• Saving SUNO
• Cheers for Geers

1. MTSU is stepping up to help part of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast recover more than two years after Hurricane Katrina. The Presidential Prism Gala Concert, a benefit for Southern University at New Orleans, is slated for October 4 at Tucker Theatre. SUNO Vice Chancellor Gloria Moultrie says 11 campus buildings are still in ruins, but the repair work finally has begun.

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To raise money for the reconstruction, the "Prism"; concert will feature bands, orchestras and choral ensembles from MTSU's McLean School of Music, Cedric Dent from the Grammy-winning group Take 6 and world-music percussionist David Pruett.

2. More than two years after Hurricane Katrina, Southern University of New Orleans is still fighting to survive. MTSU will do its part to help with the Presidential Prism Gala Concert, a fundraiser scheduled for October 4 at Tucker Theatre. Harold Clark, SUNO's Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, says enrollment is actually up a bit, partly because admissions officials made door-to-door solicitations.

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SUNO Vice Chancellor Gloria Moultrie says work finally has begun on the first of the 11 devastated campus buildings, but most classes and office work still are being conducted in FEMA trailers. The administration building was ruined, the cafeteria was a total loss, and the library's card catalog systems were destroyed.

3. Two years after Hurricane Katrina, rows of FEMA trailers still serve as classrooms and offices for Southern University at New Orleans. That's why MTSU will help raise money for the school at its Presidential Prism Gala Concert October 4 at Tucker Theatre. SUNO Vice Chancellor Gloria Moultrie admits much of the nation doesn't realize that there is still a great deal of work to be done in the Crescent City.

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The fundraising concert is based on a unique concept—the music will come from all points in the concert hall, not just the stage. Dr. Reed Thomas, MTSU Director of Bands, says the audience won't know where the music will originate and ultimately will be surrounded by music and musicians.

4. Music is what put New Orleans on the map, and music is helping to keep it on the map after Hurricane Katrina tried to wipe it off the map. MTSU will host a Presidential Prism Gala Concert in Tucker Theatre October 4 to benefit Southern University at New Orleans. Harold Clark, SUNO's Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, says his school's students are remarkable for their courage and their character.

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Even though FEMA trailers are still being used for classrooms and offices more than two years after Katrina, Clark says the fall headcount is actually higher than last fall's numbers. But SUNO's current admissions total of 2,634 is still well below the 2005 pre-Katrina level of 3,647.

5. An MTSU graduate student is reviving a Tennessee sports legend. Sarah Elizabeth Hickman is writing her master's thesis about "Pop"; Geers (pronounced JEERS), once the nation's greatest harness racer and a pioneer in the sport. Hickman says Geers, whose exploits were touted in The New York Times, remains known to harness racers even today.

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But few Tennesseans are aware of Geers, who was born in Lebanon and adopted Columbia as his hometown. He improved harness racing by strengthening horses' bloodlines, introducing the use of the pneumatic tire, and being the first to break the two-minute barrier in a race.

6. One of Tennessee 's most accomplished native sons might have been lost to history forever if not for an MTSU graduate student. Sarah Elizabeth Hickman is writing her master's thesis about "Pop"; Geers (pronounced JEERS), the first harness racer to break the two-minute barrier. Hickman says this Lebanon native employed unusually genteel tactics on the track in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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Geers won more than a million dollars in his career by his own estimation, but it all came to an end in 1924 when his sulky overturned during a race and he was trampled to death. A park named for him in Columbia, his adopted hometown, contains a monument in his honor.

7. Harness racing, a sport now associated with Northeastern elites, was a popular diversion in Tennessee around the turn of the century. And Tennessee produced one of its greatest drivers, "Pop"; Geers (pronounced JEERS). MTSU history major Sarah Elizabeth Hickman is investigating Geers' life for her master's thesis and hopes to publish a book about him one day. She says she rode in a sulky at the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in New York state as part of her research.

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Geers won many races, broke many records and earned more than a million dollars in his career, which was cut short by his accidental death during a race in 1926. He is buried in his adopted hometown of Columbia , where a park is named for him.

8. Few people know it, but Tennessee produced one of harness racing's all-time great racers. The legend of "Pop"; Geers (pronounced JEERS) has been brought back to life by Sarah Elizabeth Hickman, an MTSU graduate student who is making Geers the focus of her master's thesis. After a brilliant record-breaking career, Geers' life came to a tragic end in 1926 at a race in West Virginia, as Hickman discovered in her research.

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The son of a Lebanon storekeeper, Geers trained locally and in Nashville before taking on the major circuits of the Northeast. Eventually, he won more than a million dollars and became the first harness racer to break the two-minute barrier. Hickman says she wants to publish a book about Geers after she graduates this December.

9. An MTSU history major has uncovered a Tennessee sports immortal who was important in his way as Grantland Rice or General Neyland. Edward Franklin "Pop"; Geers (pronounced JEERS), one of the all-time greats of harness racing, is the subject of a master's thesis by Sarah Elizabeth Hickman. Few Tennesseans today know of Geers' exploits on the track around the turn of the century, but Hickman says the horses knew all too well what had been lost when Geers died in a racing accident in 1926.

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Hickman's research shows that Geers made more than one million dollars in his career and became the first harness racer to break the two-minute barrier. After graduating this December with a degree in public history, Hickman wants to write a book about Geers.