2019-20 Georgia Tech Everyday Champions Issue #3

CENTER OF ATTENTION JAMES BANKS’ BASKETBALL JOURNEY IS JUST BEGINNING

CAIO’S TIME Junior swimmer Caio Pumputis won’t stop until he fulfills his destiny.

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SPRING 2 0 2 0 I N T H I S I S S U E

SPRING 2020 • VOLUME 13, NUMBER 3

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mike Stamus mstamus@athletics.gatech.edu ASSOCIATE EDITORS Eric Burgher Andrew Clausen Mike Flynn Liz Ryan WRITERS/CONTRIBUTORS Jennifer Brazelton Jon Cooper Lance Markos Matt Winkeljohn Adam Van Brimmer PHOTOGRAPHY Sara D. Davis/ACC David Johnson Danny Karnik NCAA

4 | CAIO’S TIME

Junior swimmer Caio Pumputis won’t stop until he fulfills his destiny

12 | CENTER OF ATTENTION 16 | ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY

Big on the basketball court, and big in life, James Banks’ basketball journey is just beginning

Brian Savage Mike Stamus Georgia Tech archives VIDEO Ben Wartski/IMG Alex Middleton/GTAA Ideation DESIGN & LAYOUT Summit Athletic Media www.summitathletics.com ADVERTISING – LEARFIELD IMG COLLEGE General Manager – Caleb Swann For information on advertising, please call (404) 733-1330

The positive approach of head coach Nell Fortner and her staff has made all the difference for Georgia Tech women’s basketball

20| BIG B LIVES ON

Late Tech defensive lineman’s memory is carried in the efforts of many other Yellow Jacket student-athletes

24| EVERYDAY CHAMPION

Tech football great Derrick Morgan finds new purpose in business world

27 | AROUND THE FLATS

Georgia Tech completes historic recruiting class in football

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Georgia Tech has raised nearly $120 million of its $125 million goal for AI2020 with nine months remaining

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SWIMMING & DIVING

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CAIO’S TIME BY JON COOPER

JUNIOR SWIMMER CAIO PUMPUTIS WON’T STOP UNTIL HE FULFILLS HIS DESTINY

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SWIMMING & DIVING | CAIO’S TIME

I s there such a thing as destiny? Caio Pumputis makes a good case that there is. Considering that his mom was a competitive swimmer and his dad played water polo, doing something in the water seemed to be the Sao Paulo, Brazil, native’s destiny. Those roots certainly helped him choose swimming over soccer, even in what may be the latter sport’s hottest of hotbeds. “It was really hard. All my friends used to play soccer, and I used to play soccer on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays back home,” said the 21-year-old Pumputis, who further acted out as a youngster by idolizing Lionel Messi, an Argentinian. “We had (swim) meets at the same time as the soccer games, so I had to choose one. My dad was like, ‘Go to the swim meet, and if you do well, stay with swimming. If you don’t, you can come back to futbol.’” It’s easy to guess how that meet went, as the pool topped the pitch from then on.

Still, narrowing down his sports options did not guarantee that greatness would follow. What has gotten Pumputis to his current status as one of the most decorated swimmers in Georgia Tech history -- with his senior year remaining -- and one of the most promising young swimmers in the world, with dreams of competing for his native Brazil in the 2020 Olympics, is what’s inside. “He’s a racer. He’s a competitor, and it doesn’t matter who’s up against him,” said Georgia Tech’s Toni M. and Richard L. Bergmark swimming and diving head coach Courtney Shealy Hart, a two-time Olympic champion. “Caio knows what he needs to do, and he takes care of business. It doesn’t matter what heat he’s in. I don’t think you can necessarily teach all that. That comes from within, and he brought that from day one. “Caio is an elite athlete. He’s very naturally talented, but he works very hard, too,” Hart added. “I think one of the greatest attributes that he has when he races is, if he is anywhere near

Pumputis has made school history by becoming the first Yellow Jacket swimmer to earn All-America status in three events.

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PUMPUTIS GETS INTO “BEAST MODE” ONCE HE GETS ON THE BLOCK AND RACES FEARLESSLY. A PRIME EXAMPLE CAME LAST DEC. 5 AT THE 2019 TOYOTA U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS AT MCAULEY AQUATIC CENTER, WHEN HE FOUND HIMSELF SANDWICHED BETWEEN U.S. OLYMPIANS RYAN LOCHTE, A SIX-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST, AND CHASE KALISZ, AN OLYMPIC SILVER MEDALIST AND TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION, IN HIS HEAT OF THE 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY.

those guys was really important for me. I wasn’t intimidated at all. I just wanted to beat them. It didn’t happen, but I’ll try next time.” Pumputis has used that approach to ascend ever since arriving in Atlanta. As a freshman, in a new country, adjusting to communicating in English, plus dealing with the Georgia Tech curriculum and short-course swimming (25-meter pools vs. 50 meters), Caio recorded top-10 times in 10 events, hitting Tech’s all-time top 10 in five of them. At the ACC Championship, he was top-10 in the 200 breast (1:53.45, second), 200 freestyle (1:34.90, ninth), 800 free relay (sixth), 400 medley relay (sixth), 400 free relay (seventh) and 200 free relay (ninth). He then got a taste of the NCAA Championships, competing in the 100 breast (53.53, 34th) and 200 IM (1:45.54, 36th). He also earned All-ACC Academic honors. He improved as a sophomore, finishing with 21 top-10 times in 15 different events, setting or being part of six school records (100-, 200 breast, 200 IM, 100-, 200 free relay, 200-, 400 medley relay). At the ACC Championship, he won the 200 breast in school- and meet- record time (1:51.46), then set a school record in winning the 200 IM (1:41.28). He also was part of the program-record-setting 800 freestyle relay (6:19.43, 5.8 seconds faster than the previous mark). He continued to roll in his second NCAAs, making school history by becoming the first Yellow Jacket swimmer to earn All-America status in three events -- the 100 breast (51.38, sixth), 200 breast (1.50.79, fourth) and 200 IM (1:41.04, sixth). He entered his junior year with his name attached to school records in six events

Already one of the most accomplished swimmers in Tech history, Pumputis is working to take it a step further, compete in the 2020 Olympics.

you the last 15 meters of a race, I have never seen somebody who just puts his head down and grinds it to the wall. He does not want to lose, and that is an awesome attribute to have.” “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an athlete that committed and that determined like him,” said first-year Tech assistant coach and countryman Francisco “Chico” Rego, who has trained more than a dozen world and national champions, including 2016 Olympic gold medalist Kevin Cordes and silver medalist Marcelo Chierighini. “He’s someone that you look at like, ‘That guy’s different.’ He’s not like your common student-athlete, or your common swimmer. In the water or in the weight room, he’s a beast.” Pumputis gets into “beast mode” once he gets on the block and races fearlessly. A prime example came last Dec. 5 at the 2019 Toyota U.S. Open Championships at McAuley Aquatic Center, when he found himself sandwiched between U.S. Olympians Ryan Lochte, a six-time Olympic gold medalist, and Chase Kalisz, an Olympic silver medalist and two-time world champion, in his heat of the 200 individual medley. He doesn’t back down against elite competition. He gets his back up. “I like to race when people are faster than me, because it’s motivation,” said Pumputis, who finished eighth, but nearly topped his school record. “You know you’re not the best, and you know that you can push yourself, you can improve and get faster. So being in the heat with

HE DOESN’T BACK DOWN AGAINST ELITE

COMPETITION. HE GETS HIS BACK UP.

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SWIMMING & DIVING | CAIO’S TIME

going to make me swim fast that’s what I’m going to do.’” He believes that desire gives him an edge come race time. “Sometimes I just think, ‘They haven’t practiced as hard as I did. They haven’t put in as much effort as I did the whole season, in and out of the pool,’” he said. “So sometimes I look to my side and I say, ‘I’m not going to lose this race.’” He’ll take that confidence into the NCAA Championships, where he’ll try and bring home a championship, something not done by a Georgia Tech swimmer since 1927, when Dave Young won the 150 back. Pumputis badly wants to end that drought. “We don’t even have this event anymore,” said Pumputis, with a laugh. “It’s going to be hard, but getting there is another chance. It’s who wants it most and I’ll be ready for it.” At least one former Yellow Jackets’ great believes Pumputis can follow through. “I think he has what it takes to win a title,” said Gal Nevo, a three-time Olympian, and five-time All-American, who finished second in the 400 IM at both 2009 and 2010 NCAAs, and whose 200 IM school-record Pumputis passed and whose 400 IM record Pumputis has put in jeopardy. “I want to see him win. I think Caio is in a very good period and I hope he continues this momentum into summer meets, international summer meets, and do even better things.” He’s already shown he can compete on the international level, having competed at the 2017 Junior World Championships, breaking the South American record in the 100 medley (51.83) at the Brazil’s 2018 Jose Finkel Trophy tournament, finishing top 10 in the 200 meter medley and 100 medley at the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships, and earning a silver in the men’s 200 meter and 11th in the men’s 200 meter breaststroke at the 2019 Pan Am Games, swimming through a severe groin injury. He also was part of Brazil’s men’s 200 IM at the ‘19 World Championships. He hopes to take the next step for Brazil at the country’s Olympic Trials at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center in Barra da Tijuca, April 20th-25th, then, hopefully the XXXII Olympic Games, July 25 through Aug. 6 in Tokyo, Japan.

(100- and 200- breast, 200 IM, 200- and 400 medley relay, 800 free relay) and 17 all-time top-10s in 12 different events. With the ACC and NCAA Championships still to be swam, he had 14 season-top-10s in nine events. Pumputis has plenty of motivation, starting with improving on last year’s NCAAs. “I want to be top-three in three events (100 IM, 100 breast, 200 breast),” he said. “A month later I have Olympic trials for Brazil, so I hope to qualify for the Olympics in three events, as well -- 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM. I’ve got on my mind that I have to practice more to achieve this goal.” He’s as much a competitor in practice as he is in meets. “He’s always trying to get to practice early to kind of stretch out and get ready to go,” said Hart. “He always stays after practice, whether that be to stretch or do pull-ups or even take an ice bath to help with his recovery. He is very mindful of what he needs to do outside of the water to help him be the best in the water.” “I always heard he was a great kid, and that’s exactly what he is,” said Rego. He’s always super-positive. He came to me one day, and said to me, ‘I don’t care if you ask me to put my hand through a wall. I will do it. If it’s

Pumputis chats with former star Tech swimmer Dick Bergmark, whose family has endowed the head coaching position for Georgia Tech swimming and diving.

BY THE NUMBERS 6 Number of events in which Pumputis holds Georgia Tech school records

continued on page 11

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“He will do whatever we ask of him in a meet situation so that we can win those meets,” said Hart, who used Pumputis in the 200 freestyle and backstroke and 100 butterfly this season. “He is super-humble and relishes the opportunity to be in school at Georgia Tech and to compete for Georgia Tech as we help him get to that next level. He’s a great teammate. He’s always hugging his teammates and trying to help them out. He’s just a great all-around guy. You want a team full of those.” Setting that example is paramount, in and out of the pool. “You put in hard work and show them that you’re not here just to play around, just to swim for two hours. You’re here to practice hard for two hours,” he said. “I think that’s the main thing. “I would say (I have) responsibility to get the most out of practice, eat healthy, go to class, get rest, go to bed earlier,” he added. “You know it’s college. You have a lot of parties going on to distract you from your goal. I’ve learned. That I have to focus and be myself.” Pumputis hasn’t considered his legacy. It’s not time to do that just yet. His focus is on those five rings. “I think about that every day,” he said. “That’s my goal and that’s what I keep in mind. Mentalizing me getting there and being there, I think is really important. Once I get there I’ll do my best to make it happen.”

continued from page 8

FACT A Georgia Tech swimmer has not won an NCAA Championship since Dave Young won the 150 backstroke in 1927.

Enter Coach Hart. She is determined to get Pumputis to Tokyo. “Our ultimate goal for Caio this year is to make his Olympic team,” she said. “I think certainly Caio has the ability to be an Olympic champion as well. It is a matter of taking care of yourself both in and out of the pool and also a balance in your life, which is one of the reasons that Caio is in school right now. So it’s not a sole focus. It is part of the focus. “I think he has what it takes,” Rego said. “There’s always something to be developed, of course, but it’s not something that he’s that far off from making the team. He has the mentality. His best events are further on in the competition. His third event is the most competitive, the one that he’s trying, is on the first day. He came to me and said, ‘I want to qualify on the first day,’ the event that people don’t think he’ll be able to make. That’s the kind of mentality that he has. Since the first day I was on campus and met him, the first thing we talked about was, ‘I’m going to make the Games.’” What has so many people rooting for Pumputis is that he wants his teammates to succeed as much as he does. The legacy of being a great teammate is as important to him as the number of top-10s and records he will set.

I HOPE TO QUALIFY FOR THE OLYMPICS IN THREE EVENTS, AS WELL — 100 BREAST, 200 BREAST AND 200 IM. I’VE GOT ON MY MIND THAT I HAVE TO PRACTICE MORE

TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL...

—CAIO PUMPUTIS

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

BY MATT WINKELJOHN BIG ON THE BASKETBALL COURT, AND BIG IN LIFE, JAMES BANKS’ BASKETBALL JOURNEY IS JUST BEGINNING CENTER OF ATTENTION F or quite a while, James Banks III couldn’t keep pace with his mother, who became quite a runner, and neither could his older in order the four high schools where he grew from a very tall neophyte with minimal basketball experience to a force. There’s a lot to process with Banks, and it starts

sister, Marissa. Even the family dogs struggled to stay with Mom when she went running on the pathway from Stone Mountain toward Atlanta. James was in elementary school then. Now, Mom can’t walk, and it’s hard to keep up with James as he drives toward the finish of his college basketball days at Georgia Tech, with the goal of playing in the NBA. Tracking his hoops story isn’t so easy either. He’s been centering the Yellow Jackets for two seasons, after languishing on the bench for two at Texas, and you’ll be hard pressed to keep

with Sonja Banks prohibiting him from playing basketball when he was a kid. James says, “Mom over-protected me as a kid,” and Sonja, who is now a paraplegic, “will tell you that’s no lie.” James Jr., his Dad, died in a motorcycle accident on North Avenue, behind what is now Ponce City Market. The big little guy (James is a solid 6-feet-10 now, with a standing reach of almost 9-feet-4 toward the goal) was four. James III didn’t get to play, “because I didn’t want him to go down the wrong path,” Sonja admits. “I

12   EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS | SPRING 2020

James Jr. – Dad -- played football at North Carolina Central. He was 6-7, and he may have even played a little bit of ball in an obscure semi- pro league. Sonja played a little basketball at Towers High in DeKalb County. She was 6-feet before the accident on Feb. 25, 2015, that broke her back. “I only made the team because I was tall,” she says. James III eventually took off in basketball in part because he is also tall. He sure wasn’t good when he made the JV squad at Columbia High in Decatur as a freshman. He’d been 6-3 in middle school and kept growing. Then, his mother let him try out for a new sport. He did almost nothing. At the time, he figured he had a shot as a defensive end, or as an offensive lineman, maybe as a tight end, but basketball looked so cool. So, he swayed his mother into letting him play. “Moving bodies, that’s really what I thought my thing was going to be, and I just remember I wanted to play (basketball) so bad. I didn’t make the varsity, and just doing the three-man weave was so hard for me, so challenging,” he says. “They wouldn’t even let me touch a ball.” But the big boy got better fast. He transferred to St. Francis School, in Alpharetta, for his sophomore year and played off the bench for a state championship team that included Malik Beasley, who now plays in the NBA for the Timberwolves. Other teammates included Kaiser Gates, who went on to play for the University of Arizona, and the NBA’s Grizzlies, Cavs and Hornets. They were both one-and-done players in college. Another teammate, Kobi Simmons, was on the team as well. He played at Xavier for three years, and is working now in the NBA’s developmental G-League. Then, Banks played some AAU ball. “That summer I played for the first time with Stampede, made a little bit of noise and got my feet wet,” he says. “Playing at St. Francis with all those guys, we had college coaches all the time. It opened up a new lens on what basketball could be for me.” St. Francis head coach Cabral Huff took a job at Georgia Southern, and Banks soon transferred away to Mt. Vernon Presbyterian in Sandy Springs for his junior season. And he rocked more. In the middle of that season, his mother went skidding off of I-20 while driving to ministry duties outside of Anniston, Ala. Mostly, she lives on the Move of God Bible Way Tabernacle property outside of Anniston, tended to by church members. When in Atlanta, which is a few days a month – chiefly when James has a basketball game – she stays with her mother in

THAT SUMMER I PLAYED FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH STAMPEDE, MADE A LITTLE BIT OF NOISE AND GOT MY FEET WET. PLAYING AT ST. FRANCIS WITH ALL THOSE GUYS, WE HAD COLLEGE COACHES ALL THE TIME. IT OPENED UP A NEW LENS ON WHAT BASKETBALL COULD BE FOR ME.

—JAMES BANKS

ran five miles a day, and I was coming back, and I passed the park (where kids played). I thought I smelled marijuana. I was really strict on him. I kept him up under me, and sometimes when I look back, I wish I did things a little differently. I should have known by his size that basketball was his sport. “(By then) being a single mom, after something so tragic, I think things would have been different if his dad was around, and he would have been exposed to more sports.” A few years after the death of James, Jr., Mom relented one day when the family was at Stonecrest Mall, and youth league officials had a sign-up table there. “Because his dad had played football, I think he wanted to play football for the DC Trojans,” Sonja says.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL | CENTER OF ATTENTION

BY THE NUMBERS 8 Place in Georgia Tech career list for blocked shots for James Banks (144).

“But the fundamental skill base of being a post player, a basketball player, wasn’t fully developed, so we’ve gone back and shored things up. It’s sealing, and positioning and angles.” Banks is always shoring up, and sometimes it costs him. He’s not laser-focused all the time. Maybe that’s because he cares so much about so many. First thing every day, “I call my mom and we pray,” he says. “We talk at least three or four times a day, or text some.” Banks is well spoken, like his mother, and he’s just as likely to come upon a media interview with teammates or head coach Josh Pastner and pop up two fingers behind the head of whomever is on camera as he is to show up with one of his multiple pairs of Crocs on his feet. Or, he might just stop to talk. Banks is different from his predecessor, Ben Lammers, who played out of the high block. James plays mostly low, but is so often so high on life. Reveno describes both as highly intelligent, Lammers as an introvert and Banks as an extrovert. “I wouldn’t say he’s happy-go-lucky just because he’s wearing bright Crocs and two different color socks. He enjoys himself; he enjoys people;” Reveno says. “We go to a restaurant and the guys are polite and say hello, but James talks and meets some people, talks to servers. We leave and people say, ‘Your guys are so friendly,’ and that’s the James Banks effect. That more than basketball, or football, James Banks III is big. “I believe can hold my own with anybody on this Earth on the basketball court. I believe my best basketball is ahead of me.” And, no longer in front, Sonja James from her wheelchair knows there will be more to life than hoops for her baby. “Every parent wants their kid to fulfill their dream, and what I’ve learned in life with him if you give a person just a little bit of fame or notoriety, you’ll find out what that person is really like,” Sonja says. “What I’ve come to learn is that James will not sway from what I’ve taught him. What I’ve always taught him is to always be respectful, show love to those in despair. I don’t want him to ever, ever look down on people. What I’ve found is that if there’s one kid that’s over there by himself, go over there to see what you can do.” In many ways, James III is fulfilling his dream on a daily basis, and his basketball journey is just beginning.

Decatur. Head pastor Prezzel Lane usually drives her back and forth to and from Atlanta. James thought she was going to get better, and went to play his senior season on scholarship for La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind. That’s a hugely successful prep program. And then he chose Texas without knowing that fellow center Jarrett Allen would join the Longhorns a couple months later, just after James showed up on campus. Banks didn’t play much that season, and Allen was drafted after just one year of college by the NBA’s Nets at No. 22. A season later, center Mo Bamba showed up at Texas, and the freshman was in 2018 drafted No. 6 by the Magic. Again, Banks played little in what was his sophomore season. The timeline in the head of Banks III wasn’t unfolding. “As a 16 or 17-year old, I didn’t think I was going to be in college more than two years,” he said. Mom wasn’t getting better as fast as everyone had hoped, and the combination of James’ athletic and life realities led him back to Atlanta. So, he put his name in the transfer portal. Now, he majors in history, technology and society at Tech, and is among the ACC’s best shot blockers, quite a rebounder, and in line to score about a dozen points per game. “I think James has progressed in a lot of fundamental areas that may not jump out at somebody,” says assistant coach Eric Reveno, who works chiefly with Tech’s big players. “His technique on things, his shot blocking, his rebounding, some of the athletic plays he makes have always just naturally been there.

Banks led the ACC in blocked shots in 2019, but has blocked more shots per game this season

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

THE POSITIVE APPROACH OF HEAD COACH NELL FORTNER AND HER STAFF HAS MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE FOR GEORGIA TECH WOMEN’S BASKETBALL ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY

BY JON COOPER

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“Keep on the sunny side always on the sunny side Keep on the sunny side of life It will help us every day it will brighten all the way If we keep on the sunny side of life.” J anuary 28 was a good day for the Georgia Tech’s women’s basketball team. No, the Yellow Jackets didn’t have a game that day. All that was on the docket was practice. So how do we know with such certainty that that Tuesday was a good day for the team? Because every day from October through however long in March the season goes is a good day for head coach Nell Fortner and her staff -- assistant coaches Tasha Butts, Blanche Alverson and Brandy Manning. It’s an opportunity for them to teach, for the team to learn and for everyone to have some fun doing so. “I would say practice as a whole is enjoyable,” said junior point guard Kierra Fletcher. “(Coach Fortner) is always coming around asking us how our day’s been, joking around with us about school, classes, everything. The assistant coaches, too. It’s just a family feel in practice so it’s always enjoyable. The energy is always high.” High energy and enjoyable practices have become signatures of the Jackets’ first season under the highly energetic and always positive Fortner. “I definitely think we have taken on the personality of Coach Nell,” said Fletcher. “At some points, do we lean away from the positivity when times get hard? Yes. But she always reels us back in. She always reminds us that staying together and staying positive is what’s going to help us.” “She’s always energetic, she’s always positive,” said junior forward Lorela Cubaj. “If you make a mistake she is going to, obviously, point it out, but she will be like, ‘You’ve got it. You can do it.’ It’s really easy to get negative, but she always keeps us on track and tries to always be positive. I think that’s really helpful for everybody.” It’s helping in games. “She never yells at us. She’s always positive in everything she says,” said senior guard Francesca Pan. “If during the game we make bad plays or we’re down 10 points, if she calls a timeout she’s never mad. She always says, ‘We’ve got this. We got ourselves in a slump, we need to get out of it. Just stay together.’ Keeping

The positive and encouraging nature of Fortner and her staff has resulted in the Jackets staying in the top half of the ACC all season long.

HIGH ENERGY AND ENJOYABLE PRACTICES HAVE BECOME SIGNATURES OF THE JACKETS’ FIRST SEASON UNDER THE HIGHLY ENERGETIC AND ALWAYS POSITIVE FORTNER.

positive energy is really important for us. That’s what she loves to do.” Fortner also loves winning. She’s done it her entire career, as illustrated by her overall 305- 187 record as a head coach (a .620 winning percentage) entering her first year on The Flats, including a 101-14 mark with USA Basketball, highlighted by an Olympic gold medal, a FIBA World Championship gold and a Pan American Games bronze. This season had the potential to be Fortner’s most challenging. She hadn’t been on the sideline in seven years. The Jackets had to replace two of their top players from the previous season and didn’t have injured veteran leader Chanin Scott. The program needed a breath of fresh air and something positive to believe in. Fortner and staff proved to be both. “Coach Nell has been the same person from day one, and I think that’s something that the team has really enjoyed seeing,” said Fletcher. “I feel like we’re way more relaxed, comfortable. We want to fight for her and the coaching staff.” “It’s always enjoyable being around the coaching staff,” said Pan. “This morning we had a shooting workout. I’m sure a lot of people would not want to wake up early to go shoot. But once we went to the gym, everybody had positive energy, we had a really good practice.” All this positivity has resulted in the Jackets staying in the top half of the ACC all season long,

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL | ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY

Then there’s Fortner during the end-of- practice sudden death free throw shooting drill. “We were shooting free throws, and each person that came up and shot a free throw on her end, she started singing a freestyle song for that player.” Fletcher recalled, with a laugh. “It was hilarious because she was trying to rhyme. We couldn’t even focus because of how funny the stuff was that she was saying. Some of it didn’t even make sense.” The method to her madness makes perfect sense and the players immediately embraced it. “She’s made me love the game of basketball even more, and I just feel more positive,” said Cubaj. “I feel more energetic. I enjoy being around my teammates even more than I used to. That is really contagious. I believe more in my capabilities on the court.” Cubaj and others have expanded those capabilities. For example, the 6-4 forward, who has shown superb finishing offensively on the block, this season has unveiled her ability to shoot from the perimeter. She’s surpassed her career total of three-point field goals, making as many threes on Dec. 29 against Virginia (two) as she’d totaled her first two years. “She never told me not to shoot the three, so I will take the three if I’m open,” she said. “I feel like the style of play brings out some qualities that maybe before were not pointed out of certain players. People can express their games. She lets us do it. She encourages us to take risks.” “If you have the confidence of your coaches when you’re on the court, you’re not scared to shoot, you’re not scared to attack, you’re not scared to do your things,” agreed Pan. “People are playing their best right now because of the confidence that comes from the coaching staff. Everybody has improved their basketball skills this season.” “I can really see improvement from everybody on our team,” she added. “Like Jasmine (Carson), last year, barely played. This year she’s playing, and she has a role on our team, she’s scoring a lot, she’s picking us up on offense. Kierra is attacking the basket, she developed her jumper a lot. Last year it was more penetration. Everybody has improved their basketball skills this season.” The improvement hasn’t shown up on the scoreboard every night, but Fortner’s pride in the team’s effort has. Even during a recent losing streak, her message stayed positive. “She just told us that we have to regroup real quick,” said Cubaj. “That we will work on it in practice, because it’s really important for us to keep bouncing back and to bring energy all the time.”

and helped them weather a five-game losing streak during ACC play. Even at its most dire, the team never cracked or showed any inkling it would. It’s learned that while winning is fun, learning how to win can be, too. “She’s always joking around. Sometimes she jokes more than us,” said Fletcher. “It’s extremely funny when we see the videos up on the scoreboard (during timeouts). It’s hilarious because we see that day in and day out, but still we’re surprised by some of the stuff that she does.” There aren’t a lot of Division I coaches that will put themselves out there like Fortner does on a video that plays during a timeout, where she sings songs that she obviously knows -- “I Can’t Help Myself” by the Four Tops -- and tries to do songs that she really doesn’t know -- “Thank You, Next” by Ariana Grande and “In My Feelings” by Drake (the clean version, of course).

Francesca Pan (33) and Jasmine Carson have been Tech’s leading scorers all season long.

FACT With three games left in the regular season, Georgia Tech was within reach of a 20-win season.

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The correlation between the coach’s consistency of message and the team’s

willingness to buy in so quickly and completely. “She has never changed. She has never once raised her voice. She always says we just have to get in the gym and get better,” Fletcher said. “There’s been times that I’ve felt that we needed to be gotten after, but she’s always just come in and reassured us. I feel that is something that we all take to heart. She always lets us know that at the end of the day, basketball is just a game. She wants to help us grow as people. We’ll just get back to practice and get back to work.” It’s not that the losses don’t hurt. They do, especially to someone as unabashedly competitive as Fortner. But she refuses to let a loss drag her or her team down. The Jackets believe a season’s worth of this positivity will pay off come postseason. “It’s extremely important to keep that because I don’t want us to get tight if things start getting rough and I don’t think she wants that either,” said Fletcher. “That’s why she and the coaching staff try to keep everything free so we don’t feel an immense amount of pressure. They always say,

‘We don’t dwell on the past. We look towards the future and the present.’ You can definitely tell that she is used to winning, the way that she coaches. She holds us to a higher standard. Even when we are playing well she always says, ‘There’s always more work to do.’” “I feel like she has given us more confidence, and we feel it on the court,” said Cubaj. “We have one goal and the one goal is the NCAA Tournament. We want to reach that goal this year.”

Fortner hadn’t been on the sideline in seven years when she joined the Jackets, and she had to find replacements for two of their top players from the previous season.

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ATHLETICS

BIG B LIVES ON LATE TECH DEFENSIVE LINEMAN’S MEMORY IS CARRIED IN THE EFFORTS OF MANY OTHER YELLOW JACKET STUDENT-ATHLETES

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

I t may be hard to believe that it has been almost a full year since the tragic death of Brandon Adams, and it’s no less amazing how quickly fellow Georgia Tech student-athletes to hatch a plan to honor the late defensive tackle and business administration major. Actually, there are multiple timelines behind Victoria Flores’ idea for last fall’s “Big B” Clothing Drive, which fetched hundreds of wearable items to be donated to homeless people not far from campus. A couple of those timelines were remarkably quick. One in the middle took longer. Let’s move chronologically through a tale that weaves Georgia Tech student-athletes together with each other, their Institute and the world around them all. First, there was that day in the fall of 2017, when the diminutive Flores first met a much larger human in the parking garage of their apartment complex at the corner of North Avenue. Hours earlier, a sophomore from Brentwood, Tenn., played for Tech in a college football game, which Flores – surely one of the biggest fans of Tech athletics even beyond the tennis that she plays for the Yellow Jackets – had attended. In her first couple months on

The Flats, the freshman from Fort Dodge, Iowa, had learned of “Big B,” a smiler similar to her. Then, he was there. “I was just putting clothes in my trunk to donate to a homeless shelter nearby, and he just happened to see me and said, ‘Where are you going? What are you doing? I don’t want you to go alone,’” Flores recalls. “So, he volunteered to go with me, and we went to Gateway Center (on Pryor Street) . . . “It was like really instant. I always heard about him. I’m very friendly; I always hug people the first time I meet them, and he hugged me. He was so friendly, and I could tell it was very genuine.” Flores continued donating clothing to Gateway Center, which is located a few blocks west of the state capitol building near downtown. Gateway Center provides access to critical services and housing for the homeless, basic needs such as showers and clothing, shelter and access to health care and employment resources. Sometimes, her roommates and teammates Kenya Jones and Nami Otsuka joined her. But always, Adams flew wingman.

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On March 23, 2019, Adams collapsed while resting in the midst of practicing step-dancing in a fraternity activity, and passed away shortly afterward. His loss was keenly felt not only within his football team, but in the Georgia Tech student- athlete community at-large. “He was friends with everybody. That’s why we re-named our award at our year-end Yellow Jacket Celebration after him,” said Leah Thomas, who is Tech’s assistant athletics director for student-athlete development. Having been at Tech since 2003, Thomas supervises Tech’s Total Person Program, which among other things, organizes community service projects for student-athletes. She also serves as the advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Board. She added, “It’s kind of our Unsung Hero award, but it’s more like somebody who is everybody’s friend. (Victoria) won it last year.” And that was before Flores’ epiphany about Adams. It took time to process his passing. Her vision was not immediate. Until it suddenly became instant back in September, when she went to make another donation at Gateway Center. Flores recalled that very first trip, with Adams. “The guy we met was Cedric Phillips, and Brandon actually gave him a GT shirt, a gold- collared shirt,” she says of that initial visit. “I went there alone for the first time without him, because he passed in March, and the first person I saw was Cedric Phillips, wearing the shirt that Brandon gave him. “I was so scared to go, because I’d never been there without him … he would go with me once a semester. So I had like this lightbulb moment where I was inspired by Brandon. ‘Oh my God, we can call it the Big B Clothing Drive, and we can have all the donations go to Gateway Center.’” Flores went quickly to Thomas, who arrived at Tech almost two decades ago, but shortly after the beginning of the Michael Isenhour Toy Drive, a holiday-season tradition created to honor the death of the former Jackets’ basketball player from leukemia in 2002. It’s not difficult to find online pictures of Flores, her teammates and multiple Tech student-athletes participating in that. Thomas’ experience helped make Flores’ vision a reality. She helped set up logistics like the primary collection points on Callaway Plaza before the Nov. 16 football game against Virginia Tech. The event – which all parties intend to make an annual happening – was conducted under the umbrella of the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board.

I WAS JUST PUTTING CLOTHES IN MY TRUNK TO DONATE TO A HOMELESS SHELTER NEARBY, AND HE JUST HAPPENED TO SEE ME AND SAID, ‘WHERE ARE YOU GOING? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I DON’T WANT YOU TO GO ALONE. SO, HE VOLUNTEERED TO GO WITH ME, AND WE WENT TO GATEWAY CENTER (ON PRYOR STREET).

Recent graduate Tyler Cooksey wasn’t able to help collect that day. He had a football game to play. As a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board, he was involved about a week later when roughly two dozen student-athletes transported hundreds of items of clothing to Gateway Center. “I definitely wanted to help distribute the clothes,” says Cooksey, who is now in the work force at the Trammell Crow real estate company. “We’ve got to pull our weight. I hope that we just do what comes out of our hearts. Just do what Jesus would do.” The inaugural Big B Clothing Drive was a tremendous success. Flores says much of the donated clothing was brand new rather than “gently used” as the fliers ahead of time sought. Otsuka remembers moving garments from the Ken Byers Tennis Complex to Callaway Plaza on the day of the drive, trudging down Brittain Drive. “There were like five bags here, and I pushed it to the football stadium, and that was quite a struggle,” she said. “It was like a laundry cart. I was a little bit late, but I made it.” This was a collective effort. Flores says, “Every single team helped. It was awesome.” Thomas and Reid Ferrin, Tech’s Total Person Program coordinator, helped organize a joint effort, yet “Vicki deserves a ton of credit, because it was her initiative. It always has been, and in the past year-and-a-half, she has had a passion for collection of clothes, particularly for Gateway

—VICTORIA FLORES

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ATHLETICS | BIG B LIVES ON

Gateway Center, the beneficiary of the Big B Clothing Drive, provides access to critical services and housing for the homeless.

Center,” Thomas says. “She was pretty impacted, as we all were, by (Adams’) death, and she’s come a long way in healing.” Gateway Center appears enriched for sake of Georgia Tech, and specifically its student-athletes and Victoria Flores. So, the construction took time. The sparks that triggered the construction – Flores’ first meeting with Adams and her meetings with Phillips at Gateway Center -- were nearly instantaneous. “I like it, because they have clients, and they help people rebuild their lives,” she says. “They have them housed there. They get the treatment they need, like mental health [services]. They get financial literacy, they learn how to take care of themselves, how to find a job, how to find a place, how to re-start their lives,” Flores says. “When I had the idea, I knew it right then and there that I was going to do it, and whenever student-athletes have an idea like that in terms of volunteering or anything like that, they go to Leah. She’s like the MVP of GT Athletics. She’s the most supportive person. She was like, ‘Let’s get on it.’”

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2018 PLAYOFFS

I I VS

FOOTBALL

TECH FOOTBALL GREAT DERRICK MORGAN FINDS NEW PURPOSE IN BUSINESS WORLD EVERYDAY CHAMPION

BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER

M any thousands of words have been written about Derrick Morgan the football player over the last 15 years. An All-American at Georgia Tech, first round NFL draft pick and nine-year star for the Tennessee Titans, Morgan’s exploits were well chronicled. Morgan’s recent headlines read a bit differently. Morgan announced his football retirement last summer by crafting a piece for the Players’

Tribune headlined “My New Purpose” {https:// www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/ derrick-morgan-titans-nfl-retirement} that outlined his move from the football field to the business world. He joined the ranks of “impact investors” or those who focus on companies and initiatives that offer solutions to social and environmental issues. Not long after, Morgan the entrepreneur was profiled in Forbes, arguably America’s most

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THE FORBES’ PIECE OUTLINED ONE OF HIS EARLY PROJECTS, THE KNGDM IMPACT FUND. KNGDM IS RAISING 50 MILLION TO INVEST IN REAL ESTATE AND OPERATING BUSINESSES IN OPPORTUNITY ZONES, WHICH WERE ESTABLISHED BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IN 2017 AND MAKE PRIVATE INVESTMENTS MADE IN DESIGNATED ECONOMICALLY DISTRESSED COMMUNITIES ELIGIBLE FOR CAPITAL GAIN TAX BREAKS.

after the 2018 season and quickly pivoted to entrepreneurship and what is called impact investing. Where did you begin? Morgan: “The first thing I did was talk to God. I dedicated myself to improving my prayer life and bettering my understanding of my purpose and what God wanted me to do with the next chapter. I was determined to walk in my purpose and do what I was supposed to do. I did an eight-day water fast and found some direction and inspiration. From the moment when I began to walk in obedience of what God wanted, things started to fall into place. I feel fortunate to have purpose. Not all in my position do. That’s a reality for a lot of guys who hang them up. I knew I couldn’t be that recently retired guy who is depressed all the time and doesn’t have any motivation in life. I’m grateful that God directed me on my way. “From there it was a continuous process. I’m a very curious person. Whether it’s something I read or something like a documentary, I like to look into it. One day I was watching a documentary about the 13th amendment, which ended slavery. It was very intriguing, because it told me what the money that I’m investing today is going to fund. In this case, it was about private prisons and how all these different investment vehicles have holdings in these private prison companies. That got me reading and studying and learning about impact investing. “I reached out to an impact investor out of Oakland who had written a book on the matter, and she opened my eyes to the possibilities of what you could invest in where the money makes a difference in people’s lives. That kick-started the process of me moving my money toward those investments and getting involved in areas of impact investing.” EC: You are now a champion of several sustainable businesses, from plant-based meat foods to insulation made from recycled cardboard. You are also investing in Opportunity Zones. What attracted you to this area of investing? Morgan: “My entire hometown is an Opportunity Zone. That’s how I got interested in the program. The catch with Opportunity Zones is the incentives may get money into those markets, but will it be invested in projects that help the

respected business publication. The Forbes’ piece outlined one of his early projects, the KNGDM Impact Fund. KNGDM is raising 50 million to invest in real estate and operating businesses in Opportunity Zones, which were established by the Trump administration in 2017 and make private investments made in designated economically distressed communities eligible for capital gain tax breaks. Morgan recently shared his insights on his past, present and future with Everyday Champions. Everyday Champions: You’ve talked openly over the years about growing up in a small town beyond the outskirts of Philadelphia, raised in a tight-knit family environment by a single mother and your grandparents. How did that background influence your life? Morgan: “My upbringing was grounded in accountability and discipline. That foundation was set from an early age. My mom and my grandparents modeled that behavior, and it has translated throughout my life and given me a bit of an edge up in all my pursuits. Kids learn more by example than through preaching and constant nagging. I do the same thing with my kids today. They probably hear about five percent of what I say, but they see everything.” EC: What about football’s role? You weren’t a Pop Warner prodigy -- you didn’t come to the game until you were a teenager. Once you discovered your talents, how did that change the direction of your life? Morgan: “Once we reach a certain age, we are always looking for our place in the world. A lot of it depends on your upbringing: Are you being raised in an edifying, reaffirming environment? Or are you in a place where you are simply looking to survive? Without someone to tell you who you are, why you are important and what your potential is, you are always looking for those answers. Football filled in those blanks for me. For me, football was something to put my stake in the ground. “The interesting part is once I reached the pinnacle and became a professional player, I realized that football wasn’t going to define the entirety of my life.” EC: So let’s talk about where you have found your place in the world now after a stellar football career. You retired from the NFL

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