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Naylor Athletic Ticket Office Dedication Friday 4/7/2006 Top Vanderbilt officials and long-time supporters of Commodore athletics will gather Friday to dedicate a new ticket office that pays tribute to Robert L. “Pete” Naylor, one of the most respected and beloved employees in the program’s history. Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor of Student Life David Williams II, National Commodore Club Associate Director Logan Anderson and long-time Commodore supporter R.C. “Jack” Whiteaker are among the dignitaries expected to participate in the Pete Naylor Ticket Office dedication. The ribbon-cutting and reception starts at 2:00 p.m., in McGugin Athletic Center, located on Jess Neely Drive across from the Hawkins Field baseball complex. The refurbished ticket office, which boasts a stylish customer service area and modern work stations, adjoins the Margaret Oliver Rolfe Lobby in McGugin Center. The lobby received an extensive remodel last year, featuring display cases for each sport and every Vanderbilt All-American athlete, a tribute to the 1955 Commodore football squad that captured the Gator Bowl, and a plaque remembering the building’s namesake, legendary football coach Dan McGugin. “To be a part of the dedication of the Pete Naylor Ticket Office not only provides our university a ticket office that will serve this university well it also honors a man who was a legend in the field, a man who stood for loyalty, service and loved the “Dores,” Williams said. “In the world of college athletics one of the most important functions and offices is the ticket office. This serves as the gateway to our university. It also serves as the face that everyone sees and we are judged by how it conducts itself. The ticket office and the great people who work in it are heroes who almost never get the proper credit but perform a service that we could not do without. I’m delighted to participate in this ribbon-cutting and reception,” Williams added. Naylor gave four decades of his professional life to Vanderbilt athletics. By the time he left the program in the mid-1970s as Assistant Athletic Director of Business, Naylor had become an integral part of Vanderbilt athletics, serving as an astute behind-the-scenes businessman and an outspoken advocate for the program. Naylor’s legacy with the Commodores started well before he enrolled as a Vanderbilt student in 1937. A Nashville native, Naylor started traveling with Commodore teams as a junior high student. By 1931, Coach McGugin began carrying Naylor on football trips as a team mascot. When Naylor entered Vanderbilt as a student, he quickly became athletic equipment manager. Naylor became a full-time employee of the program upon graduation in 1940. He was promoted to Assistant to the Athletic Director in 1950. He became business manager in 1959, and held the role that included ticket manager responsibilities for nearly 20 years. Naylor died in 1978, just months after leaving his Vanderbilt post. Prior to leaving Vanderbilt, Naylor explained his love for the Commodore program. “I know that enthusiasm for Vanderbilt athletics, which infected me in early life, will continue to be the bind that will hold all present and future supporters in a common bond for the best interests of Vanderbilt,” he said. Upon news of Naylor’s death, Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor Emeritus Madison Sarratt praised the treasured employee. “Pete loved Vanderbilt from the time he was a little boy and gave Vanderbilt all he had, all the time. He was a mainstay through some difficult times,” Sarratt said. Current Vanderbilt athletics staffers think Naylor would be pleased with the program’s remodeled ticket office. “I can’t help but think that somewhere Mr. Naylor is smiling,” ticket manager Eric Jones said. “The Vanderbilt ticket office has become a primary point of contact for fans and donors alike. It is only fitting that a professional d?cor should greet those fans upon their visit. The new renovations are a testament to the hard work turned in by this man during Vanderbilt’s formative years.” |
