The fifth annual RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner is set for Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport. The Voice of the Colonials and a 2012 inductee into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame, Chris Shovlin, will serve as emcee to induct 10 former student-athletes who make up the 27th annual class.
In a special series leading up to the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner, veteran Pittsburgh sportswriter Joe Bendel takes a closer look at each of the inductees.
Moon Township, Pa. – At the CVS Pharmacy in Gainesville, across from the University of Florida, Amanda Graham moves at a frenetic pace. She has prescriptions to fill, customers to attend to and sales to finalize as the pharmacy manager.
Her mission is to oversee the No. 1 CVS in the region.
"We're all on the same team, but we're kind of competing against each other, too," Graham said, laughing. "That's a known thing. Everything we do gets measured, like the amount of time it takes to fill a prescription, how many patients we retain, how many refills we produce ..."
So, how does Graham's store compare with the others?
"We're first in the district," she said.
Of course they are.
For anyone who observed Graham on the volleyball floor or in the classroom at
Robert Morris University from 2007-10, her professional success should come as no surprise. She was a three-time All-Northeast Conference First Team pick as a middle blocker, and graduated with a 3.99 grade point average in Nuclear Medicine Technology.
Uber-competitive, this retail pharmacist still bristles about missing out on a 4.0 by 1/100th of a point.
"It was in bio-lab my freshman year," said Graham, who had just one B throughout high school and college. "At my graduation, I told the professor who gave me that A-minus about it."
A native of Melbourne, Fla., Graham laughed after making the statement, but it underscores her desire for perfection. It also explains why she was a shoo-in for the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame. She will be inducted, along with nine other former student-athletes, on Feb. 2 at a ceremony at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport.
"I was honored and surprised when I found out," said Graham, who goes by her married name, Rivett. "It made me appreciate the people I played with and what we did in my four years there. It's amazing how that's prepared me for where I am now."
Graham ranks third all-time at RMU in attack percentage (.331) and total blocks (438), while also holding single-game marks in attack percentage (.792) and service aces (7). She left the program as the career leader with 358 block assists and ranks seventh with 1,107 kills.
(Attack percentage is calculated by taking a player's kill total and subtracting their errors, i.e. getting blocked or hitting the ball out of bounds. Just like in baseball, .300 is considered a good number.)
"Amanda was always moving, always going. There was never a time when she was standing still," RMU head coach
Dale Starr said. "She wanted the ball, and when we needed a play, we looked to Amanda to make one."
Perhaps the most noteworthy accomplishment of Graham's career is the fact she became the first RMU female student-athlete, regardless of sport, named an Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Starr, who coached Graham for just one season, needed little time to realize that the 6"2' all-star was a transcendent athlete.
"I don't know if you ever look at a kid and say, 'She's going to be in the Hall of Fame one day,' because those kids don't come around very often," he said. "But you can look at some and say, 'That's one of the best players I've seen.' She was one of the best."
In a career full of great performances, one that stands out to Graham occurred in her senior season. In an NEC Tournament semifinal versus LIU, with the match tied at two-apiece, RMU came alive in the fifth and final set thanks to an inspiring effort by Graham.
After rotating to the front row, she registered two quick blocks and a ferocious kill. The Colonials rode that momentum to a 15-10 victory and advanced to the championship game.
"I remember thinking, 'This is now or never,'" Graham said. "If we lose, my college career is over. I laid it all out there."
Unfortunately, the Colonials lost in the NEC final the next day to Sacred Heart, quashing Graham's dream of competing in an NCAA Tournament.
"It was horrible," she said. "If I could have had my career end after a game, it would have been after the semifinal. That would have been the cherry on top."
Despite her success on the volleyball court, Graham was an even better soccer player in high school. In fact, she thought her college future would revolve around kicks, not kills. The plan changed, however, when she was accepted into the Orlando Volleyball Academy her senior year. Though she barely got an opportunity to play (she was relatively new to the sport and the academy was brimming with talent), college coaches liked what they saw of her on film.
After taking recruiting trips to Florida State, Auburn and Georgia State, Graham was set on walking on at FSU. But thanks to a nudge from her mother, Kim, she decided to visit RMU.
"I got a call from (former coach) Rob Thomas, who had never seen me play but saw my recruiting tape," Graham said. "I didn't want to go, but my mom said you have one trip left, so go and try it. You have nothing to lose."
The rest is history.
"It was the best visit I had," she said. "Nobody was trying to put on a show, and Rob Thomas was so down to earth and complimentary that it caught my attention. I committed two days later, right before I graduated high school. I'd say it worked out pretty well."
Things worked out so well that Graham even met her future husband on campus. She and Tony Rivett, who played on the men's club volleyball team, dated throughout college and are now the proud parents of 18-month-old son Graham.
"Robert Morris has played such a key role in my life," she said. 'And I feel more than thankful to be going into the Hall of Fame."
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