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Points of Pride for November, 2009

Nov

2009

Young grad honored as a healthcare ‘Up and Comer’

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Honors

The day after he turned 30, George Gaston, BBA ’93, learned from doctors that he had a major cyst on his brain. He underwent several surgeries. That process has helped Gaston — now CEO of Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital in Houston — relate to his patients and their families in a new way. That sort of caring, in addition to an approach that led one co-worker to describe him as a “servant leader,” is a large part of why Gaston was named a 2009 Up and Comer by Modern Healthcare Magazine.

Gaston is one of just 12 recipients of the honor nationwide, and the only one from Texas. After working his way up through the Memorial Hermann system since 1996, Gaston was named CEO of Memorial Hermann Southeast in 2007. He and his wife, Mary Robin Gaston, BA ’94, BS ’94, now reside in Sugar Land, Texas.

Sic ’em, George!

Nov

2009

Men’s and women’s hoops each sign national top-5 recruit

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Honors

Perry Jones Last year, the Baylor women’s basketball program received a commitment from the No. 1 high school player in the country, Brittney Griner, on National Signing Day. Griner, known for her 6-foot-8 height and ability to dunk, is now the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year as the 4th-ranked Lady Bears open their season Sunday at No. 9 Tennessee (4 p.m. CT, ESPN2).

This year, both the Baylor men and women drew national headlines on Signing Day. Three years after he first verbally committed to head coach Scott Drew’s Bears, Duncanville forward Perry Jones — a consensus top-5 recruit — made his commitment official Wednesday. The highest ranked recruit in program history, the 6-10 Jones is ranked No. 3 overall in the ESPNU Top 100, No. 4 by Scout.com and No. 5 by Rivals.com. This marks the fourth straight year the Bears have signed a top-50 national recruit, following LaceDarius Dunn, Anthony Jones and Nolan Dennis.

The women, meanwhile, followed up last year’s signing of Griner (part of the top signing class in America) with the commitment of the nation’s No. 2 player this year, point guard Odyssey Sims. The nation’s top high school point guard, Sims averaged 18 points, 7 assists and nearly 6 steals a game last year as a junior and was named district MVP for the third year in a row.

Baylor basketball has seen tremendous success in recent years, with the women coming off six straight NCAA tournament appearances (including the 2005 national championship) and the men having made back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time in 20 years. Adding talents like these should keep the good times rolling in the Ferrell Center.

Sic ’em, Baylor basketball!

Nov

2009

Former Kazakhstan orphan thankful to be a Baylor freshman

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Extraordinary Stories, Student life, Videos

Angela Weber In 2002, Anzhela Anatolevna Tesluk was an 11-year-old orphan in Kazakhstan, with no family and no hope for the future. Today, following a series of obstacles that could have easily derailed her dreams and life, she’s a freshman at Baylor thankful for the opportunity she’s enjoying.

After her mother’s death seven years ago, Anzhela spent four years in an orphanage before being adopted by a North Carolina family. There, she adoped an American name — Angela Weber — but things never really worked with her adopted family, who she says struggled to accept who she was. Weber eventually was sent to the Texas Baptist Children’s Home in Round Rock and then to a Montana ranch for Russian adoptees before finally setting out on her own through a Job Corps training program. She earned her GED, and with help from a Round Rock family who took her in and a scholarship from the Children at Heart Foundation, she was able to enroll at Baylor this fall. (KWTX-TV relays her story in this video feature.)

A freshman majoring in international studies, Weber may one day return to Kazakhstan to help others who have the same needs she once did. For now, though, she’s happy to be right where she is — here at Baylor. “Every morning when I walk to class, I look up at all the beautiful buildings and thank God that I made it here,” she says.

Sic ’em, Angela!

Nov

2009

Baylor, Truett grad pastoring church near heart of Fort Hood tragedy

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Extraordinary Stories, Service

Dr. Randall Wallace Our thoughts and prayers remain with our neighbors at Fort Hood, 60 miles southeast of Waco, as they continue to deal with the tragic shooting that claimed 13 lives last Thursday. With the nation’s largest military base right outside their door, most every resident of nearby Killeen has some connection to the base where the killings occurred.

Dr. Randall Wallace, BA ’84, D.Min ’07, is pastor of First Baptist Killeen, where about a third of the congregation has direct ties to Fort Hood. The church was also home to a a multi-denominational service last Sunday night that brought together believers from across the city as well as leaders like Texas Governor Rick Perry.

“My church has civilian people who were in the room at the time [of the shooting], and they were spared bullets,” Wallace told CBS News. “Fort Hood has been a sanctuary to our families… What we said was, ‘You go to Iraq; we’ll take care of your family.’ The sad reality is that this now takes away one of our safe places.”

Wallace and other pastors in the area have a tough task ahead, answering all the “why” questions that follow an event like this. Wallace, at least, can speak from the place of one who has battled adversity in his own life, having overcome dyslexia to earn his degree in religious studies from Baylor in 1984, then a master’s at Southwestern Theological Seminary before completing his doctorate from Baylor’s Truett Seminary two years ago. He has served as pastor at FBC Killeen since 2000 and also is a member of the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Executive Board.

Sic ’em, Pastor Wallace, for your service in time of need!

Nov

2009

Football and volleyball wins, plus Lady Bear’s dunk, highlight successful weekend

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Athletics, Videos

Nick Florence When your school can rake in a road conference win for football, a road win over a ranked opponent for volleyball, and the first of what’s sure to be many dunks for a freshman Lady Bear, I think it qualifies as an exciting Saturday.

Football made waves Saturday afternoon, as the Bears upset Missouri 40-32 in Columbia, thanks in large part to freshman quarterback Nick Florence’s program-record 427 yards passing (video highlights here from Baylor Athletics’ Facebook page). As you may remember, Florence (named Monday the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week) began the year as the Bears’ third-string QB; anyone who doubts the program’s talent level has improved should try to think back to the last time Baylor had such depth. Baylor needs to win two of its last three games to earn a bowl appearance; the Bears host Texas this Saturday (11 a.m., FSN), then play at Texas A&M next week before wrapping up the regular season Nov. 28 vs. Texas Tech at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (tickets still available).

Not to be outmatched, the 20th-ranked Baylor volleyball team pulled out a tight match in College Station Saturday night, defeating No. 23 Texas A&M for the program’s first road win over a ranked opponent since 1999. The Bears are now 20-6 on the season (their most wins since ’99) and poised to return to the NCAA Tournament later this month.

That same evening, in the No. 4-ranked Lady Bears’ exhibition against Incarnate Word, 6-8 freshman Brittney Griner put down an emphatic dunk (video highlights here) during a 25 point, 11 rebound, 5 block performance that earned a simple ESPN headline: “Griner dunks for Baylor.” She’ll need to repeat the performance in a regular season game to officially become the seventh woman to dunk at the college level, but the 6,262 fans in attendance for the exhibition were rewarded with seeing her first game-action dunk in a Baylor uniform. Given her abilities, there will be many, many more over the next four years — and that’s just one part of her overall game, as the Associated Press noted in this feature.

Sic ’em, Baylor athletics!

Nov

2009

English prof honored for new look at Mark Twain’s thinking

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Honors, Research

Work that began three years ago as a potential journal article by English professor Dr. Joe Fulton has evolved into not just a complete book, but one worthy of the prestigious Landry Award, given annually to the best book on Southern studies published by LSU Press.

Fulton’s book, The Reconstruction of Mark Twain, takes an in-depth look at the famed writer’s evolving political allegiances, actions and writings during and after the Civil War. Unlike previous Twain scholars, Fulton found that Twain remained a Southern who opposed Lincoln and and the North for years after the Civil War ended, until he very gradually recognized the tragedy of racism and slavery.

Previous Landry Award winners include Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Penn Warren, current Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust, and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner John Hope Franklin. The Reconstruction of Mark Twain will be released next fall, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Twain’s death.

Sic ’em, Dr. Fulton!

Nov

2009

Baylor couple’s amazing battle, triumph following stroke recorded in ‘Sara’s Story’

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Extraordinary Stories

Sara's Story In May 2004, Tim Culver (BBA’ 84) received news that his wife, Sara (BS ’84, MS ’85), had suffered a stroke. With three children still at home and the oldest child heading off to serve in Iraq, Tim was devastated. After 10 days in ICU, he was told his wife would never walk, talk, or interact with people again.

Sara spent three months doing in-patient rehab before the recommendation came that she needed to be moved to a nursing home, because she would need 24-7 care the rest of her life. Tim, however, was still seeing improvements, and thus refused the recommendation. He fought his insurance company to get Sara into a special center that treats traumatic brain injuries; three months later, she went home and walked up the stairs without assistance. Today, she drives, takes care of her children and has returned to work.

That, of course, is the short version of their story; one could write many, many more words about what such a battle meant to the Culvers, not to mention the ocean of tears shared by the entire family over the past five years. Tim, now a doctoral student at Baylor in addition to his full-time job at AT&T, has captured the entire tale in the book Sara’s Story, released earlier this fall. An inspiring chronicle, and best of all, one with a happy ending for the Culvers!

Sic ’em, Culver family!

Nov

2009

Foreign language leads to love for Baylor couple

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni, Extraordinary Stories, Just for Fun, Student life

Philipp Rossback and Kimberly Loyd French is often referred to as “the language of love,” but for Baylor graduates Philipp Rossbach and Kimberly Loyd, it was a German class at Baylor that sparked their romance.

As students, Philipp (BBA ’05, MAc ’05) and Kimberly (BS ’06) met in the German lounge on the second floor of Old Main in September 2002. Kimberly was taking German classes and needed a tutor; Philipp, a native speaker, fit the bill.

Fast forward to September 2009… During a campus visit, the couple stopped by that same room where their relationship began seven years earlier; a few minutes later, Philipp proposed to Kimberly just outside Old Main. Happily, she said yes! The couple, now living in Dallas, will be married next July.

Sic ’em, Philipp and Kimberly!

Nov

2009

Baylor Network all about connecting alums to Baylor and one another

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Alumni

I had the privilege last week of attending the Baylor Business Network of Austin’s monthly luncheon, at which Drayton McLane, BBA ’58, chairman of the Houston Astros and McLane Group, LP, was the featured speaker. McLane spoke to a group of about 100 Bears about the importance of integrity in leadership. That he took time from his busy work schedule (and in the midst of hiring a new manager for the Astros) speaks to the importance he sees in such Baylor Network gatherings.

In the coming months, the BBN Austin luncheon will feature speakers such as 2008 national Entrepreneurship Teacher of the Year Dr. Bill Petty, business school dean Terry Maness, Jim Arnold (BBA ’76) of Arnold Oil, and Texas State Rep. Valinda Bolton (BA ’81). And that’s just the Austin group; similar groups meet regularly in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, with a new group in the works in New York City.

And all that is just the business aspect of the Baylor Network; there’s also the Baylor Sports Network, gathering fans for rallies and watch parties across country; the Baylor Women’s Network, promoting fellowship and raising scholarships for current students; the Young Grads’ Network, for those who graduated in the past 10 years; the Global Network, connecting Bears all over the world; and the Baylor Parents League, helping improve the Baylor experience for moms and dads of students.

In all, the Network held over 500 events across more than 100 cities in 25 states last year. (At right is just a sampling of the Network’s events this month; click on it for more.) Are you connected? Visit baylor.edu/network for more information.

Sic ’em, Baylor alumni!

Nov

2009

Longtime professor lived his life “Bold as a Bear”

Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in Academics, Alumni, Extraordinary Stories

Battles family Longtime Baylor professor Burnie Battles, BA ’65, MS ’66, died in June in an automobile accident. After earning two degrees from Baylor, he served on the School of Education’s faculty for 42 years. At the time, I read plenty of memories from his former colleagues and students, but none of them hit me like this recent narrative from a woman who just happened to live across the street from Battles and his wife, Mary Helen.

Battles was honored posthumously as this year’s Outstanding Professor during Baylor’s Homecoming game last weekend. His wife, children and grandchildren accepted the honor on his behalf, all wearing a shirt specially made for the occasion that read “Bold as a Bear” — the English translation for the German name Burnie.

“There are so many things I could say about Burnie,” writes the author, photographer Elizabeth Marquess, who captured some special shots of the family to remember the day. “He always had a smile on his face and had the greatest laugh. He laughed with his whole body. He loved the Baylor Bears… He was a Baylor Bear… He had an undeniable love for his family. He had a deep faith in God. And the one thing I admired him most for, is that he had to be the best granddad I had ever witnessed.” The author’s list goes on and on, and is definitely worth reading. Battles was truly a man who “ran in such a way as to get the prize,” as the family’s t-shirts read, quoting 1 Corinthians.

Sic ‘em, Prof. Battles, for representing Baylor so boldly in a life well led!

Points of Pride for November, 2009

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