Feb. 19, 2015
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Four Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were among the 53 student-athletes honored for the 2015 Weaver-James-Corrigan Award, announced Thursday by ACC Commissioner John Swofford. Of the 53 recipients, eight student-athletes who plan to pursue professional careers in their chosen sports were named honorary recipients.
Swimming’s Kate Brandus, football’s Matt Connors, and track’s Cole Jackob are Georgia Tech’s Postgraduate Scholarship recipients. Golf’s Anders Albertson was chosen as an honorary postgraduate recipient.
Georgia Tech will honor its postgraduate scholarship recipients Monday, Feb. 23 during the men’s basketball home game vs. Louisville.
The Weaver-James-Corrigan and Jim and Pat Thacker postgraduate scholarships are awarded to selected student-athletes who intend to pursue a graduate degree following completion of their undergraduate requirements. Each recipient will receive $5,000 toward his or his graduate education. Those honored have performed with distinction in both the classroom and their respective sport, while demonstrating exemplary conduct in the community.
The Weaver-James-Corrigan Award is named in honor of the late Jim Weaver and Bob James, as well as Gene Corrigan, the first three ACC commissioners.
The league’s first commissioner, James H. Weaver, served the conference from 1954-70 after a stint as the Director of Athletics at Wake Forest University. His early leadership and uncompromising integrity are largely responsible for the excellent reputation enjoyed by the ACC today.
Robert C. James, a former University of Maryland football player, was named commissioner in 1971 and served in that capacity for 16 years. During his tenure, the league continued to grow in stature and became recognized as a national leader in athletics and academics, winning 23 national championships and maintaining standards of excellence in the classroom.
Eugene F. Corrigan assumed his role as the third full-time commissioner on September 1, 1987, and served until August of 1997. During Corrigan’s tenure, ACC schools captured 30 NCAA championships and two national football titles.
Prior to 1994, the Weaver-James postgraduate scholarships were awarded as separate honors. The Jim Weaver Award, which originated in 1970, recognized exceptional achievement on the playing field and in the classroom, while the Bob James Award, established in 1987, also honored outstanding student-athletes.
The 53 student-athletes will be honored at the annual Cone Health ACC Postgraduate Luncheon hosted by the Nat Greene Kiwanis Club and presented by ESPN on April 15 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro.
Kate Brandus; Georgia Tech; Public Policy; Swimming; Alpharetta, Ga.
Kate Brandus currently ranks seventh on Georgia Tech’s all-time list in the 100 fly and is ninth in the 200 fly. Brandus was part of the Yellow Jackets’ 200 medley relay that owns the second-fastest time in school history. She is a three-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll. Out of the pool, the Yellow Jacket has served her community by volunteering with the Special Olympics and with the Atlanta Chapter of the Girls on the Run Program.
Matt Connors; Georgia Tech; Business Administration; Football; Alpharetta, Ga.
Matt Connors played in all 14 games during Georgia Tech’s 2014 Orange Bowl champion season. The hard-nosed runner came to Tech as a walk-on and was awarded a scholarship prior to the 2013 season. The team’s 2014 Special Teams Player of the Year, Connors rushed 21 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns, while blocking one punt. He finished his career with 40 games played in offense and special teams.
Cole Jackob; Georgia Tech; Business Administration; Track; Marietta, Ga.
A member of the ACC Honor Roll in 2014, Cole Jackob has been a valuable member of the Georgia Tech track and field team. Jackob set a personal-best in the 1,000 meters in 2:29.88 at the 2013 Meyo Invite, and was a huge part of the 4×800-meter relay team that took first in two 2013 meets – the Florida Relays (7:22.37) and the Georgia Relays (7:42.95). Jackob also set a career best in the 800 meters with a time of 1:49.36 at the Georgia Tech Invite and logged his best 5,000-meter time (3:55.69) at the 2013 Alabama Relays. Off the track, Jackob owns a 3.49 cumulative GPA in business administration with a job after graduation in Capital One’s finance rotational program. Following the approximately two-year program, Jackob plans to pursue an MBA at a Top-20 internationally ranked program.
Anders Albertson; Georgia Tech; Management; Golf; Woodstock, Ga.
One of two seniors on this year’s Georgia Tech golf team, Anders Albertson is on his way to becoming one of the Yellow Jackets’ all-time greats. He is one of 10 players in Tech’s golf history to be named All-Atlantic Coast Conference three times. He was named a third-team All-American in 2013, when he won the ACC Championship individually and finished no. 8 in the final Golfstat Cup rankings, and an honorable mention All-American as a freshman. He has 17 top-10 finishes in 49 career events for Tech and a 71.56 stroke average that ranks No. 3 in Tech history. Along the way, he has made the ACC All-Academic golf team every year at Tech, and has been named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll four times. He earned the Bobby Scholarship for 2013-14, the highest academic honor a Tech student-athlete can achieve.
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