About the Book's Creators Sam Mays, Fred Sauceman, and Larry Smith Fred Sauceman A native of Greeneville, Tennessee, Fred Sauceman has over 25 years of experience in media and public relations work. He currently serves as Executive Assistant to the President for University Relations at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, where he has worked since 1985. During his tenure, ETSU has won more than 150 local, regional, and national awards for its public relations work. A former radio and television broadcaster, Fred now hosts an interview program, “ETSU Voices,” Sunday mornings on WJCW radio in the Tri-Cities. He attended The University of Tennessee in Knoxville and earned a bachelor of arts degree in English and history from ETSU in 1978 and a master of arts in English there in 1980. The subject of his thesis was Asheville, North Carolina, novelist Thomas Wolfe. In 1995, The Business Journal of Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia named Fred to its list of “40 Under Forty,” a group of the region’s outstanding young leaders. He has published many articles in magazines and newspapers and has written and edited four books. He teaches American literature in the ETSU Department of English and has taught international cooking courses through ETSU and the Johnson City School System. Since 1999 he has been a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, under the auspices of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Fred is the son of Wanda Royall Sauceman of Greeneville and the late Fred W. Sauceman, Sr. Fred’s wife Jill, a native of Scott County, Virginia, is also a graduate of ETSU and is employed with the Jonesborough-Washington County History Museum in Tennessee’s oldest town. Sam Mays Sam Mays is working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design and printmaking at ETSU. He graduated from Hillwood High School in Nashville, where he was first exposed to graphic arts. While in high school, Sam twice traveled to the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America state competition in Chattanooga and participated in various other design competitions in Nashville. While studying for his degree, Sam periodically has shows of his work throughout the region. He has shown digital prints at Tusculum College in Greeneville, at the Advisement Resources Center and in the Department of Art and Design at ETSU, and at Virginia Intermont College in Bristol. Sam enjoys showing his work and has served as an art director at a local coffee shop, giving other artists the opportunity to show their work. His art can also be found in collections of several local and regional galleries. Sam plans to attend graduate school, to work as a graphic designer, creative director, and printmaker, and eventually to teach in a university environment. In addition to art, he enjoys theatre, writing, music, and anything involving the outdoors. He is the son of Dr. Russell O. Mays, who teaches in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at ETSU, and Kathleen D. Mays, who works at the Jonesborough-Washington County History Museum. Larry Smith Larry Smith, a native of Athens, Tennessee, never “pictured” the direction his career would take when he received an assignment to Turkey with the U.S. Air Force. His friends convinced him to buy a good camera before he left, and he quickly fell in love with photography, channeling this passion into a path that led him to a position as Director of the East Tennessee State University Photo Lab. He enrolled at ETSU following four years in the Air Force and concentrated on sports photography. He studied with the late Professor Jack Schrader, and, as a student photographer, worked for the campus newspaper, the yearbook, and the Photo Lab. He graduated in the summer of 1978 and began full-time work with ETSU that same summer. Larry still loves to travel and photograph sports, and his job allows him that opportunity. He also enjoys portrait, scientific, and nature photography. His favorite hobbies are golf and gardening. Larry is the son of Lillian A. Smith of Athens and the late Robert L. Smith. He and his wife Linda are the parents of three children, Daniel, Sarah, and Geoffrey, and they are members of New Bethel Presbyterian Church, where Larry serves an elder and treasurer.