Buzz Magazine - July, 2009

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Tringale Looking for a Grand Exit

McKAY’S GOLDEN SUMMER Super Season Tech Softball Goes Where None Has Gone Before

Modern Touches Bobby Dodd Stadium getting state-of-the art video, audio and graphics

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7/09

July 2009 • Volume 2, Number 6 EDITOR

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Cheryl Watts

David Johnson, Sam Morgan and Barry Williams

WRITERS

DESIGN & LAYOUT

Simit Shah Jack Wilkinson

Summit Athletic Media

july 2009

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In This Issue 4

Q&A WITH Dr. “Bud” Peterson

6

SUPER SEASON

8

LOOKING FOR A GRAND EXIT

12

Wes Durham Column

Tech’s softball team goes where none have gone before

Cameron Tringale hopes his amateur career ends with a spot in the Walker Cup

YOUTH IS SERVED

Top-notch recruiting class boosts anticipation for fans and coaches alike

16

TO LIVE AND TRY IN L.A. Antonio McKay celebrates the silver anniversary of a golden summer

20

BASELINES AND BASS LINES

26

MODERN TOUCHES

31

Inherited baserunners and music playlists among Zach Brewster’s challenges

Traditional Bobby Dodd Stadium getting state-of-the art video, audio and graphics

COMPLIANCE CORNER Primer on the Academic Progress Report

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20 QUESTIONS WITH: Dr. “Bud” Peterson By wes durham

When new leaders take office, their orientation period with that new position can vary. Sometimes it might take months, occasionally longer. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Georgia Tech’s new President, Dr. “Bud” Peterson. The former chancellor at Colorado, and Dean of Engineering at Texas A&M, Peterson assumed controls at Georgia Tech on April 1 and hit the ground running.

He and his wife, Val, have been warmly greeted by the immediate Institute community, but also their presence at various campus activities and events is something that has caught the eye of long time alumni and supporters.

Luckily, we were able to sit and visit last month, after his first month on the job, and the things about Georgia Tech that brought him to Atlanta. As the first Tech president to have played collegiate athletics, what is his vision for athletics at Georgia Tech and the way it’s presented across the board to the rest of the school?

A former wide receiver at Kansas State, Dr. Peterson had no trouble catching “20 Questions.”

1: In some ways, I guess you were recruited to Georgia Tech like a studentathlete to assume the presidency. What was it about Georgia Tech that lured “Bud” Peterson to Atlanta?

BP: My background is in engineering.

If you are an engineer, Georgia Tech is the ultimate goal. It was something that, when it was presented to us, we were very excited about.

2: Is there anything in particular that intrigued you about Georgia Tech?

BP: I have been familiar with Georgia Tech for a long time. This is recognition around the country, that Georgia Tech has been on an upward swing for the last 20 years. It’s because of a lot of factors. They have had great leadership, tremendous support from the state, and the great people that they have here.

3: Because you grew up in the Midwest, came here from Colorado, do you see Georgia Tech differently than others who might live in Atlanta, grew up in the state or attended the institution?

BP: There’s a saying, that you’re not an expert unless you’re more than 50 miles away. When you look at something from a distance, you can be a little more objective and have more perspective on the quality of that program.

4: Boulder (home of Colorado) is a nice place to live, is Atlanta a big change for you and your family?

BP: Well, Boulder is nice. Before that I was in Troy, N.Y., Manhattan, Kan., and College Station, Texas. But Atlanta is in the South, and we have never lived in this part of the country. My wife, Val, and I have never lived in an area of more than

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100,000 people, so this is a big change.

But one we are enjoying very much.

5: Are there some similarities and/or differences from Georgia Tech to some of the other places that you have worked?

BP: There are lots of good people at those previous spots. Rensselaer (N.Y.) has a similar focus that is closest to Georgia Tech. While the schools might be significantly different, they all have something in common, in that they are dominated by 20-year olds. Those challenges and issues are the same from that perspective.

6: From your chair, where does athletics fit for Georgia Tech in the big picture of the Institute?

BP: I think with respect to the school, it’s tremendously important. When we think about the way we reach out and touch the people beyond the university community, athletics touches more people than any other program we have. It’s a way for students, alumni, and people across the state to connect and learn about the school. We need to use that in a way to leverage all the things we do.

New Georgia Tech President Dr. Bud Peterson and his wife, Val.

7: is There some sort of “bonding” experience that occurs with an athletic program and its school?

BP: When I talked to Dan Radakovich of my expectations for athletics, it’s really two-fold. I want a program that the people of Georgia and alumni and fans can be enormously proud of. I want to have athletic teams that are competitive every time they step on the field. I think Dan and I are on exactly the same page when it comes to that aspect.

BP: I’m not sure what it is that connects that bond. People get associated with athletics and start buying hats, shirts, etc.

It gives people a common topic that most can relate to.

8: At Colorado, you were regarded as “wildly popular” with student-athletes, coaches and athletic staff. Is that an important part of your administration?

BP: I appreciate that, but I want to be “wildly popular” with everyone. One of my responsibilities is to support all the aspects of the university, and athletics is an important part of that role.

9: When you were in Boulder, it coincided with the rebuilding and revitalization of the athletic department. Is there something that you carry from that experience today?

BP: We faced a lot of challenges early in Boulder. Athletics was very separate from the university and operated very independently. One of the things that was important to me was the athletic director report to the President, which had not occurred until after I arrived in Boulder. It was one of the things that was important to me at Georgia Tech. Dan Radakovich and I have worked on some ideas already and we are going to work very hard at getting athletics and the university fully integrated together.

10: We have heard a lot about college athletics and the economy lately. Is that just a sign of the times?

BP: Every segment of business has been

impacted by the economy. I’m an optimist that the economy is coming back, but ticket sales are fine and we are still in great shape.

11: Is there a vision that Bud Peterson has for athletics at Georgia Tech?

12: Is it tough to face the challenge of student-athletes competing at such a high level athletically, and then turning to compete academically at another very high level?

BP: The student-athletes are facing that challenge by doing it. It’s a challenge that other students are meeting as well.

If a student is in a co-op program, or in student government, it might be a little different for an athlete, but the challenge is the same.

13: What is a President’s role in today’s college athletics?

BP: To make sure that athletics remains in its proper perspective. It would be easy to let the “genie out of the bottle,” so to speak. This isn’t a professional program, but it is highly visible with lots of money involved. I think we have to maintain athletics within the proper perspective of the university.

14: Has the perspective changed since the financials of the BCS kicked in?

BP: I don’t think that drove it, because the bowls had many resources as well. Even if the BCS didn’t exist, coaches salaries would have still gone up, significance would have risen. Twenty years ago, we didn’t pay salaries the way they are today.

15: Are you a BCS or Playoff guy?

BP: I’m a BCS guy. We could have a longer discussion on this. While the BCS may not be perfect, I’m not sure that the playoff is the right answer to that problem.

16: Favorite Book?

BP: “Atlas Shrugged,” by Ayn Rand 17: Favorite Movie?

BP: “The Lion In Winter” (starring Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins); or “The Princess Bride” (with Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon). Am I allowed to have two?

18: If you could change places with someone for a day, who would it be?

BP: One of the men that walked on the moon. Can you imagine walking on the moon and seeing the earth rise over the horizon?

19: We have seen a picture of “Bud” Peterson, the football player at Kansas State. What should we know about “Bud” Peterson, the football player?

BP: He’s no different than Bud Peterson the president. The values and focus are the same. He’s a lot older, with a lot less hair and a lot slower. People have made a big deal about playing football here.That picture in the alumni magazine - I hadn’t seen that in 30 years.

20: Did playing college football have a big impact on you?

BP: A big impact. We talked earlier about challenges our student-athletes face. The idea of learning as a young person to face challenges, teamwork and leadership together. Probably one of the things that I learned was to optimize the use of time, trying to study, get an engineering degree, watch film, lift weights, practice, etc. But you learn how to deal with adversity and be successful.

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sb softball

SUPER SEASON

First year in playing in a new facility becomes memorable as the ACC Champion Yellow Jackets host an NCAA regional and super regional

I

By Simit Shah It was a season of many firsts for Georgia Tech softball, signaling a bright future for a program on the rise.

Coach Sharon Perkins and her team just wrapped up the most successful season in school history with an appearance in the NCAA Super Regional, falling just short of a Women’s College World Series bid.

En route to a 46-15 record and No. 14 national ranking, the Lady Jackets captured both the regular season and ACC Tournament titles and hosted NCAA Tournament games for the first time in school history.

“It’s been a bit of a blur, especially since you’re constantly preparing for your next opponent,” said Perkins.

“We’ll get a chance to catch our breath and appreciate what we’ve done and start thinking about the summer and next season.”

The season began with the team moving into their new on-campus stadium in March after years of virtual exile on 14th Street’s Glenn Field. The $5 million gem proved both scenic and hospitable, as Tech went 21-6 in their

first season at Shirley Clements Mewborn Field.

“Playing here made a difference, and I’m not sure anyone really misses the old place,” Perkins laughed. “It’s a great facility, especially with the indoor cages. It makes it easier to recruit, and they want to play in that kind of environment. It was a lot of fun for everyone this year.”

The facility was a factor in hosting an NCAA regional and then the super regional. While Washington was a higher seed (No. 3 overall), they were unable to host due to the lack of lighting in their stadium.

In the regional, the Lady Jackets were able to complete a surprising 3-0 sweep of the field during a rain-soaked weekend to secure to their first-ever super regional berth.

“I don’t know if we would have done the same thing in a regional somewhere else,” Perkins speculated. “When you’re at home, you’re comfortable on the field and you play well on that surface, so you just have that advantage.

Plus, the field held up great despite

Jen Yee is greeted at home plate after belting a home run against Washington.

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Jessica Coan won two games in the regional tournament.

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Blair Shimandle was one of the nation’s top defensive players. the rain, and that helps a tremendous amount. Plus, the fans got behind us and were rowdy, which really pumped the girls up.”

The Tech faithful came out in

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droves, setting attendance records and a new standard in support for the softball program. The record-setting Sunday super regional crowd of 1,117 resulted in a raucous and standing

room only atmosphere.

“It was awesome,” said Perkins.

“You never know with the weather and a holiday weekend. You don’t really know until you get there, and I think it exceeded all our expectations.”

The super regional also marked the program’s first appearance on ESPN. While Washington swept the threegame series in dominating fashion, Perkins felt that the experience will prove invaluable in the future. The Huskies earned their ninth College World Series berth, and their familiarity at this level was clearly evident.

Plus, Washington was able to rely on pitching and hitting phenom Danielle Lawrie to carry the team. Following the game, Perkins noted that dominant pitching tends to trump a great offense, and a lights-out pitcher seemed to be a common element among teams that advanced to the World Series.

Expectations for the Jackets may be even higher next year, despite losing three key contributors to graduation.

First baseman and Marietta native Whitney Haller leaves Tech as the ACC’s all-time leader in homers (61) and RBI (233), earning all-conference honors all four years of her career.

Infielder Tiffany Johnson capped her career with an all-ACC campaign that saw her finish among the conference leaders in numerous offensive categories. Centerfielder Blair Shimandle also earned all-ACC honors and finished with only a single error in 155 games, cementing her reputation as one of the nation’s best defensive players.

“We have a lot returning,” Perkins noted. “It’s tough losing those three, since they’ve been part of the team

since I’ve been here. They were definitely a big part (of our success).

“At the same time, this season has been a building block. It’s pretty amazing when you think about it,” the coach continued. “We have some kids coming in who will definitely take us to another level. We have a stud pitcher, and she hits as well. That’s maybe part of the game that we needed.”

“I could not be prouder of our softball program this season,” added athletics director Dan Radakovich. “Under the leadership of seniors Tiffany Johnson, Blair Shimandle and Whitney Haller, they have set an expectation of excellence for all future teams. Coach Perkins has also done an outstanding job and all of us at Georgia Tech look for continued success from our softball program under her tutelage.”

Perkins, who was named the ACC Coach of the Year, welcomes back allACC second baseman Jen Yee, ACC Freshman of the Year shortstop Kelsi Weseman (who broke her arm during the ACC Tournament) and ACC Tournament MVP Kristin Adkins, who pitched and played third base this past season.

Ten others will also be back, joined by a strong four-person recruiting class.

“It’s tough right now,” Perkins said following the season-ending loss.

“We’re hurting right now, but we’ll learn from this. I’ve been through this at other places. You just keep making those steps and keep trying to improve.

The kids get used to playing at this level, and that makes a difference.

We’re ready to take the next step.” ■

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MG men’s golf

Looking for a Grand Exit Cameron Tringale hopes his amateur career ends with a spot in the Walker Cup

E

by Jack Wilkinson Excerpts from the biographical yardage book on Cameron Tringale: Like any native Californian, he’s Left Coast, Laguna Niguel laid back - except, of course, when the surf’s up or he’s 1 down with two holes left in match play.

Like any self-respecting college All-American, he eagerly awaits making the occupational turn to begin life as a professional. And yet unlike many of his top collegiate contemporaries, Tringale’s focus for now is far more Old School than Q-School.

Whatever Georgia Tech’s fate in the NCAA Championships, however he’d fare individually, Tringale is delaying turning pro. All in the hopes of playing on the United States Walker Cup team come September.

Surely, this must please another Tech golfing alumnus greatly.

Somewhere, Bobby Jones is smiling.

“I just want to do that ‘cause that’d be awesome,” Tringale said of the 42nd Walker Cup, the biennial

event to be held Sept. 12-13 at historic Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., pairing the best American amateurs against the finest from Great Britain and Ireland. “It’s been a goal pretty much since I’ve been in school.”

A goal which, if realized, would become the ideal farewell bookend to the past four years that began with Tringale’s unprecedented individual ACC Championship title (he’s still the only Yellow Jacket to win it as a freshman) and could conclude on the fabled East Course at Merion.

If some folks know how to make an entrance - and Tringale surely did, when he was named the ACC Freshman of the Year - others exit in style.

His senior swan song has hit nearly all the high and pitch-perfect right notes.

“It’s been exciting, it’s been fun,” Tringale said of his senior season on the Flats. “It’s always fun to play well. I’ve been trying to soak everything in, since it’s my last year.”

He said that in late May, after the NCAA Regionals and before the NCAA Championships, while sitting in Tech’s gorgeous Dellinger Golf Center. It was designed and fashioned after East Lake Golf Club, where Bobby Jones learned to play the game as no one else ever. East Lake teems with golf history; so does Tech’s Golf Center and record book - history that Tringale enhanced this year.

His has been a richly-satisfying last year at the Institute: A fourthconsecutive All-American accolade.

Another Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament team title, Tech’s third in four years. Another trip to the NCAA Regionals and, more important, a return to the NCAA Finals after last year’s failure ended a 10year run.

So Tringale’s in no hurry to turn pro, to accept some sponsor exemptions at professional events, to go to Q-School or to try to turn pro as swiftly as possible. Not with his

Walker Cup prospects so promising.

Not after a text message earlier this year from ex-Tech teammate Roberto Castro, a Jacket from 2004-07 now coping with life on the road as a pro.

“Roberto said, ‘Gosh, this [stinks]. I wish I was still with the team,’” Tringale recalled. “He definitely encouraged me to enjoy it, and not be in a hurry to get out.”

That’s why Tringale says of his senior season, “I’d like to savor it.”

He’d like to remain an amateur, too, and play on the Walker Cup. “It’s one of those things where

Name:

Cameron Tringale Class:

Senior Major:

Management

(received bachelor’s degree in May) Hometown:

Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Notable athletic achievement:

The nation’s No. 3-ranked player, Tringale earned All-ACC honors for the fourth time.

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Won four tournaments in his career, including the Atlantic Coast Conference championship as a freshman … All-ACC four times … First-team All-American in 2009 …

Second-team All-American in 2006 and 2007 … Owns second-best career stroke average of all-time at Tech … Ranks No. 4 nationally among Division I college players

Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation you say, ‘That’d be a possibility,’ but it’s not realistic when you first get here,” Tringale said. He did watch the last day of the last Walker Cup on TV, in 2007 at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland.

“It just seemed like everyone was really into it,” he said of that dramatic U.S. triumph. “There was so much excitement. It meant so much to the guys playing, a lot more than a regular college event or other team competitions.”

Ex-Tech stars-turned-pros Bryce Molder (who played on the 1999 and 2001 U.S. Walker Cup teams) and Matt Kuchar (’99) also stoked Tringale’s Walker Cup fire. “They both said it was the experience of a lifetime,” he said. “They wouldn’t trade a U.S. Open [appearance] or a couple of sponsor exemptions to play it. That carried a lot of weight with me. They’ve played in U.S. Opens, and the Masters. For them to say that is strong with me.”

As is an acquired taste for team competitions. “When I was a kid,” Tringale said, “I really didn’t like the Ryder Cup at all. Thought it was pointless. Seemed like a publicity thing, golf’s answer to an Olympic sport.”

Then he watched the 2003 U.S. Open on TV from Olympia Fields near Chicago, where Jim Furyk won.

That was four years after the memorable 1999 PGA Championship, when Tiger Woods prevailed and also “the U.S. Open when Tiger won by 15 or whatever. Now, I’m pretty up to date on all that.”

This, from a California kid who didn’t grow up hooked on golf history. “Not really,” Tringale said, smiling. “I never studied golf. I knew Jack Nicklaus was great, and other great names.

“But now,” he continued, “with Bobby Jones having played here, the [golf] tradition in Georgia, you take it in and realize it’s pretty special.”

Special enough to stay - just a little bit longer - as an amateur until September and, hopefully, a good walk unspoiled in the Walker Cup. Tringale thinks of two other talented collegians - Clemson’s Kyle Stanley and Floridian Billy Horschel, who were both on the ’07 U.S. Walker Cup team and loved that experience.

“They’re both turning pro now,” Tringale said. At least once finals and the NCAA Championships are done. “They’re ready to move on to the next chapter of golf. I’d like to savor it.”

He’d love to play Merion, especially since Tech teammate and classmate Adam Cohan grew up in Wayne, Pa., not far from Ardmore.

“Adam said, ‘If you make [the U.S. team], I get first dibs on caddying.’

I laughed, and said, ‘I’ll take you up on it.’ He’d keep me loose.

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“It’s one of the best clubs in the country, always in the Top 10 in the rankings,” Tringale said. “It’s a course I’ve never played and always wanted to.” The tall fescue greens and “kinda tight little fairways” don’t daunt him. Having played Augusta National, Cypress Point and Pebble Beach, Merion would be a superb check-off on that to-do list.

And an exclamatory coda on a very satisfying senior season. “Extremely satisfying,” Tringale said. “All in all, a really good year. It’s been what I’ve been working toward. I’d hoped to have every year like this. But ending it like this is great.

“The team started slow,” he said of a winless drought that lasted more than a season and a half. “But we picked it up, won our conference. We got a lot of confidence after that.”

In the 54-hole ACC Tournament at the Old North State Club in New London, N.C., Tech led until midway through Sunday’s third round, when Clemson took the lead on the back nine. Then Tringale and the Jackets made the turn and the turnaround.

“I wasn’t watching the scoreboards, which is rare for me,” he said. “I decided to just keep my head down and play.” He was paired with Clemson’s David May, and knew the Tigers were 7-under and in the lead.

“Coach was walking with me,” Tringale said of Bruce Heppler.

“When it was close, he’d walk far ahead. When we had the lead, he’d stay closer. Having been around him for four years, I can read him.

“When I was on 14, there was a scoreboard there, we were 3 or 4 [shots] behind,” he said. “I remember Chesson [Hadley, his teammate] saying that.” And this: “You gotta come through.”

Tringale did, making birdie at 14 “and a couple more.” He was tied for the individual lead coming to 18 and his long approach on that par-5 finishing hole. “It was a shot I’d try 100 times if I had 100 more chances,” he said. “It wasn’t a risky shot. I just didn’t hit it completely solid. I didn’t get the air under it.

“It was just one of those things,” Tringale said. “If I pulled it off, great. If not, that’s OK.” By then, Tech’s team championship was assured. Until then, Tringale had played the hole 11 previous times, making eagle twice and eight birdies.

“I was thinking four is about average,” he said. But his second shot “hit a rock and ended up going into the water. Final destination: water.”

He took a drop and hit his fourth shot onto the green but 50 feet from the hole. The two-putt bogey? No biggie, even if it cost Tringale the individual title. “Everyone was stoked and happy we won,” he said. “That’s the goal, to win as a team.”

That was the goal in the NCAA

Tringale won the Brickyard Collegiate in the fall and the Southern Highlands Collegiate in the spring.

Central Regional in Bowling Green, Ky. After a fine first day, the Jackets were as dismal as the rain on the second day. “That was crazy. The weather was a mess,” Tringale said.

“It’s easy to let the [rain] delays negatively affect you. The second day, we did. In the rain delay, everybody was [saying], ‘We’ve gotta get this straightened out.’ We knew it could’ve been cancelled [after two days due to rain].

“I felt like that second round could be the last round,” he said.

“On Saturday, I thought, ‘We’ve gotta make up these shots.’” Tech shot 2-under in those remaining holes and “We got back in the top five.” The top five from that regional would advance to the NCAA Cham-

pionship.

“I knew if we had another 18 holes [Sunday], we’d pull it out,” said Tringale. “The longer you play, the better the better teams do.” The Jackets wouldn’t be denied, not for a second straight year.

“When I came here,” said Tringale, “I thought it [making the NCAA Championship] was automatic, that we would play in four.”

But after missing out last season, “That put it in perspective,” he said.

“It was, ‘OK, we can’t take this for granted.’” Instead, the Jackets qualified for the championship May 26-30 in Toledo.

That would be Tringale’s final collegiate competition, but not his last amateur event. That, he hopes, will

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“Probably play some pro events [with sponsor exemptions], one or two, to get some experience playing as a pro before going to Q-School.

“And then hopefully I’ll have a good run.”

Perhaps it’ll include a U.S. Open invitation on Long Island, at the treacherous Black Course at Bethpage, a public links. Tringale made it through a local Open qualifier in May. Next: a June 8th sectional qualifier. U.S. Open or not, though, Walker Cup or bust, Tringale eagerly anticipated his family’s support at the NCAA Championship: His older brother, John; his grandmother and an uncle; and especially his father Joe, who still lives in California.

“He goes to the tournament in Las Vegas [the annual Southern Highlands Collegiate], but he hasn’t been able to see me much,” Tringale said.

“So I’m glad he’ll be able to go and see my last hurrah.”

Or, hopefully, his next-to-last amateur hurrah. ■

Somewhere, Bobby Jones must be smiling at the thought of Tringale remaining an amateur this summer.

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December

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October

DEKALB COUNTY

DOUGLASVILLE

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CLAYTON COUNTY FAYETTE COUNTY

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mb Men’s Basketball

Youth is Served

One of nation’s top recruiting classes boosts anticipation for basketball season

T

by Simit Shah They say hope springs eternal, and Georgia Tech basketball fans are subscribing to that theory as they look ahead to this winter. Despite struggling last season, the program is positioned to field one of its deepest and most talented teams in recent memory.

The 2008-09 campaign was full of its fair share of heartbreak and frustration, as the Jackets sputtered to a 12-19 record and missed the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons. There weren’t many high notes, but some of the low points were tempered by the consistently good news from the recruiting trail.

Hewitt returns 11 letterwinners, and the squad will be bolstered by arguably the best recruiting class in school history.

Center Derrick Favors headlines the six-man class, which is ranked fourth nationally by Rivals.com and fifth by Scout.com. The 6-foot-9 Atlanta native is a consensus top five prep player, and he only enhanced his reputation by earning MVP

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2009 Incoming Freshman Class Derrick Favors F

6-9

220 Fr. Atlanta, Ga.

(South Atlanta HS)

Kammeon Holsey F

6-7

190 Fr.

(Hancock Central HS)

Daniel Miller C

6-11 240 Fr. Loganville, Ga.

(Loganville Christian Academy)

Brian Oliver F

6-6

190 Fr. New Castle, Del.

(William Penn HS)

Glen Rice, Jr. G

6-4

175 Fr. Marietta, Ga.

(Walton HS)

Mfon Udofia G

6-2

180 Fr.

(Miller Grove HS)

honors in both the McDonald’s All-American game and the Jordan Brand Classic in recent months.

He was also both the Naismith and Parade Magazine national player of the year.

At South Atlanta High School, Favors averaged over 28 points and 13 rebounds while leading his school to a state title. He was named Mr. Basketball in the state, joining a long line of former Jackets who have

Sparta, Ga.

Stone Mountain, Ga.

earned that honor.

“My staff and I are very pleased to have Derrick Favors join the Georgia Tech family,” said Paul Hewitt.

“We’re especially thankful to his mom, D’Andra, and his coaches for helping him make the decision to attend Georgia Tech. We look forward to working with him and helping him and the other members of our freshman class have a productive experience here at Georgia Tech.”

In the backcourt, Hewitt inked 6-3 point guard Mfon Udofia and 6-4 shooting guard Glen Rice, Jr. Udofia is ranked among the top point guards in the nation, and he led Miller Grove High School (Lithonia, Ga.) to a Class AAAA state title and earned player of the year honors in his classification.

“Mfon is an extremely competitive point guard,” said Hewitt. “He’s a

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Head coach Paul Hewitt’s biggest addition may be the return of team captain D’Andre Bell after he underwent surgery last year for a spinal condition.

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Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation great defender who can score and distribute the ball well. He’s an outstanding clutch free throw shooter.

He may be the most competitive of anybody in the group.”

Rice is the son of former NBA standout Glen Rice and starred at nearby Walton High School, earning second-team all-state honors this past season.

“He’s very skilled and a very good all-around player,” Hewitt noted.

“Glen has a bright future. He may be somebody I would characterize as a late bloomer. His skill level is very high in terms of dribbling and passing. If he shoots it anywhere near like his dad did, he will become a complete player.”

Kammeon Holsey (6-7, 190) and Brian Oliver (6-6, 190) will provide depth in the frontcourt and the wing.

Holsey was the player of the year in class A last season, and ESPN ranks him as the 18th-best power forward in the nation.

Oliver, who is no relation to the Lethal Weapon 3 member, hails from Delaware and is coming off a strong senior season.

“Brian is a great shooter, one of the best I’ve recruited in a very long time,” Hewitt said. “In every game I saw him play last summer, he made at least six three-pointers. He’s got a great personality and will fit in very well here at Georgia Tech.”

Center Daniel Miller was a late addition to the class, signing with the Jackets after Georgia released him from his letter-of-intent in April. At 6-11, the Loganville native will provide depth in the middle, especially if rising junior Gani Lawal opts to stay in the NBA draft.

He led Loganville Christian Academy to a trio of championship titles in its private school league, and he is ranked among the top 10 prep centers in the nation.

“We feel very fortunate to add a student-athlete of Daniel Miller’s caliber to our recruiting class,” said Hewitt, who heavily pursued Miller prior to his signing with Georgia.

“My staff and I are looking forward to the opportunity to work with him. We feel that he will fit in great with our other players and take full advantage of our player development program.”

Next year’s squad will also get a boost from the return of guard D’Andre Bell, whose senior season was short-circuited by spinal surgery. His doctors cleared him to resume his basketball career in late May, so he’ll provide much-needed leadership and defensive prowess for Hewitt.

“It means a lot to him, and it means a lot to our team as well to have him back because of the defensive ability, reliable shooting and

outstanding leadership he will bring to our group,” Hewitt said. “We have an outstanding recruiting class coming in, but he might be the most significant addition to next year’s team.”

Most of the freshmen are expected to enroll in summer school to get acclimated to college life. The season starts in November, and the schedule will be released in August. ■

Tech’s 2009-10 team will be young, but talented.

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Antonio McKay won the NCAA 400-meter indoor and outdoor titles in 1984, and broke the indoor world record in the event.

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To Live and Try in L.A. Antonio McKay celebrates the silver anniversary of a golden summer

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By Jack Wilkinson Twenty-five years? Has it really been 25 years? A quarter-century?

Seems like yesterday, but it was long ago: Antonio McKay, runnin’ against the wind, against the best in the world, taking us all along for the joy ride and having the time of his young life.

Still … twenty-five years? The silver anniversary of that gold and bronzemedal summer of ‘84?

“I look in the mirror and it doesn’t look that way,” Tony McKay said. He smiled. “In the morning, sometimes, it feels that way.”

And he laughed – that great laugh, still intact after all these years, and he turned back the clock, if not the stopwatch. Just like that, it was 1984 again.

Not the Orwellian 1984. An Olympian ’84, when an Atlanta kid from the projects ran for his life, his school, his country. For Georgia Tech, for Old Glory and for history. He lit up the Los Angeles Coliseum with his speed and smile, his bravado and bravery: first in the U.S. Olympic Trials, a month later in the Summer Olympic Games.

Man, it was fun to watch. To listen and laugh, to write about and marvel at.

To coach, too. “Such a gratifying experience for me, something every coach dreams of,” said Buddy Fowlkes, now 81 and retired and living in Vinings, way back then Tech’s head track and field coach. Antonio McKay’s coach.

“How many coaches have had Olympic gold-medal winners? Not many collegiate coaches,” he said. “And then, to have an athlete like Tony – sometimes, a coach could be ashamed of a goldmedalist. You don’t know who’s taking what, who’s taking steroids. You never had to worry about that with Tony.

Ever.”

Neither did Grover Hinsdale, Fowlkes’ assistant in ’84, now his longtime successor as Tech’s head coach.

“As good as people have been in the program – and there have been some phenomenal people in the program, nobody’s come even close to that,” Hinsdale said. That being 1984, when McKay ruled his event as few ever did in the 400 meters.

It’s the man’s race, the metric quarter-mile is. It’s ruled by the quarter horses, and in 1984 Antonio McKay was The Man in the 400. He broke the indoor world record in the event. Won the ’84 NCAA indoor and outdoor 400 titles. Won the U.S. Olympic Trials, captivating his audience on and off the track. He lost just once: in the Olympic finals, stuck in Lane 1 – the dead man’s curve of track and field, yet still ran a

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personal best despite finishing third and claiming a bronze medal. McKay rebounded beautifully, anchoring the U.S. gold medal-winning quartet in the 4x400 relay. He was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 2 in the world that year in the 400.

“That kind of year,” Hinsdale said, “is just unheard of.”

In 36 years of sports writing, Antonio McKay remains one of the three best sports figures I’ve ever encountered, in every sense.

There’s Tom Glavine, the Braves’ 300-game winner and sure-fire, firstballot Cooperstown inductee into the Hall of Fame.

There’s Looie: Lou Carnesecca, the Naismith Hall of Fame basketball coach at St. John’s University, who revealed very little about his team to us sportswriters, but did so in the most quotable, hilarious way.

And there’s Tony McKay, the local kid from the bad ‘hood made good. Of the three Olympics I covered, the first – and most enjoyable and satisfying – was in 1984 in Los Angeles. To watch McKay live and try in L.A. was pure pleasure. And to see him handle his greatest professional disappointment with such grace was a virtual gift from the sporting gods.

“He was just an unusual person to start with,” Fowlkes said. To come from where he did – Techwood, to have the character traits he had and the ability, was just so unusual. I’ve coached some other great kids, national champions, but he’s just one in a million.

“Tony had that natural ability, those fast-twitch fibers,” Fowlkes said. “He took coaching well and was a joy to coach. But the underlying thing was the tremendous desire to win. He was NOT gonna lose. It wasn’t a case of being cocky. And he never dissipated his body: never took a drink, never smoked a cigarette.

“Tony was a Saturday runner. On a Saturday? Look out. He was gonna run.

He’d do whatever it took to win.”

Fowlkes recalled his first meeting with McKay, when the kid was still a student at Roosevelt High in southeast Atlanta, and a precocious 400-meter runner who first met his future coach at Grant Field, back when a 400-meter track still encircled the football field.

“There was this little runny-nosed kid on the fence,” Fowlkes remembered. The conversation went thusly: McKay: “Who are you?”

Buddy: “I’m Coach Fowlkes. Who are you?”

McKay met his future college coach, Buddy Fowlkes, at Grant Field, when a 400-meter track still encircled the football field.

“I’m Antonio McKay.” “Nice to see you,” Fowlkes replied.

“I’m gonna win the state championship.”

“Oh, are you?”

“Yes.” “Well, Mr. McKay, I’ll be up in Jefferson and will watch you run.”

“Well, you be there,” said Mr. McKay, “’cause I’m gonna win.”

“Some people might say that’s being cocky,” Fowlkes said recently, sharing a flashback lunch with Hinsdale at the Silver Skillet on 14th St. “But he was just self-assured.”

Prescient, too. He won the Georgia state high school championship. He

enrolled at Georgia Tech, hoping to play football as well as run track.

“His wick just burns brighter than most athletes’,” Fowlkes said. “It just BURNS. You can’t teach that.”

Can’t touch that, either. Not in the winter, spring and summer of 1984.

“The biggest thing is you’re so naïve,” McKay said of his ’84 awakening. “You look at it as, ‘I can do anything.’”

And who was to argue? “The world [indoor] record,” he said, “was really the jump-start to everything.”

His coming-out party came fullblown in L.A. at the Olympic Trials – tribulations for some athletes but definitely not for McKay. Once he’d set

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McKay, shown here with former Tech director of athletics, Homer Rice, won a Bronze medal in the 400, but captured a Gold in the 4x400-meter relay. the indoor world record, won the NCAA indoors, “The hype was amped up.”

He found the Olympic Trials, however, “more nerve-wracking than anything. If I’d lost, I’d be done. Everything I’d done, all the success I’d had, if I don’t make the Olympics, it had been a huge failure.”

The flip side, of course, was this: “This could change my life,” McKay recalled thinking. “Especially where I came from. I HAD to get it.”

Got it. Swept through the Trials almost effortlessly. Established himself as the pre-Olympic favorite. Talked as good a game as he walked. As good as

McKay established himself as the pre-Olympic favorite by sweeping through the Trials.

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he ran. “It was a big moment for me, to win the Olympic Trials,” McKay said.

“To be in Sports Illustrated, and have a whole page to yourself. It was special.

Number one, it was clean.”

Drug-free. “Everything about it was right: A hometown guy from Atlanta, going to Georgia Tech, going to the Olympics.”

Going for the gold. Talking a gold medal-quality blue streak. Not that it was boastful, as some – particularly Marty Liquori – thought. Just confident, not demeaning, not personal. “I think it was more confidence in myself than to put anyone else down,” McKay said. “If I saw myself just winning – and everything in life is like that, well, you’re gonna be successful.

“If you don’t think you’re gonna win, you’re not gonna win,” said McKay, now a long-time, highly-successful high school coach at St. Pius X, and now at Marist. Also, an in-demand motivational speaker and personal trainer.

“How we feel, and how we win, and live life. That outlook is so important,” McKay said. “I really believe that how I dress; if I don’t look good, I’m not gonna play golf well. If my golf shoes are dirty, I’m not playing well.”

And although he took up the game of golf just 18 months or so ago, McKay is now a 4-handicap and “very competitive. I get a haircut every week. That’s important. If I look good and feel good, I’ll be good.”

He was beyond good, absolutely great in the Trials. He returned to L.A. for the Olympics as the 400 favorite.

There were, he recalls, “90,000 people

in the stadium shouting, ‘U-S-A! US-A!’ I think that’s one of the reasons I lost. I was going too fast the first two days.

“Coming to the finals, I was dead,” McKay said. “But even in Lane 1, I still ran [matched] my fastest time ever.”

After finishing third in his semifinal heat, McKay would up in Lane 1 in the final, the tightest, and toughest, lane assignment in the 400, a severe liability in that event. The track in the L.A. Coliseum was one of the tightest Lane 1’s anywhere in the world. McKay was upset by fellow American Alonzo Babers and Gabriel Tiacoh of the Ivory Coast, who ran second.

After crossing the finish line, McKay fell to his knees, his hands on the track.

Although the two runners who’d beaten him came over and graciously lent their support, television commentator Marty Liquori, once one of the top milers on the planet, and someone who should’ve known better, told a worldwide TV audience, “That’s not exhaustion. That’s embarrassment.”

“It had nothing to do with [being] embarrassed,” McKay said one day in May. “It’s a lot of hurt. When you compete at such a high level, second or third is not good enough when you’re that young. You sort of want the world to go away.”

A few years later, Antonio McKay met up with Liquori again; this time at the Millrose Games in New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden. “I think he sorta tried to back out,” McKay said.

“Sometimes sports announcers want to be like Howard Cosell, to say some-

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thing that [raised] themselves up. He didn’t know me. I’d never said anything bad about anybody. I just said, ‘Anybody can win. I HAD to win.’

“His comments did not affect me,” McKay said. “The pain I felt had already happened.”

The relief he felt after the 4x400 relay was liberating. McKay anchored that gold medal-winning U.S. foursome, crossing the finish line first to claim his first Olympic gold medal.

Shortly thereafter, there was a memorable post-relay encounter behind a ticket booth outside the Coliseum: McKay and Australia anchor Darren Clark, removing their clothing at an alarming rate.

I recorded the exchange thusly: “Here,” Clark said, handing over his Aussie warm-up jacket. “Nice,” McKay said, exchanging it for his blue USA warm-up. They continued: A red singlet for a pair of green shorts, a yellow shirt for a pair of blue warm-up pants. McKay and Clark had met after running in the 400 quarterfinals, and hit it off. But no way would McKay part with his gold medal. Then he shook Clark’s hand and went to find his mother, Carolyn McKay, who’d raised him as a single parent. Raised him right.

The next time I saw Tony McKay was a few years later, in an Atlanta church.

After his sister had died suddenly. He collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably while sprawled on her coffin. It was awful to see, to hear.

Fast forward to 2009, fully 25 years

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after his seminal summer in the City of Angels. In the wake of a true tragedy, not merely a bronze instead of Olympic gold, Antonio McKay had done a fine thing. A manly thing. He and his wife, Trinna, who holds a doctorate and teaches Advanced Placement chemistry at Dunwoody High School, adopted his sister’s two young sons, Javon and Joshua, now both in high school.

This, in addition to raising their own two kids: Antonio Jr., and Antoinetta.

Javon’s a basketball prodigy and will be a highly-recruited basketball prospect come this winter. Joshua is an excellent student at Dunwoody High.

Somewhere, their mom is smiling.

Their Uncle Antonio, too. Especially when the topic is his namesake, now a fearsome 400-meter man, much like his father. Antoinetta, who ran track at Tech, has already graduated and is a teacher.

“I think he’ll be better than I ever was,” Antonio Sr. said of Antonio Jr., who just finished his sophomore season on the Flats. “He’s light. He’s 152 [pounds]. I was much stronger, but he’s smoother than I was. “Now, he has to grow up. I had no choice but to grow up.”

And oh, how Tony grew. And continues to do so to this day. “It’s indescribable,” Buddy Fowlkes said.

He looked up. His face just beamed. “It may never happen again. You’ll never have another one like Tony again. It’s incredible.” ■

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BASELINES AND BASS LINES Inherited baserunners and music playlists among Zach Brewster’s challenges

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By Jack Wilkinson

The line on Zach Brewster: He’s the late-inning lefty out of the bullpen, and usually the ‘pen is mightier than the opposition. Especially when Brewster’s three-pitch repertoire – fastball, curve, changeup – is in sync and in tune.

Speaking of tunes …

He’s Georgia Tech baseball’s resident Music Man. A music junkie – rap, rock, pop, you name it – who listens

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to music non-stop (sometimes driving roommate Derek Dietrich to distraction) and supplies most of the Jackets’ signature songs on the P.A. The walkup melodies as each batter steps into the box, the walk-in lyrics announcing each pitcher’s arrival on the mound.

Speaking of which …

No Jacket has a more appropriate song than Brewster’s: “The Mark Has Been Made” by Nine Inch Nails. For

him, the mark has literally been made, and it’s even longer than nine inches.

It’s the surgical scar running up his left bicep from the elbow nearly to the collarbone. A reminder of the blood clot that not only delayed his pitching debut on the Flats, but could have been far, far worse.

“Yeah, it was a little frustrating,” Brewster said, smiling and drifting back to late-June of 2007, when the

pain in his pitching arm surfaced for a highly-touted pitching prospect from Murrayville and North Hall High. An arm he wouldn’t use again to fling a fastball until the following January.

Fast-forward to this spring: After making but one relief appearance as a freshman (and, in the process, burning his redshirt year); after pitching in the heralded Cape Cod League last summer and proving himself

Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation against the best collegiate players in the country; after playing fall ball last autumn and becoming head coach Danny Hall’s most reliable (and most oft-used) lefty out of the bullpen this spring, Brewster began June hoping to help Tech advance from its homefield NCAA Regional to the College World Series in Omaha.

Welcome back, Zach. All the way back.

“I went from throwing 70-plus innings my senior year in high school,” he recalled, “to where my arm was killing me.” And could have, literally, if not for a prolonged, dizzying array of tests, diagnoses, treatments, bloodthinning medications that might’ve caused Brewster to bleed out, a complicated surgery requiring the cutting and removal of his top left rib, and finally extensive, carefully-monitored rehab at Tech.

Tech director of sports medicine Jay Shoop and trainer Clay Farr still have a medical file on Brewster that’s 2-to-3 inches thick.

“It was pretty serious. A clot that close to my heart,” Brewster said, touching his chest, “it could kill me.”

That was then. This is now: “I guess I feel I have pretty good patience,” Brewster said. “But I never had to be patient in baseball before, because I was always out there.”

When he couldn’t be out there,

when Brewster first arrived on the Flats and then couldn’t play ball, well, misery not only loved company but had it. Dietrich, the highly-coveted shortstop from Ohio, was also sidelined in their freshman fall of ’07, recovering from an arm injury and surgery.

“Zach and I were on the same schedule,” Dietrich said, “had the same physical therapist. Each day we were in there, working with Clay. As freshmen, we had almost all the same classes, too.

“Zach’s a very outgoing guy,” he said. “We have a lot of similar interests.” It wasn’t just their mutual affinity for PlayStation 3, video games and especially music. “I noticed his competitiveness,” said Dietrich, “how hard he worked [rehabbing]. I knew right away that was a guy I wanted to be around.”

As roomies, “We had a blast,” Dietrich said. Now, he admits, “Sometimes, I get mad.” Mad about the music Brewster loves to play at all hours: Red Hot Chili Peppers. Nine Inch Nails. T.I. Incubus.

“I really like Outkast and Ludacris,” Brewster says. Dietrich does, too, but not at midnight each night during a weekend ACC series. “I try to sleep in,” Dietrich said, laughing.

“Zach’s pitching Friday and Saturday, maybe three days in a row. I said,

‘Zach, I gotta play tomorrow. I gotta sleep.’”

And so Zach turns down the tunes.

Or, more likely, puts on the earphones. He’s concerned not only with baselines, but musical bass lines.

“I’m a little O.C.D. with music, too,” Brewster said. “I have to have my iPod, and the [song] title, the artist.”

There is also Cheryl’s List: The pre-game and in-game songs played at Russ Chandler Stadium during every home game. Those are the responsibility of assistant sports information director Cheryl Watts, the SID who handles Tech baseball. Her music go-to guy? Who else? Brewster, who suggested and supplied the songs, recorded them on DVD’s, did the editing and cuts so they’d be just right.

“We have some problems with some rap lyrics,” Brewster allowed, smiling.

A more pressing concern? Inherited runners. Or keeping runners off the bases when Brewster comes on to start an inning late in the game – and sometimes pitches two frames.

“My job description? Not only keeping runners off base,” Brewster said, “but not letting them score.”

And for Danny Hall? For this relief, much thanks.

“Zach’s done a very good job this year,” Hall said.

At times, Brewster’s been the most-worked guy out of the bullpen. In a memorable late-season, four-games-in-five-days workload, Brewster relieved in all three games of a pivotal ACC weekend series with Florida State, taking a Saturday loss and then getting the win in a miraculous, bottom-of-the-ninth, 6-5 Sunday comeback over FSU. Two nights later in Turner Field, however, Brewster was the loser in a tough 7-5 defeat by Georgia.

In those four games, Brewster threw a total of 92 pitches. That didn’t include the number he’d thrown while warming up. But it did confirm just how sound his arm is now. How fleeting and precarious a relief pitcher’s existence can be, too.

Not that he’s complaining, mind you. “That’s life out of the pen, I guess,” said Brewster.

“That’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever thrown before,” he said in the Ted of the 24,665 in attendance that evening. “That’s the greatest atmosphere I’ve ever thrown in. Those are the kind of situations you want to pitch in.”

And that’s the bottom line on Zach Brewster. ■

Name:

Zach Brewster Position:

Left-handed Pitcher Class:

Sophomore Hometown:

Murrayville, Ga. Notable athletic achievement:

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A blood clot led Brewster to undergo a complicated procedure that involved removing his top left rib.

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Boren to be a Tech Fan

Traveling to Tech football and basketball games never a problem no matter where he has lived

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By Simit Shah After Georgia Tech upset Notre Dame 23-14 without throwing a single pass in 1976, Thomas Boren was so energized that he decided to make the trip up to South Bend the following football season in hopes of witnessing a repeat. After trekking by himself, first to Chicago and then to northern Indiana, Boren saw the Fighting Irish thoroughly exact revenge in a 69-14 victory.

“I came back and told my friends that I knew it wasn’t meant to be when they had a coach named (Dan) Devine, a running back named (Jerome) Heavens and Touchdown Jesus just beyond the goalpost,” he joked. “We literally didn’t have a prayer!”

Though the road trip didn’t yield the desired result, it’s indicative of Boren’s dedication to his alma mater.

Over the years, he’s contributed in a number of ways and continues to be one of the school’s most ardent supporters.

Boren was born in Kentucky, and his family moved to Macon, Ga., when he was seven years old. Middle Georgia was prime Bulldog country and his older brother attended that school in Athens, but Boren was steered to Georgia Tech through his father’s business.

“My father had a small independently-owned business that built and maintained feed mill equipment,” he explained. “As part of that process, I worked in the construction of the equipment, as well as drawing up the plans and helping present them to prospective clients. Based on that experience, I developed a love and appreciation for the technical side of the business.

When I got ready to go to college, Georgia Tech was the logical option.”

Boren arrived on campus in the fall of 1967 as an architecture major, but he eventually switched to industrial management. Though he found campus life to be lively, he had to find a job to help pay for school like many of his fellow classmates.

Boren landed a part-time job at nearby Georgia Power in the power supply engineering department, and eventually he started working there full-time while continuing his studies. Balancing a 40-hour-aweek job with the well-documented academic rigors of Georgia Tech was a difficult balancing act.

“That’s an understatement,” he laughed. “It wasn’t easy, but I was still able to get out in four years.

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No matter where his career has taken him, Boren rarely missed Tech games.

I usually took a few classes during the summer, so that helped. It was a tough experience, but it was clearly worthwhile and rewarding for me.”

Upon graduating in 1971, Boren continued his career at Georgia Power, and after earning his MBA from Georgia State through evening classes in 1974, he transitioned to the finance side of the company.

He eventually rose to become a senior vice president and then moved over to the Southern Company as executive vice president. Boren’s responsibilities and accomplishments within the company and industry were substantial, and Boren was able to keep close ties to Georgia Tech during his 33-year career there.

“You cannot work at Georgia Power and not be in contact with a lot of Georgia Tech alums,” he noted.

“There are a lot of people there that live and breathe Georgia Tech, and I was certainly one of them.”

Boren and a group of fellow alums, including the late Garry Betty, were fixtures at Tech sporting events, and they often made road trips to the ACC Basketball Tournament.

“We’d hire a couple of Tech students to drive us up there in an RV, and we’d have a great weekend of basketball, cards and camaraderie,” he said. “Seeing Tech win that first ACC championship with Mark Price, John Salley and Bruce Dalrymple was one our favorite trips. It was a lot of fun for us, and it allowed us to continue to strengthen that relationship with Georgia Tech.”

Even as a position with PG&E took him to the West Coast for two years, Boren still flew back for every home football game, and he did the same while based in Maryland for two years.

Boren later became CEO of Magnetek, a manufacturer of digital power products, in 2005. After 18 months at the helm, he stepped down after setting the direction for the company and has been in semiretirement since then, overseeing the construction of his homes in Georgia and Florida.

Boren is active within the Georgia Tech community, and he always entertains fellow die-hard Tech fans in his suite at football games. He’s also a Life Member of the Alexander-Tharpe Fund, supporting the scholarship needs for the athletic program.

“As I looked back and reflected on the things I’ve been able to do in my life, a big part of that was because of my Georgia Tech education and the relationships I built there. I thought it was time I gave back, and that was the reason I became a Life Member.”

Boren’s nephew, Rackley Thomas Boren, followed his uncle’s path to Georgia Tech and is currently a senior who serves as a student manager for the women’s softball team.

“I’ve had some great things happen to me over the course of my life and met lots of interesting people, but I think my greatest achievement will always be my family – my wife Pat, daughter Lisa, her husband Brian and our two grandkids,” Boren said.

“All these companies and positions are ephemeral when you get down to it. Companies get restructured, sold or go out of business, but family is forever, and I think of Georgia Tech as my family.” ■

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Atlanta International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 613 is a proud supporter of Georgia Tech academics and athletics

Lighting up Georgia's colleges, homes and businesses for almost 100 years ...

Georgia Tech can now be heard on both the AM and FM dials with the addition of WYAY 106.7. AM 790 The Zone will continue to serve as the Yellow Jacketsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; flagship AM station.

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Insert logo

For all your electrical needs, contact IBEW Local Union 613 IBEW Building 501 Pulliam Street, SW, Suite 250 Atlanta, GA 30312 404.523.8107

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Textbooks Gifts Accessories

Supplies Apparel

Technology

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Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Sunday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

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FB football

Modern Touches

Traditional Bobby Dodd Stadium getting state-of-the art video, audio and graphics

w By simit shah

When the Yellow Jackets pack into Bobby Dodd Stadium for the opener against Jacksonville State on September 5, they’ll be treated to a number of upgrades that touch nearly every part of the 96-year-old stadium.

The most notable improvements are centered in the South end zone, where crews are in the process of the replacing the video board with a new Panasonic model that is twice as large.

The super-sized standard-definition screen features a sharper picture and will showcase a new graphics package.

The massive screen will be flanked by additional ad panels that will sit atop the Wardlaw Center, and will be complemented by a new sound system that involved replacing all the speakers throughout the stadium. Both the video and audio systems were nearly a decade old and began to show their age in recent years.

“They probably had a little bit of life left in them, but that’s pretty much the standard span for state-of-the-art

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26

The Buzz

equipment,” explained associate director of athletics Wayne Hogan.

Other parts of the stadium will be outfitted with new ribbon boards, which have become ubiquitous along upper deck facings in most stadiums and arenas around the country.

“I think this is going to give us far more inventory and opportunity with corporate involvement, especially with the ribbon boards,” noted Hogan.

“That’s completely new space for us. Plus, the entertainment factor is important. Fans in this city are used to going to the pro venues, so you lose ground if you don’t have the elements that contribute to a fun atmosphere.”

The entertainment package cost in the neighborhood of $4.5 million.

Hogan, along with senior associate director of athletics Paul Griffin and director of athletics Dan Radakovich, visits various venues across the country to cull ideas that might work well at Georgia Tech.

“You take the best of several dif-

The video board in the South end zone is being replaced with a new Panasonic model that is twice as large. ferent spots,” Hogan said. “You have to try the design these things for the venue you have to work with, and ours is unique. We certainly don’t want to

lose the traditional aspects of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Grant Field. At the same time, we think we can take advanSee Touches page 28

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Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Touches from page 26 tage of some of the nooks and crannies to add a little more splash and excitement for fans.”

Additional enhancements include an updated look for the hall of fame area along the Upper East deck facade, as well as more school colors and logos in various areas. There are also a handful of infrastructure projects in the West stands involving new paint and improvements to the restrooms.

“We are looking to create the best fan experience in the ACC, and part of achieving that is the addition of the new video board and the accompanying digital matrix boards at Bobby Dodd Stadium,” said Radakovich. “The complete overhaul of the sound system and upgrades to the lower West festival area will assist in attaining that goal.

We also will add some visual upgrades to the stadium that will make it feel more ‘Georgia Tech.’ ” ■

Deck facings will be outfitted with new ribbon boards, which have become ubiquitous in most stadiums and arenas around the country..

YELLOW JACKET FANS ®

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, HERE S YOUR MISSION: 1. Go to www.iwantmygt.com 2. Print an official “I Want My GT” card 3. Give the card to a retailer that you think should carry Georgia Tech merchandise

There are thousands of Yellow Jacket fans, and they want their GT! ®

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The Buzz

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A Cottage by theLake

Family swimming pool with water slide, splash pad and hot tub

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T H E R E Y N O L D S L A N D I N G C O T T A G E C O L L E C T I O N by ooking for an idyllic setting to relax and reconnect with your loved ones? Just over an hour from Atlanta, Athens and Augusta, Reynolds Landing proudly announces the release of The Cottage Collection by Southern Living ®. Be among the first to own one of the charming cottage homes designed to bring generations together for funfilled weekends, restful vacations and memorable holiday celebrations.

The award-winning Bob Cupp golf course is just a short stroll away, and a new clubhouse, family swimming pool (with water slide, splash pad and hot tub), restaurant, athletic field and other amenities ensure that your perfect lakeside setting creates a lifestyle unlike any other. To help you make the most of your leisure time, storage areas adjacent to the front porch provide handy access to recreational items such as golf clubs, bicycles and fishing equipment. Open floor plans accented with cozy niches create a warm environment for your family, while spacious porches invite your friends and neighbors to gather outdoors.

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To learn mor moree about th thee Reynolds Reynolds Landing Cottage Collect Collection ion ® community unity or other re realal estate

by Souther Southernn Living Living , the comm opportuni opp ortunities, ortuni ties, contact you yourr Reynolds Reynolds Landi Landing ng sales executive executive 866.405.7400 7400 or toll free at 866.405. www.r.r.reynoldslan eynoldslanding.com eynoldslan ding.com visit us at www Artist’s conceptual rendering, subject to change.

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NCAA Compliance Corner

By Paul Parker

Georgia Tech Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance Services On May 6, the NCAA released to the public the Academic Progress Report (APR), contemporaneous penalty and historical penalty reports and aggregate data for all Division I institutions. Many of Georgia Tech’s friends and alumni have asked what APR is and how it works. Thus, I want to provide you a basic summary of how it works for all NCAA Division I institutions.

the Academic Performance Program’s Purpose: Ensure the Division I membership is dedicated to providing student-athletes:

• Exemplary educational and intercollegiate athletics experiences;

• Environments that recognize and support academic mission of member institutions; and

• Enhanced ability to earn a four-year degree.

Academic Reform as a “Package”

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1. S tudent-athlete accountability through increased academic-eligibility standards.

2. N ew academic rates of measure, real-time rate and better graduation rate.

3. Team performance accountability through contemporaneous and historical penalties.

4. Department of athletics academic accountability through historical penalties.

5. F ocus on campus efforts to improve academic performance, retention and graduation for all teams.

6. Recognition of academically high-achieving teams.

Academic Progress Rate Why APR?

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• Real-time rate.

• Includes all student-athletes on a team in a given year (as opposed to entering class).

• Used in analysis for contemporaneous and historical penalties and public recognition of top academically performing teams.

• Points awarded for eligibility/graduation and retention.

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• Term-by-term measurement.

• Totaled over most recent four years.

• Includes only student-athletes receiving athletically-related financial aid.

• Two available points each academic term. 2/2 for each term or 4/4 each academic year.

• One eligibility (E) point = student-athlete meets academic eligibility standards for the next academic term.

• One retention (R) point = student-athlete is enrolled full time as of the fifth week of classes of the next term.

• number of points earned

number of points possible x 1000 = APR

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• Teams with a multi-year APR below 925 subject to contemporaneous penalties if:

a. Any student-athlete departed the institution; and

b. Did not earn an eligibility point (“0/2”).

• Some exceptions apply (e.g., student-athlete with no athletics eligibility remaining).

• Aid awarded to an 0/2 cannot be re-awarded.

Contemporaneous Penalties Defined: Financial Aid Restriction

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• Team’s maximum financial aid limit is reduced by the value of total countable aid awarded to the student-athlete who did not earn eligibility and was not retained the following academic year.

• Penalties must be taken at the “next available opportunity.”

• Contemporaneous penalties are meant to be “attention-getting” penalties.

• Thus, number of contemporaneous penalties that apply to a team for any given year is limited.

• Cap = approximately 10 percent of NCAA maximum team limit, rounded up for head-count sports.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have regarding the NCAA Academic Performance Program. ©2008 Hilton Hotels Corporation.

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Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Š2008 The Coca-Cola Company. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coca-Cola,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Coca-Cola Zero,â&#x20AC;? the Contour Bottle design and the Dynamic Ribbon are trademarks of The Coca-Cola Company.

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