Unconquered Nov 2013

S E M I N O L E B O O S T E R S M AG A Z I N E

November 2013

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Stan Wilcox >> Men’s & Women’s Basketball Season Outlooks

>> The Fisher Family: More Than Football

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Unconquered magazine (USPS 18182) is published quarterly by Seminole Boosters, Inc., 225 University Center, Suite 5100, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306. (850) 644-3484, Fax: (850) 222-5929. POSTMASTER: send change of address to, Unconquered magazine, care of Seminole Boosters, Florida State University Center, Suite C-5100, 5th Floor, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306. Periodicals Postage Paid at Tallahassee, FL, Volume 29, Issue 4.

All advertising revenues directly support programs of the Seminole Boosters, Inc. For advertising rates, please contact the sales representatives listed below. © 2013, Seminole Boosters, Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Florida State University faculty, staff or administration.

Overview Unconquered magazine celebrates Seminole athletics and the indomitable spirit of its student-athletes who overcome adversity, the passion of its coaches and educators who help students reach beyond their limits, and the devotion of donors who redefine the boundaries of generosity by giving scholarships that change lives and who make donations that build first-class athletic facilities. By sharing their stories of transformational experiences — on the athletic playing field, in the classroom and in life — Unconquered magazine encourages the growth of responsible world citizenship and cross-cultural understanding. Each issue carries stories on what makes student-athletes great and how they were shaped by their experience at FSU, features on Seminole community sports legends and profiles of donors who make contributions.

2013 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

GENE READY

MIKE HARRELL

David Rancourt

Brian Swain

Morris Miller

TOM JENNINGS VP for University Advancement

Director of Athletics

Allan Bense

Jorge Azor

Craig Dewhurst

Chairman

Past Chairman

Chairman-Elect

Booster Attorney

Secretary

Nylah Thompson Bruce Harrell Treasurer

Past Chairman

Stan Wilcox

ANDY MILLER

GARY THURSTON

Dr. Pamela Perrewe

Seminole Boosters President

Contact Send correspondence to Kirstin Rayborn, at the address shown above, or by email to krayborn@fsu.edu. Telephone: (850) 645-7330.

Magazine Staff Publishers: Andy Miller, Jerry Kutz Managing editor: Derrill Beech Design, layout, production, pre-press: Rowland Publishing, Inc.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

At-Large Member

At-Large Member

At-Large Member

Faculty Representative

Photo editors: Rowland Publishing, Inc. Featured photographers: Mike Olivella, Ross Obley Contributing photographers: FSU Photographic Services, FSU Sports Info, Bill Kallenberg, Ryals Lee, Larry Novey, Seminole Boosters, Bob Thomas, Maury Neipris Columnists: Charlie Barnes, Jerry Kutz, Don Yaeger Contributing writers: Bonnie Holub, Jim Crosby, FSU Sports Info, Brandon Mellor, Joel Padgett, Rob Wilson, Gina Davidson, Tim Linefelt Copy editors: Jerry Kutz, Rowland Publishing, Inc.

2013 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Photo purchasing information: Mike Olivella photos: www.seminoles.com Ross Obley photos: www.seminoles.com

Seminole Boosters, Inc. EXECUTIVE STAFF Andy Miller President and CEO Joel Padgett Senior Vice President Gift Planning Director Tom Carlson Senior Vice President Jerry Kutz Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Cindee Lundeen, PhD Director Billy Sexton Director Eric Carr Director Sanford Lovingood Controller Max Zahn Northeast FL Representative Javi Garcia-Tunon Miami Representative Kristin Tubeck Tampa Representative James Warren Ticket/Membership Account Representative

ASSISTANTS TO EXECUTIVE STAFF AND DIRECTORS Kari Terezakis Senior Executive Assistant to Andy Miller Mary Bailey Executive Assistant to Jerry Kutz, Stewardship

FSU VARSITY CLUB Betsy Hosey Director DONOR RECORDS Jennifer Terrell Director Matt Lanahan Data Entry

Patti Barber Receptionist, Office Assistant

Lindsay Goodwin Donor Records Assistant/Gift Management

Barbara Mason Financial Assistant

John Knight Data Management

Amy Hanstein Accountant

Jesse Slade Office Entry

Jason Liskooka Director of Data Management

Abbie King Data Entry/Miami Representative

PROGRAM DIRECTORS

UNCONQUERED MAGAZINE

Maria Fuller Skybox and Parking Director

Derrill Beech Managing Editor & Advertising

Michael Espada Ticket Sales Director Kirstin Rayborn Vice President for Marketing and Unconquered Magazine

Seminole Boosters, Inc.

FSU TRADEMARK LICENSING Sherri Dye Director of Licensing Garrett O’Connor Assistant Licensing Director

Kathy Atkins-Gunter, PC Jorge Azor Eric Barron Tom Barron, PC Lance Barton Mark Bates Allen Bense Steve Brown, PC Yvonne Brown Bob Camp, PC Joe Camps, PC Bob Carnes Bill Carraway, PC Jimmy Carter, PC Ken Cashin, PC Bob Caton, PC Raymond Cottrell, PC Dave Cowens, PC Ben Crump Craig Dewhurst Chris Diamantis Carl Domino, PC Al Dunlap Allen Durham Wade Durham

Don Everett Frank Fain, PC Ron Farrell Lon Fellenz Mike Fields, PC Bob Frey Dan Grant Andy Haggard, PC Kim Hammond, PC Bruce Harrell, PC Michael Harrell Kevin Hawkins Sherm Henderson, PC Charlie Hill, PC Tim Hill Ron Hobbs, PC Gordon Holder Bonnie Holub Tom Jennings Jim Kirk, PC Chris Kraft, PC Lawton Langford, PC George Langford, PC Marice Leo Brett Lindquist

Shane Locke Paul Lowenthal Mark Macek Douglas Mannheimer, PC Lori Mattice Linda McGee Robby McVie Andy Miller Morris Miller Michael Miller DeVoe Moore Russ Morcom, PC Dennis Newman Andy Norman Mark O’Bryant John Olson, PC Bill Parker, PC Pam Perrewe Sean Pittman Frank Pope, PC Theo Proctor, PC David Rancourt Gene Ready Kyle Riva Sam Rogers, Jr.

Scott Roix Doug Russell Bob Sasser Jon Shebel Jeff Sluman Barry Smith Bob Smith Lomax Smith, PC Kathy Stahl Larry Strom Brian Swain, PC Nylah Thompson Gary Thurston Nada Usina Jesse Vance Gary Walsingham, PC Mike Walsingham Stan Wilcox Brian Williams PC denotes Past Chairman

FLORIDA STATE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Allan Bense, Chair Edward E. “Ed” Burr Susie Busch-Transou, Vice Chair Joseph L. Camps, Jr. Rosalia Contreras Emily Fleming Duda Joseph Gruters

William Andrew Haggard Mark Hillis Leslie Pantin Margaret A. Rolando Brent Sembler Gary Tyson

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“We are proud of our scholar athletes who excel in the classroom and on the playing field.”

Eric J. Barron

President of The Florida State University

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Booster Life 5 Board of Directors 12 Booster Life 20 Booster for Life 74 NCAA Compliance / Welcome New Members Columnists 8 Collegiate Symbols Evoke both Power and Whimsy 17 Annual Membership

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Report 14 The George Langford Award 24 Indoor Practice Facility Grand Opening 29 Andy Miller Q&A 55 30-Year Donors 56 Bobby Bowden Day 60 Candi Fisher 62 Planned Giving 64 Quarterly Report

photos by Seminole Boosters and Mike Olivella

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Features 22 Donor Feature Linda Dupree

Special Feature 2013–14 Seminole BASKETBALL fan guide An Insider’s Guide to the Exciting Season Ahead

Cover Photo by: Mike Olivella

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32 Men’s Preview 34 Women’s Preview 38 ACC Basketball Column 40 Natasha Howard Q&A 42 Kiel Turpin Q&A 44 Stan Wilcox Feature 46 Coach Sue Semrau Q&A 48 Coach Leonard Hamilton Q&A 51 Player Feature Okaro White

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Guest Columnist

power&Whimsy collegiate Symbols Evoke both

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man named Adam Smargon has a lot of free time and one peculiar passion. Smargon has compiled, and regularly updates, a list of thousands of American college athletic teams’ symbols, mascots and nicknames.

To make the Smargon list, which runs more than 50 single-spaced pages but is not comprehensive (“Nor even close to it,” he says), the subject college or university must be located in the United States and must be a member of an athletic division within the NCAA or the NAIA, which governs small colleges.

Some of the best-known college sports icons are unique. There’s only one Fighting Irish, there is only one Oklahoma Sooners and only one Syracuse Orange. The Texas Longhorns are unique, as are the Kansas Jayhawks, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Other colorful Saturday afternoon images found nowhere else in all of college athletics are the Purdue Boilermakers, the Richmond Spiders, the Arizona State Sun Devils, the North Carolina Tar Heels, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Penn State’s Nittany Lions, the Maryland Terrapins and the Thundering Herd of Marshall.

Princeton’s Tigers are not unique — there are 46 college teams bearing the

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

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name Tigers — but the Harvard Crimson is one of a kind and so are the celebrated Elis of Yale. The Furman Paladins stand alone, as do the Keydets of VMI, the Hawaii Rainbow, the Akron Zips, the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Toledo Rockets.

The Indiana Hoosiers, along with the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and the Wichita State Shockers, have all been opponents of the Seminoles. We played the Virginia Tech Hokies for a national championship in 2000, and we played our first game of modern football against the Stetson Hatters in 1947. Georgia Tech’s Ramblin’ Wreck is unique, but they share their alternate Yellow Jacket moniker with 17 other colleges.

NCAA Division I schools are very, very serious about their symbols and colors.

Sherri Dye is Florida State’s full time director of Licensing and Trademarks.

All major programs have similar departments, usually staffed with lawyers and backed by marketing firms. Florida State, Florida and Miami all have contracts with IMG College, the massive marketing and licensing firm that has more than 700 employees in 100 offices across America.

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Louisiana State Tigers

But many colleges and universities sport unique team names with charming mascots the fans find endearing. Who would not want to cheer for the CalSanta Cruz Banana Slugs or the CalIrvine Anteaters? And what name could Converse College possibly adopt other than, of course, the All-Stars?

Likewise, Brooklyn College teams must be the Bridges.

Team names with a unique local appeal would include the Black Flies of the College of the Atlantic. (The college website invites you to contribute to the Black Fly Society and “join the swarm.”)

The Blue Hose of South Carolina’s Presbyterian College refers back to the school’s 17th century Puritan heritage.

Sometimes, colleges simply embrace the obvious. Thus we see the Columbia

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By Charlie Barnes // Photos by Seminole Boosters and MiKe Olivella

College (California) Claim Jumpers, the North Dakota Mines & Technology Hardrockers, the University of AlaskaSoutheast Humpback Whales, the Arkansas Tech Wonderboys, the Keel Haulers of the California Maritime Academy and the Evergreen State College Geoducks.

Some prefer a more relaxed, even whimsical approach to college athletics.

Consider the Whittler College Poets (yes, they play football), the Heidelberg College Student Princes, the Rowan College Professors and the Lord Jeffs of Amherst. And surely, an afternoon of athletic contests between the Sweet Briar College Vixens and the ArkansasMonticello Cotton Blossoms would serve the highest order of sportsmanship.

Florida State played the Salukis of Southern Illinois in football in 1982. It’s an Egyptian dog, and I have no idea how they came to settle in Illinois. But we’re told that Salukis are the oldest pure-bred dog in world, and their ancestry can be traced back to 3,600 B.C. There are two Antelopes (Grand Canyon University and NebraskaKearney). Lyrics to “Home on the Range” aside, antelopes are native to Asia and Africa and are not found here in North America. Presumably, the best chance you’d have to see an actual antelope in this hemisphere is on game day.

Some names we’d normally assume to be unique are in fact not. There are two Gamecocks. The one not coached

by Steve Spurrier is Jacksonville State in Alabama. Likewise, the Rebels of Ole Miss are seen again at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. There are three Red Raiders, three Hurricanes, several Wolfpacks and even two 49ers.

University of Maine-Augusta has covered the most ground in mascot names in less than 50 years, going from Rebels to Pumas and now Moose.

If you were to guess, you’d probably say that the Mary Baldwin College Squirrels would be unique, but not so.

Only 90 miles away in Richmond, the Union Theological Seminary embraces

There is

Only Unique Sports Symbols that Have Made the Smargon List Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Cal-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Stetson Hatters Heidelberg College Student Princes

Evergreen State College Geoducks

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Guest Columnist

Florida State Seminoles

the same rodent. Even our own storied Florida A&M Rattlers have a nickname counterpart in St Mary’s University in San Antonio.

Six college teams call themselves the Gators, although one school came to that name simply as a matter of frustration. San Francisco State University thought it would be clever to call themselves the Golden Gaters, but the Golden Gate reference flew over the heads of most everyone. Fans, opponents and the media consistently referred to them as Golden Gators. Eventually, San Francisco dropped the golden and embraced the gator.

Some of the names are close but not quite the same. There’s the Crimson Tide of Alabama, the Crimson Wave

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of Calumet College of St. Joseph and the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene University (who until 1998 were the Redskins).

Eagles is easily the most popular choice, with 63 teams proudly flying that moniker. If you include Golden Eagles along with Soaring Eagles and Screaming Eagles the total rises above 70.

Finally, the Zias of Eastern New Mexico — women’s teams only — honor the sun symbol of the Zia Indians of New Mexico. And it’s hard to know what to make of the Cal-State Longbeach Dirtbags, official mascot of the mens’ baseball team (but of course).

And so we come roundabout to our own Seminole Indian symbol, unique among the thousands of American

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Florida Gators

photos by Seminole Boosters and Mike Olivella

colleges and universities. Ours is always referred to as an honored symbol, never a mascot or a nickname.

While there are no other Seminoles, we are far from alone in the use of Indian symbolism for our athletic programs.

Most are generic names, but some do refer to specific tribes, such as the San Diego State Aztecs, the University of Illinois Illini, the Central Michigan Chippewas, the Mississippi College Choctaws and the University of North Dakota Sioux.

The Sioux are no more but the others are holding on. A decade ago, 22 college teams were known as the Indians, the Braves, the Redmen, the Tribe or the Chieftans. In 2012 that number was reduced to just a dozen. There may be a small push-back against the forces of political correctness. According to Smargon, among the Eastern Michigan Eagles “efforts exist to change the nickname back to Hurons.”

You’ll not be surprised to learn that the Southeast Oklahoma State University Savages found themselves at ground zero in the Indian symbol controversy.

Their teams displayed no Indian caricatures, but they did employ a spear symbol similar to Florida State’s. In 2006 they became the Savage Storm but this didn’t satisfy the critics. So in 2013 they are now the Bisons.

Thirty college athletic teams are called Warriors, including teams from the National War College in Washington, D.C. (I am not making this up.)

Some who criticize Florida State’s use of the Seminole name like to say, “People are not mascots.” However it does appear that most college mascots are, in fact, people. Reptiles, weather systems and other oddities aside, the majority of all American college and university athletic team symbols appear to be human beings of one description or another.

Lots of them refer to peoples of the British Isles or northern European origin. American culture reflects the ambitions of early immigrants, and the landscape is noisily rife with college athletic teams like the Tartans, the Scots, the Swedes, the Saxons, the Britons, the Highlanders, the Norse, the Gaels, the Northmen, the Celts and the Dutchmen. There are five other Cavaliers besides Virginia.

Eleven versions of Minutemen and Mountaineers aside, 27 colleges call their team the Knights, and an astonishing 31 identify themselves as Pioneers.

There are 14 Trojans and 18 Vikings.

There are eight Cowboys, five of them at schools in Oklahoma, one each in Texas and Wyoming and Louisiana.

College athletics features a whole shelf of Conquerors and Crusaders (24 of them actually), plus Explorers, Barons, Bombers, Patriots, Colonels, Generals, Majors, Captains, Cadets, Gentlemen, Buccaneers, Lancers, Lumberjacks (and yes, Lumberjills), Matadors, Marauders, Missionaries, Monks, Mounties, Musketeers, Canoneers, Pirates, Raiders, Rangers, Vandals, Governors, Statesmen, Senators and Swordsmen.

There is something to be said about the fruits of victory. You recall the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta: the conflict between the Athenians who gave us democracy and The Classical Age versus the Spartans who personified the severe and harshly disciplined lifestyle that bears their name today. Well, in the end, the Spartans won those wars. Therefore, today 16 college athletic teams go forth proudly as the Spartans. Mount St. Mary’s College of Los Angeles remains the only institution to embrace the Athenians.

If I were Irish, I might claim to be

Brigham Young Cougars

offended by the Notre Dame logo that glorifies the stereotype of drunken, brawling Irishmen. And surely, among the alumni ranks of the 10 colleges calling themselves Scots, there is at least one kilt-wearing son or daughter of the heather who will say they are offended by such use of their heritage.

As the discussion over symbolism unfolds again I’ll be interested to see whether Notre Dame or Oklahoma or West Virginia or Massachusetts or Michigan State or any of the other legions of American colleges and universities whose teams are represented on the field by symbols reflecting proud cultural tradition are inclined to change their mascots.

Certainly, there can be sincere differences of opinion. We must acknowledge those honest feelings, and we have a responsibility to ensure respect in our use of the Seminole name, respect for all the tradition and for all the symbolism. In the end, that respect is our most effective defense against efforts to dismiss one of the most honorable, noble and recognizable symbols in college athletics today. SB

Adam Smargon’s excellent and entertaining website may be viewed at smargon.net/nicknames/.

Charlie Barnes is the retired senior vice president and executive director of Seminole Boosters. Contact him at Cbarnes@admin.fsu.edu.

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The

George Langford Award Presented by the Seminole Boosters Board of Directors, the George Langford Award recognizes leadership and lifetime achievement serving the best interests of Florida State University. Named for an esteemed civic leader, the award embodies his giving spirit and dynamic personality.

This award is given annually at the Past Chairman’s Dinner.

The recipient is recommended by the executive committee and approved by the board. It is given to the individual who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership in the area of philanthropy benefitting the athletic program and Florida State University.

George Langford

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rchitectural icons and statuary enrich the remarkable

George Langford is a worthy inheritor of this enduring con-

beauty of our university campus. Among the most prom-

nection between Jefferson’s university and the proud institution

inent of these is the bronze likeness of Francis Eppes,

that has evolved from Francis Eppes’ Seminary. George grew up

seated on a small bench in the landscaped apron around Westcott.

The bronze figure is depicted gazing toward the town center of

bers of his immediate family are alumni of Florida State, Lang-

old Tallahassee. As the founder and first president of Florida State

ford earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the Univer-

University, Eppes came under criticism for building the new school

sity of Virginia.

too far west, too far away from town. But Francis Eppes, who was

Langford’s leadership in the Tallahassee community is unsur-

three times elected mayor of Tallahassee, knew that the city and the

passed. His achievements in business, his support for Seminole

university would grow together. And his vision came true.

athletics and his commitment to enhancing the intellectual founda-

Eppes shared much with his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. Both men proved to be remarkable visionaries and both were driven by unquenchable intellectual vigor.

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in Thomasville, not far from Tallahassee. While almost all mem-

tions of Florida State University mark him as a Renaissance Man worthy of comparison to Jefferson and Eppes.

It is most fitting that the board of directors of Seminole Boosters recognize the man who served three terms as chairman of this

Ten years after the end of his presidency, Jefferson founded

board, who resurrected the Boosters organization and the Seminole

the University of Virginia. Only 32 years later, in 1851, his grandson

Athletic Program from a dark passage in time, and whose dem-

Francis Eppes established the Seminary West of the Suwannee, now

onstrated character and dedication inspires all of those who love

Florida State University.

Florida State University.

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Russ Morcom, 2013 Acquiring and processing information is Russ Morcom’s profession. His impressive credentials as a career leader in technology and manufacturing are the end products of his Florida State degree in Engineering Science and his quiet, confident command of commercial and political landscapes.

Following his retirement as an executive with semi-conductor manufacturer Intersil, Russ and Genie Morcom settled in Tallahassee. They immediately committed to strengthening Florida State’s academic and athletic programs. In 2006, Russ assumed the chairmanship of Seminole Boosters Inc. Unfazed by the enormous challenges facing Seminole Athletics in those days, Morcom manifested the reassuring air of a confident leader. His sharp grasp of all political and financial issues on the table made him the ideal chairman at that moment to direct the Seminole Boosters organization in support of the university’s best interests.

A Florida State Graduate, Russ Morcom became only the fourth man to serve two terms as chairman since the Boosters was founded in 1951. It was during his tenure, from 2006 through 2008, that the $75 million Seminole Boosters Legacy Campaign was launched and conducted under his leadership.

Morcom’s twin terms as chairman were marked by extraordinary advancements, but the signature success of the Legacy Campaign may be his most impressive achievement.

The campaign was designed to maximize the Seminole Boosters Scholarship Endowment and defend against rising costs in all the areas that threaten to overwhelm college sports programs.

Morcom’s most important personal legacy may be the financial stability of Seminole Athletics for many years to come.

Russ Morcom’s dynamic leadership is recognized not just within Athletics. He was also named to the FSU Foundation Board of Trustees, and the FSU Alumni Association accorded him the Circle of Gold.

The Morcoms continue to give back generously to FSU,

It is an honor well deserved that W. Russell Morcom receives the 2013

providing leadership and financial support. Genie Morcom has been an enthusiastic patron of all Seminole teams, seldom

George Langford Award.

missing a contest, especially in women’s basketball. She is a true Seminole sports fan, a constant symbol of encouragement to our student-athletes.

After seeing the pressing need for a new varsity swimming pool, Russ and Genie made the lead gift for the Morcom Aquatic Center, a $10.5 million, 10,000-square-foot building featuring an Olympic-style pool with 30 lanes and a diving pool. Russ and Genie also made lead gifts to the Booster Endowment Fund and established the W. Russell & Eugenia Morcom Endowed Chair.

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BOOSTER INSIDER

BY JERRY KUTZ, SR. VICE PRESIDENT

What is the Value Proposition To Your Booster Membership

photo by Ryals Lee

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s the shadows grow and the leaves turn garnet and gold, our minds turn to reflection and planning. We look at all we did this year and thought about what made us happy, improved how we felt or enriched our world. And we planned accordingly.

My plans are affected by cash and time.

When I was a Florida State student and didn’t have two nickels to rub together, I had time. And now that I have some spending money, I am time poor.

Do you remember the kinds of economic decisions you made in college? I remember living on $8 a week in grocery money at a time when you could buy four boxes of

macaroni and cheese and a case of Old Milwaukee for $5 and get change back.

Pop a top, boil a box and you had a meal.

It was the original hamburger helper.

I remember Tuckers on South Monroe, where you could get all the fried chicken and fixin’s you could eat for $2.39. Saw a boy eat 23 pieces there one night and then order a milkshake at the Dairy Queen.

If I had the urge to treat myself to a “good” meal, I’d go to the Western Sizzlin’ on West Tennessee where you could get a steak, baked potato and a salad — with a drink — for $5.

That steak dinner became the gold standard for me. It took almost three

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hours of flipping burgers at McDonalds for $1.90 an hour to earn $5 after taxes. So, the economist in me figured out that three hours of work equaled either one steak dinner, two chicken dinners or four mac and cheese Old Milwaukee happy meals.

Every buying decision became a value proposition. Do I to spend $10 to take a date to “Bladder Bust” or for Putt Putt Golf, or save the money for two solo trips to the Western Sizz for a steak dinner?

As an MBA student in the FSU College of Business I learned about value propositions, but nothing ever made as much of an impression as that Western Sizzlin’ equation.

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I reminisce on those college days, because that’s where we learned the value of a dollar earned and spent. Not much has changed but the prices. No matter how much money we accumulate, we still look for the value proposition in what we buy, donate or invest.

As we approach the year’s end and reminisce on what we spent our time and money on in 2013, I would challenge you to think about the value proposition of your charitable investment in Seminole Boosters Inc. Yes, your contributions to the charities you choose are investments in the causes you believe in, and it’s perfectly okay to ask about the return on that investment.

We’re proud to report that 90 cents of every dollar you contributed to Seminole Boosters went right into funding FSU Athletics and to providing studentathletes with life-changing scholarship

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opportunities. In addition to great results on the field of competition (our 20 sports teams consistently rank in the top 12), we’re particularly pleased to report that 80 percent of those scholarship recipients — many of them the first from their family to attend college — completed their degree and became productive citizens.

How many charities do you know that operate by spending only 10 percent on fundraising while delivering such outcomes?

We’ve seen a multiplier effect with every scholarship funded. Not only does the scholarship change the life of the recipient but often the culture and the outlook of siblings and of the generations to follow. Many of our donors view their contribution to Seminole Boosters as a transaction to gain access to tickets or to parking

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Seminole Boosters is pleased to report that 90 cents of every dollar that you contribute directly funds FSU Athletics and provides student athletes with life changing scholarships.

when in fact their contributions fund one of the most effective self-help programs in America, where the recipients have to bust their tails every day on the field and in the classroom.

There’s no better illustration of the life-changing effect than the Ponder family. Christian Ponder, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings, earned his MBA before his final year of eligibility began. People assumed Christian came from a long line of academicians but the truth is his father, David, was the first from the Ponder Family to graduate high school.

David came to FSU on a football

photos by Ross Obley (Sand volleyball) and Ryals Lee

scholarship that changed his life and that of generations of Ponders to come.

Our current and former athletes often articulate what their scholarship means to them and how it has affected their life. There aren’t many charities where the results are so obvious and the recipients so appreciative. We In addition to great results on the field share that message of competition (our through the pages of the 20 sports teams Unconquered Magazine, consistently rank in the top 12 nationally), the banners hanging we’re also pleased outside Doak Campbell to report that 80 Stadium and the percent of those scholarship recipients thousands of thank-you — many first phone calls our studentgeneration college athletes make to our students— completed members. their degree.

The recipients of your charitable gifts are the players in those helmets or the pony-tailed girl scoring the winning goal. And, as a member, we offer you many opportunities to meet the players either during tours of the facilities that you fund, at member mixers or at our Coaches Club events.

We hope you will attend these events and meet the recipients of your gifts. We know you will be impressed by their sincere appreciation for the difference your gift has made for them.

Fall is the time for planning, and you will be asked to give to a number of charities in the coming months, including us. We hope you’ve enjoyed your membership benefits, feel appreciated by the coaches, players and staff, and know that you’ve made a difference in the program you care so much about. We hope you will renew for 2014, increase your level of giving if you can and get more involved with the sport of your choice by joining a Coaches Club or by making a year-end gift to a scholarship or facility.

And remember, any contribution you make before Dec. 31, 2013 — including your 2014 membership renewal — can be claimed as a deduction on your 2013 tax return, which could add even more to that Seminole Boosters value proposition. SB

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Feature

Linda Dupree: Real Fan, Generous Supporter

by Jim Crosby

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ooking around at his Seminole tailgating friends, Cecil Dupree once said: “We are fans, but Linda is a real fan.”

No one would dispute the former Florida State tight end’s description of his wife, Linda Dupree, a staunch supporter of Seminole sports and a million-dollar donor.

Thanks to her late husband’s history as a Seminole they became involved as Boosters and have generously supported the program in many ways.

Cecil, who played high school football at Ashford, Ala., was signed to a scholarship and played on legendary Coach Bill Peterson’s first team in 1960. Linda says that her husband credited his success

Linda Dupree and Jimbo Fisher

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as a business owner to the education he received at Florida State, and he would not have been able to attend without the football scholarship.

“We drove over from Dothan (Ala.) for all the home games. We would have our tailgate stuff ready, load up on Saturday mornings and drive over for the games.

We had a lot of fun,” said Dupree, who now lives in Panama City.

The Dupree business story has been one of vision, hard work and good timing despite some real struggles. Cecil had to leave school early to run the family business in Dothan when his father became ill.

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At that time the business, a telephone company, was run from a single switchboard in their home. It was called Graceba, a name derived from combining family names. So Cecil, Linda and even their children growing up, threw all their energy into building this company.

Graceba would evolve into a large, thriving telecommunications company involved with cutting-edge developments in the telephone and Internet arenas.

Having experienced firsthand the benefits of a scholarship, they joined the Seminole Boosters and have helped

Linda Dupree and Fred Haines

provide scholarships, which are the lifeblood of the athletic program.

“If people have the ability to give, they should,” she said. “We give to many charities, including Seminole Boosters Inc., because we believe in the opportunity the scholarship provides.”

The Duprees were Golden Chief donors early on and have been generous contributors in many areas.

Over 20 years ago Linda met another coaching legend on the Bobby Bowden Tour. She loved Coach Bowden’s competitiveness and his warm personable nature. Becoming friends with the coach sparked an interest in

investing in the program, and she wanted to share his compassion while building a winning program.

Linda Dupree endowed the first Bobby Bowden Scholarship in honor of Cecil Dupree. Since then she has also contributed to the Winning Edge Campaign, which funded the Football Indoor Training Facility, and the Legacy Brick campaign as well as becoming a MICCO (million dollar member).

One of the things that Dupree most enjoys is the tradition of meeting the student athletes and their families. She remembers those days when her family was trying to get established and how

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valuable this support was. Consequently she developed long-standing relationships with the recipients of the Bobby Bowden scholarships.

One of the early relationships the Dupree family established was with Seminole Wide Receiver Coach Lawrence Dawsey, going back to his playing days on Bowden’s team.

“Lawrence worked for us two summers on the plow crew. He and my son, Chris, worked out in that hot summer sun. It was a hard job,” said Dupree. Then she added with a smile, “He would always say he was going to make sure he stayed at Florida State and got his degree, because this work was too hard.”

Dawsey, an All-American receiver and a seven-year NFL veteran, is very appreciative of the opportunity he was given by the Duprees and the way Linda continues to help the football program.

He said, “Linda is a great fan and generous supporter of Florida State. She and Cecil were always kind and welcomed me every summer when I was a student. She is a wonderful person, and we are happy to have her on our team.”

In 1996 Linda and Cecil sold Graceba to their children and retired to the beach in Panama City where they could enjoy their boating and beach living.

While that was a change in lifestyle one thing has not changed for Linda Dupree.

She continues to be one of the world’s best Seminole fans and looks forward to driving over from the beach and continuing the tailgating tradition for home games.

She attends some away games and the Seminole Bowl games as well.

A couple of years ago the university asked the Dupree family to engage in the exciting tradition of lighting Osceola’s spear at the Unconquered statue on Friday evening before a home football game.

For the family it was an opportunity to light the flame that would lead the way to victory in the game. For Linda Dupree that flame had already been burning for a very long time. SB

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Athletic Training Facility

Athletic Training Facility Dedication Showcases Donors

By Charlie Barnes // Photos By Mike Olivella

The Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility grand opening on September 14, 2013 featured the lead gift donors, Judy and Al Dunlap, as well as Jimbo and Candi Fisher, the Campaign Chairman Larry Strom and his wife, Hilda, former Seminole Boosters Chairman Brian Swain, current Seminole Boosters Chairman Gene Ready, Athletics Director Stan Wilcox and Seminole Boosters President Andy Miller.

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ecks craned skyward in wide-eyed astonishment at the scale of the place. Scattered clusters of Seminoles seemed dwarfed within the vast structure. Bright hanging banners honoring major contributors interspersed with dramatic scenes of Seminole glory draped the gray metal walls.

The invitation-only, A-list collection of major donors and university celebrities finally congregated near the 50-yard line to witness the official dedication of the Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility.

Four members of the Board of Trustees attended the dedication ceremony, including Student Body President Rosie

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Contreras; Mark Hillis and his wife, Nan; Joe Gruters; and past Chairman of the Board Andy Haggard and Nacy Virgin.

In addition to President Eric Barron and his wife Molly, other distinguished university officials present included Provost Dr. Garnett S. Stokes; Dr. Mary Coburn, vice president for Student Affairs; Tom Jennings, vice president for Advancement; Kathleen Daly, assistant vice president for the Office of Governmental Relations; and Lisa Durham, senior projects manager, FSU facilities design and construction.

Athletics department staff attending included new Director of Athletics Stan Wilcox, as well as new Chief Financial

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Officer Matt Behnke, Senior Associate Athletics Director Monk Bonasorte and Vanessa Fuchs, senior associate athletics director.

Representatives of the architectural firm Barnett Fronczak Barlow Architects LLP included partners Doug Barlow and Richard Barnett as well as Kathy Stivers.

Childers Construction Company was represented by company President Van Champion, Vice President Sam Childers and Project Manager Jason Gassett. (The new building is a particular point of pride for Childers, star tight end and four-year letterman for the Seminoles in the early days of the Bobby Bowden era.)

And large hanging banners featured likenesses of those who contributed at least $1 million to construction of the new facility, many of them there to receive thanks for their extraordinary generosity: Lead gift donor Al and Judy Dunlap of Ocala. Al Dunlap is a 1960 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and gained fame as an international business icon and New York Times best-selling author.

Winning Edge Campaign Chairman Larry Strom and his wife, Hilda, live in Tallahassee. Larry was a basketball star for the Seminoles, graduating in 1958.

Hilda graduated in 1959. He is a retired automobile dealer.

Past Chairman of the Board of Regents Tom Petway. Tom is a 1962 graduate of Florida State. He and his wife, Betty, live in Atlantic Beach. Tom’s business is Prudential Network Realty.

Athletic Training Facility

Attendees of the grand opening included the special donors that contributed toward the Winning Edge campaign that funded the Indoor Training Facility.

The grand opening was a private reception that honored these dedicated Seminoles.

Sandra Robinson, widow of the late Harry L. Robinson, a 1960 graduate of Florida State.

Michael Markowski, a 1977 Florida State graduate and successful entrepreneur. Mike and his wife, Deborah, live in Wilton Manors. Their son Reeve will attend FSU this spring.

Gary Thurston is the owner of Advanced Medical Network LLC and is a 1978 Florida State graduate. His wife, Lee Ann, is a 1980 graduate; they make their home in Ocala. One son has already graduated from FSU, and their daughter is currently an undergraduate. Gary is a current member of the Seminole Boosters Board of Directors.

Gary and Cumi Walsingham live in Panama City; both have served on the Seminole Boosters Board of Directors, and Gary is a past chairman. Gary graduated from Florida State in 1966 and oversees Walsingham Investment Co. Past Chairman of Seminole Boosters Brian Swain is a resident of Winter Haven and is a 1980 Florida State graduate. He owns Swain Realty Corporation. His son is also an FSU graduate.

Mike Harrell and his wife, Leslie, are residents of Bainbridge, Ga. Mike is a

1984 Florida State graduate. Mike owns Southwest Georgia Oil Inc. The Coyle E. Moore Family Foundation has contributed generously to Florida State for many years. Representing the Foundation at the dedication were trustees Doug Mannheimer and Katherine Ball.

Doug took his undergraduate degree from FSU in 1976 and received his law degree here in 1979. Katherine graduated from Florida State in 1985.

Jim and Linda Owens live in Rome, Ga. Jim graduated in 1983; Linda graduated in 1982. Their son is also a Florida State alumnus.

Don Everett represents Ware Oil & Supply of Perry, Fla. Both graduated from Florida State in 1983.

In addition to those who contributed at least $1 million to this massive project,

other “MICCOS” also attended the ceremony. MICCO is the designation given to any major donor who contributes $1 million or more to Seminole Boosters.

These MICCOs included DeVoe Moore and his wife, Shirley. The DeVoe Moore University Center proudly bears his name.

Other MICCOs included Mark and Nan Hillis, Bruce and Anne Harrell, Linda Dupree accompanied by Fred Haines; Nylah Thompson and her husband, H.L. Hartford; Les and Ruth Akers; and former Chairman of Seminole Boosters Andy Haggard and Nacy Virgin.

Another significant MICCO was Judy Holler, widow of the late Roger Holler. Many of the Holler family were in attendance to celebrate the opening of the new facility and to recognize the work of Dr. Christopher Holler,

I can’t promise that we’ll win a national championship if we get an indoor practice facility, but I can promise you that we will not win a championship without one.”

— Head Coach Jimbo Fisher, Sept. 16, 2011, at the Winning Edge Campaign Kick-Off SEMINO LE-BO OST ERS .CO M

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Athletic Training Facility

the renowned sculptor who created the statue of Al Dunlap gracing the grounds at the building entrance. Judy and Roger’s three children in attendance included Christopher and Jill, each having earned degrees from Florida State, and Roger Holler III, a graduate of Florida Southern College, his parents’ alma mater.

President Barron told the crowd the new building has been long needed and is already being used to great advantage.

In thanking all the participants and donors, he stressed the importance of their contribution to the success of Seminole Athletics.

“A successful athletic program draws national attention to our academic programs and creates passionate fans who visit the campus, who support the university financially and often become its most enthusiastic ambassadors,” he said.

Head Coach Jimbo Fisher, who attended with his wife, Candi, made a special presentation to Al Dunlap.

On the first day of practice in the new building, all the players gathered on the field for a historic photograph, later signed the surrounding mat and had the picture framed for presentation to the Dunlaps. “This was the players’ idea; they originated this as a way of saying thank you,” Fisher explained.

Seminole Boosters President and CEO Andy Miller and 2013 Seminole Boosters Chairman Gene Ready of Lakeland echoed the sentiments and gratitude.

And Stan Wilcox stressed the positive effects the facility has had on all Seminole student-athletes. “This demonstrates that they can count on you for the support that they need to win. You encourage them to achieve their academic and professional goals beyond the playing fields.”

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I want to thank everyone here today, whether you gave one million dollars or 10 dollars; you are a member of the team and made this great building happen.”

— Lead Donor Al Dunlap, Sept. 14, 2013, at the dedication of the Albert J. Dunlap Athletic Training Facility As the lead donor of the Winning Edge Campaign, with a gift of $5 million, Al Dunlap was called on to offer his comments. Dunlap came up in a hardscrabble New Jersey neighborhood.

His commitment to both sports and academic excellence won him an appointment to West Point.

His long record of success established him as an icon of American business.

He served as chairman or CEO of nine major corporations in the United States, England and Australia, and in 1995 was named “Most Admired” in an international survey of chief executives.

“If you haven’t gotten knocked on your butt in life, you haven’t set high enough goals, but sports teaches you to get off your butt and get back in the game,” he said. “Sport builds leadership and courage. And as a nation, we desperately need leaders,” Dunlap said. “I would not be standing here today at this dedication

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if it were not for sports. I was a poor inner city kid whose Mom went to fifth grade and Dad went to the ninth grade.

But my Mom instilled in me the value of sports and academics which got me my scholarship to West Point.”

After the official naming pronouncement by Barron, the families gathered outside for the sculpture unveiling. The Holler family and the Dunlaps were guests of honor, and Judy Dunlap and Judy Holler cut the ropes to let the drape fall.

Florida State’s campus is famous for its beautiful statuary and this life-size sculpture of Albert Dunlap is the first piece of Holler’s art he has donated to FSU. Christopher Holler is a 1991 Florida State graduate whose works of sculpture are on public display in institutions like Florida Hospital and the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens. SB

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Andy Miller Q&A

Q&A

Boosters President

Andy Miller

By Jerry kutz, Senior Vice President // Photos By Seminole Boosters

Kutz: We’ve hired a new Athletic Director. What are your thoughts regarding the selection?

Miller: I didn’t know Stan, but everything I have learned suggests that President Barron and his advisors found an ideal candidate to lead the program.

He has experience at the NCAA, conference level and served under an AD with a big reputation, Kevin White at Notre Dame and later at Duke.

Kutz: What things did you learn that suggest he was a good fit for Florida State?

Miller: He’s trained under one of the best at Notre Dame, and the fact that Kevin brought him to Duke and gave

him senior level responsibility, including football, makes a strong case for his abilities. We have also heard very good things from coaches and colleagues who have worked with Stan.

Kutz: What do you feel he can bring to Florida State?

Miller: First and foremost, leadership.

I also feel he brings great knowledge of the industry and skill in a variety of areas that will be important as we move forward.

Kutz: Such as?

Miller: Knowledge of the ACC, its culture, its politics and its people.

Kutz: Specifically, how does that help?

Miller: It affects change that will benefit Florida State and the conference as we move forward.

Kutz: In what ways?

Miller: Every conference, even the SEC, which is our primary competition, has a growing concern about attendance.

In the face of a soft economy and the attraction of television, how do we ensure that our stadiums and arenas are full?

This is a primary focus, and Stan is very mindful of the challenge and has good ideas in that regard. I’m looking forward to working with Stan. On behalf of our Tribe, let’s welcome him and his family to Tallahassee. SB

Stan Wilcox comes to FSU having previously held administrative positions at major college programs as well as conference and NCAA experience.

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The Wakulla Seminole Boosters Houston Taff Memorial Scholarship Golf Tournament thanks sponsors and volunteers Presenting Sponsor

Gold Sponsors David F. & Rhonda Harvey

Wakulla Men’s Club

The annual golf tournament hosted by the Wakulla County Seminole Boosters pays tribute to Houston Taff, a native Wakulla County resident and avid Seminole fan who passed away in 2009. The tournament has been very successful and now serves as the model for all Seminole Booster fundraising golf tournaments. The Wakulla Tournament and its success in funding the scholarship endowment is a wonderful example of what volunteers committed to the program do to support the university.

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Men’s Preview Women’s Preview ACC Basketball Column Natasha Howard Q&A Kiel Turpin Q&A Stan Wilcox Q&A Coach Sue Semrau Q&A Coach Leonard Hamilton Q&A Player Feature Okaro White

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Presented by:

Seminole IMG Sports Marketing

Men’s Preview

Florida State basketball looks for a fifth trip in six years to the NCAA Tournament Florida State loses Michael Snaer but still boasts the playmakers and personnel to regain its footing in the mighty ACC

By Brandon Mellor, Managing Editor, Seminoles.com // Photos By Mike Olivella & Ross Obley

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fter clawing its way to the upper echelon of the basketball powerhouse that is the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Florida State men’s basketball team is out to prove that last season’s subpar showing was simply an anomaly and not the new norm.

And improving on the 18– 16 overall record, with a 9-9 conference mark that resulted in a trip to the NIT in 2012-13, means doing so with a nucleus of Ian Miller, Okaro White, Devon Bookert, Aaron Thomas and a trio of seven-footers.

Without Mr. Game-Winner himself, Michael Snaer, the onus is on FSU’s returning players to step up, make an impact, help guide the Seminoles back into contention in the ACC and back into a pair of dancing shoes come March.

“Our coaches believe in us, and now it is just time to take it upon ourselves to step up and lead this team,” Miller said.

The ’Noles will miss Snaer and his late-game heroics, for sure. But White enters his

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final year in Tallahassee with All-America hype and the opportunity to expand his oncourt repertoire.

Lanky and undersized but aggressive and opportunistic as a power forward, the makeup of this year’s ’Noles team could result in White being given increased opportunities on the wing as a small forward. It’s on the outside where White could potentially provide a spark that FSU lost with Snaer’s graduation.

“I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised that he’s a lot further along when you put him on the perimeter — offensively and defensively,” said FSU Coach Leonard Hamilton. “His ball handling has gotten so much better.”

Florida State wouldn’t have the luxury of utilizing White more at the “3” position and taking advantage of his athleticism if rising senior Robert Gilchrist and true

The outside is where Okaro White could potentially provide a spark that FSU lost with Michael Snaer’s graduation.

“Our coaches believe in us and now it is just time for us to take it upon ourselves to step up and lead this team.” — Ian Miller

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Sophomore Aaron Thomas (above) brings tremendous upside and ability at the shooting guard position for 2013-14.

freshman Jarquez Smith weren’t ready and able to handle the requirements of playing power forward in the ACC. While Gilchrist used last season to grow and learn within the system as a juniorcollege transfer, White comes to FSU as an underrated but supremely talented youngster.

“Robert is such a good athlete. He runs the floor so well, and he has a good standing jump shot,” Hamilton said. “Robert gives us a lot by just running the floor and sucking the defense in and can help open outside shots.

The fact that he’s an inside player with a pretty good jump shot kind of stretches the floor a little bit, which gives us an opportunity.

“And with Jarquez, I think you’ll be plenty surprised.”

Fans and opponents may

be surprised by what they see out of Miller as well.

More than anything, that surprise may come from his physical change.

Miller has slimmed down and worked on being better conditioned for a long and grueling season. In addition to being built a little differently, he’s also healthy — something he wasn’t last season when he missed six games and quite a bit of valuable practice time.

“I feel good, and I know the coaches are pleased with the progress I have made,” Miller said. “It’s just a blessing to be back, and I want to make the most of my last year.”

Miller will get that chance as an off-ball scorer and occasional ball handler behind Bookert, who is coming off a breakout

freshman season in which the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder seized control of the Seminoles’ starting point guard position in mid-February and never looked back.

Bookert’s ability to hit 3-pointers — he shot 52.5 percent from long range as a rookie — gives the Seminoles a legitimate playmaker in the backcourt. As his game continues to evolve and he improves at facilitating the basketball, he’ll not only have Miller and White to look for, but also Thomas and Montay Brandon, rising sophomores with tremendous upside and ability at the shooting guard position.

Down low, FSU boasts one of the most impressive threeman center rotations in all of college basketball with Michael Ojo (7-foot-1), Boris Bo-

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janovsky (7-foot-3) and Kiel Turpin all around the rim.

“I must say that all three of our big guys are making tremendous improvements,” Hamilton said. “Turpin has made a tremendous improvement in his aggressiveness and toughness and understanding, so he’s calling for the ball. Ojo has gotten to the point now of having a clear understanding of what we need from him.

Even when he’s not scoring, he’s creating opportunities because he’s locking people up with his body.

“Boris has really good moments, so I am pleased with our [center position].”

Florida State’s quest for a return to the NCAA Tournament officially gets started with the home opener Nov. 8 against Jacksonville. SB

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woMen’s Preview

Ceatet perero ipsandam nones esercipsanis ipis doluptatur, cone conecusam qui cor aut hillentet vent

New Look and New Energy Florida State women’s basketball aims for back to back tournament appearances

By Brandon Mellor, Managing Editor, Seminoles.com // Photos By Mike Olivella & Ross Obley

T

here’s a logic in sports that experience can often times trump talent. Players can work at their craft and practice for countless hours, but there is simply no simulation that generates the same reallife, in-game knowledge gained through actual competition.

The 2013–14 Florida State women’s basketball team isn’t out to prove that adage wrong per se, but this season’s Seminoles squad is built around the idea of proving that “talented but inexperienced” can also breed success. After losing four starters — including two five-year players — and introducing eight new student-athletes this off-season, it won’t be easy.

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“[I have to] try to figure out how we can have the talent and the hunger and the desire and the camaraderie of this group overcome our lack of experience,” said FSU Coach Sue Semrau.

Semrau is the first to admit that she has never experienced this thorough a roster overhaul in her previous 16 seasons as the ’Noles head coach. Replacing a collective group of players that includes Alexa Deluzio, Chasity Clayton, Leonor Rodriguez, Morgan Toles and Chelsea Davis with just three returnees and a host of youngsters is not ideal.

But for everything the Seminoles have lost and are now missing, they have gained an equal level of excitement

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about the potential and possibilities of this new-look roster.

“It’s fresh, it’s young and it’s hungry,” Semrau said. “Sometimes I think you can really lean on experience and certainly we did in a lot of ways last year with five seniors. Now it’s wide open, and we need every new player that we have to come and be their best for us this year.”

Being the best they can be in reality means being as best as Natasha Howard can be.

Howard, the program’s most highly touted high school signee ever, enters her senior season after averaging 12.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season en route to All-ACC First-team

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honors. Howard has blossomed from a talented but raw youngster into a veteran playmaker almost guaranteed to register a double-double every time she steps on the floor. Her 26 career double-doubles is second among all active ACC players, and she is just five from tying the school record for most in a career.

Despite sharing time in the backcourt with Toles, Delgado played starter’s minutes at point guard in her first year with the ’Noles. Delgado’s senior season will see her begin the 2013–14 campaign with the most assists After losing four (148) last year of any returning starters and player in the ACC. introducing eight “Both of them are great playnew players, this young but talented ers,” Semrau said. “They both team will rely on the are going to be kids that play a leadership of seniors ton of minutes for us.”

Natasha Howard and Like Howard, new ’Noles Cheetah Delgado.

Morgan Jones and Kai James were named McDonald’s High School All-Americans during their memorable prep playing days.

Jones, who was on the roster last season but had to sit out due to NCAA transfer rules after coming to FSU from Northwestern, is expected to have an instant impact as a starter this season. An All-Big Ten honorable mention selection as a freshman at Northwestern after averaging 13.9 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, Jones is a combo guard-forward who can score and defend on the wing while also being effective on the inside.

In James, the ’Noles have added a 6-foot-5 presence on the inside that they lacked last year after Cierra Bravard graduated. Brittany Brown, who starred at nearby Choctawhatchee High School in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., last year, is the team’s expected fifth starter at shooting guard.

In addition to the return of reserve forward Lauren Coleman, the Seminoles have also added Ivey Slaughter, Gabrielle Bevillard and Emiah Bingley to the roster. Bingley, who transferred from Iowa State, will be eligible to play once the spring semester starts.

Kentucky transfer Maegan Conwright and Rutgers transfer Shakena Richardson are also on the team, but both must sit out this season per NCAA rules.

“We really feel like we have the speed and the aggressiveness to continue to push it,” Semrau said. “But then we also have the ability in the halfcourt with the strength we have with Kai [James] in the middle, and Brittany Brown is a very strong guard. To have that in the halfcourt set is important, too.” SB

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Men’s Preview

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aCC Basketball Column

The Acc Becomes the Who’s Who of College Basketball

By Don Yaeger // Photo courtesy Don Yaeger

A

few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Basketball Hall of Fame ceremonies in Massachusetts as a guest of former UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Tark and I wrote a book together a few years back, and I was honored to be at his side when he was inducted.

The event was a who’s who of the game. To my left was Larry Bird, to my right was Pat Riley. For a basketball fan, it was a dream come true. It also gave me a chance to spend some time talking about what is happening in the college game with, among others, Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun. At UConn, Calhoun won more than 800 games and three national titles as the head coach of the Huskies. When he heard I still lived in Tallahassee, the conversation turned to the new ACC, which UConn was left out of. In 2013–14, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame will enter the league.

While Calhoun would have loved to see the Huskies enter what is now the premier conference in all of college basketball, he did stress how much he, as a fan, is looking forward to seeing the Syracuse vs. Duke games or Notre Dame vs. FSU matchups. “When the Big East was formed back in the late 1970s, no-

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body could imagine what it was like to have that many great teams in the same league beating up on each other every night,” Calhoun said. “The ACC is going to be that, plus some.”

If you are a basketball-loving soul, you have to stop for a second and reread Calhoun’s words. Plus some … I can’t wait to see it. Adding those three teams to the ACC this year for basketball will open up recruiting in ways we have never seen before.

That’s a good and bad thing for Florida State. Now, the Irish, Panthers and Orange likely will spend a little more time scouring the Southeast for talent that might have been off their radar in the past. But it also gives Leonard Hamilton and the ’Noles a chance to broaden their brand into markets like Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York — and a chance to show the Garnet and Gold in different cities and venues.

So let’s look at what is coming in to the ACC and the value it will bring: Syracuse: The Orange, led by Jim Boeheim, will visit the Donald L. Tucker center on March 9 for their only game against FSU this year. Boeheim trails only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski in total wins

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(with 920) and has been the head coach at Syracuse since 1976. Having a perennial power like Syracuse in the league only adds to the national flavor of the ACC. Pittsburgh: Led by Jamie Dixon, the Pitt Panthers have become a fixture in the NCAA Tournament. In fact, Pitt ranks among the nation’s top five programs in winning percentage (.769, 319-96) over the last 12 years. During that span, Pitt has made one NCAA Elite Eight appearance, five Sweet Sixteen appearances, won six Big East titles and has advanced to 11 of the last 12 NCAA Tournaments. Florida State will visit Pitt on Feb. 23. (The Panthers will not play in Tallahassee this season.)

Notre Dame: Known for its football, the Irish basketball team can hold its own as well. The Irish lost big man Jack Cooley but return a veteran backcourt of Jerian Grant and Eric Watkins, and welcome highly rated recruit Demetrius Jackson. The Irish made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year and are ranked in the Top 30 in the pre-season. Notre Dame will pay a visit to Tallahassee Jan. 21.

A season ago, the ACC only had four teams make it to the Big Dance. With the

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addition of the three newcomers, that number should increase. In talking with Calhoun, he feels the league could get 6–8 teams in the tournament this year.

Duke, Syracuse, North Carolina and Notre Dame will all make the tournament. Teams like Maryland and Virginia will most likely get in as well. The third tier includes teams like NC State, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Virginia and Georgia Tech. All could go on a run and make the tournament — if not, almost all would be guaranteed a trip to the NIT. Seminole fans, the 2013–14 season is right around the corner, and excitement is in the air because of a young and very talented garnet and gold team. This may not be the Sweet 16 team from a few years ago, but there are some nice young pieces for Leonard Hamilton

to work with. FSU always gets up for the big games, and there seem to be a lot of those this year. In addition to the conference schedule, which has home dates against Syracuse, Notre Dame, Miami and North Carolina, as well as road dates against Duke and Pittsburgh, the non-conference slate is shaping up to be challenging as well. FSU will play at Florida and Minnesota and meet up with VCU and either Long Beach State or NCAA runner up Michigan in the Puerto Rico shootout.

The Seminoles will play at least nine teams that played in last season’s NCAA Tournament and could play as many as 20 of their 30 regular season games against teams that played in a national postseason tournament a year ago.

When they play Notre Dame and Syra-

cuse, it’ll be the first time FSU plays either of those teams in school history.

I looked back to find a quote from Leonard Hamilton that I remember reading once the schedule came out back in August. I thought it really summed up the sentiment of all Seminole basketball fans.

“The ACC is going to be the best conference in the history of college basketball, and we are excited that we will play Notre Dame, Syracuse and North Carolina in front our fans in Tallahassee,” Hamilton said. “We are going to face tall tasks from opening night through the post season, and that is very exciting to our players.”

If you want to be the best, you have to play the best. In the new-look ACC, Florida State is definitely going to get that chance. SB

Don Yaeger is a seven-time New York Times best-selling author and longtime Sports Illustrated associate editor. More atdonyaeger.com.

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Natasha Howard Q&A

Q&A

Natasha Howard FSU’s master of double-doubles ready to take on a new challenge

By Brandon Mellor, Managing Editor, Seminoles.com // Photo By Mike Olivella

I

t seems like just yesterday that Natasha Howard signed with Florida State as the most highly touted prospect in program history.

Three full seasons later, Howard enters the 2013–14 season as a player who has blossomed from a raw but elite prospect to a double-double machine and veteran leader on a team loaded with new faces. Howard, who is second among ACC studentathletes in active career double-doubles and is just five away from tying the school record for double-doubles in an FSU career, will be expected to lead by example this season as the ’Noles go through a roster transition.

Once the country’s No. 2 high school women’s basketball prospect, Howard is ready for the challenge.

Q: Has it been a big adjustment, transitioning into a leadership role on a team with so many new players?

Q: You are quiet by nature. Do you feel pressure to become vocal in this leadership role or can you stay the same?

Howard: It’s a little weird being just one of two seniors on the team. I am used to looking up to all the great players that have been here since I got here, so it’s definitely different. It’s an important role I’m in now, and I have to make sure I step up for my team, the program and this school.

Howard: The coaches have been encouraging me to be more vocal and to speak up for the team and help out all the younger players. Our biggest key this year is communicating with all the new players and getting everybody on the same page. So I have to be as vocal as possible and help lead on and off the court.

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Q: How much have you changed as a player over the past three full seasons?

Howard: The person that I am today is very different than when I first got here. I have become more than just an athlete but a leader also. I have learned what it’s like to be part of the community and how important it is to give back and help others who are less fortunate.

Q: Do you take pride in being the type of player that is a threat to go out and register a double-double every single game?

Howard: I do. Definitely. They don’t call me ‘Double-Double’ for no reason.

And it’s funny because a lot of times the game is over and I have no idea that I had that many points or that many rebounds.

It just happens. But I play hard, and a lot of times I get double-doubles because I am always hustling and trying to make plays for the team.

Q: When you look at this team, how does it differ from the three you have been on?

Howard: I think we are a more athletic team than we have been. We are a smart team, I know that. We are quick. We are a team that has to learn a lot because we have so many young and inexperienced players. I see a team that has a chance to be really good.

Q: What does your scholarship and the support that you get from the Boosters mean to you?

Howard: It means a lot to me to have that type of support built right in. The Boosters care about us and want us to do well as people. I have worked hard, and it is nice to know that the hard work is all worth it, because it’s for something bigger than yourself. SB

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Kiel Turpin Q&A

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Q&A

Kiel Turpin

One of FSU’s 7-footers talks about the ‘Noles’ 14-day summer journey to Greece

By Brandon Mellor, Managing Editor, Seminoles.com // Photo By Mike Olivella

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s one of the Florida State men’s basketball team’s three seven-footers, Kiel Turpin is used to seeing the world from a different view.

But over the summer that uncommon perspective took on a whole new meaning as Turpin and the rest of the Seminoles ventured to Greece for a two-week visit sponsored by Nike.

In addition to taking in all the sights, sounds and tastes of the Greek culture, Turpin and the ’Noles took on the Greek national team — a competition that ended in just a ninepoint loss for the ’Noles despite the amateurs versus professionals aspect of the game.

From the outcome of that game to the time spent growing together as a team, the Seminoles’ memorable summer won’t soon be forgotten. And the impact it left on the players won’t soon go away.

Q: How much did the trip overseas help the team bond?

Turpin: I think we learned a lot about ourselves as brothers and stuff. We spent two weeks together, and we didn’t get a lot of privacy so we kind of just hung out with each other. I think that’s definitely going to help us in the long run during the season.

stick together and you can’t really go anywhere without each other. I think we are closer than ever.

Q: What was the game like? It looked like it was a packed arena.

Q: Do you get the sense that as a team you are even closer now?

Turpin: The place was packed. They had guys with sparklers and firecrackers in the stands. It was like an away game, to be honest. We got a lot of love from the fans. It was a really good playing experience playing against them.

Turpin: We were close to begin with, but now I think we are even closer.

Fifteen days with just us, and not really knowing the language, you just

Q: Do you take confidence in knowing how well you played against one of the better national teams in the world?

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Turpin: Oh yeah. We played right with them. They are pros making millions of dollars playing a game, and we were holding our own.

Q: What was it like being in Greece while you were out sightseeing?

Turpin: They are really friendly down there. Everybody kept thinking we were NBA players or something.

We didn’t correct them the first couple of times. We kept telling them we were from the Miami Heat, so that was alright. We took a lot of pictures. They were really friendly and signed autographs. It was a really cool experience.

Q: What about you personally? How do you feel entering your final season at FSU? Turpin: I am feeling pretty good. I am actually in the best shape of my life. I am actually running up and down the court a couple times and not asking to come out after a minute or so in the game. This summer was really big for me developing a lot, and I’m just ready to get the season started. SB

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Stan Wilcox Q&A

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Questions with Athletics Director Stan Wilcox

Florida State’s Athletics Director discusses his youth, previous jobs and how he plans to take FSU into the future as a top notch program By Rob Wilson // Photo By Mike Olivella Q: You attended Notre Dame on a basketball scholarship. Was it your dream to play professional sports?

Wilcox: It was. You don’t realize how good you are in a sport until you get an opportunity to participate against others on a national level in your age range.

Between junior and senior year at North Babylon High School, I went to Five-Star Basketball Camp and played against some of the best players in the country. I played pretty well, and in my senior year I was recruited by the top schools and ended up going to Notre Dame. My aspirations were to play professionally, but I didn’t play as much my junior and senior years, and I was not a highly touted professional prospect. Although I did get offers to play in Europe, I was married and had a baby, and I didn’t want to keep chasing a dream that might not happen, especially since I had a family.

Q: What led you to law school?

Wilcox: I actually never planned on going to law school. After Notre Dame, I became an assistant coach at CW Post for one year, but I felt like I needed a career. I took a job as an account executive for Serres, Visones & Rice Insurance in Manhattan. It was owned by Joe Monticello, whose father was a Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice, and Gerald Esposito, who was the Brooklyn Borough president for many years. They encouraged me to work for the courts and to go to law school. Through them, I took a position in the Brooklyn Supreme Court as a se-

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nior court analyst with Judge Yoswine. I worked there for eight years, and for four of them I attended Brooklyn Law School in the evening program.

Q: What led you back into college athletics?

Wilcox: I knew I wanted to get back into athletics. I was thinking of maybe being a sports agent or of working for the front office of a professional team.

I happened to go to a Notre Dame football game and ran into an old friend who was an attorney at NCAA in enforcement.

She told me that they were interested in hiring people with legal backgrounds.

Q: What came next?

Wilcox: I worked at the NCAA for five years, helping membership understand the rules and regulations and helping craft and change legislation. I got a bird’s eye view of how that organization operates. From there I was recruited to work for the Big East Conference as an associate commissioner. I grew the regulatory side of the services they provide to their member schools. After 11 terrific years, I went to work for my alma mater, Notre Dame, as deputy athletics director, and worked with Kevin White, who became my longtime mentor.

Q: Can you share what you learned from White, who is now the director of Athletics at Duke?

Wilcox: Kevin has a total understanding

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of what it means to be an effective athletic director. From him, I learned how to navigate the politics that go along with running an athletics department. That’s not just the politics on your campus with professors, deans, presidents and all the various constituents and stakeholders. He taught me the “big picture” politics of your position within the conference. You have to be selfless enough to make decisions that may not be best for your institution, but that are in the best interests of your conference and the NCAA as a whole.

He also taught me that an AD needs to be a good steward of the budget and has to look to the future to add to the fan experience and create amenities that add new streams of revenue. The last piece I learned from him is to have a master facilities plan. Student-athletes are savvy consumers. They want the best facilities to play and practice in and want the best training and medical attention. If you are falling behind in those areas, you will lose prospects that you need to create winning programs.

Q: Your calendar shows you’ve hit the ground running since September 1.

Wilcox: It’s been very busy. [Laughs].

It’s a big job with a lot of public relations components. Last week, which was only my third week on the job, there was an athletic Board of Trustees meeting, a Gathering of the Chiefs Appreciation Party (a mix and mingle with Boosters, donors, coaches and student-athletes), dinner at the President’s House and a Hall of Fame

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banquet at which we inducted seven former student-athletes. Before the home opener, I attended a dedication of the new indoor practice facility for our football program and did a radio show. Then I was on the field to shake the hands of the Hall of Fame inductees. In between all of that I’ve been trying to get to all our athletic events: soccer, football, tennis, golf and cross-country. It’s busy, but I love it down here.

Q: You’ve also got to deal with some very controversial issues as the director of Athletics. Currently there is great concern over recent stories of athletes receiving inappropriate income. How do you deal with that and other potential compliance issues?

Wilcox: We are all in glass houses when it comes to that, but one of the areas that is a strength for me is compliance. FSU puts a lot of resources into compliance, which for me, in considering the job, was very important. There are three challenges in being an AD: student-athlete balance, economics and compliance, which is a shared responsibility of everyone who has anything to do with athletics, from the top down. I have to set the tone for the entire department, and we have to be vigilant in communicating this to the entire community.

We also have to self-police so if there is a violation, it is reported to the NCAA or conference office. You can get into big problems when you don’t do regular maintenance. I stress that to all my student-athletes, coaches, staff and everyone when I give a talk to benefactors and Boosters. They have to hear that message. You might think you can help out a student-athlete, but you may be jeopardizing the entire program, and you don’t want to be that person.

Q: What other challenges do you face?

Wilcox: I tell student-athletes all the

time, just as you compete for MVP on the field you have to take that same mentality and energy and apply it to academics, because when one’s playing days are over, the education piece will always be with you. That’s what will get you a job.

The economics challenge is what we call “the arms race.” Athletics is about people having opportunities to flourish in a sport that they love and providing the necessary

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tools and funding that each coach and program needs to be successful. That is what I have to provide. But we don’t want to be in a position where the faculty can’t get funding, because it’s being siphoned off for athletics programs. We want to be an auxiliary unit where we can turn money back to the university. The constant challenge is to figure out ways to capture new resources. SB

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Coach Sue Semrau Q&A

Q&A

Coach Sue Semrau

By Tim Linefelt Photo By Mike Olivella

The tenured head coach talks about the team’s preseason trip overseas, her young talent on offense, and the senior players who will serve as team anchors

S

ue Semrau, entering her 16th season at the helm in Tallahassee, can’t recall a season when she had to replace so many key, experienced contributors. But that’s not to say she isn’t excited about it.

This year’s Seminoles will still feature a pair of talented seniors in forward Natasha Howard and guard Cheetah Delgado, and they’ll be boosted by a trio of freshmen: Kai James, Brittany Brown and Ivey Slaughter. Morgan Jones, a junior who had to sit out a year after transferring to FSU from Northwestern, is also back in the mix.

A preseason tour to Italy and Senegal helped ease the transition and allowed the Seminoles to gain valuable practice time and play against challenging competition.

Semrau recently took time to reflect on the trip, her team and the upcoming season.

Q: While in Africa, you and the team visited an orphanage. What was that experience like?

Semrau: It was incredible. To really understand why there are so many infants in orphanages in Africa, to hear the stories and to understand that a lot of the mothers die in childbirth. A lot of the fathers can’t take care of the babies, and so this orphanage takes care of them for up to a year. Sometimes they’re training the fathers to take care of them as well.

It was very, very humbling. There were kids everywhere, and we were able to be with them and to touch them, to hold them. It was pretty amazing.

Q: What were some of the other highlights?

Semrau: The safari was really cool.

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You’re up close and personal with a zebra and a giraffe and a rhino and all that.

That was a really cool thing. And I think even more so was the opportunity we had, through the Nike Seed program over there, to do a clinic for the young boys and girls in that community. They’re so hungry. You set up a defensive slide station, and they’re just busting it. Here in America, it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s hard.’ But they wanted every piece of information they could get.

Q: Are you looking forward to the challenge of transitioning from last year’s team to this new group of players?

Semrau: I really am because of their attitudes. It’s fresh. It’s young. It’s hungry. And sometimes I think you can really lean on experience and, certainly, we

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did last year in a lot of ways with five seniors. Now it’s open, and we need every player that we have to come and be their best for us to be our best.

Q: Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve had to replace five seniors?

Semrau: I don’t think so. I think it’s the most fun that I’m going to have, with a solid group of people where every single one is going to be counted on. That’s exciting.

Q: How important is it to be able to go on a preseason trip like that with a younger team?

Semrau: Gosh, we’ve never gotten to take freshmen on a trip like this. So to be able to take them and not only put them in some off-court bonding but (also) on the court, in the battle against the Senegalese national team, I mean, that was huge.

Just the camaraderie, the trust factor, the things they learned about each other. I think those things were invaluable.

Q: Is it a daunting task to have to replace so many experienced players?

Semrau: It is. And often times I believe that experience trumps talent. Now, I’ve got a whole new angle on it, and (we’ve

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and honing her skills that way. Now it’s a little bit different for her, too.

Q: When a player has had to sit out for a year like that, can you feel them sort of chomping at the bit once it’s time to get back out there?

Semrau: Yeah, you could see her in our first two games, she pressed. She wanted everything to be perfect. She had waited for this time, and she was very disappointed in herself. So to be able to leave that country behind and go to the next and have her really play more of her game was good to see.

Q: Will the identity of this team stay the same and still try to push the ball or will you have to change some of your mindset?

Coach Sue, the winningest women’s basketball coach in FSU history, looks to take her ’Noles back to NCAA Tournament action with her experienced and talented squad.

got to) try to figure out how we can have the talent and the hunger and the desire and the camaraderie of this group overcome our lack of experience.

Q: You do have two seniors, Natasha Howard and Cheetah Delgado, who have played significant roles. Can you lean on them?

Semrau: Absolutely. Tasha more so just because she’s been here for four years. Cheetah is a floor general, and she’s a great point guard. She’ll do everything she can to help us win. But I do think that with her only being here one year prior to this one (Delgado previously played at Hillsborough Community College and Arkansas), Tasha is going to bear a lot of the load.

Q: Does it help to have a senior in the frontcourt and the backcourt?

Semrau: Oh yeah, for sure. Both of them are great players. It’s not like there’s going to be this, ‘Oh, we’re not going to listen to you, you’re just old.’

They’re both going to be kids that play a ton of minutes for us. They’re going to be in the mix of everything.

Q: Are you excited to finally bring Morgan Jones into the mix as well? (Jones sat out last season after transferring to FSU from Northwestern.)

Semrau: Very much. It’s always hard because you don’t want to take a player that’s redshirted and put them too much in your mix while they’re practicing and not competing. She’s just really getting used to this new set of teammates. She’s getting used to what it feels like to be coached by us on a daily basis, where last year she was more on the scout team

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Semrau: We really feel like we have the speed and the aggressiveness to continue to push it. But then we also have the ability in the halfcourt. With the kind of strength we have with (6-foot-5 center) Kai (James) in the middle, and (5-8 guard) Brittany Brown is just a very, very strong guard, to have that in a halfcourt set is important, too.

Q: What are your early impressions of the newcomers?

Semrau: All three of them are already aggressive, they’re fearless and they fit very well with the group we have now.

Q: What does Kai bring to the table?

Semrau: She’s got tremendous hands, she’s got great footwork. She takes up a lot of space in the middle that it’s just hard to get around her. She’s got great touch. She already has a pro body, and we just have to get her into the type of condition where she understands, at this level, how hard it’s going to be possession by possession. SB

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Coach Leonard Hamilton Q&A

Q&A

Coach Leonard Hamilton The Florida State basketball head coach talks about the 2013-14 season, conference, schedule, goals and expectations for his program By Tim Linefelt // Photo By Ross Obley Q: With practice getting underway, do you like what you’ve seen so far?

Hamilton: The areas that we’re trying to improve on have been quite obvious.

Our guys are responding very well. We feel that we have a team of guys who are a little more skilled off the bounce in terms of their dribbling skills and their athleticism. So we want to try to attack the basket more off the dribble, which we have not been as consistent with in the past.

We want to push the ball a little more in transition, and hopefully that will give us an opportunity to get out and utilize our athleticism and quickness and our ability to attack the basket a little more.

Q: After building a program notorious for its tough defense, the team struggled with your defensive principles last season. How is the defense coming along?

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Hamilton: The thing that we’re most concerned with is that we’ve led the nation in field goal percentage defense two years running, and last year we took a step back. A lot of it is because we were inexperienced. We just didn’t feel like they grasped our defensive system nearly as well. Our effort has been a lot better in practice and I think, overall, they have a better understanding of the defensive principles that have allowed us to be one of the better defensive teams in the country for a number of years now. I like the acceptance of the emphasis that we’re putting in those areas. I feel that we’re making progress. I do feel that our guys understand the shortcomings that we had last year, and I think they’re working very hard to improve in those areas.

Q: Last season you had seven firstyear players — five freshmen and

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two junior college transfers. How have they improved with a year’s experience under their belts?

Hamilton: There’s no doubt that the year of experience they got last year taught them an awful lot. If you go back and watch film, if you were to talk to each man, they’ll tell you there were certain things they didn’t quite understand. They weren’t resistant to learning, I just think that’s the process that you go through, and last year was the first time in a long time we’ve had to rely on that many first-year players. If you look back at the successes that we’ve had, a lot of it was because we’ve tried to have a junior/ senior group that gave us good leadership, and we rotated our less-experienced players as the season progressed.

We were put in a situation last year that the rotation was different. We had to put them right into the fire, and hopefully that will be something we benefit from this year, because those guys had the opportunity to be put in those situations and learn and grow from it.

Q: You’ve also got four seniors, including Okaro White and Ian Miller.

How have they transitioned into their new roles?

Hamilton: This is probably the least experienced senior group that we’ve ever had. With Robert (Gilchrist) being an international player, coming from a junior college, and (Kiel) Turpin not having a whole lot of basketball experience. And Ian, the first couple of years he didn’t play the first semester. Last year, as a junior, he played injured the entire year with a bone bruise. So Okaro is the only real experienced senior that we have that has gone through that freshman, sophomore, junior year completely. And I think he has responded appropriately. Ian’s been around. I think he understands … So even

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Hamilton’s very young team from last year has gained the experience he hopes will get the team back to the ACC Championship and into the NCAA Tournament.

though we have four seniors, it’s not like we have guys who’ve been in the program for four years like Luke (Loucks), Deividas (Dulkys) and Xavier (Gibson), people who have been around for a number of years. We’re still a little young.

Q: What kind of a leader is Okaro White?

Hamilton: He’s leading by example.

He’s not a real loud, vocal person. He’s kind of quiet by nature, but I think his experience is something that’s very welcome. Last year we only had one senior, and he’s kind of playing a little bit of that role. But he does have, I think, guys who understand a little bit more of how to follow leadership. It’s hard to be a leader when guys don’t understand how to follow. I think we have guys now that understand the value of having someone who has been there, done that.

Q: The ACC has become bigger and tougher than ever with the additions of Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh and will only get stronger when Louisville joins next year. What are your thoughts on the new ACC and how it impacts your schedule?

(Syracuse, Notre Dame and North Carolina will all visit Tallahassee this season.)

Hamilton: We’re actually in a conference that’s the No. 1 college basketball conference in the history of college basketball. And I’m not real sure this area of the country has really absorbed what I just said. There’s never been anything like this conference structure that we have. It’s not even close. You cannot find those types of traditions in any other conference ever assembled in the history of college basketball. So what

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that means is that every night that we play, regardless of who we’re playing against, it’s going to be an unbelievable opponent that we’re playing here in the Civic Center.

I think it’ll no longer be where (fans) pick and choose what games to attend, and one game might not be be quite as exciting as another. Any time there’s an ACC game going on, people need to start trying to line up to get their seats.

Those who do not have season tickets probably need to think about trying to hurry up and get them, because you don’t want to get caught not understanding what’s happening now. This is not as usual. This is not like it has always been. This is different in a positive way but in a monumental way. When you start looking at the reality of what we’re facing, it’s special and unique. SB

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Before the game...

During the game...

After the game...

Your friends are listening!

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Player feature

Okaro White

The senior forward opens up about his youth, family and being a student athlete at Florida State

By Bonnie Holub

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//

Photos By Mike Olivella

asketball phenom Okaro White is not the first star athlete in his family. His mother, Charmine White, holds that distinction. “Mom ran track for the Jamaican National Team back in her day,” said Okaro. “She’s an inspiration to me, the way she geared up and made a better life for herself and her family by using her athletic skills. I want to do that, make a good life for my family using my athletic abilities.”

Okaro’s plan is to play professional basketball in the NBA or possibly overseas.

One look at Okaro’s track record, and no one would doubt he is working hard to realize that dream. He enters his FSU senior season ranked sixth in school history with a .799 free throw shooting percentage. He is ranked 19th in school history with 267 career free throws made. He is ranked 21st in school history with 67 career blocked shots. And he needs only 88 points to become the 43rd player in school history to score 1,000 or more career points.

“Okaro has done everything we have asked of him since he became part of the basketball team as a freshman,” said Leonard Hamilton, FSU men’s head basketball coach. “He has worked hard and matured every year he has been at Florida State and has been an integral part of our success. He has been a starter on two NCAA Tournament teams and helped us win the first ACC Championship in school history. “ During the first three seasons of his college career, Okaro, who plays forward,

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has exhibited his athletic domination on both ends of the court, able to switch back and forth between key positions during each game and sometimes during each play.

“Okaro is one of the most athletic players in the country and he is going to open up games for us because he has improved his shooting so much during his career,” said senior guard teammate Ian Miller. “He is also learning how to play the guard position and is only adding to his repertoire by improving another aspect to his game. He is an up-tempo type of player who brings leadership through his energy while also becoming more of a vocal leader coming into his senior season.”

Okaro’s abilities earned him a spot on the cover of the college basketball preview magazine, The Sporting News. Editors of the magazine noted, “His ability to punish opponents inside and occasionally on the perimeter ensures that he’ll be a centerpiece as a senior.”

Early years

Okaro was born in Brooklyn, N. Y., on Aug. 13, 1992, joining a six-year-old brother and twoyear-old sister. At age “10 or 12” his family moved to Clearwater to be near Okaro’s grandmother. Moving from a northern big city to the less urbanized, slower paced South took a bit of getting used to for Okaro. At first, it seemed very rural and too hot. “I was used to seeing a lot of big buildings and snow.” Getting comfortable in the new environment took some time, although Okaro said shedding his

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ball in Clearwater’s local youth clubs.

He was more interested in football, playing quarterback and free safety, but was recruited to play basketball by one of the coaches because of his outstanding athletic abilities.

“I was horrible at basketball.” When asked by whose definition Okaro responded, “By everyone’s! I was horrible. I was too aggressive and fouled out all the time.”

But his mom gave him encouragement to focus on basketball; by Okaro’s account, it was a better fit for him physically than the other sports. “By 10th grade, I made huge improvements in the game,” he said.

Indeed he did. As a senior at Clearwater High, Okaro was named the Pinellas County Player of the Year.

White was a nationally recruited player out of high school and chose Florida State for what he describes as the genuine people and that it offered a better total college experience.

Brooklyn accent was quick. “I think I lost it within a couple of months.”

While Okaro dealt early on with the feeling of being out of his familiar world, he would soon have to handle an “out of body” experience as well. Up until he was in the 8th grade he was, by his estimate, normal height. But that all changed during the summer between 7th and 8th grade.

Okaro spent that summer with other family members in New York. On his return home, he was physically a different person. His family in Clearwater was as surprised as he was by what was happening. “I grew five and a half inches all in that one summer,” said Okaro. “And it hurt. My knees hurt. I’m told the growth plates were shifting.” His current height is 6-foot-8, but he is not the tallest in his genealogy. His grandfather (on his father’s side) was 7 feet tall.

During Okaro’s upper elementary and early middle school years he tried track, football and eventually basket-

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Why FSU Okaro was courted by Florida, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Miami and Clemson, but only Florida teams made his first cut. “I wanted to play in Florida so my Mom and grandmother could more easily attend games.” The choice eventually narrowed to FSU and UF. FSU became his pick because, “They were genuine. FSU has a family atmosphere. It is a better total college experience with diverse opportunities in Tallahassee.”

And the Seminoles are happy, too, that Okaro chose FSU. “He is a very important part of all of our accomplishments and has helped us change the culture of our program and helped make our team the third winningest program in the ACC during his career,” said Hamilton.

Advice to younger recruits Okaro urges younger athletes to enjoy the college experience, take advantage of what Tallahassee has to offer and get out and interact with people. “These are probably some of the best years of your life.”

He said former FSU player Bernard James offered good advice when he encouraged him to communicate with a wide range of people within the university

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system and throughout the community.

Although the scholarship to FSU was always very important to Okaro, he said, “I didn’t understand all the pieces and parts that go into making it happen until I started communicating more with others.

The light started to click on when I got out to meet and talk with more people. That’s when it hit me that other people are willing to pay for (me) to have an opportunity in life. And I am grateful. I’ll pinch off of what Bernard told me. Always be thankful. Don’t take anything for granted.”

Thank you from Okaro “I want to thank everyone who is involved with Florida State Athletics,” said Okaro.

“FSU has everything down pat for setting a platform for athletes to be successful. We have a very good team of coaches, staff, boosters and academic departments.”

Okaro especially wants to thank Coach Hamilton for being a father figure in his life. For being genuine. “Whenever I need someone to talk to, he takes time out of his busy days.”

From Coach Hamilton “Okaro is special because he has played exceptional basketball for us throughout his career. We have relied on him to play at a couple of different positions, excel both offensively and defensively and to be a leader on and off the court. He has filled all of those roles and continues to get better as a player. He has been very solid and we expect that his senior season will be the best of his career as a Seminole. We are excited about Okaro in the upcoming season because he has prepared for success.”

Okaro was recently talking with teammates about their time at FSU. “The time has shot by, it’s just shot by. I know at the senior banquet there will be tears,” he reflected.

No doubt there will be. There will be tears from the graduating athletes and tears from Okaro’s proud FSU family who will watch him move forward onto the larger court of his future. SB

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815 West Madison Street Call or Text for more info: 850. 545. 1995

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facebook/fsucollegetown SEMINO LE-BO OST ERS .CO M

@fsucollegetown

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Fun Food drinK FriendS

Why go anywhere else?

30+ Year Donors

Recognizing 30+ Year Members In the spring of 2012, while planning a membership recognition program, we contacted donors whose records dated back to 1984, the farthest back our records are dated. Knowing that many members began giving to the program prior to 1984, we asked them to share a story about how they remember their first year. The response was overwhelming. Here is an anecdote from one of our 30 year-plus donors. Their stories are moving, interesting and entertaining, and reading them will likely trigger some of your own memories.

Share your story with us. Send it to BoosterInfo@admin.fsu.edu.

ball season ught my first foot bo I e tim e th t b ter abou inole Booster clu I became a Boos unty had no Sem Co s lla ne Pi e ad . At that tim wden became he tickets in 1974 When Coach Bo . pa m Ta in gs to meetin out having our so we had to go e conversation ab th d te ar st us a group of y short, I called coach in 1976, ke a longer stor ma To s. lla ne Pi oup here in own Booster gr uld get it going, ssee to see if I co ha lla Ta in e fic of it the Booster 8 to help us get down here in `7 e m ca es rn Ba and Charlie on after that. together fa irly so done. It all came rnes ) First Area ed (by Charlie Ba int po ap t go I Somehow Boosters in County Sem inole s lla ne Pi e Th Chairman of nner and Golf r first Bowden Di ou d ha e W .

0 1979 and ’8 about 160 untry Club with Co r oo m rd Ba at Tournament ’s great years g Coach Bowden rin Du . ing nd te at avid ’Noles ng two national tendance. Winni at in 0 0 1,0 ve we would ha attendance. titles never hurts rman were very serving as chai My ea rly days r fine people in ou ally have some rewa rding. We re arlie Barnes y Miller and Ch nd A n. tio za ni Booster orga e) a great asset! were (a nd still ar h t to know Coac r me is that I go Another plus fo d out what al way and foun on rs pe e or m a Bowden in rson e out a better pe ma n he is. I ca m a fine Christia n . for knowing him Go Noles !!! z, D.D.S. Denny Fernande

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Dr. Denny Fernandez, Coach Bowden, Dr. Mike Fernandez (Denny’s son) met Coach Bowden several times throughout his career at FSU including the many Bowden Tour stops in Pinellas County.

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Bobby Bowden Day

Bobby Bowden Day

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Bobby Bowden Day

“People ask me, since you left FSU, do you miss football? I tell them, no, I don’t miss football … I miss the fans.”

— Bobby Bowden, 10/26/13

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Candi Fisher

Candid Candi

The First Lady of Florida State Football gives the Play-by-Play of Life Behind the Scoreboard By Gina Davidson

played quarterback for Terry Bowden at Salem (W. Va.) College and transferred with him when Bowden was hired. After a season in the Arena Football League, he rejoined Bowden at Samford, first as a graduate assistant coach and then as offensive coordinator.

When Bowden was hired as the head coach at Auburn University in December 1992, he hired Jimbo as the quarterbacks coach. Jimbo and Candi moved to Auburn and married six months later in Birmingham. He was 27; she was 24.

“I went back to school then because I was ready to go,” says Candi. She majored in Secondary English Education at Auburn after deciding that teaching would be a good career alongside Jimbo’s coaching career. “I was always bossy, so it seemed like a perfect fit, and I loved reading.” After graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1997, she taught for five years, first in Auburn and then in Cincinnati and Baton Rouge, La., cities where Jimbo’s profession led them.

Eight years into their marriage, they decided they were ready to start a family. “We were at a point where it was OK if I didn’t work anymore. I saw too many other coaches’ wives trying to do it all: work and be the mom and dad. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult. I didn’t want to miss any of their growing up.”

Jimbo and Candi met for the first time through mutual friends when Jimbo was coaching at Samford in 1991.

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photos by Mike Olivella and courtesy of The fishers

R

ooted by her humble beginnings in Piedmont, Ala., Candi Fisher is quick to let you know what matters most in her life, and it isn’t football — though that ranks pretty high.

As the wife of Florida State head football coach Jimbo Fisher, she hopes the numbers on the scoreboard lean in the Seminoles’ favor. However, her ambitions center on life behind the scenes: raising sons, Trey, 12, and Ethan, 8, spearheading the Kidz1stFund and keeping the Florida State football family connected.

Any one of those responsibilities is more than a full-time job, which makes it all the more impressive that Candi manages to execute all three with seeming ease. She points to her rural roots and her faith as the source of her strength.

“Everybody in my hometown worked hard. They were proud people.” Fisher’s paternal grandparents each worked 46 years at the local cotton mill before retiring together. “I spent a lot of time around them,” she says. “My biggest influences were my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my mom. I always knew I wanted to take what I learned from all of them and broaden my horizons.”

She got off to a rocky start, but eventually she did just that.

After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Jacksonville (Ala.) State. “But it just didn’t seem like the right timing for me,” she says. “I wasn’t focused, and it didn’t seem like what I needed to be doing, so I went to work full-time.”

It was during this time, when she was working in finance, that a friend of hers happened to meet a roommate of Jimbo’s at Panama City Beach. In March 1991, they introduced Candi and Jimbo. He was the offensive coordinator and coaching quarterbacks at Samford (Ala.) University, under new head coach Terry Bowden, son of legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden. Jimbo had

Candi Fisher

The Fishers are a close family. Jimbo, despite working long hours, rarely misses his kids’ activities.

They vacation together once every year.

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The boys, who were both born in Baton Rouge, were not yet of school age when the Fishers moved to Tallahassee.

“This is the best place for them to be.

Ever. (We like) the sports programs, the schools, the neighborhoods. Tallahassee is such a kid-friendly place.”

The decision to come here was personal as well as professional, she says.

“Jimbo grew up respecting what Coach Bowden had done. Watching him, following him. And of course he played for Terry. I think he felt that coming here was almost like coming full circle.”

Jimbo becoming the head coach was not expected. “Obviously, I was elated for him because I knew it was something that he’d always wanted and that he’d worked really hard to achieve,” she says, “and it was Florida State — how cool was that!”

“What I’m proud of Jimbo for is he’s never tried to be Coach Bowden or Nick Saban. He’s just Jimbo. He’s not trying to do it the way Bobby did it. I know people want to say, ‘He’s like Nick Saban. He’s like Bobby Bowden.’ And I see where they’re coming from. Everybody you’re with has a certain influence on you, but he isn’t trying to be either one of them.

The worst thing you can do is try to be someone you’re not. You have to be you.”

Jimbo’s new role and the boys’ advancing ages brought a lot of change to the Fisher household.

“When (the boys) were younger, there was a certain age where I saw it happen with both of them, where they thought, ‘Wait. Why isn’t Dad here?’ There’s this pivotal age where they notice that big difference. Some times of the year he just can’t be there, but during baseball season (both boys play travel and league baseball) he tries his best to make his schedule work around their activities, because he wants to be there as much as he can be.”

Trey and Ethan have both played baseball since they were three years old.

They also golf, and Ethan plays tennis.

“And they love to hunt,” says Candi, “that’s one thing they love to do with

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Trey Fisher

their dad that’s really special.” This fall, Trey is on the football team at The Maclay School, where he and Ethan attend.

The Fishers have found rewarding ways to combine their family time with the team’s time.

“We have Family Night every Monday.

All the families, including the coaches’ wives and children get together with the players. As they’re coming off the field after their practice on Monday nights, we’re there waiting with cookies and brownies. Then we all have dinner.”

On game days, Trey is Jimbo’s sidekick, joining him in everything that he and the team do.

“Trey, Ethan and I go to all the away games on the team plane, so we’re with (the players) on the plane, on the buses and at the hotel,” Candi says. “It’s an opportunity for us to really get to know them one-on-one. It’s very rewarding, and you get so attached.”

While Candi stays in touch with many former players, some have left indelible footprints on her heart. “We’re really close to Christian, EJ, Chris Thompson, Dustin Hopkins and several others,” she says. “Trey became particularly close to Dustin this past season. He began to practice kicking and started hanging out with Dustin, (and they) developed this bond that was an amazing thing to see. Dustin had the biggest influence on

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Trey at a meaningful time; he was about to start middle school, where you don’t want to be different or be singled out. He learned from seeing Dustin stay strong to his beliefs in the face of adversity that you have to stay true to who you are, even if it isn’t always what’s most popular. Dustin can tell you how to handle the pressure of things, because when you miss a kick you’ve got the entire world mad at you.”

Candi says Dustin gave each boy a Bible for Christmas and wrote a note inside for each of them. “He’ll always be special to us,” she says.

It’s evident he is special to Trey. “When Trey picked his baseball number this season,” she says, “he picked number 18. It’s such a sign of respect for Dustin.”

Candi’s grateful not only for the support the players have shown to her sons and their family, but for the lessons she hopes the boys are learning from witnessing the dedication of everyone involved in athletics.

“Sports builds so much character,” she says. “It teaches life lessons, work ethic and when you’re knocked down to get back up. You fight until you can’t fight anymore.”

The only off-season for the Fishers is about three weeks during the summer, when they typically visit friends and family in West Virginia and Alabama.

“This (past) summer we took a long vacation. We went to Cooperstown (for Trey’s baseball tournament), New York City and West Virginia. It was a great trip and good family time. We usually don’t stay gone that entire time because (Jimbo) doesn’t like being away from the office too much. He wants to be accessible.”

Taking care of the players they recruit is also of utmost importance to the Fishers. “When you recruit those kids,” says Candi, “you’re talking to their parents and telling them that you’re going to take care of their son, and you’re going to be there for him. You’re going to make him leave home as a high-school teenager and become a man by the time he comes back home. That’s a huge respon-

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sibility, and it takes a lot of people being involved in their lives to try to help and guide and influence them.”

Part of that influence comes from the coaches’ wives, who are heavily involved in recruiting, building relationships with the players and creating unity within the organization.

At a recent meeting with the current coaches’ wives, many of whom are new to FSU, Candi shared the importance of their bond. “Make an effort to keep your group close, and lean on each other,” she told them, “because you’re all in the same position. When things don’t go well, it’s not the people in the grocery store who you’re going to find comfort in, it’s the people in this group, because they’re feeling the same pain you’re feeling.”

“I always thought that (unifying the wives) would be something I would be really strong at,” she says, “because I am a planner, an organizer, a ‘pull everybody together’ kind of person. And I did really well with that the first year, and then I didn’t so much after that because things in my life changed so much. It just wasn’t something I could focus on.”

The changes that pulled Candi away came in 2011, when within several months’ time, she lost her beloved grandfather, and her youngest brother was killed the day before Thanksgiving.

It was also the year the Fishers learned of Ethan’s rare blood disease.

“It was a tough year,” she says. “There were times I wasn’t sure I would make it.

I just wanted to pretend none of it had happened.”

She turned to her faith, her mom, her friends and her husband to find a way to move forward and realized that she wanted to make a difference with Ethan’s diagnosis. It was then that she and Jimbo, “with the help of some wonderful people in the Tallahassee community,” established the Kidz1stFund through which they have raised awareness and money for research for Fanconi anemia.

“The biggest thing now is how do we take it from (Florida) and make it bigger?” she says. “We’re talking with

photos by Mike Olivella and courtesy of The fishers

Candi Fisher

Candi Fisher

Pittsburgh head coach Paul Chryst coordinated with FSU and the Fishers to highlight Kidz1stFund during the game on September 2, 2013. Every player on both teams displayed the Kidz1stFund logo on their helmet.

legislators, trying to do something on a broader scale in Florida and possibly Washington, D.C.” Candi spends a large amount of time doing fundraising and connecting with other families affected by the disease.

The Kidz1stFund has given more than $1 million to the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital, and the hope for 2014 is to exceed their annual commitment of $500,000. “(The hospital has) done more for Fanconi anemia patients than everyone else in the country combined,” says Candi.

“That’s where Ethan goes for his annual testing, and they are in charge of everything that happens with his health care.”

Trey has also been tested, so the Fishers know he does not have the disease, but there is a possibility he’s a carrier.

Ethan continues to lead an active lifestyle, but the Fishers know a bone marrow transplant is in his future. In addition to the bone marrow biopsy

he has done each year at the Children’s Hospital (to make sure everything looks normal), his blood work is checked every three months so his doctors will know if his bone marrow begins failing or if he starts showing signs of preleukemia.

“It’s funny how life takes you on the journey that it wants you on,” Candi says. “If you had told me 10 years ago I’d be running a non-profit, I’d have said, ‘No way!’ I always wondered what I was supposed to be when I grew up, and it took a long time for me to figure it out, but this is what I’m supposed to do, and my goal is to affect change.”

Affecting change, raising children, keeping folks connected. They are all in Candi Fisher’s wheelhouse, and she tries her best to manage them all with grace.

“Candi is unbelievably committed to our children and family,” says Jimbo.

“Her work with Kidz1stFund has been remarkable, and the things she’s been

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able to accomplish and still be a great wife and mother are phenomenal.”

Of herself, Candi says, “I’m a strong person, and I understand what this job requires. That’s not to say I’m a perfect person and I don’t get frustrated and say ‘why us’ or even get jealous of the job sometimes, but I know (Jimbo) can’t be who he is supposed to be if I’m putting pressure on him. I’ve known since early on in his career that I was along for the ride, and that I was going to do whatever I could to let him be as successful as he could be. That was his dream, and I wanted that for him.

Not that I gave up me for that; I wanted that, too. I like this. I enjoy the game, and I love the kids. I love the atmosphere; I grew up in it. My grandfather (an Alabama fan) raised me watching football. He died in August of 2011, and Alabama won the National Championship in 2011 and 2012. I know that my Papa had something to do with that. Now I’m hoping he has a little something to do with us.” SB If you would like more info about donating to the Kidz1stFund or becoming a bone marrow donor please visit kidz1stfund.com or Be The Match at marrow.org.

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planned giving

By JOEL PADGETT

Why I Give Donors are always eager to tell me what motivated them to make an estate gift to Seminole Boosters. Each is interesting, and some are surprising. I enjoy hearing their stories and one day was asked by a donor why I’ve never told my story. Although I am a very private person, I thought it may be important for our readers to know why I made a substantial estate gift for scholarships.

I

t is one of my first memories. I had not offered my usual resistance to going to bed and lay there waiting. Looking out the open window beside my bed, my view was obstructed only by small pieces of masking tape that covered the tears in the screen meant to keep the hordes of mosquitoes at bay.

The adjacent field was covered with a thin blanket of fog hovering just off the ground, glowing from the distant bright lights. We lived downtown, and the high school football field on the edge of town (two blocks away) was packed with everyone from the community except those deemed too young. I was waiting to hear Daddy. Suddenly, there he was. “Welcome to tonight’s game where the Fighting Spudsters take on ... ” (Hastings is proud to be the potato capital of Florida.)

Daddy loved football and really loved basketball. He almost died of scarlet fever as an infant, and the corresponding heart damage limited his ability to play high school ball. He had been the game announcer since they installed the public address system.

As soon as I was old enough, I went early to the games with him. We would go into the coach’s office, which doubled as the referees’ room on game nights, chat with the refs and pick up the announcing gear. We moved through the adjacent locker room, chatting with the coaches and players. I loved everything about

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that room, from the smell of analgesic balm and wet leather shoes that never dried after the first soggy practice to the clattering of players’ cleats on the concrete floor. Out the door, the green stage dramatically framed in powerful light gave off a sweet, fresh-mown aroma.

It was ready for the game.

Time could not pass fast enough for me to be a part of that. After school and every weekend was spent practicing or playing football or basketball. The Methodist Church lot across the street was the favorite place for the town boys to gather and play. We dribbled on the root-filled basketball court and took aim on the net-less rim that was nailed to a plywood backboard on the pine tree.

The most special weekends were in the fall when my brother, father and I would be working or washing cars in the front yard and a seed or fertilizer salesman would pull up and ask if we wanted tickets for the game in Gainesville. We would hurry to clean up and dress — the men still wore coats, ties and felt hats to the games — and make the 45-minute drive.

With more people than I knew existed making a deafening noise, masses of students singing and swaying and the emotional roller coaster of the game’s momentum changes, it was a magical place.

Eighth grade was finally over, and it was just a couple of months until I could put on a uniform. My brother Bennie

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Joel Padgett and his siblings pose in their front yard in central Florida in the 1950s.

was entering his senior year and had never wanted to play football, although coaches and friends had urged him to play. At the last minute before fall practice started, he decided that since I was going out, he would too.

It rained a lot the first two weeks of practice. Between standing water and oppressive humidity we were constantly soaked. Everyone played on both sides of the ball back then. When the first team was on offense, Bennie and I were on defense, with him at tackle and me at linebacker behind him.

When the play was over, Bennie did not get up. And as the coaches attended him, I heard Bennie making odd breathing noises. Coach Brumley told me to run to the corner gas station and call an ambulance.

It was the last time I saw my brother.

As he lay in a coma for weeks in Gainesville, the doctors told my parents that he had a pre-existing aneurism in his brain that had ruptured.

Watching my parents after Bennie’s death prepared me for a later life career where I had to deal with parents facing their worst nightmare — the loss of a child.

Photos Courtesy of the Padgett Family

It is hard to keep secrets in a small house, so I knew that my mother struggled with me continuing to play. Both my parents were still taking the prescribed “nerve medicine” at the end of the second school year after Bennie died. Daddy came to me and said he thought I should not play football anymore. Because I could not bear to stay in school and not play ball with the guys I had grown up with, Daddy offered an alternative. He said that he could get me into Palatka High School in the next county. It was a much bigger school, and I knew a lot of people there, but by law, I would not be able to play sports.

Although I had grown up visiting that other university, one Boy’s State trip to Tallahassee showed me the error of my ways. After finishing high school and junior college, I spent the best two years of my life finishing my education at Florida State. Daddy called me every morning while I was in Tallahassee and for a year after I started my first job in West Palm Beach, so it was no surprise when I got a call from the paper mill.

However, instead of my father’s familiar voice, it was one of his friends who had to tell me that Daddy had a heart attack that morning and did not survive.

In my late 20s I bought my first whole life insurance policies and made my first will. Seminole Boosters had just started its athletic scholarship endowment program and I wanted to honor my father and brother and have them remembered, so I designated two $50,000 policies to do that. When I began to contribute to an IRA a few years later, I also designated Seminole Boosters as beneficiary. I never told anyone what I had done and learned only after I took this job how important it was to the university that I document my estate gifts.

“Where the hell did that come from?”

I would later ask myself.

All of we Booster fundraisers were unhappy that we had to spend a day at the Foundation for a mandatory fundraising training seminar. We had been

doing this a long time, so what was there to learn?

One of the sessions involved role playing. I was a playing donor and a woman fundraiser was trying to learn my philanthropic interest. She asked, “Do you have any interest in giving to the university?”

“I have already made an estate gift for athletics scholarships,” I replied.

It was when she asked why that I shocked myself by passionately unleashing thoughts that must have been deeply buried. My reason for giving had nothing to do with my original intent of honoring my brother and father.

“Because I was the first in my family to go to college, and because I came from a small town where very few did, I understood that a college education was essential to not only earn a better living but to open up the world of ideas to them and their families,” I found myself telling her. “In the ’60s, I watched the parade of pickups flying rebel flags — their beds filled with men with shotguns — drive through town. They were on their way to the race riots in St. Augustine where Dr. Martin Luther King’s beach house had been bombed.

“Several years later, some of those same men — whose high schools were winning because of a talented black player — suddenly overcame or at least suppressed their bigotry and hatred. I believe that if it were not for athletics, integration in the South would have been much bloodier and taken longer — if it would have succeeded at all.”

The last motivation I gave was better articulated by a donor this year. He is wealthier than I, but like me has been a modest but long time annual donor and has given to a lot of charities. When he made a substantial estate gift to Seminole Boosters for scholarships, I was somewhat surprised and asked why.

“When I give to a charity, I want my gift to change lives,” he said. “So I look at the results of my gifts, sort of like looking at the return on my invest-

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ment. Over the years — and I go back to the early ’60s — I have seen young men and women who probably would never have attended college have their lives, and the lives of their families, transformed forever. With an 85–90 percent graduation rate, there is no other charity that I give to that can produce the same results so consistently.”

My IRA gift has grown over time, and will now totally endow one scholarship.

I have the old “teach them to fish” philosophy, so I got my kids — who I love more than anything — through FSU. They are earning a living and doing great and will each receive nice gifts from my estate but nothing that will change their lifestyle.

Even after my gift to Florida State athletics is made, I’ve made sure that my wife, who is one of those despicable lobbyists, will be able to live very comfortably.

Long after I am gone, I know that one deserving student after another — perhaps from a small town, perhaps the first in their family to attend college — will have their eyes opened and their lives changed by the gifts that started as honoring my father and brother.

If you have ever considered making any kind of estate gift to us, give me a call, I’d love to know why. SB 850-644-3378, jpadgett@fsu.edu

The Padgett family became major contributors to a scholarship endowment fund through career long planning.

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Player feature

Katie Mosher Volleyball’s second-year co-captain and third-year starter shines bright on and off the court

By Bob Thomas, Associate Sports Information Director // Photo By Maury Neipris

T

here is a simple explanation for the reason Katie Mosher has worn jersey No. 2 for most of her competitive life: It was the one her volleyball coach Mrs. Shotwell handed her after she made the team in sixth grade.

“I’ve had it ever since I was little,” Mosher said. “I had it in middle school, and I had it in high school. There is really no tie to it. I’ve just always worn it.”

Yet if you watch Florida State’s redshirt junior libero practice and play every day, you get the sense that the jersey serves as a reminder that there is always room for improvement.

“She’s going to play very hard every day in practice and a game,” FSU volleyball coach Chris Poole said of his second-year co-captain and third-year starter. “She’s not going to be one that you have to stay on to motivate. She’s going to motivate herself. She is not as loud and as verbal as some players will be out there. Sometimes that is misunderstood as a player that isn’t in tune to the game as much, but it’s the exact opposite. She’s very in tune to the game. That’s not her personality to be loud.

“At the same time she’s giving it 101 percent every time she’s out there. That’s why she gets the respect from her teammates and respect from her coaches.”

Mosher relishes her role as the tablesetter for the nationally-ranked Seminoles, who are stalking a fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. She is the glue behind FSU’s powerful middle

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blockers; the initiator of the offense that culminates with awe-inspiring blasts from the outside hitters. Mosher’s ability to not only dig out opponents’ spikes, but pass the ball along to setters with great proficiency, is an invaluable asset.

In a dynamic team sport like volleyball, Mosher’s skill set may be a bit underappreciated by the casual observer. That, however, does not make it any less important. What makes the selfless Fort Myers, Fla., native unique is that she understood that importance at an early age.

“I grew up playing sports,” said Mosher, who cut her teeth athletically in the family driveway playing basketball with her father Bob and younger brother Kevin, who is now a sophomore at FSU. “I grew up watching sports. It’s just a part of my everyday life. It affects my everyday life.”

Not surprisingly, basketball was Mosher’s first love and she quickly gravitated toward the point guard position, where, “making the pass to the shooter who hit the shot and got the glory,” seemed like a pretty cool thing.

“Basketball is a big team sport, as volleyball is,” she said. “I wasn’t involved in any individual sports where it was always about me. I was always involved with a team aspect, where you’d have to sacrifice yourself for the team.”

So when she was first introduced to volleyball in sixth grade, she got as big a charge out of setting up her teammates with great defense from the back line as she did when scoring points on a hit of her own.

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It remains that way today for the former Bishop Verot High School star, who is on the fast track to becoming Florida State’s all-time leader for digs.

“She understands that all of the little pieces of the puzzle have to be put together in order to accomplish at the end what you want to accomplish,” Poole said. Katie does a great job of that. “She was respected, even as a freshman, as a player by her teammates. She was voted as a captain as a sophomore. There has been a tremendous amount of respect, because they see her doing those little things every day.

“She does a lot of things that the fans don’t see, or the people who are looking at all of the numbers and trying to crunch them, don’t see. They look at the big kill.

They may not look at the big kill as a result of a good dig and a good set to get to that person to get the big kill.”

Poole and her Seminole teammates didn’t have to wait too long to gain a great appreciation for Mosher’s talents. After sitting out her true freshman season in 2010, Mosher stepped into the starting lineup in 2011 and flourished immediately. She set FSU’s single-season digs mark with 604 — nearly 100 more than previous record-holder Summer Weissing (513) — which helped lift the Seminoles to the first of two consecutive ACC titles and the first Final Four appearance in school history.

“That season was extremely special to me and all of the girls that were a part of that team, because it was something that had never been done in our school history or in ACC history,” Mosher said.

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“That alone is going to be something that is very hard to break. We’ll never be that first team again … I remember those feelings perfectly, still to this day. I want to get back there, and I want to have those same feelings of excitement with my teammates after winning the Elite Eight match.

I want to get back to the Final Four.”

Mosher has not rested on the laurels of her first year with the ’Noles. In fact, the summer going into that memorable Final Four year she was on the gold medal-winning United States A2 Junior National Team with fellow ’Noles Elise and Nicole Walch at the European Global Challenge in Croatia.

Poole marveled at Mosher’s adaptability to the college game during that magical run.

“A lot of our success, even as a freshman leading us to the Final Four, she was a target a lot of times for people,” he said.

“I think now it may be opposite. There may be people trying to go away from her, so there may be times she does not have as many digs simply because other teams are trying to go somewhere else on the court besides where Katie is.”

With Mosher’s game evolving, the Seminoles made a return trip to the NCAA Tournament last season, losing at home in the second round to Purdue. By the time the 2013 got underway, she had already climbed to No. 7 on FSU’s list of all-time leaders for digs. She was No. 4

just nine matches into the season, with a bead on Weissing’s all-time record of 1,859 digs.

“All of us have our own individual goals, whether that be for a match or for a season or for a career,” said Mosher. “You don’t have to flaunt it when you break a record, but it’s something that keeps you individually motivated every day to keep getting better. You want to keep getting better every day so your team can keep winning.”

Mosher admits that she has Weissing’s record total posted in her room to serve as motivation. She sets individual goals for each set and match.

“I’m going to go after every single ball I can,” Mosher said. “Nothing is going to hit the floor around me. It does help motivate you and gives you that extra little push.”

When it comes to goals, Mosher is seldom denied. That was certainly the case when she set out to pick a college.

“I grew up loving Florida State,” she said. “I just liked the tradition, I liked the symbol, I just loved everything Florida State stood for and thought it would be awesome to go to the school.”

Naturally, when Poole came calling in the recruiting process, it wasn’t a tough sell.

“I wanted to stay close to my family, and FSU provided that for me,” Mosher said.

“As far as the program goes, Coach Poole was telling me that you can be a part of a program that is going to be a very elite

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program in the country. Just hearing that, I wanted to be one of those girls that was remembered for bringing this program to the top and starting that elite level of play.

“I thought, ‘This is going to be awesome. I get to go to a school I loved growing up, and now I get to go compete for a national championship with a program that is going to be a contender.’ ” “You could tell that she sincerely, with every part of her soul, wanted to be a Seminole,” Poole remembered. “You could see that drive in wanting to help us be better. She actually said yes before we ever went to our first NCAA Tournament when we got here; before we ever started turning that corner. She did it out of her love for Florida State, but we could see in her someone who was very driven to be a great player.

“She wanted to be an important piece of the puzzle to helping us build a program.

She is a very humble young lady that will just do everything that’s asked of her and work every day to be the best she can be, even though she may not be getting the accolades that some people are going to get from other positions on the court.”

More than willing to make that trade-off, Mosher has carved out her own niche as a record-chasing libero for a program that is recognized nationally for its excellence.

That makes for an easy sales pitch when Mosher and the Seminoles are entertaining recruits.

“Whenever anyone hears about Florida State, they know it’s full of tradition,” Mosher said. “That’s something I love, and I know most people love schools that have big school pride and big school traditions. They can see that.

“As far as volleyball goes, they know that this program is growing. For me personally — and I think any other volleyball player — I want to be a part of that exciting, growing program. We’re going to be known on the national level, if we aren’t already. I think we are. We have this great program, with great coaches and a great staff. You’re going to be a part of something that is going to be remembered, not only at our school, but nationally for volleyball.” SB

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Women’s Cross Country Wins 6th Consecutive ACC Championship Story and Photos by Bob Thomas

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n a test of depth and late-race mettle, the Florida State women’s cross country team pulled off its sixth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference Championship this season.

Buffeted by rain, juniors Colleen Quigley and Hannah Walker led the Seminoles’ charge, placing second and fifth in the 6,000-meter course.

However, the strong finishes of Linden Hall, Pippa Woolven and Carly Thomas enabled FSU to pull out the victory and extend the second-longest title streak in ACC history.

“We found new depth on our team today,” FSU women’s coach Karen Harvey said. “We needed several people to step up in the last 1k of the race and they did. With three minutes left, we were behind and that’s when Linden Hall, Pippa Woolven and Carly Thomas came through for us and 71>> saved the day.”

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Q&A

FRANK BRADLEY

From former swimmer to head coach, Frank Bradley takes over the Swimming and Diving program

By Bob Thomas, Associate Sports Information Director // Photo By Maury Neipris

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n May 7, 2013, Frank Bradley became the newest head coach at Florida State when he was hired to guide the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. New is relative, since Bradley is an FSU graduate and won an ACC title in the 200 IM while swimming for the ’Noles from 1994–97. Just the eighth head coach in program history, he has ties to four who preceded him. A one-time graduate assistant for the Seminoles, Bradley was an assistant at South Carolina, the head coach at powerhouse Indian River Community College and the associate head coach for three seasons at Auburn before returning to Tallahassee.

After a 13-year absence, Bradley returns with his wife, former FSU volleyball standout Susan Hawks, and their daughters, Grace and Paige. He took some time to reflect on his past, the things that have shaped his career and his vision for the future of FSU swimming and diving:

Q: What does it mean to have completed the circle from Florida State student-athlete, growing up through the coaching ranks and returning to Tallahassee as the Seminoles’ head coach?

Bradley: I’ve always tried to invest in wherever I was at the moment, That was the focus, not what potentially could come out of it and where it could go. It would come up in conversation here or there, talking to other coaches, family or friends. I’ve never been one to hand out a resume a lot. … I always kind of looked at FSU and said, That would be cool to go back to your alma mater and be the head coach or help with the program. … I’ve always been supportive of [FSU]. When this came up back in April it wasn’t really a thought. Once it popped up, the opportunity was there, let’s talk and let’s see. Lo and behold, everything worked out great.

Q: You’ve got so many Florida State ties, with your sister Meagan swimming on the team when you were here and your wife, Susan Hawks, playing volleyball for the ’Noles. Did you grow up an FSU fan?

Bradley: I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, the Plantation area, and I hate to say it but I was a die-hard ’Canes fan growing up; season tickets and everything — not on the swimming side. I was wide open on the swimming side. We were Hurricanes

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all the way. It was hard when I came up here on a recruiting trip. I never disliked FSU. I loved watching them play and seeing those old teams in the old stadium …

When the recruiting process came up and I started looking at schools and options, it seemed like a great option. I knew the assistant coach at the time [Don Gibb], who ended up being my head coach. I had a relationship with him. There was a nice connection. A lot of my teammates had come here. It was just a great fit. There were a lot of things that made it work. As soon as I got here, it was a home.

Q: Were you looking at coaching as you were winding down your career at FSU as a student-athlete?

Bradley: Not really. I was not really sure. I started grad school here, and I was kind of looking at construction as a general contractor. That’s what my father was. He passed away when I was a teenager. That was an interest, but there wasn’t anything that was driving me toward a career. About halfway through grad school the head coach [Gibb] here was going to South Carolina and I just asked, if he needed help I’d love to go and start. I was 22–23 years old and started in the SEC right away. It was just an opportunity to see if that’s what I wanted to do. I loved swimming, and I guess I still wanted to be connected. I had unfinished business at the time. I got over that pretty quick and just got into the coaching role.

By the time I got to Indian River [Community College] it was just a special experience, and it just tied it all in. This is a really cool career, and you get to deal with a lot of great people — guys and girls 18–22 years old. It’s a neat part of their lives. You get to help them grow, move on and help them find their career path and nurture that side. I don’t think I saw that at 22, but it has just continued to grow and it’s a really cool career.

Q: What are you bringing back now that maybe you didn’t have at any of your previous coaching stops?

Bradley: Being at Indian River you wore a lot of different hats. You had great resources and facilities and support, but there were also a lot of responsibilities as a head coach, with only one other coach and some people that volunteered here and there. You had to be balanced and kind of streamlined in operations from a logistical standpoint. When you look at the people, they were all very different and all there for very different reasons.

The experiences were all over the place.

It could be academic, financial, family, athletic or you had great athletes who just needed an opportunity, and that was the stepping stone. It ran the gamut of coaching. That was such an awesome experience because everything happened, and every day was just really different.

Auburn was a great three years too, because it was on the opposite end of what Indian River was. Coming here, I’m really fortunate, with a great staff and a great operations director who really helps things move smoothly so that our staff can focus on the team itself, coaching and getting them ready, recruiting and alumni relations. That has allowed us to be much more focused in those three aspects. As we continue to move forward, it’s going to build into something special.

Q: Having been a part of a successful run at FSU athletically in swimming, who were your influences and do you have a model for success you follow?

Bradley: I’m not guarded in coaching philosophies and secrets. I don’t think there are any secrets. Each coach has his own thing — man or woman — and no one can recreate what you are doing. To share the information, if it helps somebody, great … I like to learn from other people.

I will never try to recreate what someone else does. How can I take pieces of what they do, whether it’s watching Jimbo Fisher or what Mike Martin has done here, or talking to the soccer or softball coaches?

Everybody does things that help them be successful. You try and take pieces and

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mold it into your own, and also [utilize] what’s in your heart and in your gut.

Our philosophy is really simple: We try to find things to make you go fast.

That’s it — bare bones — that’s the idea.

With all due respect to all other training philosophies in swimming, we find a way to make you go fast. How do we balance the weight room and transition that into the pool? How can we make that flow real smoothly and have a seamless transition?

Then once we’re in the water, what can we do to eliminate as much resistance as possible, or just find more momentum in and out of walls.

As far as recruiting, we just start with people. It is people and speed. We try and look at those two things. Obviously we try and look for the fastest kids we can get. We’re doing a lot of research in people. The president at Indian River was great, and he had a comment years ago when I was there and we were kind of struggling. He goes, Let me ask you a question. Would you hire these people to work for you? I had never looked at it that way. If you would hire them to work for you and if you would actually pay them to work for you, then you’ve got somebody great to recruit. If you would never hire them, why would you want them on your team?

For the past eight years that’s what I’ve personally looked at in recruiting, and it’s a philosophy we’ve really looked at here.

You’ve just got to find the right fits. Personality fits are really huge in being successful in this sport, or in any sport.

Q: Describe your own personality.

Bradley: I think it kind of floats a little bit, in a good way. There is an intensity.

There is a standard, that you’re trying to always make sure things are moving forward, which is tough with kids, family, friends and everything else that goes on in your life. There are a lot of ups and down.

The motto of, Keep Moving It Forward, which I think I got from Meet The Robinsons, the Pixar movie, for some reason that has always stuck with me. I try to be

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transparent, especially with the people I work with and deal with, so it’s an easy process. And taking care of the guys and the girls and taking care of the people that are in your life. I like to laugh, but as soon as that moment’s over and it’s time to work, let’s work. We can also have a really good time working as long as the work is getting done. … To really just describe me, I definitely have some moments where I’m just enjoying the surroundings. I like to get away. I like to have the quiet time. I think that’s the reason why I get on a bike and do triathlons and workout. That’s a good time to either get away mentally or really get internal and answer some questions that you have for yourself.

Q: What do you listen to music-wise?

Bradley: It’s everywhere. The dates don’t matter. I really like the Blues. I play guitar. I put it down for years right after I graduated and probably didn’t play for 12 years, then just picked it up. I’ll pick

up some licks on YouTube or watching bands that I like and then just find a way to make them my own. It’s a great way to zone out, kind of like riding a bike. I listen to just about anything. A lot of it is just depending on the mood. … I really like the throwback, really going through the 1920s up through the ’60s and ’70s. The variety is amazing. If I had to give you an all-time favorite, it’s probably (Jimi) Hendrix and the Doors … that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Q: What’s it like being back at FSU with your wife, having been on this journey together? Has it rekindled some memories, and do you remember why you enjoyed being here as a student?

Bradley: A lot of people ask, How hard is it? Seriously, within four or five days, the novelty of the new job wore off. It never felt like a new job from the moment I walked in. I don’t know whether it’s because I had been here or was connected with a lot of the coaches that have gone through here.

Even with all of the growth and everything that you see around here that is different, it’s still Florida State. Maybe it’s because there are so many people that are still here from when I swam and went to school here. It’s neat to walk around and you’re shaking hands; I remember you or they remember me. You just fall right back into those old relationships, too. For the family, it’s awesome. We went to the (football) game, and it was awesome. It was just very comfortable, and I mean that in a good way, not in a complacent way. Even the hardest days of work, they’re not draining.

It’s just a day. There might be really tough days, but I haven’t had any bad days here.

It’s a very good environment. It is unique and having so many Florida State people here, it’s what I’ve told a lot of people, it’s a very progressive movement. If you look at what the [athletic] department has done and then you go on to what the college and university has done, it’s always moving forward. It’s really interesting how they’ve done it and great to be a part of. SB

Photos by Bob Thomas (Cross Country)

Cross Country Quarterly Report, from page 67

The first five Seminoles across the finish line earned All-ACC honors against the largest field of ACC teams in conference history.

“Having that many All-ACC was just outstanding,” Harvey said.

Those three (Hall, Woolven and Thomas), they really, really ran great and Colleen and Hannah ran solid.”

The Florida State men finished seventh in a tightly bunched race that saw ACC newcomer Syracuse run off with the title with 64 points.

The ’Noles finished with a total of 145 — just 40 points out of third place — behind a solid lead trio.

Senior Matt Mizereck (12th, 24:23.6), junior Bryant Blahnik (18th, 24:34.0) and senior Josh Gracia (19th, 24:35.2) earned All-ACC honors for their performance over the 8,000-meter race. Kevin Johnson (39th, 25:01.3) and Will Bridges (58th, 25:28.0) rounded out the scoring Seminoles.

“Objectively, I think we ran our best race of the year,” FSU men’s coach Bob Braman said. “I think our top three guys ran really well to make All-ACC, particularly Matt, who had a chance at a top 10.”

The Seminoles compete at the NCAA South Region meet on Nov. 15 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where the men will be gunning for a top-two team finish to secure an 11th consecutive NCAA Championship meet appearance.

After claiming the ACC title, Harvey’s women are virtually assured of returning to the NCAA Championship meet, where they have finished on the podium each of the past five years. SB SEMINO LE-BO OST ERS .CO M

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Player feature

Kelsey Wys With Wys, now a senior, defending the goal Florida State will contend for a national title

By Bob Thomas, Associate Sports Information Director // Photos By Larry Novey

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fter four seasons between the pipes for the nationally-acclaimed Florida State women’s soccer team, it’s difficult to visualize the Seminoles taking the field without goalkeeper Kelsey Wys providing the last line of defense for Mark Krikorian’s club.

A fifth-year senior, Wys has enjoyed a career that mirrors the way Krikorian believes the beautiful game should be played. The native of Coral Springs, Fla., who eschews style for substance, carries a professional countenance to the field, providing a calming influence even in the most chaotic times.

She has a tremendous calming effect on our team, Krikorian said of Wys. Her personality is quite compatible with a very professional approach to the game.

Still, there were times early in Wys’ career that Krikorian wanted to see his keeper, be a little more expressive.

Personality-wise, I’m very nonchalant, Wys said. I’ve gotten in trouble in the

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past for body language, as if I don’t care, but the coaches have really realized that’s my style and personality, and they’ve embraced it. They realize I can be calm under pressure. I like that about my game, because I can just go back there and I don’t freak out. Also, I think that keeps everyone in front of me, calm … and they have confidence in me because they see I’m not going to act any differently just because we’re playing a different team.

Staying calm is what I do best.

Actually, Wys does quite a few things better than staying calm. She entered her final season as FSU’s career record-holder for all-time wins, shutouts and starts; marks she has padded while helping the Seminoles retain their place among the nation’s elite programs. By the time the whistle blows signaling the final game of the 2013 season, Wys will hold virtually every FSU record attainable for a goalkeeper.

Yet for a career full of so many highlights — she is a two-time All-ACC selection, a 2012 NSCAA All-American and the 2011 ACC Tournament MVP after delivering the ’Noles their first conference tournament title — Wys’ time between the pipes required a bit of patience. Despite earning Parade All-American honors as a senior at Stoneman Douglas High, a program that won two Florida 6A titles and played for a third, she sat out her freshman season at Florida State as a redshirt.

When it was first brought to my attention as an idea, to redshirt my first year, it wasn’t the most ideal thing, Wys confessed. I wanted to come in here and start

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playing right away. I didn’t want to have to watch for a whole season, but at the end of the day … I knew I had made the right decision to do that. I have no regrets about it. If anyone comes to me and asks about it, I’ll tell them that it’s the best thing that ever happened. If I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be sitting here today. Honestly, playing for FSU is an honor, and I wish I had one more year after this one.

Suffice to say, that’s a sentiment that is widely shared within the Seminole camp.

Goalkeepers who can claim three shutout wins over North Carolina, the program that all collegiate women’s soccer is measured against, don’t come around all that often.

Though gifted and tenacious, Wys did not sit by idly awaiting her opportunity to play. She worked at her craft and prepared for the moment.

[Assistant coach] Mike Bristol did an outstanding job with Kelsey, Krikorian said. In the world of soccer it’s not very often that you can, and do, redshirt players.

We saw a world of promise and potential.

Being able to train with the team every day when I was redshirting … and see how everything is done, from the pregame meals to the pregame training and the scouting videos, I got to sit back and take that all in, Wys said. When it was time for me to step in and play, I already knew the routine, and I was comfortable with it. The thing that I added was stepping on the field and playing.

My redshirt year, I did a lot of extra training, from getting more fit to get-

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ting quicker to [playing] crosses and playing with my feet. We worked on everything. I would say every aspect of my game improved.

Beyond refining her physical skills, Wys also learned how to become a more effective communicator on the field, which required stepping out of her comfort zone.

Communication, I did struggle with it a little bit because it’s not my favorite thing to stand out there on the field and yell at people, she said. Over time I understood that’s part of my job and going to separate me from being average and being one of the best. You’ve got to embrace it.

I don’t speak up if I don’t think it’s necessary. If you speak up too often, people just start tuning you out. If you choose the moments to speak up, I think people will have more respect for you and listen to you more often.

Of course it hasn’t hurt to have the Seminoles only other senior, star defend-

er and captain Kassey Kallman, on the same page throughout your career.

It’s really comfortable playing back there with Kassey, Wys said. I look at us as two different types of leaders. She is a lot more of a vocal leader than I am. She’s the one that’s going to go into the locker room and if something needs to be said, she’s going to say it.

I love playing behind Kassey. If she wants me to do something different, if she wants me to call for a ball sooner, she’ll look at me and say, ‘Hey, Kels, call for that sooner and make our jobs easier.’ If I have a problem with her, I just say, ‘Hey, Kass, do this differently next time.’ It’s really open and it’s easy. I love playing with her, because she’s so competitive and I know she’ll get the job done.

She [Wys] worked really hard at developing some of that leadership and communication skills, Krikorian said.

Now she solves an awful lot of problems on the field with her voice. If you’re

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stopping problems before they come it makes the job a little easier.

With a degree in Family and Child Sciences already in hand, Wys has set out to enjoy her final season with the Seminoles to the fullest.

I know from experience that every season goes by really fast, and I know that once December comes that this is the end, she said. I’m trying to live in the moment and enjoy every single day and enjoy my team, being around them. Once I leave here I won’t be around a group of 22 girls who all bring something different to the table.

What Wys has brought to the table is the kind of goalkeeping that has enabled the Seminoles to earn a seat at the table with the best programs in collegiate women’s soccer.

At the end of the day our program is up there, Wys said, when asked where FSU women’s soccer fits into the national landscape as her career winds down. I think we’ve proved to people that we are up there, going to the College Cup the past few times. We just need to finish off that last part of it. Then I think people will have a lot more respect for us.

Regardless, Wys has already left her mark, much like her experience at Florida State has had a profound impact on her all-around growth.

I have a lot of friends who don’t go here, and some have come up and visited, she said. Whenever they come up they say, ‘Wow, Florida State is so prideful.’ It’s fun to be a Seminole at the end of the day, and there is a lot of pride behind that.

From her wit and sarcasm to her unflappable personality on and off the field, Krikorian shares a special bond with the most accomplished goalkeeper in Florida State history.

There has been significant development in Kelsey in every way imaginable, Krikorian said. She’s matured into arguably the best goalkeeper in the country, she is an outstanding student and a mature and valuable member of the community. SB

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Compliance

Help Us, Help You T he winter season provides us with an opportunity to reflect on those things that we are thankful for, including the great student-athletes, coaches, faculty, staff and Boosters at Florida State University. The athletics compliance team is especially grateful for the opportunity to educate our Seminole Boosters regarding NCAA rules and regulations. The incredible outreach and proactive nature on the part of our Boosters over the past year serves to demonstrate that you are as equally committed to protecting the eligibility of our student-athletes and preserving the integrity of our institution as you are to supporting opportunities to win championships. We recognize that forming meaningful and positive relationships with our Boosters is critical to maintaining institutional control in the current climate of college athletics. Please know that we are appreciative for the opportunity to interact with you and look forward to meeting and working alongside many more of our Seminole Boosters over the coming year.

With the holidays approaching, you may be interested in hosting a single student-athlete or an entire team for a meal. Provided that approval from the FSU compliance team has been granted prior to the meal, it is permissible under NCAA rules for a Booster to provide a student-athlete or an entire team with an occasional meal. Please note that this meal must be hosted in a home or on FSU’s campus. Although the provision of an occasional meal is permissible under certain conditions, remember that it is never permissible to provide FSU student-athletes with any gifts, benefits or free or discounted services — even during the holidays.

You must leave the gift giving to Santa!

Another form of impermissible benefits to student-athletes includes

transportation, rides or use of an automobile. Undoubtedly many of you will be hitting the roads this holiday season, but remember that you may never provide student-athletes or their families with transportation to their home or transportation to games — even if they pay for gas or mileage.

As many of you know, the holidays are sandwiched in between two of the most important recruiting days of the year — the National Letter of Intent (NLI) signing days. Most of our sports will begin signing the NLI in mid-November, with the remaining sports signing the NLI in early February. With that in mind, please remember that Boosters are not permitted to recruit on behalf of Florida State University. Boosters may not contact a prospective student-athlete (PSA) via telephone, mail, email or social media. This includes tweeting at recruits, writing on a prospect’s Facebook wall or liking Facebook photos or status updates.

Additionally, it is not permissible to have face-to-face contact with a PSA either onor off-campus. However, if you happen to attend a high school game on your own initiative and become aware of a prospect who may be a great fit for FSU, feel free to forward that name on to the respective coaching staff. Remember though, only FSU coaching staff members are permitted to recruit on behalf of the institution.

Do not hesitate to call us at (850) 644-4272 or via email at ath-compliance@ admin.fsu.edu when you have questions. Also, for more quick tips and compliancerelated issues, please follow us on Twitter (@FSUCompliance). We are here to serve not only our student-athletes, staff and coaches — but also YOU! Please continue to use us as a resource as our team is always eager to work with you.

Happy holidays from the FSU compliance team and GO ‘NOLES!

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS (through October 15, 2013 )

Platinum Golden CHIEF Moises Issa Kyle Mowitz Michael Simmons

Golden CHIEF

Larry Strom William C. Lloyd Mr. & Mrs. Robert Rowland Jason Altmire Michael Houghton RGF Capital, LLC Alexanna Williams Micheal Basulto Corporate Creations Foundations

Silver CHIEF

Gary & Julie Mason Michael K. Whelan Justin Domer Archon Development Corp Larry & Pamela Harris William A. Floyd Stephen & Lona Voigt Ryan & Gabriela Orner Jenny Dempster Kelly Brockmeier Michael & Judith Carney Manuel A. Bermudez Frank Castro Hubub, LLC James Lindsey JC Holts Beth Wade

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Spirit

Alex Redding Eddy Shahnasarian Catherine S. Bell David Smalley Gene Mitchell Joey Schwartz Peter Holtmann K. Frances Harrell Min Tian Steven D. Muscatello Cameron Norris David T. Bobbitt, Jr. Russell L. Waller Justin O’Connell James Johnson Daniel Page Leigh McNeal Anna Perry

TOMAHAWK

Kenneth Christy Beth Boheim-Azor Mark & Lori Hahn J. M. Guarch Ronnie Allen Craig Miller Michael Fields Michael D. Lister Ronald E. Rusk Kevin Burns Dominic Bouloy John Tschida Clay Robertson Mikael Johnson

U NCONQU E R E D M AGA ZINE

Mark Majszak Michael B. Barre Henry Lim Wally Higginbotham ReBecca & Carlos Perez Christopher Coram Leonard Grunthal Matthew & Stephanie Lee Thomas Chauncey Brian M. Flanagan Troy Mahler Jeremy Owens Crystal Stephens Chance E. Brown Suzanne Fulkerson Ryan Murphy Pamela Aniello Joseph Johnson Mike Frantz State Farm Insurance Ryan & Jenny Stephens Larry Lawson Donte Harris Logan Breen Forbes Funeral Home Dr. Adam Oliver, M.D. Denny Thaxton John Hynes Gene Key Jimmy Grobmyer

WARRIOR

Richard Davis Edward & Lori Karabedian Alfoso Mckinney John Hunter

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Redman Family Miles-Sundberg & Wells Pace Callaway Addison Odeneal Steven Teschel James Hargreaves Mrs. Treva L. Hall Gerald P. Cigarran Raymond P. Jasen Tom & Tricia Sadaka Ivan Udell Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Porter Timothy P. Hunt Braulio Vicente Jr. Brad Beauchamp Patrick O. Sheffield Dean Dadic Mike & Kimberly Bradley Kaki Pope Danielle Sylvester Marie Elizabeth McBride Anthony Davis Amanda Dietz Bill & Sheri Mustian Jared Sweetser John Bryant Jeremy Hanright Kari & William Ramsey Leslie Pantin Joshua Lawrence Jason Harrell Bill’s Bookstore Dylan Albergo Jared Schrader Sarah Cleeland Blair Wood Justin Hahl Alex Wolfe Kenneth Edwards

Steven Galbreath Trenton Baughn Frank & Lidia Dalessandro Vivian K. Crim Heather Simmons Stephanie Neer Jillian H. Swingle James Meikenhous Steve Cremin Etheldra Green-O’Connor Nicholas Paquette Erin Maddox Ken Anderson Todd D. Middleton Hunter Hendrix John Wilkins Laura Tribou Michael Mahoney Clarke Henderson Judy Dawson Mack Warren Julie Wolfenden Raymond Campbell Pam Burke Christopher & Danielle Menzies John C. Rice Kelley & Jodi DeSoto Ben Ross Barton Jones Jerry & Felicia Johnson Ryan Scott Charlene O’Briant Daniel Conger Robert G. Robertson Theo Rumble Tim Prime Darren Lesage Sue Swengros

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RENEGADE

Steven O. Senecal Matthew Sharp Garfield Archer Ginny Hanks Maria Jo Strickland Accent Nursery Inc. Paul C. Nelson Mike Molczyk Ken Janke Kenneth S. Piernik Nick Tabar Kevin Kelley Glen Knight Brian Bennett Michael Jeter Jimmy Ellis Brian Bridges Mike Atchley Southern Asset Management Ben Holmes Joshua Rafferty Derek Vazquez Robert & Belva Schmalfuss Jason Eigenmann Geoff Nichols Mike McKinley Sean Coleman Emily Buckley Andre Cloud Doak S. Campbell, III Kenneth Merrill Matthew Erpenbeck Kathy Corder Terrence Morgan Gregory B. Reeves Dr. Thomas Fullman Hubert Six Frank J. Bryan Ira & Sharon Silver Richard C. Dreggors David A. Hiteshaw Daniel & Lynn Harmon Bruce & Eileen Geer David Vickers Timothy Burleson Marc Zabicki Patrick J. Powers Mark S. Scott Michael R. Duncan LTC Daniel T. Tarleton Paul Curtin Charles & Rebecca Nelson Cheryl Dickey Michelle R. Reilly Anne & Tony Toulouse David & Anne Springer Colleen & Jeffrey Hall Michelle & Joseph Shearouse Linda R. Eshleman Dara & Bobby Pirson Tanya R. Williams Amy Vernon Karen Soraya Mohammed .J Ronald Skipper Client Matthew Shortell Craig Fizer Julius Towers James Locke Michael Tatak Jeffrey J. Heller Nicole M. Sena Terry Carter Joshua Lynch Ryan J. Aring Michelle & Andrae Pestaina Ryan Odonnell

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Lawrence A. Sutherland Matt McElroy Travis J. Koehler Scott Duran Andrew Williams Robert Smith Patrick & Connie Crowley Russell Bradbury Nicholas L. Gardella Mr. Corey M. Casey Meriel’ Crawford Spencer D. Timlin Sarah A. Lienemann Frederick P. Haber Brandon Roseland Chris Fisher Natalia M. Marciales Albert Stevens Courtney Thomson Amanda Shough Megan James Jude Paul Ryan Soule Michael Gaudino Andrew Voneuw Brian A. Youtzy Jonathan Wing Nicolas Juliao Billy Commander Michael Titus Lucas Parsons Caroline M. Smith James & Kate Weed Brian Dunn Morgan McCord Jason McIntosh John & Joanie Heighes Sharon & Thomas Barabas John & Laura McKinnon Josh McKinnon David Hill Brian Walsh Charles Nelson Jason Willingham Clay Pickler Lynne Vadelund Brian Goodheart Candace King Cindy Revell Laurie Hibner Glen Mowrey Megan James Chris Lee Jason & Amber Rains Anthony DiBisceglie Jonathan McAdams Stacy Ethridge Walter Humphreys James Meikenhous Catherine Jones Greenburg & Freibaum Timothy Hart Lance W. Ketchem Chris Chesnut Allison & Christian Widera Nika Ciarfella Ricardo DeCamps Mr. Mark S. Robinson Chad Bailey Steve Layman Kristin Fernandez Beth O’Halloran Kevin Seay Erin Murphy Noel Kitsch Alex Mathis Shawn Parker Suzanne Waterhouse

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Bryan Newsome Greg Eatmon Bill Shiell Bernadine Cosgrove Elizabeth Dean

BRAVE

Carl & Ermine Owenby John Hilson Larry & Joanne Harrell Jeffrey J. Fischer Timothy S. Havard Jeff Weido Deborah Nute Alyson Hall King Paul Copeland Chris Schatschneider William E. Wright Charley E. Boykin Patricia S. Randall Terry Hindall Dwight Tillman Daniel Gidaro Lawrence Greco James Drury Eu’stacia M. Trawick David Rose Brad Knop Joseph R. Williamson Kenneth & Nancy Kissel Earl Williams Karen N. Bradley Keith R. Combs Kurt Ponchak Eric Tilton & Maria Hardy Rick & Anne Jaeger Bill & Janet Cotterall Sanjay Dua John H. Mooney William D. Whitmore Jr. Douglas & Marie Vargo Chris Dering John M. Geary Larry Johnson James W. Sabourin Larry W. Hale Ty Lohman Anthony & Caroline Battaglia Leslie C. Ledger Thomas M. Bendle Anthony J. Moreno Gregory Whipple Patrick Ellsworth Richard L. Vaughn Frank A. Breslin Dana McCue Robin J. Buck Robin Hurley Deborah Hall Leslie B. Fowler Kathleen A. Tawney Ramona I. Hurley Debra Ann Taylor Bonnie Darrow Maleasa Fisher Judith M. Carrodeguas Brian F. Adkins Seth & Shannon Schreiber Jeffrey Lazenby Steven Jessup Cason Burnett David T. Peek Mr. M. Christopher Fitzsimmons Dustin Hunter Amanda Ellis Alex & Carol Hall Victoria Cuesta

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Michelle Jones Pedro J. Malaret Scott Maier James & Karen Pestrak Derek Davey Matthew Laird Chris Alflen David H. DiRenzo Bryan Bailey Katherine B. Norris Adam D. George Tracey & Stephen Preisser Whitney Ward Cristen H. Martinez Michael & Stephanie Cvetetic Heather Russell David A. Schultz Travis Edmond Alexandria K. Costanzo Megan M. Folts Brian Bullock Kathryn Wolter Noel Harvey Willie Burgess J. Brian Coates Sr. Matthew Walker Meredith Wright Juan M. Saldivar Jr. William Young Randall Taylor Katherine Lee Jennifer Degelleke Jeffery S. Howells Alex Schwarz Keely Mann Bobby Bryant Bud Miller Lawrence Ragan Law Offices of Fritz Gray Jeffrey Fisher Lane Hodges John Taylor Michael Goldman Shari Beaver Edward Ackels Jeff Newton

Iron Arrow

David Eggnatz Kristie Brown Jordana Westerman Connie Fleming Tim Lowry Chad Harmon Jeff Temme Michael Cosgrove Lynn Kornegay Shedrick Walker Kirk Gowan Leon Murphy Jr. Avery Leslie Young Striping & Sealing Dan Lavin Stephen Teague Elaine Richard Arthur Reiter Albert & Deborah Anderson Scott Lowry Lana Rumell Arthur & Michelle Kraft John W. Coiner Eric Booth Dr. Cassandra Cole Gwen Earp Matt Wollett Derrick Pete Douglas Bollenbach Karen Shoemaker

Kimberly Thomas Michael Nelson Jeff Sloggett Mark Smith Scott Barrows Candice Legg Nicole Ramsey Marcus Murray Jim Bearden John D. Miller Joe & Connie Agostino Lewis Lockett Judy F. Mason Jeffrey & Lorilyn Gurley Joe Barber Linda Wise William Germaine Jim Ryan Tim Mague Samuel L. Hawkins George L. Burnham Jr. Bob Kassmeier Scott Calleson Jeremy Kissel Tim & Mary Mills Matt Holman Cindy Schofield Damon Herota Brad Deanda Fred Burgett George & Lillian Cox Susan B. Craig Evan S. Daitz Joseph Davis Jon Haagenson Ed Fox Daniel Germaine Mary L. Glover Jenna M. Stevens James Littrell Matthew & Kathleen Lincoln Jeff Nemerowsky Steve Gross Nancy Ricklefs Brad Ricklefs Maurine Martin Jonathan G. Abell Dan & Laurie Ann Truluck Mark & Debra Gressel Charlane Macon Kris Lapham Zack Scharlepp Robert A. Vinson Lawre McDaniel Cory Cloud Wade Dandridge Judy Wise Kelly Elder-pankhurst Rachel Wallack Michael Burns Jennifer Terrell Creighton Mayo Kenny Pressley Nanette & Scott Webb Steven O. Senecal Kelly Gardner Angie Boyer Richard B. & Racquel Lewis William Armistead Michael Cook Jerome Fluellen Mark C. Wittling Marty Lister Pamela McNab Kevin Forte Jeff & Kelli Abney Kathleen Hogan Steele Stewart & Company Insurance

Chris Baum Matthew Spaunburgh Ron Folkman Nick Brenneman Kelley Greer Ellen Cole Margaret Papapetrou Richard & Catherine Densmore Shinelle Alexander Pitt & Ellie Warner Vishal Patel Eftihios Andronis Lucas Romoser Robert Siddell US Service Industries Mike Wice Carla M. Lee Brad Wolfe William C. Howell Brandy & Jason Robbins Jimmy Bourgeois Kenneth Simmons Robert R. Ayers Mike Bunker Lois C. Fiorelli Lois Ann Bower Kim Nickel Lee Ellzey Matthew Remo James Jordan Chris Herbert Don Rehberg X. Wm. (Bill) Proenza Patti Barber Rick Ainsworth Bert Davis Jeffrey Barr Michael Laplante Charles Perry John L. Riffle Barry Allen Patrick Cooper Summer Williams Ben Baxter Daniel Lee Mark Bere Casey Bowman D. Ruth Brokaw Pamela Miller David Block David P. Micalchuck Jonathan Evans Alex Gianquinto Amanda Gotthelf Mark Lett Philip Smith Thomas Dorman Grant Goodwiller John Jankowski Fred Schwantz Brittney Briscoe Kathryn Lentz Elizabeth Farrell Ryan Yelverton Sara Bennett Ron Bonds Kieran Gibson Katelyn Aiello Eric Serrahn Michael Bennes Jason Smith Cindy & Mike Ekberg Alexis Franz Tammy Creel Dawn Pickett Bill R. Butler Andrew Watt

Kevin Ott Brad Morton Fred & Mary Jones John A. Damalos Thomas Costello Daniel Metter Ryan Rohloff Whitney Everett Ken Calhoun Blair Bertoglio Gerald Wells Veronica Lopez Cline Robert M. Brinker Jordan Williams Tim Stover Deborah Boulware Limuel Sagadraca Dewitt Clark Angela Remsen Mary Helen Williams Keisha Agee Jeremy Segers Andrew Tylander Mr. & Mrs. Alan D. Capogna Sharon Madill Fredricia & Louis Hardy Allen W. Hallas Shirley Burrell Murray David & Karen Long Joyce C. Black Carolyn & Joseph Hickox Jake Jacoby Dr. Marjorie P. Wessel Dr. I. B. Price Ernest & Martha Spiva John & Robin Leach Carolyn Steele David Luther Woodward Charles W. Dodgen William Abdelmour Susan H. Knowles Sylvia T. Arpa James & Mary Flood Lorin Mitchell Ronald V. Swanson Clarence S. Alexander Judge Cory J. Ciklin James & Kathy Herrick Major Louis & Cathryn Beck Jerry Haidinger Joseph & Starr Adams Carla & Phillip Cothron Robert Weldon Kim Turrisi Tuck Tinsley III Gordon Palmer Lyn Embry Marlene & Alex AldenLancaster Trudi Haughey Sammie L. Smith Susan Burroughs Stephanie & Russell Jansen Van Griffin David Kasdin Donna & Howard Smithey Jennifer & Christopher Douglas Kevin W. Dodge Allen E. Hall Ann C. McNeal Fabian Rodriguez Meredith Trammell Mr. & Mrs. Christopher D. Jones Matthew J. Muller Paul S. Adams Edward & Sonya Spruill

Adam Hellman Ted Sheridan Grant Hogg Paul Glenn Steve M. Sherman Wayne & Martha Turner Kenneth M. Hudlow Cleveland Holladay John McConnell Vernon & Brenda Howard Christopher & Sally Wentworth William & Constance Neeley Mike & Linda Lins Rocco & Valerie Cuva Matt Strickland Jeffrey G. Parzych Irv Broughton David Marsh Colman L. Brodsky Jon Gingrey Michael & Leslie Zimmer William J. Allen Jr. Richard & Patricia Ingraham Jeff A. Hansen John S. Scott Kermit & Robin Austin Ron & Diane Reitz Steven Sanford Roshad Thomas Peter Gioitta W. Glenn Redden David Olson Al Mora John & Courtney Buckley Douglas M. Kelley Kenneth D. Baxter Gus Carratt Michael Boland Danny Moxley James H. Weatherly Daniel & Paula Owens John Gronto Mark Friedrich John Romero Dana T. Chapdelain Russell K. Baer Robert & Connie Simon David L. Gerhardt Frank & Elaine Owens Jerry Figari Ira Handelsman Daniel C. Freire Jon Meeks Robert E. Paradela Jeffrey Maxwell John F. Occhiuzzo Robert Miller James L. Rooks Stephen Tabano Peter Olsen Brian Taylor Tim Martin Paul G. Fuder William T. Litton John R. Shipman Norman Brewer David K. Shafer Bob & Alicia Schmacher David J. Pierce Sr. Mr. & Mrs. Thomas M. Hollern Jon Lynn Jeffrey Kubly Brian Harvey Robert M. Gamin Veryl A. Wilcox Chad Gibson David H. Elibol

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Richard McCleary Garrett Masters Hiram & Jill Johnson Gary Lardon David & Cindy Eberly Daniel Dughi Thomas Johnson Christian Raynor Jeffrey Menchion Joseph A. Licciardi David A. Frieder Bart Alford Jim P. Guarasci Gustavo Lage Todd Taintor Jason Stallings Jonathan L. Cunningham Shawn Banner Sammye Goehrig Carlos Cortez Mark Bacchus Steven & Rebecca Goff Daniel Sprague Keith S. Howell James Kustermann Thomas & Susan Thomas Steve & Jennifer Allen Juan Barroso William E. Madden Edward D. Wynot Jr. Jeffrey Popick Raymond F. Vincent Jr. Sean Xenakis Raymond P. Karpovich Catherine Oliver Meryl Delena Priscilla Stone Heather Provost Jennifer Mosley Symara & Neal Rog Mary S. Oser Laura Fogarty Heather & Samuel Buehner Carrie K. Hansen Martha Delucia Leila O. Platt Susan Werne Jennifer H. Underhill Angela Rudd Sherry H. Wise Mary Barnett Michelle Smith Rebecca Mullins Sandra Smith Suzanne Beville Terri & Eric Carr Mary Kelly Diane G. Headrick Holly & Doug Sherman Stacie Neff Mary F. Bailey Margaret K. Slaton Carol G. Rossi Lydia Prince Beth Hayes Annie D. Sloan Amy Gross Katherine LeMaster Melanie & Steve Stankiewicz Elaine Bartlett Jennifer Grow Karen Smith Linda & Jeffrey Brooks Roseanna M. Klonis Ercilia Albistu Mia & Gary James Eleni Spanos Jill & Kirk Sooter

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Susanne Reed Sherry Walker Marjorie Ebersbach Lucy L. Arnold Vicki & Todd Boerema Lisa Kelley Maria & David Edmonds Janice & Todd Steibly Jennifer Enriquez Marsha & Todd Barber Krista A. Boyd Hillary L. Schrack Robin Ehrhardt Denise DaSilva Kimberly Steele Linda Marie Gerlach Dana L. Spinello Elizabeth Cazel Peyton Decker Elena Sanchez-Galarraga Maria M. Morrow Ruth Pryor Margaret Fogg Rebecca & Nick Alise Margie Schlageter Scott Friedman Stacee Brown Leslie Hapner Andrew Tubb Tracy Clark Barbara Bishop Todd Cavito Jeffrey Froeschle Henry Moore Gerard & Beth LaMothe Matt J. Britten Mark Cann Michael & Katherine Casey Matthew Spoor Lee Keenan Harris Sara & James Ley Justin Evans Elvin & Jennifer Paulette Tanya Hill Deborah Shackley Randy Clevenger James Vernon James Safford William & Melissa Crawford Rohin Singh Judith Goyette Nyla Davis Celeste Rosso Rosetta & Karl Hylton Nicole Marie Gonnelli Brian Cliburn Drew Thompson Terence Goodwin Jon Hernan Jeffrey Worrall Jon Dick Christine Conley Abel Cardenas Jason Baril Jordan Merrick Ray & Christina Parzik Ross Smith Blair McCaleb Michael D’Ingillo Julia Flynn Janis Abernathy Josef Melichar Mark & Jennifer Winegardner John Griffin Alfred R. Thurman Katrina & David FitzSimmons Linda & Jeffrey Welker Alexis Bello

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Connie Hastings-Lobdell Victoria Cruce Robert Cook Thomas Joiner Steven Adams Mark W. Humbaugh Kelly M. Porter Edward Frank Clinton J. Brewer Melissa Hembree Hakim Lakhdar Alissa E. Edwards Sandra Rodriguez Michele Hernandez Marla & Robert Ames Peggy & David Collins Michael W. & Susan Doherty Russell & Linda Newman Kristen N. Ryan Charles & Vicki McArthur Yukayo Yamauchi Jonathon Israel Eugene Miller Barnabas Fekete Vivian & Robert Cooley Michelle Hill Patric Layne Zachary Heissner Nelson Dume Tina Ingramm Jamie & Billie Sullivan Anthony & Amanda Coschignano Morgan Lynch Eric Forsthoefel Ryan M. Ottens April Patterson John Piotrowski Tim Qualls Derril & Taylor Beech Cassie Lewis Charles Brown Ryan Hiers Matthew G. Zadrazil

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Christopher & Megan Sens Lauren Soliz Jon & Robyn Carter Kerrington Kiner Brian Lyver Carla O’Dell Suzanne Litherland Conor Flynn Daniel Broder Dolores Wood Jarrett Mangel William Kunkle Brian Melton Jay Ferrin Patrick & Valerie King Roger & Carolyn Mason Henry W. Derstine Ashley Moreau Sarah Rode Matthew Kastroll Michael Hark Christopher A. Tomlinson Esq. Jason Berry Ashley Kelley Tanya Perez Amanda DeYoung Kevin Boyle Charee Williams Rex & Nan Miller Michael King John Gilleland Justin Honeysuckle Jill Bellack Gina Bollotta Aeriel Coleman Colin W. Bennett Esq. Ryan Casey Richard Yelverton Kelly Townsend Carla Simon Mitchell Hall Mark Kokonas Rahul Patel Jorge Vinat III

U NCONQU E R E D M AGA ZINE

Wendy Prophet Tangelia Mackey Jennifer High Shannon Jones Jesse Kern Carlos H. Gomez Danna R. Holihan Tonya Chaplow Holly A. Coffey Doreen Schwirian Michelle & Kenneth Detweiler Reinaldo Mouriz Neil O’Donnell Jacqueline Mero Gregory Wise Kevin Helms Yasmin Haniff Jeremy Carragher William Bosch Joshua Kendrick Edward Ronan Tracy Woodard Kevin Alvarez Matthew Streit Naryan Nigam J. David Holder P.A. Balistreri Realty Donald P. Dorenkamp II Dominique Moore Robert G. Nichols Callie Williams Alexandria N. Shelton Drew Pinero Scott Lazarus Shawn Regan Stevens Tombrink Bert Nocera Kelly Daire Pam & David Kebler Brett Butler Robert Salazar Alexandra Pantin Robert Deiler Michael B. Poole

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Christopher Rodriguez Shane Robinson Emily Brandewie Justin Merchant Andrew Spiros Daniel & Cheryl Ferreira Taylor Stone Preston Madill Brian Gaswirth Lee Quintavalle Lauren Munns Jessica E. Garrison Alyx Reynolds Janet Kiley Ben & Brianne Small Kenny Wercinski John & Debbie Wiggins Amy Ross Magen Dorgan Tricia O’Toole Jeff Sullivan Alex Parker David Bullard Leslie Deslis Shivani Patel Ryan Hersch Elizabeth Hale Abigail Showman Zachary E. Firestone Kathryn Gilbert Lucas Davis Jeve Clayton Max Bush Juanita Jordan Ryan Zandimoghaddam Ian Kawas David Berry Todd Kraft Eric Legendre Ben Murphy Taylor Harmon Fallon Warren Ian Stefanik Kirby Thomas

Nicco Spayde Lindsey Scott Justin O’Connell Robert Blythe Phillip Ochoa Leihernst Lamarre Peyton Nealis Michael J. Niles Dalton Braddy Nathaniel Adams Amanda Williams Jessica Helms Alexandra Crawford Jonathan R. Shiver Lindsey O’Hern Joshua C. Vitte Jesse H. Slade Ashley Fields Nicholas Beske Victoria Carasa Adrienne J. Harrison David Muntean III Kelly Walling Carlos M. Campos Zachary Rives Ian Bunn Paige O’Hearn Justin Corder Michael C. Manuel Matthew Strenth William T. Thornton Justin Beatty Benjamin Bowersox Makenzie Smith Brian A. Marx Jake Jennings Harley E. Shine Erik K. Andersen Rueben Stokes Max Ramos-Paez Ryan Mintz Kevin C. Andersen Samantha A. Courtney Lacey L. Turner John Bloodworth Mallory K. Hager Morgan S. Tillia Sara Drummond Matthew Gallagher Tony Scruggs Jason M. Liskooka Jason R. Archer Nicole J. Kirkpatrick Elizabeth Edwards Kelly McGonagil Lauren Wynsma Michael Price Alyssa Palenzuela Thomas Lane Riley Otero Ryan E. Otero Wesley Barfield Allison Russo Deidre Portela Ryne Wickery Olivia F. Levering Kyle Masters Kimberly Mitar Tucker Branson David Hike Christina Royal Justin D. Kelly Colleen Laughlin Jared Filetti Ben Keown Matthew J. LeHew Benjamin Estes Thomas J. Marin

William H. Sitte Desta Cahoon Leonard Mitchell Garrick Soja Randy Helms Bradley Speir Nicole Franklin Alexander Carpenter Michael C. Zornes Jack Williams Mishayla Schmolling Kelsea S. Mullane Jared Lyon Beth A. Miller Katrina Tabinowski Alejandra Arenas Chris Caudill Brittny R. Butler Alexandra Prestia Kris & Scott Light Ronald I. Disbrow III Pierre Gaitan Johnathan Davis Jennifer M. Moore Matthew Waters Josh Creamer Benjamin J. Grunewald John & Gina and Lugina Lee Sherry M. Hilt Karolin Gidley Randy Filer Eric Eyerly Adam Preisser Justin Kraft William Connors Bradley Webb Clifford Edwards John Feeney Rachel Clarke Bradley Mook Sara Yount Kenzie Dewhurst Edward Johnes Travis Sparkman Robert McDaniel William Frederick Judith Ivester Alexandra Ellison Scott Pippin Cindy & Stephen Bohn Didi Corbino Nicolas Chauvin Devin Ferrell Chris Huff Patricia King Marcus R. Rivers Maureen & Robert Meyering Greg C. Lorenz Sara Ariav Jennifer Curcio Trey Bonner Jon Bristow Jacob Shettlesworth Whitney & Caledonia Wheeler John Gibson Matt Williams Craig Schuler Bryan Raymond Adriana Velez Melissa Cleveland Marty Cross Lindsey Goodwin Susan Savage Eli Williams John & Susan Harris Terry Benefield Winfred Barnes Steve Spencer

Lee Shell Jamie Marshburn Cory Yost Scott Tobias Larry Smith Sherry Barner Adam Hollen Nancy Morgan Jessie Pugh Shawn Boland Danelle Allen James Gallagher Chad Baumhower Michael Mandese Kelly Sesti Larry Marshall Miranda Mcewen Meredith Moreau Mark Garrison Jeannette Scullion Dana Wiley Myra Jumper Richard Morris Brad Mullins Ellis Kimbrel John Boland Louis Packard Daniel Kuder Kristina Pekarek Thomas Pittman Howard Price Robert Cameron Jacqueline Larumbe Magie Castellanos Christopher Lester Peter Chepurko Patricia Lewis Louis Rodriquez Phillip Rutledge Tammy Gilroy Chance Tompkins Marquita Guyton Joshua Harper Angie Harrell Linnette Harris Edward Walter Lisa Madden Kara Mclaughlin Adrian Bellew David Mccloskey Taleya Williams Joel Decastro Kristal Johnson Lisa Docster Pamela Montanari Michael Hayes Lee Robinson Mallori Opperman Richard E. Wys Johnathan Swanson Andrew Dziobek Superior Painting of Tallahassee Inc. Murray G. Miller David Murdock Brett Cohen Christine Coviello Taylor Wedow Nora Russell Danielle Romero Andrew Loeffler Vicki Boettcher Jack Digney Catherine Chandler Kevin Casey Karen Krueger Marvin Clark Cheryl Groth

Lisa Datoc David Montague Tamara Pinkard Luis Cruz Terri Lonneman Ronald Martinez Christopher Slone Antonio Smith Daks Davis Jason Owens Steve & Erin Peterson King E. Thomas Alex Sazdanoff Tanja Sazdanoff Robert Gasper Chancelor Collins Megan Stranzin Chad Wood John McMillan Christopher Seay Bill Batey Damien Silver Carol Jean Renny Harrison Kent Shaibley William Ghekas Josh Barrett Lance Boyell Steve VanBurren Kevin Green Janice Elliot Jeff Davis Greg Carl Bill Zierden Will Crump John Suggs Gregory Parrish Audrea Spakes Paul Bouknight Donna Jacobs Larry Silver Rob Stalnaker Trevor Sheppard Jennifer Blot Jeanette Farr-Mooney Ricardo Miniet Keevin Walden Derrick Shea Lindsay Baumgartner Douglas Turner Cynthia Ford Hugh Marlow Kelsey Keeran David Duncan Trevor Duncan A Better Cut Chris Dickens John Shega Joanne Harris Julia Cain Zoe Dewhurst Brandon Dotson Ronnie Vitellaro Matthew Calise Kevin Meyer Ann Dunkin Lara Molinari Shannon Olszewski Car Spencer Troy Scott Philip J. Stella Shawn Barker David Saylor Greg Cash Tom Glennon Mark Kelly David & Bridgett Padgett Tommy Chancey

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Jake Moore Jamie & Tillis Jones Michael Bechtel Candi Bresee Jeff Bresee Roger Berry Jaret Spearman Jon Blumegarten Brian Bryson Robin Polsky Jeff Johnson Jeffrey & Jennifer Braunwart Brandon Farnon Nikkii Godwin Michelle Gatlin Shaquana Lynum Brian Smith Ron Weston Dylon Collins Johnny Foston Runette Foston Alison Bundrick Jo Anne Lundquist Alan White Paul Cook James Mcginnis Patrick Kennedy Rebecca Sasser Anthony Joseph Joyce Ebsary Randy & Jane Koubek Cassie Britten Mallory Pierce Mariette Danilo Israel Machado Amber Lassiter Blake Williams Ms. Kelly Hiltz David Mccawley Scott McIntyre Matthew Alt Anda McGowan William Cooper R. Charles Pettis Gerald Fender Mary Pruitt Gary & Michele Carmichael Troy Tinsley Richard Salas Peter Wallace Jennifer Wilson David Ferraioli Cindy & Dan Ulrich Joseph Koehl Mason Sutherland Jeffrey Mawell Kevin Fray Ryan Kramer Thomas Caplan Robert Dowling Ms. Carol G. Moore Joshua B. Kline Melissa Harley Brandon Richardson Christopher Deese James Bechtol Cedric Bowers Joshua Hooker Donna Nobles Shane Forester Mackinley Salk Jamie Catoe John Harker Donald Newman Aimi Amalfitano James Griffis Chad Gillespie Natasha Monell

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Colin Race Judy Beers Thomas Lane Hope Moceri Anthony La Rosa Kristin Hashem William Rentschler Mark Holman Winston Baker Ray Prytuliak Jeremy Ollogui James Macks Jared Crain Todd Reaves Chris Wood Dallas Smith Lisa York Scott Fels Michael Egger Elizabeth Belcher Kimberly Garrett John Brown John Keigher Quinton Blocker Mayra Mendoza James Duff Martha Levy Glenn Gailbraith Terralyn Jones Joseph Liska Kevin Begin Jeremy Blood William Smith Phillip H. Lee Andy Citek Emily Gehring Blake Kroening Jacqueline Watts John Linden Jeff McIntyre Jeff Sprenger Robert Bruhl Wanda Carlton Laura Eads Eric Jackson Kelsey Peterson Susan Wesler Doug Wislinski Gary Cameron Tammy Jaenicke Tamma Wright Bill Hunt Kristina Marino Alfred Solomon David Ruiz Jeff Reaves Alvin Bell Tim Farhat Larry White Craig Weiss Daniel Tawzer Eli Shaer David R. Deprospero Anthony Tenner Beverly Amalfitano Luisa Robinson Terrell Jackson Bill Phelps Sharon Loper Gregg Castaline William Burell Jr. Steve Voight Mark Saldana Teresa Palmer Christine M. Limbert-Barrows

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WELCOME NEW SEASON TICKET HOLDERS (through Oct. 15, 2013 )

Sara Lliteras Bracher Brown Matthew Calise Alexander S. Parker Catherine Silvers Judith Ivester Josh Barrett Alexis Bello Mackinley Salk John Linden Pamela Montanari Erin Murphy Andres Arenas Trevor Nichols Megan James Catherine Jones Ian Vaughn Blake Kroening Robert A. Vinson Kellie Welch Shaquana Lynum James Macks Tracy Clark Vivian Cooley Jason Owens Daks Davis Michael Davis Danielle Romero

Brandon Farnon Greenberg and Freibaum Chris Herbert Joshua Hooker Justin Kraft Thomas Lee Vaughn Mike Atchley Steele Lancaster Roger Berry Chris Lee Max Lightweis Brooklyn Water Bagel Franchise Co. Brad Bryant Gary Mason James F. Bullion Pam Burke Nelson Charles Ronnie Allen Raymond Campbell Apogee Signs PA Architects Lewis & Whitlock Michael J. Carney Gerald Cash Dana Arsenault Addison Odeneal Kathy Corder

Jeremy Owens J. Dean Papapetrou Patrick Crowley Michael Price Tim Prime La Deene Dodson Justin Domer J. Ross Durst Tillman Ricketson Robert L. Ehrhardt Jason Eigenmann Ron Sachs Communications Thomas Fullman Steven Goff Sean Gorman Robert Schmalfuss Cindy Schofield Justin Hahl Lindsey Scott Dan Harmon Ira & Sharon Silver Jason Harrell Hunter Hendrix Southern Asset Management Wally Higginbotham Mark Holder Roscoe M. Stallings

Walter Humphreys Ryan & Jenny Stephens Jared Sweetser Teresa Taylor Barton Jones Bobby Tucker Kevin Jones Jason Willingham Mack Warren Richard L. Wheeler Jason Bailey Micheal Basulto Margaret Papapetrou Henry Lim Todd Middleton Nick Ardito Bernadine Cosgrove Jeffrey G. Parzych Larri Redman Debbie Rhody Ben Ross Ivan Udell Clay Robertson Clint Brewer Chris Coram Richard Davis Shawn Regan Stephen & Lona Voigt

Located just off Interstate 10-Exit 203, the Cabot Lodge conveniently accommodates any Tallahassee trip. Wonderfully appointed rooms feature pillow-top and triple sheeted bedding with duvet. The exceptional comforts also include complimentary full southern breakfast and nightly hospitality reception. No matter what’s on your agenda, we’ll make sure you’re rested and refreshed.

Tallahassee 1653 Raymond Diehl Road Tallahassee 850-386-7500 800-255-6343 cabotlodgetallahassee.com locally owned by fsu alumni 80

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Rich Walters Jonathan Atkinson Richard K. Kunde Joshua Lawrence Bill’s Bookstore Joe Lesmerises Dominic Bouloy Mark Majszak John Bryant Mike Frantz State Farm Ins. Daniel Conger Adam Oliver Ryan & Gabriela Orner Brad and Sharla Deanda Robert Greg Robertson Ron Folkman Forbes Funeral Home John Rothell Forum Tallahassee Theo Rumble Jimmy Grobmyer Mark & Lori Hahn Larry Harris John Hynes Wil Taylor Gene Key Peter Wallace Meredith Trammell James Lindsey Archon Development Corp Robert Rowland

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Tallahassee locaTion 1600 PhilliPs Road, suite 300 tallahassee, Fl 32308 | (850) 877-8166

Tallahassee norTh locaTion 2626 CaRe dRive, suite 200 tallahassee, Fl 32308 | (850) 219-5380

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Fortunately, what works is close to home, right here in Tallahassee with two convenient locations. At Florida Cancer Specialists, the same expertise you find at national cancer centers is available locally. As a preferred clinical trial site among leading researchers, Florida Cancer Specialists stays at the forefront of effective treatment options. Our focus on patient convenience means that everything is under one roof.

And we’re committed to caring in a way that makes any medicine work harder.

Life on the road is no way to start a journey you never would have chosen. Florida Cancer Specialists makes it a short trip to the best possible outcome.