There to watch Trey play in the NBA

Memphis is 8 hours away, but the drive flew by Wednesday for NSU basketball coaches Mike McConathy, Mark Slessinger and Jeff Moore.

They made the 16-hour round trip to be there as their former player Trey Gilder broke the glass ceiling and made his first steps into the NBA.

Gilder played more than 4 minutes, made his only shot (about a 17-footer on the left wing), had a rebound and a steal. It came at the end of a thumping of the home team by the Detroit Pistons, but the Grizzlies announcers on Fox Sports South were very complementary of Gilder and his emergence from the NBA Developmental League.

Trey shot 63 percent for the Grizzlies' Vegas Summer League team, turning heads, and he didn't disappoint in preseason camp to make the team's 12-man active roster. NBA teams now keep 15 players overall during the season; three are inactive.

Hall of Fame Vignette

Of the many functions that I attend throughout the year as Athletic Director, one of my favorites is the NSU Athletics/Graduate N-Club Hall of Fame ceremony. To hear the inductees so humbly acknowledge the impact that NSU has had on their lives, not to mention the coaches, family members, and others whose influence they also credit for putting them in a position to be so successful, is wonderful. Also, as a true sports enthusiast, I really enjoy hearing the "war stories" that inevitably are told as part of the ceremony. Perhaps my favorite this past Saturday was the one baseball/football inductee Steve Graf told about a practice tackling drill in which each player was to select a partner. He talked about looking for the skinniest teammate he could find and thus chose a defensive back named Darrell Toussaint. As Steve recalled, it took one tackle for him to realize that he made a bad decision and that he quickly learned why Toussaint, who was inducted into the NSU Hall of Fame a few years ago, was commonly known as "The Blade." "He just cut right through me," recalled Graf. Track/football standout Al Edwards' touching tribute to his grandmother, softball great Kellie Shotwell's enduring regret - with a chuckle - that Coach Rickey McCalister never let her hit because she was too valuable as a pitcher (NSU only gave four total scholarships for softball at that time and she was the recipient of one of them), and golf All-American Bob Konsdorf's comments about his business career and about how it has seems as if every phase of his business life has in some way been tied back to golf are among the highlights that stand out in my mind. One final thought - I encourage all Demon and Lady Demon fans to put this event on their calendars in the future - it will be well worth your time!

Greg Burke, Athletic Director

Former Demons Support

After catching up with one former Demon, current McNeese AD Tommy McClelland (he tongue in cheek wanted to know if we had found a long snapper as good as him since he graduated), during pre-game warm-ups prior to the NSU-McNeese game,I was pleased to run into several other ex-Demons, as well. The pride of Orange, TX, #56 Roy Locks, was the first former player I greeted, shortly before seeing former Demons Charlie Brooks, Chris "Booger" Brown, and Ed Queen (told Ed I still remember him running down McNeese great B.J. Sams on a reverse back in '03 down there). Finally, good friend and supporter Gant Gremillion was on the sidelines with a seven-year old buddy from Covington. Gant was the winning bidder for a sideline pass for two to a Demon game at Coach Bradley Dale Peveto's auction fund raiser last spring. Gant's wife, Jenny, and one-and-a-half year old daughter were sitting out the game....in the future when that happens, Gant will have to worry about where the two of them are shopping and how much damage they are doing!

Greg Burke, Athletic Director

Back In Black

I picked up the general Athletic Department phone late yesterday afternoon (that's what you do when your wonderful secretary retires and there is no replacement yet)and much to my delight, former Demon wide receive standout Nathan Black was on the other end of the line. Nathan is living in his hometown of Baton Rouge and is in the "Performance Enhancement" business (aka "Personal Training"). He was calling to fill one of the most valuable roles that an alumnus can undertake for their alma mater....that of referring a young person to NSU. Specifically, he wanted to talk with women's track coach Mike Heimerman about a young lady he thought would be a great fit for our program.

Nathan also took a minute to talk about his excitment over the fact that Bradley Dale Peveto, who was on staff early in Nathan's career at NSU (wonder if Nathan was one of the offensive guys who used to sneak into the defensive position meetings to hear Peveto's fire 'em up speeches), was now head coach for the Demons.

As an aside, I will never forget the 70+ yard TD pass Nathan caught from Craig Nall early in that 2001 playoff game at Montana. The pass was perhaps 20 yards in length and Nathan, who had very good wheels, outrun the Griz secondary to the end zone. I have never heard 20,000+ fans go from being so loud as the ball was snapped to so quiet as Nathan raced down the sidelines.

It's always good to hear from former Demons, which I do on a regular basis, and pledge to try to be more diligent in sharing those connections with our fans on the Daily Demon blog.

Greg Burke, Athletic Director

Happy about new Demons

There's no doubt about the affection the NSU community, and the NSU athletic department, has for the Antilley Family. Father David and son Davey have been loyal supporters of the university and have volunteered their help for nearly 20 years on statistics crews for NSU football, basketball and baseball. Davey, an instructor in the same NSU journalism program where he earned his undergraduate degree, is ever-helpful in his job to so many people and to the NSU athletic department.

That's why everyone who knows Davey and his wonderful family is so thrilled about the recent birth of twin sons Jacob and Joshua (no doubt future NSU stat crew members!). Wife and mom Janna has been a joyful addition to the NSU athletic family, along with her daughter Lelia.

In the above picture, Janna is holding Jacob Lawrence. Lelia is in the middle with her cheerleading outfit on. Davey is holding Joshua David.


E-mail congratulations to antilleyd@nsula.edu if you'd like!