Auburn M
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EDITOR
Suzanne Johnson CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Shannon Bryant-Hankes ’84 ART DIRECTOR
Heather Peevy ASSISTANT EDITOR
Derek Herscovici '14
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UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff Etheridge EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Liz Maddux ’16 DESIGN ASSISTANTS
Conner Dungan ’16, Mitch McHargue ‘16, Kaleigh Peltack ‘17 IT SPECIALIST
Aaron Blackmon ’10 PRESIDENT, AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Jay Gogue ’69
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VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI AFFAIRS & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Gretchen VanValkenburg ’86 PRESIDENT, AUBURN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
DEPARTMENTS 7 From the Editor Old, new, orange and blue. Welcome to Auburn Magazine!
CONCOURSE 10 Birds of a Feather An Auburn researcher discovers what makes a red bird red—and why it matters.
13 Inside the Archives The many, rarely seen faces of Auburn icon George Petrie, before and after the Creed.
16 Sports Football gets a new look on defense, while Auburn mourns the loss of two of its all-time legends.
18 Philanthropy As Auburn reaches a historic fundraising goal, plans progress for continued philanthropic support for the university's future.
Jack Fite ’85
THE CLASSES 59 Class Notes 61 Poarch's Porch Pies Robyn Poarch '95 turns a simple pie into a successful (and tasty) business.
64 In Memoriam
Enter to Win! Everyone needs a dose of Auburn spirit to start a new football season. Enter at alumni.auburn.edu/auburnmagazine to win one of our batch of Auburn gifts and goodies. Multiple winners will be chosen.
Agency, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Services—but he still finds time to shout out "War Eagle" on occasion.
AUBURNMAGAZINE.AUBURN.EDU
Neal Reynolds ’77 AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL
Maria Baugh ’87, John Carvalho ’78, Jon Cole ’88, Christian Flathman ’97, Kay Fuston ’84, Bob Jones ’74, Julie Keith ’90, Mary Lou Foy ’66, Eric Ludgood ’78, Cindy McDaniel ’80, Napo Monasterio ’02, Carol Pappas ’77, Joyce Reynolds Ringer ’59, Allen Vaughan ’75
68 Backchat
ON THE COVER Adm. Michael S. Rogers '81 stands watch over international security as director of the National Security
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AUBURN MAGAZINE ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR
AUBURN MAGAZINE (ISSN 1077– 8640) is published quarterly; 4X per year; spring, summer, fall, winter, for members of the Auburn Alumni Association. Periodicals-class postage paid in Auburn and additional mailing offices. Editorial offices are located in the Auburn Alumni Center, 317 South College St., Auburn University, AL 36849-5149. Email: aubmag@auburn.edu. Contents ©2016 by the Auburn Alumni Association, all rights reserved. ADVERTISING INFORMATION Contact Jessica King at (334) 844-2586 or see our media guide at aualum.org/magazine. POSTMASTER Send address changes to AU Records, 317 South College St., Auburn, AL 36849–5149.