12.15.20 – The presidential election was more than a month ago and his basketball team is eight games into the season, yet Georgia Tech associate coach Eric Reveno is still working the campaign.

While recounts and challenges swirled long after the Nov. 3 election, the Menlo School and Stanford alum hasn’t stopped his push to get students out to vote. In his state, they still have the Jan. 5 senatorial run-off with national implications.

This summer, Reveno, a 1984 Menlo School graduate, began a push to make Election Day a mandatory day off for college athletic programs. It started the day after an emotional video call June 1 with the Georgia Tech basketball team and the coaches. In the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, protests swept the nation and the team reflected on some of the frustration of people of color. In that team meeting, associate head coach Reveno said the players described their feelings of anger, frustration, confusion. One of the players, senior Malachi Rice said, “I understand why we are protesting, but what about voting. Are we voting like we should?”

A team video-call with Georgia Tech basketball coaches and players led assistant coach Eric Reveno to lobby NCAA to allow for student-to get Election Day off from practices and competitions. Credit: Danny Karnik - Georgia Tech Athletics“I went to sleep with a heavy heart as I felt some of the burden of what these guys were feeling, what it meant to be Black in America, and that’s a lot of weight for a college kid to carry around.”

Reveno hurt for his players, and while the call to action didn’t come immediately, it was soon after that meeting. He only wishes that he could have seen it sooner.

“For those that know me, and maybe even some who remember me from my time at Menlo, they know I’m not the quickest, so it wasn’t something that came to me
immediately. It took some time, and by time, I mean hours, days,” he said from his office in Atlanta.

Reveno looked it up and Rice was right. In 2018, only 32% of voters ages 18 to 24 years old voted in the midterm elections, according to data from the U.S. Census. In the last presidential election, only 39.4% in that age group voted.

“I decided I didn’t care. I didn’t think about it. It made no difference to me whether I could be successful, whether anything would come of it. I just did it. I said I have to do something,” Reveno said.

“Voting is a fundamental civic duty and I wasn’t doing my part in mentoring and educating college athletes.”

Reveno looked back on his nearly 25-year coaching career and couldn’t recall ever having a conversation about voting with his players. So he worked for change. I thought, “The NCAA should take the day off. We should take pause and celebrate our democracy.”

He knows that the day off to vote is symbolic. Even though many collegiate players are away from home, and may be filing absentee, the effort is just as ardent a reminder to get them to fill out that ballot and mail it. The dedicated day is to encourage civic engagement.

A day after that team meeting, Reveno started with the YellowJackets athletic administration and basketball head coach Josh Pastner. Within 24 hours, Georgia Tech was in. Soon after, the National Association of Basketball Coaches called on all basketball teams to give its athletes Election Day off, then conferences followed suit. “Then, I got excited, and thought, ‘We can do this.’ ’’

Reveno released an online petition with the AllVoteNoPlay hashtag which made the rounds quickly, and the campaign took off, largely through his constant communication logged on Twitter and InstaGram.

“We must empower, educate and guide our athletes to be part of the change. We need action. There is symbolism in every holiday and it’s powerful.”

Eric Reveno, Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball Associate Head Coach
The reaction among schools, administrators, coaches, students was far-reaching.

Someone heralded Reveno’s efforts and called him an MVP to which Reveno often jokes that he wasn’t the MVP on his teams, he was “at best, if you stretch the imagination, maybe” Most Improved Player, but he leaves out the fact that he was also twice captain and Most Inspirational at Stanford.

“I’ve never been more proud to be a coach,” Reveno said. “We as college coaches are educators. There’s big money for some, there’s high-profile jobs, and fancy suits, and TV networks and it’s big business, but the vast majority of us are educators and mentors and like being around college kids and having an impact. (We) believe in the future of the country because of the students we work with on a daily basis.”

He recalls an athletics administrator in Oregon who retweeted everything he posted. “I never met her, I looked it up and posted some nice things but that was surprising and inspiring because it was an example of how we are a sisterhood, brotherhood, a community.”

This summer had a profound impact on Reveno. Pandemic notwithstanding, the social unrest was right outside his door in midtown Atlanta. “I remember helicopters flying overhead, sitting there watching CNN be smashed in 3 miles from my house. … Just being here, seeing and hearing from our student-athletes, it was a visceral experience for me. It was not thoughtful or logical at first. I just had to do something, then it became logical and I tried to push forward, strategize and be smart.”

Credit: Danny Karnik - Georgia Tech AthleticsHe wanted to make sure it was more than a hashtag or solely a social push. In September, the NCAA approved a measure that gives Div. I athletes Election Day off from practice and competition every year.

Cal volleyball player and Menlo 2017 alum Jessica Houghton made sure to vote. Although the Bears were not conducting in-person practices because of the pandemic, they were given the day off of any video meetings and practices. The city of Berkeley placed ballot boxes around campus. Houghton mailed in her ballot before Election Day, but she was very aware of the significance of the legislation.

“I was so grateful to have the day off not only for student-athletes to be able to vote in person, but to also underline the overall importance of having your voice heard.”

Perhaps no where was more evident of the impact of each vote than in Georgia where the margin between presidential candidates was razor thin.

More than 159 million voted in the 2020 election - the highest turnout of eligible voters since 1900.

“Someone said to me, ‘Only two-thirds, and that’s the highest?’ and I said, “Yes! That’s what I’m saying!”

Reveno emphasizes that the effort is non-partisan, and Reveno hasn’t stopped working for change because the elections in his state are not over - Georgia is in the thick of runoff races and a final push to turn out voters. Historically, runoff elections draw a lower turnout, but with national attention, and control of the Senate at stake, the race is far from usual.

Reveno won’t stop because he hopes coaches remember they are there to help students off the fields and courts as well, and wants to make sure civic engagement is lifetime lasting.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I want people to hold me accountable. I’m going to keep doing this.”

 Reveno, a 1984 Menlo School graduate, is now the Georgia Tech men’s basketball associate head coach. At Menlo, he led Knights basketball to a 1983 CIF state championship. Reveno went on to play at Stanford where he was a two-time captain, and as a senior helped the Cardinal to its first NCAA appearance in 47 years, then graduated with a bachelors in economics. After a four-year pro career in Japan, and earning a masters in business administration from Stanford, where he served as assistant coach from 1997-2006, he became the head coach at University of Portland, earning West Coast Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2009, and after a decade, moved on to Georgia Tech.

- Pam McKenney | Menlo School Athletics