{"id":4287,"date":"2011-03-18T14:31:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T18:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=4287"},"modified":"2015-12-01T09:45:01","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T14:45:01","slug":"frank-hook-mr-georgia-southern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2011\/03\/18\/frank-hook-mr-georgia-southern\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Hook – Mr. Georgia Southern"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"m_frankhook\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Frank Hook knows there are times you just can\u2019t beat \u201cold school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the time he watched Erk Russell scratch out the initial floor plan for a weight room on the practice field dirt for visiting architects. Or more recently, as Hook took time to scratch out carefully crafted handwritten notes of thanks to people across campus with whom he has shared decades of professional highs and lows.<\/p>\n

Hook stepped down from his post as senior director of alumni relations in December, capping 25 years of service to Georgia Southern. He modestly calls his career as recreation director, entrepreneur, basketball official, actor, model, athletics fund raiser and alumni bridge-builder \u201ca wonderful run.\u201d In 2008, he was named the College of Health and Human Science\u2019s Alumnus of the Year. He\u2019s even had a Facebook page established in his honor, awarding him the unofficial title, \u201cMr. Georgia Southern.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the title he\u2019s most proud of is \u201cfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed to have worked with people and the many friendships will be the greatest thing I can take with me,\u201d Hook said. \u201cI\u2019ve dealt with all ages and have watched lives progress. Helping people was my greatest joy and making friendships with alumni of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank Hook is truly one of my closest friends and one that I know I could call on for anything at any time and he would be there for me and I know that he could call on me as well,\u201d said past Alumni Association President Mike Cummings. \u201cFrank quietly does many behind-the-scenes projects without fanfare or calling attention to himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Conley (`89) has also personally witnessed Hook\u2019s selflessness. He got an e-mail from a childhood friend in financial trouble \u2013 someone Hook knew from his days with the Statesboro Recreation Department. \u201cI knew Frank would know him so I let him know of our mutual friend\u2019s situation,\u201d said Conley. \u201cFrank, even with all of his duties at Southern, made efforts to reach out through phone calls and e-mails and was even willing to meet our friend, too. Frank kept me abreast and went way beyond a mere token gesture of assistance. This person couldn\u2019t really offer Frank anything at the time. A donation to the school? No. Any hope of that in the near future? No, maybe never. That was selfless and I\u2019m grateful for what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think about Frank Hook, I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes,\u201d said alumnus Terry Harvin. \u201cThat is, \u2018Little things don\u2019t mean a lot \u2013 they mean everything.\u2019 Frank is incredibly organized. He pays attention to detail. He always does the little things like handwritten notes or just making sure he speaks to everyone and introduces himself to people he doesn\u2019t know. I\u2019ve learned so much from Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody associated with Georgia Southern the last 25 to 30 years has had some contact with Frank,\u201d said Cummings. \u201cHe is involved with so many areas of the University that his path touches people in every area not just athletics and alumni events. When people think of Georgia Southern football they will always think of Erk Russell but when they think of Georgia Southern College and Georgia Southern University they will always think of Frank Hook.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retiring Alumni Relations Director is a Man Who Knows No Strangers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-4287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-spring-2011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287","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=4287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}