General | 4/3/2017 11:22:00 AM

STATESBORO, Ga. - If you take a look around any of the athletics facilities and offices at Georgia Southern, you may see white hard hats proudly displayed in what seems to be random places. There's one with the golf, rifle and men's soccer teams; the grounds crew possesses one; and academics has one too. But what are they and what do they mean?

According to athletic director Tom Kleinlein, they're his way of recognizing employees who personify the blue collar mentality that got Georgia Southern Athletics to where it is today.

"When we're successful, we've out-worked people and we've overcome obstacles," Kleinlein said. "To me, the hard hat symbolizes the mindset we have to have here. You have to come to work every day with the goal of out-working people, overcoming challenges and doing what it takes to be successful at our level."

Kleinlein said he got the idea from his strength & conditioning coach at Arizona State, who would give out hard hat awards for performances in the weight room. 

"That's something I always thought was really cool and unique," he said. "It was a symbol of the effort you have to have in the weight room to be successful. So I took the idea and applied it to our department here at Georgia Southern."

Hard hats can be earned for any number of different reasons. Reggie Simpkins was presented one when the department reached its goal of a 3.0 GPA for the 2015-16 academic year. The grounds crew picked up one after putting in extra work to get a field ready after a big storm. Just last month, the rifle team was presented one for its Southern Conference Air Rifle Championship while the women's golf team got one for winning its first tournament in just the second year of the program.

"This program allows me to take a 50,000-foot view of our athletic department and gives me the opportunity to notice when people are putting in the work and effort we want all of our employees to have."

Previous Honorees
Women's Soccer - SoCon Champs, 2012
Volleyball - SoCon Regular Season Champs, 2012
Football - SoCon Champs, 2012
Softball - SoCon Champs, 2013
Student-Athlete Services - 3.0 GPA Spring, 2013
Frank Hook - Exceptional Employee, 2013
Brandon Cox - Exceptional Employee, 2013
Ian Christie - Exceptional Employee, 2013
Rifle - First Win, 2013
Golf - 35th Schenkel Invitational Champions, 2014
Baseball - SoCon Champs, 2014
Football - Sun Belt Champs, 2015
Stephanie Arends Neal - Exceptional Employee, 2015
Reggie Simpkins - Exceptional Employee, 2015
David Cutler - Exceptional Employee, 2015
Nick Scull - Exceptional Employee, 2015
Roger Inman - Exceptional Employee, 2015
Robert Kurbes - Exceptional Employee, 2016
Nate Kellogg - Swim Coach of the Year, 2016
David Giambra - Diving Coach of the Year, 2016
Men's Soccer - Sun Belt Regular Season Co-Champs, 2016
Reggie Simpkins, Student-Athlete Services, 3.0 overall GPA for the Athletics Department, 2016
Kevin Bostian, Athletic Foundation - 2nd Consecutive Year of Record-Breaking Fundraising, 2016
Rifle- SoCon Air Rifle Champs, 2017
WGolf - First Tournament Win, 2017