Farewell, Drew Hill. We will always have 1978 in Athens.

Long before Calvin Johnson roamed Grant Field, there was little Drew Hill, a scrawny receiver from Newnan with suction cups as hands and shifty, sneaky speed for returning kick-offs. Drew Hill was a member of the Pepper Power GT gang from the 1970s along with Eddie Lee Ivery, Bucky Shamburger, Lawrence "Sweet N" Lowe, Don Bessillieu, Kent Hill, Ben Utt, and Ivey Stokes.

They were a blue-collar, colorful group, and tough enough and talented enough to beat South Carolina, Miami, Auburn, and Florida in 1978... in consecutive games no less.

They were Gods to me as a wide-eyed 12-year-old mesmerized by these fearless men who wore the White and Gold and ran on to Grant Field chasing the Ramblin' Wreck.

Drew Hill was 5'9" and 170 pounds, but he ran precision routes and rarely dropped a ball. He had four quarterbacks during his playing years at Tech from 1975 to 1978 (Mike Kelley '78, Gary Lanier '76-77, Danny Myers '75, Rudy Allen '75). He made the Tech record books in several categories, including T-15th for receiving yards in a season with 708 in 1978.

When I was at Tech in the mid-80s, I remember seeing Drew Hill and Kent Hill (O-line, Rams) working out together on campus during the spring and summer, preparing for the upcoming NFL season. They would often lift weights together at SAC (Student Activity Center), where the Phi Delts used to play pick-up basketball with the football players and other fraternities. 

Although drafted in the 12th round in 1979, Drew Hill played 14 seasons in the NFL, with the Rams, Oilers and Falcons.

One of my all-time favorite plays in Georgia Tech history involved Drew Hill. It happened at the 1978 Georgia Tech-Georgia game in Athens. Georgia's Scott Woerner had just returned his second punt for a touchdown and the Dawgs took a 21-20 lead late in the third quarter. I was sitting in the upper deck at Stanford Stadium in a sea of raucous red. I was the only Tech fan in the entire section. My parents were sitting one section over using a pair of tickets. I got stuck with the solo. To make matters worse, I was wearing my "Pepper Power" gold-and-white long-sleeve T-shirt and I had a large, velvet and yellow GT cowboy hat on my head that Georgia fans kept knocking off of me.

When Woerner scored his second TD, I felt exposed and vulnerable as the stadium rocked back and forth from the deafening noise. I stood with the crowd and watched the ensuing kick off that landed in Drew Hill's hands 1-yard deep in the endzone. I held my breath as he followed his blockers up the sideline and then cut back into the middle and raced for daylight and glory. I screamed, I screamed, I screamed, I screamed. "Drew Hill! Drew Hill! Touchdown Drew Hill! 101 yards! Drew Hill! I love Drew Hill!"

Today was a solemn day on the campus of Georgia Tech as friends and former players gathered to say good-bye to Drew Hill. Dead at 54, struck down by two massive strokes.

I will never, ever forget you, Drew Hill. You are one of my favorite Georgia Tech players of all time. Thanks for the moment in Athens when I was 12. We will always have that… Rest in peace, buddy.

The beach or Habitat for Humanity?

Lessons in Communication from a Professional Storyteller

  Donald Davis regularly engages in the purest and oldest form of communication. He is a professional storyteller.
  Davis, 66, gets paid to tell his original stories to audiences nationwide. For 43 years, the North Carolina native has traveled around the U.S. entertaining listeners at schools, churches, civic clubs and festivals.
  In 2010, he spent 294 days on the road sharing his true tales from childhood and beyond with people of all ages. His audiences vary in size from less than 25 in a classroom setting to more than 10,000 at an outdoor amphitheater in Orem, Utah.
  On Monday, Davis was in Columbus, Ga., telling stories to an intimate group of students and teachers at Columbus Technical College. With his dapper looks and folksy style, Davis relayed a tale about the time his little brother broke his collar bone playing football in the yard with the neighborhood kids. They called his little brother "chicken boy" to make him mad and play football with abandon. But when "chicken boy" snapped his collar bone, their father said, "No more football."

Dapper Donald Davis delivers dynamic stories.

  A few months later, the family was packing to go on vacation and little brother's collar bone had healed. While their father was finishing packing, the boys decided to run off and play football.
  "Chicken boy" got tackled by big brother and another large boy, and hit the ground hard. When he got up the other boys noticed that one of his shoulders was pointing straight down in a very unnatural position. Little brother had broken his other collar bone.
  The trip got cancelled.
  Although not funny at the time, Davis had his collegiate audience smiling and laughing as he delivered the story with spirited enthusiasm, multiple voices and animated body language.
  At one point, Davis dramatically tilted his shoulders, slumped his body and agonized his facial expression in a humorous portrayal of his little brother with a broken collar bone. The audience howled.
  During a break, Davis encouraged the audience to find the time to learn the stories about their own families.

"Family stories are very important," he said. "If the stories get lost, there is nothing left. Family stories are the most valuable thing that we can pass on to our children. They enable children to learn more about their parents and grandparents."

  After the show, I spent some time with Davis and asked him several questions about the art of storytelling. Davis described five basic tenets of great storytelling, which also apply to any form of communication related to marketing, advertising, public relations, fund-raising, and social media.

1. Be audience-centered. Davis said he spends time analyzing his audience before and during each performance and selects stories to tell based on the make up of the people. Are they young or old? Blue collar or white collar? Rural, urban or suburban? Church audience or college crowd? "You have to know your audience," he said.
2. Keep the plot simple. "If your plot is too heavy, you will lose your audience," said Davis. In marketing and design vernacular that translates to KISS, keep it simple stupid.
3. Be very visual. This comes from a guy whose career relies on words and language. But Davis  said the visual effects of storytelling are just as important. He enhances his stories with facial expressions, body language, animated behavior, hand and arms movements, and by displaying palpable emotions of joy, fear and sorrow.
4. Adjust as you go along. Davis said a storyteller has to be nimble and quick, and able to adapt to the mood and feedback of the audience. Likewise, today's marketing and PR professionals rely on speed and real-time technology to respond to market trends and news, and to meet the needs of the shifting buying habits of consumers.
5. Engage the audience. Davis said the engagement experience is like playing tug-of-war with the audience. "They pick up the other end of the rope and pull it tight. The story is walking back and forth on the rope," he said. "You're playing the audience." This sounds like the battle cry of social media advocates. Engage, converse, connect, inspire!

  Davis said his favorite audience is a mixed-generational crowd. 
  "It's an enjoyable audience when you have grandparents, parents and kids all together," he said. "You try and find material that they have in common or bridges the age span. You plant some conversational seeds that the kids will catch on to."
  The storyteller and author recently published his 18th book, "Tales From a Free-Range Childhood." The book is a compilation of 20 short stories from Davis' childhood. All of his books and CDs can be purchased at his website. The road warrior performs next at the Azalea Storytelling Festival in LaGrange, Georgia, on March 4-6.

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