ECU Educational Foundation
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It’s About
Former Student-Athlete and Family Give Back
G
eorge C. Turner of Wilmington, North Carolina, realizes the value of the studentathlete experience. At Fork Union Military Academy, George played football on a team loaded with college prospects. He was recruited by what was then East Carolina College, as well as a number of other North State Conference schools. He picked ECC, and played a number of positions for the team, including quarterback, fullback, running back, and kicker. In 1963, George had the opportunity to join Ready Mixed Concrete of Raleigh as a salesman. Fourteen years later he, along with Raleigh businessmen Temple Sloan and ECU alumnus Roddy Jones, purchased Ready Mixed Concrete Company. Over the next 29 years, Ready Mixed Concrete grew to 72 plants in the Carolinas and Virginia, with 900 employees and a fleet of 650 trucks. Realizing the opportunity at hand in November 2005, the stockholders sold the company. George reflected on the lessons he learned as a Pirate football player, which benefited his business career. “I learned what a team is all about. Take the hits and get back up. Don’t quit mentally, or you’ll let your team down. Our team at RMCC was the key to our success.” In December 1970, George married Sue Montgomery from Danville, Virginia. Over the next several years, George and Sue were blessed with two children, Tish and Todd. In February 2008, Sue, Todd, and Tish wanted to surprise George with a special gift on his 72nd birthday. Knowing that he had fond memories of his Pirate football playing days and that he and his former company had been sustaining members of the Pirate Club for a number of years, George’s family decided to establish a $250,000 position scholarship endowment in support of Pirate Football in his honor. In expressing gratitude to his family for establishing the George C. Turner Running Back Football Position Scholarship Endowment, George said, “The future of the next generation is important to my family. For those young men who come to East Carolina University and play football under Coach Skip Holtz, their lives will forever be impacted physically, mentally, and spiritually.” In looking back over his life, George stated: “God has a plan for each of us. He has blessed me with a wonderful family, business partners Sloan, Jones and Jay Loftin, also an ECU alumnus, fellow employees, and friends that have made this gift possible to the Educational Foundation. Yes, we’ve been blessed.”
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