The end of an era.
Is there ever something in life that you know is inevitable but for the life of you, you can never imagine it? That’s kind of where I’m at right now. After over a decade (REALLY?????), I am no longer the site manager of From the Rumble Seat. I officially made the decision to step down prior to Football season and said that it would be my last on staff here at FTRS.
All the way back in February 2014, I saw an opportunity. What was then called Talking Chop (the Atlanta Braves SBN site now called Battery Power) posted an advertisement that they were looking for writers. As a budding journalism major at the University of North Georgia (before I transferred), I hopped at the opportunity to be considered. Never heard back. But when I applied for that, I also reached out to other SBN sites just to see if they were looking for writers. I reached out to a couple of other sites, including of course Joey Weaver here. And well, the rest is history.
In the time I’ve been here, I have seen this site go through a lot, and I am proud to be able to say that I have been able to contribute to the legacy of From the Rumble Seat. I want to say thank you to Joey for taking a chance on a kid who really hadn’t done much writing up to that point. Writing for FTRS really shaped a lot of my own experiences throughout college, and I wouldn’t be who I am today if I had never stuck my neck out there. So thank you, Joey.
I also want to thank those who have written for FTRS over the years. I’m not going to try and name all of them because I would almost certainly leave somebody out, and I would hate to do that. The writers here are what make FTRS what it is. The content you all have put out have helped make FTRS one of the best Georgia Tech sites out there.
Lastly, I want to thank the readers of FTRS. Thank you for always coming back even when things were slow. You all make the Georgia Tech community what it is, and I’m eternally grateful for you all.
So what comes next?
Well, I’m glad you asked. For me, I’m going to continue to progress in my real big-boy job. I took a promotion this past July and am planning to start my doctorate in 2026. I’m at a really great spot, and this just feels like the right time to make this transition.
As far as things here go, I am excited to announce that the new site manager of From the Rumble Seat is none other than Jack Purdy. Jack has been nothing short of an incredible asset to From the Rumble Seat. His passion for all things Georgia Tech is evident in every single thing that he does, and I am confident that he will do a great job with FTRS. I honestly cannot imagine better hands to leave FTRS in.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all for 11 great years at FTRS.
Joey Weaver: In early 2014, the site put out a proverbial “Help Wanted” sign as we sought to add to our staff. I got an email on January 24, 2014 from a Benjamin Tankersley, expressing interest in potentially joining the staff. Needless to say, I’m glad that I responded to that email. Ben’s writing was excellent (it had been honed during his time writing for another site), and his enthusiasm for Georgia Tech athletics was palpable (despite living in Athens at the time). He quickly assimilated into the staff and became one of the site’s prominent writers, and less than a year later I asked him to join me as Co-Manager of FTRS. Ben was a great teammate and partner, and gracefully took on more and more of the workload of managing the site as life slowly got more busy for me. When it ultimately came time for me to enter blogtirement in 2017, that decision was made much easier knowing that Ben was still in place and could keep driving and leading the community that we’d worked so hard to build over the prior several years! Ben has been incredibly gracious to let me keep hanging around with the staff for my periodic contributions (and for daily camaraderie in our group Slack, still to this day!), and has continued to do an awesome job as a writer and manager in those 7+ years since.
Ben – thanks for sending me that email 11 years ago. You’ve done an amazing job, and it’s been a joy working with you around FTRS for the last decade-plus! Congratulations on your own blogtirement, and I wish you the very best on whatever comes next!
Chris Paschal: Ben was the very first person I talked to at FTRS back when I applied as a writer in 2018 and right away he was awesome. Since then I’ve seen him work incredibly hard to build up this thriving community and it’s impossible to overstate the impact he’s made. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes to run a blog like this one and Ben’s enthusiasm for doing all the little things right is a huge part of why it’s successful and why I still enjoy creating #content alongside him. Thanks for everything Ben, and enjoy your retirement!
Maggie Scroggs: Ben, thanks for giving me a shot at writing here at FTRS! You have done an incredible job and it’s been great working with you! Best of luck to you in the future, and Go Jackets!
Jake Patterson: I was a teenager from North Carolina with a passion for writing and Georgia Tech athletics when I applied for a job compiling the “Technical Tidbits” three times a week. Ben guided me through the process of starting with From The Rumble Seat and was so welcoming as I figured out exactly how to share my love for Georgia Tech sports with our fun corner of the internet.
Ben, thank you for being an incredibly kind person with a passion for creating a strong community, both for readers and among writers. Thank you for all of your work and all of the joy you provide. You’ve done some incredible things thus far in life, and I know that you will have so much more success ahead of you. It has been so much fun getting to know you over the past few years and I’m grateful to be able to call you a friend (even if we’ve never met in-person, it speaks to the community you’ve had such a hand in creating). Congratulations on your successful tenure here at FTRS and I look forward to seeing how you prosper in the future!
Nishant Prasadh: I applied years ago mostly just because I missed writing after my Technique days, and to this day I’m very glad that Ben decided to bring me on board. I’ve been perpetually impressed with his continual drive to both grow the writing staff and to expand the range of content that the site covers. He’s done tremendous work to create a thriving community here, making the site a comfortable home for everything from solid analytical content to extreme [Styx]posting. Our internal Slack has been a genuine comfort zone for me for years, and it’s also been a great place to get to know him better and learn what a genuinely amazing person he is outside of sports stuff. So to wrap it up… Ben, thanks for leading the charge for so long, and I’m looking forward to seeing what amazing things are in store for you in the future–and to maybe someday facing you in a Pokemon battle again, because you absolutely deserved to win the last time we faced off.
Drew Gordon: Ben reached out to me to ask to be a writer for FTRS because I was one of the few people crazy enough to post about Brian Gregory-era GT basketball. Ben held my hand in the early days and always helped out when needed. He is unerringly kind to everyone and a passionate fan. He has transformed FTRS through his leadership. He stuck through good times and bad for the Jackets. I know how time consuming it was for him to run this all of these years and appreciate everything he’s done for all of the writers. Good luck to Ben on whatever comes next!!
Jake Grant: I went looking for the exact email, but it is now lost to the sands of time in my inbox. Anyhow, my application and interest in writing for From the Rumble Seat was generally born of sitting at Woody’s every morning reading the new stories posted to the blog, which had the particularly great attribute of being free, and wondering why no one was talking about Tech’s two best sports teams at the time (golf and women’s tennis) or its best venue (O’Keefe Gymnasium). Ben (and Joey and Cade, who were site co-managers at the time) took a shot on a random guy with no writing experience, a lot of passion, and a bit too much free time as a freshman in college – to say that I was a green writer was definitely an understatement. I think the world of Ben’s kindness, his mentorship, and his passion, and it has been an honor to be a part of such a grassroots staff that, I think, takes a ton of its energy and style from his good-hearted-yet-die-hard-fan form of style and substance. He gave me the freedom to write about things I was passionate about, a platform to suit my rambling writing and verbal style, and has led all of our community of staff, readers, and friends of the site through a tremendous 11 years of Georgia Tech athletics. I can say his stepping back into the sunset is well-earned and wish him all the best in what comes next – and hopefully it keeps him at least generally in our orbit!
Carter Templeton: Ben allowed me to continue writing at FTRS (for years!) after he took the reins, a decision he will have to live with for the rest of his life. In all seriousness, Ben was the perfect person to lead the blog for most of the past decade, and put together a hell of a staff to ensure it remains the best damn Georgia Tech blog out there. Enjoy blogtirement, and the beer’s on me next time you’re in town.
Stephen Murphey: After a year of toiling in the FanPosts, you gave me a shot to be a real writer for the 2017 season. While I didn’t keep at it for very long (maybe 2 full seasons?), I appreciate you letting me join this group of great Tech fans and giving me a platform to let my voice be heard. Best of luck in this next chapter, and we’ll be rooting for you and your family’s continued successes for years to come!
Jack Purdy: What can I say that these guys haven’t. Anyone who’s willing to let a guy like me run wild and do his best at amateur sports writing is a friend for life. After running into Jake and Akshay at the 2022 NCAA Swim & Dive Championships, which was one of my final events I covered as a student for The Technique, they let me in on the fact they could use some help covering women’s sports. Considering covering that women’s basketball team was one of my highlights of college, I couldn’t say no. I’m grateful Ben took me on, and I’m even more grateful to be next in line to keep this place great.
Ben (again): Well geez, not me crying over here. Thank you all for your very kind words. I am so grateful for all of the work each and every one of you has put in over the years, and I know that this site will continue to be successful because of you all. From the bottom of my hear (and from the rumble seat, sorry, had to), thank you and GO JACKETS!