By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Rob Austin, a long-time Tennessee Tech supporter and friend of the athletics program, passed away Jan. 8 in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was 85.
A memorial service for him will be held locally at Christ's Community Church (1530 Woodland Ave., Cookeville) at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, with Brother Ed Malone officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to St. Peterburg's Suncoast Hospice Care Center or to Tennessee Tech Athletics.
A long-time area youth baseball coach, Austin mentored young players for 52 years, inspiring many of them to continue playing into the collegiate ranks.
Born in Effingham, Ill., to Robert and Mary Elizabeth Austin in 1937, he spent most of his childhood in Tallahassee, Fla., where he attended Florida State and later graduated from Southern Miss with degrees in geology and geography.
Following graduation, he became the chief geologist at the New Jersey Zinc Mine in nearby Carthage, then later oversaw his family's business after his father passed as a natural gas and oil lease broker.
Throughout all of this, Rob developed a love of photography. He opened Austin's 1-Hour Photo and ran the business for many years. That is also one avenue where he developed a long relationship with Tech Athletics, providing pictures for use by the Tech Sports Information office – including Hall of Fame photos, action photos and other pictures for coaches to use. For years, he traveled with the Sports Information staff on road trips and took photos of events.
When the Tech baseball team was in need of a batting cage setup, Austin took the upstairs area of his photo shop -- then located on Broad Street where Outdoor Experience is now -- and converted it into cages and gave the program access to it.
Austin also served as a volunteer coach with Bobby Nichols and the Tech golf teams, filling in when Nichols was unavailable to travel.
With Nichols and Jim Ragland, Austin was one of the three people instrumental in establishing the Golden Eagle Scramble as a fundraiser, changing it from an Athletics get-together to a money-making event. Austin sold hole sponsorships as a volunteer, while also soliciting goody bag items and other major prizes.
A fan of the Tech women's basketball program, Austin set up an endowed scholarship, naming it after one of his favorite student-athletes -- Anita Myers Barker.
Austin was a longtime member of the TTU President's Club.
He is preceded in death by his parents, his sister Connie Kuncicky, sister and brother-in-law Linda and Ed Seykora, and his son Reagan Austin. He is survived by his five children: Lynn Austin, Leanne Austin, Lauran Willoughby (John), Ariaun Loveday (Jeremy), Erin Austin; his grandchildren Kayla Swisher, Ryan Austin, Sean Austin, Graham Willoughby, Sarah Frances Willoughby, Sam Willoughby, Aiden Loveday, Natalie Loveday, Cooper Austin, and his great-granddaughter Stephanie Austin.
