Mike Gore's "40-for-40": Natalie Pearson

I was delighted to see that Natalie Pearson was inducted into the Big South Hall of Fame last week.

Natalie may be the greatest track and field performer in Bulldog history. I'm not going to list all her accomplishments as Kassi did a great job mentioning all of them in the nice release she did on Natalie a few days ago.

Natalie took us to places the Bulldog track and field program had never been before. Not just qualifying for the regionals but the national meet. And she did it twice in 2010 and 2011.

I remember Natalie as an incredibly hard worker. She seemed like she was always working out and her workouts were hard. Lisa and I would like to walk on the track sometimes and we would see Natalie do her workouts and just be in awe of her efforts.

I also knew Natalie as a Communications major. She worked just as hard for us as we were beginning to start to video-stream live sports events.

Thanks to my former assistant Everett Hutto, UNC Asheville athletics was a real leader in the Big South in getting events live streamed. We were doing games before many other schools not just in the Big South but other conferences.

Natalie was always there for us when we started streaming. She could do everything and was invaluable to Everett and later Matt Pellegrin who would take Everett's place.

One specific memory came from her senior year. We were in the final week of basketball season and would have two home games at Justice Center along with homecoming over a three-day period. In addition, we were playing Radford on the final day of the season and it would be the final official home game played in Justice Center.

However, the Big South Indoor Track and Field Championship was being held at Clemson at the same time. Matt and I tried to get a staff together to tackle the final two home games and we knew Natalie wouldn't be able to make it because of the Big South meet.

However, Natalie had other ideas. She informed us that she would be there on Saturday to run a camera for the final game at Justice Center.

I asked her if she was sure she wanted to do this. Natalie informed me that she would be running in the morning and it would be close to tip-off but she would be back in time for the game.

I told Matt to try and have someone else ready because that was going to be asking a lot of Natalie to run a championship sprint event in the morning, then drive back here and film the game.

Natalie ran her event in the morning and of course won the event, claiming another Big South championship. She then got in her car, drove back to Justice Center and was ready to run a camera when Asheville and Radford tipped off.

I told her she could sit this one out because she had to be exhausted. She told me that she would be here to work and she's ready to work. Natalie said the toughest part of the trip was simply finding a parking place near Justice Center!!!!

The Bulldogs won handily that day and we had a beautiful ceremony after the game to recognize the last game in Justice. And there was Natalie filming every key moment. We used a lot of her footage to put together a highlight tape after the season.

When the game was over and we were packing up after an emotional day, I thought of the amazing day Natalie had. Winning a Big South championship and then driving two hours to film a basketball game.

Everyone in the Big South Hall of Fame is deserving but I wonder how many of them had a day like Natalie did in 2011.

Congratulations Natalie and thank you Natalie for all your hard work both on the track and off the track!!!!

University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics

Mike Gore's "40-for-40": Natalie Pearson

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