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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Two Division III athletes make it to the Super Bowl
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By Leilana McKindra
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
Two Western New England College student-athletes were among contributors to the “Best Football-Themed Ad” in Chevy’s Super Bowl College Ad Challenge. Junior baseball player Ryan Kravontka did one of the voiceovers for the 30-second commercial, while junior cross country runner Maryann Solomos filmed the spot that Chevy and CBS selected as one of the 12 finalists airing on the CBS Early Show.
In the commercial, adults watching children roll toy cars across a miniature football field during a Super Bowl gathering inspires them to imagine actual cars rolling onto a real field in preparation for a game.
The project was a collaboration among the college’s departments of advertising and marketing in the school of business and the department of communication in the school of arts and sciences. Associate professor Paul Costanzo originally challenged his marketing students to develop a concept and storyboard for the competition. Ashleigh Bergeron, Bridget Jones and Beth Schivley came up with a football-themed ad. Under the direction of communication instructor Brenda Garton, Solomos, Kravontka and Matthew Davis helped turn the concept into reality. The result was an ad titled “What If Cars Could Play Football?”
“Twelve picked out of 800, Wow!” said Kravontka. “I was excited and happy to do something like this, and I hope to do something like it in the future.”
“I was really surprised that it even made it that far,” Solomos said. “It’s great that we were able to work together and bring real-world experiences to life.”
Both Kravontka and Solomos are communication majors. An infielder for the Golden Bears, Kravontka has a career batting average of .321 in 83 games in two seasons. Solomos was a member of last year’s Western New England cross country squad that captured the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship.
These days, Frady guides a Panthers squad on a campus just blocks from the Braves’ Turner Field. Now that Aaron’s long-standing mark of 755 home runs is being challenged, Frady and the Georgia State baseball team are honoring Aaron in a unique way.
“Hank Aaron has done everything the right way and did so in a time in which it wasn’t easy. Now our team wants to show its support for all he’s meant to the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia,” said Frady.
Frady asked the school’s uniform supplier to replicate what Aaron was wearing when he hit No. 715. The 2007 Georgia State uniforms include a white front chest panel with “Panthers” inscribed in the same font as the “Braves” on the 1974 Atlanta uniforms. The Panthers’ jerseys also feature the player numbers in the front in the same style along with the same blue panels on the sleeves. The hats — blue with a white center panel — and the Panther logo also will have a similar look to those the Braves wore 33 years ago.
To add to the honor, team members had a chance to express their appreciation in person when Aaron agreed to a request from the university’s sports information department to meet the squad and pose for a photo that now graces the cover of the Panthers 2007 media guide.
Co-produced by basketball legend and Winston-Salem State University graduate Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell, the film will debut in March 2008 across a variety of ESPN networks and media platforms.
From more than 200 hours of interviews and footage, the film reveals the number of obstacles players and coaches had to overcome. From separate leagues and facilities to championship games and titles that never qualified for the record books, to secret games played between blacks and whites in defiance of the law, programs at HBCUs not only thrived but laid the groundwork for the modern athlete.
“This is a story of injustice, refuge and joy,” said Klores. “It’s an epic that has not been told.”
In the commercial, adults watching children roll toy cars across a miniature football field during a Super Bowl gathering inspires them to imagine actual cars rolling onto a real field in preparation for a game.
The project was a collaboration among the college’s departments of advertising and marketing in the school of business and the department of communication in the school of arts and sciences. Associate professor Paul Costanzo originally challenged his marketing students to develop a concept and storyboard for the competition. Ashleigh Bergeron, Bridget Jones and Beth Schivley came up with a football-themed ad. Under the direction of communication instructor Brenda Garton, Solomos, Kravontka and Matthew Davis helped turn the concept into reality. The result was an ad titled “What If Cars Could Play Football?”
“Twelve picked out of 800, Wow!” said Kravontka. “I was excited and happy to do something like this, and I hope to do something like it in the future.”
“I was really surprised that it even made it that far,” Solomos said. “It’s great that we were able to work together and bring real-world experiences to life.”
Both Kravontka and Solomos are communication majors. An infielder for the Golden Bears, Kravontka has a career batting average of .321 in 83 games in two seasons. Solomos was a member of last year’s Western New England cross country squad that captured the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship.
Georgia State adopts Hammerin’ Hank look
Georgia State University head baseball coach Greg Frady grew up in Georgia following the Atlanta Braves and idolizing former Braves slugger and Major League Baseball’s home run king Hank Aaron.These days, Frady guides a Panthers squad on a campus just blocks from the Braves’ Turner Field. Now that Aaron’s long-standing mark of 755 home runs is being challenged, Frady and the Georgia State baseball team are honoring Aaron in a unique way.
“Hank Aaron has done everything the right way and did so in a time in which it wasn’t easy. Now our team wants to show its support for all he’s meant to the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia,” said Frady.
Frady asked the school’s uniform supplier to replicate what Aaron was wearing when he hit No. 715. The 2007 Georgia State uniforms include a white front chest panel with “Panthers” inscribed in the same font as the “Braves” on the 1974 Atlanta uniforms. The Panthers’ jerseys also feature the player numbers in the front in the same style along with the same blue panels on the sleeves. The hats — blue with a white center panel — and the Panther logo also will have a similar look to those the Braves wore 33 years ago.
To add to the honor, team members had a chance to express their appreciation in person when Aaron agreed to a request from the university’s sports information department to meet the squad and pose for a photo that now graces the cover of the Panthers 2007 media guide.
HBCU sports influence documented on film
ESPN Original Entertainment, in collaboration with Shoot the Moon Productions and award-winning director Dan Klores, has announced plans for ESPN to televise a two-part, four-hour film tentatively titled “Black Magic.” The project addresses the injustice that defined the civil-rights movement in America, as told through the lives of basketball players and coaches who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities.Co-produced by basketball legend and Winston-Salem State University graduate Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell, the film will debut in March 2008 across a variety of ESPN networks and media platforms.
From more than 200 hours of interviews and footage, the film reveals the number of obstacles players and coaches had to overcome. From separate leagues and facilities to championship games and titles that never qualified for the record books, to secret games played between blacks and whites in defiance of the law, programs at HBCUs not only thrived but laid the groundwork for the modern athlete.
“This is a story of injustice, refuge and joy,” said Klores. “It’s an epic that has not been told.”
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