ACU Today Winter/Spring 2017

Alumni magazine for Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas

Nike’s Tobie Hatfield (’87) is featured on the new Winter-Spring 2017 issue of ACU Today magazine, which mailed last last week. The former ACU pole vaulter has helped Nike soar to new heights while serving as senior director of athlete innovations at the company’s world headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., near Portland.
Hatfield has designed competition-ready footwear worn by some of the world’s top athletes, such as the gold spikes sprinter Michael Johnson first used to win gold medals during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Other beneficiaries of Hatfield’s handiwork are amputee marathon and triathlon star Sarah Reinertsen and Florida teen Matthew Walzer, whose pioneering Flyease shoes were named an Invention of the Year by Time magazine.
Former longtime ACU sports information director and track and field guru Garner Roberts (’70) wrote 0ur profile of Hatfield and the front cover illustration by Minnesota artist Ron Finger captures Nike’s “Master Maker” as we describe Tobie. The profile of Hatfield is accompanied by a sidebar from assistant editor Robin (Ward ’82) Saylor about ACU’s Maker Lab, where the next generation of Abilene Christian innovators get their start.
Other content in this issue – which, including 50 pages of online-only Bonus Coverage – totals 136 pages:

• An update on the Vision in Action initiative shows the Halbert-Walling Research Center as it prepared for an open house celebration, and progress on new Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium through the eyes of Hoar Construction project manager Sean Cagle (’06), a former Wildcat football player.
• “A Tiger in My Hometown,” my travelogue about teaming with Dr. Gary McCaleb (’64) to take former ACU and MLB star pitcher Bill Gilbreth (’69) to Detroit, Mich., last June for the 45th anniversary of his debut in the majors. In our online edition, this story is followed by Bonus Coverage of Gilbreth’s amazing experience. 
• A celebration of Dewby (Adams ’50) Ray, recipient last spring of the Dale and Rita Brown Outlive Your Life Award.
• Profiles of students from around the nation who are enrolled in ACU Online graduate degree programs.
• Our Second Glance essay was written by Amy (Nichols ’92) Boone, one of the two originators of ACU’s now iconic Candlelight Devotional in Beauchamp Amphitheatre. The event celebrates its 25th anniversary this fall, and Boone shares its backstory.
• Bonus Coverage this issue also includes memorable images from “So Long, Shotwell,” a photo essay shot by freelancer Jeremy Enlow of the final home football game last November in Abilene’s Shotwell Stadium.

Watch this blog in the days to come for backstories of some of these major articles. Enjoy the full issue by clicking on the viewer above.