Sept. 6, 2005
Former Georgia Tech volleyball all-America Kele Eveland will have her No. 16 jersey retired in a ceremony Friday night at the Yellow Jackets’ home opener, a 7:30 p.m. match against George Washington at O’Keefe Gymnasium.
Eveland, Tech’s starting setter from 2000-03, is the first Georgia Tech female to have her jersey retired, and just the ninth Yellow Jacket in any sport to be so honored. In addition to the ceremony at Friday’s match, she will be honored with an on-field presentation at halftime of Saturday’s Tech-North Carolina football game.
“This is a tremendous honor and one that Kele Eveland deserves very much,” said head coach Bond Shymansky. “I can’t say enough about how much Kele has meant to Georgia Tech volleyball. She had an outstanding career on the court, but also she was such an outstanding student and role model, just like the other people who have had their jersey retired at Tech.
“From the first day she set foot on campus, Kele worked very hard to become the best that she could be on the court and in the classroom,” continued Shymansky. “She’s the most competitive athlete I’ve ever coached, and is the most decorated volleyball player to have ever played not only at Tech, but also in the Atlantic Coast Conference.”
Eveland finished her career with 6,464 assists, the Georgia Tech record and the fourth-best total in NCAA history. In her four years as a Yellow Jacket, she earned All-ACC honors on three occasions and led Tech to four NCAA appearances, two ACC regular season championships and an ACC Tournament title as well as a 111-26 record.
In 2003, the ACC Player of the Year led the nation in assists per game and directed an offense which finished first in the nation in kills and assists per game while helping the Jackets to the most successful season in school history with a 34-4 record and a berth in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. She was named a first-team All-America by the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association (AVCA), making her the first first-team all-America in a female team sport at Georgia Tech as well as the first first-team AVCA All-American in ACC volleyball annals.
Eveland, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., was also an Academic All-American who graduated in 2004 with a highest honor in Management, a requirement before a Georgia Tech jersey can be officially retired.
Eveland is currently pursuing a professional career, playing for JAV Olympico in the Canary Islands.
The decision to retire Eveland’s jersey was approved by the Georgia Tech Athletic Association Board of Trustees. In addition to the graduation requirement, criteria include character, outstanding statistics, conference and national honors and contribution to the team’s success.
In all sports, Eveland is only the ninth Georgia Tech jersey to be retired. Those include six from the sport of men’s basketball (Roger Kaiser, Rich Yunkus, Mark Price, John Salley, Tom Hammonds and Matt Harpring), and the baseball jerseys of head coach Jim Luck and all-America catcher Jason Varitek.
