Sept. 15, 2016
By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - In her campaign to be Auburn's SGA President nearly 25 years ago, Liz Huntley had a key campus leader in her corner. Pat Dye.
Auburn's football coach at the time, not only did Dye support Huntley and encourage her to run, he also introduced her to the student body during what's called concourse time.
Huntley, a first-generation college student from Clanton, served in the Tigerettes and Tiger Hosts recruiting program. Her personality and work ethic made an impression.
"There was a smile on her face," Dye remembers. "She walked the extra mile and did whatever she had to do to get the job done in and around the athletics department. It was a tough job. If somebody special was coming in you wanted to recruit, you put Liz with them."
Pat Dye says he saw tremendous potential in Auburn student recruiter Liz Huntley." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported"> Pat Dye says he saw tremendous potential in Auburn student recruiter Liz Huntley.
"It was sort of a team effort, of you greeting these kids who would come in with their families and meet privately with Coach Dye back in his office," Huntley recalls. "In the process of that, you're standing there for all of this time, sort of waiting, we would get to know each other.
"He started to learn things about me. He would say, `Girl, I'm proud of you.' And he'd learn about my background, and my story. Just always wanted to help me."
Despite the endorsement of the most recognizable person on campus, Huntley did not win the election.
The defeat was deflating, but she had been around Coach Dye enough to know there's always another play, another game.
"And he asked, `What are you going to do now?'" Huntley says. "I said, `I don't know what I'm going to do.' I said, `I want to be a lawyer.'"
Dye called a friend, Birmingham attorney Sam Franklin, and put in a good word.
"For him to take the time out to do that, there was nothing in it for him," Huntley says. "Yes, I was a good recruiter, but so were all of the other girls. There were a hundred Tigerettes, and for him to care about me to that extent, because that took time for him to stop and think about who would be good to call, to call that person, tell him my story, ask him to find a place for me. To take that kind of time and invest in me, I'll never forget it."
For Huntley, the internship confirmed her aspiration to pursue a legal career. She went to law school after graduating in Political Science from Auburn in 1993, and now works for Lightfoot, Franklin & White, the same firm for which she interned.
Huntley's devotion to Auburn is ongoing. She serves on the University's Board of Trustees.
"The opportunity to serve Auburn now in my capacity is amazing," she says. "It shaped me into the lady that I became. Sue Locklar in the Tigerette office, the recruiting coordinator who just retired. Those people helped shape me into who I am today. The work ethic that's there, teaching you how to be confident, and to speak up, and to learn about people."
"She's what Auburn is all about," Dye says. "The institution itself. She couldn't have picked a better place to go to school to grow and mature from a girl, to a young lady, to a full-grown woman who stands for all of the right things."
From their time working together, Dye knew Huntley well. But he was unaware of her painful past - the abuse she had endured as a child.
In her 2015 autobiography, More Than a Bird, Huntley shares how her faith, along with support from teachers and mentors, helped her overcome.
Liz Huntley signs a copy of her autobiography, More Than a Bird, after a speaking engagement in Montgomery." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported"> Liz Huntley signs a copy of her autobiography, More Than a Bird, after a speaking engagement in Montgomery.
Response to the book, Huntley says, has been overwhelming, including speaking engagements across the country to students and teachers.
"I'm just amazed because my story's nothing but the truth," Huntley says. "It's just talking about the impact that educators and coaches, like Coach Dye, the people who have contact with young people, the difference that they can make in their lives by just doing one simple thing and that's believing in them, and showing that you believe in them."
Impressed by Liz Huntley's work ethic, Pat Dye encouraged her to attend law school." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported"> Impressed by Liz Huntley's work ethic, Pat Dye encouraged her to attend law school.
"I just watched her grow and mature while she was working in the athletics department," Dye says. "You'd just watch her work. The way she carried herself, the way she lived her life, her set of values. It's not surprising that she's where she is today. Not to me. She was exceptional in everything she did, with her set of values.
"I just saw tremendous potential in her as a person. A young student coming through my office every day, in and around the athletics department. I didn't do anything with Liz that I didn't do for all the players and folks who worked in and around the athletics department, if they deserved it."
More than a quarter-century after they first teamed up in recruiting, the coach and the trustee use the same phrase to describe their shared philosophy of doing for others.
"I had a lot of people help me," Dye says. "You just pay it forward. When you love people and you're close to people, just like Liz, when she has success, it makes me feel good. I don't take ownership of what she's done. She's done it all herself. But I take pleasure in her being successful in what she's doing."
"I have to pay it forward," Huntley says. "I've got a debt I've got to pay back. So many people invested in me when they saw potential, there's no way that I can turn my back on those who I see potential in."
In Chicago this summer, Liz Huntley shared her story with scholars from Schmid Elementary." style="width:100%; height:auto;" class="imported"> In Chicago this summer, Liz Huntley shared her story with scholars from Schmid Elementary.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer