Tech Topics - Fall 2007 - (Page 44)

YellowJackets IT’S OUTTA HERE E.M. PIO RODA/ATLANTA BRAVES Broyles Continued from Page 43 geography. Southern Arkansans cheered for LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee had a grip in the east and Oklahoma claimed the north. “Barnhill recognized that we needed to unite the entire state behind Razorback nation,” Broyles said. “We visited every radio and television station in the state and offered broadcasts of Arkansas football games, something that just wasn’t done back then. By the next fall, you could hear Razorback football in every corner of the state.” His first team lost six games before rebounding to win the last four. The next year, Arkansas posted the first nine-win season in school history, won the Southwest Conference championship and beat Tech in the Gator Bowl. The Razorbacks won five more conference titles in the next nine years, played in five bowls and won the 1964 national championship. As word of Broyles’ success spread, several prominent athletic programs sought his services, including a group of Tech alumni in 1966 following Dodd’s retirement and again in 1971 after Bud Carson retired. Ironically, it was Dodd who convinced Broyles to stay put. “He told me I already enjoyed strong personal relationships in Arkansas and I should think hard before throwing that away,” Broyles said. “I had seen how he enjoyed being near his friends and family and that convinced me to stay. I’m glad I did because I get to see five of my six children and 13 of my 14 grandchildren just about every day. When you have your family close by, you have a lot of wealth.” Like Dodd, Broyles had a knack for hiring quality position coaches. Barry Switzer, Johnny Majors, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Gibbs, Raymond Berry and Jackie Sherrill, all Broyles assistants, went on to enjoy successful careers as collegiate and professional head coaches. In 1996, the Frank Broyles Award, recognizing the top assistant coach in college football, was established. It was the fourth college football award — joining the Heisman Trophy, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award and the Homer Rice Distinguished Athletics Director Award — to be named for a Georgia Tech athletic figure. Broyles assumed the extra role of athletics director in 1973 and a $900,000 budget, the lowest in the conference. “Arkansas had money for football and that was it,” he said. “The football coaches and one basketball coach were the only full-time employees and only football players received full athletic scholarships. The other sports had to rely on part-time coaches and money from one or two scholarships that was divided among the athletes.” Broyles spent the next three years crisscrossing the state building a support base that eventually donated more than $230 million to hire quality coaches and build state-of-the-art athletic facilities, including a $105 million renovation of the football stadium, a new basketball arena, a 10,000-seat baseball stadium, new track and field facilities, golf and tennis centers and an academic center. And it didn’t cost the state a dime. “We’ve never accepted any school or student fees since I’ve been athletics director,” he said. “Last year’s $44 million budget was completely self-supporting. I credit that to my Tech management degree that taught me how to manage finances and budgets.” Weary of the increasing off-field demands placed on coaches, Broyles left the sidelines three years later to concentrate on administrative duties as well as take on a new challenge. “I had been moonlighting several years for ABC television providing color commentary on college football telecasts,” he said. “Not long after I retired from coaching, they asked me to move to full time.” Nearly every autumn weekend for the next nine years, Broyles shared a microphone with broadcasting icons Keith Jackson and Chris Schenkel. By the late 1980s, the Southwest Conference was crumbling and it was apparent it couldn’t survive. Arkansas and South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992. Since then, Razorback teams have won 48 SEC titles and 43 national championships. Broyles assumed the role of caregiver in 1997 when Barbara, his wife of 52 years at the time, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. For the next seven years, he split his time between his office and her bedside. After her death in 2004, he became a spokesman for caregivers, making several appearances before congressional committees. Last year, he persuaded the Arkansas Legislature to add an additional 15 hours of training for certified nurse’s aides working with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. And he wrote “Coach Frank Broyles’ Playbook For Alzheimer’s Caregivers,” a book of advice for compassionate, dignified care for Alzheimer’s patients. Broyles notified Arkansas chancellor, former Georgia Tech Dean of Engineering John A. White, in February that he intended to retire. Reluctant to lose such an effective fundraiser — Broyles headed the university’s successful $1 billion Campaign for the 21st Century — White asked the trustees to designate Broyles athletics director emeritus and appoint him as consultant to its foundation. “I’m proud I was able to remain at one school for 50 years like Coach Dodd,” Broyles said. “Even after his days as coach and athletics director came to an end, he stayed at Tech and lent his name to fundraising. I plan to follow in his footsteps and stick around to assist my school any way I can.” In his first night with the Braves, Mark Teixeira, Cls 02, slams a three-run homer in Atlanta’s win over Houston. The Braves acquired the former Tech All-American first baseman from the Texas Rangers just before the trade deadline on July 30. GOLF Castro Wins Second Start as Pro Former Georgia Tech AllAmerican golfer Roberto Castro, playing in only his second professional tournament since turning pro in June, beat 119 others to win the Spring Creek Classic in Virginia July 1. Castro, IE 07, joined the Tarheel Tour, a series of tournaments played in the Carolinas and Virginia, while attempting to qualify for the Nationwide and PGA events. “It’s so different to play for pay,” Castro said on his blog, published periodically at http://ramblinwreck. cstv.com. “In college, you could shoot an even par round and get away with it as long as you had some other good rounds. In pro tournaments you have to shoot every round under par or it’s 44 all over — and this is just the minor leagues.” Castro, co-winner of the Byron Nelson Award that goes to the nation’s top graduating golfer, wrote, “After spending the last four years wondering whether I was good enough to play professional golf, the time for wondering is over and the time for finding out first hand has begun.” Of his $2,575 winnings at the Bermuda Run Open, he wrote, “I shot 66 in my pro debut and finished seventh and cashed my first check as a pro, although a very modest one.” Two weeks later at the Spring Creek Classic, Castro shot a 4-underpar 32 on the last nine holes to seal a three-shot win and a $15,000 payday. TECHTOPICS | FALL 2007 http://ramblinwreck.cstv.com http://ramblinwreck.cstv.com

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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