2019-20 Georgia Tech Everyday Champions Issue #3

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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