Margaret Venable: Roadrunners compete boldly

Published 11:00 am Monday, January 17, 2022

I often tell people I’m not really very competitive. And then I add but I do like to win!

That’s the way I feel about our men’s basketball team. I am as proud of these young men as I can be because I know how hard they work to juggle their academics, practices, games and travel. For that reason, I love to see them succeed on the court. Success of any kind is good but knowing how hard these young men work makes their success especially fun to watch!

The 14 players on the team represent five nations and seven states. Coach Alex Ireland says: “This 2021-22 Roadrunners basketball team is a very unique and diverse team. We have battled through many injuries in the first part of the season but are healthy and coming together for the conference stretch. There are eight home games remaining for Roadrunner fans to watch this fun and exciting group of young men.”

We face stiff competition in our athletics conference. Four of the 10 teams are ranked in the top 25 nationally. Any of the teams in our conference could prevail over us if we are not in top form, but we work especially hard to compete against No. 1 ranked Loyola and No. 3 ranked Talladega. Our next home games are Jan. 20 (vs. Faulkner) and Jan. 22 (vs. Mobile) so I encourage you to come watch us in Mashburn Arena at the Dalton Convention Center. It is a fun, affordable family outing on a cold winter day.

If you don’t already have your season tickets, you can purchase tickets for any of our remaining home games by visiting the athletics website at dsroadrunners.com/sports/2021/2/3/hometown-ticketing. Feb. 5 (vs. Stillman) is our Homecoming celebration and crowning for this year’s King, Queen, Prince and Princess. It is an especially enjoyable event.

Our Roadrunner Booster Club is a great way to support the basketball team and you can sign up on the basketball ticket sales website. As a member of this club, you will be supporting our team as well as enjoying access to special refreshments at the games, inside information about our team’s activities and opportunities to visit with our players.

Our athletics program could not be as successful as it is without the financial and emotional support of our community. Our sponsors and donors ensure we have the funds to recruit the best student athletes and provide the necessary staff, uniforms, equipment, transportation and lodging for our team. Those who contribute to scholarships make it possible for many of our student athletes to attend college and play their favorite sport. Many of our players would not be able to attend college without their athletic scholarship. If you or your company would like to support our basketball program or athletics in general by becoming a sponsor or donor, please visit the “Giving” tab on the athletics website at dsroadrunners.com.

You may recall the city of Dalton honored our former coach and hometown hero, Tony Ingle, by changing the name of the road leading up to the Convention Center to Tony Ingle Parkway. At that time, Dalton State’s Foundation also established an endowed (permanent) scholarship in Tony’s name for future basketball players with the help of the many fans Tony left behind. This fall, we announced the first recipient of the Tony Ingle Scholarship.

Franklin Almonte is a freshman this year who graduated from Dalton High School. He was born in the Dominican Republic, so completing his high school diploma and entering college — all while mastering the English language — is a tremendous tribute to Franklin’s work ethic. His humble beginnings parallel those of Tony Ingle when he was a student-athlete at Dalton Junior College. We are all very proud of Franklin and know that Tony must be pleased to see the impact he is still having on these young men.

At Dalton State, academics are just as important for our athletes as they are for our other students. In fact, this past fall six of our 14 basketball players earned a 3.0 or greater GPA and one teammate earned a 4.0 GPA.

If you want to learn more about our athletics program and Dalton State, tune in to MIX 104.5 Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. for the “Roadrunners Live” show.

All of our teams are highly successful, but it is basketball season now and this is a wonderfully fast-paced winter sport to enjoy indoors on a blustery day. I hope you will join us to cheer on our Roadrunners.

Margaret Venable is president of Dalton State College.