| from the heart |
On the Course for a Cause
Charity Golf Tournament with Coach Bill Curry raises funds for
the Orange Duffel Bag Initiative, dedicated to improving the
lives of homeless students through education.
STORY BY PATRICK YOST
From left, Mike
O’Brian, Forrest
Denney, Michael
Harper, chat with
legendary football
player and coach
Bill Curry during
a previous charity
golf tournament at
Indian Hills Country
Club in Marietta.
I
It takes your breath, really.
When a young woman is asked how
Bill Curry, remembers helping a player
says.
the Orange Bag Initiative changed her
do just that in the early 1980s. Sam
But Bracken, a 6’4”, 230-pound kid
life, she says something that is both
Bracken, a kid from Nevada, came to
who could run, agreed to a full-ride
profound and heartbreaking.
a Georgia Tech team at a time when
scholarships with the Yellow Jackets.
“is class helped me gure out that I
Curry was having a hard time recruiting
He came to college with nothing but a
was meant to be here and do something
players.
single orange duel bag and a secret.
with my life,” she says.
“We were terrible and everybody
Everything he owned was in that bag.
Legendary football player and coach,
knew it. No one wanted to come,” he
Bracken had nowhere to go; the same
SPRING 2022 | LAKE OCONEE LIVING 17