Everyday Champions Magazine - Winter 2018-19

CELEBRATING PIONEER SPIRIT

TECH’S FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FOOTBALL STUDENT-ATHLETES SPEND A WEEKEND ON CAMPUS

THE

ROAD

NOT TAKEN

Defensive specialists Malik Rivera and Coral Kazaroff demonstrated high degree of independent thinking along the paths that led them to Georgia Tech

WINTER 2018

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WINTER 2018 • VOLUME 12, NUMBER 2

WINTER 2018

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

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I N

T H I S

I S S U E

4 | THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Defensive specialists Malik Rivera and Coral Kazaroff demonstrated high degree of independent thinking along the paths that led them to Georgia Tech

10 | CELEBRATING PIONEER SPIRIT Georgia Tech’s first African-American football student-athletes spent a weekend on campus sharing their experiences with their present-day counterparts

14 | BUILDING A VETERAN TEAM Josh Pastner and the Yellow Jackets remain on schedule, building a team with methodical evaluation and recruiting

18 | MAKING AN IMPACT

Women’s basketball team gets a lesson in perspective from 11-year-old Keren Clay and Team IMPACT

22 | JET-SETTER

Former Yellow Jackets swimmer and runner Jenny Lentz Moore has flown to the highest heights and is now helping others get there

27 | STATE-OF-THE-ART THREADS Basketball teams unveil neo-traditional look with advanced technology

28 | ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND Updates in facility initiatives and AI2020

31 | COMPLIANCE CORNER

Just what defines an athletics booster and extra benefits?

ATHLETICS

THE ROAD DEFENSIVE SPECIALISTS MALIK RIVERA AND CORAL KAZAROFF DEMONSTRATED HIGH DEGREE OF INDEPENDENT THINKING ALONG THE PATHS THAT LED THEM TO GEORGIA TECH

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

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NOT TAKEN Football defensive back Malik Rivera (left) and volleyball defensive specialist Coral Kazaroff are the only Tech student-athletes enrolled in their respective majors.

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ATHLETICS | THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

THEY’RE LIKE TEXTBOOKS AWAITING FIRST PRINT WHILE EMERGING AS EXAMPLES OF WAY TECH SEPARATES ITSELF FROM OTHER NCAA ATHLETIC PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO MERGE ATHLETIC SKILLS AND SUBLIME BRAINPOWER INTO LUCRATIVE CAREERS. 6

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T

hey haven’t come from all that far away, really, at least as a crow or rocket might fly, but Coral Kazaroff and Malik Rivera are on The Flats having taken roads so rarely if ever traveled to become student-athletes that they might as well have come from different solar systems.

And they’re perhaps ultimate examples of what sets apart Georgia Tech athletics.

Seriously, they’re like textbooks awaiting first print while emerging as examples of way Tech separates itself from other NCAA athletic programs to provide opportunities to merge athletic skills and sublime brainpower into lucrative careers.

Kazaroff, a fourth-year junior on the volleyball team, is the only student-athlete among Tech’s 400 or so who is majoring in nuclear and | WINTER 2018

radiological engineering. That program admits 20 students a year campus-wide. There are no fresh memories among Tech’s athletic advisory staff of anyone majoring in this.

And Rivera, the starting free safety on the football team, is in graduate school majoring in quantitative and computational finance. He’s the only one of those among SAs either in undergrad or grad school. Nobody remembers that, either.

Surely, you have questions, like, where might these degrees carry students? What will they do? What is nuclear and radiological engineering all about?

“There’s the hard-core nuclear engineering side, and then there’s the medical side. I don’t really know much about [the medical side] because I’m not interested in it,” Kazaroff explained. “There are people who work with X-rays, and dosimetry is

people who assess radiation doses after, like, a Fukushima or Chernobyl accident and make sure things are safe.

“Then, there’s the nuclear side, which is more me. It’s a focus on nuclear reactors or non-proliferation, radiation detection. I’m more interested in the reactors.”

Both student-athletes began college elsewhere. Kazaroff, who’s from Apex, N.C., transferred to Tech in 2017 from Virginia, and Rivera, who’s from Jacksonville, graduated in May from Wofford with degrees in mathematics, finance and computer science.

He’s taking all of those fields further in Tech’s QC+F graduate program.

“It’s a combination of all three of my majors,” Rivera said. “It’s a combination of learning the different aspects of finance, but when you’re learning those aspects of finance, you’re trying to apply mathematical models and different mathematical techniques and trying to apply that to what’s going on in finance. The computer science is a big key, because we do a lot of coding.”

Actually, Rivera’s path toward predictive finance has been kind of predictable, dating back to his peer group at Bartram Trail High School in Jacksonville.

He had a couple shoulder surgeries as a senior, and was fascinated by working with physical therapists.

So, when he went to college, “I started off wanting to be a biology major. Then, I took the first couple biology classes, and that wasn’t for me,” Rivera said. “I had already early enrolled in upper-level math classes, because I graduated [from high school] AP in Calculus A, B and C. They put me in multi-variable, and I really liked the teacher, so I knew that if I wasn’t going to do biology, I was going to do math.

“I have a group of high school friends, and we all took a computer class together. Two of them went to Cal Berkeley to do computer science, and another one focused on computer science, and I think now he’s a software designer in Allentown, N.Y. Another one used to build computers for us.

All of were just so into computers. The finance came when I was like a sophomore or junior.”

Rivera found himself in a couple of finance study groups at Wofford – he cited an investment project as particularly inspiring – and eventually followed two group mates who graduated a year ahead of him, Richard Fields and Cole Higbie – to Tech’s QC&F graduate program.

His former position coach at Wofford, first-year Tech safeties coach Shiel Wood, lent an assist.

Kazaroff’s trail to Tech has been more individualistic.

Her parents urged their only child to try volleyball in seventh grade.

“They were wanting to expose me to different sports, nothing serious, at the parks and recreation center. Soccer, softball. I really wanted to play football, but my mom wouldn’t let me,” said the defensive specialist.

“So, I tried volleyball and really liked it, and my parents kept encouraging it because I was really quiet. They thought it would be a good way for me to be a little more outgoing.

I’ve always been a little on the nerdy side, motivated for school. I found something I loved, and they thought it would open me up.”

Upon graduating from Apex High, Kazaroff sought to be an engineer.

“I always leaned towards science. I changed from wanting to be a neurological surgeon to a dermatological surgeon, and then my junior year of high school, I took Calc I and Calc II, and I was like, ‘Wow! I really want to incorporate this into something,’” she said. “I thought biomedical engineering or chemistry, and then I took chemistry and I was like, ‘No.’ “It kind of progressed into more math and physics as I found out more and more about it. At UVa, I was a double major in mechanical engineering and physics.”

CORAL KAZAROFF AND MALIK RIVERA ARE ON THE FLATS HAVING TAKEN ROADS SO RARELY IF EVER TRAVELED TO BECOME STUDENTATHLETES THAT THEY MIGHT AS WELL HAVE COME FROM DIFFERENT SOLAR SYSTEMS. AND THEY’RE PERHAPS ULTIMATE EXAMPLES OF WHAT SETS APART GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS.

Kazaroff’s graduate program of nuclear and radiological engineering admits 20 students a year campus-wide.

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ATHLETICS | THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Rivera graduated last May from Wofford with degrees in mathematics, finance and computer science, and now combined those fields further in Tech’s QC+F graduate program.

One class led to several others, and an interest in nuclear engineering, which would have to be at another school; Virginia doesn’t have the major.

“I took modern physics my first semester of sophomore year, and the same professor had a class the next semester, an introduction to nuclear physics, and I was really interested in that,” Kazaroff recalled. “I was like, ‘How can I do more of that?’ and then I realized I was looking at transferring.

“I saw Georgia Tech had this major that was pretty tailored to what I was looking for: a lot more math, a lot more physics.”

Kazaroff was not immediately admitted to the nuclear and radiological engineering program at Tech. She had to get some other classwork out of the way as she redshirted in 2017-18.

She’s in now, and helped in research last summer. She has played in most volleyball matches this season, helping dig balls out on the back line.

Rivera has started every football game.

Football, in fact, was the final vote that swung him to Georgia Tech.

“Two of the students that were in that fund [at Wofford] came to Georgia Tech and are in the exact same program. That’s what drew me to this program,” Rivera said. “I looked in the Southeast. I knew NC State had a similar program, Georgia Tech, Florida State. Georgia Tech had the best program just based on the statistics that kept coming up.

“I didn’t know if I was going to come immediately into the program, because I didn’t know how I was going to pay for it. One of the ideas that I had was to get a job somewhere in Georgia for a year and then qualify as an

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in-state resident, so that would save me like $10,000 each semester.”

When Wood offered a football scholarship for one school year, “that kind of made it a nobrainer,” Rivera said. “As soon as I got into the QCF program, I probably told my friends within an hour and paid my security deposit within the next two hours.”

For as smart as Rivera and Kazaroff are, they missed one question in similar fashion.

Asked if the Georgia Tech Athletics Association provided tutoring for their unique majors, they both said no, yet they both said they’re not the type to seek tutoring anyway.

“You can find some stuff through a library, but there’s no athletic tutoring because they produce so few nuclear engineers here that . . . it’s more who you know within your classes, and if you know any graduate students you can ask for help,” Kazaroff said. “I already visit my professors a fair amount. I’m generally more of an independent study person.”

Rivera said, “I don’t actually know. I’ve never had tutors here. I’ve never had tutors. I kind of tutored my teammates when they needed help on whatever subject it was. I love asking my professors, and people who have done it before. That’s the good thing about having two guys in school who I can ask questions.”

They’re both sort of right. The GTAA does not have nuclear and radiological engineering tutors nor quantitative and computational finance tutors on speed dial.

But if Kazaroff or Rivera want them, tutors will be found by the AA. “What we’ll do is work with the school or college to get referrals [for tutors in rare majors],” said Chris Breen, the assistant athletics director/student services who helped guide Rivera through his application process.

“Typically, we know what subjects we’re going to need each semester, and we’ll recruit [tutors] weeks ahead of the semester. We’ll also hire tutors on demand.”

Neither have asked for aid.

“She’s not one to want tutoring,” said Whitney Burton, associate athletics director/academic services. “Generally, she meets with her professors a lot and prefers to get help that way.

Sometimes, when you have a unique major, once they get a little further up into their courses, it’s a better resource for them to go into their professors.

“We would be happy to [hire tutors]. Coral is funny in that she is taking a math class which

is not part of her degree, because she said it sounded fun. I said, ‘OK. You do want you do, girl!’ “ Few want to do what Kazaroff is considering, and her schedule is difficult in many ways.

“I’d like to go into mathematics for a graduate degree and then bring it all back together and work for the intelligence community one day, whether it’s cryptography or national security stuff with nuclear weaponry or nonproliferation,” she said. “Reactor physics II is probably my hardest class. It’s right in the middle of practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I made a really good deal with my professor where I say I can’t come on these days, but I’ll come on these days and my coach knows I’ll come in early other days. I sprint to practice once that class is done. It’s about 10 minutes. If I book it, I’ll get here with about an hour left in practice.”

Rivera was accustomed to having five or six classes per term at Wofford, so having four at Tech, where he hopes to graduate with a master’s degree in Dec. 2019, is kind of cool.

He even found time on Sat. Oct. 6, the day

after the Yellow Jackets won at Louisville, to drive to Chattanooga, where Wofford was playing.

Generally, though, his schedule of corporate restructuring, machine learning for trading, entrepreneurial finance and private equity, and design and implementation of systems to support computational finance eats quite a bit of time.

Rivera doesn’t mind.

“It’s using your knowledge of finance to try to develop algorithms that you think will work best [to predict future behaviors],” he said.

“The more I’ve gotten into programs, the more I’ve seen that consulting may be the way to go just because you’re not doing the same thing every day. Trading would also be fun.”

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FOOTBALL

CELEBRATING PIONEER SPIRIT GEORGIA TECH’S FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FOOTBALL STUDENT-ATHLETES SPENT A WEEKEND ON CAMPUS SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THEIR PRESENT-DAY COUNTERPARTS

BY JON COOPER

G

eorgia Tech has always been the standard in creating and implementing progress in technology, business and all aspects of life, be it in the sports world or the “real” one.

As important, it has been at the forefront in developing the people who make those advances.

That has meant never being afraid to take the lead in doing what is right.

On Sept. 27 in the Edge/Rice Center, Georgia Tech recognized the Institute’s first African-American football student-athletes — Eddie McAshan, Karl “Peewee” Barnes, Greg Horne, Joe Harris, Cleo Johnson, Rudy Allen, Tommy Crowley and David Sims.

The event kicked off a weekend of events commemorating and celebrating these men — all of whom graduated from the Institute and went on to be pillars in the community and important contributors in the business world. The weekend was capped with their introduction during a break in the Yellow Jackets’ Sept. 29 game between Georgia Tech and Bowling Green at Bobby Dodd Stadium. They received a standing ovation from the home crowd,

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not so much in appreciation for their superb athletic achievements — Sims (1985), McAshan (1995), and Harris (2000) are members of the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame — but the groundwork that they laid for thousands of student-athletes that have followed in their footsteps.

But the in-game introduction was only a small part of recognizing these special men, which was important to director of athletics Todd Stansbury.

“We wanted to recognize the African-American football players that integrated Georgia Tech [but we wanted it] to be more than just a ‘Roll them out on the field and everybody recognize them,’” said Stansbury. “I wanted there to be an educational aspect so that we could learn from their experience.

“I felt it was important that our student-athletes, our staff, our students on campus had the opportunity to hear their stories,” Stansbury added.

“It’s been 50 years since Eddie McAshan was recruited to come here, and I felt devoting a whole weekend, with panels and opportunities for them to meet with classes and different other groups on

Joe Harris, an All-American linebacker at Tech, went on to play six seasons in the National Football League

ON SEPT. 27 IN THE EDGE/RICE CENTER, GEORGIA TECH RECOGNIZED THE INSTITUTE’S FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN FOOTBALL STUDENTATHLETES — EDDIE MCASHAN, KARL “PEEWEE” BARNES, GREG HORNE, JOE HARRIS, CLEO JOHNSON, RUDY ALLEN, TOMMY CROWLEY AND DAVID SIMS. Opposite page from left: linebacker Joe Harris, running back Greg Horne, quarterback Eddie McAshan, defensive back and kick returner Karl Barnes, running back David Sims, running back Tommy Crowley, quarterback Rudy Allen. Harris, McAshan and Sims are members of the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

campus would be a fitting way to recognize the legacy that they’ve left here and the path that they started.”

There was a special feel to the Edge/Rice Center that weekend.

The same space used by current football studentathletes to describe their successes and challenges during postgame press conferences was the stage to learn about this octet’s very different set of successes and challenges in the late 1960’s and early ‘70s.

“You’ve made Georgia Tech a possibility. But more than that, you’ve made Georgia Tech a reality for African-American students, studentathletes coming behind you,” said GT athletics character development coach Derrick Moore, who emceed the event. “You set such an incredible example, but you kept the standards high. All of us are so deeply appreciative that you gave so many of us opportunities to experience the greatest institution in the world.

We are so dadgum proud of you.”

They were as proud to be back and spreading the good word.

McAshan was the first African-American to receive a football scholarship at Georgia Tech, the first to start at quarterback — he was second in the entire Southeast — and the first to be selected in the NFL Draft, by New England in 1973. He also still ranks in the top 10 in school history in passing yards (4,080, eighth), touchdown passes (32, eighth), and completions (360, sixth), and set 17 school records in his 36 starts, going 22-13-1.

He made a tremendous impact on the field from 1970-72, and the history books didn’t matter as much as the impact he made simply by attending Georgia Tech, where he’d earn a degree in industrial management.

“I didn’t understand it then, but my grandmother told me there would be a moment like this. It won’t mean a lot as far as financial gain, but it would be something that would be everlasting,” he said. “She explained to me that it would be something that you could not avoid. It was a timely deal. I came along just during that time when segregation was going out.

“Coming here and deciding on Georgia Tech, and Georgia Tech, of course, being in

Atlanta, there was no way that bad things could happen,” he added. “Georgia Tech has done a lot for me. It’s opened a lot of doors. My grandmother was right. There’s not a whole lot of financial gain, but there’s a whole lot of love to be enjoyed through this type of longevity.’

Harris, the third African-American to receive a football scholarship, made 415 career tackles (eighth in school history) and would go on to play six seasons in the NFL. Similarly, he used his degree to make a big impact in the business world and credited what he learned at Georgia Tech for his approach to life.

“Georgia Tech teaches you how to create your own world,” he said. “They’ll teach you how to figure it out. Make it happen. That’s what it did for me. I didn’t know I could do all these businesses but I started figuring it out. My goal was to help somebody else. It wasn’t about me.

It was about helping somebody else to be even better than me.

“You’ve got to be the motor in your life.

You are the motor and you’ve got to make it happen,” he added. “I always tell kids, ‘Get your back-up plan. Football is just a game. It’s not going to last forever but you can enjoy it while you’ve got it. But once it’s gone, you go on to something else.’ It’s going to be good. There’s a good life for everybody.”

Barnes, the first African-American to enroll at Georgia Tech and to play varsity football after walking on, told the student-athletes that timing really is everything (ironically, he showed great comedic timing, as in a humorous moment, several student-athletes had to leave for class just as he began to speak, appearing to exit on him). He told the remaining student-athletes that the time is right now — that’s backed up

by Georgia Tech’s current 88-percent NCAA graduation success rate (GSR).

“When we were freshmen, they used to tell us ‘Look to your left, look to your right. Two of you ain’t gonna graduate,’” recalled Barnes, who graduated with a degree in industrial management, attended the prestigious University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and served on the Georgia Tech Foundation, Alumni Association, Athletic Association and Alexander-Tharpe Fund boards. “Now they tell us that we have a shot to graduate. Tech got me into the Wharton School.

When I got to Philadelphia they told me my 2.4 [GPA at Tech], if I had been [at Penn], would have been a 3.4.

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FOOTBALL | CELEBRATING PIONEER SPIRIT

Running back Greg Horne (49) and quarterback Eddie McAshan (1) served as honorary game captains when the Yellow Jackets faced Bowling Green on Sept. 29.

BY THE NUMBERS

88 Georgia Tech’s graduation success rate on football

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“Obviously Georgia Tech is evolving. Atlanta has evolved. You guys are here at a perfect time because you now have an evolution where you can look at the history, look at the present and move toward the future,” he added. “Tech has opened a plethora of doors. I’ve been all over the world. When I say Georgia Tech, people don’t say, ‘Where is that?’ because they know.

The reputation of Georgia Tech will always precede you.”

The message of the pioneers in attendance hit the mark on the student-athletes that were in attendance, representing every sport.

“It’s definitely awesome being able to hear how many doors have opened up for those guys that have come through here and knowing that the opportunities may be more abundant now,” said quarterback TaQuon Marshall, who, less than 72 hours later, would sit and answer questions on the same stage in almost the same spot as his predecessor McAshan. “Just to know that coming here, when you leave, you’ll have a lot of opportunities to do something great.

“I’m trying to leave a legacy like those guys did,” he added. “They paved the way, and we’re trying to follow in their footsteps. It was awesome to be able to have time in my schedule to come down and hear some of the stories those guys told.”

Women’s basketball’s Martine Fortune found it enlightening to be able to put faces to the names and stories of Georgia Tech AfricanAmerican student-athletes.

“It brought history to life to hear from these men,” she said. “We, as students, are often told | WINTER 2018

facts like ‘Eddie McAshan was the first black Georgia Tech football player,’ but we got to hear the whole story. We learned what he had to overcome to get here and what he did to excel while he was here.”

The experience has inspired her and her teammates to dig deeper into the school’s history and become further aware of social causes.

“I know from conversations I’ve already had, that this event has sparked interest in Georgia Tech’s history,” she said. “We would like to know more about the progress made for equality on this campus and how so many of us minority and foreign students got the opportunity to study and play here. We’ve had some of the first women’s basketball players in history come to practices and games before, but now I am interested in sitting down with these women and former Georgia Tech players to hear all that they have to say about the changes they’ve witnessed in women’s basketball. The core of what it means to be a Tech student-athlete hasn’t changed. I want to uphold those of excellence on and off the court, and I want to make sure student-athletes are also getting the best college experience they can.”

The impact made by these pioneers and their stories made for a proud weekend all over campus.

“What they did by coming here, and really paved the road, what they’ve done …”

Stansbury said. “I really like what Eddie said, what his grandmother said: It wouldn’t be about the money. I think that’s what this weekend is all about, the lasting legacy of what those guys have done.

“Put yourself in their shoes and the difficulties that they had to go through to be the first. I think it humbles everybody,” he added.

“Everybody talks about the rigor of Tech, the curriculum and how hard it is to be a Division I athlete, all those kinds of things. But then you think about all the added pressures that were put on these guys because they were the first.

That takes it to a whole new level. It also shows where Georgia Tech was as far as a pioneering institution. So I think that also speaks to the type of Institution that this is, the leadership that it provided. Of course, it was great that Jack Thompson, who recruited all these guys, and is still part of our program, was here. I think it just shows our current student-athletes kind of where they come from and the type of Institution they’re at.”

BASKETBALL Transfers like Brandon Alston (foreground) and James Banks (background) complement the Yellow Jackets’ recruiting efforts on the high school level.

BUILDING A VETERAN TEAM JOSH PASTNER AND THE YELLOW JACKETS REMAIN ON SCHEDULE, BUILDING A TEAM WITH METHODICAL EVALUATION AND RECRUITING

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

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S

hembari Phillips is nowhere near a grey beard, yet he qualifies as just the kind of geezer that Josh Pastner is looking for to help stabilize the Georgia Tech men’s basketball program as part of the head coach’s “get old and stay old” roster-building plan.

At 21, he’s been around the basketball block, having played two seasons for Tennessee, where he appeared in 64 games and started 24 over the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons before transferring to his hometown school.

Then, he practiced with the Yellow Jackets last season while redshirting.

On the cusp of his third season as head coach, Pastner and his coaching staff are not routinely recruiting potential “one-and-done” prospects because he knows they’re difficult for Tech to land, although he’s open to bringing uber-talented student-athletes to The Flats if they match the school’s unique requirements and his team’s playing plan.

The first goal is to build a roster that has plenty of experienced players not only to play, but to teach younger players how to go about the day-to-day life of Division I college basketball.

When Josh Okogie entered the NBA draft last spring following his stellar sophomore season, it threw a wrench into the works for this season, yet the plan is still unfolding largely as Pastner envisions.

In the current and future rosters, he sees something similar to what he and the Jackets had in his first season, when Tech pulled off multiple upsets and went to the NIT championship game.

With the presence of Phillips, a fourth-year junior transfer, fifth-year senior Abdoulaye Gueye, graduate student Brandon Alston (a transfer) and even transfer James Banks, Pastner believes Tech is on track.

“Year one we were older, and that’s why we had some of the success that we had. I said that year two, I thought was going to be the hardest,” the coach explained. “I didn’t plan on losing Josh after his second year. Our plan was he was going to leave after his third year, so that changes the dynamics for this upcoming season.

“But we have 12 scholarship guys, and 10 are scheduled to be back next year, so I’ve always believed year four we would be old, and year five we would be old.”

Gueye, a post player, and Alston, a swingman, are the only players Pastner knows

will not be back next season, when Tech figures to have three scholarships to offer.

Two seasons ago, when the Jackets upset No. 9 North Carolina, No. 6 Florida State and No. 12 Notre Dame, Okogie played the role of emerging star as a freshman. Tech wouldn’t have gone 2116, though, without junior center Ben Lammers, senior Quinton Stephens and fifth-year seniors Josh Heath and Corey Heyward.

Junior Tadric Jackson flashed at times during that season, too, and the Jackets drew quiet leadership from a couple transfer players who didn’t play all that much.

Graduate transfers Kellen McCormick (Western Michigan) and Jodan Price (Eastern Michigan) brought age and wisdom to the team.

Phillips, a 6-foot-3, 202-pound wing who played at Tucker High School before graduating from Wheeler and then moving on to Tennessee, is likely to see more floor time than either McCormick or Price, and his versatility and shooting skills hopefully will make him a nice fit.

Beyond his on-court skills, the history, society and technology major can mentor sophomores Jose Alvarado, Curtis Haywood II, Moses Wright and Evan Cole, plus freshmen Kristian Sjolund, Mike Devoe and Khalid Moore, on and even off the basketball floor.

“I think [Pastner] wants experience. He wants guys who’ve guys who’ve kind of been under the light, guys who’ve been in various situations, played different kinds of teams,” Phillips said.

“Right now, we’re a young team, but Jose is well

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BY THE NUMBERS

Number of scholarship freshmen and sophomores on the Tech team

Incoming freshman Michael Devoe was a four-star-rated prospect who developed in the high school national championship program at Montverde Academy in Orlando, Fla.

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BASKETBALL | BUILDING A VETERAN TEAM

Abdoulaye Gueye, a fifth-year senior, is a shining example of Tech’s player development efforts, an under-the-radar high school player who became an ACC-level performer last season.

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beyond his class. Myself and Brandon are two older guys, A.D. … But to go back to what he said, coach emphasizes leadership.

“I think he just wants guys to be accountable. I think he wants us to hold each other accountable. He wants a balance between older and younger.”

That’s an important word, balance.

Obviously, no roster can be comprised of just juniors, seniors and graduate students.

Yet Pastner wants plenty of them around, and he points to ACC foes Virginia and Notre Dame as prime examples of programs built with no ageism.

The coach is particularly fond of invoking former Notre Dame standout Matt Farrell.

When Irish coach Mike Brey and his staff were recruiting the scrappy, 6-2 guard out of Point Pleasant Beach High School (N.J.) in 2014, they landed a 2/3-star prospect who didn’t garner a lot of attention from the sport’s blue blood programs.

Farrell barely played as a freshman, appearing in 15 games and averaging 0.9 | WINTER 2018

points and 0.5 assists, but the Notre Dame staff helped him develop into a sniper.

That’s another very important word: development.

When Pastner and assistants Eric Reveno, Julian Swartz and Anthony Wilkins hit the recruiting trail, they’re looking for players who can help instantly. Yet they’re looking just as hard if not harder for prospects who fit their systems, student-athletes whom they believe can develop into front-line players.

Like Lammers, who blossomed as a junior after making modest contributions at Tech as a freshman and a sophomore.

And like Farrell, who as a junior earned AllACC honorable mention when he averaged 14.1 points, 5.4 assists and shot 42 percent from beyond the 3-point line, and then was tabbed third-team All-ACC last season after averaging 16.3 points, 5.5 assists and shooting 37.7 from 3.

“Look at Matt Farrell. He was a two-star recruit out of high school, and he was All-ACC,” Pastner said. “Who doesn’t want [McDonald’s

All-Americans], but you’ve got to be efficient in recruiting. It’s not the recruiting, it’s the evaluation.”

Tech basketball is not ignoring All-American high school players, yet the staff is not going to waste time over-recruiting them, either. If they don’t check boxes along the recruiting trail – chiefly their interest in Tech and their academic accomplishments – the Jackets check out.

“No problem. We would take a one-anddone,” Pastner said. “I’m just being realistic; it’s going to be hard for us. However, Josh Okogie ... nobody thought he would be two-and-done.

I have no issue with a one-and-done, but I’m being realistic as well.

“Unless we have a great in, I’m not recruiting them. We’re going to do our job, but I don’t think you can put all your eggs in one basket. We’ve got to make sure we’re recruiting guys who fit.”

As Okogie has begun his NBA career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who drafted him No. 20 in the first round in June and gave him a five-year contract in which he is guaranteed salaries of $2,163,600 this year and $2,345,700 next, Tech is looking for more like him.

Pastner and his staff are also grooming the players they already have with the idea of letting them grow old in their system.

That includes Banks, the long-limbed, thick 6-8, 243-pound post man who transferred from Texas to be closer to his family in Decatur.

Tech will continue to look for a transfer or two each spring, whether they’re undergraduates who typically have to redshirt a year like Banks, or graduates eligible to play right away, like Alston when he came last year from Lehigh.

“That allows us in year four and five to get old and stay old. What I’ve really liked is having Shembari and James Banks as transfers, and Brandon,” Pastner said. “I’d like to keep a scholarship or two open [for transfers] because that helps you get older, and guys have already been in college and that’s a big part of getting old and staying old . . .

“We do have James Banks in the [2019] class with three open scholarships. I am being selective and disciplined. There’s guys who’ve wanted to come that we’ve turned down. For us to move the needle, I don’t want to settle.”

4

BY THE NUMBERS

Number of fourth- and fifth-year players on the Tech team

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17

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MAKING AN IMPACT WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM GETS A LESSON IN PERSPECTIVE FROM 11-YEAR-OLD KEREN CLAY AND TEAM IMPACT

BY JON COOPER

T

he ability to overcome adversity is a must to succeed, be it in college basketball or in life.

The Georgia Tech women’s basketball team has learned -- and continues to learn -- lessons in that through Keren Clay.

Clay is not a basketball player -- not yet, anyway -- but was a really good soccer player and a typical active 11-year-old, who suddenly had her ability to do something as basic as walk taken away.

It began one night early this year, when her left foot became so sore to even the slightest

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EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

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touch that her parents took her to their doctor, then a sports medicine doctor, then several specialists. After about five months, Keren was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that attacks soft or connective tissue usually in muscles attached to bones involved with movement. It is an ailment frequently found in children.

Keren would go through months of radiation treatments and chemotherapy then eventually have to have the leg amputated below the knee.

“That was really hard for her because she really loves soccer and she’s very athletic,” said

The Yellow Jackets made Keren Clay a member of their team by holding a “national letter of intent signing” at McCamish Pavilion, complete with the pep band, Buzz and the entire women’s basketball team in attendance.

her mom, Kelly. “Losing her mobility is difficult for her, but she just keeps adapting and trying to come up with a new way to be herself.”

That’s where Georgia Tech athletics and the women’s basketball team offered a helping hand.

They reached out to Team IMPACT, a Bostonbased non-profit that has been matching up children dealing with serious illnesses with colleges. Since 2011, some 529 colleges and 50,000 student-athletes, representing 107 different conferences in 48 states around the nation have participated, including 12 of 15 schools in the ACC. The women’s basketball team became the second Tech sport to adopt a Team IMPACT child, joining swimming and diving.

The process began in the spring with a general email to the entire athletic association from total person coordinator Maureen Tremblay.

“When I saw the email I thought, ‘This would be something great for us to do,’” said women’s basketball head coach MaChelle Joseph. “We immediately contacted Team IMPACT and said, ‘We’d be interested in having a team member from your program.’ It took them a couple of months to match us with Keren, but once they did and she came for a meeting, we knew it was a perfect match for us.”

The players immediately felt the connection.

“As soon as I met Keren, I knew that she was special. Her smile is extremely contagious,” said sophomore guard Kierra Fletcher, one of the players on a team leadership committee that’s acted as liaison with Team IMPACT. “When you’re around Keren, it’s very hard to be sad.

For her to be the way that she is with what she’s going through shows a lot about her character.”

On Sept. 23, the team made Keren a Yellow Jacket, holding a “national letter of intent signing” at McCamish Pavilion, complete with the pep band, which serenaded her with the fight song as she entered the room, Buzz and the entire women’s basketball team in attendance.

“This year’s team was very young, it just got a whole lot younger,” said Tabitha Turner, a former Jackets player, and current broadcaster for Fox Sports, who emceed. “So Keren, get ready to attend some exciting Georgia Tech women’s basketball games, some delicious team dinners, some really fun tailgates, and, yes, even those 6 a.m. practices.”

“Yay!” said Clay, to big laughs.

Joseph then did the honors.

“Today is a very exciting day for us. We are really excited to welcome our top recruit, Keren

Clay, to Georgia Tech,” said Joseph. “We like to say around here that we’re ‘Tech Tough.’ From the minute I met Keren, I knew that I had met a warrior, I had met somebody that knew what it was like to be ‘Tech Tough.’

Clay was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that attacks soft or connective tissue usually in muscles attached to bones involved with movement.

“You’ve been an inspiration to me,” Joseph said, turning to Keren. “Every time we’ve been around you, you lift our spirits. We appreciate that and it’s been great to have you around. We’re really looking forward to the year ahead with you.”

Keren then signed the NLI -- marking the time, as Joseph reminded her, in accordance with NCAA regulations. She then got her official Georgia Tech practice jersey, something the team hadn’t even received. The event concluded with a team photo and King of Pops ice cream treats.

Keren may not have melted the popsicles with the beaming smile that never left her face, but she did melt the heart of everyone in the room.

That smile is her signature and has been there good or bad over the past year.

“She was just born smiling and has always been a very optimistic person. So it’s always been in her character,” said Kelly. “She constantly amazes me and sets the bar for all of us in our family. None of us can really stay down because she doesn’t. She is so resilient.

We just try to keep up with her. I don’t know how she does it. Her smile means everything to me. It keeps me going each day.”

Keren, who expressed the desire to wear No. 28, is looking forward to every day she gets to spend with the team.

WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL | MAKING AN IMPACT

MEET KEREN CLAY

Here’s a brief lightning round with women’s basketball’s newest recruit, Keren Clay.

EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS: Coach Jo called you “Tech Tough.” Where does that courage come from?

KEREN CLAY: I used to play outside a lot and I would fall down a lot so I had to toughen up a little.

EC: What are you most looking forward to as part of the team?

KC: I’m really hoping to learn how to play basketball better because I’m really not the best.

Team IMPACT, a Boston-based nonprofit organization, matches children dealing with serious illnesses with college athletic teams.

BY THE NUMBERS

529 College athletics programs in the U.S. participating in Team IMPACT

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EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

EC: How’s your rebounding?

KC: I have no clue how to do that. I’m still learning.

EC: What game are you most excited to see this season?

KC: Georgia Bulldogs against Georgia Tech.

EC: What do you think will happen?

KC: I don’t know.

EC: What would you most like to learn?

KC: I want to learn how to dribble better. I’m not good at dribbling at all.

EC: What would you like to happen?

KC: Georgia Tech wins.

EC: Are you a good shooter?

KC: Yes.

EC: By how much?

KC: 50 points!

“They’re very fun because they’re always very happy when they see me,” she said. “It always helps my experience to get better.”

Joseph insists that the relationship has made everyone in the program better.

“People talk about what we’re doing for her, but really it’s what she’s doing for us,” she said.

“Her outlook, and her attitude, if she can be that positive with her situation and the hand she’s been dealt, then we have no reason to complain.

“The first day she came to practice before her surgery, she was running sprints and shooting free throws with us. The next time we saw her, she was in the unfortunate situation that she’s in,” she added. “Her attitude never changed. It was just amazing to see that. I’m excited about the journey this year with this team with her as a part of it.”

Georgia Tech being part of Keren’s journey is natural. It actually continues a family tradition, as her father, his sister and their father all got their degrees from the Institute.

While the journey won’t be easy, Keren knows she has a sisterhood behind her as she finishes chemo and adjusts to her prosthetic.

“She has taken to it very quickly,” Kelly said.

“She’s so motivated to just move and she wants to go back to playing soccer. She’ll keep facing those challenges to get where she wants to be.

“It was really moving to see that in the short period of time that we have known the team just how quickly they’ve seen Keren’s spirit and that they appreciate her so much,” she added. “We have really enjoyed our time with them. It’s really exciting to see what is coming.”

The Jackets are excited to see Keren as the 2018-19 season approaches.

“We’re looking at the schedule and working with her and her mother and father, trying to get her on a couple of road trips with us,” said Joseph. “As soon as she’s ready to get back after it, we’re looking forward to having her back in practice.”

Until Keren makes her next appearance, the team will go on living enriched by the valuable lesson in perspective she and kids like her taught them.

“You see the pain that the kids are going through and how a lot of the time they’re attacking the day with a smile on their face,” said Fletcher. “It makes us reflect and realize that whatever we have we’ll get through it and we have to appreciate what we have. For her to officially be a part of what we have, it’s extremely heartwarming. So I’m really excited to be around her.”

When asked if she could put a point value on Keren’s worth to the team, Fletcher paused, then looked over at Keren and smiled.

“I can’t put a number on that,” she said.

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ATHLETICS

JET-SETTER FORMER YELLOW JACKETS SWIMMER AND RUNNER JENNY LENTZ MOORE HAS FLOWN TO THE HIGHEST HEIGHTS AND IS NOW HELPING OTHERS GET THERE

BY JON COOPER

M

any in the crowd at Bobby Dodd Stadium for Georgia Tech’s Homecoming Game against Duke on Oct. 13 covered their ears during the pregame F-18 flyover.

Jenny Lentz Moore would not have been one of them. That roar is sweet music to the ears of the 36-year-old North Carolina native and 2005 Georgia Tech graduate, who has spent plenty of hours flying them.

A former Navy pilot, Moore, has flown combat missions, and at one time was one of only a handful of pilots in the world with clearance to make night landings at sea in an F-18. Now living in Lemoore, Calif., with her husband, Garrett, still an active fighter pilot, and their son, Grayson (5) and daughter, Collyn (2), Moore is in the Navy reserve and an instructor at Lockheed Martin, teaching this generation of Navy pilots to fly the next generation of fighter jets.

If it seems like she’s living the dream, it’s because she is.

Moore, then Jenny Lentz, dreamed of flying long before she arrived on The Flats in 2001. She helped turn that dream into reality by majoring in aerospace engineering at Tech, earning her degree in 2005, while also flying around the track as a member of the track and field team and through the water at McAuley Aquatic Center with the inaugural swimming and diving team.

EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS: What made you decide to attend Georgia Tech?

JENNY LENTZ MOORE: “The aerospace engineering program. Georgia Tech had a combination of the aerospace program, plus, the athletic facilities. I committed to swim there. I started college in 2000 so all the (1996) Olympic facilities were brand new. It was really impressive.

“I always wanted to fly. I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I loved fighter jets. As a kid in eighth grade,

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EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

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I went to aviation camp, which is like fighter pilot camp for kids. In high school, I applied to the Air Force Academy, got interviewed and I told them, ‘I want to be a fighter pilot.’ I didn’t go to the Air Force Academy but decided very late in my senior year of high school, ‘Georgia Tech has a great military background, a lot of naval aviators and astronauts are Georgia Tech grads.

I’ll still be setting myself up for success later.’

“I was not able to do ROTC because of being on the swim team and track team, but I did work at the aerospace design lab, working on nuclear power that applies to space vehicles.

One of the guys there was like, ‘Hey, you’re interested in this. Go ahead and write a paper.’

I did that, and through that I ended up getting recruited for the Navy’s nuclear program to teach at their nuclear power school. As soon as I graduated I commissioned and went straight to Charleston to be a nuclear power instructor.”

Moore made her mark as a swimmer under coaches Sharon Krueger and Kit Raulerson, at one point, holding program top-10 times in the 50and 100 freestyle, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast and the 200 IM. On the track, she ran the 400 and 800 -- she dabbled in javelin and 400 hurdles -- for coach Alan Drosky, and earned three top-15 finishes in her one cross country season.

A former Navy pilot, Jenny Lentz Moore has flown combat missions, and at one time was one of only a handful of pilots in the world with clearance to make night landings at sea in an F-18.

NOW LIVING IN LEMOORE, CALIF., WITH HER HUSBAND, GARRETT, STILL AN ACTIVE FIGHTER PILOT, AND THEIR SON, GRAYSON (5) AND DAUGHTER, COLLYN (2), MOORE IS IN THE NAVY RESERVE AND AN INSTRUCTOR AT LOCKHEED MARTIN, TEACHING THIS GENERATION OF NAVY PILOTS TO FLY THE NEXT GENERATION OF FIGHTER JETS. IF IT SEEMS LIKE SHE’S LIVING THE DREAM, IT’S BECAUSE SHE IS.

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ATHLETICS | JET-SETTER

Moore made her biggest mark at Tech as a swimmer, posting team top-10 times in six different events. She also ran middle distance events and hurdles, and dabbled in the javelin.

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EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

sophomore year was the first official team to race for Georgia Tech.”

After graduating, Moore served as a nuclear power Instructor at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC) in Charleston, S.C., while also getting her master’s in aeronautical science. In 2009, she began her flight training and in May 2011, got to fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

EC: What was your best sport?

JM: “I was probably a better swimmer in high school. I ran track my freshman and sophomore years but tore my ACL my junior year of high school. I did all my college prep based on swim teams and, obviously, aerospace programs.

When I got to Georgia Tech, I met people on the track team, told them I used to run and they said, ‘Why don’t you try to walk on?’ So I walked on the track team my freshman year at the end of the swim season. My sophomore year, I was able to coordinate with both teams. I was very grateful they let me do both. By the end of the swim season sophomore year I was loving track and was pretty burned out with swimming. I was excited about switching over to track full time, which I did the rest of my time at Georgia Tech.”

EC: What do you remember about flight training?

JM: “Throughout the whole process, to be honest, most of the time I was like, ‘I’m just trying to get to the next thing and hope they don’t kick me out (laughs).’ I felt like I made it through all of the wickets by the skin of my teeth, and then I ended up getting to fly F/A-18s, which I was really excited about.”

EC: What was the highlight of your Georgia Tech athletic career?

JM: “Racing actually made me really nervous (laughs), but I loved my teammates, I loved that I got to put the uniform on and go race for Georgia Tech. Swimming was the same thing.

The very first year that I swam, the women’s program officially hadn’t started. The start ended up being delayed a year. A lot of people bailed. The (Georgia Tech Athletic Association) said, ‘You’re going to be part of the men’s team.’ We were considered athletes for Georgia Tech. I remember being very impressed that the Georgia Tech Athletic Association got the swimming program off for women. My

EC: There was a point where only the select pilots from the U.S. and France were allowed to make night landings at sea on aircraft carriers with F/A18s. What were those night landings like?

JM: “Landing on the ship at night is terrifying.

There’s not really any other way to put it. I don’t think even the toughest person out there can say they went out there the first time at night and felt really good about it. There were times in my flying career where I was so excited and was like, ‘I can’t believe that I get to do this! This is amazing!’ Then there were other times where I was like, ‘I don’t know WHAT I was thinking when I decided that I wanted to do this (laughs)!’ Looking back, I have a lot of pride that I could do that.”

| WINTER 2018

My husband has been incredible. He’s had to do the same thing. He’s still flying. He and I had the same job. So it’s definitely been a team effort (laughs). The fact that we both did it and both experienced it, honestly, I think it’s the reason we were able to survive it together.”

EC: Does flying these jets compare to the adrenaline rush you felt prior to a race?

JM: “There are some similarities to it. When you walk up to the jet and get it all started up -- we call it ‘Manning up a jet’ -- there’s always a little bit of that flutter, that ‘It’s game time. Here we go,’ type of thing. The thing about flying is that it’s actually good to be a little nervous. If you get too comfortable and you get too confident, that’s when things start to go badly. Especially flying around a ship, ship operations are kind of a whole other level of intensity. After a while you’re like, ‘Oh, this isn’t as bad as it was at the beginning,’ but that’s a dangerous place to be. You never want to be comfortable flying around an aircraft carrier and I can say that I was never very comfortable with it.”

From June 2012 through December 2016, Moore flew F-18s and, from August 2014 through June 2015, made 28 combat missions in Iraq and Syria as part of “Operation Inherent Resolve” with the prestigious VFA-22 Fighting Redcocks squadron.

She took a job with Lockheed Martin in January 2015 and retired from active duty in April 2017, staying in the Reserve. Moore is still involved in aviation, working as an F-35 contract instructor pilot for Lockheed Martin.

EC: What kind of things are you doing for Lockheed Martin?

JM: “The F-35 is the newest toy. The whole Navy F-35 enterprise started in the last year and a half. The Air Force and the Marines have been flying the F-35 for a couple of years. The very first Navy operational squadron is going through training right now. I’m one of the instructors that teaches the simulators and all the academics, the classroom stuff. So the pilots go through all of the ground school training -- academics and simulators -- and then they get in the aircraft, and they fly, and then they come back to the simulator and get more training with the different information systems. The F-35 program is the very first aircraft where you are by yourself. They don’t make one that has a backseat for training purposes. I was very fortunate that I got to be here when they opened it up and kind of helped the start the Navy on this road.”

EC: How eager are you to tell your children that you were a fighter pilot and about all your accomplishments?

JM: “(laughs) My husband and I have joked that because he and I were both fighter pilots, that our kids are remarkably unimpressed by the whole thing, because we’ve taken them to the base to see the fighter jets. When I was a little kid I’d think it’s so cool, my kids are like ‘Oh, yeah, we see this all the time.’ I am excited to talk to them when they get a little bit older. Hopefully they’ll think it’s cool that mom was a pilot.”

Moore and her husband Garrett, still an active fighter pilot, have a five-year old son, Grayson, and a two-year old daughter, Collyn.

EC: How difficult was it being a mom while also flying missions?

JM: “(laughs) Trying to balance the two, especially as a new mom, was probably the biggest challenge I have had in my life, including the landing on the boat. But I also am very lucky.

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25

STATE-OF-THE-ART THREADS

GEORGIA TECH’S NEW BASKETBALL UNIFORMS SPORT A NEO-TRADITIONAL LOOK WITH THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY IN THEIR FABRIC

Georgia Tech and adidas revealed the Yellow Jackets’ 2018-19 men’s and women’s basketball uniforms as part of Live at the Thrillerdome at McCamish Pavilion on Oct. 19.

Georgia Tech men’s and women’s basketball will each feature three different adidas uniform sets in 2018-19 – white, Tech Gold and navy blue.

The men’s gold uniforms have the same navy blue wordmark on the front while the women’s gold jerseys feature “WRECK” emblazoned above the numeral, a nod to Georgia Tech’s famous “Ramblin’ Wreck”

moniker. Numbers on both teams’ gold jerseys are white with navy blue trim.

Both teams’ blue uniforms are a nod to the tradition of the Institute, with a clean look that simply includes the “TECH” portion of the wordmark prominently featured in Tech Gold above the numerals. The numbers are white with Tech Gold trim.

All three uniform sets include Georgia Tech’s iconic interlocking GT logo on each leg and the Yellow Jackets’ secondary “Buzz” logo above the nameplate on the back of the jersey.

Each uniform also incorporates piping on the legs, waist, shoulders and neckline that are a nod to the Jackets’ 1990s look and a set of “Stinger Stripes” on the side of each jersey that mirror the striping on Tech’s adidas football uniforms.

Always at the forefront of design and innovation, adidas uniforms provide the perfect blend of style and technology for elite performance. Each Georgia Tech basketball jersey features recycled, engineered mesh to promote airflow and ventilation, as well as numbers with a perforated finish for lightweight breathability. The shorts are made from recycled knit fabric and feature terry panel wipe zones for moisture absorption and lightweight, breathable interlocking GT logos.

In addition to the uniform reveal, Live at the Thrillerdome featured the 2018-19 Georgia Tech men’s and women’s basketball teams being introduced publicly for the first time, in front of a capacity crowd of more than 5,500 at McCamish Pavilion.

The teams entertained those in attendance with a slam-dunk exhibition and shooting contests leading up to the unveiling of the new adidas uniforms and a concert by charttopping hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd.

27

ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

FACILITY UPDATES BASKETBALL LOCKER ROOMS

The men’s and women’s locker room projects are nearing success in the final stretch of fundraising. With an anonymous $2.5 million gift in

of the donors to this project and their dedication to the success of our men’s and women’s basketball programs, we are charting the course for program success. For those interested in helping complete this project, please contact Mindy Hyde at mhyde@athletics.gatech.edu or call the A-T fund at 404-894-5414.

BENATAR GATE

RENDERINGS OF THE MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM LOUNGE

RENDERINGS OF THE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM MEETING ROOM

the beginning of October, both the men’s and women’s locker rooms are just shy of completion. The anonymous gift makes it possible to do some additional renovations for the women’s locker room providing better functional access to the team getting into the locker room. Once the final funds are secured, the project can move forward to break ground at the conclusion of the season.

Renovation of the locker room space for both teams achieves a critical step in the goal of Athletics Initiative 2020 to enhance recruiting, build better student-athletes and win.

State-of-the-art facilities are crucial to the recruiting process to show off the best of Tech. With the generosity

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EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

Morris L. Benatar Gate Honors Alumnus’ Son (written by Margaret Tate, Institute Communications) Louise and Leo Benatar, IE 1951, MSIE 2016, have made a naming gift to Georgia Tech in honor of their son, who died unexpectedly in 2016 at the age of 58.

Starting this fall, the North Avenue entrance to the west stands of Bobby Dodd Stadium will bear the name of Morris L. Benatar, “a Yellow Jackets football fan from the tender and terrible age of two,” according to his family. Morris is also remembered for his love of community and family, including his wife, Diane, and two children; his Jewish faith; his concern for others; and his affection for dogs.

Morris earned his bachelor’s degree

| WINTER 2018

from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and his MBA from the University of Virginia. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Epsilon Pi. In addition to funding the gate and providing $1 million in unrestricted support for Georgia Tech Athletics through the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, $250,000 has been designated for the Leo and Louise Benatar Endowment for the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, which was originally established in 1998.

“Georgia Tech has been a special place in our lives,” Benatar says. “I enrolled in 1947 and couldn’t afford to live in a dorm — with the assistance of Dean George Griffin and Fred Ajax, jobs were found for me to help pay my tuition and books, mostly used. The gifts we have made during the years are but a small acknowledgement of my debt to Tech.”

Georgia Tech basketball fans might recognize the name “Benatar” from the east entrance of McCamish Pavilion, which bears the couple’s name. Louise and Leo are members of the Hill Society, Georgia Tech’s most prestigious giving society, and Leo has served on the ISyE Advisory Board as well as the Georgia Tech Foundation Board.

LEO AND LOUISE BENATAR, DIANE BENATAR, AND DIRECTOR OR ATHLETICS TODD STANSBURY DURING THE DEDICATION OF THE MORRIS L BENATAR GATE ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2018.

ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

AI2020 ANNUAL GIVING The initiative for athletics has a big goal and big projects, but it will take the efforts of the entire GT nation to reach the goal. There are multiple ways to give to AI2020, and many of them are through annual giving to our scholarship fund or specific sport programs. Program support helps each sport have more flexibility from year to year in the everyday operations of the program.

Some programs use program-specific funds for scholarship, some for promotional efforts, and often to cover unbudgeted expenses that come up during the year. Sport-specific giving allows donors to have a more personal touch and impact on their favorite teams.

Giving to the Athletic Scholarship Fund helps to close the gap of financial need for our studentathletes. Closing this gap will make it easier for GTAA to recruit, easier for us to keep talented young people at Tech, and ultimately will help us to win. Fully funding scholarship keeps Georgia Tech competitive and at the top of our game. It is one of our highest priorities and an impactful and meaningful opportunity for any donor to give.

Those interested in supporting these efforts can give online at atfund.org, calling the office at 404-894-5414, or contacting Nick Parsons, Director of Annual Giving, at nparsons@athletics. gatech.edu.

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COMPLIANCE CORNER

BY LANCE MARKOS, ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE

GEORGIA TECH BOOSTERS AND EXTRA BENEFITS What makes someone a booster of Georgia Tech athletics? You become a Representative of Athletics Interests (aka Booster) if you: • Have ever been a member of a booster organization that supports Georgia Tech Athletics; • Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or a booster organization; • Are or have ever been involved with the LANCE MARKOS recruitment of a prospect; • Have provided or are providing benefits ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE to an enrolled student-athlete or their relatives or friends; or • Have otherwise been involved in promoting the Georgia Tech athletics program; This is not an exhaustive list as other types of involvement with Georgia Tech athletics may trigger booster status for the involved individual or entity. And once a booster, always a booster!!

One of the most problematic areas for boosters as it relates to current Georgia Tech student-athletes is the provision of extra benefits. The definition of an extra benefit is any special gift, service, favor or arrangement provided to a student-athlete, or student-athlete’s friend or family member, which is not available to the general Georgia Tech student body or the general population.

As a booster, the NCAA restricts the involvement that boosters may have with student-athletes. NCAA rules prohibit boosters from providing student-athletes with an extra benefit at any time and doing so may result in the student-athlete being declared ineligible to compete on behalf of Georgia Tech.

• Free or reduced-cost housing for any length of time • Entertainment • Assistance with paying bills (e.g. cell phone, gas money, rent) • Awards • Loans (including co-signing) • Use of your credit card In addition, it is not permissible for Georgia Tech studentathletes to sell any item that belongs to a student-athlete or is signed by a student-athlete. This includes any gear, apparel, jerseys, helmets, gloves, game balls, awards (ACC rings), shoes, etc. that has been provided to the student-athlete by Georgia Tech as incidental to their participation in their sport.

In very limited instances, boosters may provide a meal to a student-athlete. In order to do so, the meal must be provided at either the booster’s house or a Georgia Tech facility, it may only be done on an occasional basis, and approval from the Georgia Tech Compliance Office must be received prior to the meal.

Above all it is critical that you ask before you act when it comes to any involvement with Georgia Tech student-athletes. Failure to do so may jeopardize their eligibility. Georgia Tech is accountable to the NCAA for the actions of our boosters.

You may contact the compliance office at compliance@gtaa. gatech.edu or 404-894-5055. Go Jackets!!

Examples of Extra Benefits (this is not an exhaustive list): • Use of an automobile or transportation of any kind • Admissions to an event (e.g. movies, athletics event, banquets, clubs, concerts, private parties) • Cash or loans in any amount • Gifts of any kind including those for special occasions such as birthdays, religious holidays, graduation, etc.

• Free or reduced-cost services, rentals, or purchases or any type (e.g. meals, drinks, clothing, laundry, haircuts, legal fees, tattoos, rounds of golf, car repairs)

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

Compliance Office Phone Number: (404) 894-5055

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

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