By Jonathan Frank, TTU Communications and Marketing
As the 2024 Olympic Games continue in Paris, France, a star athlete and journalist found themselves sharing a special moment at the realization of their mutual connection to Tennessee Tech University and the Cookeville community.
Athlete Sunny Choi is competing on behalf of Team USA in the Olympic Games' first-ever "breaking" competition. The sport, known more colloquially as breakdancing, is the only new event to debut at this year's games.
Choi recently sat down for a nationally televised interview with NBC sportscaster and Football Night in America host Maria Taylor when, suddenly, the conversation turned to their Golden Eagle connections.
"Were you born in Cookeville, Tennessee? … I remember I read that," asked Taylor in the interview.
Choi replied affirmatively, after which Taylor revealed that she, too, was a Cookeville native born at Cookeville General Hospital – now known as Cookeville Regional Medical Center.
"My dad coached at Tennessee Tech!" continued Taylor.
"Wait, really? … My parents … one of them taught at Tennessee Tech," responded Choi.
In fact, both of Taylor's parents, Steve and Suzette Taylor, are proud Tech alumni. Steve Taylor was a standout student-athlete in the early 1980s and the longtime holder of the Tech men's basketball shot-blocking record before going on to become the team's assistant coach and, later, pursuing a fulfilling career with the FBI. In 2022, he was named to the Tech's men's basketball All-Century Team.
"Steve made a huge impact on the basketball program," recalled Frank Harrell, special assistant to the Director of Athletics at Tech and former men's basketball coach. "The people he recruited made us have really successful teams. Steve was always proud of Tennessee Tech and still comes back to alumni functions."
As for Choi, her mother, Jung-In Choi, came to Tech in 1987 as a visiting professor of mathematics. According to Time, it was on Tech's campus where the elder Choi went into labor with her daughter while teaching a statistics class.
"Students called her husband, Kyung-Ju Choi, who arrived to drive her to the hospital where Sunny, the third of their four kids and the only girl, was born," Time reports.
While in Paris, Choi will be part of sports history as a competitor in breaking's Olympics debut. The Olympics' website explains that the urban dance style originated in the United States in the 1970s and international competitions were first held in the 1990s.
"It's no surprise that, even at the Olympic Games thousands of miles away, there is a Tennessee Tech connection!" said Mark Wilson, director of athletics at Tech. "The impact of our student-athletes, coaches, faculty and their families is felt from Paris, Tennessee to Paris, France. Our Golden Eagles are cheering on Sunny and her fellow Team USA competitors, as well as the talented sportscasters like Maria who are connecting viewers around the world to this momentous event in sports history."
