He started as an intern in the ’90s. Now, he’s next to helm the Peach Bowl.

Bobby Dodd Stadium, or Grant Field at the time, was a playground for David Epps growing up.

He explored every nook and cranny of the place, tagging along as his dad worked Saturdays as a stand manager overseeing ushers.

“I watched the teams, I watched the cheerleaders, I watched the movement of what a game day feels like. … I really think that somehow that got into my blood,” Epps said.

The football touchpoints don’t stop there.

Epps, who will take over for Gary Stokan as CEO of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, went to Woodward Academy and lived next door to legendary coach Graham Hixon when the War Eagles won the 1980 state championship. He attended Furman and worked in the athletic department when the Paladins won the 1988 Football Championship Subdivision title. His daughter, Maggie, was a cheerleader at Georgia (where he earned his master’s in sports marketing).

Epps, a College Park native, takes the Peach Bowl personally. He began as an intern in 1994 in ticket sales, working his way up over time, and will now lead the charge.

“Working for this company has always been more than a job for me,” Epps said. “And I think to be successful in an elevated role like I’m going to take on, it has to be more than a job.

“… To be able to see the growth that we’ve had over the years and to get to the point where I’m going to be the one in charge really is humbling because, you know, this company and the bowl game means a lot to a lot of people, a lot at Atlantans, a lot of people in college football. It’s a legacy I’m really excited to be able to continue and to grow and even improve as we go forward.”

Epps has the stamp of approval from executive assistant to the CEO Patti Young, who has worked for the Peach Bowl since 1970. Her daughters went to school with Epps at Woodward, and she remembers Epps making an impression as a young intern: “David was so good, you just didn’t want to let him go. … He has visions and his visions are great.”

The Peach Bowl has majorly grown since its days at Grant Field and Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, now played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and featured as this year’s College Football Playoff semifinal between Oregon and Indiana (with Indiana earning a 56-22 victory and advancing to the championship vs. Miami).

It also runs the Aflac Kickoff Game and has given more than $70 million to charity, taking pride in the title of the most charitable bowl organization in the country.

Epps won’t make changes for the sake of making changes, but he wants to ensure the Peach Bowl doesn’t rest on its laurels, and he’d like to foster even more connections between the Peach Bowl and the Atlanta sports business community.

“We built a great machine here,” Epps said. “It’s probably running better than it ever has, but, you know, complacency is the enemy of success. And so I think the changes that I would be looking toward is we want to protect what makes this special and make sure we remain relevant and nationally respected, but, we need to look at how we can grow. Because if you’re not, ultimately — if you’re not changing and evolving — you’re dying. You really can’t stand still. You’re either going to move forward or backward.”

He takes over at a unique time in college football, particularly for bowl games and the postseason. Of course, the Peach Bowl and other mainstays are in a different position from many of the smaller bowls, which face an uncertain future among CFP expansion and opt-outs.

College football often feels like it is evolving on a daily basis, so Epps doesn’t worry too much about chasing trends, but rather trying to maintain long-term relevance within that landscape.

“I want the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and Peach Bowl Inc. as an organization to make sure that whatever college football’s postseason looks like — whether that’s in the next three years, six years, 10 years — that we, as an organization and we as a collection of the Atlanta sports business community, have distinguished ourselves in such a way that we cannot be excluded from it,” Epps said.

Simple things are different for the Peach Bowl, too, these days, like not knowing the teams your game will feature until the CFP quarterfinals a little more than a week out from the semis (makes creating graphics and signage an adventure).