2016 Summer Buzz Magazine

PASSING THE TORCH

THREE FORMER YELLOW JACKET BASEBALL STARS HELPING SHEPHERD YOUNG TEAM

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Future

Pastner New coach Josh Pastner is driven to bring glory days back to Georgia Tech basketball

SUMMER 2016

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DAYS OF FUTURE PASTNER New coach Josh Pastner is driven to bring glory days back to Georgia Tech basketball

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PASSING THE TORCH

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BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE

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DETERMINATION REWARDED

Three former Yellow Jacket baseball stars are helping shepherd young team as members of Danny Hall’s coaching staff

Seniors Kurey, Woodard and Prohknevska helped prime Tech’s women’s tennis program for continued success

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Golf coach Bruce Heppler is seeing the fruits of a long-term effort blossom as the Yellow Jackets begin to use the re-developed Noonan Golf Facility this spring

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HIP TO BE A COACH

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MEGA-INFLUENCE

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Former Tech tennis All-American Kevin King has taken a detour in his pro career – back to campus

Calvin Johnson, a.k.a. Megatron, left a lasting mark on Georgia Tech with his talent, character

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DAYS OF FUTURE PASTNER NEW COACH JOSH PASTNER IS DRIVEN TO BRING GLORY DAYS BACK TO GEORGIA TECH BASKETBALL

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BY JON COOPER

Winning takes drive.

Josh Pastner should know. He’s done plenty of the former with an endless supply of the latter.

While only 38 -- he turns 39 in September -- Pastner was tapped to bring his cause-andeffect to the Flats on April 8, when he was named the 14th head coach in Georgia Tech men’s basketball history.

It’s an impressive ledger.

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He walked on at the University of Arizona, where he would win a National Championship as a freshman, and be on two Pac-10 champions and four NCAA Tournament teams. He followed that with eight years as an assistant at UA

Pastner’s first few hours on campus included not only his introductory press conference, but the opportunity to do a hoard of media interviews and meet with alumni and former players.

under Lute Olson, on teams that won three more conference titles and made eight NCAA appearances. In 2008 he joined John Calipari’s staff at the University of Memphis, where he was an assistant on a Conference USA champion and a Sweet 16 team.

The following year Pastner began his seven-year run as the Tigers’ head coach, recording a 167-73 record, a .696 winning percentage, second-highest among the 37 D-I coaches under 40 behind only Texas’ Shaka Smart.

Winning has been a way of life for Pastner, who has been on only three teams in his playing and coaching career that have not won at least 20 games -- none of those three won fewer than 18 -- has never endured a losing season and has had only two seasons with losing conference records. He was only the third of 17 head coaches in Memphis history (now 18, with the recent hiring of Tubby Smith), to never lose as many as three consecutive games -- something not even Calipari can boast.

No doubt, Pastner’s teams have popped plenty of corks, although that’s as far as his relationship goes with champagne, as he’s never touched a drop of it or any alcohol, or soda, for that matter.

But that’s okay. He can live on the adrenaline of winning.

It drives him to keep on winning and is a drive he expects from his new charges at Georgia Tech.

“You have to be driven. If you’re not driven, it’s going to be hard to play for me,” he said. “If you need to be motivated every day, if you don’t have internal drive to want to win so bad, where losing is just such a distaste, you want to win to avoid the sick feeling of losing. I want to do whatever is necessary, to work so hard and to give myself a chance to win so I can avoid that feeling.

“You’ve got to be driven to do the job academically here,” he added. “We have to get guys aligned to that. If you need to be motivated all day, every day to work and want to be great, then you and I are probably a bad alignment. That’s the same thing with the staff. If I have to motivate you to want to be great, it’s not going to work. Everyone around me has to be driven. It might not be at the same level, but they have to be somewhere in the vicinity.”

Pastner’s journey began in Kingwood, Texas, surrounded by hoopsters, like his

“YOU HAVE TO BE DRIVEN. IF YOU’RE NOT DRIVEN, IT’S GOING TO BE HARD TO PLAY FOR ME.”

—JOSH PASTNER

dad, a former ball boy for the Philadelphia 76ers (doubling as the official taste-tester for Wilt Chamberlain, whose beverage of choice during timeouts was 7-Up), who was then an AAU coach, and his younger sister, Courtney, the Gatorade Player of the Year for the State of Texas.

By 13, he was evaluating high school talent and publishing “The Josh Pastner Report,” which reached the desk of several major college coaches nationwide, including Olson.

“I played all the sports when I was young, but I loved basketball,” he recalled. “I remember when I was in the fifth grade, I told my dad, when I was watching CelticsLakers on the national network, I want to stay involved in the game. ‘If I can’t play, the next best thing to playing is coaching,’ At 13, we went to the 13-and-under AAU nationals, when everyone else was out probably wanting to go to the mall, I wanted to stay in the gym and evaluate prospects.

“I sent my scouting service out, and people wanted to order the service. Then, when they found out I was only 13,” he added, with a laugh. “But I just loved being around the game, I loved evaluating, I loved watching players in the gym. At the time there were multiple -- at the time they

weren’t called Power Five Schools -- but multiple Power Five School coaches who wanted to order the service, but I didn’t want to charge. There was no reason to get any money out of it. That wasn’t my objective.

They would call, and my dad would have to tell them that I was only 13.”

At 16, he was coaching the Houston Hoops, his dad’s AAU team, and by 19 was confident enough to apply for a job with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, getting and making an impression in an interview.

We’re talking basketball junkie here, with a drive to win bordering on obsession -enough drive to pass on his senior dance.

“On that Saturday night, I was in the gym to work out because I thought, ‘While everyone else was dancing I was in the gym,’” he recalled. “I’ve always been wired like that mentally. It’s not always the best way to be at times because you just go and go and go, but that’s just who I am.”

Never lacking confidence, at 19, he applied for the Clippers’ head coach job, even though the position was filled at the time by Bill Fitch, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, an NBA Champion with the 1981 Boston Celtics, and who in 1997 was named one of the NBA’s 10 greatest coaches of all-time. Pastner actually got an audience with Jeff Weltman, director of player personnel and vice president of basketball operations, and Elgin Baylor, general manager and NBA hall of famer, although he knew it was more a formality.

“They let me interview for it,” he recalled, smiling. “I talked to both of them. I tried to sell them that it would be a great selling tool, because they were down at the time. ‘We have to beat the Lakers,’ I told them. ‘We have to do something outside the box to get the people talking about the Clippers, not the Lakers anymore.’ That was my sell. Hire a 19-year-old, and let’s see how it goes out.”

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He didn’t get the Clippers’ job, although he had their attention (“They started calling me constantly to listen to my voicemail. They loved my voicemail message,” he said.).

Josh had already showed his fearlessness, drive and work ethic by going to Tucson and walking on to the national power, joining them just in time to be part of the Wildcats’ lone NCAA Championship in 1997. He played four years and earned Academic AllPAC-10 second-team honors as a senior.

While his stats didn’t impress (1.0 points per game, .3 rebounds, .3 assists, .318 field goal percentage, .333 three-point field goal percentage .727 free throw percentage) -- his presence was felt. The ‘Cats were 42-0 in games in which he played, and his academic work was and still is unprecedented.

In four years, the time most studentathletes hope to earn their undergraduate degree, Pastner not only had his bachelor’s degree in family studies but also his master’s in teaching and teacher education. He ticked off his academic hours from memory like players tick off stats -- 45 hours his first two semesters, 42 in each of the next two, 33 in semester five to complete his bachelor’s, 18 hours of master’s work in semester six, then his final 15 hours of master’s work and thesis in semester seven.

“That’s the fastest ever for a studentathlete at Arizona, that’s fast for a normal

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THE BUZZ

student,” he said, with a laugh. “I’ve always been a driven guy. I don’t need to be motivated.”

Pastner put his teaching skill to work, earning the unofficial title of “shot specialist,” after working to improve sharpshooters like Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry and Richard Jefferson. Officially he served as an assistant to Olson and, for one season, Kevin O’Neill, helping break down film and with scouting reports.

In 2008, he’d join Calipari’s staff in Memphis. Unbeknownst to Pastner, or anyone in Memphis, it would be Calipari’s final season before he left for Kentucky.

Many shied away from the opening.

Pastner stepped forward.

“You can’t turn the job (down),” he said.

“I didn’t want to be the guy that followed Calipari. I used to tell people, ‘Whoever follows this guy is a complete idiot.’ I happened to be the idiot to follow him. I never even thought about the job. When I got it, I got four scholarship guys left over, because everybody left to go to Kentucky. I was by myself. So, I was probably crazy to do it, but we did it. It wasn’t easy but I’m a real positive guy.”

That positive and tireless energy paid off. He led his first team to a 13-3 conference record. The next year, with the youngest team in school history and the

seventh-youngest in the country, he led the Tigers to a 10-6 mark and won the C-USA Tournament. Over the next two seasons they’d go 26-9 and 31-5, sweeping regular season and tournament titles, winning 28 straight conference games. In 2014, he became the third coach in program history to get to four straight NCAA Tournaments.

He did not get to postseason in either of the school’s two seasons in the American Athletic Conference, although winning 37 games and finishing over .500 each year, while rebuilding the roster. In 2015-16, the Tigers were one game away from the NCAA Tournament, falling to Connecticut in the AAC Tournament championship. Pastner left with the fourth-most wins by a Memphis coach and two C-USA Coach of the Year awards (2010, 2013), never winning fewer than 24 games.

He admits he sometimes is driven to a fault, at the expense of wife, Kerri, stepson, Ethan, and daughters, Payten, Kamryn, and Harper.

“I’m a guy that when I’m at home, a lot of times my wife’s like, ‘You’re here physically but you’re not here mentally,’ because in my mind I’m just trying to work,” he said.

“When I’m with my beautiful family -- and I’m blessed -- in my mind I’m thinking, ‘Man, I need to be back at the office’ or ‘I need to be making this call,’ or ‘Someone’s

beating me to this thing.’ I feel guilty at times. That’s something that I have to do a lot better at as I move forward in life.”

That’s not to say Pastner has been completely self-absorbed.

He has found lots of time for philanthropy, working in Memphis community for the Child Advocacy Center, Wings Cancer Foundation Bet Against Breast Cancer, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, amongst others.

He also has a special place in his heart for law enforcement, which he admits would have been his career path were it not for coaching.

“I was heavily involved in police officers that were lost in the line of duty, first responders that were lost in the line of

“THE ACC IS THE BEST BASKETBALL IN THE COUNTRY. THE ONLY THING THAT’S BETTER IS THE NBA. I THINK GEORGIA TECH IS A NATIONAL NAME. YOU CAN RECRUIT NATIONALLY, BUT WE WANT TO DO A GREAT JOB LOCALLY.”

—JOSH PASTNER

duty, military people who were lost in the line of duty,” said Pastner, who treasures his honorary sheriff’s badge given to him by officials in Shelby County, Tennessee.

“In Tucson I was on the board of the Naval Special Worker Foundation that benefited widows of Navy SEALS. I understand that I’m able to coach a game, win or lose, and go home and be with my family because of those people protecting us.”

To honor their sacrifice, Pastner will continue to be driven. He expects the same commitment from his those around him.

As in Memphis it won’t be easy bringing the kind of success to which he’s accustomed to Georgia Tech. But, also as in Memphis, that challenge, was simply too good to pass up.

“The ACC is THE best basketball in the country. The only thing that’s better is the NBA,” he said. “I think Georgia Tech is a national name. You can recruit nationally, but we want to do a great job locally.

“And having a chance to build something.

That really made me excited and enthused,” he said. “You’re trying to build to get to something sustainable. My last thing was, ‘If you’re not getting 30 wins every year…’ from the first time you stepped you on the floor.

This, everyone knows it’s going to be a build.

We have to take our time to keep moving the needle so we get to the point where the program is sort of a well-oiled machine, it’s the ultimate goal.”

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“I WANT TO BE VERY CLEAR. I AM GOING TO COACH TRYING TO WIN EVERY GAME WE PLAY.”

—JOSH PASTNER

Pastner, who brought in five straight nationally ranked recruiting classes, including the top-ranked class in 2010 and No. 2 class in 2013, simply seeks patience from the fans.

“It’s going to take time,” he said. “I have a clear distinction of what I want to achieve and how I want to get there. We need to build through multiple recruiting classes. Otherwise, you’re just hoping to get fifth-year transfers every year. You’re just surviving on that. That’s just a hard way to

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THE BUZZ

survive at this level, at the level that I want to achieve, that we all want to achieve.

“The reality of it is, we’re probably going to be picked last in the league,” he added.

“Guys from the ACC told me that, and that’s okay. That’s just where we’re at. I want to be very clear. I am going to coach trying to win every game we play.”

Win or lose, however, that love of basketball will always be there.

“I love the game of basketball. I’m very passionate about it, and I feel unbelievable

gratitude to be able to be the head coach,” he said. “There’s way more deserving people to be the head coach, whether it was at Memphis or at Georgia Tech. It’s worked out for me at both spots to have those opportunities. So I don’t take it for granted. Even though I’m moving at a fast pace, I don’t take for granted what I have in front of me here.

“I’ve always said when you try to do things the right way, usually a door or window will open when you least expect it,” he added.

“It might look a little gloomy here and there and then, boom, something pops your way.

That’s kind of happened for me. I’m very grateful for that.”

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Bb BASEBALL

PASSING THE TORCH T

NOW

MIKE NICKEAS AS A PLAYER

BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER

The secret to keeping the same coaching job at the same major college sports program for more than two decades is simple: Win, and win often.

Much more complicated is the secret to winning and winning often. Sure, recruiting prowess is a major factor, as is the ability to develop players’ skills and foster strong team chemistry.

Yet home visits, ball drills and teambuilding activities typically aren’t enough to ensure long-term staying power. Coaching longevity, according to Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall, is a product of evolution.

His personal evolution.

“I’ve changed some with the times,” says Hall, now in his third decade leading the Yellow Jackets’ baseball program. “I’m much more patient and more relational now than I was 15 years ago, and I also realize I need people around me who can bring something to the program that I can’t.”

For Hall this season, that translates to a staff of young coaches who understand the Yellow Jacket way. Three of Hall’s staffers, assistant coach Bryan Prince, volunteer coach Mike Nickeas and director of baseball

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THE BUZZ

THREE FORMER YELLOW JACKET BASEBALL STARS SHEPHERDING YOUNG TEAM AS MEMBERS OF DANNY HALL’S COACHING STAFF operations Nick Scherer, played for Hall at Georgia Tech.

All three have unique perspectives on the coach, the program, the school and bigtime college baseball. And given the Yellow Jackets’ young yet talented roster, the trio’s insights are proving invaluable.

“Communication is key with a group that is this talented and has this much grit,” Nickeas says. “They have that hunger, that drive to succeed right away, but they are facing the usual obstacles young teams face: a long

season full of streaks and slumps, veterans who are still growing as leaders, and then there’s Georgia Tech’s rigorous academics.

We act as sounding boards quite often.”

The staff has been vital to forging a “family atmosphere” within the program this season, says Connor Justus, a junior infielder. The influx of 14 newcomers, many of who competed for or won starting jobs, could have created significant friction within the clubhouse.

But the presence of Prince, Scherer and Nickeas and their willingness to share their

AS A PLAYER

AS A PLAYER

BRYAN PRINCE

NICK SCHERER

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NOW

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PERSONALITY MIX

experiences—Nickeas, for example, was one of 17 freshmen on the 2002 Yellow Jacket team that advanced to the College World Series—keeps the team grounded and focused.

“We are college students, so by definition, we are high maintenance,” Justus says.

“Whether one of us or the whole bunch of us are struggling or on our high horse, they are there for us.”

For all their collective knowledge, each of the Hall disciples has his own approach.

Prince is the classic players’ coach, “everybody’s best friend,” Hall says. Nickeas is more cerebral, but also notoriously upbeat. Scherer, known universally by his nickname, Flea, is part Army drill sergeant and, by the nature of his role as the clubhouse warden and logistical expert, part big brother.

“Every player is different and responds to his environment in a different way, so it’s a big advantage to have a staff of coaches with a range of personalities,” Scherer says.

The other common thread between Scherer, Prince and Nickeas is they all were catchers at Tech.

“Coach Hall is not an overbearing guy, and he’s pretty easy to adjust to, but this is not a one-size-fits-all world.”

Even the staff’s baseball knowledge is multifaceted. All were catchers, what Hall calls the “quarterbacks of the diamond,” so they understand the complexities of pitching and fielding.

Prince and Nickeas played professionally— Nickeas spent parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball even—and are savants when it comes to hitting mechanics, with Nickeas incorporating the video review popular in the big leagues into the Yellow Jackets’ routine.

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“WHEN THEY HEAR SOMETHING FROM ONE OF US, THEY KNOW IT’S COMING FROM A PLACE OF PROVEN SUCCESS, AND IT RESONATES AS SOMETHING THEY NEED TO IMPROVE ON.” —MIKE NICKEAS

Scherer, meanwhile, made his mark as a youth coach—he’s still one of the leaders of the East Cobb Yankees program—and his familiarity with many on the Georgia Tech roster stretches back to their early teens.

“There’s no question my big league experience and everything the three of

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THE BUZZ

us accomplished here as players gives us instant credibility with the younger players,” Nickeas says. “When they hear something from one of us, they know it’s coming from a place of proven success, and it resonates as something they need to improve on.”

The trio also helps the 61-year-old Hall bridge the generation gap, something that “helps me as much as the players,” Hall says. Even as he approaches legend status, with more than 1,100 career wins and three College World Series appearances, Hall knows relating to players in the information age requires constant effort.

“Baseball is such a negative game, you have to keep things on a positive edge,” Hall says. “You don’t want them worrying about your feelings or what you said because it will have an impact on them. To have guys on my staff who played for me and had success here … they help me tremendously.”

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ACADEMIC SUPPORT The trio’s influence goes well beyond the field. Hall places a high value on education, and Prince, Nickeas and Scherer still display the commitment to academics as staffers that they did as students and players at Georgia Tech.

And Georgia Tech’s challenging environment keeps them busy.

The academic rigor is an issue for many, even before they come to The Flats. Prince, whose duties include coordinating the Jackets’ recruiting, constantly battles the misconception that balancing baseball and school is next to impossible at Georgia Tech.

When recruits or parents bring up the subject, he need only point to himself for evidence that Georgia Tech classes are not insurmountable obstacles.

“If he could get through it, anybody can,” teases Hall.

Scherer is the cheerleader for those struggling once at Georgia Tech. He admits he posted a 0.85 grade point average his first semester.

“It wasn’t that it was hard, it was that I wasn’t taking care of my business,” Scherer says. “When the coaches and the staff have been in that situation and can talk to players about communicating with teachers and improving their study habits, that can lead to a quick turnaround.”

With success ingrained in Georgia Tech’s baseball program under Hall, why would anyone expect anything less?

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WT WOMEN’S TENNIS

BRIDGE TO THE

BY JON COOPER

I

It’s not “coach speak” when coaches say keeping a program at the top is harder than getting there.

They’re similarly not just throwing out a line when they say having quality people is the key to sustained success -- the kind of people that lead with their talent and by example, especially in overcoming adversity.

Megan Kurey, Kendal Woodard and Natasha Prokhnevska have been such quality people, and they are big reasons why Georgia Tech women’s tennis saw sustained success in the first four years of the Rodney Harmon

SENIORS KUREY, WOODARD AND PROHKNEVSKA HELPED PRIME TECH’S WOMEN’S TENNIS PROGRAM FOR CONTINUED SUCCESS

Era, and why it shows signs it’ll continue to ascend even once they’re gone.

“They have really paved the way for the Georgia Tech women’s tennis team both on the court and off the court,” said sophomore Johnnise Renaud, Tech’s No. 1 singles player the last two seasons. “They’re people that I could go to with anything. They’re people that I will keep close to me even after my college career.”

The Yellow Jackets finished 21st, 18th, and 18th nationally in Harmon’s first three seasons and were 15th entering the 2016 NCAA Tournament. But the coaching transition to Harmon from former coach Bryan Shelton might not necessarily have been as seamless and the fate of the program easily could have gone sideways in the spring of 2013, Harmon’s first season.

Freshmen Kurey, Woodard and Prokhnevska, comprising 50 percent of the roster, wouldn’t let it happen.

“They were the backbone of our team, and they stabilized the program, not only just from

MEGAN KUREY

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THE BUZZ

FUTURE KENDAL WOODARD

NATASHA PROKHNEVSKA

match play but also from how they practiced and how hard they worked,” Harmon said.

“We were able to finish in the top 20 in the country due in large part to their efforts. They each clinched big matches, played really well.

That’s what they’ve done all four years they’ve been here.”

In 2013, the team had only six players and only one senior, Elizabeth Kilborn. While a superb player and as great a leader, she could not do it alone. The freshmen made sure she didn’t have to.

Woodard, playing No. 2 singles, went 2412 overall and 16-5 in dual matches, winning her final 10 matches of the year. She went 7-2 in ACC play with five wins against nationally ranked competition (tying Kilborn). Kurey

solidified the fourth spot, winning 20 matches, and went 6-3 down the stretch.

In doubles, childhood friends Kurey and Woodard proved a dynamite combination -24-6, 20-3 in dual matches, 9-1 in ACC play.

They somehow were not selected to compete in NCAAs, a slight they’d make up for the following year.

Prokhnevska played at No. 3, going 1814 (11-8 in duals), winning her final four matches of the season. Win No. 18 turned out to be that season’s -- and maybe the program’s -- key moment.

Georgia Tech, with a 14-9 record, earned a trip to Gainesville, Fla., for NCAA Regionals, where they’d play Ivy League Champion Yale (17-3). The shorthanded Jackets had only five healthy players and had to forfeit the doubles point and one singles match.

Down 2-0 and having to win four of the remaining five singles matches, they tied the match, but then saw Kilborn fall. Down, 3-2, with no margin for error, both Woodard and Prokhnevska needed to win. Woodard held up her end, winning 6-3, 7-5. Proknevska had clinched two matches during the season, but the freshman was facing junior Annie Sullivan, who was 19-0 in singles matches that season.

Harmon calls what happened next “probably one of the best matches she’s played.”

Prokhnevska spotted Sullivan the first set, then fought back to take the final two, 6-0, 6-3, to clinch the match and allow Tech to advance. They’d fall 4-0 to Florida, but a mindset for the team had been forged: Find a way and, if not, go down fighting.

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KUREY - DO AS I SAY AND AS I DID

No one personified that will or faced more adversity than Kurey.

She and Woodard built on their sensational freshman season as sophomores, going 2711, including going 14-3 during the indoor season. They won their last 10 matches, with their last four coming at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Flushing, N.Y. They toppled USC’s Giuliana Olmos and Zoe Scandalis, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0, in the semis, then defeated Louisville’s Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to take the title.

“They really should have qualified for the NCAAs their first year,” Harmon said. “But they had such a phenomenal year in both singles and doubles. They won regionals and in New York, overcoming whatever obstacles WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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came up. There were a lot of good teams from around the country, and they were able to find a way to win against all of them.”

But following that sophomore season, the duo -- Kurey, an Alpharetta native, and Woodard, from Stockbridge -- which had been playing together since middle school and hit No. 1 in the nation on Feb. 11, 2014, found their careers on separate trajectories.

Injuries hampered Kurey’s final two seasons, all but keeping her off the court as a player. But it couldn’t keep her off the court. She remained an inspirational figure, hiding her personal frustration while encouraging her teammates.

“We were lucky to have such great senior captains when we were underclassmen, so having them as a role model prepared me for last year and this year,” said Kurey. “We have had a rough couple of years, a lot of obstacles, but just getting through those obstacles has really brought us together as a team. Just how much we’ve been through and how much we’ve accomplished as a team is really a testament to how we were able to get through everything. I couldn’t have asked for better people to help me through it. So I’ve been very lucky.”

Nothing makes Woodard’s magnetic smile disappear faster than reflecting on the not-

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THE BUZZ

so-lucky part of Kurey’s career but nothing brings it back faster than recalling how her resolve and positive energy.

“Injuries [stink] so you really just try to be positive,’” Woodard said. “It’s been a little rough for Megan, but we’re here and she’s always out there pushing us no matter what, even if she’s hurt. She’s like, ‘Alright, guys we can still do this.’ She’s always pushing us to do better.”

She was able to lend a helping hand to Harmon.

“She’s a consistent person. Her family has done a phenomenal job in instilling in her the importance of when you take on responsibility to carry it out to the final point,” he said. “As an athlete it’s not always going to go perfectly. Your body is sometimes going to give out on you. You have to bounce back. But you don’t pout. You try to help the other players, support them.

“I trust her enough to where I can say, ‘Megan, Can you coach this person? This is what I need you to tell them,’” he added. “Or I’ll come over to her and say, ‘Hey, what do you see?’ I trust what she sees, because she has such a great tennis mind, and she sees things so well.”

Where Kurey, a 2014 ITA All-American in doubles and All-ACC second-teamer in 2014, will make things happen next is still to be determined, but she is, predictably, upbeat.

“I’m still sorting some things out right now but I’m going to pursue my master’s, hopefully get a graduate assistant spot at a school that I’m kind of setting up for,” said Kurey. “I want to stay within sports because it’s been such a big part of my life. Right now I’m just planning on getting my MBA.”

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KENDAL WOODARD: DOUBLES DUTCHESS Woodard continued her run of dominance in doubles, pairing with fiery New Zealander Paige Hourigan. In their first season together, they went 16-4, 16-2 in dual matches, 8-1 within the ACC and 6-2 vs. nationally ranked opponents. The duo reached as high as No. 13 and qualified for NCAAs, winning a round before getting knocked out in the round of 32 by the nation’s No. 5 team.

They picked up where they left off in 201516, cracking the top 10 in the final regular season poll. It’s a different world pairing with Hourigan, but the ride is proving just as fun.

“They’re two different people. Paige is a little more feisty than Megan,” Woodard, a 2014 ITA All-American, and All-ACC firstteamer, said with a laugh. “With Megan it was fun because we came in together, we won National Indoors together. With Paige, it’s just great. I’m happy to be able to make it this far with Megan and Paige here to help me. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Harmon feels that Woodard, is being a tad modest.

“Kendal was one of the best doubles players in the country when she came into college,” he said. “She has just done a great job working with Megan first, then working with Paige developing chemistry, because over time it takes chemistry to really develop into a really good team.”

Hourigan gives the credit to her partner.

“Pretty much my job is to set her up and do my thing at the back,” she said. “She’s just phenomenal. Her big serve, her big smash, her volleys, her hands are just great.

Whoever she plays with, they’re going to do well. I’m just blessed to be able to play with her and be doing so well.”

“It’s a testament to Kendal, how good a doubles player she is,” agreed Kurey. “No matter who she plays with, she always does really well, and they’re really successful.”

As for the future, Woodard isn’t looking past NCAAs, hoping for one final big run with Hourigan in Tulsa.

“I haven’t decided if I want to try to play [professionally] or not,” she said. “If not, I love sports and everything about it, so I’d definitely want and try to do something in sports marketing after school.”

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Good times: The Yellow Jackets finished 21st, 18th, and 18th nationally in their first three seasons and were 15th entering this year’s NCAA Tournament.

NATASHA PROKHNEVSKA DRIVEN TO PERFECTION

Prokhnevska will forego tennis, putting her talents into science.

A 2015 All-ACC academic team, and academic honor roll and ITA Scholar-Athlete in 2013 and 2014, she knows exactly the road she wants to travel and won’t accept anything less.

While the Wilmington, Del., native is best remembered statistically for winning ACC Player of the Week for Feb. 18, 2014, those around her remember her best for her competitive fire, the kind she showed in that regional against Yale -- the kind that inspired her teammates.

“She’s hates to lose,” said Woodard. “That makes me want to win, too, just as bad.”

“She hates to lose more than anything in the world. She’s also extremely precise. So you put those two together and sometimes it’s good and it’s bad,” Harmon said with a laugh. “Everyone make some errors. It’s really who bounces back from the errors and who makes adjustments. Sometimes she doesn’t do as good a job of accepting that she’s going to make mistakes. But her desire to work hard on the court in practice and to give everything she’s got in matches is unparalleled.”

Prokhnevska is taking that desire to be perfect, that precision, that unstoppable drive, and following the family line. Her dad owns a Ph.D. in biochemistry and works for a biotechnology company, while her mom has a Ph.D. in biophysics and does DNA sequencing at the University of Delaware.

Natasha plans to stay in Atlanta, pursuing her master’s in immunology and molecular pathogenesis at Emory University.

“It’s what I really love to do, I’ve done a lot of projects based on immunology research and I think it’s such an incredible field,” she said. “I would love to eventually work on something clinical, either vaccines or cancer immunotherapy, something that can really help people.

“It’s just going to be a great opportunity to stick around in Atlanta, but be at Emory doing something that I really love,” she added. “Not every scientist is lucky enough to produce something that is clinically relevant, but that would definitely be a dream, to be on a project that has clinical results or clinical value to it.”

Harmon has no doubt she can make that dream reality.

“She loves it so passionately that she wants to explain it to YOU. She tried to explain it to me, and it goes so far over my head,” he said with a laugh. “She’s so passionate about it that you’re engaged and you want to talk to her about it. I just can’t answer anything back.

She’s got lofty goals, but she’s got such razor focus and such a tremendous work ethic that I feel confident that she’s going to do really big things in the future.”

Thanks to Kurey, Woodard and Prokhnevska, so will Georgia Tech Tennis.

“The most special thing is they’ve continued to work hard and bring the younger players along,” Harmon said. “I think that’s the legacy they’re going to have more than anything else, that they stabilized the program. They were able to keep us on a steady course, so I think that’s really the legacy that they’ve been able to bring to Georgia Tech.”

The legacy will live on, though they will be missed.

“I get a little teary-eyed just talking about it -- it’s going to be hard seeing them go,” said Renaud. “But I know that they’ll still be around and be there for us for next season and all the seasons to come.”

“They’ve been like our older sisters,” agreed Hourigan. “They’ve taught us everything that we needed to know. They’ve just been great, for me, especially, coming in, since I was from another country. They were always there for me.

Playing on Senior Day with them, it was pretty exciting but sad at the same time.”

Harmon also got a little emotional thinking about seeing this senior class go.

“Those four years go so quickly,” he said. “But they have done such a great job for me, helping me to build a program and hold it steady when we were stuck with only six players for two years. They leave the program in a much better state than when they started. That’s really great.”

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mg MEN’S GOLF

Assistant coach Jeff Pierce and junior Vince Whaley get some practice in on a recent afternoon. The Yellow Jackets were able to begin using the Noonan Facility in April.

DETERMINATION REWARDED F

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

For all of his virtues and value as an integrator, Bruce Heppler is not especially patient, so it’s remarkable that he smiles so broadly. His latest dream – the Noonan Golf Facility, a state-of-the-art golf practice range near Georgia Tech’s campus – is coming online, which prompts starry-eyed grins.

Yet it’s nearly killed the coach.

The intricately re-designed 13-acre spread between 14th and 16th streets has been delayed and delayed again to where those who know Heppler might think it a miracle that he’s still standing to see it across the finish line.

18

THE BUZZ

Or, they might consider this a case study of a visionary who has camped out as a squatter might, to get what he wants no matter the hurdles thrown up.

Some green parts of the facility, named for lead donors Kim P. (IM, 1983) and Thomas E. Noonan (ME, 1983) won’t be usable until football season and Tech must wait until mid-fall for two small buildings if the latest schedule holds, but the Jackets began hitting balls there in mid-April.

That was enough for Heppler, who’s helmed Tech to 11 ACC titles in 21 years as head coach, to invoke golf’s mecca: Augusta National.

GOLF COACH BRUCE HEPPLER IS SEEING THE FRUITS OF A LONG-TERM EFFORT BLOSSOM AS THE YELLOW JACKETS BEGIN TO USE THE RE-DEVELOPED NOONAN GOLF FACILITY THIS SPRING

As good tools for practice and recruiting, the $13 million project will be an oasis in the midst of desert, the sands in this case being the very big city of Atlanta. That, he believes, is perfectly in line with the Georgia Institute of Technology.

“The campus as it was in 1995 [when Heppler was hired] no longer exists,” the coach opined. “The good news is all the [recruits] we see who’ve been to all these pretty little college towns and their beautiful campuses, by the time [they] visit, they think they’re going to Harlem or Watts.

“You look at the new buildings, see what’s here and because the expectations have been set so low, campus blows most people away. It’s a little bit like driving down Washington Road in Augusta. No big deal, right? But you make a right turn and head down Magnolia Lane, and it’s life-altering because of the contrast.”

The difference between what was (nothing when Heppler was hired) and what will be -- a putting green, a double-green chipping area, four par-3 greens, a team clubhouse and a hitting barn for studentathletes to open garage doors during the winter to drive – is like a shank to a straight bomb off the tee.

Stewart Cink played for Tech before Heppler was hired, yet he’s joined Matt Kuchar as the primary donors to the project among former Jackets. Cink said he’d like to use the place occasionally even though he typically practices near his home at Sugarloaf in Duluth.

“It won’t be just curiosity. It’s a good practice facility, but it’s also quite private,” Cink said. “Really, my son is a freshman at Georgia Tech, and it will be great to see him, have lunch, catch up with his life and practice.”

It’s taken a few mulligans to get here.

When Heppler arrived at Tech, the Jackets did not have practice contracts with East Lake and the Golf Club of Georgia as they do now (Heppler, assistants and donors raise funds for memberships at both clubs).

They had some access to Druid Hills, practiced occasionally outside the perimeter at the Atlanta Golf Center with instructor George Kellenhoffer, and at a few other locations.

“Back then, we had almost 14 guys on the team,” he said. “We’d call around, get a tee time for qualifying, that’s five tee times ... take your army of ants out there and descend on the golf course. What if that day there’s four inches of rain?

“You know what you do? You play because you don’t get to go out there tomorrow. Those guys that were here the first couple years will tell you that we played in some horrendous conditions.”

Soon, Heppler noticed land near campus.

“I was driving around, trying to figure out how to solve a problem,” he said. “I saw the softball field and 11 or 12 acres that was the dump and asked, ‘Who owns this?’ The answer was the [Georgia Tech] Foundation.

“Charlie Brown was a [golf] booster, and involved with [former athletic director] Homer [Rice] in establishing the golf program. He was on the real estate committee of the thing, and he said, ‘What are you thinking?’ I said I’d like to clean it up and hit some balls there.”

Before long, the golf program rented land near the old softball field.

Tech also eventually joined East Lake and the Golf Club of Georgia. Those are fantastic courses, but they’re not available every day, they’re off campus, and they don’t have facilities that favor working on short games.

The old, simple practice facility nearly went away when the 13 acres and more property around it went under contract and “Then, 2008 happened,” he said.

After the land deal fell through and the property returned to the Foundation, “that’s when I really tried to convince enough people that we needed to do something here.”

Finally, as the Jackets continued to win and win while posting perfect APR scores of 1000 annually, Tech president Dr. G.P. “Bud” Peterson and the GTAA made an earnest commitment to its most successful program. The GTAA bought the 13 acres from the Foundation.

Heppler prefers thinking about that rather than delays that have come up since.

“At the end of the day, when you’ve waited 18 years, 19 years or whatever, I want to focus more on the days like when Dr. Peterson felt like this is something the school needed to do, needed to support golf,” Heppler said. “He supports it, which allows athletics to support it.”

After the GTAA bought the property from the Foundation, the Jackets needed a design.

Heppler worked with Tom Marzoff of Fazio Golf Design, and players added ideas.

Kuchar and Cink have been the primary financial contributors among former Tech players, and both have design ideas that are being implemented. Roberto Castro has chimed in, too.

Kuchar, who has won about $44 million as a touring pro since graduating in 2000, visited last September while in Atlanta to play in the PGA Tour Championship at East Lake.

“I was quite impressed. It looked awesome. It’s a place I certainly look forward to having access to, challenge the guys to a few competitions,” he said. “I suggested a serpentine-style green [with multiple targets] ... I dragged my foot in the dirt, and sketched on a pad as well.”

Cink, who has won about $34 million since graduating in 1995, did not have a practice facility during his time at Tech, and he didn’t play for Heppler.

He pitched in money and an idea, though, because he believes in the missions – plural – of Tech and its golf program. He feels that a “false green,” or one that slopes back toward the fairway while appearing level and safe for approach, ought to be part of the picture.

“I graduated from Georgia Tech, and I’m proud of the institution and the golf program, and that’s what I’m inherently investing in,” he said. “I’ve seen what it can do for the skills of players.

“I think what good players -- like Tech players -- think about that scares them and me is what you need to practice the most.

I always thought that tight, really closely mowed grass is more threatening to golfers, areas where the ball will roll away from your target, like the ninth [green] at Augusta.”

Kuchar, Cink and other Jackets have WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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Kim and Tom Noonan, third and fourth from the left, were joined back in the fall by President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, director of athletics Mike Bobinski and head coach Bruce Heppler for the official ground breaking.

helped in multiple ways. With $600,000 or so contributed by former Tech players, fundraising jumped, and the GTAA’s debts of about $9 million for property acquisition and $4 million in renovation expenses were reduced.

“Matt made as much of a warm and fuzzy about the place as anyone because after he graduated, he used it all the time until he moved to Sea Island,” Heppler said. “Stewart lives at Sugarloaf and obviously doesn’t need to use it. He still understood the value of the deal.

“Their money mattered, and it changed the opinions of a lot of donors. A lot of them asked, ‘What about the guys who benefitted from it the last 18 years?’ To be able to say this is what former players have done ... that made them feel good about what we’ve done before [and donate again].”

There would be more expense, however, and plenty of delays.

When state officials deemed the facility property a wetlands, even though there are no natural water supplies on the property, that meant that Heppler could do nothing with a water retention pond nearly in the middle of new plans.

Eventually, Tech had no choice but to keep the pond but negotiated to move it.

That took time, yet worked out with financial help from others.

“We moved [the pond] a little bit. It’s smaller and deeper but it retains just as much water,” Heppler said. “We moved it up the range so it’s in a real narrow part. We tried to move it a little and make it smaller to have more usable area.”

The delays caused by that and the building permit problems that came with it pushed back grounds-keeping plans, and eventually fetched another issue.

20

THE BUZZ

Re-configuring the retention pond was not simple.

“In the middle of building a wall around it, engineers decided there wasn’t any compactable soil so there had to be a huge dredging and excavation and then stone, rock and gravel brought in to provide a base for the wall,” Heppler explained. “That turned into a 10-week delay with the wall, and a cost run-up.”

All the construction delays, which were exacerbated by the modest size of the property and the fact that there isn’t much room to move equipment and inventory around while working on one area vs. another, delayed installation of the most prominent asset.

The growing of grass is a tricky deal in the best of circumstances.

Intermittent heavy rain in the fall further delayed the process. The goal was to sprig seed over most of the property, but it got so late in the season that it became clear that waiting for the right time to do that could become problematic.

There was an over-riding goal to get grass in before winter hit full force so that the Jackets could use the facility by late spring – at least six months later than originally expected.

“When we decided to try to finish this winter, we found out how much it would be to change all those sprigs to sod and we had people step forward to the tune of about $110,000 to get the thing sodded before the rains came,” Heppler said.

“The good news was we got all that sod down before the 20 inches of rain came in December, and had we not done that the place would’ve just washed away and we would have had to re-do all the grading.”

Heppler did not study for this as an undergraduate at Brigham Young, where his major was accounting. And he sure didn’t pursue it while earning a master’s in sports management at Massachusetts.

His school of hard knocks, though, has taught him to persevere.

Much of the sod is rooted, and the still-sandand-dirt greens will be sprigged next month when the soil will be warm enough at night to nurture the Bermuda. By mid-to-late summer, the greens should be good to go, and by next fall the Jackets will be all the way back on track.

Construction on two modest buildings, including a clubhouse and hitting barn with video and digital teaching equipment, should begin in early summer and wrap up by mid-fall.

Tech assistant coach Jeff Pierce, who continues to travel to work with the professional clients he gained at Butch Harmon’s Floridian, will teach out of the new facility while maintaining his job alongside Heppler.

That figures to be attractive to recruits. So do the practice facility and Tech alumni.

“Anybody who’s in the Atlanta area who is still playing professional golf or competing as amateurs, it’s great to hear ideas,” Kuchar said. “It was always great for me to see guys like Stewart Cink or David Duval around.”

Had Tech successfully sprigged everything last fall and torrential rains not come, they might be using the practice facility in full now. But if they sprigged when they planned, December’s heavy rains likely would’ve washed everything away.

“At least we can get some benefit out of it before the season is over,” he said. “It opens some eyes [among recruits]. I think the scope of it from both ways has shown the passion of the staff and from the athletic department.

“Whatever I believed about how important it was ... a year without it that’s gone up 150 percent. There would be no way for us to survive long-term without it, and it will be nice to have [former players] around.

The come in and work out with the guys. It changes the dynamic.”

The journey to complete the project continues, but Heppler is happy because the end is in sight.

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MT

King is taking several months off after having double hip surgery, but Tech stars like Chris Eubanks are benefitting from his presence on the court.

MEN’S TENNIS

HIP TO BEC

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

A COACH

FORMER TECH TENNIS ALL-AMERICAN KEVIN KING HAS TAKEN A DETOUR IN HIS PRO CAREER – BACK TO CAMPUS 22

THE BUZZ

Contrary to recent sightings of Kevin King which may have left the impression that he’s a crippled farmer, one of the top tennis players in Georgia Tech history is still cultivating his game. You might also say he’s grooming crops of a sort.

As the men’s volunteer assistant coach, he’s working on the current Yellow Jackets while on the mend, with the goal of returning to the pro tour.

His crutches were not permanent, and neither was that contraption strapped around his waist and running down his left leg. Two hip surgeries in a span of months will leave a guy with a different look for a while. And speaking of fashion, the oversized straw hat he wears at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex is simply an apparatus to shield sun while he works for his former coach, Kenny Thorne.

Injuries, motive and opportunity merged to bring King back after December surgery on his right hip to Tech, where he played from 2008-12 and graduated with high honors.

The big lid is the source of an occasional joke. Coaching is serious business.

“The timing worked out well in terms of it being the end of the [pro] season when I had the [first] surgery done,” he explains. “I knew I was going to be out five or six months at least, and that would cover the whole spring season here. I knew I wanted to stay around tennis; the more I’m around it the better.

“I just came out and talked to Kenny and said I’ll probably be around, and if there’s anything I can do to help, I’m here. I didn’t know what that would lead to. He talked about the volunteer assistant position, and that’s worked out.”

Thorne, assistant Derek Schwandt and the Jackets have an uncommon resource in King. He fairly recently was in the same shoes as Tech’s current student-athletes.

Add a few years of experiences as a touring professional, and King has a certain street credibility with the current Jackets.

He’s also able to occasionally read players with a unique angle.

“It’s been great,” Thorne says. “He’s been through it. I think the guys look at him and see that. It’s hard here. I know that, but Kevin’s a guy who’s been through and come out strong on the other side.

“Sometimes, he can kind of see something that maybe Derek and I might not. He might say, ‘You know, the guys are really tired,’ and we might dial it back. Or, he might say, ‘Nah, they’re fine. Work ‘em.’ “ If rehabilitation works out, King hopes to resume his pro playing career this fall.

Having traveled extensively for the better part of four professional seasons, including berths the doubles draws of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2014, that part of his resume carries weight with current players. So does his career on The Flats, where he finished among the top five in program history for wins in doubles (87-39) and singles (80-41).

When you have a three-time All-ACC player around, it’s easy to listen. Add the fact that King made ACC Academic Honor roll all four years, and he has even more cache. Graduating with a 3.8 in mechanical engineering makes the Peachtree City native something like E.F. Hutton.

“When he says, ‘You can do this, and you can get through it,’ you believe him because he just did it,” says sophomore Michael Kay. “He went through the same work load and tennis load that we’re going through right now.

“I don’t know how you could not believe in the things he’s telling you. He’s probably the best volunteer coach we could possibly

“WHEN HE SAYS, ‘YOU CAN DO THIS, AND YOU CAN GET THROUGH IT,’ YOU BELIEVE HIM BECAUSE HE JUST DID IT. HE WENT THROUGH THE SAME WORK LOAD AND TENNIS LOAD THAT WE’RE GOING THROUGH RIGHT NOW.”

—SOPHOMORE MICHAEL KAY

King and Juan Spir (right) teamed up to become Tech’s most successful doubles team in program history.

have. There couldn’t be a better fit.”

With four-plus months of coaching under his belt, King says he could see himself being a coach for real in the future. First, though, he wants to play professionally again. He didn’t plan to be back at Tech. His hips decided for him.

The normal aches and pains that go with the all the matches played in the ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures Tour, where King has three career singles titles and nine doubles titles (including six with former Tech teammate Juan Spir and two with former teammate Dean O’Brien), caught up with him last fall.

He had to put on hold a career that includes a 65-51 pro singles record and a 103-53 mark in doubles.

“I was having some issues since the start of last year, whether it was lower back, or hip flexor or groin,” he explains. “It got to

August or September where I started to get more of a sharp pain in the high groin area when I was bursting or changing directions.

“I went down to Mexico for a tournament in September and the physio there said the symptoms made it worth having [hips] looked at, getting an MRI because a lot of tennis players were dealing with the surgery now.”

After one more tournament, King visited a specialist. Separate exams revealed impingements in both hips.

“The thigh bone [femur] ... where it fits in the [hip] socket, it’s almost supposed to look like a neck. [But] there was extra buildup like it was straight, so that any time I moved in an extended way, there wasn’t enough room, and it would pinch the labrum, which eventually caused a tear,” he says.

“In the surgery, they had to go in and fix the labrum and shave down the bone.”

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King has three pro singles titles and nine doubles titles to his credit.

April surgery on the left hip put him in crutches a second time, but King’s goals haven’t changed. He wants to play again.

“Hopefully, in the beginning of July I will be getting back on the court and start training,” he says. “I can do some light hitting where I’m not moving or sitting in a chair, but no intense training. Right now, we’re just going through a lot of range-ofmotion stuff and isometrics to keep the muscles firing.

“Over the next couple weeks, we’ll start adding strengthening exercises and getting more flexibility. I’m shooting for around October [to return to the pro tour]. There’s a pretty good amount of tournaments at that time.”

In the meantime, King coaches.

He hoped to be off crutches by early May, at about the time the Jackets will likely be wrapping up their season in the NCAA Tournament.

His connections to college tennis, where he twice earned All-America honors, and to Tech are making the down time in his pro career less onerous.

“I think it definitely helps having gone through the same challenges that the school presents with tennis, all the time

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THE BUZZ

“YOU REALLY HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE TEACHING, ESPECIALLY TO TEACH IT TO A FULL GROUP WHERE EVERYONE LEARNS A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY. LEARNING HOW TO TEACH THAT HAS HELPED ME UNDERSTAND THE GAME A LITTLE BETTER.”

—KEVIN KING

management issues. I can relate to that,” King says. “It’s been great learning how to teach something.

“You really have to understand what you’re teaching, especially to teach it to a full group where everyone learns a little differently.

Learning how to teach that has helped me understand the game a little better.”

For a while, senior Casey Kay counseled King as he, too, went through hip impingement surgeries a couple years ago.

Now, King wears the big hat.

“I think it’s really cool having him volunteer coach with us,” Kay says. “He was recently here at Tech so he knows how tough it is with school. He knows the coaches well and he’s been playing on the Tour so he knows the next level of tennis.

He’s brought a lot of helpful things mentally and tactically.”

In his return to school, King has opened windows into the game, Tech’s current players and a possible coaching career – after his playing days are over.

“It’s definitely a possibility,” he says.

“I’ve thought about it. This has been a great experience for me to see what college coaching is like. I’ve enjoyed working with the guys and helping the team out.”

fb FOOTBALL

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THE BUZZ

Calvin Johnson is No. 2 on Tech’s all-time list for receptions with 178, but No. 1 in receiving yardage and touchdowns.

MEGA-

A

As Chan Gailey and seven of his Georgia Tech assistant coaches sat down for a celebratory steak dinner, Gailey suspected they’d just transformed his team into an Atlantic Coast Conference power.

Calvin Johnson was that kind of recruit.

Forget star rankings and position grades.

Johnson had a once-in-a-generation feel to him, even to Gailey, an NFL coaching veteran who had worked with legends such as John Elway, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith.

What Gailey couldn’t foresee that day in 2003 when Johnson verbally committed to Georgia Tech—hence the post-recruiting visit steak dinner for the staff—was that the gifted wide receiver would do more than make his team an ACC contender, earn All-American honors and rank as arguably the greatest player in Georgia Tech football history. By resetting the standard for character, work ethic and excellence, Johnson left a mark on the program that endures today and will for years to come.

The legend of Calvin Johnson, at least at Georgia Tech, was born early. His first official day on campus, the summer before his freshman season, he broke the football program’s vertical leap record, jumping 42 inches.

By the time he took the field for his first official practice, he’d won the respect of a veteran group of defensive backs, many of whom would go on to play in the NFL, by abusing them in summer 7-on-7 scrimmages.

INFLUENCE CALVIN JOHNSON, A.K.A. MEGATRON, LEFT A LASTING MARK ON GEORGIA TECH WITH HIS TALENT, CHARACTER

BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER

“James Butler, a guy who would play for a decade in the NFL, told me the June before Calvin’s freshman year that Calvin would start from Day 1,” says Wes Durham, Georgia Tech’s play-by-play broadcaster throughout the Johnson years. “Actually, he said, ‘I don’t know that we can handle him now, and he’s not even a college player yet.’

Hearing that reset my expectation level.”

Respect for Johnson grew at 40-yard-dash

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speed from there. When Gailey chastised Johnson for his work ethic during his first week of camp—even though he was matching the efforts of his teammates—the freshman raised his play, and his teammates took notice. When he took over a game against Clemson, catching three touchdown passes, including the game-winner in a primetime matchup in Death Valley, the college football world started to pay attention.

But only a lucky few saw the beginnings of the true impact Johnson would have on The Flats.

C

CHARACTER COUNTS Ask Derrick Moore for his favorite Calvin Johnson anecdote, and he won’t regale you with memories of one-handed catches, super-human conditioning feats or pancake blocks of safeties and linebackers.

The chaplain and Johnson mentor will tell you instead about the time Johnson, not yet a freshman, accepted an invitation to a team function at Moore’s house.

“He was the first to arrive—almost two hours in advance,” Moore says. “He came to assist me with the set up. After the party, he remained an hour to clean up. I didn’t ask him to do either.

“That display of maturity from somebody who there was so much hype about, that told me he was truly special.”

Johnson’s specialness is hereditary.

Only in his family can a future pro football Hall of Famer be considered a slacker. His mother is an educator with two doctorates.

His father enjoyed a long career with the railroad, continuing to do the work he loved even after Johnson’s first NFL contract made it financially feasible for him to retire.

Johnson’s siblings all either have medical degrees or are working toward one.

“In his family, he’s bringing up the rear,” Moore jokes.

The Johnson family pushed Calvin to the front. He and his sister Erica were playmates and rivals from the time Calvin could walk.

Each of them would pair up with one of the neighbor kids for daily games of kickball, baseball, football or basketball.

Erica would often get the best of her brother—she was four years older—but the games were almost always competitive as he and his teammate, Patechia Hartman, were motivated to challenge their sisters.

Johnson’s drive to improve served him well once he started playing football.

He took up the game late, as a middle schooler, and suffered early struggles. His pass-catching ability was so suspect he

When Johnson caught three touchdowns, including the game-winner, in a primetime contest at Death Valley, he captured the attention of the college football world.

was dubbed “Butterfingers” by teammates during his freshman season at Sandy Creek High School.

The criticism pushed Johnson, just as his sister’s ribbing after the backyard games had done. He worked on his hands until they blistered. Then he grew five inches between his freshman and sophomore years of high school.

With his family’s support, he quickly developed into the burgeoning star Gailey recruited a few years later.

“All his success is a product of his parents and his upbringing,” says Johnson’s Georgia Tech teammate and roommate, Taylor Bennett.

“He’s a prodigy in a family of prodigies.”

M

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THE BUZZ

MORE TO THE MAN Johnson is remembered by fans, both of Georgia Tech and the NFL, as one of sports’ more reserved megastars.

Those closest to him in college, though, know the off-the-field side of Johnson. A part as fascinating as the one he showed on the football turf.

Eric Ciano, the former Georgia Tech strength and conditioning coach now with the Buffalo Bills, recollects Johnson volunteering to read books to first-graders in Atlanta area schools. Durham remembers the dry latrine Johnson co-designed for use in South American villages without access to

running water as part of a summer research job. He chose to build the better toilet over working on energy-friendly luxury condos.

And Bennett recalls Johnson’s fun-loving side—the Johnson who would talk nonstop trash during video game showdowns in the dorm and plan elaborate practical jokes to play on his friends.

“Here’s a guy who would never do anything unsportsmanlike on the field, but is the biggest smack-talking nerd when he’s playing FIFA soccer on the Xbox,” Bennett says. “And then there’s the jokester. Think whipped cream on your hand when you’re napping, only more elaborate.”

All his Georgia Tech friends are interested to see what’s next for Johnson. He confessed to one that he decided to retire from football because it was “time to get life started.” He’s the father of a two-year-old boy and is set to wed his fiancée in June. He plans to resume his degree work in the fall and embark on a business career soon as well.

Wherever life leads Johnson, the world will be better for it, friends say.

“We’d been looking for someone like him forever, and now that he’s retired, we’ll be looking for the next Calvin Johnson for a long time,” Bennett says. “He’s the pinnacle of what you look for in someone who is a great athlete but an even better person.”

DONOR PROFILE: MEL HALL

at ALEXANDERTHARPE FUND

GEORGIA TECH TAUGHT MEL HALL [IE ‘67] TO RECOGNIZE AN OPPORTUNITY WHEN IT PRESENTS ITSELF

BY SIMIT SHAH Mel Hall is a man of action.

As a senior at Georgia Tech in 1966, he was in his hometown of Athens when a friend asked for a favor. Hall’s friend was in a band performing that night, and he wondered if Hall could escort his date to the show and keep her company while he played.

“I told my friend that I really liked the girl, and let me know when you give up,” Hall remembered. “He called me a month later and gave me the green light. I called her and asked her for a date. Nine days later, I asked her to marry me. That all happened between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.” Mel and Judy married over spring break the following year, and they’ve been going strong for 48 years with two children and four grandchildren.

“Georgia Tech taught me a lot of lessons, and one of them is to recognize an opportunity when it presents itself,” Hall laughed.

That philosophy has been a hallmark of Hall’s success story and has kept him connected to his alma mater over the past five decades.

Despite growing up in Athens (his father was a professor in the College of Education at the University of Georgia), Hall always had his sights set on attending Georgia Tech.

“From the time I was a child, I wanted to be a Ramblin’ Wreck, there was no question about it,” he said. “I didn’t even apply to any other schools.”

He came to Atlanta after graduating from Athens High School in 1962 and chose to major in Industrial Engineering. Like many before and after him, Hall found the curriculum challenging.

“When I got to Georgia Tech, I realized there was big difference between being a good arithmetician and a good mathematician,” he noted.

Again seizing on opportunity, Hall found an avenue that would shape his experience at Georgia Tech.

“My first dorm assignment was Techwood, and I met these co-op students,” he recalled. “I thought they had something extra going for them, so I decided to join the program. It provided me with valuable work experience and prepared me for my career.

“Georgia Tech is a great place for young people, lot of camaraderie. In those days, we went to school six days a week. The great thing

about Georgia Tech is the network you develop.

Anywhere you go and meet a Tech person, there’s an instant connection. ” Hall earned his engineering degree in 1967 and entered the U.S. Army. His first assignment took Judy and him to Alaska. There, he got the opportunity to serve our country as well as earn his master’s degree in management at the University of Alaska.

“Where else can a young man who knows nothing learn what you learn in the military as a second lieutenant? I had a great experience,” said Hall. “I had a sergeant who taught me a lot about how to approach life. I once asked him, ‘Is this good enough?’ He told me, ‘It’s either right or it isn’t.’ He showed me the reality of what I learned at Georgia Tech.”

After completing his service, Hall was ready to be closer to home. He worked at Booz Allen, which took him to the Washington, D.C./ Virginia area. In the mid-1970’s, he co-founded a management consulting company, which was later sold to Ernst & Young.

In the mid-1980’s, Hall saw the opportunities within the healthcare industry and took over a small company, Comprehensive Health Services.

Under his leadership as chairman, it became the industry’s largest independent provider of onsite health centers, nationwide exam programs and rapid-response medical readiness teams.

His role has also allowed him to partner with Georgia Tech on various initiatives, including the predictive Georgia Tech Workforce Health Assessment Model.

“To me, Georgia Tech was less about the specifics that I learned than developing an understanding of several important things,” He explained. “You’re not going to be the smartest person in the room. It’s OK to not really understand something, but if you work hard and try, you can get through it.

“It taught you that when there was something you didn’t know, there was someone across the table or the room that understood it all. That was the seed that led to understanding how important a team is. Those lessons served me well and allowed me to leave my ego at the door.”

For 35 years, Hall and his father attended the annual Georgia-Georgia Tech game together, and he supports athletics as a member of the Alexander-Tharpe Board.

“THE GREAT THING ABOUT GEORGIA TECH IS THE NETWORK YOU DEVELOP. ANYWHERE YOU GO AND MEET A TECH PERSON, THERE’S AN INSTANT CONNECTION.” In addition to Hall’s father working at Georgia, his sister and daughter Julie attended Georgia.

His son Todd went to Virginia Tech. (“I got him halfway there,” Hall joked.)

“We’re the classic house divided, but it’s all in good fun.”

WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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at ALEXANDERTHARPE FUND

ADDRESS & LUNCHEON APRIL 27, 2016

STATE OF ATHLETICS DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS MIKE BOBINSKI MET WITH DONORS OF THE LIFE MEMBERS HONOR SOCIETY FROM THE CALLAWAY CLUB INSIDE MCCAMISH PAVILION TO PRESENT THE ANNUAL STATE OF ATHLETICS ADDRESS. BOBINSKI REVEALED THE STRATEGIC PLAN TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN BOTH ACADEMICS AND COMPETITION FOR GEORGIA TECH STUDENT-ATHLETES. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Provide a top-tier environment that supports the academic success of our student-athletes from admission through graduation.

397 3.0 50% 45%

Bria Matthews (left) was named ACC Women’s Indoor Freshman of the Year after claiming gold medals in both the long jump and the triple jump.

GT STUDENT-ATHLETES

MEAN GPA OVER THE PAST 4 SEMESTERS Brad Homza (above) won the gold medal in the platform diving event at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships with a school-record dive of 436.25.

EARNED 3.0 OR HIGHER FALL 2015

EARNED DEAN’S LIST OR FACULTY HONORS COMPETITIVE EXCELLENCE

Provide progressive and skilled coaching, first-rate training and competition facilities, and comprehensive medical and nutritional support in order to foster an environment that drives competitive excellence in each of our sports.

30

THE BUZZ

Above, women’s tennis team is coached by Rodney Harmon – ACC Coach of the Year.

The “Miracle on Techwood” is arguably the craziest finish in Tech football history.

STUDENT-ATHLETE EXPERIENCE

Equip our student-athletes in the areas of leadership, life skills, community service and career planning so they are positioned to succeed in the world upon graduation.

at ALEXANDERTHARPE FUND

CULTURE

Enhance the culture of athletics through collaboration, communication, alignment and growth to foster excellence and engage with the greater mission of the Institute.

COMMUNITY

Strengthen the bond with our community through consistent action that aligns with and reflects positively on the Institute, instills pride in Georgia Tech, and embraces traditions to actively support our student-athletes.

Rendering of the Edge Center

ART BRANNEN (IMGT ’73) WAS PRESENTED WITH A GOLDEN JACKET AS THE 32ND MEMBER TO JOIN ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND’S HIGHEST GIVING SOCIETY, HAVING DONATED $1 MILLION IN CUMULATIVE CASH GIFTS TO TECH ATHLETICS.

PHILANTHROPIC PRIORITIES

• EDGE CENTER RENOVATIONS • FOOTBALL LOCKER ROOM • O’KEEFE GYMNASIUM • RUSS CHANDLER STADIUM PHASE II • ANNUAL GIVING • SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENTS WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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AG ANNUAL GIVING

ENGINEERING STUDENT-ATHLETES TO BE CHAMPIONS IN ACADEMICS, COMPETITION AND LIFE STRONG LET’S FINISH

THE TRADITION OF COMBINED ACADEMIC AND ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE HAS LONG BEEN A SOURCE OF PRIDE AND PASSION AT GEORGIA TECH. YOUR SUPPORT ENABLES STUDENT-ATHLETES TO PERFORM THEIR BEST ON AND OFF THE FIELD.

7,428

YOUR GIFT

MATTERS 7,388

MAKE IT COUNT GIVE BY JUNE 30, 2016

EXCEED DONOR PARTICIPATION

TOTAL DONORS TO GT ATHLETICS (FY2015)

CURRENT DONOR COUNT TO GT ATHLETICS YTD MAKE IT COUNT (SINCE 7/1/2015)

FROM PREVIOUS YEAR

JOIN THE TRADITION OF GIVING BACK

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THE BUZZ

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COMPLIANCE CORNER

BY SHOSHANNA ENGEL, ASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE

A primer on boosters and employment Shoshanna Engel Associate Athletic Director for Compliance

The end of an academic year is a great time to reflect as our student-athletes gear up for another summer full of meaningful internships, jobs, and learning opportunities – some will study abroad, others plan to take summer classes, and many will work at summer jobs or full-time internships for local, national and global companies and organizations. Your continued support – via donations, internship/employment opportunities, participation in career fairs, mentorship, and countless other ways – remains critical to the academic and professional development of our student-athletes.

NCAA and Georgia Tech guidelines permit student-athletes to pursue employment, provided: • Compensation is for work actually performed; • Compensation is set at a rate commensurate with the going rate for similar services within the organization and locality; • Compensation may not include any remuneration for value or utility that a student-athlete may have for the employer because of the publicity, reputation, fame or personal following that he or she obtains due to athletics ability; • All employment is reported to the GTAA compliance office.

I am a Georgia Tech booster. May I employ a Georgia Tech student-athlete?

Yes! You may provide employment to a Georgia Tech student-athlete provided the above guidelines are met and the student-athlete and employer acknowledge

Shoshanna Engel Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance sengel@athletics.gatech.edu (404)894-8792

Bret Cowley Associate Director of Compliance bcowley@athletics.gtaa.edu (404)385-0611

understanding of and compliance with NCAA employment requirements.

May I assist a Georgia Tech studentathlete with reviewing their resume or practicing interview skills?

Yes, it is permissible for individuals to assist student-athletes with these skills, provided no material benefits are received. Georgia Tech and the GTAA Total Person Program also provide a plethora of career preparation services, including resume workshops and mock interviews. Please contact the Total Person Program if you wish to become involved with departmental efforts.

I am employing a Georgia Tech studentathlete this summer and want to say thank you. May I provide a gift of gratitude?

While material gifts (e.g., cash, gift cards, item of value, etc.) may not be provided, Georgia Tech boosters may host a studentathlete for an occasional meal at home and/ or on campus. All occasional meals must be approved in advance by the compliance office. If all student employees receive a benefit, student-athletes may also participate provided no special consideration is given due to status as a student-athlete.

If you have any questions about employment of student-athletes, providing internships, participating in career preparation activities or any other matter please do not hesitate to contact the compliance office.

Shardonay Blueford Assistant Director of Compliance sblueford@athletics.gatech.edu (404)894-0416

WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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