Hometown:
Suwanee, Georgia
High School:
Collins Hill High School
Expected graduation:
May 2008
University highlights, achievements, awards and scholarships:
I am the recipient of a 2004 ESPN Espy Award for the Best Athlete With A Disability. I have been featured on HBO’s Real Sports, CNN, Spike TV, ESPN’s Cold Pizza, Larry King Live and The Early Show. I also recently spent a week with a writer from Rolling Stone Magazine. I have been on various international radio interviews, including Howard Stern. I was in Vanity Fair Magazine and Abercrombie and Fitch’s winter issue. I was also featured in a cover story in USA Today. I have been in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, USA Wrestling, and Reader’s Digest also.
Current Employment:
I currently speak publicly for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau, based in Washington D.C. Other speakers in the bureau include Dan Rather, James Carville, Sean Hannity, and Terry Bradshaw.
Family Ties to UGA:
I have three younger sisters who are very beautiful and bright young girls. They will attend the university someday.
I chose to attend UGA because…
…the university is the top college in all of the south when you combine their prestigious academics and athletics. I also choose to go here because I want to continue my wrestling career, and I have that opportunity.
My favorite things to do on campus are…
…to hang out around the Ramsey Center and catch my favorite movies at the Tate Theatre.
When I have free time, I like…
…to be with my friends from all over the campus, but lately free time has been hard to come by with all of my travels.
The craziest thing I’ve done is…
…win the “World’s Strongest Teen” title by butterflying (modified bench pressing) 240 pounds for 23 repetitions.
My favorite place to study is…
…the study rooms in Reed Hall, because I can be alone all night to study and I can crank the air conditioning to stay awake!
My favorite professor is…
…E.M. Beck from my Intro to Sociology class, because I can tell he cares about a lot of individual students even though the class is a full lecture hall in the Student Learning Center.
If I could share an afternoon with anyone, I would love to share it with…
…Jim Caviezel. He is the actor who portrayed Jesus in the movie The Passion of the Christ. We had a very interesting conversation at the Espy Awards and I’d love to be able to continue that talk.
If money was not a consideration, I would love to…
…coach a wrestling team of my own and mentor as many children as I could.
After graduation, I plan to…
…continue speaking for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau and eventually open a chain of fitness/wellness centers around the U.S.
The one UGA experience I will always remember will be…
…my very first collegiate wrestling match against a 3-time South Carolina state champion who is currently ranked extremely high in our weight class. It was a “welcome to collegiate wrestling” type of experience. He did beat me in the match by points, but I pinned his next opponent in less than a minute.