The excitement was palpable as we entered the GSU Student Center! Decibel levels increased as athletes gathered in groups with their friends and families. People who had not seen each other since football season were obviously happy to be together again! Talk centered around the excitement of renewed acquaintances, highlights of the Panthers' Inaugural Season, and anticipation of the evening's banquet.
Enthusiasm built as everyone entered the ballroom, and took in the many tables, the stage with podium and large Georgia State banners, and three large video screens. The ballroom was tastefully appointed. Fan-shaped blue napkins stood folded in water goblets around each table. Centerpieces were blue and white pom-poms surrounding the table numbers.
Alternating desserts of red drizzled (strawberry?) New York Cheesecake, and decadent chocolate layer cake with chocolate icing, adorned with even more chocolate, were centered above each place setting. (More than a few people at my table, myself included, yielded to temptation, and sampled our desserts, while waiting for our dinners.)
Mixed green salads with dried cranberries, roasted walnuts, and grape tomatoes were on the tables, also begging to be eaten! We surmised that steak must be on the menu, because large steak knives were alongside the regular silverware. A look at the semi-glossy, tri-fold program on each seat confirmed entrees of Grilled Sirloin Steak with Roasted Yukon Potatoes and Sauteed Green Beans.
Dave Cohen, "The Voice of the Panthers," welcomed everyone, as Master of Ceremonies. Team Chaplain, Dexter Davis, gave the Invocation.
Since serving entrees to so many people was taking longer than anticipated, the program commenced while people continued eating. (The steak, green beans, and potatoes were well-seasoned, bountiful, and delicious.)
Dr. Mark Becker, President of Georgia State University, gave the opening remarks. He started out by saying that his favorite moment from the 2010 Football Season, "the moment that brought tears to my eyes, was when they opened the doors, and the Blue Waves started pouring into the Georgia Dome, and it became real! Your University changed forever! It used to be that when you looked around on campus you would see people wearing Georgia and Georgia Tech t-shirts. Now, you see Blue GSU Panthers everywhere!"
Dr. Becker said that he, and Athletic Director, Cheryl Levick, had both dealt with plenty of skeptics over the last couple of years, including the media. He said they'd been ask how they would handle "folding" the program when it wasn't successful.
Dr. Becker said he never had any doubts that the program would be a success, and that everyone at the banquet had "been part of something very important. People said it could not be done....Take away from this season that you should never let someone tell you that something can't be done!"
Dr. Becker went on to say, "You're going to be winners in life. You are winners here; winners for life! GO PANTHERS!
Cheryl Levick followed. "This Season exceeded expectations far beyond my dreams. I feel like a proud parent. GSU is the 'new kid in town,' and we're celebrating! When I arrived in March 2009, we had 1 player, 2 helmets, and 7 coaches. Now there are 104 players, 146 helmets, and 11 coaches. We had 5,000 season ticket holders, 30,237 attendance at the Inaugural Game, 16,700 average attendance, and 265,321 total fans at home and away!
Then, Cheryl Levick talked about the football players whose efforts made the Inaugural Season a success. "Will the Inaugural Team Stand?" The players all stood, and toward the end of the applause, as the team was being seated, the balance of the crowd rose to give the team a standing ovation.
Ms. Levick, announced that a plaque, similar to the photo below, with all the Inaugural Year Panther Players names will be installed in the new office at the new practice field, and when all the uniforms have been cleaned, each player will receive their jersey with a special Inaugural Season Commemorative Patch.
Ms. Levick then introduced Coach Bill Curry, with a string of superlatives, and said there was no other coach with whom she would rather work. Coach Curry started his comments with these word's from Rudyard Kipling's poem, "The Law for the Wolves"
"Now this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky,
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back;
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack."
"There has never been a pack that I've been more proud to be a part of," Coach Curry stated. "The huddle is the bastion of unselfishness in our culture. When you step into a huddle, black white, Democrat, Republican, Jew, Gentile are all there....We learn to work with all kinds of folks. When we sweat together and bleed together, especially when we do it for a year without playing a game (the crowd laughs and applauds)....we realize all sweat smells the same, and we work hard not to let each other down. We laugh, cry, do whatever we need to do, and move on."
Coach Curry ended his remarks with, "To the GSU Community, we haven't even warmed up yet! We're just getting warmed up. We're celebrating a wonderful, magnificent group of young men. We love football, and we will play anybody, anywhere, anytime."
Coach Curry presented the team awards, aided by the assistant coaches. The awards are summarized in this release from the GSU website. 2010 Football Awards in GSU Press Release.
After the awards presentation, the GSU Leadership Council Representatives were called to the stage. The Council called Coach Curry back up on stage, and presented him with two notebooks, filled with handwritten letters from team members, staff, and Coach Curry's family. Full of emotion, all Coach Curry could manage to say was, the gift had rendered him "speechless." Then he said, "God Bless You. Thank you so very much."
The banquet ended on a high note. The lettermen collected their framed letters, jackets and watches, depending on their class status. They savored the moment! The crowd dispersed, anticipating the start of the Second Season of Georgia State University Panther Football, in TWO-HUNDRED and TWENTY-ONE DAYS! GO PANTHERS!
Click Here for Banquet Photos
Just great!
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