by Billy Findley, copy editor
When dining, he prefers a ribeye steak right of the grill and smothered with butter and garlic. For entertainment, his first choice is college football (he’s a diehard University of Michigan fan). He loves vacationing in the West, especially Arizona and Colorado, he’s done a little four-wheeling and he’s even arrested, YES arrested, a couple of felons on campus at Bob Jones University (Greenville, S.C.).
This is Bryan College President Steven Livesay, and his is a story most students probably would not expect. Before being the head man at Bryan, and even before completing a doctoral degree, Livesay says he was a competitive high school athlete living in Phoenix.
“I was the youngest of five kids, including two older brothers, so I learned to fend for myself pretty quick,” Livesay says.
He grew up with a passion for basketball. He says that in high school he would run five miles every other day and do anywhere from 100 to 150 pushups on days he didn’t run. He played for a 5A high school.
In college he applied for work as a security guard at Bob Jones University. He steadily worked his way up to a top security officer and was asked to join the SWAT team on campus.
“I learned a lot about human nature while on that job,” Livesay says. “We did a lot of training and a lot of rapelling.”
Saturdays were spent at target practice, the first half of the day spent shooting and the other half breaking down the weapons. One practice, while learning to handle a new weapon, an Ithaca 12-gauge semiautomatic shotgun, he came within inches of killing a man when he accidentally pulled the trigger without realizing the gun had already loaded another shell.
“You’re never the same after something like that,” Livesay said.
However, he did have a moment to shine when he caught two felons who had jumped the university fence one night. He knew they were around after hearing about it through a police scanner, and he found them via a trail of blood he discovered coming from the fence. He pulled his weapon and arrested them both.
Livesay was a high school teacher and a track and basketball coach for 10 years before he did his doctoral work at the University of Michigan. As a basketball coach he led his team to a state championship for which he is still quite proud. Following teaching high school, he started teaching at Belhaven College (Jackson, Miss.). He went on to become the vice president for Institutional Advancement at Belhaven.
He was prodded on to the take the job of Bryan College president by the president at Belhaven College.
“I was comfortable at Belhaven, too comfortable,” Livesay says. “But, I asked God to lead me and to use me however he wanted to. That’s just the way I’ve lived my life.”
Since coming to Bryan in February of 2003, Livesay has demonstrated his passion for new ideas and achieving goals. According Margie Legg, executive assistant to the president, Livesay has played a part in literally dozens of significant projects including the renovation of the cafeteria, the vast expansion of the Aspire program, the establishment of a wireless campus and the addition of several majors including Film Technology, Politics and Government and Christian Thought.
“We would not be where we are today without his vision,” Legg says.
“I love new things. I love this college and I love talking about this college to parents and donors,” Livesay says.
As a motivation for students, Livesay says for students to give life everything they’ve got because working hard will pay off.