After 42 years, Georgia Tech’s ‘Moose’ retires

Stamus, known to most in the industry as “Moose,” enrolled at Virginia Tech more than 40 years ago looking to follow in the footsteps of his brother Tony Stamus. The elder Stamus, who died in 1996, worked in the Roanoke (Va.) Times sports department and had inspired his younger brother to become a sports writer.

After serving as an editor of his high school paper and then covering the Hokies as a freshman reporter for the student newspaper in Blacksburg, Virginia, Stamus was approached by Dave Smith (now a member of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame) about working in Virginia Tech’s sports information office.

The chance to work in sports, and get paid a little money while doing it, was an opportunity Stamus couldn’t pass up.

He’s been in the industry ever since, taking a position in Atlanta on June 13, 1983, to work with Tech baseball, golf, wrestling, men’s gymnastics and swimming and diving. The latter three of those sports were played at Heisman Gym, which stood on the current spot of Callaway Plaza.

Stamus also crafted the game-day program for Tech football games, traveled to Tech football away games and assisted with the men’s basketball program. His first season on The Flats saw three of the primary teams he worked with win ACC titles.

Tech basketball, meanwhile, was becoming a force.

“I can recall the ’83-84 basketball season when we first started to be good under (coach Bobby) Cremins went to the NIT at the end of the year. Beating Wake Forest at home. Beating Virginia in three overtimes. Alexander Memorial Coliseum was still old and dark, but we were packing the place when we started getting good. Three years earlier, nobody came. But Cremins had started getting it rolling and (Mark) Price and (John) Salley were only sophomores that year. The ACC basketball tournament we held at the Omni in ‘85 when we won our first one, that’s a great memory.”

In 2000, Stamus became the primary point man for Tech men’s basketball. Four years later he was part of the program’s ride to the Final Four, where the Jackets lost the national title game to Connecticut.

As exciting as the moments in the arena of competition were, however, it was the relationships that Stamus formed with the coaches and players that left a lasting impression.

Price, Salley, Dennis Scott, Matt Harpring, Travis Best, B.J. Elder and James Forrest are only a few of Tech’s basketball legends that Stamus recognizes he had the privilege of knowing from the start and then keeping in touch with throughout the years. And Stamus worked closely with Tech golf during his tenure as well, allowing him to form close bonds with Charlie Rymer, Bill McDonald, David Duval, Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of other former players, coaches and staff members, such as Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and George Mason athletic director Marvin Lewis, from all of Tech’s sports that Stamus could mention. It’s a long list after four decades at the institute.

“All those greats, I was able to build relationships with them while they were here and they continue to this day. That’s very gratifying,” Stamus said.

Stamus acknowledges he’s still trying to get into a retirement routine. Traveling, golfing, cycling and concerts all will fit into his itinerary once it’s planned out. He also will continue to work Braves home games from time to time as the official scorer, and he will assist with the men’s basketball Final Four every April. He may still turn up at some Tech home sporting events as well to lend a hand in some capacity.

So even though Stamus no longer is a part of Tech, there’s no mistaking Tech always will be a part of him.

“I always believed in Tech’s mission: High academic standards, wanting to be competitive at the highest level. It’s not easy. When we hired (former athletic director) Homer Rice, everything that he did for Tech, he made Tech relevant when Tech was gonna de-emphasize athletics at one point. He made Tech relevant again, but wanted to uphold those standards. Everybody that we’ve had since then has had the same belief. And I’ve always believed in that, always believed that the kids we had in our programs were of a higher level.

“Even from the very beginning until today, I think Tech people take a lot of pride in being able to punch above our weight. We’ve always been able to remain competitive pretty much across the board in most of our sports. We’ve won our share of ACC titles in most of our sports. To me that’s a great source of pride, that we can be competitive and we do compete, and it’s fun to be around it.”