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THE FLATS – Georgia Tech athletics mourns the loss of legendary former director of athletics Dr. Homer Rice, who died on Monday at the age of 97.
Rice was the Yellow Jackets’ athletics director from 1980-97. Under his leadership, Georgia Tech revitalized its athletics program, highlighted by winning its fourth football national championship in 1990. Tech’s men’s basketball team won its first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 1985 and made its first NCAA Final Four appearance in 1990, and its baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first time in 1994 with Rice at the helm.
As A.D., he hired some of Tech’s most successful and legendary head coaches, including Bobby Cremins in basketball, Bobby Ross and George O’Leary in football, Jim Morris and Danny Hall in baseball and Bruce Heppler in golf. The Yellow Jackets won 16 ACC championships across five sports during his tenure.
However, perhaps Rice’s biggest legacy is the Total Person Program, which he developed and implemented at Tech and went on to be the model for the NCAA Life Skills Program that is now practiced across college athletics. He continued to teach a leadership class at Georgia Tech until recently. He wrote a number of books on leadership success, including Leadership for Leaders in 1984, Lessons for Leaders in 2000, and Leadership Fitness in 2004.
“Homer has reminded us throughout his career that the ultimate goal of intercollegiate athletics is to help student-athletes grow fully as people,” Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera said. “At a time of profound changes in athletics, Homer’s message and legacy of excellence is more important than ever.”
Among his countless distinctions and honors, the Homer Rice Award is presented annually to an NCAA Division I FBS athletics director that has made significant…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/georgia-tech-mourns-loss-legendary-035900465.html
Author : The Albany Herald, Ga.
Publish date : 2024-06-12 03:59:00
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