"At Sewanee, we want every single thing we do to be excellent."
P'24, speaks at the Centennial Celebration of
Basketball on the Mountain
“Keep your eye on the ball!” is a common refrain among coaches at every level—from Little League to the majors. For Sewanee Director of Athletics John Shackelford, P’24, the ball is, in essence, an idea: excellence. “I think one of the reasons our alumni, parents, and students love Sewanee is that they know the way we do things on the Mountain is special. We aim for excellence,” Shackelford says. “That should be our ongoing goal—that nothing falls through the cracks. From our study abroad programs to our dining hall to our athletic facilities. We want every single thing we do to be excellent.” In service of this goal, Shackelford has identified two immediate funding priorities for Sewanee Athletics: the University’s 100 Years of Basketball Fund and the replacement of athletic surfaces on Hardee-McGee Field/Coughlan Track and Puett Field.
Shackelford says he has high expectations for both initiatives, and fundraising goals have been set accordingly. Through the 100 Years of Basketball Fund, Sewanee aims to achieve $1,000,000 in support of a basketball program endowment, expanded travel opportunities for players, and new office space for basketball and volleyball coaches. Surface replacement will require $2,000,000—$1,300,000 for Hardee-McGee Field/Coughlan Track and $700,000 for Puett Field. As of February 2024, the 100 Years of Basketball Fund is halfway to the finish line, with $509,000 raised. The turf/track project has secured $616,000—about 30% of the goal.
College during Centennial Celebration weekend
The 100 Years of Basketball Fund launched in August 2023 and was highlighted during the University’s Centennial Celebration of Basketball on the Mountain, held the weekend of Jan. 19-21. Rhea Bowden, C’76, who helped coordinate the festivities, says he especially enjoyed attending the alumni game. “It was lots of fun to see teams of 15 to 20 players, both men and women, including recent graduates and alumni from decades ago.” During the weekend, Tigers fans were treated to top-level play by Sewanee’s men’s and women’s teams in games against Rhodes College and Hendrix College. A last-second, game-winning three-point shot against Rhodes by Russ Marr, C’25, lit up Sewanee’s social media channels and was shared on TikTok by ESPN College Gameday.
Bowden recalls a different sort of excitement when he played against Washington and Lee University in a conference tournament during his sophomore year. Sewanee was victorious, but the team received no help from a rowdy fan. “At one point late in the game, one of my teammates reached out for water, and a Highlander or Wellington in the bleachers gave him a glass—only it wasn’t water,” he says.“I thought to myself at the time, ‘Only at Sewanee would this happen.’”
Hearing these “only at Sewanee” anecdotes was a highlight of the centennial gathering, in Shackelford’s view. Although student-athletes and coaches are attuned to the scoreboard, he says, “When alumni return to the Mountain 10 or 20 years later, nobody remembers those wins and losses anymore. What they remember is their friendships. They remember lessons learned on the court—including lessons from losing or winning a game. All of these lessons translate to positive experiences after graduation.”
Shackelford describes the 100 Years of Basketball Fund as important to current student-athletes, as well as to future generations of Tigers. In detailing the fund’s components, he says it’s instructive to distinguish between an “athletic team” and an “athletic program.” He notes that the fund has been designed with Sewanee’s big picture in mind. “The team consists of the roster, the players, and the coaches, but the program is more all-encompassing. You have to think about the University’s athletic facilities, our ability to recruit and bring on new talent, our ability to travel and to build players’ skills by competing against different teams—all of these factors are essential to create success.”
The safety of Sewanee’s student-athletes is another critical element for success, and Shackelford says the condition of the University’s athletic turf and track is vital to the quality of Sewanee Athletics as a whole. “If you think about every single one of our sports, there’s nothing more important than the surface that our student-athletes play on.” Installed in 2012, the turf on Hardee-McGee and Puett fields has now surpassed its 10-year lifespan, and the outdoor track is similarly outdated. The University has secured bids from three contractors for full replacement. If fundraising goals are met, Shackelford says his plan is to begin the process of installing new turf and track immediately after the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, so that fields are ready for practice and play in the fall.
With summer only a few months away, project funding is imperative. Marc Pennell, P’18, says he and his wife, Leslie, chose to support the turf/track project after hearing about it from Head Men’s Soccer Coach Tony Pacella. The Pennells’ son, McKinnon, C’18, served as Sewanee’s assistant women’s soccer coach for multiple seasons and now coaches soccer at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. “McKinnon enjoyed playing at Puett Field during his four years with the Tigers, and our observation was that the Pit’s atmosphere was second to none, but the facility wasn’t up to par with some of Sewanee’s conference and non-conference foes,” Marc says. “Our son’s experience of playing [on Puett Field] safely was important during his time at Sewanee—and we want the same experience to be available to Sewanee athletes for years to come.”
As Shackelford considers the future of Sewanee Athletics, he says he hopes the Tigers will continue scoring conference wins, but his focus is also on the long term. “I think the heart of the matter is that we have alumni who, five or 10 years from now, say that Sewanee sports made a big impact on their lives—taught them to be a better spouse or a better parent, or to make a difference at their jobs or in their communities. If we did some of that for them, then I’ll know we’ve succeeded. That’s our ultimate goal.”
