ATI Special Report Not Just Textile Leaders A look at some famous College of Textiles alumni outside the industry.Many influential industry leaders have graduated from the N.C. State College of Textiles. Rather than list the Colleges more well-known success stories, ATI decided to highlight those former textile students who chose to pursue careers outside textiles.So the next time you tune to CNN or go to the record store, dont be surprised if the person that you are seeing or hearing turns out to have been a textile student. General Henry H. Shelton, Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of StaffGeneral Henry H. Hugh Shelton, U.S. Army, became the 14th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1, 1997. In this capacity, he serves as the principal military advisor to the president, the secretary of defense and the national security council. Prior to becoming chairman, he served as commander in chief of the United States Special Operations Command.Shelton was born in Tarboro, North Carolina. He received his bachelors of science degree in Textile Engineering from N.C. State University. His civilian education includes a masters of science degree from Auburn University and completion of the National and International Security Program at Harvard University.He was comissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry in 1963 through ROTC. Shelton completed two tours in the Vietnam, where he was a member of Detachment B-52 (Project Delta) and commanded Detachment A-104, 5th Special Forces Group, and a company in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He was also deployed to Saudi Arabia and participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Most recently he served as the Joint Task Force Commander during Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti.Shelton and his wife, the former Carolyn L. Johnson, have three sons: Jon, a special agent, U.S. Secret Service; Jeff, an Army captain; and Mark, a student at Florida State University. John Edwards, U.S. SenatorLast year, John Edwards won a heated and much publicized race against Senator Lauch Faircloth to become a Democratic U.S. Senator for the state of North Carolina. The senate campaign was Edwards first run for public office.Edwards was born in Seneca, S.C., in 1953, and grew up in Robbins, N.C. His father worked in textile mills for 36 years. His mother had a small furniture refinishing business.He was the first in his family to go to college, working his way through N.C. State and earning a degree in Textile Management. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a law degree. While at Chapel Hill, he met his wife, Elizabeth. They have two daughters, Kate, 16, and Emma, born April 24, 1998.Edwards began practicing law in Raleigh in 1982 and established his own firm, Edwards and Kirby, in 1993. He earned a national reputation in 1997, when he represented a nine-year-old girl from Cary who had been maimed three years earlier by a faulty swimming pool drain.For their work on the case, Edwards and his law partner, David Kirby, were awarded the Association of Trial Lawyers of Americas Steven J. Sharp Public Service Award. Lawyers Weekly U.S.A. named the two among its eight national Lawyers of the Year in 1996. John Tesh, EntertainerSince leaving his hometown of Garden City, New York, John Tesh has taken a different approach to a career as a musician. He grew up in a musical family and started playing piano and trumpet at age six.In high school garage bands, he played covers of Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull and other progressive rock groups. He was named to the New York Symphonic Orchestra and he studied with the instructors of the Julliard School of Music.From there, Tesh went to N.C. State, where he studied music and communications. While at State he also took courses at the College of Textiles.After college, Tesh worked as an investigative reporter, then as news anchor. He was hired as a sports commentator by CBS, which took him to Europe to cover womens gymnastics and the Tour de France bike race.In 1987, while reporting on the Tour de France bike race, Tesh composed an original score to accompany the networks coverage. This musical score gained Tesh his first widespread attention as a musician and composer.Tesh was also co-host of the syndicated news magazine Entertainment Tonight.It was the 1995 Live At Red Rocks concert and video that catapulted Tesh into the mainstream. This one-time concert was one of public televisions most lucrative pledge drive shows ever.Two years later, in 1997, Tesh returned to public television with The Avalon Concert. And like Red Rocks before it, the Avalon album quickly hit the number-one spot on Billboards New Age Chart.Tesh is married to actress Connie Selleca.January 1999
