’89 grad flies Coast Guard choppers to head off drug traffickers

Eighty-five miles off the Colombian coast, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, a small boat speeds through international waters headed north. Loaded with illegal narcotics like marijuana and cocaine, the boat is more than likely headed for U.S. soil, where the “runners” on board will sell the drugs for a higher premium to a buyer on the mainland.

The runners may make $10,000 each on this one mission — a typical day in the international drug trade. Unless they encounter HITRON and Flagler graduate Matt Rother.

Hirko wins $15,000 with ‘pterodactyl’ dance on ‘Regis and Kelly’

Armed only with a “pterodactyl” dance and a stuffed dinosaur strapped to his head, alumnus Andy Hirko, ’02, competed on national television for $50,000.

“My wife (Kristy, ’02) and I were praying for creative ways to pay off debt,” said Hirko, who was one of five finalists in a dance contest on “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

Video: Andy Hirko on ‘Regis and Kelly’

When speaking about Clemson University’s new head tennis coach Chuck McCuen, Peter Scott talks like a proud father. His body perks up, his voice raises an octave, and the 2004 Flagler Athletic Hall of Fame inductee is almost at a loss for words.

“Chuck was such a hard worker, and God, he hated to lose,” recalls Scott, who was Flagler’s first head tennis coach from 1974-1989. “What do I recall about Chuck? You know what the biggest thing is? There are guys on every team that are natural-born leaders. Chuck was pretty much always that guy.”

Alumnus Brian Killingsworth helps launch a major league brand

Not many people would call up Kevin Costner and ask him to help kick off a major rebranding effort. But as alumnus Brian Killingsworth, ‘00, saw it, the star of epic films like “Field of Dreams” and “Bull Durham” was a perfect fit for a major league baseball team looking to reinvent itself.

Jacksonville publisher Cinda Sherman launched successful arts magazine from the humblest of beginnings

The early 1990s was no time to break into the world of investment banking. That’s the way Cinda Sherman remembers it. She had just lost her job as a financial analyst in Jacksonville, Fla.; the market was tanking; and all around her, banks and brokerages weren’t hiring, but instead laying off workers.

Things got so bad that when a few friends offered her a basement to live in until she got back on her feet, she took it.

Flagler alumni Lance and Kristin Moss share stories of success in Nicaragua

At Surfari Charters, the workday itinerary goes something like this: Surf. Fish. Have lunch and a siesta. Surf or fish some more. Soak in natural hot springs. Relax in a hammock.

If you long for a career outside a cubicle, read on for some perspective from Flagler College graduates Lance and Kristin Moss. They went from waiting tables to operating a successful surfing and fishing charter business on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and, as they put it, “living in an unbelievable place doing what you love.”

Alumna’s jewelry hobby evolves into a career

Gabrielle Gould didn’t plan on becoming an artist. The 1986 Flagler graduate majored in graphic design – known as commercial art at the time – and figured her fine arts studies would feed her personal, rather than professional, life.

Alumnus Kevin Cramer takes his playwriting success to Hollywood

Kevin Cramer got lost in the Beartooth Mountains once in Montana. There were snowdrifts higher than his truck. A drugged-out girl opened his door, jumped in and tried to get him to camp with her friends. It kind of freaked him out.

Sometimes the running bug just bites: a 5-kilometer race here, a marathon there. But for Phil Lechner, ’96, the itch to run has been ultra-hard to scratch, and has meant piling on the miles.

Lechner runs what are called ultra-marathons — distances of 50 kilometers, 50 miles and even 100 miles.

“I just caught the bug and I really, really enjoy it,” he said. “It’s a sport that is exploding now because, at one time, the marathon was a challenge. But when you have 30,000 or 40,000 people running New York and Boston, people want more than that.”

This past May, Flagler College graduates gathered on campus for Alumni Weekend, and more than 400 helped kick off the event on the new terrace between Markland House and the Ringhaver Student Center. The opening-night reception offered alums a chance to mingle or explore the new student center and play ping pong.

Other highlights from Alumni Weekend included a faculty/alumni reunion in the Crisp-Ellert Art Museum and the Hugh Shaw Memorial Long Board Contest. A record 48 surfers turned out for the annual surfing event and beach barbeque, which also raises money for a scholarship fund.