GBI Magazine

sitting down. "It was nice to see some of the hidden talents of our student-athletes," said backstage manager Caitlin McPherson, whose day job is with the John Purdue Club. "We wanted to find a way to salute our seniors but also to include as many student-athletes, administrators and our donors as possible." It seems to have worked well. The Loeb Playhouse was nearly filled to capacity with more than 600 Tom Campbell Though Brian Cardinal was unable to attend the event, his impact, so to speak, was felt. (From left) Ashley Courtney (softball), Courtney Moses (women's basketball), Erika Petruzzi (softball) and Taylor Morrison (women's track) accepted their Golden Pete trophies for the IMPACT Award. It stands for Influencing and Mentoring by Purdue Athletes with the Cardinal Tradition. in attendance. Not not bad for a firsttime event. "It was about as good a launch as we could have hoped for," said ClopTom Campbell ton, who was quick to give credit to Georgia Williams (right) and Cierra Brown were two of the three performers in others, including McPherson for keepthe impressionist dance troupe of women's track student-athletes named "High- ing things on track backstage, Tom er Anointing." Along with teammate Twyla Winfrey, the trio performed Earnest Schott for crafting the script and Cory Pugh's "Rain on Us," the second of three featured performances during the Palm for his video work. show. "And we have heard extremely positive comments from everyone that atTop Awards at the Golden Petes tended. So we feel like we are off to a Top Pregame Ritual: Women's Basketball good start." Best Performance: 2012 Baseball Team Former football star Rosevelt ColBig Ten Medal of Honor: Robert Maci (football), Ariel Turner (volvin and former soccer player Lauren leyball) Varnau worked well as co-emcees Varsity Walk: Ariel Turner In addition, 17 seniors were presented with the John R. Wooden Lead- of the event. The show commenced ership Awards for their involvement with the Leadership Institute over with Colvin dressed in soccer attire the past four years. Eleven were honored with the Distinguished Schol- and Varnau in a No. 59 jersey from ar Athlete Award for having a grade point average of 3.5 or higher over 1997-98, when Colvin earned All-Big Ten. The duo fed off each other well, the course of their careers. even when Varnau missed a cue and Gold & Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 5

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