Tech Topics - Fall 2007 - (Page 20)

TheHill Joe Hamilton, Brian Oliver Reach Goals in Overtime By John Dunn PINNACLE GETS A POLISH ETHAN TREWHITT B rian Oliver, who helped lead the Yellow Jackets’ basketball team to the final four in 1990, and Joe Hamilton, a 1999 finalist for football’s Heisman Trophy, received their degrees at commencement Aug. 4. For Oliver, who played his college basketball career at the “Thrillerdome,” returning to Alexander Memorial Coliseum to pick up his building construction degree was a triumphant finale after a 17-year lapse. “It was a personal achievement,” Oliver said. “It wasn’t a matter of if I was going to finish, but when. “In the beginning it was difficult with me playing in the NBA and playing in the summer camps, it always fell around that time when it was mandatory for me to go,” Oliver said. “Then when I was in Europe, it was a matter of me not getting back in enough time to finish. “It wasn’t like I had a lot to finish — it was a matter of five years, 10 years and then looking up and it’s been 17 years. It was always something I wanted to do and it was like now is the time because tomorrow is not promised.” Oliver, 39, has played in the Italian Basketball League for the past nine years. He met his wife in Italy and they have been married four years. “By the grace of God, I’m still playing,” Oliver said. “I still love it and still reap the benefits from it.” After he retires from professional basketball, Oliver said he might go into building construction. “I’ve always been interested in building construction. I keep in contact with a lot of Georgia Tech alumni in the industry.” In a telephone interview before commencement, Joe Hamilton’s wife, Kenya, Mgt 99, laughed gleefully that he was receiving his degree in history, technology and society. “Maybe now they’ll retire his jersey,” she said happily. Hamilton set Atlantic Coast Conference career records for total offense (10,640 yards), touchdown passes (65) and total touchdowns (83) and received the Davey O’Brien Award as a senior. He was named one of the 50 members of the ACC 50th anniversary football team. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2000 and played with the NFL Europe in 2001 and 2002. He signed with the Arena Football League’s Orlando Predators in 2004. In 2006, he led the Orlando Predators to Arena Bowl XX, losing 69-61 to the Chicago Rush. Hamilton told the Atlanta JournalConstitution that Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen had to withdraw an assistant coaching job offer a couple of years ago because he had not graduated. The Tech degree, Hamilton said, will open new opportunities. GARY MEEK A 150-foot crane lifts workers to the top of the Tech Tower in July to remove the gold pinnacle. Twenty years had taken a toll on the pinnacle’s golden luster and it needed new gold-leaf plating. The crown was removed in four hours and the pinnacle was sent to Maryland for new gold leaf. In 1987, the late Eugene Clary, GS 32, made a donation to Georgia Tech to give the tower a new copper roof topped by a gold-plated pinnacle. He originally proposed gold plating the steeple roof, similar to the gold plating on Georgia’s Capitol, but Institute administrators and architects believed a copper roof was more appropriate to the building design. Georgia Tech Is Top Producer of African-American Engineers G eorgia Tech is the top overall producer of African-American engineers in the United States, according to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine’s annual college rankings report. For the 2005-06 academic year, Tech was ranked No. 1 in undergraduate degrees in engineering awarded to African-American students with 120 degrees, up from 117 during the 2004-05 academic year. “Given the growing need in our state and around the nation for talented citizens, we are proud of Tech’s role as a national leader in creating and maintaining a supportive educational environment for minority students,” said President Wayne Clough. Tech is also the No. 1 producer of African-American doctoral graduates in engineering with 11, up from four the previous year. Georgia Tech was No. 2 in engineering master’s degrees awarded to African-American students with 28, down from 29 during the previous year, when Tech was No. 1. “These rankings are a truly meaningful measurement of Georgia Tech’s continued efforts to create an educational environment where minority students can thrive,” said Gary May, chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founder and director of Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science. FACES is designed to encourage minority engagement in engineering and science careers. “Georgia Tech’s performance over the past decade in producing African-American engineers at all degree levels has been phenomenal,” May said. One of Tech’s most successful minority recruitment projects is FOCUS, an annual event designed to attract the country’s finest minority undergraduates to its graduate programs. African-American students from more than 80 colleges and universities across the nation attend the three-day series of lectures, tours, panel discussions and social events. Brian Oliver, left, and Joe Hamilton celebrate with cigars at Tech’s summer graduation. 20 TECHTOPICS | FALL 2007

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Tech Topics - Fall 2007

Contents Mail Call Alumni House Historic Renovation 007 Buzz Bash Dazzling Daylilies Living History Cover Story: Key to the City The Hill Tapping Technology Robotics Rivalry No Easy Ride Giving Back Balancing Act Student Life Burdell & Friends Epic Story of Heroism Yellow Jackets Very Good Team Passport to Retirement Real World

Tech Topics - Fall 2007

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