by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
Bob Alan’s enthusiasm for his new job has the feel of all that energy swirling through the hard-charging hurricanes he used to track across the weather maps at local television stations.
Odds are those winds won’t be losing their punch any time soon.
“I don’t know what drags the feet of some people,” said Alan, now in his fifth week as the athletic director at Edward Waters College. “And I don’t want to know what it is yet. Because my energy level is so high.
“I keep thinking all it takes is that one big contributor. As soon as you get one, then you get two. Then four . . .”
Alan so enjoys the challenge of boosting the athletic program and expanding the college’s reach that it makes his head hurt. But it’s a rewarding hurt.
“Every day I go home, I’ve got a headache,” he said with a big smile. “Part of it may be because for the first time in my life I’m really working. I look back at the end of the day, and my mind is going crazy. Who to call, what to do.
“And I want people to call me back now. Because I want to tell them, ‘Hey, I’ve got something good going here that’s going to help you, too.’”
Until a year ago, Alan was a familiar face on local television stations, bringing his upbeat personality to what can be numbingly predictable weather forecasts.
“Part of why I was in TV was I was able to be me,” he said. “I could do weather forecasting with a little personality, a little humor. Not be so scientific. Don’t be serious until it’s time to be serious.
“I would get a funny idea, and I’d give it a try. They wanted me to be serious. I wasn’t winning over management.”
When the barometer dropped, it was time to move to a more temperate environment.
He helped his parents, Frank and Felicia, move in with him from their Daytona Beach home in January. After his mother had a stroke, the decision was made to move them to Oregon, where Alan’s sister lives.
Five weeks ago, after they were settled into their new home, Frank Alan died.
Bob Alan recounted the trials of the last year with uncommon balance.
“I was honored to be able to take care of my mom and dad,” he said. “They’re my best friends. It was a time for everything I want to do, or am called on to do. And not for ego or achievement, but for what is fundamentally sound and correct.
“Family is much more important to me than a television job.”
Alan almost stayed in Oregon with his family. He probably would have if he hadn’t been declared too good for the market.
“I packed up my Jeep, and there I was — 3,400 miles, five and a half days later,” he said. “The only thing I was really qualified for was TV weather, but there they said I was overqualified.
“The other thing I was qualified for was charity work, community service work. But it was in Jacksonville that people knew me for that. Out there, they just said fill out an application. Here, at least I got an interview.”
He joined a half dozen candidates for the athletic director’s job after Arthur “Buster” Harvey, the basketball coach, submitted Alan’s name for consideration.
“I think I showed the most enthusiasm and honesty with what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do it,” said Alan, who couldn’t be happier than he is working for Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins Sr., president of the college.
“I like Dr. Jenkins,” he said. “I admire the man; I respect the man. He’s done a lot for this school. I am fiercely loyal to him and what he’s doing.”
Alan’s and Jenkins’ immediate goals for the school may seem to be tiny steps. Taken from where they stand today, those could be giant leaps.
“At Florida State, for example, athletics is a big business,” said Alan. “Their programs bring in millions of dollars. They spend millions of dollars.
“We spend a million and a half, but we bring in a couple thousand. Dr. Jenkins wants to make this athletic department the backbone of making the athletic programs self-sufficient. With the help of the community, it will get done.
“I’m not hoping to get millions of dollars. We would still basically keep this a tight budget. But if we can take the pressure off this growing institution and not pull the money from the academic side, then we’re a healthier institution.”
The first change, he said, is as basic as it gets. That would be if the rest of the community even realized Edward Waters exists. He constantly reminds sports people that the Jacksonville Jaguars don’t play the only game in town.
“I tell them they can’t ignore us,” said Alan. “We have local kids here who have parents, grandparents, high school friends, neighbors. They should still be able to hear how they’re doing.”
Alan believes he has a good chance of enlisting the help of the local Pepsi-Cola distributorship because one of the executives is an EWC alumnus. He hopes to resurrect the Waters College track relays with the Pepsi name “for everything they’ve done for the college, daily and weekly, with in-kind services and money.”
The biggest challenge will be the $10 million multi-purpose center, for which funding is being sought now.
“If we can get that built,” said Alan, “everybody’s going to start saying, ‘Hey, I want to get in on that.’ It’s going to make this side of town a better part of Jacksonville.
“I think it’ll happen. As of five, six years ago, none of the buildings had air conditioning. We have a hard time just getting banners up on the lampposts saying, ‘This Is Tiger Territory.’
“All we need is one big break, one big donor, one change in attitude.”