Buzz Magazine - Summer 2018

TAKE IT AS IT COMES

JEANINE WILLIAMS SPECTACULARLY CLEARING ALL OF LIFE’S HURDLES ON AND OFF THE TRACK

Following its all-out search, Georgia Tech Athletics now has its own gold and is going all out to spread the brand

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SUMMER 2018

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SUMMER 2018 • VOLUME 11, NUMBER 4

EDITOR Mike Stamus ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andrew Clausen Kevin Davis Mike Flynn Alex Keator Liz Ryan WRITERS/CONTRIBUTORS Jen Abrams Jon Cooper Adam Van Brimmer Matt Winkeljohn PHOTOGRAPHY Delvin Jones Danny Karnik Karl Moore Simit Shah DESIGN & LAYOUT Summit Athletic Media www.summitathletics.com ADVERTISING – IMG COLLEGE General Manager – Dave Bouteiller For information on advertising, please call (404) 733-1330

SUMMER 2018

I N

T H I S

I S S U E

4 | AFTER THE GOLD RUSH

Following its all-out search, Georgia Tech Athletics now has its own gold and is going all out to spread the brand

10 | TAKE IT AS IT COMES

Jeanine Williams spectacularly clearing all of life’s hurdles on and off the track

14 | SILVER ANNIVERSARY

One thousand wins in 25 years on The Flats is only one indication of the impact that Danny Hall has had as Georgia Tech’s baseball coach

LIFE 18 | ENGINEERING AFTER SPORT The Buzz is published four times a year by IMG College in conjunction with the Georgia Tech Athletic Association. The price of an annual subscription is $9.95. Persons wishing to subscribe or those wishing to renew their subscription should send a check or money order (credit cards not accepted) to: THE BUZZ IMG College 540 N. Trade St. Winston-Salem, NC 27101 All material produced in this publication is the property of IMG College and shall not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission from IMG College and Georgia Tech. The appearance of advertising in this newspaper does not constitute an endorsement of the advertiser and/or the advertiser’s product or service by Georgia Tech or IMG College. The use of the name

Georgia Tech’s degree completion program for former student-athletes has built a successful track record, including five new graduates this spring

22 | RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME Former Tech football star Noah King enjoys a successful career and family life despite major challenges

27 | A-T FUND | ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

Fully funding athletic scholarships and updating various facilities move to the forefront of Tech’s fundraising priorities

28 | A-T FUND | PHASE II OF RUSS CHANDLER STADIUM

Plans for the next upgrade of Tech’s baseball facility made public

29 | A-T FUND | HEISMAN DONOR ANNUAL EVENT

Spring game provides setting for new push in annual giving

of the University or any of its identifying marks in advertisements must be approved by Georgia Tech and IMG College.

Please send all address changes to the attention of

31 | COMPLIANCE CORNER

Student-athletes and employment, new NCAA legislation

Sarah Brophy to: IMG College 540 North Trade Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (336) 831-0700 x1769 or (888) 877-4373 x1769

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ATHLETICS

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AFTER THE

GOLD RUSH FOLLOWING ITS ALL-OUT SEARCH, GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS NOW HAS ITS OWN GOLD AND IS GOING ALL OUT TO SPREAD THE BRAND

BY JON COOPER

The end zone at Bobby Dodd Stadium is only one place that the new wordmark for Georgia Tech athletics appears.

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ATHLETICS | AFTER THE GOLD RUSH

The new Tech Gold has its genesis in the shade of the exterior paint of the Ramblin’ Wreck.

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BY THE NUMBERS

New number of ways to use Tech’s interlocking GT logo, down from 40

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BEGINNING JULY 1, THERE WILL BE ONE GOLD TO WHICH THEY’LL BE REFERRING. “TECH GOLD” IS NOW THE OFFICIAL GOLD OF GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS. ESTABLISHING AN OFFICIAL COLOR or almost a century, Georgia Tech faithful have sung, ‘Up ACHIEVES ONE OF THE TOP PRIORITIES with the White and Gold.’

FOR DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS TODD Beginning July 1, there will be one gold to which they’ll be referring. “Tech STANSBURY AND GOES A LONG WAY Gold” is now the official gold of Georgia IN HIS GOAL TO INCREASE THE Tech Athletics.

PRESENCE OF THE GEORGIA Establishing an official color achieves one of the top priorities for director of athletics TECH BRAND. Todd Stansbury and goes a long way in his

F

goal to increase the presence of the Georgia Tech brand.

“Your teams are recognized. Whether it’s SportsCenter, whatever it may be, it’s a fleeting image,” said Stansbury. “Especially as we look at extending our footprint from a recruiting standpoint, I think consistency becomes really, really important because you want to make that sure potential recruits, when they see the GT or a certain gold or look, that they know who we are. So just having a consistent brand, colors and logo are really important in establishing your brand.

“Knowing that we were going to end up with a new apparel partner, I did not want to go into that deal with us being flat-footed and having to

start the whole branding process,” he added.

“Knowing the timing on that, I knew we had to get in front of it. It was something that I knew we needed to do.”

The process began last May with Tech athletics’ brand and ideation team.

“We started, really, with the entire pantone book of metallic and non-metallic gold versions and we narrowed it down to probably about 30,” said Brad Malone, Georgia Tech’s director of brand and ideation. “From there, we started bringing in different groups, getting different opinions, talking with the Ramblin’ Reck Club, just to make sure that it matches up with the

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Ramblin’ Wreck, itself, because that was our No. 1 priority was that it was based off of the Ramblin’ Wreck.

Consistency was a key word throughout the process.

“The biggest thing for us is that we wanted to find a gold that we were able to print consistently, because gold is kind of a difficult color to match because you have the metallics, the nonmetallics,” Malone added. “We wanted to make sure that it was compatible with what adidas was able to print on uniforms, with apparel, and that it was consistent, when you were able to do just regular printing, digital, things like that. adidas was certainly involved in the process and making sure that not only was it something that they could work with us on, but that it would be consistent across the different types of materials that they work with as well. We kept going back to the Ramblin’ Wreck and making sure that we were not straying too far from that color. Then the biggest thing for us is that we’re able to replicate it consistently.”

A similarly intensive narrowingdown process had to be done with the GT logo and the new wordmark.

“I had no idea with the interlocking GT, there were 40 different ways that we were using that, which has now been narrowed down to eight,” said Stansbury. “So I had no idea the scope of how much we had to do.”

There was no shortage of eyes on reviewing all of this.

“We literally had a ‘Gold Committee’ that met numerous times throughout the process, and then we’d bring in outside people,” said Malone.

“We did focus groups with students, young alumni, older alumni, season-ticket holders, and we would show them a few different shades of gold and see which ones they reacted to or how they reacted to the different shades. That helped us throughout the process.”

The committee met with experts in the branding and marketing field, among them

Jaime Weston, the National Football League’s senior vice president for marketing, brand and creative, and Georgia Tech class of 1994.

“It was a pretty extensive process.

I met with Jaime Weston, who helped us through the process,” Stansbury said. “My first meeting with her I said, ‘This is what we need to do,’ she brought me all the swatches of gold in the NFL. I think there were like 27 different types of gold. So I realized right then that we had a pretty long road ahead of us, because gold is a color that has so many different kinds of shades and tints and those types of things. So I’m glad we got out in front of it when we did, because it was quite the process.”

“Campus licensing actually was involved in the process as well as our communications people on campus,” he added. “So they were included in the whole process of coming up with what our colors should look like, how to use the GT and those types of things.

So the process that we went through was incredibly inclusive, knowing that how we look really does affect the entire institute. So we definitely made sure that we had a lot of eyes on this.”

Establishing “Tech Gold” will give Georgia Tech Athletics credibility and an identity.

“Most of the brands that you know of have a very strict policy on how their logo and colors can be used. As an Athletic Association, we didn’t have that,” said Malone. “That was surprising for me. You see a lot of navy, and you see a lot of not-the-official colors when you go to the bookstore and online and other retailers. Everyone kind of knew it was a problem, but nobody had really tackled it. Now we have.”

Leave it to Stansbury, a Yellow Jackets linebacker from 1981-84, to make what may be the biggest tackle of his Tech career.

So far, the move looks like a definite gamechanger. A run of gold adidas apparel t-shirts

ESTABLISHING “TECH GOLD” WILL GIVE GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS CREDIBILITY AND AN IDENTITY.

FACT

Tech’s six-year partnership with adidas officially begins July 1.

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ATHLETICS | AFTER THE GOLD RUSH

Though Tech’s partnership with Adidas doesn’t begin officially until July 1, some apparel items with the new look have already been unveiled.

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sold out quickly after its debut on April 20, the day of Tech’s football spring game, and there will be plenty of gear available come July 1, when Tech’s six-year partnership with adidas officially begins.

“We worked with adidas just to get an initial run, because we knew we were going to announce it at the spring game,” said Malone. “Between the Ramblinwreckstore. com and the Georgia Tech Bookstore, we saw a tremendous response to it. It’s always been the plan that once the official partnership starts on July 1, you’ll see a lot of inventory.”

Football season-ticket holders actually will get first dibs on the new gear, as they’ll get an

exclusive Tech Gold adidas t-shirt, emblazoned with the winning logo from an online poll.

“There is absolutely no excuse to have the wrong shade of gold for our season-ticket holders at Bobby Dodd,” said Malone, with a laugh.

As Georgia Tech prepares to ring in a new era of apparel, the question becomes “What do you do with the old stuff?”

“They’re relics now. They might be worth something one day. People will probably hang on to some of that stuff,” said Malone. “I think people will be really excited just to be able to have the quality of gear that adidas is going to be able to provide, especially in the new Tech Gold. It’s going to be something that people

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will be like, ‘Hey, why aren’t you wearing the new Tech Gold? Why are you still wearing the old stuff?’”

Quarterback TaQuon Marshall is excited about the revolution.

“Oh, man. I cannot wait. I’ve been talking about it with all the guys, and everybody’s really excited,” he said. “It can’t get here fast enough. I know adidas always has a lot of swag. I’m a big swag guy. I like my style. So I’m ready to get it. I’ll be wearing it to class every day.”

Stansbury believes the Tech Gold gear, emblazoned with the new mark, will be similarly attractive to prospective recruits. He noted that the coaches are energized.

“In this day and age, your gear is so incredibly important for recruiting,” he said. “So being able to take the adidas brand on the road with them puts them on a level playing field. In the past, it may not have been so level. So I think they’re incredibly excited. I think Georgia Tech people are really excited about the direction.”

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TRACK & FIELD

TAKE IT AS IT COMES JEANINE WILLIAMS IS SPECTACULARLY CLEARING ALL OF LIFE’S HURDLES ON AND OFF THE TRACK

BY JON COOPER

I

t’s fitting that Jeanine Williams is a hurdler, as there’s seemingly no obstacle life puts in her way that she doesn’t clear, and do so magnificently.

On the track, the 21-year-old from Kingston, Jamaica, became only the seventh studentathlete in Atlantic Coast Conference history to sweep ACC championships in the 60-meter hurdles indoors and 100-meter hurdles outdoors this spring, cementing herself as the conference’s fastest hurdler. In the classroom, Williams carries a 3.0-plus grade-point average in biochemistry, with long-term sights set on medical school.

Seemingly the higher the hurdle, the more Williams relishes attacking it.

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“I think she likes a challenge. She likes to work hard and doesn’t like things to come easy per se,” said Leah Thomas, Tech’s director of Total Person support services. “She transferred to Georgia Tech, and she talked about how she felt like she needed more challenge in all parts [of life]. She thrives on that.”

Williams doesn’t reason why. She just gets it done.

“Sometimes I don’t know how I do it, because life will throw you some curveballs,” she said, with a laugh. “It’s stressful. Some days I do honestly feel like, ‘I’m done with school,’ but then I’m like, ‘Oh no, I can’t do that.’ My mom is a teacher [she teaches physics and math], so from when I was younger, she showed me and

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Williams once again earned firstteam All-ACC status this spring and has a good chance of more All-America recognition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.

Williams ran the first leg of the school-record setting 4x100 shuttle relay, with teammates Kenya Collins, Raven Stewart and Marinice Bauman. Their 53.16 time not only beat the previous Tech best by nearly two seconds, but was the ninth-fastest time in NCAA history.

my sister how important school was. So even if track isn’t working out, always be on top of your schoolwork.”

Georgia Tech jumps and hurdles coach Nat Page has a pretty good idea of how she does it.

“She, obviously, has great genetics in regards to muscularity,” Page said. “Number two, her goals were set before she came here.

She knew that she wanted to get into med school and be a doctor. Number three, she had an inkling, ‘Hey, I could be good in the hurdles, and I want to be.’ When she told me that. I was like, ‘Okay, we can make that happen.’

“It was mindset -- because I coach in regards to 50-percent old school, 50-percent new school.

The old school hurts, and she had not gone through that before,” he added. “I was going to challenge her to see, ‘How can we increase your pain threshold?’ If we learn how to hurt through, then you’ll walk onto the track going, ‘Running my race is the easiest part of athletics.’”

Williams, who transferred from Auburn following her freshman year, has obviously raised it plenty.

At the 2017 ACC Indoor Championships, she walked into the track on crutches and wearing a boot to protect foot and ankle injuries. She’d reach the finals, finishing seventh at 8.30, two one-hundredths of a second off the Jackets’ fastest time of the season. That outdoor season saw her finish second in the ACC in the 100 highs and qualify for the NCAAs, but she was unable to finish her heat.

The DNF inspired her for 2018.

“She made a huge leap last year and learned, ‘I’m one of the top-10 hurdlers in the country, and wherever I go, I’m going to be the best or second-best hurdler there, so everybody’s shooting for me,’” Page said. “It’s

handling that type of stuff. That’s where the confidence factor started to come in. ‘Okay, I can be good. I’ve got to train harder, I’ve got to be better technically. If I do what I can do, I can run with just about anybody.’”

In 2018, it’s been more her running away from just about everybody.

Williams won four of the six events she entered and finished second in another during the indoor season, including an 8.02-second performance at the Clemson Invitational, the fourth-fastest time in the U.S. and the 22ndbest in the world. She even bounced back from the one event she didn’t win or place -- the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational – by winning the ACC title with an 8.04 two weeks later.

That race was emotional for Williams, as she declined an opportunity to represent her native country, Jamaica, in the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England, in order to represent Tech. In all, the 2018 indoor season proved a huge success, as she earned two ACC Performer of the Week honors, was named first-team All-ACC and second-team AllAmerica -- all the while recording a 4.0 GPA. Outdoors, Williams won three of her five starts during the regular season, finishing second in another. Additionally, she ran the first leg of the school-record setting 4x100 shuttle relay, with teammates Kenya Collins, Raven Stewart and Marinice Bauman. Their 53.16 time not only beat the previous Tech best by nearly two seconds (55:11), but was the ninth-fastest time in NCAA history.

“Being excellent is very normal for Jeanine Williams,” said Bauman. “Every time she goes out, it’s a P.R. or could be.”

Williams’ talent may be surpassed only by her humility.

“Jeanine’s one of the most humble but driven people I know,” said sprints and hurdles coach WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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TRACK & FIELD | TAKE IT AS IT COMES

HER EXCELLENCE WAS RECOGNIZED AT THE ANNUAL YELLOW JACKET CELEBRATION, WHERE SHE WAS NAMED GEORGIA TECH’S ATHLETE OF THE YEAR, ACC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR, AND PART OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR. SHE ALSO TOOK HOME THE BOBBY DODD SCHOLARSHIP, AWARDED TO TECH’S TOP JUNIOR OR SENIOR STUDENT-ATHLETE. 12

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Adriane Butler, coincidentally was one of the members of the Tech 4x100 shuttle relay team whose record Williams helped erase. “She’s high-achieving, sets herself to high standards.”

Those standards are set even higher in the classroom. They have to be.

“Biochemistry is demanding because there are a lot of labs,” she said. “They have to be done every week and you have to be at the lab three or four hours just getting things done. If you don’t get the right product, you get points off.”

There haven’t been many points off for Williams, who has been named Academic AllACC each the last three seasons.

Her excellence was recognized at the annual Yellow Jacket Celebration, where she was named Georgia Tech’s Athlete of the Year, ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and part of the Performance of the Year. She also took home the Bobby Dodd Scholarship, awarded to Tech’s top junior or senior student-athlete.

Her achievements in all aspects of life made her a perfect recipient of Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions scholarship, representing the Institute with extraordinary performances on the track, in the classroom and in the community. Her award, in particular, is funded entirely by donations from athletics department staff.

All the recognitions haven’t surprised Thomas.

“The awards Jeanine got were no-brainers,” she said. “There is no one better that has the same athletic resume and academic resume

as her. There were no debates. It was, ‘Here is who we recommend’ and the executive staff said, ‘Check.’”

Actually, one person was surprised.

“I was shocked,” Williams said. “I don’t expect things, because when you start to expect too much, you get disappointed. Even though a friend of mine was like, ‘You’re going to win the Athlete of the Year,’ I was like, ‘If it happens it happens.’ Seeing it happen, I was humbled because my efforts were being recognized. It made me feel proud. A small, little girl from Jamaica coming to the United States and making an impact. It was good.”

“I appreciate being chosen for these awards,” she added. “I just come to school and do what I have to do, go to the track, do what I have to on the track, and then hope that it will be recognized.”

Williams, who plans to run professionally after graduation, has shown there’s nothing she won’t do to improve her times. She’s also shown she’ll dedicate her spare time to the ideals of the Total Person Program.

“I like helping out, especially if it’s for kids.

I will always help kids,” said Williams, one of four Yellow Jackets to recently earn the Arthur Ashe, Jr. Scholar Award, awarded for athletic, academic excellence and community service commitment. “Like the Michael Isenhour Toy Drive, I like doing that. And Girls On the Run.” “We’ve never mandated any of it for any team, so it’s always notable when studentathletes become repeat volunteers for us,” said Thomas. “She is a regular participant. It says to me a lot about her.”

About the only thing she will not do is try to run professionally AND do med school simultaneously -- her next two ventures following next year’s graduation.

“No, that’s definitely something I can’t do,” she said, with a laugh. “I probably won’t be starting to apply until the year before I’m done with being professional in the track world. Then I’ll apply.”

Right now, she’ll apply herself to getting another crack at nationals and running for Georgia Tech.

“I realize that things are coming together,” she said. “When I get to nationals, I’m going to leave everything out on the track and see where that takes me. If I get a chance to win and run the time that I want to run this season, that would be great. I would be a happy girl.”

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BASEBALL

SILVER ANNIVERSARY ONE THOUSAND WINS IN 25 YEARS ON THE FLATS IS ONLY ONE INDICATION OF THE IMPACT THAT DANNY HALL HAS HAD AS GEORGIA TECH’S BASEBALL COACH

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

O

nce and several times more, Danny Hall played some baseball years ago in teeny-tiny Coolville, Ohio, and he never stopped loving it. And now he cares deeply for those who’ve played the game for him as he’s coached at Georgia Tech for 25 years.

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And his players care back.

Several have gone on to the Major Leagues.

Others did not. Some are doctors. Or sports agents. Or titans of industry.

Take Steven Blackwood. He went from Roswell High School to The Flats in 2002 and over four years became only the second

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Hall has led Tech to its only three College World Series appearances, in 1994, 2002 and 2006.

Danny Hall earned his 1,000th victory as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach with a 6-4 win over No. 6 Auburn on March 20.

Tech player along with former catcher Jason Varitek to score 200 runs and record 200 RBI in his career (Tony Plagman became the third in 2010).

Even now, as he finishes a fellowship in Grand Rapids, Mich., before starting in August as an orthopedic surgeon in a medical practice in Oxford, Miss., Blackwood marvels at his coach and his ability to juggle lineups, personalities and schedules.

Blackwood knew before he went to Georgia Tech and majored in applied biology that he wanted to follow his older brother, Wes, into the field of medicine. Hall helped.

“Coach had known what I was planning as a career after baseball all along. I’d have lab times, and hey, I may be 15 minutes late for practice, but I’ll be there. He said OK,” said Blackwood, who earned All-ACC honors twice before graduating in 2006.

“Coach Hall was a very big part of the success that I’ve had, and any time I can praise him I’m happy to do so.”

The Yellow Jackets’ baseball coach recorded his 1,000th victory at Georgia Tech on March 20 with a 6-4 win over No. 6 Auburn at Russ Chandler Stadium, and that wasn’t much different than when he took the Tech job in 1994 and guided the Jackets to the College World Series championship game in his first season.

Varitek was a senior on that team, a switchhitting catcher who would go on to a 14-year career in Major League Baseball with the Boston Red Sox. “What he has done at Georgia Tech is phenomenal,” said Varitek, who was on two World Series championship teams with the Red Sox. “As a coach he was great, as he was patient and passionate. He was great at letting you just go out and play, but would step on you when he needed to.

“I always liked that; I liked the freedom to go out and play baseball, but also liked and respected him when he ‘stepped on’ or got on me when I needed it.”

Hall came by his nature honestly while growing up in southeast Ohio, near the Ohio River and not at all far from West Virginia, where his parents, Danny and Patricia grew up. Mom and dad are each 83, and still coaching.

From them, Hall drew his DNA on the field and off. You’ll see him blowing up an umpire once in a while, but usually parked right leg on dugout steps, right arm on a rail.

“I think a lot of that stems from my dad, who was a football and baseball coach. I got my competitive streak from him. I got my quiet streak from my mom,” said Hall, who won 208 games in six seasons at Kent State before coming to Tech. “My dad doesn’t do WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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BASEBALL | SILVER ANNIVERSARY

Hall, shown here with All-Americans Jason Varitek and Brad Rigby has watched his players move on to great success in baseball and many other pursuits.

BY THE NUMBERS

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Georgia Tech players drafted

by Major League organizations under Danny Hall the phone thing. So he’ll have Mom text me, and it might be as simple as ‘Good, game, this guy was really good, that umpire wasn’t very good,’ and this is when you know something is coming ... ‘If I was coaching that team ... I would do this.’”

What Hall’s done is impressive.

He’s led Georgia Tech to its only College World Series appearances, in 1994, 2002 and 2006, and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances in his first 24 seasons in addition to five ACC

regular season titles and five ACC Tournament championships.

Hall’s had 117 players drafted by Major League teams. Sometimes, they don’t go pro.

Blackwood was selected in the 26th round by the St. Louis Cardinals after his junior year but opted to stay in school.

“Once it gets to game time, he’s very much a player’s coach in the sense. Coach Hall isn’t one to ride you in the middle of a game and make you feel small,” Blackwood said. “He

Hall has been at Tech long enough to coach his sons, Carter (left) and Colin with his wife Kara at his side.

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would usually get more fired up in practice, and I think that allows you to play the game. He would get onto you, but he kind of knew the buttons to press.”

Hall has pushed plenty of buttons, as a father -- with two sons on the Tech roster in Carter and Colin -- and as a coach.

“Coach Hall is still someone I talk to on a regular basis. Although I played for coach [Jim] Morris for three years, Coach Hall is still my connection piece to Georgia Tech and the program,” Varitek said. “If I am in the same area as him, or his family, we always try to get together catch up, or if he is on the road recruiting, etc. we try to make an effort to visit with one another.

“He is always one call away if you need him and why I still feel connected to the program and Georgia Tech.”

Hall is a parent, with three sons, and a coach.

He blends the two roles, and tracks former players as if they are his children.

“That’s kind of one of my pitches when I’m recruiting, that I’m going to be their

parent away from home,” Hall said. “It’s a huge responsibility, and something I take very seriously. We want to win a national championship. We want to go to the College World Series every year.

“We want to win the ACC, but the most important thing to me is that these guys that are here and stay, I want them to get their degree from Georgia Tech.”

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ATHLETICS

Georgia Tech’s degree completion efforts produced five new graduates this spring, all of them former professional athletes.

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ENGINEERING LIFE AFTER SPORTS GEORGIA TECH’S DEGREE COMPLETION PROGRAM FOR FORMER STUDENT-ATHLETES HAS BUILT A SUCCESSFUL TRACK RECORD, INCLUDING FIVE NEW GRADUATES THIS SPRING

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

A

s Mott Hyde broke from shortstop for the Corpus Christi (Texas) Hooks to track a popup over his head, he had no way of knowing that his professional baseball career would soon end, but the former Georgia Tech infielder knew all along that he’d return to school to get his degree.

It’s good that he could return to Tech to engineer his life.

Soon after a teammate kicked him in the face, knocked him out, broke his nose and cut up his face last summer, he was taking 10 hours last fall semester and then nine hours this spring to finish up -- way up -- in business administration.

In early May, he was one of five former studentathletes to return and graduate -- a high-water mark for the decade -- joining former teammate Mark Pope, football players Anthony Allen and Philip Wheeler and basketball player Nick Jacobs.

Five more -- baseball player Zane Evans, A.J. Murray and Josh Heddinger and football players Izaan Cross and Vance Walker -- are in line to graduate at the end of the summer.

Playing for the AA minor league team of the Houston Astros, who drafted Hyde in the 26th round in 2014 after his four-year career (2011-14) with the Yellow Jackets, that fateful game played in San Antonio was effectively his last stand.

The Georgia Tech Athletics Association soon helped pick up the tab.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind, that it was something I was going to complete no matter what happened in baseball,” Hyde said. “I came back about a month later to the Hooks, but I just didn’t feel right.

“My retirement was kind of unexpected, so I reached out and contacted the baseball staff and they put me in touch with Doug Allvine.”

A former walk-on football player, Allvine is cut from cloth similar to weave of athletics director and former

football player Todd Stansbury. He’s Tech to the bone. And he’s the Athletic Association’s recentlyminted assistant athletics director for innovation.

After playing mostly as a special teamer for the Jackets from 1987-89, he graduated with a degree in industrial management in 1992, worked in the business world for about 11 years and then returned to Tech in 2003 as an academic advisor for the football team.

So, he knows about leaving school and returning, and he’s grown Georgia Tech’s degree completion program for former student-athletes with such vigor that he was prepared to turn down a promotion if he wasn’t allowed to keep that as part of his job description.

“I got this new title, and they talked about reallocating some of my responsibilities. ‘Give this back to academics’, and I said ‘no.’”

Having built a successful record of re-enrollment and graduation, Allvine is beaming.

Pope and Evans work as undergraduate assistant coaches with the baseball team, and may consider coaching as a profession.

“I graduated in international affairs and environmental policy. It is something I’m really passionate about,” Pope said. “If I don’t pursue a career in baseball coaching, that’s something I would like to do. I’ve sent applications.”

Like Pope (2009-11) and Evans (2011-13), Hyde gave pro ball a try first. So did Wheeler, who played football for the Jackets from 2003-07.

Amid stints with the NFL’s Colts, Raiders, Dolphins, Falcons and Cardinals, he returned to Tech in off-seasons when he could, like the springs of 2012, ‘15, ‘16 and ‘18.

They just about all have found school easier the second time, chiefly because they didn’t have a sport to worry about.

Basketball player Nick Jacobs and pitcher Mark Pope returned to finish their degrees this spring.

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ATHLETICS | ENGINEERING LIFE AFTER SPORTS

Phillip Wheeler, an All-ACC linebacker, came back after playing nine seasons in the NFL.

Mott Hyde’s decision to finish his degree was hastened by a serious injury he suffered in a minor league game last fall.

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Oh, and they’re more mature.

The 10 former student-athletes enrolled in the spring semester averaged a 3.28 grade-point average, and eight were above 3.0.

“I think [I made it] more of a priority than when I was playing,” said Hyde, who commuted twice a week from his family home in Calhoun, where he works for his father’s company, Etex American, which produces carpet adhesives. “And there was more time.”

The GTAA does not pay up front for the return to school. This is a business decision.

“We require them take out loans and then, if they go to their classes, we pay their loans,” Allvine said. “It’s an incentive to go to class.”

The GTAA finances former student-athletes’ funding to a level that matches where they were percentage-wise as undergraduates with regard to tuition and fees, but some of them are getting more help now.

The pro sports organizations that dominate, especially the NFL, have for the last several years been including clauses in player contracts to subsidize college re-entry after the athletes’ careers end.

In those cases, the GTAA offsets the difference to match the scholarship level that former studentathlete had as an undergrad.

“The nice thing is that the professional leagues in the past few years have started to provide some assistance,” Allvine said. “Maybe half or a third of our students need aid [taking into account those who never play professional sports].”

Hyde is not the only former Jacket who’s had to travel.

Not all Tech’s former student-athletes who left the Institute without a degree come flocking back to finish. Allvine and others in the GTAA have become have become much more aggressive in pursuing them to offering a path.

There may be no better example than Cross.

For the most part, when former student-athletes return, they work in the classroom for consecutive terms to finish their degrees -- with the exception of active pro athletes who build around their jobs without sometimes having a backup plan for losing those jobs.

Wheeler’s been there.

He’s working out with hopes of getting another NFL shot. And he’s got a backup plan.

As a matter of fact, when he returned to school, he frustrated Allvine.

“I got him in marketing electives. He said, ‘No, Doug I want to take financial investments and…’,” Allvine said. “I said ‘that’s a tough class.’” He said, ‘I need to know where my money is going.’”

Georgia Tech students and student-athletes are smart.

Wheeler remembers it this way: “It was actually easier and more interesting, because in the classes, I could apply it to my life,” he said. “I took entrepreneurships and finance, and investing, so I got to use some of my knowledge with my money.”

That’s not the only kind of hurdle that Allvine encounters. Some former student-athletes go it on their own after leaving school, even without a degree.

Cross went undrafted out of Tech and, after leaving in 2012, the defensive lineman got a training camp shot with the Giants. Later, other teams gave him a look. He didn’t stick in the NFL. They probably never got closer than Allvine.

Cross has been in and out of school since leaving Tech, and Allvine has pulled him back repeatedly.

It’s a long story that will be addressed in greater detail as he nears graduation -- at the end of the summer. Cross had told Allvine that he was going to again enroll at Tech. But there was a deadline.

Multiple former Georgia Tech student-athletes have returned to school to get their degrees, including football stars like Josh Nesbitt and Keyaron Fox, as well as basketball standouts Niesha Butler, Zachery Peacock, B.J. Elder and Jarrett Jack.

Some of them required a lot of squire supervision, but maybe none like Cross.

Allvine has tales to tell about him, like the one about when he showed up at one of Cross’s job sites where he was a bus director at North Atlanta High School.

Talk about a full investment. Here’s your guy.

“I walk up and I just stand next to him in line. He says, ‘Oh my God! What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘You know what I’m doing here,’” Allvine said.

“I said, ‘You can do this. It’s $30 to sign up. We will cover all the other costs. You’re going to get that degree, and I’ll help.’

“An hour later, he calls and says he signed up.

Last summer, he was amazing. I think he got a B in calculus. This is a true passion for me. I was there for this last graduation. I’m the obnoxious guy screaming. Nick said, ‘Was that you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, that was me.’

For Allvine, no matter whether it’s a careerthreatening injury or a chance meeting at the bus line, there is always a reason for reaching out to come back and finish school.

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FOOTBALL

RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME FORMER TECH FOOTBALL STAR NOAH KING ENJOYS A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AND FAMILY LIFE DESPITE MAJOR CHALLENGES

BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER

A

sk Noah King about his Carnegie Medal and he’ll tell you about Kevin Little.

Little, age 10, was sleeping at his grandmother’s house in October 2015 when the smell of smoke woke him up. He quickly realized the house was aflame, roused his grandmother and three other children from their beds and led them outside. He then returned to the home to rescue his two-yearold cousin.

Little never came back out. Firefighters found him in his cousin’s bedroom, shielding the toddler with his body and a mattress he’d manage to pull over the top of them. Both Little and his cousin were unconscious and later died from smoke inhalation.

Little was awarded a Carnegie Medal, given to civilians who risk their lives saving or attempting to save others, by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission last fall.

Noah King, with his father Joe Tom King (left) receives the Carnegie Medal from U.S. Congressman Neal Dunn (right).

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YET A HERO KING IS. JUST LIKE THAT LITTLE BOY, THE ONE-TIME GEORGIA TECH OFFENSIVE LINEMAN RUSHED HEADLONG INTO A LIFE-THREATENING SITUATION. KING SUCCESSFULLY RESCUED AN INJURED MAN FROM A BURNING PICK-UP TRUCK, COMING TO THE STRANGER’S AID. “You read about this 10-year-old boy who gave his life doing this selfless deed, and you don’t feel worthy,” King says. “To be counted among those heroes is very humbling, to say the least. The only people I like to hear call me a hero are my kids.”

Yet a hero King is. Just like that little boy, the one-time Georgia Tech offensive lineman rushed headlong into a life-threatening situation. King successfully rescued an injured man from a burning pick-up truck, coming to the stranger’s aid.

King maintains he just happened to be at the right place at the right time and only did what anyone else in his place would have done – hence his shunning of the “hero” moniker.

Plus, terror, not bravery, is the emotion he still feels when he thinks about the incident.

He remembers coming upon the scene of the accident, stopping his car and getting out to investigate. But he also recalls the raw fear that prohibited him from being able to work his cellphone well enough to dial 911.

Yet he kept walking toward the burning vehicle anyway.

“I was like, ‘Why are you walking this way?

The car is on fire. What if it explodes?’” he said. “As I got closer, I could hear somebody banging inside the cab and then I saw the

driver trying to kick open the windshield.

That kind of snapped me out of my daze and spurred me to action.”

Both King and the motorist went into “survival mode.” King leveraged his old blocking techniques and busted open the window with his forearm. The accident victim had suffered a broken leg and King had to drag him to safety. The truck never exploded but the flames broke through the firewall and consumed the cab moments after the escape.

King’s actions drew media attention, and he learned late last year he’d been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. He’s a native and current resident of Panama City, Fla., and his local U.S. congressman, Neal Dunn, presented him his medal.

Dunn listened to King’s protestations over being labeled a hero and offered his own appraisal.

Dunn’s congressional district “is full of a whole bunch of heroes like him,” Dunn said, “but he got a chance, he was tested and he passed with straight As.”

Noah King (71) started on Tech teams that won 19 games, including an ACC title in 1998, and played in two Gator Bowl games.

FACT

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission recently awarded its 10,000th medal and has handed out $40 million in grants. The commission has reviewed nearly 90,000 nominations in its 114-year history.

PRIZED AWARDS Whether King feels he deserve it or not, he will forever treasure his Carnegie Medal.

The first medals were awarded in 1904 to two coal miners who attempted to rescue peers WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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FOOTBALL | RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Those heroes include his parents, his wife and his former Georgia Tech coaches and teammates.

SUCCEEDING AT LIFE

King completed his undergraduate degree at Florida State and today makes his living as a financial advisor in his native Florida.

Noah and his wife Amy have a family of four, from left, son Jackson, daughter Scarlett, son Sam and son Max

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caught in a mine explosion near Pittsburgh, Pa. Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, was so moved by their heroism, he established a $5 million trust fund to recognize “civilization’s heroes” and to provide financial assistance for the recipients or, in the case of those who died in their efforts, their dependents, so that, in Carnegie’s words, “heroes and those dependent upon them should be freed from pecuniary cares resulting from their heroism.”

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission recently awarded its 10,000th medal and has handed out $40 million in grants. The commission has reviewed nearly 90,000 nominations in its 114-year history.

“What an incredibly legacy for a man whose name is familiar to most anyway,” King said of Carnegie. “Consider all the things he accomplished in his life, and now he’s remembered for honoring the accomplishments of others.”

King is living an extraordinarily memorable life himself – a very human one, full of triumphs and hardships, with each experience contributing to the next. When he talks about wanting to be a hero to his children, he does so secure in the knowledge that he is what he is today – not a Carnegie Medal winner, but a successful business professional and family man – is because of the influence of several personal heroes.

King makes his living as a financial adviser, yet he’s not one of those classic Tech-starstudent-makes-it-big stories. In fact, he doesn’t hold a Georgia Tech degree, a regret that “pains me every day,” he said.

King’s Tech tenure was marked by emotional distress. His mother died of cancer two days before the Yellow Jackets’ 1997 season opener, when King was a sophomore. He struggled through that year and then thrived as a junior and senior, starting in front of star quarterback Joe Hamilton, winning an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and playing in two Gator Bowl games.

“That was great, but once football was done, I didn’t have much in the way of drive,” King said. “I left school and just bounced around for years. My reaction to everything in life was to say ‘whatever’ and I never made much headway. Until I met Amy. The majority of my success is due to her.”

The woman who would become his wife gave him direction. She’s given him four children and reason to drop the “whatever” attitude. He joined his father’s financial advising firm and finished his bachelor’s degree online through Florida State. He also earned his Certified Professional Financial Advisor designation as well.

With each blessing has come a new challenge for King. Two years ago, doctors discovered a golf ball-size tumor on his kidney.

Cancer was haunting the King family again. A surgeon removed the tumor in August 2016 and King faced 10 hard weeks of recovery. The ordeal left him sore and tired.

Ten weeks to the day after his surgery he spoke at an event as a cancer survivor. Driving home afterwards, he came across that burning pick-up truck along the side of the road.

“My getting cancer, being a survivor, speaking at that event, driving home on that road at that exact time when I just had recovered to the point where I could do what I did – weird huh?” he said. “I kind of feel like I’ve hit my stride in life just when God wanted me to. And I couldn’t be more thankful.”

Spoken like a true hero.

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ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

FULLY FUNDING ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS AND UPDATING VARIOUS FACILITIES MOVE TO THE FOREFRONT OF TECH’S FUNDRAISING PRIORITIES On Wednesday, April 25, director of athletics Todd Stansbury gave his second-annual State of Athletics address to an audience of donors and campus staff in McCamish Pavilion. Stansbury provided updates on successes on and off the field, areas for improvement looking forward, the reveal of the new Georgia Tech wordmark, and the new era ahead for the Yellow Jackets in partnership with the adidas brand.

Stansbury talked about the path ahead and what it is going to take to elevate Georgia Tech athletics from where it is to where our administration wants it to be.

Among the most pressing priorities for Stansbury is providing funding for all student-athlete scholarships.

Between the annual donations to the Athletic Scholarship Fund and the annual draw from endowed scholarships, Georgia Tech provides $4.2M in financial aid to our studentathletes. This leaves about $4.8M remaining to raise to fully fund all scholarship expenses.

Accompanying the priority of fully funding scholarships for every sport is the Everyday Champions scholarship program. Stansbury touts this program and the mantra of “Everyday Champions” as part of the Georgia Tech Athletics brand and an integral part of the athletics story. The Everyday Champions Scholarship provides the funds for a student-athlete for four years at the in-state level. To learn more about the Everyday Champions scholarship program, visit ramblinwreck.com or call the AT Fund at 404-894-5414.

Full funding of all athletic scholarships is a priority for director of athletics Todd Stansbury.

In addition to scholarships, our buildings, facilities, and amenities serve as the front porch of Georgia Tech athletics before potential student-athletes and visitors even walk in the door. The renovation of the football locker room is well on its way and set to be completed for the start of football season. On deck for upcoming renovations are the men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms and the second phase of Russ Chandler baseball stadium. The upkeep of our facilities is essential to maintaining a top level of excellence and competition. The updates, renovations, and innovation in all of

our facilities would not be possible without the support and generosity of our donors.

At the athletic association, everything we do, from supporting student-athletes in the classroom to getting them prepared for excellence on the playing field, weaves into the fabric and DNA of the Institute. We want to win on the field as much as we want to be innovative in the lab and the classroom. Your support helps us recruit top talent to Georgia Tech, better develop our student-athletes while they are here and prepare them for life after Tech, and win.

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ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

PHASE II – RUSS CHANDLER STADIUM PLANS FOR THE NEXT UPGRADE OF TECH’S BASEBALL FACILITY MADE PUBLIC On April 9, director of athletics Todd Stansbury, Georgia Tech baseball head coach Danny Hall and Yellow Jackets legend Mark Teixeira publicly unveiled plans for the second phase of renovations at Russ Chandler Stadium, the home of Georgia Tech baseball.

Phase II of the Russ Chandler Stadium renovations are driven by Georgia Tech athletics’ vision for its nationally renowned baseball program -- to enhance player development, to improve fan experience and to celebrate the Yellow Jackets’ rich baseball history.

Planned improvements include: • a new, expanded indoor training facility, which will include three 20-foot-wide batting cages, two 10-foot-wide pitching tunnels and a video analysis room. The facility will be adjacent to the Yellow Jackets’ dugout and heated and air-conditioned for year-round use; • an alumni locker room that will be available to former letterwinners in pro baseball as they utilize the new, expanded indoor training facility during the offseason; • upgraded fan amenities, including all-new restroom facilities and concession stands, a premium club area and an outdoor plaza; • a concourse-level atrium that will house a new Georgia Tech Baseball Hall of Fame. It will serve as an iconic point of entry to Russ Chandler Stadium and be open to the public on game days. On nongame days, the atrium will convert into a 40-seat teaching auditorium for Tech baseball.

Phase II of the Russ Chandler Stadium renovations builds on the

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Phase I renovations that were completed in 2015 and included significant enhancements to the Jackets’ locker room, lounge area, athletic training room and study room.

With $6.5 of the $9 million needed to fund the Phase II renovations already committed, the GTAA and A-T Fund have set a goal of raising the final $2.5 million needed

to fully fund the project by December 31, 2018. It is officially part of the Athletics Initiative 2020. For more information and to make a gift, visit atfund.org, call the A-T Fund at (404) 894-5414 or email associate vice president for development/athletics Jim Hall at jhall@athletics.gatech.edu.

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HEISMAN DONOR ANNUAL EVENT SPRING GAME PROVIDES SETTING FOR NEW PUSH IN ANNUAL GIVING

Alexander-Tharpe Fund Heisman level donors are those who support the Athletic Scholarship Fund and/or sport-specific giving through annual donations of $1,000-$2,999. The Athletic Scholarship Fund supports all student-athletes by closing the current gap in between returns from scholarship endowments to the amount needed to be able to fully fund scholarships for all of Georgia Tech student-athletes. Sport-specific giving is a way to support individual teams through donations of any amount. Teams may utilize those funds to support scholarships, team operations or facilities.

Prior to Georgia Tech’s annual spring football game on April 20, Heisman level donors gathered in the Bobby Dodd Stadium President’s Suite to eat, drink and mingle as they prepared to watch the Yellow Jackets give fans a preview of the 2018 season. Director of athletics Todd Stansbury thanked donors for their support and gave them a brief update of what to expect from Georgia Tech athletics in the months and years moving forward.

For more information on annual giving to Georgia Tech athletics, email director of annual giving for athletics Nick Parsons at nparsons@athletics.gatech.edu or call the Alexander-Tharpe Fund at (404) 894-5414.

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COMPLIANCE CORNER

BY LANCE MARKOS, ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE

STUDENT-ATHLETES AND EMPLOYMENT Now that the academic year is complete and the spring seasons are winding down, Georgia Tech student-athletes are starting to work at a variety of internships and jobs during the summer. And with student-athletes starting on these new undertakings, it’s important to know the NCAA’s rules regarding employment of current Yellow Jackets.

First, the NCAA’s rules on any employment for student-athletes that must LANCE MARKOS be adhered to are as follows: • Individuals may only be compensated for ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE work they actually perform; • The pay rate is commensurate with the going rate in the locale for similar services; and • Payment may not be based on the value the student-athlete may have for the employer because of the publicity, reputation, fame, or personal following that he or she has obtained because of their athletics ability.

Provided the above is followed, Georgia Tech student-athletes may be employed at any time. In addition, it is permissible for Georgia Tech to assist in arranging employment for its studentathletes. In fact, Georgia Tech boosters are also permitted to provide employment to current student-athletes. All of these scenarios are permitted since the above measures are in place to ensure no extra benefits are provided through the use of jobs for student-athletes. Please note that Georgia Tech and its boosters are not permitted to arrange for employment of any family members of a current student-athlete.

NEW NCAA LEGISLATION Here are some noteworthy examples of recently passed legislation that will impact NCAA schools in the area of recruiting.

• In sports other than football and basketball, prospects are no longer permitted to take unofficial visits to schools prior to September 1st of the recruit’s junior year in high school.

• In sports other than football and basketball, prospects are now permitted to take an official, paid visit to a school starting on September 1st at the beginning of the recruit’s junior year in high school. Previously, official visits in those sports were not permitted until the start of their senior year in high school.

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

Lance Markos Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance lmarkos@athletics.gatech.edu (404) 894-5507

• Georgia Tech may now provide up to $75 per day to a studentathlete who is hosting a recruit to cover entertainment expenses for the recruit and up to four family members of the recruit on an official visit. The old rule permitted up to $40 per day for such expenses. Given that most official visits cover two days (i.e. up to 48 hours), this now permits up to $150 to be provided for entertainment on an official visit.

If you have any questions, you may contact the compliance office at compliance@gtaa.gatech.edu or 404-894-5055.

Go Jackets!!

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

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

Christina Chow Compliance Assistant cchow@athletics.gatech.edu

Compliance Office Phone Number: (404) 894-5055

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