A UCF Surprise I’ve Never Forgotten

Grant J. Heston writes about higher education branding, communications and leadership.

A year ago today (on President’s Day, fittingly), my friend and mentor, longtime University of Central Florida President John Hitt, passed away at age 82. This is one of my favorite UCF photos and Dr. Hitt stories.

In spring 2014, I assumed responsibility for UCF on-campus football game day operations: traffic, parking, security, tailgating and more. It was a big job.

The president’s assistant called one afternoon to say that Dr. Hitt wanted to meet with me immediately about game day operations. This was in the spring, months before UCF's first home game.

“How could I have screwed up already?” I asked myself on the way to his office.

Dr. Hitt and his chief of staff were waiting for me. “Let’s talk in the boardroom,” Dr. Hitt said in a tone more stern than welcoming.

“Holy crap, I must be in trouble,” I thought as he opened the side door in his office that led into the main boardroom.

An Award at UCF

To my complete surprise, the boardroom was filled with UCF colleagues, community partners and, most important, Erin Heston. It was a surprise, orchestrated by Roger Pynn, APR, CPRC, to tell me I had received the “PR Professional of the Year Award” from the Florida Public Relations Society.

This photo makes me smile because of 1) my dawning realization that this was NOT a UCF football meeting and 2) Dr. Hitt’s obvious delight in having tricked me so well. He always enjoyed doing the unexpected.

It was a wonderful surprise that I remember fondly. As a postscript: I led game day operations for six years, including three undefeated home seasons and one controversial UCF national championship—a story for another time :)

Grant J. Heston worked at the University of Central Florida (UCF) from 2007 to 2019.