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Statement from George Slayton
The Georgia Tech Barbell Club was founded in the mid-1950 so it is
nearly fifty years old. The club was initially given one small room
in the basement of the Tech YMCA on North Avenue (now the Alumni
House). It was then moved to the basement of Matheson Dormitory and
later to the basement of the Commons Building on the West Campus. In
September 1979 George Slayton was selected by the Dean of
Students, Jim Dull, to be the Advisor of the club, and was notified
less than a month later that the Housing Office had acquired the space
and that the Barbell Club with then fifteen members would be relocated
to a single room in the basement of O'Keefe Gym where it has been for
the last twenty-five years.
Today the Barbell Club has at O'Keefe eight (8) workout rooms, a
dressing room, two restrooms, and an office. For the last ten years
the membership has averaged over 900 student members and over 100
faculty, staff, and alumni members (the latter only former student
members of the Barbell Club before graduating). Thus the Barbell Club
is by far the largest student club at Georgia Tech.
The Barbell Club has performed meaningful community service through the years. For more than a dozen years the Barbell Club has donated $100 a month to the Paul Anderson Youth Home in Vidalia, GA. The home
takes in about 20 wayward teenage boys at a time and leads them toward
a productive life. To date the Club has contributed approximate
$15,000 to the Home. (Paul Anderson, now deceased, was a great
Olympic gold metal winner.) For more than a decade the Barbell Club
has provided free memberships to all Georgia Tech policemen
to assist them to be physically fit. The last two summers because of
the renovation work the weight facility at SAC has not been
unavailable. The Barbell Club during this time opened its facility at
O'Keefe Gym to anyone from SAC to use the Barbell Club without having
to pay membership dues.
Membership dues to join the Barbell Club are only $50 per year (12
months) for students and $125 for faculty, staff, and alumni members.
Each member receives his/her own key which permits the member access
to workout twenty-four hours a day, 365 days per years (thus including
all breaks). The Barbell Club receives no financial aid from the
school. It does receive membership dues in excess of $50,000 a
year and has done so for more than ten years. The vast majority of
the income is used for the purchase of new equipment and to improve
the Club facility. All income and expenditures must be approved by
the Student Officers and the financial records are audited quarterly by them. Because of the size of the operation, both facility wise and
financially, and to provide continuity of records and procedures, the
Club has needed and depended heavily on the Club Advisor in this
regard. For twenty-three years this was George Slayton. Two years
ago he was advised that Georgia Tech required all student club
Advisors to be an employee of the school. Since he had retired in
1995 after twenty-seven years of employment with the Georgia Tech
Athletic Association, he could no longer be the Advisor but was
informed that, just as some students Clubs at Tech hire coaches, he
could remain in an active role with the Barbell Club as a Manager.
His responsibilities have been in the area of membership and finances.
The Barbell Club then selected Micah Wise, an employee of the
Georgia Tech Athletic Association. Micah Wise was a longtime member of
the Barbell Club and his job at the Athletic Association was in
facilities and he had responsibilities for the maintenance and
improvements of the Coliseum and the O'Keefe Gym. Last fall Micah
terminated his employment with the Athletic Association to spend full
time with his own fast growing business. Because Micah's expertise in
facilities and his knowledge of health equipment the Club selected him
as a second Manager of the Barbell Club, responsible for all physical
aspect of the Club ranging from hiring of a cleaning service to the
total renovation of the facility. Since last January 1st the Barbell
Club has spent approximately $55,000 on renovation of the Club and
this summer spent an additional $15,000 for the installation of an air-conditioning system for the upper area of the Club (located next to the interstate). The cash value of the workout equipment is hard to determine but is easily in excess of $150,000 and is unsurpassed in quality by any weight/aerobic training facility on the campus. If one has not visited in since last year the Barbell Club he/she is urged to do so. Recently the Barbell Club selected Dr. Thomas Morley of the Department of Mathematics and a long time member of the Barbell Club to be its Advisor.
Ten years age Lawton Hydrick, at that time in charge of all facilities
of the Athletic Association, indicated the intention of the AA to take
the upper half of the Barbell Club basement facility in the O'Keefe
Gym to be used as a dressing room, shower, and training room for the
Women's Volleyball team. It was pointed out to him by the Student
Officers and the Advisor that this would mean the loss by the Barbell
Club of five of its eight workout rooms and additionally its dressing
and shower facilities. Thus the Barbell Club would be destroyed. It
was pointed out that there were alternatives for the Women's
Volleyball team that would solve their facility needs and would not
impact the Barbell Club. The AA complied when it learned that the
student members of the Barbell Club were incensed at the thought of the possibility of the closing of the Barbell Club which would seriously hurt nearly one thousand students, faculty, staff, and alumni to satisfy the needs of a dozen volleyball athletes when there were reasonable and good alternative solutions which would not adversely affect the Barbell Club! The student members were planning to "March to the President's Office" and to take their case to the Technique, the Student Government, and to Georgia Tech alumni. It was, as still is, an issue of fairness and an issue that can be solved in a way satisfactory to both parties. Lawton Hydrick admitted privately at the time that the AA could not stand such bad publicity and hence dropped its initial desire and plans.
Most of the members of the Barbell Club are very serious and even
passionate about their weight and aerobic training so it is clear that
the student members, as well as those who are faculty, staff, and
alumni members, will react as indicated above should the school decide
unfairly to ignore the desire of hundred of students and destroy the
Barbell Club in order to satisfy the facility needs of the Women's
Volleyball team, especially when there are other solutions which would
not affect adversely the Barbell Club and would benefit the Women's
Volleyball program.
It may be pointed out that those who workout at the Barbell Club could
do so at the Campus Recreational Center (CRC). The following
objections to this proposal are:
1. The CRC is not available twenty-four hours a day as is the Barbell
Club. The CRC is open from 6 AM until 12 midnight Sunday through
Thursday and closes at 9 PM on Fridays and Saturdays. There are a
good number of student members of the Barbell Club who, after
studying, workout after midnight. There are also a number of members
who begin working out at 5 AM before going to class or work.
Additionally the CRC closes on many holidays and when school is not in
session. (Example: Labor Day 2004).
2. Recreational facilities for the many students who reside on the
east side of the campus in resident halls, fraternities, and
sororities, are nearly non-existent, so the Barbell Club is
convenient, only a few minutes walk away. For them the CRC is a good
distance away, nearly a mile walk or a bus ride that could take 15 to
20 minutes each way and could be in cold and/or rainy weather.
3. While the CRC has beautiful weight and aerobic equipment, it does
not have the variety of equipment that the Barbell Club has. Some of
the members of the Barbell Club train for weight lifting competition.
Brian Jacob, a Georgia Tech student and member of the Barbell Club,
was a member of the U.S. Olympic team and participated in Barcelona in
1992 and in Atlanta in 1996. To train for weight lifting competition there has to be an area where the lifters are permitted to lift an olympic bar with weights, preferably in kilograms units, over their heads and then, if desired or needed, to drop the bar crashing to the floor. The Barbell Club has such an area while the CRC does not.
Additionally, some of the student members of the Barbell Club are serious about body building, either for personal improvement or for competition. To do so it is customary when desired to workout without a shirt. This is permitted in the Barbell Club but not in the CRC.
4. The weight and aerobic area at the CRC is, as stated above, is
beautiful and its equipment the state of the art. At times it can be
crowded and noisy. It has the environment of a community spa, however
those students who are serious about their weight training prefer the
environment of a gym and not workout in an area where many of those
doing so do not know how to lift and hence interrupt one's workout routine. This is best illustrated by the fact that, although the student members of the Barbell Club are eligible to workout at the CRC (and many use its outstanding swimming facility), they elect to pay to join the Barbell Club. Last year the Barbell Club received over $51,000 in membership dues, and during the first four week of the new membership year which began this August 9th over 400 Georgia Tech students, faculty, staff, and alumni have paid so far in excess of $26,000. This shows their vote for their desire that the Barbell Club continue to exist as a service organization to students at Georgia Tech!
5. Very important, the Barbell Club is a club, where close
friendships are developed. This would be largely lost in a large
community facility as the CRC.
6. If there is no Barbell Club there will be hundreds of students who
now workout at the Barbell Club who will then have to workout at the
CRC and this could cause congestion at peak times in the weight area.
The facility needs of the Women's Volleyball team are certainly valid
and need to be addressed. The program has gained national prominence
in the last few years. As known, their matches are in the O'Keefe
Gym. Therefore the volleyball team would like to have a dressing
room, shower facilities, and training room in the O'Keefe Gym. The
problem, though, is that there is no space available (unless a small
area is alloted to them that was, until recently, occupied by ORGT and
to be occupied soon by GT Facilities) except to remove the Barbell Club (and hence destroy it). The volleyball players like to play in the O'Keefe Gym because the site is small, the fans are thus close to the action, and this encourages the home team. There are, though, serious problems with playing in the O'Keefe Gym, the most serious being that the Gym does not provide sufficient seating for the large number of fans who wish to attend the matches and tournaments, thus some fans are often turned away. Additionally, the bench seats are not very comfortable. There are other problems, namely the restroom
facilities are very limited, the lobby area much too small, and there
is little space for a concession stand. The Fire Marshall would
likely object to fans occasionally standing in the aisles of the
stands and the fact that only two exits are made available for exits
for over a thousand fans in case of a fire or emergency.
The best solution to the above problem is clear: To move the Women's
Volleyball games to the Coliseum where there would be ample seating
and room for attendance to grow, and where there are excellent
dressing facilities or if desired, additional dressing facilities
could be built. (Note: The volleyball team already dresses for its matches in the Coliseum.) It would satisfy any allegation by the NCAA that the Women's Volleyball program did not have equal facilities with, say, the men's and women's basketball program. If there were scheduling conflicts with the latter, then, of course, the volleyball team could still play a match in the O'Keefe Gym.
In summary, for more than twenty-five years the Barbell Club has
provided a worthy and appreciated need for thousands of Georgia Tech
students. It is a beautiful example of a student run initiative.
Never in this time has there been any serious problems, rarely any minor ones. As discussed above, there is a solution that would leave the Barbell Club intact and would improve an already outstanding Women's Volleyball program.
The Student Officers, Advisor, and Managers of the Barbell Club are:
Michael Kim, President mailto:gte410v@mail.gatech,edu
Bill Anton, Secretary mailto:gte881v@mail.gatech.edu
Dr. Thomas Morley of the Mathematics Department, Club Advisor
mailto:morley@math.gatech.edu
George Slayton, Manager mailto:grslay@mindspring.com
Micah Wise, Manager
They will be happy to meet with anyone at any time to discuss the
activities of the Barbell Club and to assist in the facility needs of
the Women's Volleyball program.