Commodore Nation - March 2009

March 2009

VANDERBILT

HAS BEEN A CRADLE FOR SPORTSWRITERS

table of contents 6

2 Connecting With The Web 4 National Commodore Club 6 In My Words

George Drake

7 Commodores Cubed Know your Commodores

16

8 Point of View Jessica Demorest 9 Former 'Dores Still Playing VU has many ties to Nashville’s ABA team 10 Sportswriter U

Many successful sportswriters are VU grads

13 It’s My Turn — Rod Williamson

Flying Under the Radar

15 The Final 4

Jence Rhoads

16 The Unheralded Bunch

22

10

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Vanderbilt walk-ons living out a dream

19 Soccer Inks Signing Class

Ronnie Coveleskie announces 2009 class

20 Quick Hits A look at Vanderbilt’s sports teams 22 Signee Excels In Many Ways Gains inspiration from brother 24 The Last Look

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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Connect with

VUCOMMODORES.COM Editorial Publisher: Vanderbilt University

Editor-in-Chief: Ryan Schulz

Director of External Relations: Rod Williamson

Designers: Jeremy Teaford

Ryan Schulz

Vanderbilt’s Blog The Barca Blog has transformed into an all-inclusive official Vanderbilt blog. The blog is updated throughout the day, providing fans with informative and fun content that they otherwise wouldn’t see on vucommodores.com.

Commodore Nation All-Access Your ticket to free multimedia content online is Commodore Nation All-Access. The page includes live audio, live video, postgame highlights and interviews.

Digital Image Specialist: Julie Luckett Turner Photographers: Neil Brake

Todd Drexler Daniel Dubois Steve Green Stan Jones John Russell Mike Strasinger Al Tielemans

Contributors: Andy Boggs

Jessica Demorest John Erck Larry Leathers Thomas Samuel Chris Weinman

Administrative

Podcasts Download archived audio files to your computer or media device.

Audio files available for download include postgame interviews, weekly news conferences, Joe Fisher’s daily updates and weekly radio interviews.

Commodore Nation Online Every issue of Commodore Nation is archived for easy online viewing.

Issues are available through a new interactive viewer, which allows the reader to view the publication much like a magazine.

Letters Baseball Season Beckons The winter has been especially cold this year and when I saw the February cover of Commodore Nation, it reminded me of just how excited I am for baseball season. Each year, baseball season brings thoughts of spring and hope that the snow I have been staring at since November is about to melt.

Tim, Chicago

Happy for Hahnfeldt As a former high school kicker and someone who has pulled for Vanderbilt since moving here in 1994, I couldn’t have been happier for the way Bryant Hahnfeldt ended his career.

Bill, Nashville

To submit a letter, e-mail CN at: commodorenation@vanderbilt.edu.

Letters should include the writer’s name and address and may be edited for clarity and space.

MARCH 2009

Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs: Beth Fortune

Vanderbilt University’s Mission, Goals and Values Vanderbilt University is a center for scholarly research, informed and creative teaching, and service to the community and society at large. Vanderbilt will uphold the highest standards and be a leader in the quest for new knowledge through scholarship, dissemination of knowledge through teaching and outreach, and creative experimentation of ideas and concepts. In pursuit of these goals, Vanderbilt values most highly intellectual freedom that supports open inquiry; and equality, compassion and excellence in all endeavors.

Vanderbilt University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action university.

Young, but Talented Although the 2008-09 (men’s) basketball season has been much different from last year’s, I see a lot of promise in the team and am excited for the future. Give (Kevin) Stallings and his staff a summer to work with these young players, and the upcoming years will be something to watch.

Marcus, Nashville

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Chancellor: Nicholas S. Zeppos Vice Chancellor for University Affairs: David Williams II

ON THE COVER: Illustration by Jeremy Teaford POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to National Commodore Club, 2601 Jess Neely Drive, Nashville, TN 37212.

SUBSCRIPTION: To subscribe to Commodore Nation, please contact the National Commodore Club at 615/322-4114.

ADVERTISEMENT: To advertise with Commodore Nation, please contact Vanderbilt ISP Sports.

Jeff Miller, General Manager 615/322-4468 jmiller@ispsports.com CORRECTION: In the February issue of Commodore Nation, the home opener of Vanderbilt’s 2009 football schedule was incorrectly listed as Western Kentucky when in fact it is Western Carolina. CN regrets the error.

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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C O M M O D O R E C LU B

COR N E R

PHONE: 615/322-4114 vucommodores.com GEORGIA MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME (JAN. 14)

NCC Members and scholarship donors Ted and Gloria LaRoche in the Admirals’ Club at halftime.

Lady and Hunter Hamilton, children of NCC Members Kevin and Christy Hamilton.

Chris Fletcher and Marshall Chapman, scholarship donors.

NCC Members Anne Dean, Carol and Gary Kimball.

DONOR ADVISED FUNDS/ DECLINING BENEFITS Gifts to the NCC from foundation donor-advised funds REQUIRE the donor to decline benefits due to tax laws that govern use of those funds. Under no circumstances will benefits be given to donors who have made their NCC gift via funds subject to the laws governing those funds.

NCC member David Johnson and Julie Carpenter.

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MARCH 2009

Any donor can give to NCC and decline benefits. Vanderbilt will issue a receipt that allows 100% deductibility of the gift.

However, if you attempt to secure tickets and parking, the NCC will be unable to fulfill that request. If the need for tickets/ parking persists, you will be required to write a letter indicating the desire to change your intention from decline to accept benefits.

ALABAMA MEN’S BASKETBALL GAME (FEB. 5)

David Cullum, Jere Phillips, Torrey Nance, Al Phillips and Connie Forehand.

NCC members pick up food in the Admiral’s Room during halftime.

Current VU student Eleanor and her father, NCC member Lex Jolley.

NCC members eat in the Admiral’s Room during halftime of the game.

JOIN THE BLACK AND GOLD ENDOWMENT SOCIETY Vanderbilt Athletics and the National Commodore Club endeavor to endow all athletics scholarships. To help in that task, the NCC has created an endowment level called the Black and Gold Society. Black and Gold Society members create an opportunity for a student-athlete while receiving full benefits of the Dudley Society with a five-year, $100,000 commitment. For more information on the Black and Gold Society and Athletic Scholarship Endowments, please contact John Erck at: john.erck@vanderbilt.edu or 615/322-7922.

JOIN THE NCC OR RENEW TODAY! You recently should have received your membership renewal for the National Commodore Club. Please mail it in, call 615/322-4114, click vucommodores.com or stop by the office in the McGugin Center to make your gift. Every gift is allocated toward the goal of funding student-athlete scholarships. This year’s membership deadline is May 30 (Vanderbilt’s fiscal year ends June 30). Thank you for your continued support of Vanderbilt Athletics. Your Membership Matters!

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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In My Words

George

Drake

H

aving lost four straight games in mid January, Vanderbilt was in desperate need of a consistent player to guide the young Commodores through choppy waters. Most wouldn’t have predicted that steadying hand would come from a player who had averaged 2.4 points per game in his first two seasons. But it did. Redshirt junior guard George Drake, the team’s most experienced player, quickly became the team’s calming influence on the floor. A native of Calera, Ala., Drake led the team in scoring with 14 points against Tennessee on Jan. 20 and then led the team with a career-high 16 points the following game against Florida on Jan. 25.

On his increase in scoring I have always come out with the same mindset whether I’m coming off the bench or starting the game. I just try to come in and bring energy and I feed off my defense, and when I’m aggressive on defense, it really helps bring out my offensive game.

On the transition of becoming the most veteran player on the team We did lose a lot of seniors, but it really wasn’t a big transition. We don’t have many guys on the team who are very vocal, so I feel like with me being one of the older guys, I need to be a more vocal player on the team.

On becoming more of a leader I do feel like I’m more of a leader on and off the court.

I have been here the longest, so I feel like it is my responsibility to show the younger guys the ropes.

On his confidence level I feel like I have a whole lot more confidence this season. I have a bigger role this year, and it has given me more confidence out there on the court.

On growing up in Calera, Ala. (pop. 8,329) Calera is a real small town compared to Nashville. It was real different for me at first, and I was homesick for a long time.

Now Nashville is like a second home for me.

Coming from a town as small as Calera, it was almost as if everyone knew everybody else. That certainly isn’t the case here.

JOHN RUSSELL

On the basketball program at Calera High School My high school is known for basketball. We won state championships in 1996 and 1997, and when I started playing varsity in ninth grade, we went to the state championship three years in a row and lost. Then my senior year we won the state championship.

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MARCH 2009

On choosing Vanderbilt over schools in Alabama On my visit to Vanderbilt, the former players and the coaches really took me in. The family atmosphere with the coaches and former players here really took me over.

Also, Vanderbilt is a prestigious university, and academics played a major part in me coming.

On wearing No. 34 I wore it in high school, and my favorite athlete is Bo Jackson. He’s from Alabama and went to Auburn, but it is someone I grew up watching.

On his baseball career growing up I never played football, but baseball was my second-favorite sport. I stopped playing baseball my sophomore year of high school, but when I was playing, I played third base and pitched.

On the benefits of having a redshirt season Quite naturally, most players want to come in and play right away, and that is how I was when I first came here. When I redshirted, I really couldn’t see it being the right thing at the time, but over the years it has benefited me greatly. My knowledge of the game is so much better, and it shows out there on the court. That extra year gave me time to develop my game more. It has worked out.

On the influence of his parents My parents are like my heroes, and they’ve always been there for me. They’ve been coming to all my games for as long as I can remember. They always support me with any of my decisions, and they were always there to discipline me when I was trying to go outside their likings. My dad is a very hardworking man, and I hope to one day be half as hard of a worker as he is. My mom is the sweetest lady in the world, and they are two hard workers. n

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Commodores Cubed

sean BIERMAN Baseball

elliott COLE

Basketball

amanda HALTER

jackie ROEING

Bowling

Swimming

Favorite junk food

Milk Duds

Chocolate cake

Brownies

Sour cream chips

TV marathon I could watch all day

Entourage

Arrested Development

Friends

Project Runway

I wanted to be a _________ when I was 10

Professional baseball player

Professional basketball player

Writer

Broadway actress

Favorite spring break destination growing up

St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands

Destin, Fla.

Florida

Skiing at Big Sky, Mont.

Ditty Earns Spot on Fed Cup Team

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ormer Vanderbilt women’s tennis player Julie Ditty became the first player in school history to be selected to the U.S. Fed Cup team when she received a call from team captain Mary Jo Fernandez on Feb. 2.

“It is a great honor for her,” Vanderbilt women’s tennis Coach Geoff Macdonald said. “It is really the equivalent of a golfer being selected to the Ryder Cup.” Ditty was notified of her invitation while visiting her boyfriend in San Francisco, but it didn’t take her long to accept the invitation.

“I was thrilled to get that call,” Ditty said.

“I am just really honored to be able to represent my country. I think we have a really great group of girls here. I’m just really excited to be part of the team.”

Ditty received a coveted spot on the team after Bethanie Mattek had to withdraw before the team’s opening round, 3-2, win against Argentina (Feb. 7-8) due to a hip injury.

Ditty immediately took advantage of the opportunity and teamed with Liezel Huber to break a 2-2 tie and clinch the match with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Argentina’s Gisela Dulko and Betina Jozami.

With the win, the U.S. will now face the Czech Republic April 25-26 in the semifinals.

Like the Ryder Cup in golf, the Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women’s tennis. The U.S. has won the Fed Cup a record 17 times, with its last win coming in 2000.

A 2002 graduate, Ditty, 30, made her first main draw in a WTA tournament in 2005. In March 2008, Ditty cracked the top 100 for the first time in her career with a ranking of 89th. n

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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Point of View

For The Good of the Cause

By Jessica Demorest Editor’s Note: Each month “Commodore Nation” will ask a varsity athlete to sound off on a point of personal interest. A senior on the lacrosse team, Demorest is working in conjunction with the Metro Nashville School Board to build a playground for a special education school.

I

am a “student-athlete,” but even though “student” formally precedes “athlete” in this title, the hours I’ve spent in practice, rehab, traveling and watching film as a member of the lacrosse team at Vanderbilt sometimes makes it difficult to remember that “student” really does come first.

Last year, as part of my undergraduate “Human and Organizational Development” core curriculum, I was part of a community development class that not only reinvented “student” as a priority for me, but inspired me to develop the Playground Project, in conjunction with the Metro Nashville School Board, to renovate the playground at the Murrell School in Edgehill.

The Murrell School serves students certified as seriously emotionally disturbed and learning disabled in grades K-7.

Ninety-seven percent of the student population is on free and reduced lunch. It is important that Murrell’s students have the opportunity to expend excess energy and benefit from daily physical education, but they are currently unable to because their outdoor space is inadequate and unsafe.

Beyond the injustice that these students do not have a safe place to play and the right equipment for their teachers to schedule productive daily physical education lessons, it was my concern that the students may feel inferior to their Metro school counterparts. The students at Murrell School don’t have playDemorest (second from left) ground equipment to be proud of or take ownership of, and the with 2009 senior class. current state of the playground doesn’t send the message that they are important and deserving of the same opportunities given to all students in the Metro school district. Playground Project was born out of a desire to not only improve the school’s playground, but to change this message to one of hope, kindness and ownership by creating a space these children deserve and are proud to call theirs.

As one of our many philanthropic endeavors this year, my lacrosse team has supported my efforts with Playground Project and will volunteer with the renovations in the spring, alongside other members of the Nashville community. I could not be more proud to be part of a program that prioritizes service and expects supporting teammates outside of athletic endeavors, and I am grateful that it has become such an integral part of the way our team operates. In fact, it has made me consider if we should also include “philanthropist” somewhere in the “student-athlete” title…

We are always looking for additional support and would greatly appreciate your help for this project. Please visit our Web site, playgroundprojectnashville.org to donate your time or monetary support, as we are in need of funding to make this vision a reality. If you would like to join my lacrosse team and participate in the renovation stage, [painting, cleaning, landscaping, installing a garden, etc.] we would love to include you. Please contact us at playgroundprojectnashville@gmail. com to join our effort. Thank you. n

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MARCH 2009

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McMahan and Moore Still Playing in Nashville

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hen former Commodores Ronnie this might be something I’d be interested in.”

Like the majority of players in the ABA, McMaMcMahan and Mario Moore stepped off the court for the final time as han must balance his role with the Broncs with seniors, neither thought they would ever have his full-time career, which for McMahan is an an opportunity to play another meaningful game assistant basketball coach at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, in Nashville. where he is in his fifth That all changed a season. To accommofew months ago when date the players on the the Nashville Broncs of team, the team schedthe American Basketules practices at 7 p.m. ball Association moved during the week. to town. The arrival Because of jobs, of the team brought some players such as semi-pro basketball to McMahan, who has Nashville, and with it mostly only been able came a reunion of forto play in home games, mer Commodores. In are not able to make addition to Moore and every game. Moore, McMahan, the Broncs on the other hand, has are coached by former been able to play for the Commodore Jan van team full-time between Breda Kolff.

Former Commodore Ronnie McMahan is an being a substitute “It never crossed my assistant at Montgomery Bell Academy. teacher and basketball mind once that I’d be playing in Nashville again, so to be able to play coach at Apollo Middle School in Antioch.

Moore understands that the ABA is a long in my hometown in front of my family and friends is a true blessing,” said Moore, who attended ways from the NBA, but like most players in Antioch High School and played for the Com- the league, his time with the Broncs gives him a chance to continue playing the game he loves. modores from 2003-06.

“I’m just trying to keep my legs moving,” For McMahan, the opportunity to play for the Broncs also reunited him with van Breda Kolff, Moore said. “I play ball and try to have fun and who coached McMahan for two seasons at enjoy the experience instead of getting caught up in dreams. When I used to dream, I used to Vanderbilt.

“It is a unique experience because we both get lost. I’m just trying to have fun and play.”

At 37, McMahan knows that he won’t be able have changed, we both have matured and we both went our separate ways,” McMahan to play forever, but like Moore, his competitive said. “I think our experience from back in the drive keeps bringing him back.

“I enjoy the camaraderie of playing with guys day—now there is a difference—but there is an understanding that we know where each other that it means something to,” McMahan said. is coming from. Knowing he’d be coaching the “Quite honestly, I still have the bug in me that I team really helped me make my decision that want to play and be competitive.” n

COMPLIANCE

A:

Free Kick is a member of the Vanderbilt football team. His uncle is a great contributor to Vanderbilt Athletics and wants to honor Free and his teammates on a great season by having a meal for them at his home. Is this permissible?

Yes. According to NCAA Bylaw 16.11.1.5, a student-athlete may receive an occasional family home meal from a representative of athletics interests on infrequent and special occasions under the following conditions: • The meal must be provided in an individual’s home (as opposed to a restaurant) and may be catered; and • A representative of the institution’s athletics interest may provide reasonable local transportation to student-athletes to attend the meal function only if the meal function is at the home of that representative.

They also must receive approval from the Vanderbilt Compliance Office.

Compliance questions? Please contact: Candice Storey Lee Director of Compliance 615/322-7992 candice.storey@vanderbilt.edu

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George Midgett Compliance Coordinator 615/322-2083 george.d.midgett@vanderbilt.edu

NUMBERS 3,700

The new capacity of Hawkins Field with the addition of outfield bleachers—an increase of 673 from the previous capacity.

98

Vanderbilt’s rank among FORTUNE magazine’s top 100 best places to work in the U.S. Vanderbilt became the first academic institution to ever make the list.

10

The number of three-pointers hit in 11 attempts by Vanderbilt’s Merideth Marsh in consecutive wins against Arkansas and Alabama.

17

The number of studentathletes Bobby Johnson signed to National Letters of Intent on Feb. 4.

64.1%

COR NER

Q:

By The

John Peach Compliance Coordinator 615/343-1060 john.w.peach@vanderbilt.edu

The field-goal percentage by Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball team in its win at Kentucky on Feb. 8—a season high.

8,000

The number of Music City Bowl T-shirts sold by the Vanderbilt Bookstore.

7

The number of consecutive matches Vanderbilt's men's tennis team had won by the exact same score of 4-3 until sweeping Memphis, 7-0, on Feb. 13.

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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Vanderbilt is Sportswriter U

CURRENT VANDERBILT SPORTSWRITERS Writer Organization Skip Bayless ESPN Mark Bechtel Sports Illustrated Josh Cooper Decatur (Ala.) Daily Lee Jenkins Sports Illustrated Mike Jensen Philadelphia Inquirer Tyler Kepner New York Times Mitch Light Athlon Sports Buster Olney ESPN Dave Sheinin Washington Post Bill Trocchi Sports Illustrated Dan Wolken Memphis Commercial-Appeal

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MARCH 2009

JOHN RUSSELL: PHOTO; JEREMY TEAFORD: ILLUSTRATION

W

hen it comes to journalism, colleges such as Northwestern, Missouri and Syracuse usually are regarded as some of the premier schools for producing sportswriters. Because it lacks a journalism program, Vanderbilt never will be mentioned among the top “J schools” in the country, but maybe it should.

The lack of offering a journalism degree hasn’t prevented Vanderbilt from having a Mt. Rushmore of current sportswriters that would stack up to almost any other university.

There are Buster Olney and Skip Bayless with ESPN; Mark Bechtel, Lee Jenkins and Bill Trocchi with Sports Illustrated; Dave Sheinin of the Washington Post; Mike Jensen of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Tyler Kepner of The New York Times just to name a few.

Without a journalism program and an enrollment of fewer than 8,000, the number of successful sportswriters to graduate from Vanderbilt is staggering. There are many factors to why Vanderbilt has produced the number of sportswriters that it has, but the main reasons are Vanderbilt’s student newspaper, The Hustler, and the Fred Russell-Grantland Rice Sports Writing Scholarship, which is awarded annually to one high school senior.

“I believe there are two reasons Vanderbilt has produced so many sportswriters,” said Mitch Light, an editor for Athlon Sports and a 1993 graduate. “The Fred Russell-Grantland Rice Scholarship is a big reason. You are automatically getting a pool of capable writers there that have an interest in doing it as a profession, but I always thought Vanderbilt was a great opportunity because The Hustler is a small enough (student newsper) paper that if you show some initiative and have a little bit of talent, you will have the opportunity to cover big-time sporting events.”

Among those who won the scholarship and are now sportswriters are Bayless (1970), Sheinin (1987), Light (1989), Kepner (1993), Jenkins (1995) and Dan Wolken (1997) of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.

Writers such as Jenkins point to Russell’s

influence beyond just the scholarship for his reason for attending Vanderbilt.

“I was deciding between a couple of places, and on my visit to Vanderbilt, (Russell) gave me his book. He wrote in it an inscription to me that I should come here, and at that moment, I told him I’d come to Vanderbilt,” said Jenkins, who graduated in 1999 and covered the New Jersey Nets and New York Mets for the New York Times before joining SI in 2007.

“For people, especially Buster (Olney), he was a big part of branding Vanderbilt as a place for sportswriters. The way he rubbed off on people and made them want to get in the business was huge. For my generation, we knew Mr. Russell, but it wasn’t the same relationship that Buster had with him.”

While the scholarship certainly is a large factor in having so many sports writers, a handful of writers such as Olney came to Vanderbilt without winning the scholarship, while others such as Josh Cooper, who covers Alabama for the Decatur (Ala.) Daily, didn’t become interested in the field until arriving at Vanderbilt.

“I think a lot of the success has to do with that it is a really good school and it attracts a lot of bright people and a lot of people that are really passionate about what they want to do,” said Cooper, who as a 2005 graduate is the most recent Vanderbilt graduate to move into sports writing.

“I think that is what kind of brings people in and once you get there, The Hustler has always been really good at fostering creativity and passion. You already have a

bunch of bright people to begin with, and then you take that level of intelligence and mold it and it grows.”

Not every sportswriter who has come out of Vanderbilt won the scholarship, but one thing each one of has in common is their experience of working at The Hustler.

“The best thing for me was getting to work for The Hustler,” Jenkins said. “The Hustler wasn’t a very big operation when I was in school, and we were really able to do it all. We were able to learn all facets of working at a newspaper. I was writing football game stories just a couple of weeks in.

It was just such a great opportunity early on, a bunch of us had just to write.”

By coming to Vanderbilt, the writers were all able to immerse themselves in the paper and cover big-time sporting events from the start, which is something the majority of writers wouldn’t have been able to do if they had attended a school with a renowned journalism program.

“I covered an SEC football game my third week on campus as a freshman, where if you go somewhere else, there is so much competition to cover events that at Syracuse you’d be lucky to be covering a lacrosse match by yourself by your junior year,” Light said. “The opportunity is there to cover big-time sporting events. It gives you a lot of exposure early in your career.”

Another thing the writers can attest to is the long hours and nights they dedicated to The Hustler. To some, their time spent at The Hustler was greater than their time spent in the classroom.

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New York’s baseball teams for the Times.

Vanderbilt’s ties as baseball writers don’t end there. Shienin is the national baseball writer for the Washington Post, while Olney is a national baseball writer for ESPN and Jenkins now covers baseball for Sports Illustrated.

"The New York Times and the Washington Post are probably the two best papers in the country, so for us to kind of have a monopoly on the baseball coverage in those two papers at one time was pretty outstanding,” Shienen said.

Having writers from Vanderbilt go on and succeed at a high level in the profession also has made the career path more attractive to others. Cooper is one person who was drawn to the profession, in part, because of the number of Vanderbilt sportswriters in the industry.

“It was definitely a draw,” Cooper said.

“Part of the thing with being a Vanderbilt sportswriter is you contact these people in the industry, and they are always will-

“It is a large group and a great group of guys,” Jenkins said. “When we are in press boxes and we see each other on the road, we always go out and there is definitely a real bond there that probably exists for the Northwestern crew, Syracuse crew and Missouri crew. It is not like our numbers are bigger than anybody else’s, but for a private school that doesn’t have a journalism program, the number is pretty large.”

Even though the writers are objective journalists for the sports and teams they cover, it doesn’t stop them from being avid followers of their alma mater.

“When Vanderbilt was playing Auburn, Kepner and I were covering the National League Divisional Series and we watched that game from the press box,” Jenkins said. “The phone tree when Vanderbilt plays is pretty extensive.”

Sheinin and Jenkins shared a similar experience in 2006 when Vanderbilt won at Georgia in football.

“I distinctly remember being in a press

Lee Jenkins (below), a 1999 graduate, has been a writer with "Sports Illustrated" since 2007.

AL TIELEMANS

“I remember when Vanderbilt went to the 1997 NCAA Tournament, and we were just sitting around when they got their bid and decided to put together a second section,” Jenkins said. “We went down that night and cranked out a special NCAA Tournament section. I remember it till this day.”

That commitment to The Hustler also affected how writers, such as Olney, performed in the classroom.

“If you knew my college GPA, then you would understand that I spent a whole lot of time at The Hustler,” Olney said. “I spent a lot more time at The Hustler than I did actually at class.”

In a large part due to their experience writing for The Hustler, the writers have had little resistance ascending to the top of their profession despite not having journalism degrees.

“If you are good, then you are good, and if you know what you are doing, people will notice you,” said Wolken, who covers the Memphis men’s basketball team. “Journalism is a career where real-world experience counts way more than education.

Almost any paper in the country is going to look at what you’ve done when they look at hiring you.”

Another key to Vanderbilt’s success at having sportswriters land some of the most prominent jobs has been the network that has been established between the writers.

Kepner, who has covered the New York Yankees for the New York Times since 2000, made his first connection to the network of Vanderbilt writers through Tony Gwynn—yes, the hall of famer.

“In the summer of 1994, I was interviewing Tony Gwynn for my baseball magazine, and I was wearing a Vanderbilt shirt the day I interviewed him. He noticed that and he asked if I went to Vanderbilt and I told him I did and he said, ‘our beat writer went to Vanderbilt, his name is Buster Olney.’

“A little while later, I heard Tony coming up the ramp from the clubhouse to the dugout and he’s talking to Buster and telling Buster he’s got to meet me, so Tony was like a match maker.”

The two became friends, and Olney eventually helped Kepner land his job at the New York Times after Olney had left his post as Yankees beat writer at the Times to work for ESPN. Kepner later helped return the favor when he vouched for Jenkins when the Times was looking to hire him to cover the New Jersey Nets. Jenkins got the job and later covered the New York Mets. Kepner had known Jenkins since their days at Vanderbilt together.

“Tyler Kepner was my sports editor and then he was the editor in chief (at The Hustler),” Jenkins said. “He was kind of pushing me to do better stories. I was constantly trying to follow his footsteps in a way.”

With Kepner covering the Yankees and Jenkins covering the Mets at one time, Vanderbilt had a monopoly on both of

ing to speak with you and tell you what they think of the business and how much they enjoy doing it. When you talk to these people and they really have so much passion for it and you sort of share how much they enjoy doing it, and it makes you want to do it as well.”

Those connections helped Cooper get advice from Olney when he was beginning his job at the Decatur Daily.

“I talked to Buster a few times, and he gave me some really good advice before I came down here to cover the Alabama beat,” Cooper said. “He told me how hard the beat was and what a great opportunity it was, and what you can get out of it.”

Although the writers are all different ages, the group maintains a common bond that has brought them together.

box in Anaheim at a baseball playoff game and sneaking back to the dining room where they had TVs with Lee Jenkins because we were watching Vanderbilt pull up a huge upset over Georgia in football,” Sheinin said.

Sports writing may not be mentioned among the many things Vanderbilt is renowned for, but with a list of successful writers that could match almost any other university, maybe it should be.

“I would be surprised if there is another school without a journalism school that has as many people in such prominent roles,” Light said. “It’s not just that people have gotten out there, it is the prominent roles that all these guys have in the industry.” n

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

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12

MARCH 2009

It’s My Turn

By Rod Williamson

Flying Under the Radar

N

ewman, Whiting and Earnest. A top accounting firm? 1960s folk singers? An Oscar nominated movie? Not

quite.

Catherine Newman, Rob Whiting and Josie Earnest are three of the most special Commodores you have never seen compete.

Catherine Newman is a junior from Greensboro, N.C. She plays No. 1 singles on our tennis team, a perennial power. How good do you have to be to even play for the Commodores? Well, if you were a state champion you probably still wouldn’t make it, unless your state plays great tennis.

Tennis is a country club sport, but the top players more resemble pit bulls than fawns. Collegiate matches with evenly matched personnel often produce battles that last several hours—back and forth, ad in and ad out—a competitive isometric exercise.

With the pounding they endure, it’s a wonder tennis players can even walk by middle age. The investment in time and discipline to become Commodore quality is staggering enough that most young people choose less taxing pathways.

Catherine is remarkable on the hard courts, but what sets her apart is that she has made the Dean’s List every semester and ranks in the top 10% of her class. She majors in civil engineering. Maybe some people do get all the talent!

Rob Whiting ran on our cross country team. Nobody receives athletic aid to run on the men’s team, so one might assume finding Vanderbilt students that enjoy running 50 or 60 miles a week for fun would be tough.

Not really. This is a team steeped in academic tradition. A few years ago it produced a Marshall Scholar. Before that came a Rhodes Scholar.

So Whiting’s lofty grade-point average isn’t the angle here.

In his “spare” time three years ago, Rob began the nonprofit organization, “Vanderbilt Students for Students,” to mentor and generate scholarship funds for high school kids not as lucky as he saw himself.

They adopted Nashville’s Pearl-Cohn High School and in two years provided advice on scholarship applications, resume building and raised several thousand dollars that were turned into two scholarships.

Whiting, an Ingram Scholar, was recently a finalist for a national service award for athletes named in honor of John Wooden. Next year he will study poverty on a travel-the-world post-graduate scholarship.

Josie Earnest is the only Commodore woman to win her sport’s national Player of the Year Award. The All-American bowler recently was honored by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame as its Female Amateur Co-Athlete of the Year, a wonderful tribute she shared with Lady Vol basketball star Candace Parker.

Earnest, a fierce competitor in this sport often underestimated by the general public, hails from the quiet Midwest town of Vandalia, Ill. Josie already has represented the United States in international competition. She was the best high school bowler in America in 2006 and was the tourney MVP as a freshman when Vandy won the national championship.

She grew up doing homework at her parent’s bowling center, and her desire to excel spawned a Dean’s List debut this past fall. Like all truly special Commodores, she is winning on all fronts as her junior year winds down. Her No. 1 rated team goes for its second NCAA title in three years next month.

It will come as no surprise that with such leadership the women’s tennis, men’s cross country and bowling teams fare extremely well in the classroom.

Newman, Whiting and Earnest; leaders in every important way. Three more reasons why it’s Good to be Gold! n

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

13

14

MARCH 2009

COM MODOR E

T I DB I T S • Vanderbilt alumni and friends now can become a permanent part of Vanderbilt Stadium with the “Pave the Way” program, which allows fans the opportunity to purchase commemorative bricks that will be the centerpiece of Vanderbilt’s two new walkways outside the southern gates. The program allows fans the chance to engrave their names, those of family, friends, classmates or even their favorite dates in Vanderbilt history on a brick. Bricks are available to purchase at an introductory price of $200 through June 1, 2009. After June 1, the cost will be $250. Bricks can be ordered through vucommodores.com or by calling the National Commodore Club at 615/322-4114.

• Vanderbilt will open spring football practice on March 10. The annual Black and Gold Scrimmage is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 28 at Vanderbilt Stadium.

• Vanderbilt's football program will host a bowl celebration and awards banquet at 1 p.m. on March 29 at the Embassy Suites in Cool Springs. For the first time, the public is invited to attend the event, which costs $40 for adults and $20 for kids 10 and under.

To reserve your spot, call the football office at 615/322-3565.

• Vanderbilt senior distance runner Amanda Scott was awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship—a full-cost scholarship award used for graduate study and research in any subject available at the University of Cambridge.

• Vanderbilt Students for Students, an organization started by Commodore distance runner Rob Whiting, will host its third annual “Vandy Mile Bonanza” on April 1 to benefit a college scholarship program it began at Nashville’s Pearl-Cohn High School.

• Former Vanderbilt men’s basketball player Derrick Byars was selected to play in the 2009 NBA D-League All Star Game on Feb. 14 after averaging 18.2 points and 5.0 rebounds during the first half of the season for the Bakersfield (Calif.) Jam.

The Final

4

JENCE RHOADS • Basketball • Sophomore A native of Slippery Rock, Pa., point guard Jence Rhoads has been Ms. Reliable at point guard this season, ranking among the nation’s leaders in assist-toturnover ratio.

How does your height (5-foot-11) help you play point guard?

It helps a lot because I usually have shorter players that are guarding me and shorter players to guard. The height advantage allows me to make better passes and read defenses.

What was it like growing up in such a basketball-oriented family with both of your parents having played college basketball?

Basketball was going on 24/7. Both my parents coached me through the years from elementary school to AAU and high school. They love the game and they obviously passed that on to me and my brothers and sisters.

You also played soccer in high school, was it tough for you to decide what sport to play in college?

I played soccer since I was 4-years old all the way up through my senior year of high school. A couple of local schools recruited me, but my soccer coach was very aware that I wanted to play basketball in college, so she made that clear to schools that asked about me.

Basketball has always been my No. 1 sport.

How have you been so successful in limiting your turnovers?

I’ve just been focusing on taking care of the ball and making good decisions. I try to limit stupid mistakes with the ball. Obviously, you are going to have a turnover every once in a while, so I try to limit the ones that are unnecessary.

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

15

The Unheralded Bunch

16

MARCH 2009

STEVE GREEN

I

t all seemed like a dream for walk-on guard Chris Meriwether. There he was taking the practice court in Memorial Gym for the first time, something he had only dreamed of doing while growing up in Nashville. Surely, he thought, this must be similar to one of those fantasy camps where Major League Baseball teams have fans suit up with ex-big leaguers.

He needed someone to pinch him.

Suddenly he heard a crack and felt a darting pain rush to his face as he lay on the court. The dream was over. The pain was real.

Meriwether had a broken nose, courtesy of an errant elbow from sophomore Andre Walker.

Welcome to Division I college basketball.

It wasn’t quite the welcome present that Meriwether had hoped for at his first day of practice after making the team in open tryouts, but it was a precursor for what life as a walk-on is all about.

Each day, Meriwether, a junior, along with sophomore Elliott Cole and freshman Aaron Noll, take the practice court as Vanderbilt walk-ons. Their success cannot be measured by stats or game highlights, instead they are measured by how they perform on the practice court.

Their days are spent running the opponent’s plays and acting as human crash dummies for the starters to run circles around.

“I just try to come in with a great attitude every day,” Meriwether said. “I try to be the energy guy on the team, diving on the floor for loose balls, and some days I get really banged up.”

Bumps and bruises come with the territory of being a walk-on, as do the frequent visits to the training room, which almost becomes a second home.

The walk-ons have the battle scars to prove they are on the team, but it would be hard to pick most of them out of a crowd. With the exception of Noll, who is 6-foot-7, no walk-on is taller than 6-feet or weighs more than 180.

Although the group is small in stature, they are a large part of the team’s success.

“They come out here and give a great effort and really push the guys that get to play a lot, and that’s very valuable. I think they take pride in what their role is in our program,” Head Coach Kevin Stallings said. “As you would expect, we have tremendous character guys in those roles, so those guys are extremely valuable and always have been for our program.”

There is no better example of how valuable a walk-on can be than sophomore forward Joe Duffy. Last season, Duffy walked on to Vanderbilt’s team before earning what every walkon is striving for each day—a scholarship.

“It was pretty awesome (to receive a scholarship) because it is something I’ve worked my whole life for,” Duffy said. ”It definitely made all the work I’ve put in last year worthwhile. It made me feel like they appreciated my hard work and valued my presence on the team.”

Now as a player on scholarship, Duffy has had the rare opportunity of seeing life as a

Vanderbilt walk-ons Chris Meriwether (left), Aaron Noll (center) and Elliott Cole. scholarship and non-scholarship player.

“The difference between being a walk-on and scholarship player sometimes is practice time and being in drills,” Duffy said. “Not only was I a walk-on, I was also a freshman. A lot of times when they would need practice dummies, they would always ask for walk-ons to do it.”

Even though he is now on scholarship, it hasn’t excluded Duffy and other backups from experiencing the same things he did as a walk-on.

“Sometimes, we have to play an hour straight of defense, and that is tough, but I handle it pretty well, I think,” Duffy said.

The work may not be glamorous and the actual minutes in a game may be few and far between, but the walk-ons understand it is the sacrifice they must make in order to fulfill their role on the team.

“All it takes is a spark to get a fire started, and hopefully I can be that spark,” Meriwether said. “Maybe I can make a couple of plays in

practice that get everyone fired up.”

Beyond being a catalyst in practice and providing the first-teamers with solid competition, one of the most important qualities Stallings looks for in walk-ons is attitude.

“It is necessary (to stay positive), but it is also a condition of their existence,” Stallings said. “When you are a walk-on—and I tell them this right from the very first day they get here—the most important thing is your attitude. If you are going to be upset, down or disappointed because you aren’t playing very much, then you shouldn’t be on the team.”

No one may know more about how to keep a positive attitude than Meriwether. Now a junior, he had gone thorough walk-on tryouts each of his first two years at Vanderbilt, and each year he left empty-handed. Finally, this fall, in his third tryout, Meriwether got the call he’d been hoping for for the past few years.

“This is an incredible experience, and it is something I’ve been working on for the last couple of years,” Meriwether said.

A lot of people would have given up on trying to make the team after one or two years, but not Meriwether.

“The drive to succeed kept bringing me back,” said Meriwether, who was a starter at Father Ryan High School. “A lot of people were saying that I couldn’t do it, and that really motivated me to try to prove people wrong.”

For Meriwether, his only option to continue his basketball career after high school was by walking on somewhere. The same can’t be said for Vanderbilt’s other walk-ons. Aaron Noll’s second option was to play basketball with his brother at Centre College, while Elliott Cole had offers from a few Division III programs. Duffy also had a handful of scholarship offers from smaller Division I programs, including Ivy League schools, but instead opted to walk on at Vanderbilt.

“I had other smaller Division I opportunities, but I just wanted to come because of the combination of athletics and academics here. The opportunity to work for a scholarship really attracted me,” Duffy said. “I was going to play basketball no matter what.”

Although, walk-ons are mostly nameless faces to fans, to the rest of the players on the team, they are another piece to the puzzle. The walk-ons share a common bond with everyone on the team, but their shared experiences bring them even closer to fellow walk-ons.

Duffy and Cole have roomed together for the past two seasons, while Meriwether and Noll have developed a bond after having spent time playing together at the campus recreation center and then going through tryouts together

vucommodores.com

before the season.

“We all hang out together, but I have a special place for Aaron (Noll), who walked on the same time as me,” Meriwether said. “We talked to each other and hung out with each other a little bit before tryouts and worked out some, as well, so when we got to tryouts, we were really looking out for each other. That helped getting through the whole process.”

Walking-on to a team can be a bit of a culture shock to some players. Most were the top players at their high schools or even the tops in their conference, so the adjustment to playing against superior talent can be very humbling.

“When I came from high school, I was conference player of the year and it was definitely humbling to come in and play against these players,” Duffy said.

“Aaron (Noll) and I talk about how good the guys are all the time,” Meriwether said. “We were the best at the rec center, so we’d show up and people would want us on their team.

Now we are last on the bench, so it is a very humbling experience.”

Having to sit on the sidelines at the end of the bench during games also can be a difficult adjustment for the players.

“The hardest adjustment is your mentality,” Cole said. “If you are a guy who played a lot in high school and then you come in and have to become a motivator and a guy who works hard in practice, it is a change in mentality. It is tough at first, but once you accept it, you really enjoy it.”

That time spent on the bench also has given the group a new appreciation for players who

were at the end of the bench in high school.

“I definitely (have a new outlook on players at the end of the bench),” Duffy said. “I always laugh because a lot of my best friends are guys from my high school team that didn’t play a lot, so they laugh at me sometimes because now I’m just like them. I didn’t really appreciate it then, but now I do.”

Though the time the players spend on the floor may last for just one minute at a time, the experience of suiting up for and practicing against a Division I basketball team are memories that will stay with the players forever.

“It has been a great experience,” Cole said.

“It is a lot of work, and you put so much time into practice, but you get to see your work pay off on game days. It is great being a part of the team, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Because the opportunity to play in games is few and far between, the walk-ons savor every moment on the court, but no memory is stronger than the first time the players heard Coach Stallings call their name.

“My heart was racing 150 mph, and I just tried not to make any mistakes,” Meriwether said. “The first two games that I got in, I fouled someone in the first 20 seconds I was in, so the team always jokes around that I lead the nation in fouls per minute.”

“The very first time I got in a game was really exciting, but at the same time it was surreal,” Noll said. "When (Stallings) called my name, and I went to the scorers table to check in, it just seemed like a dream. You really don’t realize what is going on the first time that you get in.” n

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18

MARCH 2009

Soccer Announces Signing Class

V

anderbilt Head Soccer Coach Ronnie Coveleskie announced the signing of six student-athletes to National Letters of Intent in February. The six signees will be joined by 2008 signee Chelsea Stewart, who missed last season in order to play internationally for Canada.

While playing for Canada, Stewart gained experience that will last a lifetime. After originally just planning on playing in the U-20 World Cup, Stewart received a call to join the Olympic team in Beijing after a player went down with an injury.

In addition to her selection to the Olympic team, Stewart represented Canada at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Chile in November. Earlier in the year, Stewart helped her team win the gold medal at the 2008 CONCACAF women’s U-20 championships.

Of the seven players who will join the Commodores for the 2009 season, four, including Stewart, are midfielders — a position hit hard by graduation with the departures of Katie Schulz and Amy Wilcox.

"We believe we have found some of the best talent from five different states, who have all competed at the highest level for their clubs

and high schools," Coveleskie said. "Each player brings a wealth of soccer experience, tremendous athletic abilities and a true passion for the sport of soccer. We are very excited to welcome a group of players that are committed to helping Vanderbilt win championships in the future.” n 2009 Vanderbilt Signing Class Name

Pos.

Hometown

High School

Jessica Amlaw

GK

Tampa, Fla.

Tarpon Springs

Margaux Andrews

MF

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati Hills Christian

Madeline Danna

F

Sugar Land, Texas

Kempner

Amanda Essay

D

Kingwood, Texas

Kingwood

C.J. Rhoades

MF

Danville, Ind.

Plainfield

Dana Schwartz

MF

Nashville, Tenn.

Brentwood

Chelsea Stewart

MF

Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Shattuck-St Mary's

The Month Ahead

Men’s Sports Baseball 3/1 3/3 3/5 3/6 3/7 3/8 3/10 3/13 3/14 3/15 3/17 3/18 3/20 3/21 3/22 3/24 3/25 3/27 3/28 3/29

Vermont Lipscomb Illinois-Chicago Illinois-Chicago Illinois-Chicago Illinois-Chicago at Lipscomb Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi South Alabama Belmont at Kentucky at Kentucky at Kentucky Austin Peay Wright State at Auburn at Auburn at Auburn

Basketball 3/4 3/8 3/12-15 3/19-22

Golf

3/6-8 3/13-14 3/20-22

Tennis 3/1 3/3 3/6 3/8 3/13 3/15 3/27 3/29

at LSU Arkansas at SEC Tournament (Tampa, Fla.) at NCAA Tournament

at Seminole Intercollegiate at Border Olympics at Schenkel Invitational at Tulsa at Texas at South Carolina at Florida LSU Arkansas Auburn at Alabama

vucommodores.com

Women’s Sports 2pm 4pm 4pm 4pm 2pm 12pm 4pm 6pm 3pm 1pm 4pm 6pm 5:30pm 12pm 12pm 4pm 6pm 6pm 3pm 1pm 7pm 1pm TBA TBA All Day All Day All Day 12pm 5pm 2pm 12pm 2pm 1pm 2pm 1pm

Basketball 3/1 3/5-8 3/21-24

Bowling

3/1 3/13-15

Golf

3/2-3 3/8-10 3/20-22

Lacrosse 3/3 3/7 3/11 3/15 3/22 3/28 3/30 2/1

Swimming 3/19-21

Tennis 3/6 3/8 3/13 3/15 3/18 3/20 3/25 3/27 3/29

Track

3/1 3/6-7 3/13-14 3/21 3/28 3/28

at Tennessee at SEC Tournament (North Little Rock, Ark.) at NCAA Tournament

6pm TBA TBA

at Holiday Classic (Bessemer, Ala.) Music City Classic

All Day All Day

at Pinehurst Challenge at UCF Challenge at Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational

All Day All Day All Day

at Virginia Tech at Boston University at Duke at Cincinnati at Penn State Binghamton Delaware National Indoors Qualifying

3pm 12pm 2:30pm 12pm 12pm 11am 4pm TBA

at NCAA Championships

All Day

South Carolina Florida at LSU at Arkansas Princeton at Notre Dame Georgia Tech at Auburn Alabama

2:30pm 12pm 3pm 11am 3pm 1pm 2:30pm 4pm 12pm

at SEC Indoor Championships (Lexington, Ky.) All Day at Last Chance Meet (Ames, Iowa) All Day at NCAA Indoor Championships All Day at Mississippi Invite All Day at Stanford Invite All Day at Yellow Jacket Invite All Day

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

19

Quick Hits • The team’s first five matches of the month • David Price hosted a benefit for the Na-

• VU senior Jon Curran finished fourth at

than Stephens Endowment Scholarship fund on Feb. 7 at Smyrna Bowling Center. A close friend and former high school teammate of Price, Stephens passed away in 2007.

• Thirteen of Vanderbilt’s 20 games in March are at home.

the Jones Cup Invitational in Sea Island, Ga., on Feb. 8. The tournament had a 90-player field that featured many of the top amateur golfers from the U.S. • The Commodores have three tournaments in March, beginning March 6-8 at the Seminole Intercollegiate.

• Former Commodore Shan Foster was

• Vanderbilt was picked to finish fifth in

named the state of Tennessee’s Male Athlete of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

• J ermaine Beal connected on a careerbest seven three-pointers at Auburn, which helped VU end a four-game losing skid.

• Because of Vanderbilt students being on spring break, individual game tickets are being sold to the home finale against Arkansas on March 8.

the SEC East in a vote by the league’s head coaches.

• VU opened the season by facing four consecutive teams ranked in the top 50.

• Vanderbilt has three home matches in March and opens SEC play March 6 at South Carolina.

• Jennifer Molchan, Kelly Obranowicz,

Laura Dillon and Allison Voss earned firstplace finishes against Marshall Jan. 31.

• The CSCAA honored Vanderbilt as an Academic All-America Team for the fall 2008 semester.

JOHN RUSSELL

Christina Wirth earned SEC Player of the Week honors on Feb. 16.

• Junior Josie Earnest was named the

state of Tennessee’s Female Amateur Co-Athlete of the Year by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

• Senior Tara Kane was selected as a finalist for the SEC’s Brad Davis Community Spirit Award.

• Vanderbilt posted back-to-back thirdplace finishes at the Arkansas State MidWinter Invitational and the Greater Ozark Invitational in January.

• The No. 1 'Dores will host the Music City Classic March 13-15. It is the team’s lone home tournament of the season.

• The golf team opens its spring season

JOHN RUSSELL

March 2-3 at the Pinehurst Challenge. It is the first of three tournaments in March for the team.

MARCH 2009

Kinsella was named to the NSCAA’s All-Southeast Region third team and Soccer Buzz’s Central Region third team.

• Head Coach Ronnie Coveleskie announced the signing of six student-athletes to National Letters of Intent.

finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award for women’s basketball. Shan Foster won the honor on the men’s side in 2008.

• Wirth was named first team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District on Feb. 5.

• Head Coach Melanie Balcomb earned her 300th career win in Division I basketball when the Commodores defeated Florida on Feb. 12.

high school seniors to National Letters of Intent on Feb. 4.

• The 17 signees hail from eight states with more players coming from Tennessee (4) and Florida (4) than any other.

• Safety Reshard Langford was the lone Commodore to play in a postseason allstar game following the 2008 season.

Langford played in the Western Refining Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game on Jan. 31 in El Paso, Texas. Langford helped the national team to a 27-24 win with seven tackles, the second-most of anyone on his team.

• Vanderbilt’s D.J. Moore participated in the NFL Scouting Combine Feb. 18-24 in Indianapolis, Ind. In 2008, the Earl Bennett (WR), Jonathan Goff (LB), Curtis Gatewood (DE) and Chris Williams (OT) were invited to the combine.

20

• Molly

• Christina Wirth was tabbed as one of 10

• Vanderbilt announced the signing of 17

Reshard Langford had seven tackles in the Western Refining Texas vs. The Nation All-Star game on Jan. 31.

are on the road.

• Vanderbilt was picked to finish second in

the American Lacrosse Conference preseason poll.

• Senior Cara Giordano and junior Carter Foote were selected to the preseason All-ALC Team.

• Vanderbilt was picked to finish third in

the SEC East in a vote by the league’s head coaches.

• Former Commodore Julie Ditty was named to the U.S. Fed Cup Team. Ditty received the call when Bethanie Mattek had to withdraw.

• Vanderbilt opens SEC play March 6 against South Carolina.

• Vanderbilt senior Amanda Scott was

awarded the prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship—a full-cost scholarship award used for graduate study and research in any subject available at the University of Cambridge.

• Vanderbilt freshman Jordan White placed third in the 800 meters at the Rod McCravy Memorial Feb. 7 with a time of 2:13.46, which ranks 10th in school history.

• Freshman Teegan Hill posted the thirdfastest time in school history (56.14) in the 400 meters at the same meet.

Men’s Sports Women’s Sports

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C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

21

VU Signee Shares Special Bond with His Brother

Z

ac Stacy may be small in stature at just 5 feet, 9 inches, but what he lacks in height on the football field he more than makes up for with speed and elusiveness. As a senior at Bibb County High School in Centreville, Ala., the diminutive running back and Vanderbilt signee amassed the type of numbers you would only expect to see in a video game. He rushed for an eye-popping 2,413 yards, while averaging 11.1 yards per carry and scoring 35 touchdowns. What may be even more impressive than the number of yards he gained is the number of yards he had to leave on the sideline.

“If I had left Zac in, and he had played all four quarters of every game, he would have rushed for over 3,000 yards,” Bibb County Football Coach Mike Battles said. “We had a pretty good football team, and there were three games I know Zac didn’t play after half. There were two he never played after the first quarter.”

Zac is proud of the numbers he has put up on the football field, but he knows no matter how big the numbers he puts up, they will never be of bigger significance than his role of being a big brother.

Like any brothers do, Zac, 17, and Justin, 12, goof around in the house and play football catch together, but Zac’s bond with Justin goes much deeper than that.

Justin was born with Down’s Syndrome.

“Justin is amazing to me,” Zac said. “We do everything together. I go outside and he will throw me balls and I’ll practice stiff arms on him. He’s been a big part of helping me get to where I am.”

Raised in a single-parent family, Zac learned about responsibility at an early age. Each day as his mother, Barbara Stacy, worked, Zac ensured Justin was ready to go to school in the morning. In many ways, Zac has been like a father figure to Justin.

“Helping Justin did help Zac grow up,” said Barbara, who works for Cahaba GBA, which administers Medicare health insurance. “He learned responsibility taking care of his brother at an earlier age, and he is a tremendous help. He gets him ready in the mornings, gets him on the school bus and when he doesn’t have practice, he is with him at home until I get off work. He’s been a real big brother.”

For Zac, there is nothing he’d rather do than make sure Justin is taken care of.

“Anything that (Justin) needs such as picking him up from school, I’m there,” Zac said. “I’m proud of my little brother, and I love him to death.”

The relationship between Zac and Justin is something that makes Barbara proud of both of them.

“Sometimes Zac will be sitting on the couch and Justin will come up behind him

Vanderbilt football signee Zac Stacy (right) with his brother, Justin. and just hug him around the neck and give him a kiss on the jaw,” Barbara said.

“There are only two of them, but when they get together and start playing in the house, it is like I have 20 kids. They just love each other.”

As proud as Zac is of his younger brother, Justin is just as proud to call Zac his big brother. And nothing has illustrated how

Bobby Johnson Announces 2009 Signing Class

O

n the heels of a 7-6 season which included a win in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson announced the signing of 17 high school seniors to National Letters of Intent on Feb. 4.

Johnson believes the success of 2008 influenced the final signees in the class, but he believes the biggest impact from the 2008 season will be felt with next year’s class.

“The bowl victory helped us finish off this class and keep them interested in Vanderbilt and wanting to come to Vanderbilt,” Johnson said.

“But I think the biggest push we’ll get out of that bowl victory is when we start recruiting this year’s juniors and hopefully get them on campus this spring and maybe get them to commit earlier to our program this coming season.”

The class features players from eight states, including four each from Florida and Tennessee. The positions that were most targeted by the coaching staff were running backs (3), offensive linemen (3) and defensive backs (5).

Among the noted players in the class are quarterback Charlie Goro, who was a Parade All-American in 2008. n

22

MARCH 2009

2009 Vanderbilt Signing Class Name

Pos.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown

High School

Brady Brown

WR

6-5

200

Argyle, Texas

Argyle HS

Mylon Brown

OL

6-5

300

Trilby, Fla.

Pasco County HS

Justin Cabbagestalk

OL

6-3

265

Tampa, Fla.

Armwood HS

Eddie Foster

DB

5-10

165

Euless, Texas

Colleyville Heritage HS

Jay Fullam

S

6-1

190

Chattanooga, Tenn.

The McCallie School

Charlie Goro

QB

6-2

192

Park Ridge, Ill.

Maine South HS

Wesley Johnson

OL

6-5

250

Nashville, Tenn.

Montgomery Bell Academy

Mason Johnston

TE

6-4

235

Jacksonville, Fla.

The Bolles School

Javon Marshall

DB

5-11

180

Huber Heights, Ohio

Wayne HS

Walker May

DE

6-5

210

Birmingham, Ala.

Briarwood Christian HS

Thad McHaney

DE/TE

6-5

235

Nashville, Tenn.

Brentwood Academy

Warren Norman

RB

5-10

188

Stone Mountain, Ga.

Chamblee HS

Eric Samuels

DB

6-0

185

Eustis, Fla.

Umatilla HS

Blake Southerland

LB

6-2

235

Lawrenceville, Ga.

Greater Atlanta Christian

Zac Stacy

RB

5-9

192

Centreville, Ala.

Bibb County HS

Wesley Tate

RB

6-2

210

Hendersonville, Tenn.

Pope John Paul II HS

Trey Wilson

DB

5-11

182

Shreveport, La.

Evangel Christian Academy

proud Justin is of Zac more so than the last two years when Zac has volunteered at the local Special Olympics that Justin participates in.

“That first year, Justin was like a celebrity because everyone knew that Zac was his big brother,” Barbara said.

It didn’t take Zac long to realize the kind of impact it had on Justin when he saw him helping out.

“When he sees me at the Special Olympics, a big smile comes across his face,” Zac said. “He looks up to me.”

Experiences such as that have helped keep Zac grounded, which can be rare in a day and age where a lot of athletes seem to worry about nothing more than themselves. Instead Zac has remained humble while accolades such being selected as a finalist for Alabama’s 4A Mr. Football honor and being named first team All-State have continued to come in.

“I think that (his experience at home) has a lot to do with Zac being humble,” Battles said. “Zac has a great mom, Barbara, and she is a proactive parent and they have a tight-knit family. Zac has a lot of character so I’m sure that made it special for him to be able to have some success and share it with his younger brother.”

Zac’s responsibility at home and his genuine care for Justin are exemplified in the way he carries himself on a daily basis. If someone were to have a casual

vucommodores.com

conversation with Zac, the maturity in his voice might make a person think they were speaking with someone in their 20s, not a 17-year old. That maturity is something Vanderbilt assistant football coach Charlie Fisher noticed early during his recruitment of Zac. “The No. 1 thing that jumps out at you when you meet Zac is maturity,” Fisher said. “When we offered, he committed within a week and he has never wavered on that commitment, and you are talking about a guy who had a big-time year. His maturity just showed through every time you talked to him.”

By signing with the Commodores, Zac hopes to add his name to the growing list of Alabama natives who have gone on to have successful careers with the Black and Gold. Among those players are Earl Bennett, Chris Nickson and Reshard Langford. Knowing the success players from his home state have had at Vanderbilt made Zac’s decision to attend Vanderbilt that much easier.

“I was looking at the roster, and I noticed how many guys were from Alabama,” Zac said. “I know Larry Smith, and I watched him play in the high school championship game. I also know Sean Richardson, so it made Vanderbilt that much more familiar to me.”

It may take years to see how Zac compares with the aforementioned players on

the field, but one thing that won’t take long for people to realize is how good of a person he is. A big reason Zac has become the person he has is the way Barbara has raised him.

“You can see where he gets so much of his personality from his mom,” Fisher said.

“He has such a great personality and just the job she has done raising him stands out right away. He is such a fine young man, and he will do well at Vanderbilt and be a fine representative of our university.”

A former high school valedictorian, Barbara has stressed the importance of education to Zac since he was young. When Zac became interested in attending Vanderbilt last summer, it was his mother, not Vanderbilt, who set the bar for where his grades needed to be in order for him to attend such a prestigious university.

“I talked to (Zac) about (going to Vanderbilt) and I told him last summer that if he’s thinking about going to Vanderbilt, he’ll have to have the grades to get in, which I have my own standards,” Barbara said. “I told him from the first time he started playing sports, that in order to play sports, you are going to have to make good grades, and I have very high standards.”

Those standards set forth by his mother have helped shape Zac into the person he is today. He may be small in stature on the field, but off it, few stand taller than Zac Stacy.n

C O M M O D O R E N AT I O N

23

The Last Look

REACHING FOR A HIGHER GOAL

JOHN RUSSELL

In Vanderbilt’s game against Arkansas, senior Christina Wirth (right) tries to reach the ball before it falls out of bounds.

This photo and dozens more are available for purchase by visiting the photo store on vucommodores.com.

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MARCH 2009