{"id":1352,"date":"2013-12-12T14:35:46","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T19:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/dev-mag\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2019-12-10T13:15:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T18:15:32","slug":"in-memoriam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2013\/12\/12\/in-memoriam\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam – Fall 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chester Curry<\/strong>
\n\"ChesterBasketball standout Chester Curry (\u201860) died at his home in Coleman, Ga., on July 30. A player for the Professors under Coach J.B. Scearce, Curry was a four-year starter for Georgia Teachers College from 1956-60. During his college career he scored 2,008 points to rank second in all-time scoring. He was a member of the \u201858-\u201959 team, which reached the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City, Ms. After leaving college, Curry taught and coached in Mitchell and Clay counties. In 1993, he was inducted into the Georgia Southern Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Jacob Elisha (J.E.) Rowe<\/strong>
\n\"Rowe\"Jacob Elisha Rowe (\u201861), former Eagle athlete and head basketball coach, died in September. He played both baseball and basketball at Georgia Southern, earning All-American first team honors in baseball. Rowe played briefly with the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers before returning to Georgia to coach high school basketball. He coached the Eagles for four seasons in the early \u201970s, compiling a 57-46 record as the team moved to NCAA Division I. Mr. Rowe was inducted into the Georgia Southern Athletic Hall of Fame and was named the 2013 Alumnus of the Year of the College of Health and Human Sciences. In 2011, the decorated amateur golfer and his family established the Coach J.E. Rowe Scholarship to support students in the Department of Health and Kinesiology who pursue a career in the coaching field.<\/p>\n

Annette Slater Branch<\/strong>
\nAnnette Slater Branch (\u201883,\u201987), the wife of Professor Emeritus of Sociology Roger Branch, died in June. She was a double major in anthropology and sociology and was the first person to receive a B.A. degree in anthropology from Georgia Southern. She also earned the Master of Education degree from the University. Slater\u2019s husband, Dr. Branch, chaired the Department of Sociology and Anthropology for 18 years.<\/p>\n

James \u201cJim\u201d William Long<\/strong>
\n\"List\"Former basketball star and retired high school basketball coach James \u201cJim\u201d William Long (\u201862) passed away at age 77. The 6\u20197\u201d center played for Georgia Teachers College\u2019s Professors under famed coach James Boyd (J.B.) Scearce. He is remembered for grabbing 22 bounds in just one half in a game against Mercer University. He later spent nearly 30 years coaching basketball at Georgia\u2019s Effingham County High School. Coach Long won 454 games and was presented the Scholastic Coach magazine superlative plaque.<\/p>\n

Esther Raines Mallard<\/strong>
\nEsther Raines Mallard (\u201873), a retired history teacher, passed away in July. A Columbia, S.C. native, Mrs. Mallard was a Statesboro resident for 46 years. After her retirement from Statesboro High School, she worked with Special Collections in the Zach S. Henderson Library. Mrs. Mallard earned a master\u2019s degree in history and an education specialist degree from Georgia Southern.<\/p>\n

Martin Parris<\/strong>
\nMen\u2019s soccer alumnus Martin Parris (\u201808) was killed in an October automobile accident in Fayetteville, Ga. The 31-year-old played for the Eagles from 2001-03 and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in information technology.<\/p>\n

Tommy Dee “Doc” Smith <\/strong>
\n\"TSmith\"Former assistant professor of health and head athletic trainer Tommy \u201cDoc\u201d Smith, passed away in October in Statesboro, Ga. A native of Huntingburg, Ind., Mr. Smith was awarded basketball scholarships to Indiana University and Indiana State Teachers College. He served in the United States Army and spent 15 years teaching and coaching in cities across Indiana. During this time, he earned a master\u2019s degree in guidance and counseling and a master\u2019s degree in sports medicine and athletic training. Mr. Smith moved his family to Statesboro in 1971, when he took the position of head athletic trainer, and officially became known as \u201cDoc.\u201d He was well-known as a trusted healer, counselor, mentor and friend to many Eagles.<\/p>\n

During his career, Mr. Smith was honored to work with many sports legends including Georgia Southern University head coach, Erk Russell and Georgia Southern University head baseball coaches, Ron Polk and Jack Stallings. He also traveled with the baseball team when they played in the NCAA 1973 World Series in Omaha, Neb., and in the Intercontinental Cup Baseball Tournament in Cuba in 1979.<\/p>\n

The Eagle Football Alumni Association awarded two student scholarships from the Tom \u201cDoc\u201d Smith Athletic Fund endowment shortly before his passing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrating the Lives of Eagle Alumni<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,61],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-1352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-memoriam","tag-fall-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}