March 24, 2014 Vanguard

Page 1

VANGUARD THE

BEST IN

INSIDE

► Campus: Coffee warms frigid USAPD, student relations. See Campus, page 2

► JagLife: Relive your childhood with retro video games. See JagLife, page 6

ALYSSA NEWTON | SPORTS EDITOR

South’s beloved son A family, 15,000 strong, remembers one of their own: Christopher Thomas Contributing Writer

T

See Sports, page 10

► Opinion: Inhumane fishing on campus may destroy population. See Sports, page 15

NATION

PAGE 10

By MARY BETH LURSEN

► Sports: South baseball takes series against Arkansas Little Rock.

VOL. 54, NO. 10

“If it matters to the USA family, it matters to us.”

MARCH 24, 2014

he cool, night wind blew across the students and faculty huddled in front of Moulton Tower the night of Tuesday, March 18. Students and faculty were spread out toward the sides of the plaza and down along the steps. A few designated people walked through the crowd, passing out white candles from a cardboard box. Five minutes before 8:30 p.m., the candles were lit. The wind blew hard, making it hard to keep the flames going. And just underneath the pavilion of the tower sat a podium with a gold University of South Alabama plaque across it. Perched to the right of the podium sat a picture of the reason these people were gathered. It was a portrait of Christopher Elan Thomas, 21, who passed away Saturday, March 16. The picture was taken from the cover article fall 2013 issue of Due South—an article he

find us on Facebook search “The Vanguard USA”

was featured in for being “a face of South.” An active member of Jaguar Productions, Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, College Republicans and the Debate Society, Thomas was indeed a face of South. “He was an inspiration to us. He was an inspiration to everyone here at South,” Zach Charlton, treasurer of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, said during the vigil. “He was a role model for me. Treasurer, it’s hard to get documents from headquarters, documents from brothers. I could always depend on Christopher and say, ‘Hey, I need this. Hey, I need that.’ And magically, in the next couple of days, it was done.” Charlton apologized at the beginning of his speech, saying he “might break down a little bit.” He wasn’t the only one moved to tears. Many could barely talk about Thomas without crying. “He’s part of the reason I came to South,” Ashley Ford, chemistry major,

Check out our digital edition thevanguardonline.com

See Thomas Page 2

RYAN KELLER | GRAPHIC DESIGNER

SGA Election Candidates Page 4 In this Issue: Sports, Page 9 Opinion, Page 14

JagLife, Page 6


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.