BLAZING A PATH
FROM RICE TO STANSBURY, GEORGIA TECH’S GROUNDBREAKING TOTAL PERSON PROGRAM CONTINUES TO PROVIDE STUDENT-ATHLETES WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO SUCCEED IN LIFE
VICTORY
LAP
Tech’s 2007 national championship women’s tennis team looks back on its achievement 10 years later
SPRING 2017
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Tech’s 2007 national championship women’s tennis team looks back on its achievement 10 years later From Rice to Stansbury, Georgia Tech’s groundbreaking total person program continues to provide student-athletes with opportunities to succeed in life Hard work, scheme and coaching have combined to bring out the best in Tech’s junior center Ben Lammers Elo Edeferioka’s shoe drive part of her personal mission to give back
CAREER RE-DEVELOPMENT
Pitching ace on 1994 College World Series team is now succeeding at second career
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Performing under pressure in the Navy gave Craig Candeto a solid foundation for coaching
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WOMEN’S TENNIS
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The Buzz
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VICTORY LAP TECH’S 2007 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WOMEN’S TENNIS TEAM LOOKS BACK ON ITS ACHIEVEMENT 10 YEARS LATER BY MATT WINKELJOHN
This iconic photo captured the Yellow Jackets rushing the court to celebrate their national title after Alison Silverio closed out the final match.
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WOMEN’S TENNIS | VICTORY LAP
Though Tech’s football team has won four national titles through national polls, the Yellow Jackets’ women’s tennis team is the only Tech team that can claim an NCAA Championship.
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The Buzz
S
trange as it might seem, the very best memory for Georgia Tech’s best team ever came in Athens, Ga., 10 years ago come May, when the Yellow Jackets won the 2007 NCAA women’s tennis championship – the school’s only NCAA title. When you hear Kristi North (nee Miller) wax nostalgic, tears well. She was on The Flats weeks ago, cheering the Jackets as the women opened the spring season in January with a win over Penn. Yet one of the top players in school history missed a match a couple days later against UCLA. “I was playing my own ALTA match,” the Atlanta attorney said. Cut her some slack. North was there for the biggest meeting ever against the Bruins, winning her match when the Jackets beat UCLA 4-2 to win the 2007 NCAA title. Sometimes, in her mind’s eye, she’s still playing for Tech. A certain memory never gets old for North, who goes back in time to that evening at Georgia’s Henry Feild Stadium and the men’s team screaming from the stands like bloodthirsty vigilantes . . . “That night was ... can’t compare ...” said North, a six-time All-American. “It’s still such a huge accomplishment the way we represented Georgia Tech, and I just remember the stands full in Athens of Georgia Tech fans. You can’t do better than that.”
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Now married to former Tech men’s player David North, she has pictures in her home commemorating Tech’s lone national title – the NCAA does not hand out football titles -- as do seven former teammates and head coach Bryan Shelton. They’ll gather in May, all in one place for the first time in 10 years – since they were honored by former president George W. Bush in the White House shortly after winning it all. Even South African Tarryn Rudman, who lives in England, is expected to attend. “I really just think back on that as one of the best memories of my life,” said Amanda McDowell, who was a freshman that season. “Those girls were like sisters to me.” The Jackets were not exactly upset winners; they were ranked in the top 10 pretty much all year. Yet, the season was not without hiccups. Amanda Craddock and Kirsten Flower, who both eventually transferred from Tech, didn’t feel like perfect fits on The Flats. “We had a girl that ended up at No. 3 (Craddock) that was ready after two days [in the fall] to transfer, or start a pro career,” Shelton recalled. “Trying to talk her and her parents out of that was a struggle. We struggled all semester. For whatever reason, she came back after Christmas and said, ‘Whatever you want from me, you got. “Amanda McDowell wasn’t in lineup at
the beginning of the season, and ended up a catalyst for our lineup. She was mowing through people at No. 4.” The Jackets hit the ground running after months of running over each other. They won the ITA National Indoors Championship in early February, snapping the No. 1-ranked Stanford Cardinal’s NCAA-record 89-match winning streak in the semifinals before beating Notre Dame, 4-2, in the title match. “We were just practicing and playing against each other, just beating each other up,” said Allison Silverio, who was a senior captain and is now the head women’s coach at Oregon. “Instead of blows with a fist, we were doing it with our rackets. When we got to national indoors, we were ready to beat up someone else.” Then, they opened the spring dual match regular season 4-4, falling 5-2 at Georgia and 4-3 at Clemson in the ACC opener to hit .500. “Four crappy losses ... things that were preventative,” recalled Whitney McCray, who was a senior doubles specialist. Seniors Silverio and Rudman and juniors North and McCray worked on their games, and building a family. “We started off really shaky, we had three new freshmen coming in [McDowell, Flower and Craddock], and Kristi and I were trying to find our way as leaders, and we had Ally,” McCray said. “We were trying to make the team complete.” Silverio, a captain, said the Jackets’ heads swelled. “For us . . . we thought we made it [winning the Indoors],” she recalled. “That was one of the goals we had set out to accomplish. For a time, I think we became a little complacent, and it showed up. “I think it was a great lesson for us. We needed to feel some of that pain and suffering. I really believe it was part of the process.” The Jackets won every match after that, 21 straight. Beating Duke for the first time in 30 years was a big deal, and the Jackets went on to win the second of three straight ACC titles and streaked into the NCAAs. Beyond talent – a half dozen of the eight players on the team were nationally ranked at one point or another that season -- they were mean. These ladies would beat the dog out of you if they wanted the mutt.
“We had two of the most competitive kids in Christy Striplin and Kirsten Flower. On the court, in the gym, it was a competition between those two and that raised the competitive fight,” Shelton said. “These two, I remember we were doing a workout in the gym, strength training, agility work and stuff like that, and one day at the end of the session the strength coach had them do a wall set. “We had a contest to see who could go the furthest. Kirsten’s legs were shaking uncontrollably, and she’s angry and screaming across the room . . . ‘Just give up!’ Those moments where you are pushed to the limit, where you don’t give in, that was something that described us in 2007.” Tech lost the doubles point against UCLA. Shelton was stressed. His players were in charge. “Some of them went to the bathroom, and I thought about some of the things I wanted to say,” he said. “Kristi kept telling everybody what we were going to do, and how we were not going to give up, and they put their hands together. “I didn’t say anything. That’s the least coaching I’ve ever done. I didn’t say much, clapped a little bit, and walked around, but they had what they needed. As a coach, that’s most gratifying . . . it’s cemented in my brain.” McDowell, who would go on to win the NCAA singles title a year later, blitzed her opponent on the way to her team-high 35th win of the season, and then nearly freaked after giving Tech a 1-1 tie.
THAT NIGHT WAS ... CAN’T COMPARE ...IT’S STILL SUCH A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT THE WAY WE REPRESENTED GEORGIA TECH, AND I JUST REMEMBER THE STANDS FULL IN ATHENS OF GEORGIA TECH FANS. YOU CAN’T DO BETTER THAN THAT. —KRISTI NORTH
The Yellow Jackets were honored in a White House ceremony by President George W. Bush.
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WOMEN’S TENNIS | VICTORY LAP
Alison Silverio, who won the clinching match for Tech, is now the head coach at Oregon.
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The Buzz
“I remember losing the doubles point and it didn’t even phase us,” she said. “It was all of us talking to each other and motivating each other. We knew we were going to do it. “I wanted to close it out quickly so we could tie up the score. Then, I had the cool opportunity to watch my teammates. It was super nerve-wracking.” The Jackets had a grip on everything. Bonded with grit as glue, they worked. “There can be drama. Some personalities don’t click. We all clicked, and we all wanted each other to succeed,” said Craddock, who’s now a pharmaceutical representative in Kansas City. “We all wanted the best for each other, but we knew that we had to compete against each other. “We had one day a week that was match play. They were as intense as regular matches.” Craddock fell on court No. 3, and Miller rallied the Jackets to another tie with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) win on court No. 1 over No. 15-ranked Riza Zalameda. Then, she dug in as a fan. “The whole Georgia Tech men’s tennis team was in the first row. I’ll never forget how loud they were and the pom-poms, so much energy,” North said. “I have a picture of my mom there. “Their faces, my mom’s mouth is wide open and she has her finger out in front of the boys. She typically would do a crossword puzzle. To see her living it up like that ... it was so fun to share with my parents after all they did for me.” On court No. 5, sophomore Christy Lynch (nee Striplin), who’s now married and is a
| SPRING 2017
Georgia Tech assistant coach, came from behind for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 win to move the Jackets to the edge of a championship. That was nothing new. “We played Cal in the semis, and we were down 3-2, and she got down 3-2 in the third, and Christy refused to lose,” McCray said. “I was watching. All I did was play doubles, and yell my butt off. I felt like I was the juice to the team.” Lynch said, “I just remember thinking, ‘I have to get this match.’ So, after that match, we finished so late that nothing was open but IHOP and I remember us all eating pancakes . . . and I remember celebrating in the parking lot.” In custom-decorated bright gold-yellow shoes on a Tuesday night, Rudman toiled on court No. 6 and Silverio on court No. 2 – each for the last time as collegians. “We thought it created team spirit,” Lynch said of the fancy footwear. “You take your shoe laces out first, get newspaper, put the shoes on newspaper, and they usually take all night to dry. We’d have to touch up with spray paint.” Silverio, ranked No. 93, had played even through two sets, winning the first 7-5 against No. 40 Tracy Lin, and dropping the second, 5-7. “It was a night match at that point,” Lynch said. “It was the perfect set up . . . We obviously saw [the men’s team] every day at practice. They were in the front row with signs. “It helps when you’re a player to make eye contact with someone that you know, someone
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL STORY, A BEAUTIFUL JUST EVERYTHING. A BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE.
“I have a picture of that who has supported moment in my house, you. They were really and I think of it daily,” supportive.” Craddock said. “I still Silverio rolled in the remember we were third, 6-1. Tech wins. superstitious about what “It was a beautiful we were going to wear story, a beautiful just —ALISON SILVERIO to eat at Waffle House.” everything,” she recalled. These players – all “A beautiful experience. of them -- stay in touch, Being a senior on the team, mostly by a group text message you just can’t write it better. I thread, and from time to time they was truly blessed and honored. I even visit Shelton and his family in Gainesville, remember on that final point just looking up Fla. Generally, they connect with Rudman and then seeing my teammates run to me and through Facebook. saying to myself, ‘We did it.’ The coach, who played at Tech before “Every workout, practice, tough times, coaching the Jackets, can hardly wait to get conversations, we did it. That’s something that the gang together again. can never be taken away from our program “Absolutely,” Shelton said. “I don’t have any and our team.” memories professionally better than that. It was The Jackets will re-live it all together in May, the biggest highlight for me. When you achieve at an event Miller is working with the Georgia something like that, it kind of ties you together Tech Athletic Association to organize. That will for eternity.” be better than photos.
Christy Lynch is now an assistant coach for the Yellow Jacket program.
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ATHLETICS
BLAZING A PATH FROM RICE TO STANSBURY, GEORGIA TECH’S GROUNDBREAKING TOTAL PERSON PROGRAM CONTINUES TO PROVIDE STUDENTATHLETES WITH OPPORTUNITIES TO SUCCEED IN LIFE BY JON COOPER
H
ow do you improve on something that has shown the kind of prolonged excellence and staying power of Dr. Homer Rice’s Total Person Program? We’re talking about tinkering with a visionary program first implemented in 1981, which has become the road map for student-athletes’ success in life away from the sports arena and has even been adopted, repackaged and
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The Buzz
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renamed CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes’ Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills by the NCAA. Putting athletics director Todd Stansbury in charge of the renovation is a good start. Stansbury (Class of ‘84) has a sure grasp of the program’s mission, having gone through it as a student-athlete, has an undying passion to see those in it succeed, having implemented its principles at every stop he’s made in his 29
years as an administrator (East Tennessee State, Career Development and Placement, a series of self-help seminars that take on such areas Central Florida and Oregon State), and has as stress/time management, financial planning/ great vision for strong additions to benefit future wealth management, sexual assault and current and future student-athletes on The Flats. violence prevention and awareness, drug/ “I was fortunate enough to be a freshman Dr. alcohol use as it relates to health and athletic Rice’s first year here as athletic director so, as a performance, etiquette training, and sports student-athlete, I benefited from his leadership. nutrition/dietary supplements. It’s also instituted I became an administrator on his staff and was actively engaged in working to develop aspects of a massive community outreach effort in the local community, led by SAAB. The Georgia the Total Person Program,” said Stansbury, who Tech Sports Nutrition Center and Homer Rice was named Georgia Tech’s director of athletics Center for Sports Performance have been on Sept. 22, 2016. “For me to come back to duplicated in colleges all over the United States. Georgia Tech, where it all started, and expand Stansbury believes that a key in expanding the Total Person Program and really take what Total Person is keeping the wants and needs he started and make it the center of Georgia of the student-athletes in mind. Tech Athletics and what “The program offers our brand is, is something our student-athletes that is incredibly gratifying programming they can and humbling.” get excited about At least one expert and it helps them feels it’s also a figure out who they perfect move. are, what they’re “He’s put passionate about the program in and, ultimately, everywhere he what their purpose went throughout his is,” he said. “If we career. He probably can push those did a lot better with buttons and help it than I did,” said Dr. our student-athletes Rice, who not only was —TODD STANSBURY find out what their A.D. when Stansbury came purpose is, then we’re to The Flats as a linebacker not going to have to worry about from Canada in 1981 but also hired their motivation and their ability to work him as academic counselor for football in hard because we already know that they’re 1988 (Stansbury would eventually work his way motivated and they’re willing to work. So the up to assistant athletic director for academics). secret sauce is finding something that they’re “I can’t think of a better thing for Georgia Tech really passionate about. than to have him in charge of the program.” “We offer a wide palette of experiences and Leah Thomas, who has run the Total Person opportunities,” he continued. Program since 2008, feels that Stansbury Among the opportunities that Stansbury offers a unique perspective. plans to roll out are Jackets Without Borders, “You can’t appreciate [Total Person] like he an international service organization for studentcan,” said Thomas, who first came to Georgia athletes, and industry-specific pipelines that will Tech in 2003 as director of nutrition. “Even myself, connect student-athletes with professionals in I didn’t go through it, I wasn’t a student-athlete related fields (e.g. – connecting student-athletes here. He would tell you that [the Total Person interested business careers with business Program] is why he is who he is today, so that’s partners or those interested in going to medical huge for Georgia Tech athletics and huge for our school with medical professionals). current student-athletes, because there’s going to “The idea is to have our student-athletes be so much more focus and effort and resources kind of gravitate to where their interests are and that go into it. With him coming along, it will be provide them programming that they can get nothing but positive for our student-athletes.” excited about,” Stansbury said. The Total Person program has introduced Thomas likes some of the things Stansbury Georgia Tech to important initiatives such as has in store. the Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB),
THE IDEA IS TO HAVE OUR STUDENT-ATHLETES KIND OF GRAVITATE TO WHERE THEIR INTERESTS ARE AND PROVIDE THEM PROGRAMMING THAT THEY CAN GET EXCITED ABOUT.
Building on a student-athlete service trip to the Dominican Republic in 2015, “Jackets Without Borders” will offer Georgia Tech student-athletes annual opportunities for international service, beginning this summer in Costa Rica.
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ATHLETICS | BLAZING A PATH
MY VISION IS THAT GEORGIA TECH BECOMES THE CENTER OF INNOVATION AS IT RELATES TO INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS.
Georgia Tech has a deep commitment to service through the Total Person Program. Basketball forward Rand Rowland and football defensive end KeShun Freeman each made their respective Allstate Good Works Team this year, making Georgia Tech the only institution to have a student-athlete on each team.
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The Buzz
that this is what we will be about. It has evolved tremendously over the years. I make sure the kids understand that this is a big deal and something we should be proud of.” Rice is proud of where his program is and in whose —TODD STANSBURY hands it rests. “I think they will continue to expand on it,” said Rice, who still teaches a course, “The Leadership Fitness,” which is open to all Tech students. “The results have been unbelievable – how many people that feel that “He has a lot of ideas that we will start to it has changed their lives or helped them in implement here,” she said. “For example, we’ve some successful way. It’s a positive thing, and settled into a series of community service we don’t live with the negatives. We live with projects that we do every year and we do well the positive things to make this a better place. but it’s always been kind of here in Atlanta and I think what you’ll see is that Todd will take it to here in our community, which is important. He a higher level than it’s ever been, and I can see wants to send kids overseas and give them that it really developing and being good for Georgia experience of seeing a third-world country and Tech. The timing’s good right now. It’s a good working there for a week. That’s positive for time to take it to at a higher level.” them to see how good we actually have it here. Taking it higher and keeping the Georgia Tech “There’s a Junior Achievement partnership brand out there and ahead of the curve are tops that he’s interested in, there’s a big networking among Stansbury’s goals. and connecting with our letterwinners part that “There are so many things that we were on has existed on a small level, but I think will just the front end of, or the first at, that are now explode and create a much bigger network for commonplace in intercollegiate athletics,” he our student-athletes to tap into. I think we’re said. “We need to be the place that anybody just going to enhance some of the phenomenal with an idea as it pertains to sport – whether it’s opportunities.” a budding entrepreneur, whether it’s one of our Stansbury eagerly awaits the maiden student-athletes or whether it’s somebody who voyage of Jackets Without Borders, tentatively works here – we are a test-kitchen that can help scheduled for Costa Rica in August. them incubate that idea into an actual product. “I’m incredibly excited about that because “My vision is that Georgia Tech becomes the seeing the results of what happens when center of innovation as it relates to intercollegiate student-athletes go into other communities athletics,” he added. “I’m really excited about the overseas as a group and work on projects and do service to others is a total game-changer,” he elevation of the Georgia Tech athletics brand. I really want to emphasize, as I tell the Georgia said. “It changes their lives, changes their whole Tech story, what makes us different. I know that perspective on things. Getting that up and off we’ll be judged on wins and losses and the ground here this summer with our first trip is graduation rates, but the ultimate success of our something I’m very excited about.” program, I believe, is what our student-athletes The importance of Total Person is one thing are doing five and 10 years after graduation. My Thomas stresses from the first day freshmen plan going forward is a program that focuses on come to Georgia Tech. developing market-ready graduates that are “Every year when our freshmen get their ready to take on the most competitive orientation, Total Person is one story that I postgraduate challenges. The idea is to move make sure they understand,” Thomas said. “We our paradigm from looking at graduation as the take a lot of pride in that history. Homer Rice, end of the road to it becoming the beginning of who implemented this program, was incredibly the road.” visionary and innovative. He was determined
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BASKETBALL
ELEVEN GAMES INTO THE CONFERENCE SEASON, THE 6-FOOT-10 LAMMERS LED THE ACC IN BLOCKED SHOTS (3.22 PER GAME) AND WAS SECOND IN REBOUNDING (9.5), WHILE ALSO SCORING 14.8 POINTS TO RANK 21ST. OH, AND HE RANKED NO. 3 FOR THE YELLOW JACKETS IN ASSISTS (2.0) AND NO. 4 WITH 17 STEALS.
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The Buzz
| SPRING 2017
ON THE LAM HARD WORK, SCHEME AND COACHING HAVE COMBINED TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN TECH’S JUNIOR CENTER BEN LAMMERS
FACT
In terms of scoring average, Lammers is the second-most improved player in the ACC.
BY MATT WINKELJOHN
I
t’s hard not to be fooled by Ben Lammers, who rolled out the other day looking like he’d just crawled out of bed, hair going this way and that, eyes a bit bleary. Georgia Tech’s suddenly emergent junior center is wide awake, to be sure, as one of the most improved players in the ACC, but he’s not one to strut across stage. “I always look like I just woke up,” he said with a crooked smile. Eleven games into the conference season, the 6-foot-10 Lammers led the ACC in shot blocking (3.22 per game) and was second in rebounding (9.5) while also scoring 14.8 points to rank 21st. Oh, and he ranked No. 3 for the Yellow Jackets in assists (2.0) and No. 4 with 17 steals. Anybody who says they saw this awakening probably predicted in the third quarter of the Super Bowl that the Patriots would win. Lammers averaged 1.2 points and 1.5 rebounds as a freshman and 3.6 points and 4.0 rebounds as a sophomore. Soon after head coach Josh Pastner was hired in April, after two weeks of workouts and film review, he saw hints -- but just hints -- of what might be. “I saw in the first couple workouts that he had a decent feel for the game, but to do what he’s doing now ... he’s come a long way,” Pastner said. “He’s improved like you wouldn’t believe from where he was in April, even the summer. It’s night and day.” Lammers wasted no time putting up numbers this season. As the Jackets whipped Tennessee Tech, 7055, in the season opener, he scored a career-high 15 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots. Next, in a 77-62 win over Southern, he went for 13-15-9. He dished out six assists against Wofford, and blocked eight shots at Virginia Tech.
With 11 double-doubles as Tech opened the ACC season at 5-6 with upsets of top-15 North Carolina, Florida State and Notre Dame, Lammers opened eyes. “I just think he’s one of the most improved players not only in the conference, but the country,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said after Tech’s big man scored a career-high 24 points with nine rebounds and three blocked shots against the Cardinals on Jan. 7. “He has an outstanding mid-range shot, he’s a terrific shot blocker, has a good low-post game, gets off his feet, he’s athletic. He does it all that you’d want from a big man. He’s a triple threat.” The jump shot was there, as were many of Lammers’ shot-blocking skills, when Pastner and his staff took over. Ben didn’t like flicking that feathery jumper much, however, and was not much of a threat to attack the basket. In beginning the transition from a doublepost offense to a single-post attack that affords Lammers a little more room to operate, Pastner let the man in the middle know early that he wanted more from the San Antonio native. “He pretty much told me that right away. It took me a little while to get used to it,” Lammers said. “He said I’m an important part of the team offensively and defensively and that I needed to be more aggressive, especially on the offensive end ... I don’t know why, but I’ve always been kind of a passive, pass-first guy.” Coaches, particularly Eric Reveno, have worked on all that, and the mechanical engineering major has soaked up the coaching and grown his game. “I saw really good feel, a good shot,” Reveno said of early workouts and film study. “Things that are hard to teach, like technique posting up, getting your hands up while posting up, or
Lammers has led the ACC and ranked No. 2 in the nation in blocked shots all season.
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BASKETBALL | ON THE LAM
Lammers has earned praise from his coaches and from those around the ACC for his varied skill set, including a soft jump shot.
shooting a jump hook could use some work ... “When the workouts started, you work on being aggressive, and we’re still doing that. When’s a good time to go? When’s a good time to pass? When’s a good time to really look for a shot? And he’s really responded well to that teaching.” Andre Brewer’s not surprised by big Ben’s awakening, nor that he so often strikes observers as sleepy. When Lammers played for Brewer at Alamo Heights High School, he was good. And sleepy. Perhaps he could have been great. “What I did see that was really special was a really uncanny shot blocking ability ... He really picked up the ball at its peak,” Brewer said. “In our post drills, he always looked good, but he was a reluctant scorer ... “There was a newspaper article here about the sleeping giant. The dude naps constantly. He studies, he plays basketball, and he takes naps.” True. With a latent interest in rocketry, Lammers also enjoys studying World Wars I and II, fishing and video games. He hasn’t just awakened skills from within that were already there. This is a young man who has worked his tail off to improve. Asked for two areas where Ben has improved the
most, Reveno said, “I would say his comfort level with contact, both posting up and making moves. He’s still got a little bit of a way to go. He’s almost finesse to a fault sometimes. “Defensively, being more versatile. He knows how to block shots, but knowing how to hedge on a ball screen, he has a great feel for how to play weak-side defense.” Guess what Clemson coach Brad Brownell said after the Tigers played Tech in South Carolina on Feb. 1, when Lammers scored 25 points on 12-of-18 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds? “Just a phenomenal player. I said it after the game in Atlanta [where Ben had 23 points and 10 rebounds], that the guy’s a pro,” Brownell said. “He has an unbelievable soft shot. He was making some tough shots, guarded shots. “They’re mixing their defenses and playing zone, but they play a lot of man-to-man, now, and Ben Lammers on the ball screen is about as good as anybody in our league. His ability to just kind of corral it, affect a shot, sometimes get back on his man and block his shot.” You won’t find Lammers puffing out his chest. He could be sleeping on a couch in the Jackets’ locker room, or at home, on a bus, in a plane, or in the Edge Athletic Center. “His versatility is his best asset,” Reveno said, not talking about Ben’s ability to snooze nearly anywhere. “You saw that against Clemson, where he was facing the basket and shooting. It comes natural.” Yes, many of the skills now on display were there to begin with. Tech coaches have pulled them out and added polish, and Lammers has worked. “He was not like that in April. He wasn’t like that on film, and he wasn’t like that in the summer,” Pastner said. “He’s just gotten better, more confident, and ... he’s been good; very, very good, obviously. “I think confidence is everything. The more confident you are, the better you are going to be.”
WHEN THE WORKOUTS STARTED, YOU WORK ON BEING AGGRESSIVE, AND WE’RE STILL DOING THAT. WHEN’S A GOOD TIME TO GO? WHEN’S A GOOD TIME TO PASS? WHEN’S A GOOD TIME TO REALLY LOOK FOR A SHOT? AND HE’S REALLY RESPONDED WELL TO THAT TEACHING.
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The Buzz
| SPRING 2017
—ERIC REVENO
CONNECTING YELLOW JACKETS
TO THE WORLD.
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®
BASKETBALL
YOU CAN’T REALLY UNDERSTAND ANOTHER PERSON’S EXPERIENCE UNTIL YOU’VE WALKED A MILE IN THEIR SHOES.
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The Buzz
| SPRING 2017
HEART AND SOLE ELO EDEFERIOKA’S SHOE DRIVE PART OF HER PERSONAL MISSION TO GIVE BACK BY JON COOPER
I
t’s been said “You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Elo Edeferioka would prefer that children in her home city of Warri, Nigeria, not have to experience some of the hardship she had growing up. To that end, as many children as she can are getting to walk -- and run and dribble -- a mile, and more, in her shoes ... and those of her teammates. For the fourth straight year, and the first at Georgia Tech, the redshirt junior forward gathered shoes, culminating with a collection on Jan. 26 prior to the game with Florida State at McCamish Pavilion. The drive was held in conjunction with Samaritan’s Feet, an organization which has supplied more than 6.5 million pairs of shoes to children in need in 325 cities in the United States and 88 countries all over the world since its inception in 2003. Samaritan’s Feet became important to Georgia Tech because it was important enough for Edeferioka to mention her shoe drive via a simple picture during a team-building exercise. In the exercise, a player shows five pictures of things that define her life. Her summer basketball camp was one of those pictures. “It was her day to share her five pictures with the team and the staff, what her past is, her history and where she came from,” said head coach MaChelle Joseph. “One of the pictures was the kids back home in Nigeria with the shoes on. “I thought it was really great that there were some little boys there with pink shoes on from the Pink Game that were 10 sizes too big for them,” Joseph added, with a laugh. “They were just so happy to have those shoes. I thought, ‘What a great story.’ But more important, what a great human being Elo is to give back.” For Elo, which translates to “Light of God,” giving back and just a general unselfishness is part of what made her a perfect fit for Joseph’s program.
“One of the things we’ve always tried to instill in our players here is ‘Basketball is what we do. It’s not what we ARE,’” Joseph said. “One of the most important things we can do is give back to our community. She came here like that, already taking the initiative to give back to her community in Nigeria.” That sense of perspective can be traced back to her doing whatever it took to play the game she loves. “I thought the best part of her story was that she walked an hour every day to go to the nearest gym to even try to play basketball,” Joseph said. “She told us about how a lot of times she didn’t have the shoes and the things she needed. It was a very touching story, and I gained a lot of insight about Elo and who she is as a human being. I’m just very impressed by the initiative she took to give back to her community and what she does for her teammates every day. She’s very unselfish. I think Elo is the epitome of what we want our student-athletes to be.”
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS WE CAN DO IS GIVE BACK TO OUR COMMUNITY. SHE CAME HERE LIKE THAT, ALREADY TAKING THE INITIATIVE TO GIVE BACK TO HER COMMUNITY IN NIGERIA. —MACHELLE JOSEPH
This year’s shoe drive collected nearly 80 pairs. Edeferioka is determined to continue expanding her program and keep it thriving and giving back to her country’s youth even after her college days are done.
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BASKETBALL | HEART AND SOLE
GROWING UP, I DIDN’T REALLY HAVE PEOPLE COMING BACK HOME TO DO STUFF LIKE THIS FOR ME. I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TRAVEL TO ALL THOSE CAMPS THAT THEY WERE DOING IN OTHER STATES. SO I THOUGHT, ‘WHAT IF I DO SOMETHING IN MY STATE FOR MY FELLOW BASKETBALL PLAYERS THAT ARE STRUGGLING ALSO?’ I WAS LIKE, ‘OKAY, I CAN START DOING STUFF LIKE THIS.’ —ELO EDEFERIOKA
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The Buzz
Edeferioka found her way to the States to play high school ball at Life Center Academy in Burlington, N.J. While she became a dominant center, leading the Warriors to a 28-3 record as a senior, averaging 9.0 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.0 blocks, she also started to take advantage of extra equipment that she could compile every year to help the less-advantaged in Warri that attended her camp. That would continue when she went to college at nearby Hofstra University in Long Island, N.Y. “When I was in high school, I would take stuff home,” she recalled. “When I got to college I was getting more stuff, more shoes and everything. I was like, ‘Okay, let me start doing something like this to give back so they can look forward to me coming every summer to bring shoes for them and everything so they don’t have to worry about buying or trying to find money to go buy other stuff.’” Elo credited countrymen like friend and former Georgetown forward Ki-Ke Rafiu for helping her establish her efforts. “Ki-Ke does the same thing I’m doing right now,” Edeferioka said. “She goes home every summer to do a basketball camp for the community where she’s from, because she’s from Offa. She goes to Offa all the time to run basketball camps for young kids back home. “Growing up, I didn’t really have people coming back home to do stuff like this for me,” she recalled. “I had the opportunity to travel to all those camps that they were doing in other states. So I thought, ‘What if I do something in my state for my fellow basketball players that are struggling also?’ I was like, ‘Okay, I can start doing stuff like this.’” After two years at Hofstra, she transferred to Georgia Tech. While NCAA rules forced her to sit out a year, there was nothing to prevent her from continuing her shoe drive. She quietly gathered shoes last year and brought them home, but it was this season and the five pictures that led to the shoe drive. “Coach Jo, my teammates, the coaching staff and (women’s’ basketball director of operations) Catherine Greene have really been supportive of me,” Edeferioka said. “When they found out
| SPRING 2017
about my idea, they organized the shoe drive for me.” This year’s drive collected nearly 80 pairs of shoes. “That’s a great number, and those shoes will go to a great cause in Nigeria,” said Joseph, who, along with Florida State head coach Sue Semrau, coached the Jan. 26 game in their stocking feet as part of the Barefoot Coaching Initiative, part of Samaritan’s Feet. Elo’s teammates also have gotten firmly behind her efforts. “Being from another country, and learning about Elo’s childhood, I know this is an important cause for her,” said senior forward Katarina Vuckovic, one of three women’s basketball players on the Student-Athlete Advisory Board (SAAB). “She’s always done this on an individual level, but by partnering with Samaritan’s Feet, we were able to expand the scope of those that benefitted. “I’m so glad my teammates and I were able to use the platform of basketball to support Elo and raise awareness for her home country,” Vuckovic added. “I’m touched by the warmth, generosity and spirit of the people here who donated shoes and were inspired by the sense of hope the shoes will bring to the people of Nigeria!” The support from her teammates didn’t end on Jan. 26. In fact, it’s still on-going. “My teammates have been giving me shoes,” Edeferioka said. “Since then I’ve had
teammates telling me, ‘Oh, I have shoes at home,’ ‘I called my mom, they’re going to bring shoes so I can give them to you.’ Coach Jo has really been a big part of this because she was
the one that brought up the idea for the shoe drive and how they could get me more shoes. She’s really been supportive of me.” Edeferioka is determined to expand the drive and plans on looking to the rest of the Georgia Tech athletic community for support. She’ll get plenty of help spreading the word from Vuckovic, as well as junior guard Antonia Peresson and junior forward Zaire O’Neil, also members of SAAB. “What I want to do is go talk to all the sports,” she said. “Talk to other athletes on campus.” Edeferioka is determined to continue expanding her program and keep it thriving and giving back to her country’s youth even after her college days are done. “Since I’m still in school and with the basketball season and classes still going on, I can’t really start up anything yet,” she said. “I know at some point I’m going to create a foundation, a non-profit organization where I can collect shoes and basketball stuff and go home to run basketball camps every summer. That’s something I’m going to do after college.”
FACT
Edeferioka sat out last season after transferring from Hofstra, but has been a main contributor for the Jackets this season.
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BASEBALL
CAREER RE-DEVELOPMENT PITCHING ACE ON 1994 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES TEAM IS NOW SUCCEEDING AT SECOND CAREER BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER
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rad Rigby married a Bulldog and thereby lives in a house divided, but his enduring fondness for Georgia Tech baseball dominates the domicile’s décor. In one room, there’s a photo of Rigby and his Yellow Jacket teammates celebrating the 1994 College World Series game win against Florida State. In another, there’s the lanky righthander delivering one of his nasty sliders. Memorabilia and mementos are strategically placed elsewhere around the house as well. “It was really cool to see that stuff every day once I was old enough to understand it,” says
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The Buzz
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Rigby’s son, Paxton. “He had a pretty special time at Georgia Tech.” Rigby is one of the most special players in Yellow Jacket history, the pitching ace of a team that advanced to the College World Series championship game. Georgia Tech lost that game, to Oklahoma, but only after Rigby pitched 17 innings in two other College World Series games to help the Yellow Jackets advance. Coach Danny Hall, whose tenure dates to that 1994 season, calls Rigby “maybe the best pitcher we’ve had since I’ve been at Georgia Tech.” And Rigby is one of three Yellow Jacket pitchers
Brad Rigby won 35 games in his Georgia Tech career, including two to help reach the championship game of the 1994 College World Series.
RIGBY POSTED A 35-8 RECORD AND A 3.02 ERA WHILE PITCHING JUST SHY OF 340 INNINGS. HE STRUCK OUT 397 BATTERS. AND IN THE 1994 COLLEGE WORLD SERIES, HE TOSSED TWO COMPLETE GAMES AND THREW EIGHT INNINGS IN THE WIN THAT SENT GEORGIA TECH TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP. HE WAS A FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN AND MADE THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES ALLTOURNAMENT TEAM IN 1994 AND A SECOND-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN IN 1993.
named to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 50 Greatest Players list, along with Kevin Brown and Jim Poole. Yet to many Georgia Tech fans who aren’t intimately familiar with that 1994 team, Rigby is “that other guy” from a quartet that went on to play Major League Baseball. Rigby’s battery mate, Jason Varitek, and shortstop Nomar Garciaparra went on to all-star careers in the big leagues, and outfielder Jay Payton enjoyed a 12year career in the Majors. The arrival of Rigby’s son, Paxton, at Georgia Tech this year has renewed interest in the elder
Rigby and the legacy of the 1994 team. Paxton is a freshman walk-on infielder, and as such feels “zero pressure” in becoming the second Rigby to wear a Yellow Jacket uniform. “The only pressure I feel is in the classroom,” he says. “It’s actually fun for me to talk about my dad and what he did here on the field.”
AN ACE ON THE MOUND College baseball has been a hitter’s game since the introduction of the aluminum bat, yet every season a small group of pitching aces emerges. WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM
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BASEBALL | CAREER RE-DEVELOPMENT
Rigby is on the list of the 50 greatest ACC baseball players
Between 1992 and 1994, Brad Rigby was the game’s ace. Rigby posted a 35-8 record and a 3.02 ERA while pitching just shy of 340 innings. He struck out 397 batters. And in the 1994 postseason, he tossed two complete games and threw eight innings in the win that sent Georgia Tech to the championship. He was a first-team All-American and made the College World Series all-tournament team in 1994 and a second-team All-American in 1993. “From the first time I saw him, I knew he was really good,” Hall says. “He had a good fastball and an outstanding breaking ball that he could command at any time. More than anything, though, when he had the ball in his hand, the team had all the confidence in the world that we would win. And he wanted it in his hand as often and as long as I’d let him.” Rigby admits he was a pitcher with a position player’s mentality when it came to playing. He expected to go nine innings whenever he took
the mound and often would pitch a Friday night conference series opener, work the midweek game the following week and come back to pitch in the Sunday finale. Nowadays, a top starter rarely pitches in a midweek game and throwing three times in 10 days is unheard of. Rigby’s talent and work ethic led to him being a second round selection in the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft. After three years honing his craft in the minors, he joined the Oakland Athletics’ rotation for the 1997 season. He had a respectable rookie season with a 4.87 ERA, but a weakness became evident early: he struggled against left-handed hitters. His slider and curveball weren’t effective breaking in toward lefthanders and his changeup was, as he describes it, “average at best.” “My last several starts, you’d look at the opponent’s batting order and there would be seven or eight lefties,” he says. “They killed me.” The solution was a move to the bullpen. He returned to the majors in 1999 as a reliever and
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The Buzz
| SPRING 2017
pitched parts of the next two seasons for the Royals and the Expos, a franchise now known as the Washington Nationals. Rigby’s baseball career took a new turn the following spring. He failed to make a roster and took a spot pitching for an independent league team. A handful of pitches into his first appearance, he felt something give in his pitching elbow. The torn ligament ended his tenure with the independent league team, and he decided to use the rest and recovery time to finish his management degree at Georgia Tech. He completed his studies, then went to Venezuela to pitch in a winter league and test his arm. The elbow didn’t hold up, and he returned to the United States to undergo Tommy John surgery. He also put his degree to work for the first time, taking a job as a copy machine salesman. He spent his days rehabbing his elbow and making sales calls. “I wanted one more shot at baseball, but the next spring nobody wanted to take a chance on me just 10 months off surgery,” he says. “It was time to move on with life, and Georgia Tech put me in a great position to do that.”
POSITIONED FOR OFF-FIELD SUCCESS The diligence, perseverance and work ethic Rigby mastered studying and playing at Georgia Tech made him a natural in the sales field. His trial by copier—“where you hear the word no, all day, every day”—lasted two years before he moved on to medical device sales. He sold diagnostic equipment first, then got into selling surgical products. His current employer, C.R. Bard, makes products in the medical fields of vascular, urology and oncology, such as arterial stents, which hold arteries open to improve the flow of blood to the heart. Rigby is a district manager based in central Florida and travels throughout the Southeast. He spends many days in the operating room with doctors and patients in need of his products. “It’s been a rewarding second career for me,” he says. “Like baseball, it’s all about how you persevere and overcome the obstacles thrown you way. If you aren’t cutting it, you aren’t lasting.” He’s also laying the groundwork for his third career: coaching. He’s worked as the volunteer pitching coach at his alma mater, Lake Brantley
High School, for much of the last decade. The team won a state title in 2014, giving Rigby high school championships as both a player and a coach. He was a pitcher on the 1990 state title team. “He’s awesome around the field—he’s always positive and upbeat,” Paxton Rigby says. “When the day comes that he can just coach baseball, he’s going to be great at that, too.” And he’ll add some more photos and memorabilia to the house in the process.
Rigby has built a successful career in medical equipment sales and now can enjoy watching his son, Paxton, pitch for the Jackets.
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FOOTBALL
FOCUS ON THE DETAILS PERFORMING UNDER PRESSURE IN THE NAVY GAVE CRAIG CANDETO A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR COACHING BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER
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“As an aviator, you have to focus on the details,” aul Johnson enjoys hearing from his Candeto says. “As an athlete, but [also] in the former players, never more so than cockpit, everything goes fast and checkpoints when one is calling him about a job. and assignments are on you pretty quick.” Especially those who, like new Georgia Now he’s eager to share that knowledge of Tech quarterbacks and B-backs coach Craig how to react and perform under such extreme Candeto, played quarterback for him. pressure with the Yellow Jackets. The list includes current Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper, both of whom played for Johnson at FOOTBALL COACHING FLIGHT PLAN Hawaii; Michael Carter, another former Hawaii Candeto hasn’t flown an aircraft since star; Georgia Tech A-backs coach/special leaving the Navy in 2009. Medication he teams coordinator Lamar Owens, who played was taking for a thyroid condition grounded for Johnson at Navy; Georgia Southern assistant him near the end of the five-year service athletic director Tracy Ham, commitment he made as part of his Johnson’s first star quarterback; attendance at the Naval Academy. and now Candeto, a Navy man. He was discharged and The attribute that made immediately embarked on his each of them an easy second career: coaching. hire for Johnson is He started as a graduate leadership. And in assistant at Austin Peay, Candeto, Georgia then joined Johnson’s Tech has a proven Georgia Tech staff in the leader of men. same capacity in 2010. “You aren’t going He was an offensive to come out of the coordinator at The Citadel Naval Academy without and a head coach at Capital, knowing service and a Division III school in Ohio, —PAUL JOHNSON leadership,” Johnson says. before returning to Georgia Tech “Then there are the experiences last year in a football operations role. he had after he left Annapolis.” Johnson promoted Candeto to his Candeto’s post-academy assignment was as current position earlier this year when Bryan a fighter pilot. He spent five years training and Cook left the Georgia Tech staff to be Georgia serving, eventually earning a spot with Strike Southern’s offensive coordinator. Fighter Squadron 106, known as the “Gladiators,” “When I hired Craig for the operations job, flying the supersonic F-18 Super Hornet. it was with the idea that he would move back Commanding a $57 million jet, landing it onto the coaching staff as soon as I had an on aircraft carriers and meeting the other opening,” Johnson says. “You have a chance challenges a fighter pilot faces honed his skills. to get a coach of his caliber, you get him.”
YOU AREN’T GOING TO COME OUT OF THE NAVAL ACADEMY WITHOUT KNOWING SERVICE AND LEADERSHIP.
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The Buzz
| SPRING 2017
WHEN I HIRED CRAIG FOR THE OPERATIONS JOB, IT WAS WITH THE IDEA THAT HE WOULD MOVE BACK ONTO THE COACHING STAFF AS SOON AS I HAD AN OPENING. YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO GET A COACH OF HIS CALIBER, YOU GET HIM. —PAUL JOHNSON
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F OOTBALL | FOCUS ON THE DETAILS
Commanding a fighter jet and meeting the challenges a pilot faces honed Candeto’s skills.
GROOMING FUTURE LEADERS
Candeto brings knowledge of Johnson’s version of the triple-option that may be second only to the head coach himself. Together, with Johnson calling the plays and Candeto under center, they turned the Navy program around in the early 2000s, winning eight games and earning a bowl bid in Candeto’s senior season. Johnson expects Candeto will “coach the system the same way I do,” sure to make the transition from Cook to Candeto—and from three-year starter Justin Thomas to his as-yetnamed successor—a smooth one.
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The Buzz
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Candeto’s immediate focus is less on Xs and Os and more on getting to know his players and earn their respect. He doesn’t want them to respect him simply because of his history as a star quarterback or as a fighter pilot, which “could mean something to one kid but to another it’s a hill of beans. “I like to live in the present and I know each of them are motivated by different things and respond to different styles,” Candeto says. He will espouse a mantra favored by both the military and his boss, Johnson: Doing the small things makes the big things happen. Candeto is living proof that success comes from minding the details. He’s taken “a little bit of wisdom from each experience.” And by instilling that mindset in his new charges, Georgia Tech will develop new onfield leadership. “Craig has always been a leader, but more importantly he’s a good person,” Johnson says. “I’m certain he’ll help make our players better men.”
TWO TYPES OF
A-T FUND NEWS AND EVENTS
SCHOLARSHIP
FUNDING
Currently, the Georgia Tech Athletic Association covers $11 million in scholarship monies for student-athletes, investing on average more than $50,000 annually in each Yellow Jacket. The Alexander-Tharpe Fund actively fundraises the cost of student-athlete scholarships through two primary sources, the annual Athletic Scholarship Fund and through the scholarship endowments.
$1.3 million was received in 2016 via annual donations to the Athletic Scholarship Fund
$2.5 million is received through Endowment returns
$7.2 million is received from other sources
GIFTS & COMMITMENTS ENDOWMENTS
HARRY L. BECK GOLF CAVINESS ATHLETIC TRAINERS JACK ATHLETIC FUND LEE & SANDY FRAILIE ATHLETIC SOWELL BASKETBALL SOWELL FOOTBALL JOSH BROWN FAMILY DE LA GUARDIA, SR. SWIMMING & DIVING BERGMARK SWIMMING & DIVING GUILBERT SWIMMING & DIVING
JAMES & JANET LETSON MEN’S TENNIS ROBERT H. LEDBETTER ATHLETIC T.A. SMITH FOOTBALL WALTER L. SUSONG SR.
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR’S INITIATIVE FUND MURRAY K. GRIFFIN FRANCIS M. LOTT JESS NEWBERN III H. LYNN PAGE
OUTRIGHT SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENTS CREATED OVER THE PAST YEAR JUANITA & JACK MARKWALTER ATHLETIC SAMMY & CARRIE HUNTLEY FOOTBALL GLORIA & RICHARD KICAK WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GARFERICK FAMILY VOLLEYBALL
WILLIAMS FAMILY FOUNDATION ROBERT T. LAX II
ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP FUND ROGER D. GREER J. ROBERT LOVE HERBERT C. SKINNER JR. HOWARD T. TELLEPSEN JR. ROBERT V. NORTON TODD W. SCHLEMMER CHRISTOPHER C. REICHART
MEN’S BASKETBALL DONALD W. PAUL FAMILY ATHLETIC NATHAN FAMILY ATHLETIC F. VREELAND GEORGE, JR. ATHLETIC DANIELLE M. DONEHEW WOMEN’S BEN & LIZ UTT FOOTBALL BASKETBALL HAMILTON FAMILY MEN’S BASKETBALL D. FORT AND BETH FLOWERS ATHLETIC MANAGER GT SWIMMING & DIVING ALUMNI CATHERINE H. FLETCHER FAMILY LEGACY PRATT & SHEILA SMITH FOOTBALL
$ 25, 000+ SINCE JULY 1, 2016 SPORT-SPECIFIC
ROBERT A. ANCLIEN MEN’S BASKETBALL JOHN F. BROCK III MEN’S BASKETBALL WENDI STURGIS MEN’S BASKETBALL D. SHAWN FOWLER MEN’S BASKETBALL STEPHEN S. FREEMAN MEN’S BASKETBALL ROGER A. CAMPBELL MEN’S BASKETBALL KATHY T. BETTY MEN’S & WOMEN’S BASKETBALL DAVID R. TYNDALL SOFTBALL & VOLLEYBALL KATE & TRIPP TRIMBLE ATHLETIC WILLIAM EDWARD SICKEL ATHLETIC LARRY W. ENTREKIN BASEBALL IVAN W. ENTREKIN BASEBALL NOZAR SWIMMING & DIVING CHARLES K. “PETE” CROSS, SR. FOOTBALL BILL SAVILLE ATHLETIC WARSHAW FAMILY ATHLETIC
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A-T FUND NEWS AND EVENTS
SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT DINNER ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND HELD ITS 2016-17 ANNUAL ATHLETIC ENDOWMENT EVENT ON FEBRUARY 6, 2017 AT THE GEORGIA TECH HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTER. This dinner is an annual event to show appreciation for the A-T Fund donors who support Georgia Tech student-athletes through the endowment of athletic scholarships, while also giving scholarship recipients the opportunity to personally express their gratitude for donors’ generous support.
Bill Curry
More than 340 endowment donors, coaches, and student- athletes were in attendance.
“I OWE EVERYTHING I’VE GOT TO GEORGIA TECH.” -BILL CURRY Scott Frank, Quinton Stephens, Brian Frank
Dick Bergmark
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The Buzz
Justin Moore, Kathy Betty, Katarina Vuckovic Michael Kay, Bob Schwartz, Corey Heyward
Donor and swimming and diving Letterwinner Dick Bergmark (IM ‘75) shared pictures of the wonderful athletic facilities that have been a focus and impressed upon the audience that now is the time to focus on scholarship endowments. Donor, football letterwinner and former head coach, Bill Curry (IM ‘65) delivered a stirring speech that can be viewed at http://buzz.gt/ atfund_ed_1617.
| SPRING 2017
Jim Lemon, James Clark, Susan Lemon
ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIPS PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO STUDENTS WHO OTHERWISE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO ATTEND GEORGIA TECH
DIANE GRIFFIN AWARDED WITH GOLD BLAZER AS THE NEWEST ‘GOLDEN JACKET’ Golden Jackets are the A-T Fund’s highest level of recognition
Chiara Ruiu of Sardinia, Italy could not continue competitively swimming in her hometown. Because of the Freeman York Athletic Scholarship, she is earning her degree in Industrial Design, a certificate in Marketing, and continues to sweep the Tech record books in swimming. Ruiu gave a heartfelt thank you to the donors in the audience for investing in student-athletes such as herself even before knowing them. Donjhae Jones and Harrison Butker also discussed the impact of receiving an athletic scholarship.
Donjhae Jones Track & Field Student-Athlete Anonymous Athletic Scholarship
Harrison Butker Football Student-Athlete Tyndall Family Football Scholarship
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COMPLIANCE CORNER
BY SHOSHANNA ENGEL, ASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SIGNING DAY Every February marks a very exciting time for athletics departments across the country – fax machines and more modern devices for sharing information are dusted off for the football National Letter of Intent signing period! We want to explain some of the acronyms and debunk some of the myths surrounding signing day. Every February marks a very exciting time for athletics departments across the country – fax machines and more modern devices for sharing information are dusted off for the football National Letter of Intent signing period! We want to explain some of the acronyms and debunk some of the myths surrounding signing day. National Letter of Intent (NLI): The NLI is an agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution that binds them together and guarantees an athletics scholarship for at least one academic year. SHOSHANNA ENGEL ASSOCIATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE
Grant-in-Aid (GIA): A grant-in-aid is an athletics scholarship agreement between a student and an institution. GIAs may be for any amount, but the maximum value may not exceed the actual cost for tuition & fees, room, board, personal expenses, and required textbooks/course materials.
A GIA may exist without an NLI, but an NLI may not exist without a GIA. The NLI program issues very specific dates during which prospective student-athletes may sign an NLI. Football prospects were able to begin signing National Letters of Intent at 7 a.m. on February 1. Please see below for some frequently asked questions surrounding signing day. What happens after an NLI is signed? After a prospective student-athlete signs an NLI, our coaches may have unlimited contact with them and provide pre-enrollment information as they prepare to join the Yellow Jacket family. Additionally, a recruiting ban takes effect and no other schools subscribing to the NLI program may call, text, visit, or recruit the prospective student-athlete in any way. Does a prospective student-athlete have to sign an NLI in order to receive an athletics scholarship (GIA)? No. A prospect may sign a GIA at any time after the initial NLI signing date, but the GIA need not be accompanied by an NLI. However, a GIA does not trigger a recruiting ban. A prospective student-athlete is not receiving an athletics scholarship, but they have been guaranteed a spot on the team – can they participate in their high school’s NLI signing day event? NCAA rules do not prohibit any prospective student-athlete participating in a signing day event, but Georgia Tech may not provide or produce any agreement or other document for use during one of these ceremonies.
Shoshanna Engel Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance sengel@athletics.gatech.edu (404)894-8792
Lance Markos Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance lmarkos@athletics.gatech.edu (404) 894-5507
Is there a limit on the number of NLIs a team may sign? Sports other than football are not restricted to a maximum number of NLIs, but they may not exceed scholarship limits. In football, an institution is limited to 25 signees between December 1 and May 31 of each academic year. If there is a limit of 25 signees, why do some institutions announce signing classes that exceed 25 individuals? If a prospect signs a GIA after December 1 and enrolls midyear, they may be counted for the current academic year or toward the 25 signees for the following year. No more than 25 NLIs may be signed on the February initial signing date. So, if the previous year’s numbers permit, an institution may announce more than 25 individuals as part of a signing class, but they may count for different academic years depending on when they enroll. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to compliance as we continue to welcome our newest Yellow Jackets. Please don’t hesitate to call the compliance office with any questions or concerns.
Bret Cowley Associate Director of Compliance bcowley@athletics.gtaa.edu (404)385-0611
Shardonay Blueford Assistant Director of Compliance sblueford@athletics.gatech.edu (404)894-0416
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