Gator sightings
On the finish line
Adrian Dennis, JM 1994, was one of only 10 field-of-play photographers at the Beijing Olympics. This allowed him to run alongside athletes after races.
“Olympic games, from a sports photographer’s point of view, are just work,” said Dennis, chief sports photographer for the United Kingdom and Ireland at Agence France Presse (AFP). “From the moment I arrived, I was stuck in the Olympic bubble.”
His coverage of the Athens and Salt Lake City Olympics and his multi-tasking skills led AFP to give him this assignment, he said. His challenges in Beijing included photographing in rain and extreme heat and knowing when to be on the finish line because several events occurred simultaneously.
Besides the Olympics, Dennis has photographed such sports events as the FIFA World Cup. The London native has also covered news stories such as former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s trips to Iraq and the recent Channel Tunnel fire in September.
His passion for sports photography ignited at UF, where he took photos for the University Athletic Association’s media guides.
“Once you know the rules, you can break them,” Dennis said. “Quite often, I cut someone in half, chop their head off – as long as the picture looks good.”
NBA player spends summer as a student
Al Horford, an Atlanta Hawks center-forward and telecommunication senior, hopes to make UF summer sessions a tradition – at least until he finishes his degree.
Horford and his UF teammates won back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. He entered the NBA after his junior year in 2007.
During Summer A, he re-enrolled at UF, taking Television and American Society and Fundamentals of Production.
After a year away from school, Horford found it tough to stay motivated, he said. Professors expected him to keep up with the fast-paced summer schedule despite the five-day break between the end of the NBA season and the beginning of the semester.
“At first,” he said, “I didn’t know if I could do it.”
He earned a B+ and a B in his classes.
During the session’s six weeks, he lived with fellow former UF basketball star Taurean Green, a recreation parks and tourism major who also took summer classes.
Horford knew when he first enrolled at UF that he might enter the NBA draft early and take longer to finish his degree.
“Basketball is what I love to do,” he said. “But you should always have a backup plan.”
‘Preparation meets opportunity’
Mel Karmazin flipped through radio stations looking for news just as Andrew Wilkow, TEL 1996, started his Sunday program on WABC in New York City.
Sticking with Wilkow’s program for the whole three hours, Karmazin made a mental note to hire him.
Karmazin is CEO of SIRIUS XM Radio.
Wilkow’s punk rock flair, which he’s maintained from his days as a night jock for the College’s Rock 104, attracts younger listeners to his SIRIUS radio show, “The Wilkow Majority.”
“I grew up on punk rock,” Wilkow said, “and I think my personality is more in tune with mainstream conservatives between age 20 and 40.”
Wilkow describes his switch to SIRIUS as the “luck of the moment where preparation meets opportunity.”
It has provided Wilkow with a healthy challenge. “With no commercials, it has been a blessing and a curse at the same time,” he said. “I’ve had to adapt and expand my research and presentation.”
The show airs on SIRIUS 144, The Patriot Channel, noon to 3 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to noon on weekends.
Al Horford photo credit: Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images
This article was originally published in the Fall 2008 issue of communigator.
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