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AMERICAN CENTURY CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 21, 2013Carol ChaplinBrian DavisGary QuinnJenny ShepackTerri UpshawSTATELINE, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: This is one of the pleasures of the week, the highlight, the Fifth Annual Gene Upshaw Scholarship Award, and this was given to honor a great guy, Gene Upshaw, what he did in life and what he did with the Gene Upshaw Memorial Cancer Center up in Truckee. It's a pleasure to have Terri Upshaw. I'd like to introduce our other special guests: Gary Quinn, who is the Vice President of Programming and Owned Properties for NBC Sports; Bryan Davis, Director of Marketing Edgewood Companies. And we have our winner up front, Jenny Shepack. Congratulations. We'll go around the horn a little bit. There's a few other people we'd like to introduce here today, the principal from George Whittell High School, Crespin Esquivel. Raise your hand. And Stella Gerlinger, counselor. And also someone that doesn't get the attention but she really puts this together every year is the administrator. That's Carol Chaplin from the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority. And Carol communicates with everybody and keeps the thing juggling. It's fun because she seems to have two boys who have gone to that school so she knows every student over there. So that always helps. Anyway, Jenny's family's here, Susan and Mike, her mom and dad. Mike was very happy. He noted he has three kids in college, so this scholarship comes in handy. So obviously we have a worthy winner. Terri, I'd like to start it off with you, if you'd like to add a few words. TERRI UPSHAW: I'd like to say congratulations to you, Jenny, for all your hard work. I know having two sons of my own and going through those high school years and it's a challenge, the academics, community service, athletics, trying to keep it all in balance, got SATs coming up and all your college applications, it's a stressful time. And sounds as though you have a good head on your shoulders and have worked really hard to get where you are. And Gene was always about giving back to community. He supported lots of programs within our community back home and helping actually even at my own kids' school. They had dad around helping out and helping with football and some of the sports and all. And Gene always believed that there was kind of three legs to the stool. So that was the athletics, the academics and also community service. So it seems as though you've accomplished that. Congratulations. JENNY SHEPACK: Thank you. Q. Gary, we know that Gene meant an awful lot to you. GARY QUINN: Absolutely. I think the highest compliment that I could pay Gene is that I hope my son, now 14, continues to grow and display the characteristics that Gene had, of the person I knew. He was such a special man. And I think that he look at all the glitz and the glamour and the celebrities and the fun that goes on this week, but the most important thing we can do is give this event back to the community. We're most proud of this scholarship because it recognizes a dear friend of ours and it allows a younger person to go and do some research on why was Gene Upshaw so special. And hopefully learn from that, take some of those characteristics and leadership that Gene had and bring it in her own lives. I think Jenny has to slow down a bit here, she's accomplished more than I have in 44 years. Actually I'm not that old. But I'm sure her parents are extremely proud of her as we are proud of her. We're very proud to give her this scholarship just to give her a little bit of a head start as she goes into her senior year and collegiately. I know Gene would be extremely proud of the fifth recipient of Jenny having his name attached to Jenny, and it's something that we're all very proud of. I also wanted to spotlight Carol Chaplin.  I know you mentioned Carol in the opening remarks, but she's done such an amazing job over the last five years helping us give back to service organizations, $500,000 since 2009 and helping us kind of stick handle the scholarship. I cannot say enough of how important that is to us to be able to give back. And it's a credit to Carol for all that she's done. The other wonderful thing about this scholarship is that it's allowed Pat, Alan and Terri and I to work a little bit closer together on their golf event which takes place the week on the Monday leading up to our event. So we're going to start working a little bit more in lockstep on how we can help and recruit players to get there early on the North Shore then come over to us later in the week and try to contribute to help generate as much funds as we can for that event. So it's a win‑win all around. And we just can't say enough about Jenny and the folks and the high school students in this community who really extend themselves to do extracurricular activity. I can't say enough when we talk to interns and folks like that, that come through our offices, how important it is to get practical experience. The grades are one thing, but go out there and find and do the volunteer work in the community and get as much practical experience as you can, and you're doing a great job, Jenny. You're off to a great start. Good luck to you. THE MODERATOR: Bryan Davis with Edgewood Companies. Edgewood has been involved in this community and one of the major players throughout the town community‑wise, I'd like to turn it over to Bryan for your comments. BRYAN DAVIS: Thank you, Phil, and of course we've been honored from the very beginning when we were approached about being part of this scholarship and it really fits what we do as Edgewood. When we give back it's youth and education and that's what we focus on, especially here locally. So to participate this week with this scholarship and to honor Gene and everything he stood for really matches up with what our company is about. We've been on this land, not me personally, but over 100 years, and it's not going to stop. We're proud to do it and hopefully we'll contribute to the scholarship for as long as we possibly can. And we're just proud to be here as a participant and of course with Jenny and the previous winners, you know, we're proud of everything they've done. Like Gary said, to give them a head start on what they want to accomplish and their dreams is something that we believe in. So congratulations, Jenny, and once again thanks for approaching us at the very beginning to be part of this. GARY QUINN: I was remiss in thanking Bryan. His team and Edgewood we're all family, and it's a wonderful thing being here for so many years as we prepare for the 25th anniversary next year, having the relationships become like family to us, and Bryan and his team have the folks at Harrah's, the folks at the LTVA, the community here couldn't be more supportive and we're just thrilled with having them be part of the NBC Sports family. Q. I think everybody feels the same working with NBC Sports as well. Jenny, I get the introduce of introducing you there's only one problem Gary Quinn has to be at the broadcast in 25 minutes after I read all your accomplishments it might take longer to read all of them but I'll go through this pretty quick. I've never seen so many As on one student's transcript in my life. Different planet from my day. But anyway congratulations on all the scholarship and scholastic awards. Also volunteer work. I've seen seven or eight different organizations that you spend your time helping out. All that while going to school and also working in three different jobs on occasion over the years. So nice work on that. And number of honors and awards including honor roll, all state academic team soccer, all state academic team basketball. The list goes on and on. From what we understand you have interest in nutrition and want to go there with your education and we are very pleased to introduce you as the fifth annual Gene Upshaw award winner. (Applause). JENNY SHEPACK: Thank you. First of all, I want to thank everyone. Ms.Upshaw, it's awesome you're here. And thank you. I want to thank Edgewood and NBC and Mrs.Chaplin and Esquivel and Ms.Gerlinger for showing me the scholarship and helping me get it. And also my parents and my sister who is here with me, and my brother, who couldn't make it today. They've always been supportive. And I thank you so much because it's such an honor to be linked with Mr.Upshaw. He was an amazing player and really played for the team. He wasn't just all about himself. He was very selfless, and not just on the field but off the field. And I just want to strive to be like that. He was a great leader and helped the NFL Players Association so much, even after he was done playing. And it's just an honor to be linked with him through this scholarship. And I just want to thank all of you so much for giving me this opportunity and handing this scholarship over to me. (Applause) Q.I followed you in soccer and basketball. I was just kind of curious, tell me about how you first found out that you won this award and kind of what was going through your mind and your initial reaction when you did find out? JENNY SHEPACK: All right. Actually I was at a soccer tournament when I won this award. I got a call from my dad, and it was like you need to call me I have some news for you. The first thing I thought it was bad news. So I was freaking out after my soccer game. And I called him and he was like: Oh, I have Carol Chaplin's number and you need to call her about the Gene Upshaw scholarship. He said I don't know if you won it, I don't know what she's going to say, but you need to call her. So as soon as I could, I called her. And she told me that I won the scholarship. And I was just in awe. It was amazing. I didn't think I was going to win it, and like it was a week before so I figured someone else had already won it. So I was just so happy. And it made that weekend great after I had a couple more soccer games, and it just was an awesome weekend after that. Q. I know it's a little ways off but do you have any plans to play sports in college or have you thought about that yet? JENNY SHEPACK: I would love to play soccer in college. So if I get that opportunity I would love to grab hold of that. I'm not sure how I would go about that, but I'd love to play soccer. Q. Do you have any colleges in mind or is it too soon for that? JENNY SHEPACK: I'm not sure where I want to go. I've been looking at UC San Diego or somewhere in southern California. I'd love to go to the beach or somewhere warm. Q. Get out of the snow for a second? JENNY SHEPACK: Yeah. Q. Terri, so what were the reasons behind choosing Jenny for this award? TERRI UPSHAW: Well, there's a committee of people that take a look at the different applicants and it's really about, again, the different aspects of the criteria. So community service, grades, the academics, the athletics, just being the right candidate for the right time. The other applicants obviously stand out, too, but amongst the committee it's selected and I'm kind of excited we got another girl here. Girl power. Q. Gary, since you're one of the people who votes on this, you know how difficult it is going through the different applications as far as‑‑ GARY QUINN: Absolutely. You could throw a dart at the dartboard with all the kids they're just it's amazingly well rounded. And you read each one of them and you're blown away. And, again, Jenny just stuck out in my mind as Terri said, she was just so well balanced in athletics, academics, in what she did in the community that she was deserving of it. And we're real proud of her for it. Q. Do you have an idea about how many applicants you get on an average year? CAROL CHAPLIN: There's about seven to ten applicants. George Whittell High School, Jenny's class is probably 39 to 41 graduates, you're there at the games with us. We're screaming and pretty loud for 39. But it's between seven and ten every year. Every one of those kids in this school, because it is a small school, pretty special, we don't have a lot of resources, as our high school staff would tell you at this point and they do a tremendous job, and actually they go to some amazing schools. So we'll expect the same thing from Jenny. She'll be accepted to four or five schools. Q. Headed into your senior year, what does this do for you? Does this change your mindset or take a load off it all? JENNY SHEPACK: It kind of takes a load off. But it shows me that like applying for scholarships really does pay off. So I will be applying to a lot more. (Laughter) and hope I get more than just this one. Q. Your mom and dad loved hearing that. (Laughter). THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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