WATCH: Olympic athlete, NBC sportscaster bond over shared Tennessee Tech connection
NBC sportscaster Maria Taylor and Olympic athlete Sunny Choi share a laugh at the realization of their shared Cookeville and Tennessee Tech connections. Screengrab courtesy of NBC. Watch a video excerpt of their conversation here.
As the 2024 Olympic Games continue in Paris, France, a star athlete and journalist
found themselves sharing a special moment at the realization of their mutual connection to Tennessee Tech University and the
Cookeville community.
Athlete Sunny Choi is competing on behalf of Team USA in the Olympic Games’ first-ever
“breaking” competition. The sport, known more colloquially as breakdancing, is the
only new event to debut at this year’s games.
Choi recently sat down for a nationally televised interview with NBC sportscaster
and Football Night in America host Maria Taylor when, suddenly, the conversation turned to their Golden Eagle connections.
“Were you born in Cookeville, Tennessee? … I remember I read that,” asked Taylor in
the interview.
Choi replied affirmatively, after which Taylor revealed that she, too, was a Cookeville
native born at Cookeville General Hospital – now known as Cookeville Regional Medical
Center.
“My dad coached at Tennessee Tech!” continued Taylor.
“Wait, really? … My parents … one of them taught at Tennessee Tech,” responded Choi.
In fact, both of Taylor’s parents, Steve and Suzette Taylor, are proud Tech alumni.
Steve Taylor was a standout student-athlete in the early 1980s and the longtime holder
of the Tech men’s basketball shot-blocking record before going on to become the team’s
assistant coach and, later, pursuing a fulfilling career with the FBI. In 2022, he
was named to the Tech’s men’s basketball All-Century Team.
“Steve made a huge impact on the basketball program,” recalled Frank Harrell, special
assistant to the Director of Athletics at Tech and former men’s basketball coach.
“The people he recruited made us have really successful teams. Steve was always proud
of Tennessee Tech and still comes back to alumni functions.”
As for Choi, her mother, Jung-In Choi, came to Tech in 1987 as a visiting professor
of mathematics. According to Time, it was on Tech’s campus where the elder Choi went into labor with her daughter while
teaching a statistics class.
“Students called her husband, Kyung-Ju Choi, who arrived to drive her to the hospital
where Sunny, the third of their four kids and the only girl, was born,” Time reports.
While in Paris, Choi will be part of sports history as a competitor in breaking’s
Olympics debut. The Olympics’ website explains that the urban dance style originated in the United States in the 1970s
and international competitions were first held in the 1990s.
“It’s no surprise that, even at the Olympic Games thousands of miles away, there is
a Tennessee Tech connection!” said Mark Wilson, director of athletics at Tech. “The
impact of our student-athletes, coaches, faculty and their families is felt from Paris,
Tennessee to Paris, France. Our Golden Eagles are cheering on Sunny and her fellow
Team USA competitors, as well as the talented sportscasters like Maria who are connecting
viewers around the world to this momentous event in sports history."
The breaking competition at the Olympic Games begins on Friday, Aug. 9. Watch a video
excerpt of Choi and Taylor’s conversation below:
