Athletics played huge role in lives of two Outstanding Alumni Award winners

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – When Tennessee Tech University announced the 2016 Outstanding Alumni Award winners recently, two of the recipients have major ties to Golden Eagle Athletics.

Each of the university’s six colleges, the Whitson-Hester School of Nursing and the athletics program annually select one alumnus to receive the honor, based on their support of and commitment to TTU. The eight were recognized on Feb. 5 at an Awards Dinner. 

The Athletics award went to Dr. Gail Fields, a 1973 TTU graduate with a degree in chemistry who is an orthopedic surgeon in Idaho, and who has become one of the Golden Eagles biggest boosters.

The College of Education honored Grant Swallows, currently the principal at White Country High School and a former record-setting Golden Eagle quarterback.
 
An injury that put a halt to his potential career in professional baseball led Fields to his chosen profession as an orthopedic surgeon, and a seat on the basketball team bench brought him into the Tennessee Tech Athletics family where he has developed into one of the Golden Eagles’ biggest supporters.

A native of Chattanooga, he entered Tennessee Tech in 1965 after graduating from Bledsoe County High School.

Two years into his collegiate studies, he began a four-year stint with the U.S. Navy, including a tour in South Vietnam. He returned to Cookeville following his military time, and received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1973.

A serious arm injury in the summer following his high school days charted his course. Signed in 1965 as a pitcher by the St. Louis Cardinals, the injury put Fields’ baseball career on the shelf. The time he spent in rehab from the injury opened his eyes to a career in medicine.

Fresh out of Tech, Fields began medical school at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri from 1973 to 1977, followed by his residency in orthopedics at Southeastern Medical Center in North Miami Beach, Florida, from 1977 to 1982.

While practicing in the middle Tennessee region from 1982 to 1986, he was invited to sit on the team bench by men’s basketball coach Frank Harrell. That experience helped turn Fields into one of Tech’s top fans in terms of spirit and financial support of Golden Eagle athletics.

He moved to Idaho in 1986 and established the Blackfoot Orthopedic Clinic, a one-man operation that has since grown into the largest orthopedic group in Idaho. The Orthopedic Institute in Blackfoot, serving all of southeast Idaho, now includes eight orthopedic surgeons.

Fields has remained close to Tech athletic programs as a fan and supporter, and he is also a major sponsor of the annual Bobby Nichols Scramble, sponsoring the Doc Fields Golf Party on Friday night during the three-day event. He continues to be a friend of TTU basketball with financial support for coaches Jeff Lebo, Mike Sutton and Steve Payne.

The College of Education honor went to Swallows, a 2003 Tech graduate with a degree in journalism who added post-graduate degrees in 2006 and 2007 from the university.

It may seem like Grant Swallows’ undergraduate and graduate degrees from Tennessee Tech University are divergent, but he says everything he learned at Tech has made him the person he is today. 

After graduating from Livingston Academy in 1998, Swallows enrolled in classes at TTU. His love of writing motivated him to choose journalism classes, while he also played football for four years and baseball for two years. During his sophomore year, Swallows met his wife, Beth Ann, while attending a meeting for TTU’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

In 2003, Swallows earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from TTU. Instead of pursuing a career in news, however, he returned to his old high school as an assistant principal and technology coordinator.

Both his parents are retired educators – Pat, his father, and Louise, his mother are alumni of TTU. As he got older, Swallows felt the need to explore a career in education – while retaining the skills he learned as a journalism major.

A year later, Swallows enrolled in graduate studies at TTU, earning his master’s degree in instructional leadership and a specialist in education degree. 

In 2008, he returned to TTU as associate athletic director for development. He secured funds for and assisted in planning the construction of a multi million-dollar strength and conditioning facility, while serving as an adjunct professor in the College of Education, a position he still holds.

Today, Swallows serves as principal of White County High School. Under his watch, the

school was awarded a $100,000 Celebrate My Drive grant and reaccredited under AdvancED/SACS guidelines.  In his second year at the school it was named a Tennessee Reward School, ranking in the top five percent of schools statewide for academic progress.

Swallows serves on the TTU Education Committee, as chairman of the Upper Cumberland Principals’ Study Council and is a leadership course facilitator for the Tennessee Department of Education.

The other six Outstanding Alumni Award winners:

College of Agriculture & Human Ecology
Davis Watts, ’69 animal husbandry

College of Arts and Sciences
Marc Norman, ’76 chemistry

College of Business
Charlotte Malone Swafford, ’70 business education

College of Engineering
Trudy Harper, ’83 electrical engineering, ’84 MS electrical engineering

Whitson-Hester School of Nursing
Karen Ford Joyce, ’82 nursing

College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Cynthia Moore Humble, ’05 interdisciplinary studies