COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Athletics played a visible role in the lives of three of the people selected recently as Tennessee Tech's 2010 Outstanding Alumni, with two former athletes and one loyal supporter pf the Golden Eagles.
Among the six people honored earlier this month were astronaut
Barry Wilmore, a former linebacker for the Golden Eagles in the
80s, and Mike Winchester, an All-America baseball player at Tech
during the 70s. A third honoree, Kent Johnson, is an after-school
recreation director who supports Tech athletics and instills Tech
Pride in the children he mentors.
"The connection to athletics and participation in sports by
these three Outstanding Alumni award winners is a good indication
of just how much athletics plays a role within the lives of
Tennessee Tech students," said Director of Athletics Mark Wilson.
"We see how much athletics plays a large role in the overall
University community, not only for the student-athletes but for all
students who are fans of Tennessee Tech's teams.
"We are so proud of all of their accomplishments, but also of how
much they remain involved in the university and that comes, in
part, from their involvement in athletics during their time on
campus," Wilson said.
Mike Winchester (History, 1975),
recognized as one of the top banking lawyers in Knoxville based on
a Knoxville Bar Association magazine survey, began a legacy of
excellence at Tennessee Tech.
A member of the Tennessee Tech Sports Hall of Fame, Winchester
attended TTU on an Ohio Valley Conference baseball scholarship from
1971 to 1975. He was selected to three consecutive OVC baseball
teams (1973, 1974, 1975), the NCAA All-South baseball team (1975),
and the American Association of Baseball Coaches All-American
baseball team (1975).
Academically, Winchester graduated first in his class in the
School of Arts and Sciences and received the Derryberry Award, the
university’s most prestigious student award given to an
outstanding graduating senior.
After graduation, he attended the University of Tennessee College
of Law and received a doctor of jurisprudence degree. He was
admitted to the Tennessee Bar and the U.S. District Court of the
Eastern District of Tennessee.
A member of the Knoxville, Tennessee and American Bar
Associations, Winchester is the founding member and president of
Winchester, Sellers, Foster & Steele, P.C., a law firm formed
in 1983 concentrating in creditor’s rights, banking,
commercial, and business litigation in Knoxville and surrounding
areas.
He is the past president of the Mid-South Commercial Law Institute
and a member of the Knoxville Bar Foundation. He has been
recognized on a national peer-review by Martindale-Hubbell as an AV
(pre-imminent) rated attorney for more than 15 years.
Winchester has been giving back to Tennessee Tech since 1986. He
initiated and continues to fund the Winchester History Lecture
Series in the School of Arts and Sciences and has been an advocate
in many ways for the Tech Athletics Association and Tennessee Tech
Baseball.
A Nashville native, Winchester has been married to Patty M.
Winchester for 34 years and has two grown children, Jared and
Celia. He is also the proud grandfather of two grandchildren, Gavin
Luke and Caroline.
As a mentor to about 80 children in after-school programs at Cecil
Webb Center in Knoxville,Kent Johnson
(Interdisciplinary Studies, 2009) is creating what he hopes is a
nest of Golden Eagles, future students who take on challenges, beat
odds and adjust expectations for themselves.
And his love of purple and gold in the land of orange stands out;
he was named 2009 City of Knoxville Parks and Recreation Employee
of the Year and was recently featured on a Knoxville television
station for promoting purple pride. As center director for the City
of Knoxville Parks and Recreation Department since 2001, he’s
responsible for all daily operations and management and supervises
after-school and summer programs. He also creates and organizes
citywide special events.
Johnson’s efforts to promote academic excellence and a sense
of family in his kids revolves around his pride for Tennessee Tech.
Johnson’s methods to instill purple pride include visits to
campus, quizzes, contests, decorations and rewards. He’s
created bulletin boards filled with Tech trivia. He’s given
the children shirts with “Top 10” funny facts about
TTU. And his grand prizes—given to students who play one
sport, have high grade point averages and show exemplary
behavior—are Golden Eagle football jerseys personalized on
the back.
A three-sport athlete in high school who excelled in football,
wrestling and track, Johnson continues to place a high value on
physical fitness and excellence. He was a competitive weightlifter
from 1985 until 1997 and a competitive martial artist from 1987 to
2001.
He holds a third degree black belt in Shingitai, a black belt in
Jujitsu from USJA and a black belt in Kenpo. He was also a martial
arts instructor for 21 years. He is certified as a lifeguard and
water safety instructor as well as a personal trainer. His career
background includes positions as an ergonomics program director and
an industrial medicine coordinator.
Johnson serves as the children’s church director at Dotson
Memorial Baptist Church. He and his wife of 17 years, Mikell, have
two sons, Storm and Dalton.
Barry Wilmore (Electrical Engineering,
1985 and 1994) has seen earth from a perspective only a handful of
people ever experience. As pilot of NASA’s STS-129 space
shuttle mission to the International Space Station last November,
he put his hometown of Mt. Juliet and Tennessee Tech University in
the national spotlight.
Before he became a Navy captain and an astronaut, he was reaching
for the stars at TTU as a student-athlete. He was one of the
university’s first graduate-student athletes. Having been
redshirted with a knee injury as an undergrad, he took advantage of
remaining eligibility and established himself in TTU’s record
books, reaping several post-season honors. He was voted Academic
All-District and named to Leonard’s All-America team. He also
won a scholar-athlete award from the National Football Foundation
and Hall of Fame. He was elected to TTU’s 2003 Sports Hall of
Fame class.
In 1987, he was in Corpus Christi, Texas, flying A-4s for the
Navy. He flew 21 missions in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, then
conducted initial flight tests for the T-45, and later spent a year
as a Navy Test Pilot School instructor.
After five years of flying F-18s and two more deployments, Wilmore
became a test pilot instructor at Edwards Air Force Base as part of
a Navy/Air Force exchange. He was chosen as an astronaut candidate
in 2000.
During the STS-129 mission, his crew delivered two Express
Logistics Carriers to the International Space Station, about 30,000
pounds of replacement parts. The mission was completed in 10 days,
19 hours, 16 minutes and 13 seconds, traveling 4.5 million miles in
171 orbits.
Wilmore’s wife, Deanna, is a TTU graduate. His father,
Eugene, is a 1958 graduate in industrial management. His brother,
Jack, is a 1984 graduate in industrial technology, and Jack’s
wife, Selena, is a 1985 graduate as well. Add to that TTU legacy,
Jack’s children – Lucas, a senior, and Elizabeth Ann,
sophomore.
