

ELMER JACKSON ’51 of

of Maryville, Tenn., died on

SMYER ’47 of Auburn died on

March 9, 2016.

Lester died on March 8, 2016.

July 13, 2006.

April 26, 2016.

WILLARD M. REED SR. ’49 of

BILLY Q. PARKER ’51 of

HENRY DEBARDELEBEN JR. ’42 of

ALBERT F. CALEY JR. ’48

Thomasville died on April 14, 2016.

Auburn died on March 25, 2016.

Anniston died on Sept. 25, 1988.

of Marion Junction died on

HOOPER ALEXANDER TURNER SR.

BILLIE JOHNSON PUCKETT ’51

RUSSELL A. DUKE SR. ’42 of

March 31, 2016.

’49 of Columbus, Ga., died on

of Charlotte, N.C., died on

Fairfax, Va., died on Dec. 24, 2011.

CHARLES A. CASMUS ’48 of

March 25, 2016.

April 26, 2016.

JOHN BRUCE MARTIN ’43

Montgomery died on April 13, 1999.

J. ERNEST WALDEN JR. ’49 of

ALFRED H. SEARCY ’51 of

of Cincinnati, Ohio, died on

JEAN HOUSE FAIRLEIGH ’48

Dothan died on April 11, 2016.

Dothan died on May 9, 2016.

April 22, 2016.

of Louisville, Ky., died on

JACK K. WALLACE ’49 of Athens,

RICHARD GLENN SHIRLEY ’51

SANFORD M. MORTON ’43

March 19, 2016.

Tenn., died on May 1, 2016.

of Chattanooga, Tenn., died on

of Pittsburgh, Pa., died on

DONALD ROYCE MARETT ’48

CHARLES M. YARBOROUGH ’49 of

March 2, 2016.

April 1, 2016.

of Corsicana, Texas, died on

Birmingham died on Feb. 18, 2016.

JAMES FERRELL SNIDER ’51

CHARLES RAY SKINNER SR. ’43

April 23, 2016.

THOMAS E. DUNCAN ’50

of Lanett died on March 7, 2016.

of Monroeville died on

JAMES NELSON MONTGOMERY ’48

of Florence, S.C., died on

E. DEAN THOMSON ’51 of

April 14, 2016.

of Birmingham died on

March 1, 2016.

Birmingham died on March 6, 2016.

ARTHUR LAIRD WETHERELL ’43

March 15, 2016.

FREDERICK F. GAFFORD SR. ’50 of

BILLY ROSCOE TURNER ’51 of

of Columbus, N.C., died on

JAMES EDWIN THOMAS ’48 of

Niceville, Fla., died on Jan. 19, 2014.

Mobile died on March 25, 2016.

April 2, 2016.

Montgomery died on Aug. 4, 2009.

JAMES R. HOLMES ‘50 of

RAY OTIS WARD ’51 of Hattiesburg

JOHN HOMER WHITE JR. ’43

RUSSELL A. ALFORD JR. ’49

Huntsville died on May 10, 2016.

Miss., died on March 3, 2016.

of Birmingham died on July 2, 2014.

of Mountain Brook died on

AARON A. POWERS JR. ’50 of

CLYDE O. WESTBROOK ’51 of

CHARLES RUST MCDONALD ’44

April 26, 2016.

Austin, Texas, died on Jan. 26, 2014.

Montgomery died on Oct. 26, 2011.

MYRON JACKSON SASSER ’50 of

EARLE CARTER WILLIAMS ’51 of

of Mobile died on March 21, 2016.

JACK ROBERT AMOS ’49 of

VIRGINIA M. STEWART ’44 of

Albertville died on March 29, 2016.

Birmingham died on April 26, 2016.

Selma died on March 25, 2016.

Birmingham died on April 13, 2016.

HENRY C. BLOCKER ’49 of

JAMES F. SMITH JR. ’50 of

BOB GENE BAIN ’52 of Pell City

SARAH VIRGINIA “JEANA”

Sylacauga died on July 17, 2015.

Montgomery died on May 14, 2016.

died on Jan. 3, 2016.

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

CLAUDIA TAYLOR BROWN ’52

RICHARD L. HOWELL SR. ’54

of Carlsbad, Calif., died on

of Wayzata, Minn., died on

Nov. 25, 2015.

March 15, 2016.

WILLIAM S. COLEMAN JR. ’52

JAMES S. JOHNSTON SR. ’54

of Lewisburg, W.Va., died on

of Mandeville, La., died on

April 18, 2016.

March 21, 2016.

FORREST G. GUTHRIE ’52

JACK R. POPE ’54 of Fairfield

of Jacksonville, Fla., died on

died on Dec. 2, 2015.

April 25, 2016.

PAUL D. WILLIAMS ’54 of

CHARLES C. KING JR. ’52 of

Raleigh, N.C., died on

Leighton died on April 4, 2016.

March 15, 2016.

DONALD E. MOWE ’52 of

JAMES ARTHUR WISE ’54 of

Sterling, Va., died on April 1, 2015.

Samson died on April 22, 2016.

CLARENCE THOMAS NELSON ’52

COL. JOSEPH S. WOOD JR. ’54

of Kennebunkport, Maine, died on

of Saint Augustine, Fla., died on

April 9, 2016.

Feb. 4, 2016.

ALVIS W. PYLE JR. ’52 of

PAT RANDALL BAGGETT ’55 of

Niceville, Fla., died on July 8, 2015.

Montgomery died on Nov. 30, 2009.

CHARLES HERBERT TUTT ‘52

JACK E. CASH ’55 of Edwardsville

of Huber Heights, Ohio, died on

died on March 28, 2016.

April 11, 2016.

D. RAY GASKIN ’55 of Savannah,

ROBERT MORRIS BYRD ’53

Ga., died on April 12, 2016.

of Owensboro, Ky., died on

SAMUEL B. JONES JR. ’55 of

April 7, 2015.

Roswell, Ga., died on Feb. 9, 2016.

ALVA L. LASITTER ’53 of Flat Rock,

Q. ROSSER JONES ’55 of

N.C., died on April 17, 2016.

Columbus, Ga., died on Jan. 11,

JAMES EMANUEL MOAK ’53

2015.

of Starkville Miss., died on

JAMES A. LAMAR ’55 of

April 28, 2016.

Port Tobacco, Md., died on

NANCIE B. SUTHERLAND ’53 of

March 15, 2016.

Birmingham died on April 24, 2016.

CARLTON E. MIXON ’55 of Spanish

ROBERT LLOYD TOWNSEND ’53 of

Fort died on July 26, 1998.

Florence died on March 21, 2016.

THOMAS L. NICHOLS JR. ’55 of

LUTHER THEODORE ALBERT ’54

Dothan died on March 2, 2016.

of Madison, Wisc., died on

ROBERT L. NORRIS ’55 of Spring

March 8, 2016.

Hill, Tenn., died on March 3, 2016.

WILLIAM H. BEDDOW JR. ’54

J. M. POYTHRESS JR. ’55 of

of Luthersville, Ga., died on

Louisville, Ky., died on Jan. 11, 2012.

April 4, 2016.

ROBERT M. SPICER ’55 of Fort

JAMES HAROLD DUKE ’54 of

Gaines, Ga., died on Dec. 31, 2014.

Plano, Texas, died on Nov. 25, 2014.

GEORGE T. VAN PELT ’55

ROBERT D. DUNCAN JR. ’54

of Pensacola, Fla., died on

of Columbus, Ga., died on

March 7, 2016.

April 13, 2016.

JAMES W. WAGNON ’55

HELEN RALEY HARMAN ’54

of Tullahoma, Tenn. died on

of Lexington, N.C., died on

May 11, 2016.

April 8, 2016.

ANNE C. BURSON ’56 of

CARROLL J. HENLEY ’54 of Crystal

Deland, Fla., died on Sept. 11, 2015.

Springs, Miss., died on Feb. 27, 2016.

JOAN FOWLER CUSACK ’56 of

A Monumental Figure JOANNA BLAKE ’99 spent much of her professional life as a figurative sculptor living in the Washington, D.C., area, earning a worldwide reputation for creating powerful, exacting works. She died suddenly on her 39th birthday, May 22, in a motorcycle crash in Italy, leaving behind her husband and college sweetheart Isaac (Ike) Thomas Blake ’99 and their 5-year-old daughter, Myra. Influenced by extensive research and thorough study of sculpting and painting, Blake’s work was guided by the power of historical figures and events while drawing from the social, historical and physical context of the site in which she worked. Most recently she completed an 8-by-10-foot bronze sculpture to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bladensburg in the War of 1812. The Battle of Bladensburg monument ended up being a trio, per Blake’s request, with every curve and edge designed by hand. While working for Kasky Studio Inc., Blake contributed her sculpting and design skills to a number of largescale public monuments, most famously the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tenn. Collaborating with her former Auburn sculpting professor Gary Wagoner and their Alabama-based business, Archimedia, she also created numerous terra cotta works for the Auburn campus as well as a 100-foot-long terra cotta frieze for the Performing Arts Center in Opelika.

FA L L 2016

Auburn Magazine

THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

JAMES RONALD GILLMAN ’59

of Mobile died on Sept. 8, 2006.

Cinc Auburinnnati Clu

JACK E. SADLER ’62 of Fairfield

R. BRUCE IVEY ’59 of

died on April 12, 2016.

Chattanooga, Tenn., died on

JANICE GOSDIN SANGSTER ’62 of

Feb. 9, 2016.

Atlanta, Ga., died on Jan. 6, 2004.

ETHEL HALL KNIGHT ’59 of

JOHN ALBERT THOMPSON ’62 of

Monroeville died on March 13,

Crane Hill died on May 5, 2016.

2016.

JUDY STUDDARD WHITTEN ’62 of

LYNN J. LIZELLE ’59 of San

Murray, Ky., died on May 28, 2006.

Antonio, Texas, died on

CHARLES EDWARD WOODROW III

Feb. 10, 2005.

AU freshmen like these from Cincinnati, Ohio, got an early welcome from Auburn Club members around the country in Freshman Send-Offs.

April 24, 2016.

’62 of Falls Church, Va., died on

JOANN WOODS MARTIN ’59 of Oneonta died on

March 14, 2016. EVERETTE EARL GANTT ’63 of

April 3, 2016.

Gadsden died on Dec. 31, 2012.

TILLMAN L. MILLER

CHARLES L. LAUDERDALE ’63

’59 of Columbus, Ga.,

of Panama City, Fla., died on

died on March 29, 2016.

March 9, 2016.

KELLY L. WOOLLEY ’59 of

Andalusia died

REUBEN CUMBEE FINNEY ’56

on March 13, 2016.

of Mountain Brook died on

VIDA SHARMAN MCNALLY ’57

WILLIAM W. CARLTON ’60

DAVID MORGAN WEBB ’63

March 15, 2016.

of Wilmington, Del., died on

of Greenacres, Fla., died on

of Scottsboro died on April 5, 2016.

D. WAYNE GARLOCK ’56 of

Oct. 31, 2007.

March 24, 2016.

SLOAN J. HARPER ’64 of

Milton, Fla., died on April 6, 2016.

JANE PARKER SMITH ’57

HARRY MCDONOUGH CLARK ’60 of

Langdale died on March 13, 2016.

ROBERT SPICER GLOVER ’56 of

of Hampton Cove died on

Fairhope died on March 9, 2016.

HARRY WINFIELD HYDRICK ’64

Trenton, Ky., died on April 27, 2016.

April 12, 2016.

SANDRA FULLER DRUMMOND ’60

of Cullman died on Oct. 5, 2015.

CLINTON B. HYATT JR. ’56 of

HENRY G. ARMISTEAD JR. ’58

of Notasulga died on

JAMES W. WARR ’64 of

Elkins Park, Pa., died on

of Frisco, Texas, died on

March 22, 2016.

Montgomery died on Dec. 6, 2014.

March 4, 2016.

March 26, 2013.

HOMER D. MEEKS JR. ’60 of

ROBERT ROBBINS GIBSON ’65

KENT V. KLINNER JR. ’56 of

ROBERT NEIL LACKEY ’58 of

Dothan died on March 28, 2016.

of Manchester, Md., died on

Opelika died on March 4, 2016.

Athens, Ga., died on March 10,

CHARLES R. BECKER ’61 of

Dec. 2, 2011.

JANE CAIN MONROE ’56 of

2016.

Birmingham died on April 27, 2016.

WESLEY R. GUNN ’65 of Niceville,

Huntsville died on April 6, 2016.

NEY P. PARK JR. ’58 of

LELAND W. LAMBERT ’61 of

Fla., died on April 14, 2014.

WILLIAM C. WATKINS ’56 of

Hope Hull died on May 3, 2016.

Huntsville died May 18, 2016

PETER FREDRIC OLSEN ’65 of Red

Auburn died on May 15, 2016.

CHESLIE ROBINSON JR. ’58 of

RONALD S. SEIGLER ’61 of

Bank, N.J., died on April 23, 2016.

BILL ANSLEY ’57 of Laurel Hill,

Mobile died on March 31, 2013.

Seneca, S.C., died on May 3, 2016.

JERRY HERSHEL ROBINSON ’65

Fla., died on April 29, 2016.

GEORGE F. SUBER JR. ’58 of

DAVID T. VAUGHN ’61 of

of Crestview, Fla., died on

LIONEL DE PAULA ARIAS ’57

Montgomery died on April 3, 2016.

Simpsonville, S.C., died on

May 26, 2005.

of Pinar Del Rio, Cuba, died on

EDWARD F. BARNETT ’59 of

Aug. 10, 2015.

JAMES WOODSON WHITE ’65 of

Dec. 2, 2010.

Troy died on Dec. 16, 2015.

ROBERT LEE WHITTEN ’61 of

Rogersville died on March 28, 2016.

KENNETH R. BARNETT ’57 of

MARIO A. CORAGGIO ’59 of

Murray, Ky., died on Aug. 4, 2009.

ELIZABETH G. BLODGETT ’66 of

Atmore died on April 14, 2016.

Tampa, Fla., died on Sept. 25, 2012.

VERBON E. WOOD ’61 of Gaines-

Murray, Ky., died on May 4, 2016.

GEORGE R. CLAWSON ’57 of

THOMAS B. CULBRETH ’59 of

ville, Ga., died on April 11, 2016.

DAVID KENNEDY BLOUGH ’66

Madison died on July 1, 2002.

Columbia died on May 4, 2016.

MICHAL PIERCE CARROLL ’62 of

of Natchez, Miss., died on

TRAVIS COSBY JR. ’57 of Opp

ROGER C. ELLISON ’59 of

Birmingham died on April 17, 2016.

April 15, 2016.

died on May 4, 2016.

Gadsden died on April 12, 2016.

JEAN BAXTER ELLARD ’62 of

ZENA FREE BRADFORD ’66

H. MURRAY ECHOLS ’57 of

FURMAN L. FURLONG JR. ’59

Birmingham died on April 20, 2016.

of Sandy Springs, Ga., died on

Birmingham died on May 4, 2016.

of Fountain Valley, Calif., died on

PATRICIA ANN LACERVA ’62

March 15, 2016.

JOYCE WILDER LAW ’57 of

March 29, 2016.

of Waveland, Miss., died on

MAE GREEN WILLIAMS ’66 of

AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU

Rogersville died on Aug. 6,

THELMA WILLIAMS PURDIE ’63

Auburn died on April 22, 2016.

2007.

of Columbus, Ga., died on April 9, 2009.

S H A R E YO U R N E W S W I T H U S AT AU B M AG @AU B U R N . E D U

THE CLASSES > IN MEMORIAM

Pike County died on Sept. 8, 2015.

’68 of Reeltown died on

SILVI P. KORNMAN ’69 of

Decatur, Ga., died on March 2, 2016.

DAVID LYNN BAGGETT ’67 of

May 6, 2016.

Miami, Fla., died on July 26, 2014.

FRANCES B. TONSMEIRE ’70 of

Huntsville died on June 3, 2009.

BENNY CHARLES HAND SR. ’68

PHILLIP R. MARTIN ’69 of

Mobile died on Nov. 16, 2014.

KENNETH W. BARLOW SR. ’67 of

of Auburn died on April 11, 2016.

Montgomery died on April 7, 2016.

WOODSON DENNIS WALLACE ’70

Camden died on March 19, 2016.

CHARLES A. PAYTON JR. ’68 of

THOMAS D. MYERS ’69 of

of Millerville died on Jan 1, 2016.

JEPTHA J. BRUMBELOE ’67 of

Oneonta died on April 27, 2016.

Columbus, Ga., died on

RALPH GEORGE BEARD, JR. ’71 of

Pinson died on March 13, 2016.

ROBERT M. SEVERIN ’68 of

April 19, 2016.

Birmingham died on March 3, 2016.

WILLIAM WADE DOUGLAS ’67

Fresno, Calif., died on Nov. 17, 2015.

ROBERT HACKETT PARKER ’69 of

BRUCE VERNON BRADLEY ’71

of Panama City, Fla., died on

ARTHUR THORSBERG ’68 of

Coosada died on March 25, 2016.

of Holyoke, Mass., died on

March 21, 2016.

Macon, Ga., died on April 5, 2016.

JOHNNIE E. VOYTANOVSKY ’69

April 20, 2016.

ROSALIND L. FORREST ’67 of

RALPH DOUGLAS CHASON ’69 of

of Birmingham died on

NORMAN ROBERT BRIERLEY ’71 of

Huntsville died on Nov. 30, 2013.

Millbrook died on Feb. 14, 2016.

March 29, 2016.

Rome, Ga., died on Oct. 12, 2012.

DOROTHY HARMON REESE ’67

PATRICIA PHYLLIS CHAVIS ’69

ELIZABETH B. AIKEN JR. ’70 of

EBERHARD WERNER GIESECKE ’71

of Jacksonville, Fla., died on

of Kennesaw, Ga., died on

Auburn died on March 15, 2016.

of Olympia, Wash., died on

Feb. 16, 2015.

April 11, 2016.

LINDA BROWN ENSMINGER ’70 of

July 27, 2015.

JOHN W. SUDDUTH SR. ’67

CAREY G. DANIEL ’69 of

Auburn died on May 1, 2016.

DAWN V. MORALES ’09 of Irvine,

of Double Springs died on

Montgomery died on March 3, 2016.

DON ALLAN MARTIN ’70 of

Calif., died on Aug. 2, 2013.

March 19, 2016.

ANN CLEMENT FOSSETT ’69 of

Fort Payne died on July 16, 2015.

of Montgomery died on March 27,

RONALD STEWART HAMMONDS

Decatur, Ga., died on April 18, 2016.

LARRY WAYNE MCINNIS ’70 of

2016.

A LEGACY OF SPIRIT IN 1957, the Auburn University

In 1956, Hinton moved to Auburn and revamped the Auburn Marching Band dropped their band program. It was during Hinton's reign that the band traditional gray cadet-style uniforms became known as one of the nation’s great marching bands. for their new orange and blue Previous students described Hinton as a fatherly figure who versions. These uniforms, which are helped make lasting memories for all. still worn today, were the vision of “He insisted that Auburn men and women demonstrate class in Wilbur “Bodie” Hinton, one of the all paths of life,” said Rick Good, current director of bands. “[It’s] most well known band directors in a tradition that still lives on in the Auburn Band program today.” Auburn history. Hinton also was inducted into the inaugural 2008 class of the On June 6, Hinton died at the age of Alabama Music Educators Association “He insisted that Auburn 95. He will always be remembered for his Hall of Fame. men and women demonstrate contagious enthusiasm and devotion to Today, the Auburn University class in all paths of life,” said the Auburn University Marching Band. He Marching Band practices on Wilbur Rick Good, current Director was the director of bands for 13 years “Bodie” Hinton Field, considered one of Bands. “It's a tradition that and head of the music department from of the finest outdoor practice facilities still lives on in the Auburn Band 1969-84. in the country. Hinton grew up in Tuscaloosa Hinton’s spirit also will continue program today.” and graduated from the University to live on through the annual Bodie of Alabama. After he married his childhood sweetheart, Hinton Award, voted on by the Auburn University Marching Band Marjorie, while still serving in the Army Air Corps, they lived in and presented to the senior who best demonstrates the “Spirit Tuscaloosa, where Hinton was director of the Tuscaloosa High and Excellence that is The Auburn University Marching Band.” School band.

FA L L 2016

Auburn Magazine

BACKCHAT Online Speak

SCENES OF SUMMER on the Auburn campus included (clockwise from upper left): an Auburn Knights reunion; the Camp War Eagle Parents Run; a visit by AU trustee Liz Huntley '93 to New Schmid Elementary School in Chicago; SAE racing; Welcome Week; and a War Eagle Moment from the trail in Kazakstan.

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