Last year, standout ACU wide receiver Clyde Gates helped attract representatives of 17 teams to campus to watch him and several teammates work out. Their interest proved sincere later that spring: Gates was selected in the fourth round by the Miami Dolphins, while offensive lineman Trevis Turner (Pittsburgh Steelers) and wide receiver Raymond Radway (Dallas Cowboys) signed as free agents.
Yesterday, defensive end Aston Whiteside and running back Darryl Richardson were joined by five teammates: tight end Ben Gibbs, offensive tackle Neal Tivis, fullback Justin Andrews, defensive tackle Donald Moore and linebacker Derek Drummond. West Texas A&M wide receiver Brittan Golden was one of four other Lone Star Conference players to participate, along with several others from Hardin-Simmons and McMurry universities.
Darryl Richardson
Whiteside, who is 6-2 and weighs 285 pounds, has been one of the most dominant defensive players in Lone Star Conference history and may have a future in the NFL as a linebacker. He participated yesterday in drills for five different positions, including tight end and fullback. Richardson ranks in the top five of three Wildcat career offensive marks: overall scoring, touchdowns scored and rushing yards.
Other current Wildcats in the NFL are Danieal Manning (Houston Texans), Johnny Knox (Chicago Bears) and Bernard Scott (Cincinnati Bengals).
ACU is one of only four universities to qualify for the NCAA Division II playoffs each of the last six years. Others are North Alabama, Albany State (Ga.) and Northwest Missouri State.
The 2012 NFL Draft is April 26-28 in Radio City Music Hall in New York City, N.Y.
At 17, Brittany Partridge went on a mission trip to Romania where she met other girls her age. These girls, however, lived a life far different than her own. They were among the millions of young people around the world being bought and sold like objects, sometimes for child labor, more often for sex.
The girls Partridge met were the lucky ones; they had been rescued into a safe house. Partridge felt an immediate connection with these teens who had been forced into prostitution. “I couldn’t help but think that could have been me,” she said.
From her first encounter with modern-day slavery, a passion was ignited. Partridge decided her purpose in life was to combat human trafficking, to champion people who were being exploited around the world.
“I was just shocked that nobody knew about the issue,” Partridge said. “People weren’t talking about it; they never brought it up at school. We talk about slavery from 200 years ago but not about today.”
As a freshman at Abilene Christian University, Partridge co-founded the Red Thread Movement, an organization dedicated to combating human trafficking in Nepal.
Last week, the political science major from Annandale, Minn. – now a senior – was named a Truman Scholar for 2012. She is the first ACU student to win the elite honor and accompanying $30,000 scholarship.
Though not planned, word of Partridge’s award coincided with Justice Week on the Abilene Christian campus. The Red Thread Movement was among several social justice programs and speakers featured throughout the week.
ACU president Dr. Phil Schubert recognized Partridge’s Truman Award in Chapel on Monday, calling her “a tremendous example of truly living out the ACU mission of Christian service and leadership throughout the world.”
She also was recognized at a reception Monday hosted by the Honors College.
The highly competitive Truman Scholarship, presented by the Harry S. Truman Foundation, is awarded to college students who plan to attend graduate school in preparation for a career in government or other public service. As a Truman Scholar, Partridge joins a list of distinguished students from schools such as Princeton, Stanford, Georgetown, Cornell, Duke, Dartmouth and Yale.
After her first encounter in Romania with sex trade victims, Partridge decided she would become a public interest lawyer so she could prosecute the traffickers, she said.
“I didn’t really think I would be able to do that until after I got out of ACU and went to law school. I had this vision that my goals would have to wait until I had more education,” she said. “But something I learned at ACU is you can use your education while you are getting it.”
Partridge and her freshman roommate, Samantha Sutherland, began volunteering at local nonprofit Eternal Threads, whichhelps teach women in developing countries income-producing skills.
“We found out Eternal Threads was working in Nepal with girls who had been rescued out of human trafficking,” Partridge said. “And that just sparked my imagination. And I thought, what if we were to sell bracelets that those girls could make? They could be employed, and we could raise awareness for human trafficking. And so that’s what we did.”
Each bracelet is handmade by women and girls at-risk for trafficking in the Asian nation, bordered to the north by China and to the south, east and west by India. Sale of the $3 bracelets helps victims by raising awareness, providing employment for those affected and funding safe houses that help establish border security.
What started as a spark on the ACU campus has spread like wildfire across the United States. The Red Thread Movement now works with more than 180 musicians, students on 75 university campuses, and high school and youth groups.
As ACU’s first Truman Scholar, Partridge is a giant step closer to realizing her dream to eliminate human trafficking. She intends to use the scholarship to earn a law degree from Georgetown University and pursue a career with the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. Department of State.
“These positions will enable me to use the law and diplomacy to defend human rights,” Partridge said.
Since starting the Red Thread Movement, Partridge has worked with anti-trafficking organizations around the world, appeared on CNN International for CNN’s Freedom Project, and was a fellow at Polaris Project in 2011. In March 2012, she spoke at a workshop on human trafficking on the Princeton University campus.
Watch a short video of Dr. Phil Schubert surprising Partridge during class with news of her award:
Sue Ann (Chance) Gibson, 49, former longtime administrative coordinator in Abilene Christian University’s Center for International Education (CIE), died March 30 in Abilene after a battle with cancer.
Born May 25, 1962, in Tulia, Texas, she attended school in Brownfield and graduated from Shamrock High School and attended West Texas A&M University before marrying Russell Gibson in 1981. Gibson taught young children’s Bible school classes at church and at mother’s-day-out programs. She served in Abilene Christian’s CIE from January 2001 to September 2011, where she helped international students enroll at ACU.
“Sue Ann revealed the face and love of Christ to hundreds of international students through her kind words and gentle spirit,” said Dr. Kevin Kehl, CIE executive director. “She had a thorough understanding of immigration regulations and a determination to graciously and lovingly help students follow them. Her words and actions spoke peace into the lives of so many trying to find their way in a new place. She also led students and co-workers by acting and thinking about them more highly than she did herself. She always focused first on the ‘others’ in her life – family, students and teammates.”
Among survivors are her husband, Russell; two daughters, Brittany (Gibson) Thompson and Chelsea (Gibson) Hall; four grandchildren; four brothers, Mike Chance, John Chance, Jim Chance and Bob Chance; a sister, Pam Morgan; and her parents, Bill and Pat Chance.
A memorial service will be held April 3 at 11 a.m. at Baker Heights Church of Christ in Abilene.
Kelly Kent, who helped lead Abilene Christian University to its last national football championship before dying tragically at age 21, will be inducted May 7 to the Big Country Athletic Hall of Fame.
A hometown high school star in nearby Cisco, Kent was a three-year letterman for the ACU Wildcats from 1977-78 and part of an all sophomore backfield – with quarterback John Mayes and tailback Alex Davis – who helped head coach Dewitt Jones’ (’65) team to an 11-1-1 record and a win in the 1977 Apple Bowl in the Kingdome in Seattle, Wash.
Kelly Kent (left) and Greg Newman celebrate ACU's 1977 Apple Bowl win in the Kingdome.
Kent will be honored at an induction banquet in the Abilene Civic Center along with former Abilene Cooper High School baseball coach Andy Malone, golfers John Paul Cain of Sweetwater and Judy Casey of Abilene, sprinter Bruce Land of Hawley, former Haskell High School and Abilene Cooper High School football coach Ray Overton, and Joe Crousen, a longtime football coach and native of Breckenridge.
A tailback at Cisco High School, Kent was named all-state as a sophomore and was selected three times to all-district and all-area teams while running for 3,500 yards and 45 touchdowns for the Loboes.
“When the late Kelly Kent graduated from high school, the Cisco Loboes made the ‘quail offense’ obsolete. Apparently no one else could make it work like he did. But then, not many running backs could run with the football like he did,” wrote Bill Hart (’53), longtime Abilene Reporter-News sportswriter and editor, in naming his all-Hart Big Country Class 3A team. “Kent’s back was to the defense and when he got the football, it was hard to figure out what he was going to do and usually he wound up in the end zone. The first high school football game I covered for the Reporter-News was Cisco versus Ranger, and Kent, then a sophomore, was starting his first varsity game. All he did was touch the football on about seven plays and he scored five touchdowns in the Loboes’ 35-0 win. One of those touchdowns came on a kick return. One year, he scored six touchdowns against Eastland and another time, he had four scores. The Mavericks were glad to see him graduate – as were many other opponents. They may have stopped him on offense, but then he’d hurt opponents by returning a kick.”
As a freshman fullback at ACU in 1976 for head coach Wally Bullington (’53), Kent blocked for future NFL all-pro tailback Wilbert Montgomery (’77) on a team that finished 9-2, was runner-up in the Lone Star Conference and won the San Jacinto Shrine Bowl. As a sophomore, Kent ran for 1,184 yards and 16 touchdowns, was named the Outstanding Offensive Player of the Game in the NAIA semifinal game (200 yards rushing) and the NAIA championship game (158 yards rushing). His junior year, Kent ran for 743 yards and scored nine TDs, and was named second team academic all-America.
He died Feb. 7, 1979, of a heart attack between his junior and senior seasons. Kent was later named to ACU’s all-decade team of the 1970s, and inducted to the 2003-04 class of the ACU Sports Hall of Fame.
For tickets to the induction banquet, call 325-668-3685 or email carolepickett@sbcglobal.net.
Competing with other teammates in his club’s first official tournament, Nelson Goldsmith, a sophomore finance major from Abilene, caught a 6.76-pound largemouth bass to finish second in the Cabela’s Collegiate Big Bass Bash at Lake Lavon in Allen, Texas. Other ACU anglers competing included Riley Nipper, Grant Brown, Kirk Mann and Glen Halbert. The club’s performance has ACU ranked 14th nationally in the early season.
Nelson Goldsmith
The only woman in the field – Reagan Moore of Arkansas Tech University – took first and third place honors with bass weighing 7.84 and 6.38 pounds in the March 23-24 tournament, and she also caught a 4.48-pounder.
Other top-scoring teams in the Lake Lavon tournament included TCU, University of Arkansas, University of North Texas, Texas A&M University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Louisiana-Montoe, The University of Texas-Tyler, Dallas Baptist University, The University of Texas-Austin, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Henderson State University and Harvard University. Ninety-four anglers were registered, and they weighed in 119 fish.
The BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series – the largest of its kind in the nation – is run by the Association of Collegiate Anglers, which is a division of Careco TV and The Bass Federation. It nationally televises three of its tournaments, and partners with NBC Sports Outdoors.
The ACU Fishing Club will next compete March 31 – April 1 in the Texas Collegiate Tournament Series at Lake Lewisville in Denton.
Much like Abilene Christian University, McAllen Independent School District takes seriously its efforts to integrate mobile learning into the classroom. In fact, it may be the largest district in the United States working to place mobile technology into the hands of all its students – from kindergartners to high school seniors – more than 25,000 in all.
About 330 education and business leaders from across the state and as far away as California gathered in McAllen to attend sessions, tour campuses and explore the future of digital learning in K-12 settings. More than 30 school districts serving 350,000 students were represented.
ACU's Dr. William Rankin
“What was most invigorating about the conference was seeing the deep investment not just
by McAllen ISD’s teachers and administration, but also the strong commitment of the parents and community leaders,” said Dr. William Rankin, ACU’s director of educational innovation.
“For example, all the school board members but one (who was away on business) attended the conference, as did a number of parents. That’s incredibly rare,” Rankin said. “And when I visited two schools the day after the conference, I witnessed one of the most impressive examples of student engagement I’ve ever seen.”
ACU's George Saltsman
“It was a pep rally for 21st-century learning that equips local teachers and administrators to make real change in the lives of students in an area of the world that is often overlooked and marginalized,” said George Saltsman, ACU’s executive director of innovation in learning and educational technology. “I have no doubt it will make a lasting impression for participants and students in their schools, as well.“
Joining Rankin as presenters in McAllen were Marco Torres, California Teacher of the Year; John Couch, Apple’s vice president of education; and Dr. James Ponce, MISD superintendent.
Dr. Robbie Melton
The most popular breakout sessions were presented by Alline Sada from A Colegio Euroamericano de Monterrey and Dr. Robbie Melton, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and eLearning for the Tennessee Board of Regents. Saltsman said Melton’s workshops on apps for the classroom spilled out into the hallway, where a group of 20 of so participants kept asking questions and watching demos for another hour after the session ended. At the request of a number of teachers, she did an additional training session at the hotel the next morning before her flight back to Tennessee.
Ponce said the MISD initiative is about much more than the mobile devices. ACU helped the McAllen school district develop its plan to purchase nearly 27,000 iPads and iPod touches for every student and teacher.
McAllen community leader and minister Abel Alvarez and MISD superintendent Dr. James Ponce
“It’s an expansion on the perspective of the teachers who are part of the dialogue from the beginning,” he said. “A year ago, we put together a committee called Cadre One that included representation from all sectors of our school community. It was the conversations that began there that become the root of TLC3,” the school district’s initiative to become a leader in instructional technology.
“As educators, we stand at the cusp of an extraordinary time … a day when we are seeing phenomenal, cutting-edge opportunities to propel students to greater achievement,” Ponce said.
Abilene Christian has helped a number of K-12 school districts discover how digital material and devices can revolutionize their learning environment.
Each summer, ACU’s K-12 Digital Learning Institute brings together teachers from across Texas to learn how to use digital devices to enhance their lessons.
Marco Torres and John Couch
In September 2011, ACU Department of Teacher Education was featured in a series of videos sponsored by the Texas Education Agency. The documentaries profile the groundbreaking work being done to prepare future educators to integrate technology in their classrooms.
The teacher education department continues to partner with Abilene’s K-12 schools, sending future teachers into the classrooms each semester to facilitate technology integration projects, as well as advising school districts throughout the state.
“That’s what has been so rewarding about the work several of us have been doing as part of ACU’s Connected initiative and part of the reason I’m already looking forward to our next Connected Open House at the beginning of April,” said Rankin. “We’re getting the opportunity to help discover and support new forms of learning throughout the educational community.
“And we’re not only helping partners such as McAllen ISD; they’re helping us,” Rankin said.
ACU's Dr. Billie McConnell of the Department of Teacher Education
Another of the Spring Break traditions for Abilene Christian University students – especially those studying toward a career in the health professions – is a medical missions experience in Central America, conducted by Health Talents International (HTI).
This past week, 20 students were accompanied by ACU’s Terri Aldriedge, R.N., to observe and volunteer in Clinica Ezell near Aldea Montellano in coastal/western Guatemala. Many of the students take part in the university’s innovative Body & Soul program that prepares students for entry into health-related professional schools through co-curricular programs such as shadowing, professional school visits, health organizations and Christian mentorship. ACU also helps students with test preparation and mock interviews.
Kristin Goodwin helps prep a patient for eye surgery.
Abilene Christian students who participated include Austin Anderson, Brianna Burton, Amara Childers, Alex Clendening, Corbin Clifton, Kristin Goodwin, Sally Hays, Jake Hutto, Clint Jones, Travis King, Heather Kregel, Zak Kroeger, Sarah Pinson, Carly Rochelle, Luke Sorrell, Marissa Stewart, Bailey Terhune, Drew Thomas, Ryan Threadgill and Kathryn Wood. Aldriedge said Kregel and Hutto were student leaders of the group.
HTI’s full-time ministry team treated 80-100 medical patients per day, plus 20-30 others for dental or surgical procedures. ACU students observed and aided the staff.
“They have observed eye surgeries, orthopedic surgery and dental procedures. They have accompanied mobile units out to the villages and helped assist as well. It has been an amazing experience and the students have said this has been more than they ever dreamed it would be,” said Aldriedge, who directs ACU’s Body & Soul program. “The students have been allowed to see so many things right next to the surgeon. They have had opportunities most pre-health students will never experience. We are very blessed.”
Corbin Clifton and Marissa Stewart observe a dental procedure.
ACU students have participated in the Spring Break trips for more than 20 years, according to HTI executive director Rick Harper.
According to its website, HTI developed and operates the first Church of Christ surgical facility in the western hemisphere, and dedicated Clinica Ezell in 2002 as the surgical center for several clinics in the region.
Clinica Ezell includes three surgical suites, a 50-bed ward, clinic exam rooms, pharmacy, lab and X-ray room. Adjacent to the surgical center is a dormitory to house 44 visiting team members, a commercial kitchen and dining area. Ten surgical teams travel to Guatemala each year to perform cataract surgery, hernia repair, hysterectomies, and cleft palate repair on the rural Mayan and Latino population living in the area.
Two surgeons on last week’s trip were ophthalmologist Lee Coleman, M.D., of Greenwood, Miss., and Jason Brashear, M.D., of Johnson City, Tenn. The anesthesiologist was Ken Smithson, M.D., from Nashville, Tenn. ACU students were joined by others from colleges and universities in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Arizona.
Much of the growth of Churches of Christi in Guatemala are the result of pioneering missions work by the late Jerry Hill, a 1952 ACU graduate who died in September 2011 after more than 50 years of service to a country and people he loved.
Dr. Douglas “Fessor” Fry Sr., 95, one of Abilene Christian University’s most beloved band directors, died March 16 in Abilene. A private burial will be held for Fry in Tyler, and a public memorial service will be held later in Abilene.
Born July 15, 1916, in Spicewood, Fry (’40) graduated from Levelland High School in 1934, enrolled in ACU to pursue a B.S. degree in secondary education, and played trombone in the collegiate band directed by D.W. Crain. He earned a M.M.E. degree and, later, an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Southern College of Fine Arts. He was ACU associate professor emeritus of music and director emeritus of bands, and was inducted into the Phi Beta Mu Texas Bandmaster’s Hall of Fame in 1992.
Fry directed award-winning high school bands in Conroe, Brady and Robert Lee, and the Wrangler Band at Cisco College. His talent served him well in World War II, when he was a band officer in the South Pacific for Adm. William F. Halsey Jr. – who commanded the United States’ Third Fleet – and directed war-time USO shows in the Pacific by entertainers such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Fry retired from the Navy and Naval Reserve following 22 years of service.
During his 16-year career as ACU’s director of bands (1953-69), Fry traveled with the Big Purple and Concert Bands on cross-country tours, and recorded several albums. He also conducted Abilene Christian’s symphony orchestra.
Fry was involved in what former ACU historian Dr. John C. Stevens (’38) called “the most spectacular band concert” in the university’s history the evening of May 21, 1954, the final performance of Fry’s first year as conductor.
According to Stevens’ No Ordinary University, the Wildcat Band – not yet called the Big Purple at that point – performed its Spring Concert in Sewell Auditorium, featuring a rendition of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” Fry arranged for his two cousins, Neil (’50) and David (’51) Fry, and fellow local members of the National Guard to set up a 105-millimeter howitzer gun outside the rear of the auditorium. The 151st Field Artillery of the Guard’s 36th Division did their job, and although the gun was firing blanks at key moments of the piece of music, the explosions shattered windows in Sewell and two nearby residence halls, started small grass fires and made some in the quiet college neighborhood think war had broken out.
Among survivors are his wife, Mary Frances; a son, Doug Fry Jr.; a daughter, Nancy (Fry ’68) Hammes; a sister, Jence Morgan; and a one granddaughter.
While traditional Spring Break Campaign groups from Abilene Christian University are focusing this year on domestic missions opportunities, one group of 14 students decided to use this week to get another up-close look at the medical missions work of the Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (MMDR) team near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
While not an official ACU Spring Break campaign, they are part of a 47-person team volunteering to help at Haiti orphanages, plus the clinics operated by the Vanderpool family of Brentwood, Tenn. David M. Vanderpool Jr. (’82), M.D.; his wife, Laurie (Stallings ’81) Vanderpool; and their son, David S. Vanderpool (’10), are on this trip as well. (Vanderpool Jr., pictured here, is a surgeon.)
The Vanderpool family was featured in People magazine’s annual “Heroes Among Us” issue in 2010 for having been actively involved in helping Haiti recover from a series of natural disasters. Notably, the impoverished nation suffered a 7.0-magniture earthquake in January 2010 that leveled much of the capital city’s infrastructure, killed 316,000, injured 300,000 and rendered 1 million people homeless. The next few weeks brought a second earthquake (6.0-magnitude) and dozens of 5.0-magnitude or greater aftershocks, followed by a cholera epidemic in October, and in November, Hurricane Tomas.
The ACU team arrived Sunday to attend church with those who live and work at the Children of Hope Orphanage and Hospice (CHOH) in Thomazeau, Haiti. Then they began packaging 12 tons of donated food.
Kristy Collins, communications and network director for MHMR, writes:
“Each ‘hunger pack’ will have about 16 cups of rice, a package of pasta and a can of mackerel in tomatos. These will be distributed to the worst cases of starvation seen at the clinics.
There will be four full-day clinics (Monday-Thursday) in and around the village of Thomazeau. Some of the ACU students will be conducting a starvation assessment on patients at the clinics. They will interview patients, with the help of a translator, weighing and measuring them.
These patients will be re-evaluated to see if the hunger packs help improve their situation, and followed long term. The villages in which we conduct clinics are close to the new Live Beyond base that is currently being built. In addition to a hospital, orphanage, secondary school, trade school and worship center, we will have demonstration gardens and tilapia ponds, to teach effective gardening techniques and fisheries in Haiti, to improve the health and quality of life for the people. The survey the students will begin is planned as a long-term study of the area.
Aside from the clinics and the starvation assessments, some of our team will be building a wall around the first building phase of the Live Beyond Base. Another faction will be doing educational assessment on the orphans at CHOH. This is just to see where they are in their primary school. These children will attend secondary school on the Live Beyond base, and hopefully these assessments will help in their placement and in developing the curriculum.”
Collins said the students will return home “worn completely out, but heart-happy, knowing they used their break to make a difference.”
ACU students include Molly Bagley, Tanya Daughtry, Hillary Eichelberger, Samuel Ewalefo, Ryan Fleer, Chloe French, Adam Gonzalez, Brian Johnston, Evan Jones, Zaquill Morgan, Chris Porter, Morgan Shamblin, Blaine Smith and Victoria Tindol. Smith is the ACU campus organizer for MMDR.
They were joined by 2011 ACU graduate Garret Jones, students from universities such as Texas A&M and Mississippi State, and nurses and physicians from around the nation.
Dr. Thomas Kim, former visiting professor of economics and economist-in-residence at Abilene Christian University, died yesterday in Abilene at age 83.
A popular adjunct lecturer in ACU’s College of Business Administration in the late 1990s, Kim says he quickly felt at home among students and colleagues on the campus across town from McMurry, and especially relished hearing a cappella singing in Chapel. “They show me what I have come to call ‘the Christian love,’ ” he told The Optimist in a 1995 profile.
Kim earned a B.A. degree and an honorary doctorate from Berea (Ky.) College, an M.B.A. from Indiana University and a doctorate from Tulane University. He was named 1986 Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, and helped found the Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas. Kim taught economics at Berea, Tulane, the University of Akron, and Texas Tech University. He was a frequent featured speaker at the Economic Outlook Conferences sponsored in part by ACU’s College of Business Administration.
He served as a member of the National Commission for the Study of Higher Education. Kim was elected by the United Methodist Church to serve on its University Senate – the oldest accrediting agency of educational institutions in the United States – where he was responsible for the accreditation process of all U.S. colleges, universities and seminaries associated with the UMC.
Kim was born to Korean parents in 1929 in Shanghai, China, who spent much of his early life fleeing the colonial Japanese army. After World War II, he worked as a translator for the U.S. military in South Korea.
Services for Kim have been set for 2 pm. Saturday at Abilene’s St. Paul United Methodist Church.
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