Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 6 | June 2020

inside.hokiesports.com 27 The Monogram Club is an organization of all student-athlete alumni and letterwinners in Virginia Tech Athletics. Virginia Tech monograms are currently awarded to student-athletes and support staff in baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross country, football, golf, HighTechs, HokieBird, lacrosse, managers, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field (indoor and outdoor), trainers, video, volleyball and wrestling. All Virginia Tech alumni on any Tech sport team of the past are challenged to reach out to “their” respective sport representative and begin to build and expand the current base and network of sport alumni. The club hopes to “hear” from ALL past student-athletes at Tech. Here is the club website: http://monogram.hokiesports.com/about/. HOKIE ATHLETES IN PANDEMIC SERVICE Alumna Logan (Spaw) Brown (softball, 2012-15) has been serving as a nurse in the Kansas City occupational-health COVID-19 command center during the pandemic and her hospital was named Kansas City’s most essential hospital during the pandemic. She said, “All thanks to Virginia Tech. I am where I am today—played for the best and now working for the best in my area.” Alumna Alisia Narodowski (softball, 2004-06) is an operating room nurse at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, Canada and has worked in COVID-19 wards, ICU, and post-anesthetic recovery rooms. She said, “ It’s been a heck of a time over here, and my thoughts and prayers are with all of my American friends.” GOLDEN GOBBLER AWARDS–2020 Congratulations to Tyrell Smith and Abby McKinzie , who were the 2020 Golden Gobbler awardees. Sponsored by the Monogram Club, Golden Gobblers are awarded annually to a female and a male student athlete for their great accomplishments and success athletically, academically, and in serving others. Although an injury put him on the sidelines during the 2019 football season, Smith was voted team captain by his teammates, served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and was awarded the Black Male Excellent Network’s leadership award. Shortly after being awarded his Golden Gobbler, Smith received a medical redshirt by the NCAA. He will return to play his sixth and final football season this fall while he continues to work on his second graduate degree from Tech. McKinzie has served as a great leader both on and off the volleyball court. She was named team captain her senior year, served as Student- Athlete Advisory Committee president, and earned the ACC Top VI for Service award two years in a row for her service in the Blacksburg community. She has done all this while maintaining a 3.4 grade- point average and graduated with a degree in communications in May. WRESTLING David McFadden and Hunter Bolen were named 2020 first-team All-Americans (NWCA). NWCA recognizes All-Americans from their performance at the NCAA Championships, but because of the cancellation of 2020 championships, this year’s All-America class was based on wrestlers’ bodies of work through conference championships. Bolen was named the Virginia Wrestler of the Year (VASID) after a stellar sophomore season. He went 24-2 on the season, one capped off with the 184-pound ACC title and being named the No. 2 seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships. The Floyd, Virginia native ended the season ranked No. 1 in the country by InterMat. McFadden became the program’s first four-time All-American. The redshirt senior was slotted as the No. 7 seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships, and he ended his illustrious career in maroon and orange with a 21-5 season. The redshirt senior went 107-22 during his career, becoming just the 13th Hokie to ever reach 100 career wins. Tech wrestling added another wrestler to its incoming class when Nate Warden signed his letter-of-intent with the Hokies. He comes to Tech after an impressive high school career at Christiansburg High School. He is a two-time Virginia state champion, winning the 2020 state championship at 182 pounds and the 2019 state championship at 170 pounds. He joins Bolen as Hokies from the Christiansburg Blue Demons program. Other standout Hokie wrestlers from Christiansburg High School include Devin Carter , Joey Dance and Zach Epperly . With Warden’s signing, the Hokies added another state champion to their incoming recruiting class that FloWrestling has ranked as the ninth-best in the country. The upcoming 2020-21 wrestling season is the 100th anniversary of the wrestling program at Tech. Stay tuned for special reunion and events marking this centennial. For other information, contact Carl Gellis (carlgellis@hotmail.com) . NEW DIRECTOR–BASEBALL Chip Runyon (Class of 2002; B.S. in business administration and management) joined the club board as a baseball alumni. Runyon played baseball at Tech from 1999-2002 for legendary coach Chuck Hartman, was a starting pitcher on two NCAA tournament teams (1999 and 2000) and three conference championship team; and was team captain for the Hokies in 2002. After his career at Tech ended, Runyon signed a professional contract with the Kansas City Royals and spent two years in their minor league system. Runyon lives in Suffolk, Virginia with wife Emily (B.S., 2002 & M.S. 2003) and their four children. He is a wealth advisor at Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors (beaconharborwealth.com) in Virginia Beach, Virginia, working with individuals, families, and businesses on their overall comprehensive wealth management plan. Outside of financial advising, he enjoys playing golf and watching his kids compete athletically. He and his family also enjoy traveling and coming to Blacksburg for football, basketball, and baseball games every year. Runyon said: “I love Virginia Tech baseball and our athletics program in general! My four years at Tech were four of the best years of my life, and I definitely appreciate my time in Blacksburg and the experience I had playing baseball there. I look forward to helping continue to build the network of Hokie baseball alumni and connect them with our Continued on page 28 David M c Fadden