They cross their fingers and make a few suggestions, but when it comes time for their children and young relatives to choose a path of higher education, the alumni of Maryville College try their best to get out of the way.
They may harbor secret hopes that their children choose to wear the orange and garnet. They may even gently nudge them toward the school that changed their lives. But in the end, they encourage independent decision-making — and often breathe sighs of satisfaction when Maryville College turns out to be the institution of choice.
This year, 19 first-year students have family ties to MC, and those legacy ties serve to strengthen the bonds their family members already feel for the College.
“We’ve always, every since I went there, had a connection to Maryville College,” said Devin Koester ’98, an attorney with Tennessee Land Title in Sevierville, Tennessee. Koester’s son, Kent, enrolled this fall as a first-year soccer player, another way he’s following in his father’s footsteps.
“My sister-in-law (Sarah Bozeman Lewis ’00) went there, and my mom is friends with Vandy Kemp (retired vice president and dean of students at MC), so we’ve always known Maryville was a possibility, and we’ve always spoken well of it, but I didn’t push him,” Koester added. “He was looking at schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, but when COVID hit, he said, ‘You know what? I think I want to be a little closer to home.’
“The last thing I wanted to do was be the dad who said, ‘You need to go here because I did.’ I wanted it to be his choice. But we got to talking to Pepe Fernandez (coach of the MC men’s and women’s soccer teams), and I played for him, so I had a good relationship there. And I think he feels like I’ve done pretty well in business — I went on and got my law degree, and I’m involved in a lot of property and real estate work, so after he talked to Pepe about playing and everything looked good, he pretty much made a commitment to go to Maryville about this time last year.”
A legacy of excellence, in the classroom and on the court
Throughout the process for this year’s class of legacies, the extra time and attention paid by College staff members in both academics and athletics made a difference. Cassidy Andry, a first-year Lady Scots basketball player, was being courted by Tusculum University, Milligan University and Trevecca Nazarene University as well as MC, according to her father, Gary Andry ’89. She actually committed to Trevecca, but some adjustments by the Lady Scots basketball staff made Maryville the more attractive choice, her father added.
“I would make these little comments about Maryville, but I only went on two visits with her,” said Andry, who played basketball for former Coach Randy Lambert ’76. “I was recruited by all kinds of schools as well, so I was steering her very subtly toward Maryville, but when she made the decision on her own, I was like, ‘Heck yeah!’
“When I was there, there were probably only 700 students, if that, and I really gravitated toward that as opposed to a bigger school. And even though it was a smaller school, I knew my degree would translate. I got into education, and I came back to get my (teaching) license at Maryville College, because I knew that would open up plenty of doors for me.”
In their own lives, these alums have reaped the rewards of both education and experience gained during their MC days: Matt Stowers ’01, for instance, took his degree and his experience as a football player for the Scots and applied it to his career as an educator. Today, he serves as assistant principal and athletic director of Chestatee High School in Gainesville, Georgia, but MC is a “home away from home,” he said — and it felt like that for his son, first-year football player Levi Stowers, before he even put on pads and claimed his spot on the offensive line.
“We would visit Maryville quite frequently with him as a child, so he was kind of accustomed to both the city and the campus,” Matt Stowers said. “We went up there for some recruiting visits, and the coaches and current players on the team took him in, and his own comment was, ‘It feels like home. It feels like I just belong here.’ That made mom and dad’s hearts feel good, too. We visited a number of campuses and a number of football programs, and he felt like Maryville was just the best fit for him — and it was 100% his decision.”
Both Stowers and Koester say they aren’t reliving their glory days as MC athletes through their sons: They’re making new memories, this time as proud alums whose children will sit in some of the same classrooms and play on some of the same fields, but who will find their own paths and places in life. That they’re anchored by all that being a Scot means and promises, however, is certainly a source of comfort.
“As an athletic director here at my high school, coaching coaches is what I do on a daily basis, so watching him and the football program, I can see that the school is doing a great job encouraging him and taking him in and helping him mature and grow as a young man,” Stowers said. “Knowing the work that the coaches, the administrators and the alumni put into the legacy of Mayville College and seeing him reap some of those rewards is enjoyable to watch.”
“There’s definitely some déjà vu,” Koester added. “I’ve always loved the campus. People still walk by you on the sidewalks and say hey, and it’s just things like that you don’t get at other schools. I think those core values of people wanting to help each other and make sure everybody is successful are things they still have at Maryville College, and I still enjoy going over there. It was a great school for me, and I had a great college experience, and I think Kent will, as well.”
Legacy students: The class of 2026
In addition to Andry, Koester and Stowers, other legacy students of the Class of 2026 and their relatives who are current or former students include:
- Jacoby Blanks — Jordan Robinson ’19 (cousin)
- Michell Villalobos — Ronald Villalobos ’23 (brother), Edith Villalobos ’22 (sister)
- Fernanda Martinez — Yoshua Martinez ’22 (brother)
- Lauren Huffstetler — Erin Taylor Huffstetler ’01 (mother), Emily Huffstetler ’24 (sister)
- Jeremiah Hester — Joy Hester ’01 (mother)
- Nick Lockhart — Christian S. Lockhart ’11 (brother)
- Dana Patterson — Adam Patterson ’12 (brother); Shelley Clark Patterson ’11 (sister-in-law)
- Anthony Fraser — Amelia Fraser ’25 (sister)
- Emma Hendrix — Amie Myers Haltom ’95 (aunt); Caroline Myers Hendrix (mother); Dr. Roy Laughmiller ’47 (great-grandfather); Polly Park Laughmiller ’43 (great-grandmother)
- Colby Vesser — Ashley Webb West ’15 (step-sister)
- Isabelle Mitchell — Ariane Mitchell ’19 (sister)
- Jordan Crain — Nathan Bart Crain ’02 (father)
- Dante Roddy — the late Andrea Maxson Roddy ’94 (mother); Mark Roddy ’98 (father)
- Courtlyn Walsh — Dean Walsh ’89 (father)
- Luke Pinkston — Joe Pinkston ’14 (brother)
- Jaylon Green — Kelvin Richardson ’93 (uncle)
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