HALL Around the Nation: Glen & Barbara Kallas
8/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Pirate Blue
This past April 30th, Pirate Blue Athletic Fund held its annual Donor Matching Day. Pirate Blue reached its overarching goal of receiving donations from supporters in all 50 states in order to meet the challenge, of one generous anonymous donor who contributed $50,000 for the achievement. In total, Pirate Blue raised over $193,000 from over 450 alumni, family, and friends of the program throughout the day.
Due to the success of Donor Matching Day and the overwhelming support of Pirates fans across the country, Pirate Blue will profile some of those loyal supporters from coast to coast who helped make Donor Matching Day a success.
Pirate Blue begins the month of August speaking with Glen ('85) and Barbara Kallas ('85) in its "HALL Around the Nation" feature. Although, they have been away from New Jersey for nearly 20 years, Glen and Barbara still display their Pirate Pride strongly in the south. Glen recently connected with Pirate Blue, retold some of their memorable SHU experiences and explained the importance of their Pirate Blue donations.
Q: Where do you currently live and what is your current occupation?
Kallas: We have been living in Georgia for almost 20 years now after moving from Cranford, NJ. We live in a town about 30 miles outside of Atlanta called Acworth. Glen is the Managing Partner of Camden Delta, a consulting firm specializing in strategic human capital management and organizational change. Barbara is a para-professional kindergarten teacher at a local elementary school.
Q: What year did you graduate from Seton Hall?
Kallas: We both graduated in 1985 from the business school.
Q: Please share one of your most memorable experiences as a Seton Hall student.
Kallas: There are so many! Our Seton Hall friends remain some of our closest friends to this day. We have seen each others families grow and children go off to college and start careers of their own. That's what makes Seton Hall special for us. The lifelong friendships we were able to establish at the school and the many memories we have together including playing intramural sports, concerts in Walsh Gym (including seeing the iconic Allman Brothers Band) and the many night spent together at local hangouts including The Hall. It's also where we met each other and eventually became husband and wife. As a side note, our middle child, who was born in New Jersey, was even baptized at the chapel!
Q: What are you most proud of as Seton Hall fans?
Kallas: As big sports fans, we are really proud of our heritage and Seton Hall's history as a leading academic and athletic institution in the most competitive market in the US. The legacy of some of our teams and athletes are well documented including the 1989 basketball team and great athletes including Craig Biggio a sure to be Baseball Hall of Famer. Seton Hall was one of the founding members of the Big East conference and is now part of making history with the "new" Big East, made up of great schools across the country. The thing we like to keep in mind in addition to the great teams and players, is the foundation that our athletics programs have built upon. Values that were instilled in us as students including the importance of our faith, ethics and integrity are very much a part of our reputation as a Division I school. As a side note, we had the opportunity to catch up with Craig Biggio at an Atlanta Braves game one time when the Houston Astros were in town. He was one of the nicest guys you would have ever wanted to meet. Once he heard we were from Seton Hall, his eyes lit up and he talked with us like old friends...with the common bond of being Pirates!
Q: Why did you choose to donate to Pirate Blue?
Kallas: We try to give to both academic programs and to the Pirate Blue fund whenever we can. It's important to help the school remain competitive in all aspects of higher education, particularly academics and athletics. While academics is obviously the most important part of any university, the athletic programs are symbolic of what the school stands for and in many ways establishes the reputation of the school well beyond the geographic region in which it operates. For example, almost everyone I've ever met living outside of New Jersey, knows of Seton Hall and it's reputation as a great basketball school. Now that may sound a bit limited, but it's truly the way the school differentiates itself outside of the state of New Jersey. In some ways, athletics and the athletes become the key ambassadors of the school and I'm sure allows Seton Hall to attracted a greater diversity of students outside the metropolitan area of NY/NJ.
Q: What would you say to a friend who was considering joining the Pirate Blue Athletic Fund?
Kallas: Give what you can and consider the broader mission of athletics. Our teams and sports represent our legacy, our present and our future! Go Pirates!
