The Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club was recently named the University of Alabama-National Alumni Association’s National Chapter of the Year (Out-of-State; Large Division). It is the second time in two years the local alumni chapter has received the award. Columbus native and chapter president, Blair Brown, along with Rick Smith, chapter treasurer, accepted the award on behalf of the chapter at an awards dinner this summer sponsored by the University of Alumni Association in Tuscaloosa. In The Game High School Sports Magazine asked Brown ten questions about the local alumni chapter and its role in the community.
In The Game: What is the Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club?
Blair Brown: The Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club is an official University of Alabama Alumni Chapter. We represent nine counties on behalf of the University. They are: Muscogee, Harris, Troup, Chattahoochee, and Stewart in Georgia; Russell, Lee, Chambers and Randolph in Alabama. We manage nine scholarship endowments with another $1,000,000 endowed.
ITG: When was it formed?
BB: The chapter was known as the Russell/Muscogee County University of Alabama Alumni Chapter from 1949-2014. In early 2014, our Board of Directors made a request to the University of Alabama for a name change to the Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club. We did this for three main reasons:
A) We wanted to truly represent the entire Chattahoochee Valley, including the surrounding counties, because we have folks attend our meetings from all over the Valley area. So, in essence, we went from representing just two counties to nine. In fact, we are the first Alumni Chapter in the history of the University of Alabama to consolidate and represent multiple counties.
B) Our chapter wanted to incorporate more scholarship endowments. With the move from Russell/Muscogee UA Alumni Chapter to the Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club made it possible to go from managing one scholarship endowment to now nine scholarship endowments. This is exactly why we do what we do—raising funds for local students to attend the University of Alabama. So it made perfect sense to grow our base and thus increase how many scholarships we can give out to local kids.
C) We made the name change because we wanted to be inclusive. Even though we’ve always been open to both UA Alumni and UA fans, the name Russell/Muscogee UA Alumni Chapter itself suggested that was for alumni only (which is far from the fact.) The Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club name proposes a more open and welcoming name, in our opinion.
ITG: When did you become involved in the organization?
BB: I was asked by the current Board of Directors to come on their team in 2008.
ITG: Did you attend the University of Alabama?
BB: No, funny thing is I’m a CSU Alumni (1993). When I was first asked to be the president of this organization, that was my initial response. The reply that I received back from our board was that it made no difference to them. They could see I love the University of Alabama, and that was good enough for them. One thing is that I am heavily involved with UA Athletics and was made an Honorary A-Club Letterman in 2011. It was and is a true honor that the University of Alabama bestowed upon me, and I will always be grateful.
ITG: How many people are members of the CVBC?
BB: We have about 400 active members. It’s one of the largest chapters in the country.
ITG: Who makes up the Officers and Board of Directors for the organization?
BB: We have an awesome team of folks.
President: Blair Brown
Vice President: Jeff Ezell
Treasurer: Rick Smith
Secretary: John Freeman
Officer-at-large: Sam Ruffner
Officer-at-large: Bob English
Officer-at-large: Bill Smith
Social Media Manager: Jeremy White
The great thing about our group of folks is that our titles are pretty much meaningless. We all work together as a team, and everyone pitches in to get it all done.
ITG: What are some of the events the local alumni chapter sponsors each year?
BB: We have two primary fundraising dinners each year—one in the spring and one in the fall right before football kicks off.
Our chapter also did something unprecedented last year; we hosted a reception for all area high school guidance counselors in conjunction with the UA Admissions office. It was a great success. Many area counselors attended and UA Admissions was able to share with them the complete package of everything UA offers students even including the Early Admissions program. Rick Smith (our treasurer) single handedly put this program together, and it is something that we are going to do every year going forward because it was such an achievement.
We also promote game-viewing parties for the local Alabama fans that want to get together and watch the games here in Columbus.
ITG: What criteria are used to select the National Chapter of Year (Out-of-State; Large Division)?
BB: There were many elements involved, but the main ones were participation, fundraising, community involvement, promoting the University of Alabama, and scholarship disbursements.
ITG: Do alumni members attend many of the Crimson Tide football games as part of the organization?
BB: Yes, on occasion of a big game, we will promote a get-together, either on the quad as a tailgate or a game-viewing party here at a local restaurant.
ITG: What is the best part of being President of the Chattahoochee Valley Bama Club?
BB: There have been so many rewarding parts, but if I had to narrow it down to a couple, it would be the community involvement that our group has with Ft. Benning and the awarding of scholarships to local kids.
Community involvement: When we have either a spring or fall dinner meeting, we always invite our guest speakers to go over and visit Ft. Benning and our soldiers earlier in the day. This has been nothing but a big win-win for both our guests and the troops! We’ve taken Coach Stallings to the Ranger Training Brigade for the day; Coach Saban visited the National Infantry Museum; AJ McCarron, Kevin Norwood, Blake Sims, and Brian Vogler have been to Bush Holl and got to drive the Bradley tanks; Lee Roy Jordan and Siran Stacy visited the Warrior Transition Battalion Hospital and Airborne School (they even jumped off the 30-foot towers!).
Scholarships: This past spring, we not only raised $60,000 for our local scholarship endowments, but we also were able to give out nine scholarships to local kids. To me, there is no better feeling than when we call a parent for one of the kids who is going to receive a scholarship. It really warms your heart to know that you are making a difference in the life of that student and their family.
Personal Bio
Name: Blair Brown
Hometown: Columbus, Georgia
Education: Columbus State University, 1993; Bachelor of Science, Pre-Law
Family: Wife, Ashley; daughter, Abby (15); son, Evan (13)
Job title/career: Self-employed. Owner of All-American Recycling, Inc., in Columbus; Executive Secretary for the National Ranger Memorial Foundation, Ft. Benning, Ga.
Hobbies/ Leisure activities: Running, reading, and spending time with my family
Person you most admire: My wife. She’s pretty much right about everything, and I usually have to admit that (after I’ve knocked around and learned the hard way).
Columbus Valley/10 Questions/October 2015
Blair Brown and Alabama Alumni chapter
Columbus, Georgia
By Beth Welch
Photos courtesy of Blair Brown
