CWAeRsOteLrnINA Fall
2013
T H E M A G A Z I N E O F W E S T E R N C A R O L I N A U N I V E R S I T Y
TRAINING SCHOOL STRESSES
OUTDOOR SAFETY, SURVIVAL
CHANGES ARE NOTHING NEW
IN SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
STUDENTS STREAKED INTO
RECORD BOOK 40 YEARS AGO
FROM HOMECOMING AND THE JUG
TO THE TOWNHOUSE AND
THE TUCK, TRADITIONS KEEP
ALUMNI CONNECTED
BINDING FORCE
THURSDAY, OCT. 24
The Last Lecture. 2:30 p.m. Coulter recital
hall. Burton Ogle, director of the environmental
health sciences program, “What is Cool
about Environmental Health.” Information:
828.227.7196 or lcruz@wcu.edu.
Spirit Night. 8 p.m. Central Plaza.
Music, food, fun.
FRIDAY, OCT. 25
Alumni Scholarship Homecoming Golf
Tournament. Noon. Waynesville Inn Golf Resort
& Spa. Four-person captain’s choice format.
$85 per person. RSVP by Friday, Oct. 18:
877.440.9990, 828.227.7335 or
magill@wcu.edu.
Homecoming Parade. 6:15 p.m.
Main Street, downtown Sylva.
SATURDAY OCT. 26
Chancellor’s Brunch and Alumni Awards.
10 a.m. A.K. Hinds University Center Grandroom.
Honoring Joan MacNeill, Distinguished
Service Award; Johnny Carson ’71, Academic
Achievement Award; Wes Elingburg ’78,
Professional Achievement Award; Manteo
Mitchell ’09 MAEd ’12, Young Alumnus Award.
$15 per person, business attire. RSVP by Friday,
Oct. 18: 877.440.9990, 828.227.7335
or magill@wcu.edu.
HOMECOMING 2013
OCTOBER 24-27
See the complete Homecoming schedule online at Homecoming.wcu.edu.
Tailgating. Noon-3:30 p.m. Parking lots
adjacent to E.J. Whitmire Stadium.
WCU vs. Elon University. 3:30 p.m.
E.J. Whitmire Stadium/Bob Waters Field.
Tickets: 800.344.6928.
African-American Alumni Postgame
Reception. 6:30-8 p.m. A.K. Hinds
University Center’s Club Illusions.
RSVP by Friday, Oct. 18: 877.440.9990,
828.227.7335 or magill@wcu.edu.
Stompfest. 8 p.m. John W. Bardo Fine and
Performing Arts Center. Annual stepping
competition by black fraternities and
sororities; sponsored by the Organization
of Ebony Students and the Department of
Intercultural Affairs. Tickets/information:
828.227.2276 or ica@wcu.edu.
Homecoming Concert – Country music
artist Kacey Musgraves. 9 p.m. Ramsey
Regional Activity Center. Tickets on sale
at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24. Information:
ramsey.wcu.edu or 828.227.7677.
SUNDAY, OCT. 27
Inspirational Choir Concert. 1 p.m.
A.K. Hinds University Center Grandroom.
Information: 828.227.2276 or
ica@wcu.edu.
FALL 2013 | VOLUME 17, NO. 3
The Magazine of Western Carolina University is
produced by the Office of Communications and
Public Relations for alumni, faculty, staff, friends
and students of Western Carolina University. The
views and opinions that appear in this publication
are not necessarily those of the editorial staff or
the official policies of the university.
CHANCELLOR
David O. Belcher
CHIEF OF STAFF
Melissa Wargo
MANAGING EDITOR
Bill Studenc MPA ’10
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Jill Ingram MA ’08
Teresa Killian Tate
ART DIRECTOR
Rubae Schoen
CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Mark Haskett ’87
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
John Balentine
Will Huddleston
Zack Keys
Joseph Moon
STAFF WRITERS
Keith Brenton
Randall Holcombe
Daniel Hooker ’01
Patrick O’Neal
Steve White ’67
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ashley T. Evans
John Witherspoon
VIDEO EDITOR
Joseph Hader ’12
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Ashley Beavers
CIRCULATION MANAGER
Cindi Magill
Search for this icon throughout the
magazine for stories that feature
online extras – videos, photographs
and more, available ONLY online.
magazine.wcu.edu
CWAeRsOteLrInNA
2 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
SECTIONS
4 Worth Repeating
5 Opening Notes
6 News from the
Western Hemisphere
12 WCU Athletics
40 Alumni Spotlight
44 Class Notes
52 Calendar
54 The View from Here
55 Last Look
FEATURES
18 BOSTON STRONG
A former WCU track athlete recalls
close call at marathon bombing
20 TEST OF ENDURANCE
A couple builds a top school for
outdoor responder training
28 GET THE MESSAGE?
The university is making huge strides
in emergency notification
30 BINDING FORCE
Traditions help maintain campus
connections with alumni and friends
38 THE BARE FACTS
Forty years ago, WCU was the epicenter
of collegiate streaking in the U.S.
CONTENTS
ON THE COVERS
FRONT A symbol of WCU’s longstanding rivalry with Appalachian
State, the Old Mountain Jug will be on the line one more time Nov. 23
when the Catamounts travel to Boone for what may be their final
football game against the Mountaineers, who are leaving the Southern
Conference after this season to join the Sun Belt Conference.
BACK More than 100 booths of Western North Carolina’s finest arts
and crafts will be on display and for sale as the 39th edition of WCU’s
Mountain Heritage Day, the university’s tribute to traditional Southern
Appalachian culture, kicks off on campus Saturday, Sept. 28. More
information available at MountainHeritageDay.com.
20 28 18 38
Fall 2013 | 3
WORTH
REPEATING
“We’ve been trying
for many years to get
a provision under
which concealed
handgun permit
holders who’ve
proven themselves
sane, sober and
law-abiding can
protect themselves
in restaurants, on
educational property
and elsewhere.”
– Paul Valone of
Grassroots North
Carolina to the N.C.
News Network,
on a legislative
proposal that
would allow gun-owners
who hold
concealed-carry
permits to store their
firearms in vehicles
on university
campuses.
“I’m just not
convinced, based
on what I’ve seen,
that allowing more
firearms on campus
is going to make
campuses safer. I’ve
not seen anything
to make me think
that is the case.” –
WCU Police Chief
Ernie Hudson to the
Asheville Citizen-
Times on that
same proposal.
“It’s sort of like that
guy who lived next
door when you were
growing up. He’s a
little bigger, has a
little more money
and you always used
to fight him. Then
he moves away,
and you don’t have
anybody to fight
with anymore. You
didn’t necessarily
like him, but you’re
going to miss him.”
– Steve White ’67,
WCU’s athletic
historian, to the
Asheville Citizen-
Times on arch-rival
Appalachian
State’s decision to
leave the Southern
Conference.
“Reminded me of a Saturday
a.m. back in the late ’60s.
The mirrors in the dorm were
swaying ... had never been in
an earthquake before then.”
– Bunny Bennett Parish ’69,
replying to a WCU Alumni
Association Facebook post
about a June 6 tremor near
Cullowhee measuring 2.5
on the Richter scale.
“Seeing their faces along with
hearing their stories while you
basically help rebuild their lives
is about the most rewarding
experience I have ever been
involved in.” – Junior Matthew
Chevalier, one of 10 students
involved in a May service-based
leadership course that
traveled to Staten Island, N.Y.,
to assist with rebuilding after
Hurricane Sandy.
“Ultimately, we are looking at the river park as a
catalyst for the revitalization of downtown Cullowhee.”
– Anna Fariello, associate research professor at Hunter
Library and leader of CuRvE, a grassroots nonprofit
dedicated to improving the Cullowhee community,
to the Smoky Mountain News on a proposed park
along the Tuckaseigee River near campus.
4 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
These activities are occurring against the backdrop of
challenging times. The university has absorbed more than $32
million in cuts to state funding since 2008-09. As I write this,
our elected officials are debating the budget for the 2013-15
biennium, with further reductions anticipated. Simply put, we
do not have the resources to do everything we would like to do
or to be all things to all people. We never have. That is why we
are taking a hard look at all of our functions in order to make
informed decisions about how to use limited resources toward
the goal of maintaining the growth, vitality and excellence of
the university and WCU’s ability to serve students and the
people of North Carolina.
That said, harsh fiscal realities alone are not driving this need
to sharpen our focus. Institutions of higher education – like
any organization – should engage in a systematic process of
review and prioritization of all of its functions as a normal order
of business. And we will do just that. Regular examination of
what we do and how we do it will be an ongoing initiative of
this forward-looking university in its pursuit of distinction.
As good stewards of the resources and trust granted us by the
people and the state, we must constantly evaluate our operations
toward the goal of continuous improvement. Doing so will
make us more efficient and will leave us a stronger institution.
In fact, these efforts already are producing results. Enrollment
continues to climb, and a higher percentage of students who
come to WCU are staying to complete their degrees. We expect
the trend of record enrollment to continue this fall.
Western Carolina is a university with a proud tradition
and a future of extraordinary possibilities. By sharpening
our focus, we are better positioned to live up to the legacy of
our past, meet the challenges of our present and embrace the
opportunities of our future.
You are part of Western Carolina, and I trust that you share
my pride and belief in the future of our university.
DAVID O. BELCHER
Chancellor
As the beginning of the fall semester approaches, Western
Carolina University is in the midst of the process of sharpening
its focus. It is no coincidence that the university’s “2020 Vision”
strategic plan is subtitled “Focusing Our Future.” Those who
worked on the plan – and there were many from across the
campus and the broader external community – realized the
importance of a well-defined institutional focus in order for
the university to move forward and continue to meet the needs
of students and the region we serve.
Perhaps the most significant “focusing” activity in which we
are engaged is academic program prioritization. Through this
rigorous and inclusive process, we have examined all programs
in our academic mix, assessing their quality, productivity and
connection to mission. Academic program prioritization was
a direct outcome of the “2020 Vision” plan, and it was called
for by the first initiative of the first goal of the first strategic
direction. Academic program prioritization will become a
regular activity, ensuring that we have the proper array of
programs to enable us to meet our institutional mission and
position us for the opportunities and challenges ahead.
We also have thoroughly reviewed the structure of our
administrative and other non-academic areas. As a result,
we have made several organizational shifts designed to meet
the “2020 Vision” goals of improving the effectiveness and
efficiencies of campus business processes and ensuring
the appropriate leadership and organizational structure
necessary in order to fulfill our mission. We have eliminated
a vice chancellor position, combined several units and
functions, streamlined procedures and practices, and
created operational synergies that make the university a more
nimble organization.
In addition, we are in the final stages of a comprehensive
master planning process that will guide the development and
improvements of campus over the next several decades. Through
this effort, we are addressing issues such as new building
needs, use of existing space, parking and transportation,
technology and other infrastructure, sustainability, safety
and security, preservation of our unique heritage, and
integration of campus with the surrounding community.
Master planning will help clarify how we will develop our
campus and its infrastructure to meet the changing needs of our
growing student body.
OPENING
Notes
Fall 2013 | 5
When the 400-plus members of the Pride of the Mountains
Marching Band leave campus for the Thanksgiving holiday
break next year, it won’t exactly be a matter of “over the river
and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go.” That
is, unless grandma lives in the Big Apple, because Western
Carolina’s marching band is one of only 10 from across the
nation invited to participate in the 2014 Macy’s Thanksgiving
Day Parade in New York City.
Representatives of the Macy’s parade visited campus at the
end of the spring semester to surprise the marching musicians
with the invitation to take part in the 2014 edition of
the annual holiday spectacular. Band members
had assembled in the theater of A.K. Hinds
University Center under the guise that they
were attending a mandatory organizational
meeting when Wesley Whatley, the
parade’s creative director, broke the news.
“It’s my job to look across the
country to find the best bands, the most
entertaining bands, the most fantastic,
most fabulous bands to represent their
states and perform in our event,” said
Whatley. “This year we received well over
175 applications from bands across the country
and even some international groups. We selected
10 from over 175. And let me tell you this: your name
– Western Carolina University – was the first band I wrote up
on the board, the very first. It was a resounding yes from our
committee. It was so clear. And that’s a testament to all of you.”
Whatley also unveiled a parade banner and presented a
commemorative drum head to David Starnes, director of the
Pride of the Mountains, as the students showered Starnes
with a rain of colorful confetti. “We’re not going to do this in
a way where we go up and go, ‘Hi New York, bye New York,’”
Starnes told the band members. “The trip that we’re looking
at right now would have us in New York on Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of Thanksgiving, Friday after
Thanksgiving and drive back Friday night, so we’re talking
about a week in New York City the week of Thanksgiving.”
For students such as Joel Gerome Jeffries Jr., a junior
education major, the Macy’s invite represents the latest
accolade bestowed upon the WCU marching band. “Being a
member and now drum major of the Pride of the Mountains
has given me many opportunities to experience things that
most college students aren’t able to say they’ve done:
marching in the Rose Parade in California,
performing halftime for a Carolina Panthers
football game, and performing for the largest
marching band stage in the country at
Bands of America Grand Nationals in
Indianapolis,” Jeffries said. “These
opportunities are tremendous and now
the Pride of the Mountains Marching
Band is able to add on another major
experience to the books.”
The band received the 2009 Sudler
Trophy, presented by the John Philip Sousa
Foundation, considered the nation’s ultimate
honor for college and university bands. When
the WCU marching band appeared in the 2011
Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., it won
“favorite band” in a poll conducted by KTLA-TV, earning
72,287 votes – 40 percent of all votes cast in the poll and more
than any of the parade’s other musical groups. And now comes
the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Founded in 1924, the parade
attracts more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of
New York and 50 million at-home viewers.
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
MARCHING BAND MAKING PLANS FOR THANKSGIVING 2014
AFTER SCORING ANOTHER PARADE INVITATION
Confetti fills the air as
members and friends of
the Pride of the Mountains
Marching Band celebrate
the invitation to participate
in the 2014 Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade.
magazine.wcu.edu
6 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
FINE ART MUSEUM GETS
NEW DIRECTOR
David J. Brown, a longtime arts professional experienced
in many facets of arts and cultural organizations, has been
named director of the WCU Fine Art Museum.
“David has worked in North Carolina a number of
years in the arts and brings a localized perspective to a
national outlook on arts in our communities,” said Robert
Kehrberg, dean of the College of Fine and Performing
Arts, which oversees the museum.
Brown, of Winston-Salem, has worked in the field
of art and visual culture for more than 25 years. Since
2010, he has worked as an arts management consultant.
From 2007-10, he was deputy director of the Taubman
Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va., where he transitioned
the 50-year-old institution into a new facility. Brown also
has served in leadership and administrative roles with the
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-
Salem, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and
the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
“Some of the most rewarding times of my career have
been in collaboratively creating unique and meaningful
intersections with students, artists and the community,
and I view the entire WCU campus and region as vibrant
partners full of potential,” Brown said.
WCU’s Fine Art Museum opened in 2005 with a focus
on education, community outreach and development of
a permanent collection of high artistic merit. Brown fills
a position left vacant by founding director and curator
Martin DeWitt’s retirement in December 2010. Curatorial
specialist Denise Drury has served as interim director of
the museum for the past 2½ years.
After Dianne G. Lynch announced her
retirement as the chancellor’s chief of
staff earlier this year, Western Carolina
University did not have to look far for her
successor. The university found its new
chief of staff, Melissa Canady Wargo,
working as assistant vice chancellor for
planning and effectiveness in the same
H.F. Robinson Administration Building
where Lynch served for 10 years as senior
executive staff member in the Office of
the Chancellor.
Wargo guided WCU’s yearlong
strategic planning process and led a
36-member committee in drafting the
“2020 Vision: Focusing Our Future”
strategic plan approved last June by
the Board of Trustees. She currently
serves as co-chair of the master
planning committee, charged with
creating a comprehensive plan to guide
development of campus over the next
several decades. Her April appointment
as chief of staff concluded a national
search conducted by a seven-member
committee, which presented three
finalists to Chancellor David O. Belcher
for his consideration.
“Melissa Wargo brings an
exceptionally strong skill set to the
position of chief of staff. In addition to a
keen analytical mind, she has an excellent
reputation on and off the campus for
her ability to bring together a diverse
collection of faculty, staff, students,
alumni and community representatives
to find common ground and a sense
of shared direction in developing our
university’s strategic plan,” Belcher said.
“She sees the big picture and understands
how things work in the University of
North Carolina system, as well as at
the regional and community levels. She
will be able to hit the ground running
and have an immediate impact as the
university meets the challenges and
opportunities ahead.”
Wargo assumes her new role as the
university is in the first phase of a
process of institutional restructuring.
In addition to serving as principal
aide to the chancellor on important
university operational matters and
leading the university’s government
relations activities, she oversees WCU’s
communications and public relations
functions and a new marketing unit
formed from several existing offices.
Before Wargo changed offices June
1, her predecessor accepted two of the
university’s highest honors. Lynch in
March became just the 10th person ever
to receive the Trustees’ Award, presented
only on rare occasions in recognition
of exemplary service. “Dianne more
than meets the criteria for this award,”
said Joan MacNeill, board chair. “Any
time that Dianne Lynch is involved in
a project, you can rest assured that it
will be done to perfection. She makes
it all look effortless, but we all know
the large amount of effort that she puts
into everything she does.” Lynch also
received the Paul A. Reid Award for
Administrative Staff at WCU’s annual
spring Faculty and Staff Excellence
Awards event in April.
As chief of staff, Lynch oversaw
several high-priority university events
and projects, including commencement
ceremonies, the Chancellor’s Speaker
Series, Fall Opening Assembly activities,
and chancellor’s installation events in
March 2012. She served as a liaison to
local, state and federal elected officials
and to the UNC General Administration.
WCU LOOKS TO THE ARCHITECT OF ITS STRATEGIC PLAN
FOR THE RETIRING CHIEF OF STAFF’S SUCCESSOR
She oversaw the renovation of the
Chancellor’s Residence and H.F.
Robinson Administration Building
lobby, co-chaired the university’s
organizational structure review process
and played an important role in the
transition of institutional leadership
from former chancellor John W. Bardo
to the university’s current leader.
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
Dianne G. Lynch
(left) departs the
position of WCU’s
chief of staff while
Melissa C. Wargo
(right) assumes
the role.
Fall 2013 | 7
WCU-PLANNED EVENTS IN DILLSBORO
WIN INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
For the second time in less than a year, events that faculty, staff and students helped
plan, publicize and produce as part of Western Carolina University’s partnership
with the town of Dillsboro have won awards from the Association of Marketing and
Communication Professionals. The Dillsboro Mobile Web App Launch Party held
in March 2012 recently landed one of eight gold awards in the association’s Hermes
Creative Award special events category. Meanwhile, another WCU project team won
an AMCP Communitas Award in November 2012 for helping significantly increase
attendance during a holiday event the previous year.
“Dozens of faculty, staff and students from across the university contributed
hundreds of hours on just these two events, and we were successful because of their
expertise, commitment and willingness to make a difference in our community,” said
Betty Farmer, professor of communication and special assistant to the chancellor
for Dillsboro.
Initiated in 2009, the Dillsboro/WCU Partnership is a universitywide effort
designed to match WCU expertise and support with Dillsboro’s challenges and
opportunities. Computer information students and faculty within the College of
Business worked with Dillsboro business owners and community members to create
mobile.dillsboroplaces.org. The mobile Web application connects smartphone users
to the town’s businesses and attractions, and features business and town information
including turn-by-turn directions, social media links, promotions, special events
and weather. To publicize the release of the app, public relations students and faculty
developed a campaign that included a launch party held at Dillsboro’s historic Jarrett
House. The event featured a countdown timer to the app’s launch, an “Experience
Dillsboro” giveaway and the Dillsboro Mobile Man, an 8-foot-tall costumed character
designed and created by faculty and staff in WCU’s School of Stage and Screen.
Escorted at the event by Paws, WCU’s mascot, the character wore a QR code enabling
smartphone users to scan to be immediately directed to the mobile website.
Meanwhile, the Dillsboro project won a Communitas Award for bringing larger
crowds to the 2011 Dillsboro Lights and Luminaries. Communitas is a Latin word
that means people coming together for the good of a community, and AMCP judges
said that the Dillsboro 2011 luminaries event “clearly exhibits communitas.”
To promote the 28th annual luminaries event, Farmer and her students designated
the festival’s opening evening as WCU Night and planned special activities and prizes
just for faculty, staff and students. Not only did merchants report increased sales and
visitors, but also said they had customers return. In addition, merchants donated
$550, a portion of their proceeds from WCU Night, to a charitable organization in
support of the WCU Poverty Project.
“Dillsboro is so proud to have been chosen to partner with WCU on this venture,”
said Susan Leveille, co-owner of longtime Dillsboro business Oaks Gallery with
husband Bob Leveille MBA ’87. “The partnership has been great for all of us. We
have learned so very much from each other and about each other and have developed
a relationship that I hope will continue.”
–By Teresa Killian Tate
Western Carolina University alumni and friends are
continuing to answer Chancellor David O. Belcher’s call to
provide the additional financial support needed to create
more endowed scholarships for WCU students.
Belcher identified raising funds for endowed scholarships
as the university’s No. 1 philanthropic priority, in order to
ensure access to higher education for all capable students,
during his installation address in March 2012.
Through endowments of at least $10,000, scholarship
assistance to deserving students can be awarded on
an annual basis in perpetuity. Several new endowed
scholarships have been added to the books between
April 1 and June 30 of this year. They are:
• Steven C. Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund (for inclusive
education majors); donors Eva Jones and Jacob Jones.
• Dr. Janice H. Holt Endowed Scholarship Fund (for
students in the Whee Teach Program); donors Adam
R. Holt ’05 MSA ’10, Robert L. Holt ’73 and David
L. Holt in memory of Janice Holt ’76 MAEd ’77
EdS ’87 EdD ’12.
• Construction Management Alumni Endowed
Scholarship Fund (for construction management
majors); donors include alumni of the construction
management program.
• Mickey and Sondra H. Pettus Alpha Xi Delta Endowed
Scholarship Fund (for students in Epsilon Gamma
Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta sorority); donors Mickey
Pettus ’75 and Sondra Pettus ’76.
• Coach Bob Waters Football Walk-On Endowed
Scholarship Fund (for walk-on student-athletes on the
intercollegiate football team); donor Dan Brooks ’76.
• Clarence Claude Teagarden Jr. Endowed Scholarship
Fund (for business administration and law majors);
donors include the late Clarence Claude Teagarden Jr.
and colleagues from the College of Business.
• Wells Fargo Endowed Scholarship Fund (for accounting,
finance, information systems and economics majors);
donor Wells Fargo Foundation.
• John Davies Memorial Football Endowed Scholarship
Fund (for a member of the intercollegiate football team);
donor James Williston “Bill” Klugh ’72.
• Kathleen Wright Endowed Scholarship Fund (for
communication majors); donor Donald Connelly.
• McCracken Family Scholarship Fund (for Honors
College students); donor Sandra Jayne McCracken ’65.
• Kenneth M. Hughes/Dixon Hughes Goodman
Endowed Scholarship Fund (for accountancy majors
with preference given to students from Yancey and
Buncombe counties or Western North Carolina); donor
Kenneth M. Hughes ’74.
• Berniece Lloyd/Nancy Potts Coward Endowed
Scholarship Fund (for Honors College students); donors
Carolyn and Orville Coward Jr.
• Paul and Nora Jones Endowed Athletic Scholarship
Fund (for a student-athlete on an intercollegiate team);
donors Paul Jones ’69 MAEd ’70 and Nora Jones
MAEd ’87.
ALUMNI AND FRIENDS CREATE
NEW ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIPS
Smartphone users meet the Dillsboro Mobile Man
(right), an 8-foot-tall costumed character emblazoned
with a QR code allowing access to a mobile website.
8 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
The possibility of a zombie apocalypse
has come up so often around the
dinner table that the daughter of Brian
Railsback, WCU Honor’s College dean,
said she was not surprised her dad wrote
a post-apocalyptic novel. “He and my
two brothers are always scheming about
what they would do,” said Cadence
Railsback. “I feel confident we would
be well-prepared.” What did surprise
her, however, was her dad’s offer to
direct all proceeds from his book “A
Going Concern” to help her raise enough
money to participate in the World Race.
Adventures in Missions, a Christian
organization, sends “World Racers” in
squads to 11 countries in 11 months to
serve. “It makes me feel like he really
supports what I am trying to do, and it
also makes me feel very humble to know
that I am so loved,” she said. “This is a
project that he spent at least five years of
his life on that he handed over so readily
to help me.”
The concept for the novel struck Brian
Railsback, an award-winning writer,
after he read Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic
book “The Road.” He began
to wonder what would happen if most
of the human population were dead but the rest of the world
was fine. Was it possible to write a post-apocalyptic story
that wasn’t completely dark? Could there be a story that was
at once frightening, dramatic and humorous? “I lay awake at
night wondering how that would play out and what it would
be like,” said Railsback.
He dreamed up someone ill-equipped to survive –
someone who was not a scientist, not knowledgeable, not
spiritual and who was wrapped up in popular culture.
Who emerged was Trent Sheets, a 42-year-old guitarist in
a band called Subculture. The book follows Sheets as he
comes out of the woods near Cullowhee, discovers a virus
has killed almost everyone and treks across the country.
Railsback titled the novel “A Going Concern” to capture the
story’s exploration of the future of humanity – will people
thrive or fade away?
HONORS COLLEGE DEAN PUBLISHES POST-APOCALYPTIC NOVEL
TO SUPPORT HIS DAUGHTER’S MISSION TRIP
Losers slid into green Jell-O at the
spring Turtle Tug, which turned out to
be a winner for a camp for children
with serious medical conditions.
Organized by Western Carolina
University’s Delta Zeta sorority, the
event raised more than $1,300 for
The Painted Turtle camp.
magazine.wcu.edu
STUDENTS SLIDE INTO
JELL-O AT TURTLE TUG
Honors College Dean Brian Railsback is directing proceeds from his book
“A Going Concern” to help fund daughter Cadence’s mission trip.
Railsback completed the novel in 2009. After no initial
response from literary agents, he set the project aside until
deciding to self-publish the book. The experience would
help him learn about the emerging e-book industry and
support his daughter. Among the book’s fans is Ron Rash,
WCU Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian
Culture, who said the novel is excellent and noted that
the story “has taken the bleakest of human scenarios and
within it found decency and hope.”
Railsback’s previous works include the novel “The
Darkest Clearing,” which was published in 2004. Awards
for his writing include the Prose for Papa (Hemingway)
award, which was bestowed in 2006 for his short story
“Clean Break.” “A Going Concern” is available online
at Amazon.
–By Teresa Killian Tate
Inset photo by Katherine Freshwater
Fall 2013 | 9
PROFESSOR TERRENCE MANN EARNS TONY NOMINATION FOR ‘PIPPIN’
Mann previously was nominated for his role as the original
Beast in the Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast,”
which also garnered Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle
nominations for best actor, and as the original Inspector Javert
in “Les Miserables,” which enjoyed new life as an Academy
Award-winning film last year. In an interesting twist, the
latest Tony nomination came as the School of Stage and Screen
unveiled its 2013-14 Mainstage season, a lineup that includes a
spring production of “Les Miserables,” which Mann will direct.
Mann, who came to WCU in 2006, provides invaluable
insight into the onstage and behind-the-scenes tricks of the
trade, said Robert Kehrberg, dean of the College of Fine and
Performing Arts. “Terrence not only brings his life experiences
as an accomplished theatrical professional to share with our
students, he also frequently takes students to New York City to
go backstage and see first-hand how things really work in the
world of theatre,” Kehrberg said. “He provides our students
with a rare, insider’s perspective on the business of mounting
major theatrical productions.”
Other highlights of Mann’s career include the roles of
Rum Tum Tugger in “Cats” and Chauvelin in “The Scarlet
Pimpernel.” He also has taken the Broadway stage in “Lennon,”
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Getting Away with
Murder,” “A Christmas Carol,” “Rags,” “Barnum,” “Jerome
Robbins’ Broadway” and “Jekyll and Hyde.”
Mann’s wasn’t the only familiar face in Radio City Music
Hall for the Tony Awards show. Former WCU student Ariana
DeBose, who made her Broadway debut this season in the
nominated “Bring It On” and who currently can be seen in
“Motown,” performed in musical numbers from both those
shows while Benny Enfinger ’08, who works as an actor in
New York City, could be spotted in the audience.
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
A bilingual poem by Santiago
García-Castañón, professor of
Spanish and head of the Department
of Modern Foreign Languages was
one of 20 finalists in an international
poetry contest organized by La
Pereza publishing house. The poem,
titled “Una noche en compañía/
Night Company,” is from García-
Castañón’s forthcoming poetry
PROFESSOR GARCÍA-CASTAÑÓN’S POEM
WINS INTERNATIONAL HONOR
The School of Stage and Screen no longer has a two-time
Tony Award nominee on the faculty. That’s because Broadway
star Terrence Mann, WCU’s Phillips Distinguished Professor
of Musical Theatre, was nominated this spring for this third
Tony Award, this time for his performance in the smash revival
of “Pippin.”
Mann was among nominees in the category of best
performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical, nabbing
the Tony nod for his portrayal of King Charles, father to the
title character. “Pippin” racked up 10 nominations and won
four awards, including best musical revival. Although many
odds-makers had Mann as the favorite in his category, the
Tony went to Gabriel Ebert for “Matilda.”
collection “Objetos Desechables/
Disposable Objects.”
He also recently traveled to
Argentina for the release of his sixth
poetry collection, “Equis (X),” during
the Buenos Aires International
Book Fair. In addition to his books
of poetry, his publications include
two novels as well as scholarly
publications.
Terrence Mann and wife
Charlotte d’Amboise share
the stage in the Broadway
revival of “Pippin.”
Photo by Joan Marcus
10 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
ACADEMIC REVIEW PROCESS RESULTS IN
DISCONTINUATION OF SEVERAL PROGRAMS
Chancellor David O. Belcher announced in July that the university will proceed with the
phased discontinuation of 10 of the 13 academic programs previously recommended by
a campus task force for closure. Belcher also announced that programs in motion picture
and television production, Spanish and Spanish education, which had been recommended
for discontinuation, will be retained, with program directors responsible for developing
plans to make improvements.
Programs to be discontinued are a bachelor’s degree program in German; master’s
degree programs in health and physical education, mathematics, mathematics education,
music, music education and two master’s programs related to teaching English to speakers
of other languages; and a minor in women’s studies.
In addition, several programs have agreed to voluntarily discontinue operations because
of low enrollment or similarity to other programs available at WCU. Those programs
are undergraduate minors in American studies, Appalachian studies, broadcast sales,
broadcast telecommunications engineering technology, digital communications engineering
technology, earth sciences and multimedia; an undergraduate program in business designed
as a second major for nonbusiness students; and master’s degree programs in chemistry
education and teaching music.
Belcher accepted all other recommendations as presented in May by the Academic
Program Prioritization Task Force, which spent the past year thoroughly examining 130
programs as part of an effort to give WCU leaders information to guide decisions regarding
the best allocation of limited resources and to ensure that the university remains focused
on strong academic programs aligned to its mission.
In addition to recommending some programs for discontinuation, the task force
recommended that the majority of programs be retained at current resource levels. Those
96 programs are categorized as functioning at appropriate levels. The task force also
assessed eight programs as “truly exceptional and high-performing,” and designated
them for potential enhancement as additional resources become available. Those eight are
bachelor’s degree programs in emergency medical care, environmental science, natural
resource conservation and management, nursing, parks and recreation management,
and recreational therapy; and master’s degree programs in communication sciences and
disorders, and social work.
The task force identified five programs as needing to develop action plans to address
weaknesses and take steps toward improvement: an undergraduate minor in residential
environments; bachelor’s programs in middle grades education, and stage and screen; and
master’s programs in chemistry, and elementary and middle grades education.
Programs slated for discontinuation will not close immediately. The university will
“teach out” students in those programs or help them transition into a similar program at
WCU or to another institution. Decisions to eliminate academic programs are subject to
the approval of the University of North Carolina system and the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, WCU’s official regional accrediting agency.
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
Detailed information can be found online at programprioritization.wcu.edu.
Five students constructed the Wacky Western
Miniature Golf course when challenged with
using line, color, mass and other kinetic elements
to present risks and rewards as part of a three-dimensional
design honors project.
Angel Butler, Jessica Grant, Katana Lemelin,
Elizabeth Mosher and Cole Johnson primarily
used found and secondhand materials to build the
course. They placed works of art within the holes
and incorporated challenges such as requiring a
golfer to send a ball through a Slinky.
The course made its debut on campus in May and
will open again Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Jackson
County Green Energy Park’s Youth Arts Festival
in Dillsboro.
ART STUDENTS CREATE
MINIATURE GOLF COURSE
NEW DEANS NAMED
FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL,
COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SCIENCES
Two new faces – one familiar and one
fresh – joined the ranks of Western Carolina
University’s Council of Deans over the
summer. Douglas Robert Keskula, formerly
associate dean for academic affairs in the
College of Allied Health Sciences at Georgia
Regents University in Augusta, Ga., is now
dean of the College of Health and Human
Sciences, while Mimi Fenton, who had been
serving as interim dean of the Graduate
School and Research since July 2012, is
that academic unit’s permanent leader.
Keskula had been in his position at
Georgia Regents University, formerly the
Medical College of Georgia, since 2009.
He filled a vacancy created by the summer
2012 departure of Linda Seestedt-Stanford,
founding dean of the College of Health and
Human Sciences, who left WCU to become
vice president of health sciences at Mary
Baldwin College in Staunton, Va. In his
role as associate dean at GRU, Keskula
had been responsible for the development
of new and expanded programs, student
and faculty recruitment, curricula revisions,
programmatic accreditation, distance
learning and the integration of educational
technology in the classroom.
Keskula garnered broad support among the
faculty and staff of the College of Health and
Human Sciences during his interview, said
James Zhang, dean of the Kimmel School of
Construction Management and Technology,
who chaired the search committee. “We
had a pool of outstanding candidates for
the dean’s position. Dr. Keskula’s academic
background, leadership experience and
vision for the future of the college made
him the best fit for the position,” Zhang said.
Fenton, a professor of English, has been
leading WCU’s graduate programs and
research activities since the retirement of the
previous dean, Scott Higgins, who stepped
down in June 2012 after 31 years of service
to the university. A faculty member at WCU
since 1992, Fenton previously served as
associate dean in the College of Arts and
Sciences from 1997 until 1999 and as
director of graduate studies in English from
1995 to 1997.
“Mimi has done a wonderful job in her
year as interim dean and has implemented
significant initiatives to improve the efficiency
of both the graduate studies side of the
operation and the research administration
side,” said Mark Lord, acting provost at
the time of the dean appointments. “She
worked closely with program directors on
strategies to increase enrollment, initiated
a summer research assistantship program
and restructured the Office of Research
Administration.”
–By Bill Studenc MPA ’10
Fall 2013 | 11
Collegiate conferences are constantly looking for corporate
sponsors to enhance their financial spreadsheets. In light
of recent developments, the Southern Conference might
look into teaming with Timex Group USA, which produces
watches advertised to “take a licking and keep on ticking.” For
those predicting the Southern Conference’s demise following
announcements by five member institutions in the past several
months that they would be leaving the league for so-called
greener pastures, they might read the history of the nation’s
fifth-oldest NCAA Division I league to understand its ability
to endure and evolve.
The SoCon has survived numerous exoduses by multiple
schools since its inception in 1921, including two that spawned
a pair of the NCAA’s elite conferences. The first mass exit came
81 years ago, when 13 of the conference’s 23 schools (Alabama,
Georgia, LSU and Florida included) departed to form the
Southeastern Conference. Twenty years later, seven members
(North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, South Carolina and N.C.
State among them) left to start the Atlantic Coast Conference.
In the ’60s and ’70s, six more schools (West Virginia, Virginia
Tech, East Carolina and Richmond included) exited before
the league settled in for more than three decades of relatively
stable membership.
MEMBERSHIP CHANGES IN THE RESILIENT SOCON ARE NOTHING NEW
By STEVE WHITE ’67
The latest upheaval started late last fall with the College
of Charleston announcing its move to the Colonial Athletic
Association effective for the 2013-14 year. This spring,
Appalachian State and Georgia Southern announced their
jump to the Sun Belt Conference to join several schools from
Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas beginning in 2014-
15. Davidson, looking for a “more prestigious basketball
environment,” accepted an invitation in April from the Atlantic
10. Finally, Elon, citing its heavy concentration of alumni and
students from the mid-Atlantic, announced in May its move
to the CAA.
Heading into 2014-15, SoCon members will be current
schools (logos displayed in top banner) Western Carolina,
Chattanooga, UNC-Greensboro, Furman, Samford, The Citadel
and Wofford, who will be joined by three institutions that
accepted membership invitations in late May – East Tennessee
State, Mercer and Virginia Military Institute. All of the new
members eventually will participate in football.
VMI, a conference member from 1924 to 2003, returns after
nine years in the Big South Conference and will compete for
all SoCon championships in 2014-15. East Tennessee State
also returns after spending the past seven years in the Atlantic
Sun Conference. ETSU, a member of the SoCon from 1978 to
CONFERENCE CALL
OUT WITH THE OLD:
College of Charleston,
Georgia Southern,
Elon, Appalachian
State and Davidson.
12 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
2005, will restart its football program in 2015 and is expected
to play a conference schedule the following year. Its other 16
sports will compete for conference championships in 2014-15.
Mercer, a private school with an enrollment of 8,300, has been
a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference since 1978 and its
men’s basketball and baseball teams advanced to postseason
play in the past year. Based in Macon, Ga., the school will
resurrect its football program this fall after a 72-year hiatus
and will play in the non-scholarship Pioneer League for one
season before beginning SoCon play in 2014. The Bears will
field 18 men’s and women’s teams.
John Iamarino, Southern Conference commissioner, says
the league moved quickly from a defensive position earlier in
the year to an offensive position, with interest in membership
from 12 to 18 schools and the eventual addition of the three
new members. “Our membership is excited about rekindling
old rivalries and establishing new ones. More importantly,
we’ve been able to grow without extending our geographic
footprint to an extreme extent,” Iamarino said. “Our core
group of seven schools is committed to staying together and
making the SoCon viable and more attractive financially,
geographically and academically for current and future
membership while creating more opportunities for our
student-athletes and continuing our diversity and commitment
to athletics integrity.”
Many fans of those seven schools and the media that
covers their athletics programs are skeptical about the SoCon
continuing to rank as a top Football Championship Subdivision
conference and its potential to remain among the NCAA’s top
basketball and baseball leagues. Athletics directors Randy
Eaton at Western Carolina and Richard Johnson at Wofford
say they understand those concerns, but both foresee only a
temporary loss of prestige for those sports.
The departure of perennial top 10 football programs Georgia
Southern and Appalachian State obviously will create a void, but
other programs should step up quickly, Eaton said. “Wofford is
already there,” he said. “The Citadel and Samford are coming
off good seasons. Furman has been there and, along with
Chattanooga, is on the rise again. Hopefully, we are not that
far away from helping to fill the void, and Mercer appears to
have the right idea and East Tennessee has a new and stronger
commitment to football and a new stadium.”
Davidson’s exit will mean a drop in the SoCon’s
basketball status, he said, but Mercer beat Tennessee in
the National Invitational Tournament last season, East
Tennessee State has a strong basketball tradition and VMI
has been competitive recently. “And Wofford won back-to-
back conference championships in 2010 and 2011,” he
said. “Baseball is losing four strong programs, but Samford
won it all in 2012, we won the regular season this year, The
Citadel is strong again and Mercer won the Atlantic Sun
this past season.”
Despite the changes, the SoCon remains true to its original
mission, said Johnson. “The major reason we have conferences
is so student-athletes can compete in the same geographic
region against schools with similar objectives and athletics
philosophies and where families and friends can follow and
enjoy their collegiate experience. It’s great to have most of your
road trips within a one-way three-to-four-hour framework.
It’s not in the welfare of student-athletes, families, friends
and the school’s supporters to spend the better part of two
days traveling to and from games,” Johnson said. “Some of
our sports initially might go through a rebuilding process in
terms of national numbers, but give the conference a couple
years and we’ll have a chance to be as strong as ever and a solid
mid-major conference. I feel very good about the makeup of
the conference and where we are headed.”
Will the SoCon expansion continue? Probably, said Eaton.
“But we are going to hit the pause button and see what happens
with the middle level of the Football Bowl Subdivision, which
seems to be in constant flux, and see what happens with some
of the other schools that expressed interest in our conference.
There were 12 to 18 schools initially interested, and many will
still be there when the dust settles. We’ll take a long look over
the next couple years,” he said.
The bottom line is that the Southern Conference, like a certain
brand of watches, may have taken a licking, but it once again
will keep on ticking. “From Western Carolina’s perspective,
this a great opportunity to fill a void, seize the moment and
embrace the new Southern Conference,” Eaton said.
IN WITH THE NEW:
(from left) Virginia
Military Institute,
East Tennessee State
and Mercer.
Fall 2013 | 13
CATAMOUNT
ATHLETICS
At 18 months old, Kase Powell was diagnosed with a tumor in
his brain – a large mass that was pressing against his pituitary
gland and stunting his growth. Days after he was diagnosed,
surgery removed 95 percent of the tumor. It saved Kase’s life, but
nothing is likely to spare him from having regular treatments
and visits to the doctor. Based on classifications from the World
Health Organization, Kase has a grade-two brain tumor, a
malignant mass that grows slowly but persistently.
Kase is now 3, and his story of endurance has spread across
the country. The family – parents Ken and Amy Powell and twin
brother Knox – live in Palm Coast,
Fla. While they have no other family
in the area, they hear from supporters
far and wide.
Towne & Reese, a jewelry line out of
Charlotte, offers a “Kase Necklace,” a
popular item. The necklace’s proceeds
go toward the Kase Powell Fund. The
design of the necklace includes a
gray stone that signifies the color of
brain tumor awareness and the metal
represents community strength.
Kim Cherry-Beck ’01, coach of the
Western Carolina University cheerleading team and a fan of the
jewelry line, learned the story behind the necklace and shared
it with her squad, who adopted the child as they prepared for
their recent national competition. The team contributed to a
can tab drive for the Ronald McDonald House organized by the
Powells and sent the family a “Whee are cheering for you” care
GOOD CHEER
WCU SQUAD FINDS INSPIRATION IN A CHILD FIGHTING CANCER
By TONY HOLT
package that included signed posters, T-shirts, pompoms and,
from the baseball team, signed baseballs and a batting helmet.
(Cherry-Beck’s husband is assistant baseball coach Alan Beck
’04 MAEd ’06.) The Powells reciprocated by sending bracelets
with Kase’s name on one side and the words “fight back” on
the other, which the cheerleaders and baseball players wore
for the remainder of their seasons.
“Obviously, he’s our team’s hero,” said Cherry-Beck. “He’s
a fun-loving boy who’s fighting a hard battle. He’s so brave.”
In April, the team competed in the national Collegiate
Cheer and Dance Championship
in Daytona Beach, Fla., where Ken
and Amy Powell brought Kase to the
competition and he met his admirers
face-to-face for the first time. “He
took off hugging all of them,” his
mother said.
The lobby was extremely noisy
and filled with people, mostly college
students who have proven abilities to
show spirit. But the loudest screams
that afternoon came from the Western
Carolina cheerleaders when they first
saw Kase. “I instantly got cold chills,” said WCU junior Logan
Farnsworth. “I started tearing up when I saw him.… He was
really sweet. He gave us hugs and he gave us high-fives.... He
was shy, but you could tell he was so happy to see us.”
Reprinted in edited format with permission of The Daytona Beach
News-Journal.
“OBVIOUSLY, HE’S OUR
TEAM’S HERO. HE’S A
FUN-LOVING BOY WHO’S
FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE.
HE’S SO BRAVE.”
-KIM CHERRY-BECK ’01
Little Kase Powell has Kim
Cherry-Beck ’01 (first row,
second from right) and her
squad cheering for him.
Photo by Steven Notaras/News Journal
14 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
The Catamount Department of Athletics added three
more Southern Conference titles to its trophy case over the
spring as the men’s and women’s track and field teams both
found themselves at the top of the podium at the SoCon
championships in April and the baseball squad went on a
torrid 11-game winning streak to claim its first regular season
championship since 2007.
The Bat Cats swept Wofford in the home series finale, later
taking two of three games on the road at Appalachian State
to enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed. The
Catamounts would go on to win its opening game, but stumbled
in the next two games en route to an early tournament exit.
Several upsets in other conference tournaments prevented
WCU from getting an at-large invitation to the NCAA baseball
tournament field of 64, said Coach Bobby Moranda.
“We were ranked No. 29 in the nation for the last two weeks
of the regular season, but less than one-third of the No. 1 seeds
in the country won their respective tournaments, and there
just weren’t enough at-large spots to go around,” Moranda said.
“I told the guys they still have a lot to be proud of. We ended
the year nationally ranked in a lot of categories, including
homeruns and doubles, and we were in the top 10 in the number
of strike-outs thrown. We do have a lot of positives, including
rattling off 16 straight Southern Conference wins, which has
never been done here before.”
Winners of 22 of their last 27 games, the Cats wound up
with a 39-20 overall record and 23-7 in the SoCon, the most
conference victories in program history. WCU landed seven
players on the post-season All-SoCon team, including the
media’s Player of the Year, senior third baseman Tyler White,
who was joined on the first team by junior shortstop Aaron
Attaway, junior outfielder Julian Ridings and relief pitcher
Preston Hatcher ’13. Ridings and White also were selected
during the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft,
Ridings in the 18th round by the Tampa Bay Rays and White
in the 33rd round by the Houston Astros. The Catamounts also
had second-team selections in junior catcher Adam Martin and
sophomore starting pitcher Jeremy Null – a two-time National
Player of the Week selection – with reliever Jonathan Waszak
named to the all-freshman team.
“Our No. 1 goal for next year is to get to
the regionals,” said Moranda, named SoCon
Coach of the Year. “Our No. 1 goal this year
was to win a championship, and we did that.
The guys say they want to do everything it
takes next year to take that next step and
get to the regionals. We’ll have a lot of guys
back, and we have 22 players in summer
leagues all across the country, from Cape
Cod to California. They’ll be working hard
to get better over the summer and then hit
it hard when they return in the fall.”
Earlier in the spring, the women’s track
and field team followed up its February
indoor SoCon championship with the
conference’s outdoor title. Not to be
outdone, the men’s squad also claimed a
conference crown. The teams are guided by Coach Danny
Williamson ’84 MAEd ’86, who was named conference Coach
of the Year for the 31st time and pushed his total number of
SoCon titles to 26, including both outdoor and indoor.
Several Catamounts also won individual awards. Senior
Brandon Hairston ’13 was named Most Valuable Men’s Track
Performer, while sophomore Alisha Bradshaw was named Most
Outstanding Women’s Field Performer and Tayla Carter was
named Women’s Freshman of the Year. Hairston and Carter
were joined by junior Jocelyn Keen at the NCAA East Region
Preliminaries in Greensboro.
TITLE CASE
THREE CATAMOUNT TEAMS EARN
SPRING SPORTS CHAMPIONSHIPS
By BILL STUDENC MPA ’10
The baseball Catamounts
celebrate one of their
23 conference victories
(above); Alicia Bradshaw
helps put the women’s
track and field team in the
championship spot (below).
Fall 2013 | 15
The 2013 football season marks the 30-year anniversary
of Western Carolina’s improbable run to the NCAA Division
I-AA National Championship game. Plans are in the works
to commemorate that accomplishment and honor the 1983
football team during the weekend of the final home game
this fall – Saturday, Nov. 16 – against the Furman Paladins.
Festivities include a 1983 team reunion for former
players, administrators, athletic trainers, managers and
other students affiliated with the season, followed by a
pregame tailgate for reunion participants and their families.
During the football game, members of the 1983 team will
be honored as the Catamounts battle the Paladins, an
opponent that has special significance: Western Carolina
and Furman met twice during the Catamounts’ 1983 season,
tying in Cullowhee while WCU pulled off a 14-7 victory on
the road in the semifinal round of the playoffs to advance
to the title game.
Ten years ago, the 1983 football team was enshrined in
the WCU Athletics Hall of Fame – coincidentally also on the
same day the Catamounts faced Furman in Cullowhee. Eight
individuals off the ’83 squad have been inducted, as well.
Under the direction of legendary Head Football Coach Bob
Waters, the 1983 Catamounts rode a string of 12 straight
unbeaten weeks to make the Southern Conference’s first-ever
appearance in the NCAA Division I-AA (now Football
Championship Subdivision, or FCS) title game.
The squad got off to a slow start, dropping its first two
games before starting its run of 12 weeks without a loss to
earn a post-season bid. The span included the 17-17 tie
with Furman, which also made the playoffs. In the playoffs,
the Catamounts upset three teams, including Furman in a
rematch. WCU dropped the title game to nationally ranked
Southern Illinois to end the season.
The 11 victories compiled in 1983 remain the benchmark
for WCU football, while the 15 games played by the
Catamounts marked the most by any NCAA football team
at all divisions in a single-season at the time. WCU finished
ninth in the final NCAA national rankings, the highest for a
Catamount squad all-time.
Eleven Catamounts landed on the post-season All-SoCon
squad, including eight first-team selections and three
honorable mentions. Seven members of that team went
on to earn All-America honors during their WCU careers:
Eric Rasheed and Tiger Greene in 1983; Mark Buffamoyer
’86 MAEd ’88, Louis Cooper ’87 and Steve Kornegay ’87
in 1984; and Alonzo Carmichael and Clyde Simmons ’96
in 1985. Players Dean Biasucci ’88, Cooper, Greene and
Simmons all went on to play in the NFL.
FESTIVITIES WILL HONOR THE 30TH
ANNIVERSARY OF WCU’S NATIONAL
CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCE
By DANIEL HOOKER ’01
GRIDIRON
GLORY
DAYS
CATAMOUNT
ATHLETICS
16 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
Former Western Carolina relief pitcher – and current Kansas
City Royals closer – Greg Holland became the first Catamount
baseball player ever selected for Major League Baseball’s All-
Star Game when he was tapped to replace Seattle Mariners
starter Hisashi Iwakuma on the American League roster for
July’s “Midsummer Classic.”
A right-hander, Holland entered in the seventh inning of
the game, which was played July 16 at Citi Field in New York.
He retired the first hitter he faced, forcing Arizona’s Paul
Goldschmidt to hit a groundball to the third baseman, who
threw Goldschmidt out at first. Holland then gave up a single
to David Wright of the New York Mets before leaving the game.
Holland was one of three Kansas City players on the
American League squad, joining teammates Alex Gordon
and Salvador Perez, who all played roles in the 3-0 victory over
the National League. “It was a dream come true,” Holland told
MLB.com after the game. “We had 30 percent of the winning
All-Star team out there in Royals colors, so that was pretty cool.”
PITCH PERFECT
GREG HOLLAND BECOMES THE FIRST EX-CATAMOUNT
TO PLAY IN BASEBALL’S ALL-STAR GAME
The MLB All-Star selection is the second such honor of
Holland’s professional career. He earned Texas League All-
Star honors in 2009 while playing in the Royals’ farm system
with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Holland dominated
opposing hitters in the first half of the 2013 MLB season,
posting a 1.80 ERA with 22 saves over 35 innings. Going into
the All-Star break, the closer had struck out 44 percent of the
batters he had faced this season to lead MLB and had struck
out the side six times.
Originally from Marion, Holland recorded 19 saves for
Western Carolina from 2005-07, currently fifth best in
program history. He posted 10 career victories in his 82 career
appearances. He recorded 154 career strikeouts against 70 walks.
Holland was drafted by Kansas City in the 10th round of
the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft on the heels of WCU’s
runner-up finish in the NCAA Baseball Chapel Hill regional.
He went on to make his Major League debut on August 2, 2010,
against the Oakland Athletics.
Greg Holland pitches his
way into Major League’s
All-Star Game.
Photo by Chris Vleisides
Fall 2013 | 17
BOSTON
STRONG
Morgan Turner ’12, a former member of the WCU cross country and
track teams, was competing in the 2013 Boston Marathon on Patriots’
Day – Monday, April 15 – when she suddenly found herself immersed
in a terror attack as two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing
three people and injuring 264. A resident of Lincolnton, she recently
completed her first year of teaching at S. Ray Lowder Elementary School.
This is her account of what happened that day in Boston.
A former WCU track athlete describes the kindness of strangers in the wake of the marathon bombing
18 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
My race was going well, but at mile 25 I decided I would
stop at a bathroom at the side of the course so I could sprint
the last mile in and enjoy that final mile. I came out of the
bathroom and started running into the city, where tons of
spectators were gathered, cheering us on. I was so excited to
be heading toward the 26-mile marker and finish line when
I heard a noise like a cannon in the distance and saw a huge
cloud of gray smoke coming up from the buildings ahead of
us. I tried to rationalize it and thought that maybe they were
shooting off cannons because it was Patriots’ Day and they
were celebrating runners coming in. I had a bad feeling it was
more but continued running and then heard a much louder
boom and saw more smoke. I began to realize that this was
not a cannon.
The police started streaming into the road and told us to stop
running. Everyone was asking questions and trying to figure
out what was going on. We could all hear loud sirens and saw
police running toward the smoke. Runners then started to say
it was a bomb at the finish line. At this point I really started
to panic because I was positive my parents would be waiting
for me at the finish line.
My phone had gone dead, so I asked other runners if I could
borrow theirs. I started calling my mom and dad over and over
again but no calls were going through. This made it even worse
because I thought they had been where the bomb was and that
their phones had been blown up. After 26 miles, your mind
and body are not working right; when extra panic is added,
it turns bad quickly. I started crying and fell to the ground
because my legs could not hold me up anymore. Another girl
around my age came and sat with me, and we both just sat
there awhile in shock.
People who lived in the city were starting to come into the
race route and offering phones to use. A Bostonian let me use
her phone, and I texted my mom and did not get a response.
About 15 minutes later, the Bostonian came back to find me to
tell me my mom had texted back “yes” to tell me that they were
OK. I can’t explain the relief I felt at that time, but I still did
not know where they were. The police then told us we had to
leave the area immediately. I wanted to go to the finish to look
for my parents, but they would not allow us in that location.
We decided to start walking to the family waiting area to see
if our family members were there. Along the way we were both
having a hard time walking and I was starting to get very bad
stomach cramps so we had to stop for breaks.
During one of those breaks, a sweet lady named Donna
had come down to the street offering her phone to every
runner she saw so that they could contact their loved ones.
She started calling my parents’ phone numbers while she
walked with us to our bags, but nothing was going through.
After we made it to the park, a lady named Savannah came
down to help and texted my mom to tell her my location.
Then, volunteers who had run from the scene of the finish line
found us. When they were running from the scene, they had
accidently taken the finisher medals with them. They gave both
me and the girl I was with a finishing medal and said we had
earned it even though we did not get to cross the finish line. I
could not care less if I had finished; I just wanted to find my
family. We were still worried because there were reports of
more bombs in the area.
My mom’s call finally got through and she told the first lady
from Boston where she was. The lady ran all the way to where
my mom was and brought her back to where I was waiting. We
finally got in touch with my dad and he found his way to the
park. The Boston lady offered to drive us to the airport so that
we could catch our flight to Charlotte. We finally touched down
and got home to Lincolnton around 10:30 that night, where my
sister, uncle and grandparents were waiting to see us. I have
never been so happy to see Lincolnton in my life.
I cannot even begin to describe how thankful I am to those
ladies from Boston and the people of the city. Without them,
I do not know how I would have ever found my parents in the
chaos or how we would have made it to the airport for our flight.
They even offered to let us stay at their homes for the night.
The people of Boston streamed out of their houses onto the
streets to help any runners who needed them. In a time when
I was physically and extremely emotionally drained, these
people stayed with me and went above and beyond to reunite
me with my family. Those who did this horrible, evil act did it
to the wrong city and the wrong group of people. Bostonians
are a tough, proud, close-knit family – just like runners. We
will be back to run the Boston Marathon again, and it will be
the best and largest Boston Marathon the world has ever seen.
I continue to pray for the people of Boston and families
of runners and spectators who were hurt and killed in this
horrible incident. The bombs went off and we stopped running
around 3 p.m. I did not see my parents until after 5 p.m. These
were the longest two hours of my life. Yet, I was fortunate,
because my family and I came out of this situation safely. Many
others cannot say the same. I could not put it better than the
statement we received in an email from the Boston Athletic
Association, which read: “What was intended to be a day of
joy and celebration quickly became a day in which running a
marathon was of little importance.” Although this is a terrible
way to be reminded, remember to always show your love and
thankfulness for God, family and friends. These will always
be the true things of importance.
“They gave both me and the girl I was with a finishing
medal and said we had earned it even though we did
not get to cross the finish line. I could not care less if
I had finished; I just wanted to find my family.”
Fall 2013 | 19
ENDURANCE
TEST OF
A COUPLE STRIVES TO BUILD A LE ADING EMERGENCY MEDICINE
AND OUTDOOR TRAINING SCHOOL BY TERESA KILLIAN TATE
WILDERNESS RESCUE
LL1.WCU.EDU
Standing in the snow on a forest road in Cullowhee,
Justin “Padj” Padgett MS ’00 pulls make-up out of
his backpack to help set the scene of a mock emergency
involving a trail runner and equestrians. “The horse kicks you
in the head, sound good?” Padgett asks Ambrose Sleister III,
a student in a “Wilderness First Responder” class composed
of therapeutic youth program counselors; rock climbing,
mountain biking, rafting, backpacking and mountaineering
guides; and members of the U.S. Forest Service.
Wielding a cosmetics container of red, Padgett suggests
Sleister, a student from Young Harris College and summer
raft guide, remove his rain jacket to avoid getting “blood” on
it from his simulated head injury. Padgett instructs him to lie
partially in the bone-chilling creek along the road and to be
mostly “out,” but report feeling pain. With Sleister and other
“victims” ready and the rescuers on the way, Padgett slips out
of sight into the trees to meet up with co-instructor Kevin
Williams ’10 and observe.
Having previously experienced hypothermia in real-life,
Sleister braces for the dulling cold by closing his eyes and
focusing on each breath. He lets himself sense some of the
discomfort a patient in that situation might – an experience
Padgett said often helps students develop empathy for those
they are learning to help and gain a new perspective and
deeper understanding of rescue techniques. As classmates
check Sleister’s condition, monitor vital signs, cover him with
a sleeping bag and move him to a backboard to be carried out,
he shivers – and not because he was a good actor.
“I wanted it to be as real as possible so if they are ever faced
with these things it doesn’t catch them off guard,” Sleister
said later. “These scenarios are aimed at keeping you from
finding yourself in a situation, and, I guess, freezing up and
not knowing what to do. As a first responder, that’s one of the
worst things you can do – someone looks to you for help, and
all you can do is respond with ‘I don’t know.’”
Preparing students to confidently and competently take
action in emergencies and intense, life-threatening situations
comes second only to preparing them to anticipate and prevent
accidents from happening in the first place at Landmark
Learning, a Cullowhee-based school founded in 1996 by
Padgett and his wife, Mairi Padgett MAEd ’00. Committed
to serving the outdoor community with education and
training, Landmark Learning courses range from intensive
“Emergency Medical Technician” classes to safety, rescue and
instructor certification courses associated with the American
Canoe Association, American Heart Association, Leave No
Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics and the National Outdoor
Leadership School Wilderness Medicine Institute.
In addition, the Padgetts have created unique courses,
including a wilderness lifeguarding program and a community
medic class, and this spring launched the “Landmark Semester,”
a six-week course in which participants gain multiple
certifications and college credit through a partnership with
WCU. Meanwhile, they are seeking accreditation from the U.S.
Department of Education. If successful, Landmark Learning
will become the first training school of its kind in the nation
to be accredited.
Maurice Phipps, professor of health, physical education
and recreation at WCU, said the couple provides vital
specialized wilderness training behind-the-scenes for the
outdoor recreation industry. “Most guests just put their lives
in instructors’ hands, whether it be rafting, climbing, zipping
or other activity,” said Phipps. “They seldom think, ‘How much
training has this instructor had?’ and ‘Who taught them?’”
Josh Whitmore, WCU associate director of outdoor
programs, said Landmark Learning’s courses and custom
training have helped staff at Base Camp Cullowhee, which
offers outdoor adventures and experiences for students, become,
on average, more highly trained in wilderness medicine
and emergency response than their counterparts at other
universities. Whitmore said WCU is fortunate to have so
close and accessible a school that professionals across the
country attend.
“In the backcountry, extraction times could be many hours
or even days,” he said. “Where an ambulance carries premade
splints for unstable broken limbs, you’ll need to manufacture
one out of the materials you are carrying or can find – sticks,
shoelaces, belts, tape. A lot of people think, ‘Oh, we’ll just call a
helicopter,’ but in most remote wilderness locations, cell phones
don’t work, and dense vegetation make helicopter landing zones
few and far between. It can be an alarming feeling to be deep
in the backcountry with an injury and realize you have no way
to communicate with the outside world. Survival depends on
the choices you make.”
"IT CAN BE AN ALARMING FEELING TO
BE DEEP IN THE BACKCOUNTRY WITH
AN INJURY AND REALIZE YOU HAVE
NO WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE
OUTSIDE WORLD." –JOSH WHITMORE
Fall 2013 | 21
The “outdoors bug” bit both of the Padgetts young.
Although Mairi’s family moved a lot and money was
tight, her parents committed to sending her to camp
twice. Two extraordinary summers at Alford Lake Camp in
Maine turned into 11. She came back year after year as a camper;
a counselor; a leader of canoe trips, hikes and seven-week
mountain treks; and head of the out-of-camp trips program.
Camp director Sue McMullan said Mairi’s love of every part
of the natural world, including a pet white rat she brought
with her one summer, was infectious. “As Mairi grew, so
did her leadership in our community – living with campers,
helping to lead trips and sharing along the way the fascinating
aspects of every path, every tree, every camping skill and every
challenge that comes when camping in the out of doors,”
said McMullan.
Mairi realized just how attuned she was to nature when,
five weeks into a seven-week trek in which swimming in your
clothes was “doing laundry,” a perfumey smell overwhelmed
her. She finally connected the fragrance to two freshly showered
hikers. “I can feel a difference now because of my time outdoors
with plastic or manmade smells,” said Mairi. “They don’t
seem right.”
For Justin, time outside was connected to family and, later,
scouting. His dad, a Methodist minister, served churches in
the Charlotte area and Western North Carolina, and Justin
enjoyed accompanying him on outdoor youth outings. He also
treasured hunting and fishing trips with his grandfather and
their annual expeditions to The Pink Motel on the Oconaluftee
River in Cherokee for little adventures. For him, spending
time outside helped him navigate the rapid thoughts and ideas
competing for attention in his mind. “Adventure, to me, is
really about focus,” he said. “You can’t think about anything
else but what is right in front of you.”
Years later at Appalachian State University, in addition
to majoring in social gerontology and pursuing a minor in
psychology, he sought a minor in outdoor recreation, which
at the time was called “leisure studies.” “I told my dad I was
minoring in leisure studies, and he said, ‘You’re paying for
that? It costs money?’” said Justin with a laugh. “During that
time, the outdoor recreation industry was not necessarily
recognized as professionally as it is now.”
After Justin graduated from Appalachian and Mairi from
Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts, the two found
themselves in the same emergency medical technician course
in New Hampshire in January 1994. At the time, Justin had
shoulder-length hair and a lot of tie-dye in his wardrobe, and
Mairi had a pierced nose and skateboards in her car. Justin
coaxed her into taking the seat next to him, saying “I am a
great study partner. I’ve got a 3.8 GPA from Appalachian State.
Justin Padgett MS ’00 and Mairi Padget t MAEd ’00
founded Landmark Learning in 1996.
22 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
Maybe I can help you.” She accepted the seat but let him know
she could hold her own. “She said, ‘I don’t think I need your
help, but maybe I can help you,’” he said.
After the class they went to the Adirondacks together and
watched dogsled races before Mairi headed to Maine and
Justin to River’s Way Outdoor Adventure Center in Tennessee,
where he developed programming including caving, climbing,
ropes courses, rafting and canoeing activities to enable people
with disabilities to take part. Now and then, Mairi and Justin
exchanged post cards and letters but did not talk again for
a year. That was when Justin, while eating burritos in the
parking lot of a 7-Eleven in Colorado, was advised by his
mountaineering partner that it was time to take action. “He
said, ‘Man, look, if you keep talking about this lady, it’s just
going to make me crazy. … We are mountaineering, and you
need to focus, and if you need to call her to get that complete,
you need to do that,’” said Justin.
So, armed with quarters at a pay phone, Justin made four
or five calls until he found someone who had Mairi’s phone
number. When he reached her, he could only talk for about
five minutes, but that was all he needed to make a plan to fly to
Portland, Maine, to see her. The couple began to spend more
and more time together while still leading trips and working
at camps. They guided rafts on the Nantahala, the Pigeon,
the Ocoee and world-class sections of the New and Gauley
in West Virginia. To make ends meet between seasons, Mairi
worked as a veterinary technician and Justin as an EMT and,
later, as a paramedic.
Not long after they were married in 1996, they started to
dream about owning and operating their own outdoor school.
“When trip leading, we spent a lot of time teaching – that was a
passion we had,” said Justin. “As soon as a student has an ‘aha’
moment, you kick into high drive.” They decided to apply to
graduate school and chose Western Carolina University, which
offered programs that matched both of their interests. Mairi
was drawn to educational administration and Justin to human
resources development. Plus, Justin’s dad, Frank Padgett, was
serving as a pastor at Cullowhee United Methodist Church on
campus, and the area offered access to trails and whitewater.
The only sacrifice seemed to be less convenient access to rock
climbing, so they sold their climbing gear. It was a sacrifice
they were willing to make. “We decided it was easier to swim
than fly when things go wrong,” said Justin.
They founded Landmark Adventures and began offering
guiding services and outdoor instruction based out of their
basement apartment and “The Camel,” their 1992 four-wheel
drive truck. They chose the name to represent their
commitment to incorporating the diverse landmarks and
touchstones students need to find their way, and they used
the school as a platform for their graduate school projects.
They led trips and taught outdoor skills as well as CPR and
first aid. They later added swiftwater rescue and wilderness
and emergency medicine to the course offerings. Many of
their early clients were colleges that hired them to facilitate
programs and businesses for which the Padgetts hosted
group initiatives and teambuilding as part of corporate
training and development.
What they quickly realized was that they did not want to
compete for clients with their friends and colleagues at other
outdoor schools and companies. What they preferred was to
facilitate and teach certification courses and classes needed by
those, who like them, had a passion for working in the outdoors.
They acquired additional training and qualifications needed to
teach instructor-level classes. As Jon Lowrance, a Landmark
Learning alumnus-turned-instructor says, students with no
prior medical training would leave the school knowing how
to handle injuries such as open fractures, head trauma or
seizures “at night, outside, in the rain, in the snow and with
no ability to call 911.”
The couple’s teaching styles proved complementary. “Mairi’s
directness, pragmatism and compassion offer excellent balance
to the humor, paramedic and wilderness experiences and
boundless energy that define Justin’s classroom presence,”
said Shana Tarter, assistant director of the National Outdoor
Leadership School Wilderness Medicine Institute. Meanwhile,
the Padgetts enjoyed the group dynamics and immersing
themselves in the subjects as well as hearing their students’
adventure stories and aspirations. “As guides ourselves, we
knew the same language,” said Mairi. “It became a very easy
piece of our fabric.”
In 1998, they they put a lot of energy into designing and
creating a nine-day, multicertification course called the
“Landmark Trip Leader School.” “We told ourselves, ‘We
are graduating from graduate school soon, and either this
is going to work and is worth our energy, or we have had a
hobby up to this point, and we need to use our degrees and get
real jobs,’” said Justin. When students came from Tennessee,
Georgia and North Carolina to participate, the Padgetts went
all in. They streamlined Landmark’s courses, focusing on what
outdoor educators and trip leaders needed and eliminating
services such as leading trips. “That was a turning point,”
said Justin. “We went from being Landmark Adventures
to Landmark Learning.”
"AS GUIDES OURSELVES, WE KNEW THE
SAME LANGUAGE." –MAIRI PADGETT '00
INTERVIEW: JUSTIN'S 6TH GRADE RESCUE
LL2.WCU.EDU
Fall 2013 | 23
While continuing to teach at venues from community
centers to trailheads to the Andes Mountains in
Ecuador, the couple committed to building a base
for Landmark Learning in Western North Carolina. Without
any financial backers, without grant assistance and while
trying to pay back student loans, they took out a high-interest
loan with a one-year balloon payment in spring of 2000 to
purchase nearly 30 acres of land with a small cabin on Cane
Creek in Cullowhee. “It wasn’t secure, but back then it seemed
to match our adrenaline junkiness, and it was the only way to
move forward,” said Justin.
Although the couple loved their creekfront land, the house
appraised at zero-dollar-value and turned out to need more
work than a new coat of paint and siding. As they pulled
back its crumbling layers, they found newspapers dating back
to 1927 in the walls and sofa cushions and clothing in the
insulation. When they asked an acquaintance who came to
fix the initial, nonfunctional plumbing if he could help shore
up the house and make it a little more square, he told them,
“You can’t polish a turd.”
Thus began the Padgetts’ education in construction, permits
and building codes as they rebuilt the house around itself. They
lived in their truck and bought supplies with credit cards. They
spent days off on tasks ranging from rebuilding the original
walnut foundation to installing drywall. Helping them was
Matt Cole, a Penn State student who had taken one of their
courses and was adamant about being their intern. They told
Cole they didn’t have a place for him to stay, but he wanted to
come anyway. He slept in a hammock under an apple tree, and
his assistance with course logistics, construction and cabinetry,
and other initiatives proved invaluable.
“We were in a race,” said Mairi. “When it got cold, we needed
to be able to move indoors. Second, if we weren’t able to flip the
whole thing within the year, we were going to be in a world of
(financial) hurt.” A week before the first frost the building was
sealed in. They were soon able to refinance and pay off their
credit cards. Within a few years, the campus came to include
a 1,200 square-foot classroom, bathrooms, showers, a kitchen,
a pavilion, a gear room and a recycle station. There also now
is a bunkhouse and primitive camping area that transforms
during courses into “tent city.” The deck attached to the office
and the office itself feature a forest view and the sound of the
rushing water of the creek, and the size of the campus has
grown to 40 acres.
Landmark Learning also achieved steward forest
classification. The couple adopted a 20-year plan for land
management to improve forest habitat health. The steward
forest designation enabled the Padgetts as private landowners to
benefit from state forest service resources and knowledge. They
were able to buy seedlings for as little as a nickel to help reforest
the property, which they also have opened to WCU students
in biology and environmental health for research projects.
Meanwhile, skills learned at WCU, including research
methods, program design and statistics, proved crucial to
developing curriculum for courses and creating new courses
such as “Community Relief Medic,” which evolved from a class
called “Mission Medic” that they developed while working and
kayaking in Ecuador. Years later, while talking with mission
teams en route to Haiti at the Miami airport, Justin realized
an adapted version of the curriculum could benefit the many
volunteers he met who he said had “golden hearts,” but limited,
if any, medical training or understanding of how to safely and
efficiently serve in a disaster area.
Another important element of their course design is fun.
Final written exams are “lovingly referred to as a celebration
of their knowledge,” according to an entry in the Landmark
Learning blog. Hands-on, lifelike scenarios woven into the
curriculum include unexpected twists to leave students
questioning and thinking. “We believe when someone has
fun doing what they are doing, which is largely what happens
in scenarios, that memory lasts way longer than a PowerPoint,
a lecture or a comment from an instructor,” said Justin.
Students have written Landmark Learning after their courses
to share examples of how they used what they learned – from
assisting at car accident scenes on the way home from their
classes to caring for patients with injuries from broken ankles
to seizures on remote trails and in the desert. But what the
Padgetts hope is that there won’t be many stories – that their
students learn enough about accidents to prevent as many as
possible. “The best trip leader is almost like a neurotic parent,”
said Justin. “You have this premonition about this thing that
could happen, and you do everything you can to rule it out.”
Justin Padgett MS ’00 and Mairi Padgett MAEd ’00 transformed
this 1920s cabin on Cane Creek into the Landmark Learning office.
(Photo courtesy L andmark Learning)
INTERVIEW: NOTHING TO LOSE
LL3.WCU.EDU
24 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
Annual enrollment in Landmark Learning courses
has grown in the past decade from several
hundred to more than 2,000, and among them are
“Landmarkians” – students who return for more courses. The
cadre of the school’s contract instructors, whom the Padgetts
select based on their experience as trip leaders and as dynamic,
effective educators, has grown to several dozen. Also on staff
are a full-time instructor, logistics coordinator and student
services coordinator.
This spring, the school launched what Justin has dubbed
the “mothership” of Landmark Learning – the Landmark
Semester. In six weeks, students become EMTs and Leave
No Trace master educators as well as proficient in wilderness
medicine and comfortable with canoe instruction, swiftwater
rescue and wilderness lifeguarding. What they take home are
seven certifications and up to nine hours of college credit.
“Many college programs are not able to provide some of the
very specific professional development courses and certification
programs we offer, and the Landmark Semester takes folks that
have completed or just completed a program such as parks and
recreation management and catapults them into the outdoor
recreation industry,” said Justin.
Also this spring, Landmark Learning hosted a site visit
related to its quest to become accredited from the Accrediting
Council for Continuing Education and Training. The Padgetts
want to be able to transfer college credit directly, thus saving
students from the expense of paying Landmark Learning
tuition in addition to college tuition for each course. They
also want to make sure their practices are as robust as they can
be. To prepare, Mairi spent a Saturday in front of a computer
PEAK PERFORMANCE
"THEY EMPOWER
PARTICIPANTS TO
TEACH OTHERS,
TRAIN THE WORLD
AND MAKE A
DIFFERENCE."
–BEN LAWHON
Landmark Learning students practice carrying a patient out of the
woods during a mock rescue exercise.
Fall 2013 | 25
reviewing information that, in the end, left her grateful for
her experience at WCU. “I felt like saying, ‘Thank you, Kevin
Pennington. I just used my entire graduate degree in 10 hours,’”
she said, referring to WCU’s former director of higher education
programs at WCU.
Up next for Landmark may be more construction in
Cullowhee. Thirty-five percent of courses are taught on site, and
the Padgetts say students would benefit from an updated and
larger classroom and would enjoy better bunkhouse facilities.
They are even considering replacing the office and classroom
they worked so hard to build. “Part of what has helped us is the
ability to change on a dime,” said Justin. “When we realize we
need to change a policy or a practice, we don’t have to wait for
a committee meeting or months for the ideas to be discussed.
When we say, ‘It’s crazy, we should do it,’ we do it.”
What has emerged are strong affiliations, partnerships and
relationships, and a reputation of quality. Michael Belcher
’09 MHS ’12, an emergency medical science instructor at
Southwestern Community College, said he has not only worked
with Justin in the field as a paramedic but also with students
who decide to further their educations at SCC after taking a
Landmark Learning course. “Landmark Learning is setting the
standard for EMS education not only locally, but nationwide,”
said Belcher.
Deb Sweeney Whitmore, a Landmarkian herself and director
of program operations at the North Carolina Outward Bound
School, said the Padgetts offer high quality from classroom
instruction to customer service. Phone calls to Landmark
Learning often ring only once before they are answered, said
Whitmore, who is married to Josh Whitmore from WCU. “Our
staff would say hands down they have a great experience with
Landmark, and Landmark is getting a reputation as a leader
in the Southeast for outdoor instructors, whatever their mode
is,” she said.
Ben Lawhon, education director for the Leave No Trace
Center for Outdoor Ethics national organization and a past
Landmark Learning instructor, pointed out that Landmark is
one of only seven organizations in the United States approved to
offer the highest level of the Leave No Trace trainings available
– the “Master Educator” course.
“Our organization looks to bring only the most qualified
organizations on to offer our course,” said Lawhon. “The
quality of Landmark is reflected in what Justin and Mairi
have instilled as their standard, and it’s a high standard. They
integrate Leave No Trace into everything they do, and they
require their instructors to do the same. They really walk the
talk in terms of their commitment to stewardship, and through
their programming they are empowering their participants to
teach others, train the world and make a difference.”
SPINAL STABILIZATION
LL4.WCU.EDU
HYPOTHERMIA RESCUE
LL5.WCU.EDU
VERTICAL PIN RESCUE
LL6.WCU.EDU
"LANDMARK IS GETTING A REPUTATION AS
A LEADER IN THE SOUTHEAST FOR OUTDOOR
INSTRUCTORS, WHATEVER THEIR MODE IS."
–DEB SWEENEY WHITMORE
The Padgetts recognize that while they may not yield
the same kind of financial rewards as some of their
classmates working in more traditional corporate
settings, they believe their work is important and extends to
everyone their students go on to serve. “We love our students,
the subject matter and the skills we are teaching,” Justin said.
“Sometimes, to our financial detriment, our decision-making
is about relationships and not bottom lines.”
Through their work, they also want to advance the
profession and protect the environment. They are involved
with industry organizations, present at conferences and join
efforts to improve national standards in the industry in such
ways as helping co-author a wilderness medicine field guide.
In 2012, the Appalachian Center for Wilderness Medicine
presented Justin with the Mountain Laurel Award, which
honors an individual who has made extraordinary, lasting
and substantial contributions to wilderness medicine in the
Southern Appalachians.
In addition, how they teach and how they live are connected
to their ethic of helping others, said Tarter from the National
Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness Medicine Institute.
“From the ‘Community Relief Medic’ program, to their
work with underserved communities in Ecuador, to their
contributions in the local community, they role model service,”
she said. “I believe students who engage with Landmark come
away with a new perspective on how to help.”
For some, the perspective changes everything. Jon Lowrance
came to Landmark Learning as a college student studying
outdoor education, and conversations with the Padgetts on
the porch and while paddling down WNC creeks pointed
him in a new direction. “They lit a spark in me to pursue
a career in health care and experiential education,” said
Lowrance. After training as a wilderness first responder,
he was an EMT and then a nurse in addition to continuing
his outdoor pursuits and becoming a Landmark Learning
instructor. He worked in critical care and is now in graduate
school at WCU studying to become a certified registered
nurse anesthetist.
For the Padgetts, service ranges from tracking a possible
threat to the Jondachi River in Ecuador to attending community
revitalization meetings and working in a community garden
in Cullowhee, and they participate as a family with their
8-year-old daughter, Ellie, and 5-year-old son, Alex. They have
watched the outdoors come alive for their children as they
hike, tube, paddle and ride scooters together. What it’s really
all about for them – what they do with Landmark Learning
and what they do in service – is encouraging people to have
the skills and knowledge to be able to enjoy the outdoors and
protect it, said Mairi.
Over the years, they have seen an increasing amount of use
and traffic at the rivers and trails where they teach and visit,
and they are glad. “If you don’t create a love for the resource,
you can’t create a voice for that resource to protect it,” said
Mairi. “We encourage people to go out and play, but to play
appropriately with risk management and risk prevention in
mind so these resources can be enjoyed for generations to
come. I wish for all kids that they have a chance to go outside,
climb a mountain or go down a river.”
TO PROTECT A ND S E RV E
ENJOY VIDEOS AND SLIDESHOWS IN THE
ENHANCED ONLINE VERSION OF THIS STORY
AT LANDMARK.WCU.EDU.
Fall 2013 | 27
By RANDALL HOLCOMBE
WCU is making huge strides in emergency notification
Redundancy is not usually considered a good thing,
but when it comes to emergency notification, the
more methods available for sending out an alert to
the public, the better, even if an individual receives
the same message several times, says Tammi Hudson,
Western Carolina’s emergency manager. When a
situation occurs at WCU that presents a danger to the
public, all those involved in public safety on campus
want to have at their disposal a toolbox that contains
numerous types of notification systems, Hudson said.
The idea is to get the message out to the campus
community by several methods, in case an individual
system does not work as it should, and to improve the
potential for reaching individuals no matter where they
are or what they are doing. Toward those goals, over
the past year, Hudson has been overseeing massive
leaps in the university’s ability to communicate with its
population of students, faculty, staff and visitors during
emergency situations, with the greatest improvement
in that capability scheduled to happen this fall.
28 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
The 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech that resulted
in the deaths of 33 people played out live on television and
computer screens all across the country to an unprecedented
degree, said Hudson, who was then working as physical
security and emergency operations center manager at the
Indianapolis International Airport. “Because it was
on a college campus and young people were
involved, I think it deeply affected people,”
she said. Virginia Tech was a wake-up call
for colleges and universities across the
country “to take notice and realize that
bad things can happen on a college
campus,” she said. One of the issues
highlighted by the tragedy was the
need for efficient ways to communicate
with a campus community during an
emergency situation. Another outcome
of the Virginia Tech shooting was a
directive from University of North Carolina
General Administration that each UNC
campus should have an individual working as
emergency manager, and Hudson became WCU’s
first emergency manager in March 2009, taking on duties
that had been shared by several individuals and offices
on campus.
Since Hudson’s arrival at WCU, several situations have
warranted alerting the campus community through its
emergency notification systems. One that stands out was
a robbery on a Wednesday in December 2011 at the State
Employees Credit Union, located across N.C. Highway 107
from the east campus in Cullowhee. The search for the armed
suspect resulted in WCU police issuing a “timely warning” for
the campus a few minutes after confirmation of the robbery, and
then a campuswide emergency notification with a “shelter-in-place”
advisory that was in effect for just more than two hours
as law enforcement authorities searched for the suspect. The
suspect was eventually arrested off campus, but investigators
determined that he had been on campus, unarmed, before the
arrest took place. During that incident, a variety of emergency
notification systems were used to communicate with the
campus community, including WCU email; the PIER/Cat
Tracker system that sends out text messages, voice calls and
email to registered individuals; the campus siren system; and
the WCU home page and emergency information page on the
Internet. The notification systems worked well overall, Hudson
said, but sending out each message required the involvement
of seven individuals across campus.
That will change this fall, Hudson said, as the new Alertus
desktop notification system goes online, providing a single
interface that will make it possible for one individual to
simultaneously send out an emergency message through all
of WCU’s campus notification systems in a few easy steps.
Ernie Hudson, WCU police chief, calls the upgrade “a real
coup” that will allow public safety telecommunicators (formerly
known as “dispatchers”) to focus more of their attention on the
response during emergency situations. The telecommunicators
at WCU’s Emergency Communications Center, supervised by
Tammi Hudson, are at the focal point during those instances,
communicating with the public, police officers and other
emergency responders, and often are the individuals who
send out the first alerts to campus, Ernie Hudson said. During
the December 2011 shelter-in-place situation, more than 200
telephone calls from the public were received at the Emergency
Communications Center in an hour-and-a-half, and the single
interface for public notification will be a big advantage during
tense situations, he said.
In addition to providing “one button” use for all the campus
notification systems, the Alertus system adds a new and
efficient notification tool to WCU’s toolbox, Tammi
Hudson said. The system is being provided to
the university free of charge through an
Alertus grant program, with WCU having
to provide only hardware space. WCU’s
Division of Information Technology
began the process of remotely pushing
out Alertus software to faculty, staff and
classroom computers during the spring,
and tests of the system have been going
on through the spring and summer. The
software communicates with a server
located in WCU’s Forsyth Building, and
when an alert is sent out, it will take the
form of a full-screen message that will display
on the computer user’s monitor. Students’ personal
computers may be added to the Alertus system in the
future, Tammi Hudson said.
Neil Calvert, support analyst in WCU’s IT division, and his
colleagues in IT have played an integral role in Alertus system
implementation, said Hudson, calling the project “a great
example of collaboration and teamwork.” Calvert reported that
as of mid-June more than 2,100 faculty, staff and classroom
instructor computers had received the new software, and
the process will be continuous to install the software as new
computers are booted up on campus. A big test of the system,
involving faculty and staff computers, was planned for Aug.
2. Calvert said he and his IT colleagues have been pleased to
assist in implementing the alert system. “IT staff members
work on projects that are important to WCU all the time, but
this one is especially significant,” he said.
Yet another upgrade in WCU’s emergency notification efforts
occurred in early summer, when university officials contracted
with RAVE Mobile Safety to provide texting, voice call and
email service during emergencies. The PIER/Cat Tracker
system will be retained for a time to provide a backup website
in emergency situations, Tammi Hudson said. RAVE also
will interface with Alertus and the rest of WCU’s emergency
notification systems.
The improvements being made with WCU’s emergency
notification systems is not just a passing fancy, said Robert
Edwards ’77, vice chancellor for administration and finance.
Maintenance and improvement in the systems is called for
in the university’s strategic plan. “Emergency preparedness
and safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors is at the
forefront of our mission,” Edwards said.
Tammi Hudson said improvements being made on campus
in the area of emergency notification would not have happened
without the ongoing support of Edwards, Chancellor David
O. Belcher and the university’s executive council. Other ideas
being discussed for improving the systems include
disseminating messages through digital signage and campus
cable television, she said. “Managing our notification systems
is a constant process of evaluation and training, and also
looking at new technologies to find those that are a good fit
for our campus. We have a very safe campus community and
environment, but bad things can happen in great places. You
have to be prepared,” she said.
FROM THE TOWNHOUSE TO THE WOODLAND STAGE AND
THE OLD MOUNTAIN JUG, TRADITIONS KEEP US HAPPILY
CONNECTED TO OUR BELOVED UNIVERSITY
Traditions are born and traditions die, and
while they survive, traditions can take on
powerful lives of their own. With their regular
occurrence and specific requirements for
conduct, “traditions affirm our sense of identity
and belonging,” said Richard Starnes ’92
MA ’94, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“They help us connect to something larger and
to each other. For a university, they help us
to recall pleasant memories and reaffirm our
sense of place.” Here, we survey some of the
traditions in the university’s long history in an
effort to understand a little bit better the ties
so many alumni have to this very special place.
BINDING FORCE
BY JILL INGRAM MA ’08
THE TOWNHOUSE
For generations of students, two simple words – “The
Townhouse” – are enough to evoke waves of nostalgia and
affection. Though it changed hands a number of times during its
history, from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s, the establishment
was a popular gathering spot for students. Betty Allen ’68,
former president of the WCU Alumni Association, recalled
time spent at her “favorite hangout” as among her fondest
WCU memories. Like many others, Allen “checked in before
or after most classes, athletic events and meetings,” she said. It
was small and lacked polish, but in an era when many students
didn’t have cars, the Townhouse was one of only a handful of
nearby alternatives to eating in the cafeteria, and its booths,
menu and jukebox were a siren call to the masses. “That was
like taking another course, even though you didn’t get credit
for it,” said Steve White ’67. “You learned so much about
what was going on at the university – you picked that up at
the Townhouse. It was the meeting place and social place on
campus.” Gurney Chambers ’61 recalled that jukebox “going
all the time.” Winfred Ashe ’54 MAEd ’59 and his wife, Ellen
Ward Ashe, owned the Townhouse from 1957-1973, and lived
in an apartment above the restaurant the entire time. While the
formal hours were 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., most mornings customers
were piling in at half-past six (perhaps, like White, for a fried-pie
breakfast) and “it was sometimes almost 1 a.m. before we
got closed down,” Winfred Ashe said. The menu certainly
contributed to the restaurant’s popularity. Hot dogs were 15
cents, cheeseburgers a quarter and coffee, Coke and ice cream
5 cents apiece. But it was more than that. “A lot of the students
hadn’t been away from home before, and they realized they
could come there and have friendship and someone who
cared about them,” said Ellen Ashe. Some students used the
restaurant as a home base to such an extent that they kept
their textbooks there, Winfred Ashe said. “They would bring
their books at the beginning of the quarter, and at the end of
the quarter they’d gather them up again.”
CLASS PHOTO
While printed yearbooks faded out about a decade ago, this fall will mark the
fourth year that the freshman class has congregated on the football field after
convocation for a class photo. While the photo isn’t mandatory, the promise of a
new WCU T-shirt draws new students to the field, said Phil Cauley ’83 MS ’90,
director of student recruitment and transitions. A team from the Pride of the
Mountains marching band outlines the corresponding class year on the field,
and personnel from student affairs direct the approximately 1,500 newcomers
– in their new T-shirts, of course – to their places. “It’s a huge production,” said
Ashley T. Evans, the university photographer who snaps the picture. The photo
finds a place online, and admissions staffers use it in promotional materials.
Fall 2013 | 31
FRESHMAN RUN
Folks in the stands at the first home football
game of the season the past two years have
witnessed the birth of a new tradition at
WCU, the Freshman Run, when hundreds
of the newest members of campus sprint with
Chancellor David Belcher and the president of
the Student Government Association onto the
field just prior to play. Belcher won’t take credit
for conceiving the idea, but he immediately
warmed to it. “It seemed like such a great
idea – a way to get the new freshmen engaged
in the football experience,” he said. “It’s also
impressive to people in the stands. When you
see that many students coming at you, you get
a sense of just how many students came to the
university.” The logistics of the run – which
marks fall 2013 as its third year – are no small
thing, said Phil Cauley ’83 MS ’90, director of
student recruitment and transitions. Timing
is everything, as the game is scheduled to start
just minutes after the freshmen bound onto
the field, and collecting stray students and
ushering them into the stands is key. While
the event is exciting, said Cauley, who watches
from the safety of the stands, he admits to
worrying about potential headlines the next
day: “Chancellor trampled by freshmen.” Not
to fear. Belcher, who calls the event “a blast,”
addresses the students in the Ramsey Center
before the run. “I get up and I say, ‘There
are just a few rules here. Don’t trample the
chancellor. It will not really enhance your
likelihood of success here.’”
SCOTT BEACH
In the 1970s and ’80s, the grassy, west-facing strip of lawn at Scott Hall was the place to
be on hot, sunny afternoons. Limbo and “sexy legs” contests kept the crowds entertained;
indeed “Scott Beach,” as it was affectionately known, was so popular that the student radio
station would set up there for live remotes and some enterprising soul printed “Scott
Beach Lifeguard” shirts. A Scott Beach photo on a Facebook page for WCU alums of the
1980s has drawn numerous comments. “Those were the days!” wrote Ricky Deese ’78
MIT ’80. “Used to love hanging out there, skipping class, cold beverage in hand!” Those
days mark a different time in Cullowhee, before increased technology and the four-lane,
when the campus had a more remote quality, said Bill Clarke ’78 ME ’80, director of
WCU’s Ramsey Regional Activity Center. “People were creative about making their own
fun,” said Clarke, who would admit only to being in the general vicinity of Scott Beach
and flat-out denied ever participating in the sexy legs contest.
32 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
TUCKASEIGEE RIVER
For decades, students have made use of the nearby Tuckaseigee
River for recreation, riding on inner tubes in the waterway’s
gentler stretches and tackling its whitewater rapids by kayak or
raft. Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity once hosted a popular annual
raft race on the river, and countless students have floated down
the Tuck on tubes in warm weather months. Even now, Daniel
Hooker ’01, assistant athletic director for media relations, will
break away occasionally to relive those float trips of his undergrad
days. “Finding an escape from the rigors of school work then –
and real-life work today – is important,” Hooker said. “I fondly
remember trips to the river at East LaPorte and the old rope swing
down North River Road – and still to this day float past that
bend in the Tuck where it once was. One would be hard pressed
to find a more relaxing way to spend a hot summer’s day here in
the mountains than on the Tuckaseigee.” On those current-day
tubing trips, Hooker is sometimes joined by colleagues including
Haywood Community College instructor Greg McLamb ’00,
the Catamounts Sports Networks’ roving sidelines reporter. “I
fell in love with the Tuck my sophomore year when I lived at
Carolina Village. The river was across the street and I could
not wait for warm weather to go tube,” said McLamb. “Now,
every time I get in the river, it takes me back to my college
days and summer school at WCU.” Activity on the river took a
more ecological turn in 1985 when WCU began sponsoring the
annual Tuckaseigee River Cleanup. “The river was a dumping
ground, and we used it all the time for recreation,” said Tim
Jacobs ’71 MAEd ’75 MA ’99, former director of A.K. Hinds
University Center, who helped convince about 50 volunteers
to pick up trash along the riverbanks 29 years ago. “We didn’t
make it a third of the way down the river before we were out of
trash bags. This made us realize that we needed the event to be
even bigger.” Mission accomplished. Today, the event attracts
more than 600 volunteers annually, and it has grown to become
what Mark Singleton of American Whitewater calls “the largest
single-day river cleanup project in the nation.”
ROCK WALL
As solid and permanent as rock walls tend to be, the specifics
of a certain rock wall at WCU are a bit tricky to nail down.
After digging around a bit (and hitting our own rock wall,
so to speak), staffers at The Magazine of Western Carolina
University have determined that, on a campus filled with rock
walls, the exact location of said “rock wall” likely changed with
the times. At any rate, the connotations are the same: male
students would position themselves at particular spots around
campus and hoot and holler at female coeds as they passed.
Or as WCU archivist George Frizzell ’77 MA ’81 so delicately
phrases it, “It had connotations about dating.” Indeed, a 1974
story in the student newspaper refers to a “Horney Wall” that
likely is the one shown here. Gurney Chambers ’61 and Steve
White ’67 recall students gathering along the rock wall close
to the entrance of the Old Student Union. After dinner at the
nearby Brown Cafeteria was “the best opportunity of the day
to observe each other,” Chambers said. “As the girls would
walk into the student union for supplies or a Coke, they’d hear
all kinds of wolf whistles.” (While he admits to admiring the
girls, Chambers is adamant he did no whistling.) No word on
how the women felt about this. For his part, Chambers doesn’t
ever recall seeing a female perched on the wall. According to
White, “A lot of the young ladies would try to avoid it, but
they couldn’t.”
Fall 2013 | 33
SENIOR TOAST
Heading into its third year, the Senior Toast is a growing tradition held at the
Chancellor’s Residence for graduating students who have made a small financial
contribution to WCU (an invite requires a gift equivalent to graduation year, such
as $20.13, for example). The toast, made with commemorative glasses filled with
sparkling cider, is a way for students to express how much the university means to
them. “Western has presented me with so many amazing opportunities. Its faculty and
environment have allowed me to succeed and realize my dreams,” said Tess Branon
’13, a recent toast participant. “This is only the first of several gifts I hope to give back
to this wonderful institution.” While she initiated the toast as a means of fostering
annual giving among new alumni, it’s become more than that, said Natalie Clark of
WCU’s Office of Development. “Response has been great,” she said. “What’s really
nice about it is that it’s held at the chancellor’s house, because Susan and David are
just so welcoming. It’s a nice atmosphere – parents and friends of the students are
invited, and everyone feels like they are part of the WCU family.”
WOODLAND STAGE
Many a graduate speaks tenderly of the Woodland Stage, a sloped, grassy expanse
adjacent to Madison Hall. Fashioned in 1926, apparently with dirt excavated from
a nearby construction project, the outdoor amphitheater for many years was the
spot for formal events from the annual May Day Festival – May Queen Dottie
Sherrill ’58 ’MAEd ’70 EdS ’84 and her court shown here – to plays (what better
setting for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”?) and even commencement. “Just to
see a graduating class march on this stage and, amid laughter and joy, receive their
diplomas is enough to make even a small child love better God’s great outdoors,”
gushed a 1930 article from the student newspaper. The Woodland Stage also was the
place for fun of the less formal and even spontaneous nature. Gurney Chambers
’61 recalls watermelon dished out there every July 4 for students on campus in the
summer, and Thomas Lyndon Smith ’61 wrote in to report that when it snowed,
“we slid down it on cafeteria trays.”
34 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
MUD VOLLEYBALL
It was dirty, unsophisticated and a lot
of fun. Sigma Phi Epsilon (now inactive)
launched an annual mud volleyball
tournament in the late 1980s, held on a
stretch of land across N.C. Highway 107
from the Ramsey Center. Flooding a pit a
few days prior to the weekend-long event
(rumor has it the Cullowhee Volunteer
Fire Department provided that service),
students would form teams and
compete for first in all its muddy glory,
with proceeds benefiting nonprofits
(including, in 1990, the CVFD).
Athletes, friends, Greek organizations,
groups from residence halls – “It was
something that everybody did,” said
Brenda Gallagher Holcombe ’94, now
director of university scholarships.
Sadly, this tradition died in the mid-
1990s. One contingent probably happy
to see it go? The housekeeping staff.
“The residence halls would be trashed,”
said Holcombe, at the time a resident
assistant in Helder Residence Hall.
“There was mud everywhere – in the
hallways, shower stalls, stairwells.” She
reported once seeing a member of the
housekeeping staff attach a hose outside
Helder so players could spray themselves
off before they came in.
DANCES
“They used to have dances at the drop of a hat,”
notes George Frizzell ’77 MA ’81, who wrote about
forgotten campus events in a 2011 article in the Hunter
Library newsletter. A formal dance always accompanied
May Day events, held until the early 1970s, with other
dances mentioned in the yearbooks and newspapers
from the late ’40s through the ’50s, including dances
for Halloween, the New Year and Valentine’s Day. Such
dances typically observed a strict protocol, including a
dress code and chaperones, Frizzell said. An exception
was Sadie Hawkins Day, a particularly popular event
perhaps because it encouraged students to reverse the
prevailing social norms of the day concerning dating.
Based on the popular comic strip “Li’l Abner,” the fall
event (sponsored by the campus Women’s Athletic
Association) “encouraged participating women to ‘catch’
a dance partner for the evening’s event in a freewheeling
afternoon footrace,” according to Frizzell. Participants
often attended the dance in costume as their favorite
comic strip characters. Indeed as time passed, the
formality of the early dances faded; a 1959 Beatnik
Ball encouraged students to “abandon the shrouds of
society for the mysticism of Beatland.” Nightly dancing
remained popular on campus even into the early 1970s,
said Steve White ’67. Students regularly congregated at
the Old Student Union for a couple hours after dinner
to socialize and listen to the jukebox. “That’s where I
learned to dance,” he said.
Fall 2013 | 35
OLD MOUNTAIN JUG
Called “the best football rivalry you’ve
never heard of” by Sports Illustrated in the
1980s, the Appalachian State-WCU Battle
for the Old Mountain Jug is a tradition with
legs, and one that is near and dear to Steve
White ’67. In the early 1970s, when White
was in the WCU sports information post,
he and his counterpart at ASU wanted to
create a trophy for the mountain rivalry. They
settled on a moonshine jug – “a takeoff on the
Hatfields and McCoys” – that a Boone man
crafted. App State went home with the jug
the first year, in 1976, with the Catamounts
bringing it home the second. The jug seesawed
through the rest of the decade and into the
early ’80s, but it had been sitting in its trophy
case in Boone for more than a dozen years
when Brad Hoover ’00 (pictured here) led
the Catamounts to victory in 1998. The last
time WCU possessed the jug was in 2004.
“App fans will tell you that it really doesn’t
matter to them until they lose it, and then
it’s the most important thing on the planet.
It definitely brings something to the rivalry,”
said David Jackson, Appalachian State’s
associate athletics director for public affairs.
What will become of the Old Mountain Jug
after the Mountaineers hightail it out of the
Southern Conference? That all depends on
what happens Nov. 23 when the Catamounts
travel to Boone for the final game of the
regular season. Whoever wins it this year will
almost certainly lock up the jug long-term.
White, for one, is feeling pretty confident. “I
think we’re going to be extremely motivated
this year,” he said.
VICTORY BELL
“Ring out the false, ring in the true,” bears the
inscription on the Victory Bell, which originally hung
in Old Madison Hall (torn down in 1938) and was used
to mark class periods. Though its formal role became
marking athletic victories, it hung near the Old Student
Union when Steve White ’67 was an undergraduate, and he
recalls students hijacking it to mark pretty much anything
they considered significant. “Say, if it was the last day of
class, or the first day of class, or holiday break – things
like that,” White said. Now strung safely atop the Alumni
Tower, the unauthorized ringing is less frequent. Since
2008, a replica bell has been rolled into Whitmire Stadium
to announce the football team’s arrival. A tradition no
one seemed to mind crossing off the list? Beanies (like
the one shown here), which were introduced in 1957 to
strengthen school spirit and died out about a decade later.
The rules said freshmen could take off the headwear if the
Catamounts won the Homecoming game; otherwise they
stayed on until winter break.
36 | The Magazine of Western Carolina University
HOMECOMING
What better example of collegiate tradition than Homecoming, with a variety of
activities designed to appeal both to current students as well as to alumni sometimes
old enough to be the parent, grandparent, perhaps even great-grandparent, of those
current Catamounts? The university’s Homecoming traditions trace their roots to
1933 and the re-establishment of the football program, which had been suspended
for several years because of a drop in men’s enrollment in the late 1920s, as Curtis
Wood and Tyler Blethen explain in their history of WCU, “A Mountain Heritage.”
Prior to the rebirth of football, alumni had returned to campus for events surrounding
commencement. Over the years, Homecoming evolved to include a barbecue dinner
prepared by faculty and staff for campus visitors (an activity still carried on today
by members of the Division of Student Affairs), the election of a Homecoming
Court, and the presentation of awards to notable alumni. In addition to the standard
crowning of a Homecoming queen, the university in 1995 added the naming of a
Homecoming king to the mix of activities and revived the traditions of a student
banner competition and bonfire. The 1999 tragic Texas A&M bonfire accident, in
which 12 people were killed and 27 injured, prompted universities across the country,
including WCU, to extinguish campus bonfires. (Similarly, safety concerns after a
fireworks explosion on July 4, 2009, at the Ocracoke campus of the N.C. Center for
the Advancement of Teaching that claimed five lives resulted in the discontinuation
of pyrotechnic displays at WCU’s Homecoming). In 1996, organizers returned the
annual Homecoming parade to downtown Sylva for the first time in some 40 years
and added a new community service element to the array of activities. “Homecoming
is not all fun and games” Joab Cotton IV ’04, then-president of the Interfraternity
Council, said in 2003. “We want to take the opportunity to give something back to the
community that serves as our home away from home.” In recognition of the unique
traditions of African-American students and alumni, the university’s Homecoming
events have grown to include “Stompfest,” featuring step-show dances performed by
members of African-American fraternities and sororities, and a concert of gospel
music by the Inspirational Choir. In 2012, WCU held its first all-sports reunion for
former athletes, coaches, trainers and managers, with the second annual reunion
scheduled for Homecoming 2013.
HOMECOMING.WCU.EDU | 877.440.9990
SAVE THE DATE OCTOBER 24-27
HOMECOMING WEEKEND
For a detailed schedule of events, see page 2.
Fall 2013 | 37
RICH HALL BOB SABIN DWIGHT SPARKS
“OUR MOMENT IN THE SUN WAS BRIEF, BUT GLORIOUS! ”
THE BARE
FACTS BY R ANDALL HOLCOMBE
Years before he became an Emmy-winning comedian,
with appearances on “Saturday Night Live” and David
Letterman’s show, Rich Hall was a quirky Western
Carolina student who was spotted one day in the winter
of 1974 exhorting his fellow students to gather in their
birthday suits for an attempt to establish a new national
collegiate streaking record. “Rich stood on the overhang
of Leatherwood (Residence Hall) with a megaphone,
calling out to students as they were coming out of Dodson
Cafeteria,” recalls Bob Sabin ’75, then a WCU junior who
reported on the unclothed antics for the campus radio
station. “It got their attention.”
Dwight Sparks ’75 covered the record attempt for the
student newspaper, the Western Carolinian, and as a clothed
observer, he remembers the evening of Thursday, Feb. 21,
1974, as being uncomfortably cold for a bunch of college
students running in the buff. Braving the chilly conditions,
the WCU students succeeded in setting a new record for
participation in a coed college streak, as trumpeted in
Sparks’ article published on the newspaper’s front page the
following week. According to his account, 113 naked male
students emerged from the basement of Leatherwood and
ran about 400 yards before returning to the basement. At
the same time, 25 unclad female students darted from the
basement of nearby Helder Residence Hall and ran about
100 yards before returning to that residence. (Leatherwood
and Helder, as well as Dodson, have been replaced in recent
years.) The participation by 138 WCU students broke the
previous record of 125 streakers that had been set earlier
in 1974 by students at the University of Maryland.
After observing the record WCU streak, reported to have
taken place around 9:30 p.m., Sabin hurried to the radio
station, known then by the call letters WCAT, and composed
his account of the event. He relayed his story to the Raleigh
bureau of a major national news service, United Press
International, and it was picked up by print and broadcast
media around the nation. “My mom heard it on the radio
in Los Angeles,” Sabin sai