The Milwaukee Brewers announced that long-time Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker will undergo heart surgery on Friday and is expected to miss the next 10-12 weeks of the baseball season. Uecker, 75 and in his 40th season in the Brewer's radio booth, will have his aortic valve and a portion of the aortic roof replaced. After the procedure, Dr. Jim Klezka will determine whether additional bypass surgery is necessary.

The Brewers will begin their first road trip without Uecker in 19 years with former Virginia Tech women's basketball announcer Cory Provus handling the play-by-play duties on Milwaukee's 11-day, 10-game road trip to San Diego, Los Angeles and Arizona. Provus was the voice of Tech women's basketball from 2000-2003 after graduating from the  S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Following his time in Blacksburg, Provus worked for ISP in Winston-Salem, N.C., before moving on to Alabama-Birmingham where he handled play-by-play for UAB football, men's basketball and baseball. In 2006, Provus was named the Radio Sportscaster of the Year by the Alabama Broadcasters Association.

Provus began his Major League Baseball career in March of 2007 as the Chicago Cubs Pre and Post Game Show host. He also handled play-by-play duties, backing up Pat Hughes during games, and anchored the morning and afternoon drive sportscasts as a reporter for WGN-AM in Chicago. Provus joined the Brewers broadcast team prior to the 2009 season.

Every two weeks, the Atlantic Coast Conference spotlights one of its member schools on theACC.com in an effort to show how that school is involved in the sportsmanship effort of the conference. This week, it is the Hokies' turn, so click here to read an article that was put together by Virginia Tech Student Athlete Advisory Committee representatives Steve Bumbry (baseball), Jenna Rhodes (softball) and Beth Walker (softball).

Over the past few years, the Virginia Tech athletics department has successfully implemented the ‘Hokies Respect’ campaign, an initiative designed to encourage good sportsmanship among Tech athletes, fans and opponents.

The campaign has put Virginia Tech at the forefront of sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and the Hokies were even named the ACC’s Sportsmanship School of the Year in 2007-08. But this year, those involved has decided to take it even further.

Earlier this fall, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), in conjunction with the Athletics Office of Student Life, came up with a way to further promote Hokies Respect throughout the community. Senior administrators from Tech athletics approved the idea, and over 600 Hokies Respect t-shirts were distributed to student-athletes and support groups in early October. Those with the shirts have been encouraged to wear them the day before each home football game to remind all fans to be on good behavior.

This Thursday, though, Tech plays in the national spotlight on ESPN against Maryland, and Tech officials are hoping that the t-shirts will be worn around the community throughout the day on Thursday so that Hokie fans will remember to display their excellent sportsmanship to the national television audience.

“Having over 600 student-athletes and support groups wear this shirt across campus will display our thanks to each of them and indicate to the rest of campus our collective support of Hokies Respect,” Tech AD Jim Weaver said of the initiative.

The picture above shows the t-shirts worn by SAAC members (left to right) Brittany Pryor (women’s track and field), Claire Dickey (women’s swimming), Jordan Hall (athletic training), Steve Bumbry (baseball), Terrance Vinson (men’s basketball), Tasmin Fanning (women’s cross country) and Tim Miller (wrestling).

The Virginia Tech cheerleading squad will be holding an open tryout for female students next Wednesday, Oct. 29. The tryout session will run from 6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m., and will be held in Rector Field House. Those interested must demonstrate the following: collegiate image, athletic appearance, standing back tuck, back handspring back tuck, running series ending with a tuck or better, and strong motion technique. Please bring your insurance card with you to the tryout, and direct any other questions to cheerleading coach Rickey Hill at 231-5744.

Will you be in town for homecoming and looking for something to do on Friday? Then come to the outside steps on the Spring Road side of Cassell Coliseum at 6 p.m. and experience the Hokie Traditions Homecoming Send-off Rally!

Sponsored by the Student Alumni Associates of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, this rally will not only help send off the Hokie football team before their Saturday clash with Western Kentucky, but it will also give fans a chance to see the cheerleaders, the Highty Tighties, the HighTechs, the SAA Low Techs, the Hokie Bird, the dance company and more. There will be HokieZone t-shirts for sale, as well as free giveaways throughout the event.

In addition to all of that, the 2008 Homecoming Court will be featured, along with the VTCC Hotel Company’s Flaming VT traditional ceremony on Dietrick Lawn and the Ranger Company’s Game Ball Run.

Click here and here for more information.

The Virginia Tech dance team, the HighTechs, will be holding a car wash this Friday at Advance Auto Parts (800 N. Main St. in Blacksburg) from noon until 4 p.m.

Not only can you can you get your car cleaned, but you can watch the HighTechs dance and receive a free spirit squad poster. Donations are welcome and will support the team.

As you may have noticed late Sunday/most of Monday, hokiesports.com went AWOL. The official athletics Web site for Virginia Tech then reappeared on Monday afternoon/evening. Those looking for their Hokie fix may have expected the site to return revamped with a new design. While that will eventually happen in the coming weeks, that was not the case on Monday.

The hokiesports.com staff regularly performs software updates to keep up with security patches and bug fixes on all of the programs installed on the server. This particular software update went awry on Sunday, causing the server to lose all networking capabilities. All of the site’s data (over 150 gigabytes) then needed to be copied off of the faulty server and onto a new server, which then needed to be configured. As you can imagine, the transfer of such a large data volume took some time.

All of that was completed by noon on Monday, but hokiesports.com’s journey back from the abyss had one more obstacle. Tech’s Web staff had been planning on seamlessly changing servers from their previous location in Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center to a new home in Lane Stadium. However, due to Sunday night’s mishap, the staff was forced to make the move prematurely. Because of the change in locations, new IP addresses had to be registered with the Blacksburg Electronic Village, which handles the Web site’s DNS (domain name server) entries. The BEV made the switch shortly after 1 p.m Monday, but the process can take some time to disseminate across all of the DNS servers around the world. So depending on your internet service provider, hokiesports.com’s availability may have differed from elsewhere in the Hokie Nation.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming redesign.

Former Virginia Tech cheerleader Jesse Clowers Jr.  was honored Tuesday night in his hometown of Roanoke, as Roanoke County officials named the main football field at Penn Forest Elementary School after Clowers.
Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary of Clowers’ death. A Green Beret staff sergeant, Clowers and two fellow officers were killed in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle in the Nangarahar Province. He was just 27 years old and left behind a wife (Kaytie), a son (Jesse III) and a daughter (Dani). Clowers’ daughter was born after he had been deployed.
Clowers was a cheerleader for the Hokies for three years. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in business.
To read a nice story on Clowers, please check out the following link - http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/172785

The Athletic Equipment Managers Association (AEMA) held its National Convention general meeting on June 11, and Virginia Tech head equipment manager Lester Karlin was given the Superior Service Award.
 
Karlin, a 30-year veteran at Tech, also devotes his time to the Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad. He received this special award from AEMA due to his actions on April 16, 2007, when he was one of the first responders during the campus tragedy. He ran triage and helped those who were wounded into ambulances.
 
When the award was announced at the convention, Karlin received a long, standing ovation from hundreds of his colleagues who were in attendance.
 
We also stand and applaud Karlin and the many others who helped save lives that day.
 

The Athletics Office of Student Life and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) recently held a fundraising dodgeball tournament to donate money to Relay for Life.

‘Hokie Dodgeball’ took place last Saturday in the back gym of Cassell Coliseum, and in all, $360.33 was raised for Relay for Life by 72 particpants.

The winning team had a little karma on its side, as it paid homage to the winning team from the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy ‘Dodgeball’ by naming themselves ‘Average Joes.’

Each team consisted of a mixture of male and female student athletes. Team ‘Average Joes’ knocked off Team ‘Oreos’ in the finals, while Team ‘Make it Rain’ took third place.

Average Joes roster (men pictured below):
Jessica Botzum (women’s swimming)
Paul Debnam (men’s basketball)
Erin Moore (women’s soccer)
Gina Om (women’s soccer)
Ashley Owens (women’s soccer)
Marcus Travis (men’s basketball)
A.D. Vassallo (men’s basketball)
Terrance Vinson (men’s basketball)
Deron Washington (men’s basketball)

Oreos roster:
Jeff Allen (men’s basketball)
Jerran Anderson (men’s basketball GA)
Lindsay Biggs (women’s basketball)
Bryan Collier (men’s soccer)
Jonathan Collier (men’s soccer)
Brittany Cook (women’s basketball)
Rachel Dulla (volleyball)
Marcus Reed (men’s soccer)

On April 29, the Chick-fil-A Bowl Alma Mater at Reynolds Plantation, the nation’s premier head coach and celebrity golf event, will again assemble a “who’s who” list of teams competing against their rivals for a $375,000 scholarship purse.

The field will include defending champions Frank Beamer and Dell Curry of Virginia Tech and an impressive list of top NCAA head coaches and celebrities. In all, 14 teams are scheduled to hit the links – all vying for the $100,000 first-place prize.

Newly added teams from Boston College – including head football coach Jeff Jagodinski and actor Chris O’Donnell – and UConn – with head basketball coach Jim Calhoun and former NBA forward Donny Marshall – will help make this the most elite coach and celebrity golf event in the country.

Other returning players include Ralph Friedgen (Maryland), Jim Grobe (Wake Forest), Mark Richt (Georgia), Nick Saban (Alabama), Steve Spurrier (South Carolina) and Tommy Tuberville (Auburn).

More new teams will be announced in the weeks leading up to the event.

The Chick-fil-A Bowl Alma Mater at Reynolds Plantation features pairings that include a university head coach and a celebrity alumnus from the same school competing in a scramble format against other university teams from around the country.

The celebrity round will be taped for broadcast and aired nationally by CBS from 2 – 4 p.m. (ET) on Christmas Day. For more information on the event, visit www.Chick-fil-ABowlAlmaMater.com.

Tech teams have a slew of home athletic events this week, and many of them feature free giveaway items to fans who come out to support the Hokies. Here’s a list:

Tuesday – Softball vs. Houston, 7 pm: VT Gloves and team posters
Wednesday – Men’s Tennis vs. Virginia, 3pm: Tennis mini-balls
Wednesday – Softball vs. Marist, 5 pm: Angela Tincher trading cards
Thursday – Baseball vs. Boston College, 3 pm: VT Hats
Friday – Lacrosse vs. Louisville, 4 pm: VT Hokies T-shirts
Friday – Baseball vs. Florida State, 5:30 pm: Team pictures
Saturday – Women’s Tennis vs. Florida State, 11 am: Hokie pom-poms
Sunday – Women’s Tennis vs. Miami, Noon: Tennis t-shirts
Sunday – Lacrosse vs. Delaware, Noon: Student Appreciation Day
Sunday – Baseball vs. Florida State, 1 pm: Easter Eggs

Visit www.hokiesports.com/promotions

Virginia Tech radio announcer Bill Roth was one of six ISP Sports play-by-play personalities to be honored as their state’s top sportscaster in 2007 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA). The organization will present both its state and national awards on May 5th in Salisbury, N.C.

Roth, now in his 20th year as the “Voice of the Hokies,” is a repeat honoree from 2006 for Virginia’s top broadcaster award and is an eight-time winner overall.

“We are very proud to have these talented individuals on our ISP team,” ISP Chairman and CEO Ben Sutton said of the winners. “This achievement is a result of the hard work they bring to each and every broadcast and publication. These honors are also a reflection of the dedicated team we have working behind the scenes in our network studios and at our university partners. Everyone should be congratulated.”

ISP, America’s Home for College Sports, was founded in 1992 and is based in Winston-Salem, N.C. The company manages multi-media rights for more than 50 collegiate athletic partners. ISP delivers quality broadcasts to more than 800 radio affiliates and 100-plus television outlets across America. In addition, ISP provides professional direction for numerous partner publications and websites. More information can be found at ISPSports.com.      

The Virginia Tech Sports Medicine Association will be holding a one-day sports medicine clinic for athletic trainers, physical therapists, physical therapist assistants and other allied health professionals.

The event, known as the Eddie Ferrell Memorial Clinic, is scheduled for Feb. 23, 2008 and will be held in the south end zone of Lane Stadium, as well as the nearby Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM).

The goal of the clinic is to provide an opportunity for learning and sharing techniques in the management of current issues in athletics. Participants will have the ability to spend time in the state-of-the-art cadaver laboratory at VCOM, where they will have the chance to work with prosected cadavers to identify major anatomical structures and injury scenarios that relate to the head and neck. There will also be case studies and breakout groups that cover evaluation techniques and rehabilitation tips.

Anyone with an interest in athletic training, or the medical field as it relates to athletics, is encouraged to take advantage of this great learning experience.

For more information or to register, visit the Virginia Tech Sports Medicine Web site at www.vtspsma.org.vt.edu or e-mail Katie Baer at KatieATC@vt.edu.

The men's basketball team hosts the rival Virginia Cavaliers on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Cassell Coliseum, and for those of you coming out to support the Hokies, you can also do your part to support the local needy.

The Virginia Tech Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) will be holding a canned food drive at Cassell, with all proceeds going to local food banks. There will be student-athletes representing all of Tech's sports team situated at the entrances of Cassell when the doors open, and they will be collecting any non-perishable food items that you would like to donate.

Thanks for your help!

Be sure to join the rest of the Virginia Tech community on Saturday at approximately 10:30 a.m., just five hours before the Hokie football team takes on Miami, in a campus-wide event organized as a way to show the rest of the world Blacksburg’s appreciation for all it has received since the events of April 16.

The "Hokies Thank the World" event will bring together thousands of Hokies on the Virginia Tech Drillfield to spell out a message of thanks to the world in recognition of the global outpouring of support and love for the Virginia Tech community following the events of April 16.

The message of thanks will be recorded by ground, aerial, and satellite imagery and will be shared with the world through www.HokiesThankTheWorld.org. Visit the website for more information, and see you at the Drillfield on Saturday!

He cannot voice his thoughts the way many of us do. His muscles do not allow him to form words that, in turn, express his needs and thoughts, much less his wishes and desires. But he does speak in more subtle ways through eye movements; his 'voice' is seen by those who watch. This is how Brandon P. tells people about himself and what he likes. What he loves the most is the Virginia Tech football team. And several people have been listening – arranging for Brandon the trip of a lifetime.

An avid Hokies football fan, Brandon recently learned that he is going to see his favorite team play their last home game of the season, a sold-out game that had space for one more because of the efforts of several staff people at Virginia Tech and St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children in Norfolk, Va.

Cheerful and winsome, this 12-year-old boy heads to Blacksburg early this Saturday morning, Nov. 17, with three chaperones (Kathy Brobst, Jennifer Reasor and Shaun Stauffer) because some special people took the time to make a wish come true.

Those involved in the cooperation with St. Mary’s include Virginia Tech Associate Director of Athletics Tom Gabbard, Lane Stadium employee Pete Pool, The Inn at Virginia Tech’s Gary Crizer and Michelle Vann, and Virginia Tech Class of 2007 alum Peter Jacobs. St. Mary’s and Brandon, whose favorite Hokies are Branden Ore, Tyrod Taylor and Frank Beamer, wish to thank all who were involved in making this dream come true.

St. Mary's Home for Disabled Children in Norfolk serves the Commonwealth of Virginia and cares for 88 children with severe to profound disabilities. The Home provides quality care including specialized medical care, excellent educational services and a comprehensive activities program in a home-like environment for special children from birth to age 21, so each child can achieve his or her fullest potential.
 

The Virginia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is currently being featured on theACC.com. Virginia Tech's SAAC is headed up by Patricia Lovett, Virginia Tech Athletics' Coordinator of Student Life, and the ACC recently interviewed VT SAAC member and men's golfer Drew Weaver about what the committee is all about.

In an effort to highlight the leadership and good works of the student-athletes in the conference, the ACC SAAC began the SAAC in ACCtion initiative to provide on-line articles about the SAAC programs at the league's 12 member institutions. The goal of this initiative is to shed light on the great things our student-athletes are doing to affect significant positive change on campus and in our communities.

Every two weeks, the SAAC leaders from a different school will provide a SAAC in ACCtion update on how their program is getting involved. When reading these articles, we hope that it is evident that their efforts to give back result in so much more.

Virginia Tech's homecoming weekend is approaching, and will culminate with the Hokies' football game against North Carolina in Lane Stadium at 12 p.m. on Saturday. One of the main traditions of homecoming is the naming of a king and queen, and a pair of Tech student-athletes are in the running.

Bryan Collier (men's soccer) and Jessica Botzum (women's swimming) are a part of the 16-member court, and are both representing the Student Athlete Advisory Council. Voting takes place Sept. 26-27.

Click here for more information on Bryan.

Click here for more information on Jessica.

Click here for more information on VT Homecoming 2007.

Also, be sure to check out Friday evening's send-off/pep rally for the football team at 6 p.m. outside of Cassell Colisuem.