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Raider Relief
RAIDER
MTSU Board of Trustees vice chair Darrell Freeman lives out his purpose through the University’s ongoing humanitarian efforts
article by Drew Ruble and photos by Andrew Oppmann
As a recent commencement speaker, MTSU Board of Trustees vice chair Darrell S. Freeman Sr. (’87, ’90) urged his audience of newly minted degree-holders to “take over the world.”
“But when you do go take over the world, do it with compassion,” Freeman added. “Because the world needs more compassion . . . and do it with the sole purpose of helping people who are less fortunate than you are.
Freeman has proven those are words he lives by, evidenced by his philanthropic response after hurricanes ravaged Puerto Rico and the Bahamas in recent years.
A True Blue Mission Raider Relief, a humanitarian drive revived by MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee when Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas in 2019, flew—in multiple trips piloted by Freeman in his private plane—more than 10,000 pounds of emergency supplies, medicines, and necessities to help people who were affected. Families of seven MTSU students were among those enduring the storm’s aftermath.
Freeman, McPhee, and Terry Dorris, a pilot and Aerospace associate professor, flew to the Bahamas on three separate days last September. Freeman donated use of his personal aircraft and fuel, while Dorris’ flight expenses aboard MTSU’s aircraft came from the tens of thousands of dollars in donations from community members. Those cash contributions also covered costs of the goods for the families and were further distributed to assist the affected Bahamian students at MTSU as their families tried to recover.
Tiara Ashley Brown, president of MTSU’s Bahamian Student Organization, helps unload a plane full of supplies.
Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane, hit and lingered over the island commonwealth Sept. 1, killing many and leaving 70,000 homeless. McPhee, a native of the Bahamas, lost a grand-niece after the hurricane made landfall on Grand Bahama Island.
The hurricane hit home for some MTSU students as well. In all, MTSU has 51 students enrolled from the Bahamas, including those with families in the most devastated areas of Grand Bahama and Abaco islands.
Tiara Ashley Brown, president of MTSU’s Bahamian Student Organization, accompanied McPhee, Freeman, and Chip Crunk, R.J. Young Co. CEO, on the third mission to the Bahamas. The contingent also delivered donations gathered by Brown’s student group.
When MTSU student-run news source Sidelines asked what one thing McPhee wished to explain to students, he responded that this situation could happen to anyone.
“I think it would be having compassion and empathy. . . —not sympathy, but empathy—and realizing that a natural disaster can happen anywhere at any time, and if they are ever in a position to help their fellow student, that they need to do it at whatever level they can,” McPhee said. “And then certainly appreciating the goodness of people.”
Freeman said he was honored and humbled by the opportunity to donate his services and his aircraft to the relief missions. “If you own a plane,” he said, “I can’t think of a better way as to how you should use it.”
Freeman also piloted his plane for the first Raider Relief mission to Puerto Rico in 2017 to aid the family of former Blue Raiders basketball player Raymond Cintron after Category 4 Hurricane Maria.
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee (second from left) consults with Bahamian officials after arriving in the island commonwealth with a Raider Relief delegation.
An Entrepreneurial Success Freeman’s message to graduates to show compassion is clearly exemplified in his actions in the wake of these natural disasters. But so too is Freeman’s message to “take over the world” using their education earned at MTSU. Freeman deftly wielded his own MTSU education to become one of the most successful business people in Nashville. That success is at the heart of his philanthropy.
After graduating with an engineering tech degree, Freeman was a systems engineer with Stingray Computer Services. He also was an adjunct professor at MTSU during 1988–90 and earned a master’s degree.
In 1991, Freeman launched Zycron Computer Services with a few thousand dollars in savings, his personal credit cards, and an office he describes as the size of a closet. One of Nashville’s earliest technology sector success stories, Zycron grew into a company with $38 million revenue, 300-plus employees, and clients ranging from hospital giant HCA to the Tennessee Valley Authority.
About a quarter-century later, Freeman sold what had grown to be one of Nashville’s largest information technology consulting firms for more than $20 million.
“You can start with nothing and build value,” Freeman told The Tennessean. “This is the typical American dream.”
Freeman remained Zycron executive chair and later colaunched Pinnacle Construction Partners and Franklinbased Reliant Bank (among other business pursuits and board service). He also became the first two-term chair of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and recently was named laureate of the 2019 Junior Achievement Nashville Business Hall of Fame, an annual event recognizing Nashville’s outstanding contributors to business and philanthropy.
Freeman was recently inducted into the Junior Achievement Nashville Business Hall of Fame
Devastation is shown in Freeport, Bahamas, in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.
Freeman was appointed an inaugural member of his alma mater’s Board of Trustees in 2016 by then-Gov. Bill Haslam and continues to serve as vice chair. It’s an impressive résumé of accomplishments for a first-generation college student who moved from Chattanooga to MTSU with literally nothing.
Flying High In 2000, Freeman earned his private pilot certification. His philanthropic flights reveal he’s been using it for good ever since.
Freeman’s most recent community-minded venture is his creation of Cockpit Conversations, a YouTube channel where Freeman takes flight with various Nashville business titans to discuss important topics like entrepreneurialism and making an impact on communities. Recent guests in the cockpit included Nashville Business Journal president/publisher Kate Herman, Deloitte global chief information officer Larry Quinlan, and Slim and Husky pizza beeria co-founder Derick Moore (cockpit-conversations.com).
Take over the world. Do it with compassion. Do it with the purpose of helping people less fortunate than you. If you do these things, you will have represented MTSU very well. Whether through Raider Relief, board service, or his myriad other ventures, Freeman has certainly represented MTSU in ways his fellow alums can cheer— and perhaps contribute. MTSU
How to help Community members can still give to the effort by texting RAIDERRELIEF—all one word—to 41444 from your mobile device. You also can go to mtsu. edu/supportraiderrelief for info on how to give.
In partnership with Delta Air Lines, Junior Achievement (JA) inducted MTSU alumnus Darrell Freeman, vice chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, as the 2019 JA Nashville Business Hall of Fame Laureate. JA is a nonprofit organization that offers business experiential learning for young people.
Freeman said he was humbled by the award and thanked supporters at the Oct. 23 ceremony, as well as his wife, Gloria, and children, Ebony, Kenya, and Darrell Jr.
He said he has come a long way from his roots in Chattanooga, a journey that “has been long and sometimes hard.
His dad, Howard, worked for 38 years in a foundry, while his mom, Jimmie Lou, worked odd jobs including as a maid, he noted.
“No one gets to any place without help. I’ve had plenty of help, and I’ve needed it,” Freeman added. “There are millions of Darrell Freemans all across America. They just haven’t in some cases been connected to their own dreammaker, and JA is about connecting young people to their dreammakers. So this award tonight is about the dreammakers in my life, and it’s an honor to receive and accept it on their behalf.”
