LET’S DANCE

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

Everything in Donovan Burriss' heart, mind and soul was shouting, "NOOOO!"

But when reigning grand ballroom winner and Baylor Championship Club member Kerry Irons asked Donovan if he would consider competing in "Dancing with the Waco Stars," the words that came out of his mouth were surprisingly, "Sure, I'd love to. I love dancing!"

"He heard me say yes, but my initial reaction was, 'I would never do that!''' said Burriss, who returned to Baylor Athletics in June 2022 as Director of Resource Development after previously serving in the Character Formation office from April 2019 to April 2021.

"But it was one of those things where this very tiny voice in my head was saying, 'Donovan, do this, because this is going to really push you so far outside of your comfort zone. This is going to show people how vulnerable you are. You are about to dance on stage as a scarecrow. This is so uncomfortable for you, and you know it. But you'll look back and say, that was a lot of fun. And it's for a bigger cause and purpose than you. That selflessness is why you should say yes.'''

Thursday night, Burriss will be paired with professional dance instructor Mandy Dudik in the Family Abuse Center's eighth annual "Dancing with the Waco Stars" that begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Waco Hippodrome.

With an overarching theme of Hollywood, Burriss (Scarecrow) and Dudik (Dorothy) will perform to a montage of songs from the original movie, "The Wizard of Oz," the 1978 release, "The Wiz," and the 2015 television adaption, "The Wiz Live!"

"There's nothing more Hollywood to me than 'The Wizard of Oz,''' Donovan said. "First movie ever made in Hollywood, in color. That was the initial idea, but then it rolled into, okay, but you also have 'The Wiz,' that features Diana Ross and Michael Jackson and a soundtrack that is completely different. It starts with the original 'Wizard of Oz,' and it's very slow. But then, it picks up with the soundtracks that were done in 'The Wiz.' That was 100% Mandy's idea. And I'll say this, I fall down a lot."

This year's list of contestants also includes Baylor professors Rod Sturdivant and David Pooler; Cassandra Nunley, wife of longtime Baylor basketball radio and TV analyst Pat Nunley; former Baylor songleader Kristen Knapp; and Carroll Fadal, another Championship Club member and former VP and Chief Sales Officer with Texas Life Insurance.

Former participants include Brad Livingstone, the "First Gent"; and Amy Rhoades, the wife of Baylor VP and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades.

"My first practice was so bad," Donovan said. "We practice at Joy School of Dance, which is for like 3- and 5-year-olds. We show up, and I remember there were a bunch of Disney princesses on the mirrors and coloring pages of Disney princesses all over the place. I'm walking in, and I'm like, 'Okay, what am I about to do?'

"There's an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, where Will Smith is on stage and he's dressed like a sunflower, with a bunch of little girls dancing around him. That's exactly what it feels like. It was very weird at first, facing a mirror and watching myself dance. But honestly, it's been a lot of fun."

You can still purchase tickets and/or vote for Donovan at Dancing with the Waco Stars. Every dollar donated is a vote for Burriss and Dudik, with 100% of the proceeds benefitting the Family Abuse Center. Tickets to the show range from $100 to a $500 VIP pass that includes dinner at the Palladium and access to the after-party back at the Palladium.

Not as much of a dancer growing up in Frederick, Md., Donovan split his time between football, baseball and track & field "my whole life." In college, he was an outside linebacker/defensive end in football and threw the javelin for Division III Frostburg State, earning his undergrad degree in exercise and sports science.

"My favorite football player is Von Miller (of the Buffalo Bills), just the way he plays," Donovan said. "He just plays with so much intensity. I was the guy that I'm not getting in there with the big heavies. When it was third-and-long, and you needed someone to get after the quarterback, that was when you could put me in the game."

GTK Donovan Burriss

Frostburg was where Donovan met his future wife, fellow javelin thrower Zoe Harris.

"First day at track practice, we're doing javelin drills. And I was like, 'She throws really far. I'm going to do whatever she does,' because she's doing all the drills right and I'm tripping over my feet," he said. "We were the only two javelin throwers, so we spent every single practice together. Every meet, we would always sit next to each other and help each other warm up. That's just how we got super close."

Zoe was also there to help Donovan with his rehab when he suffered a torn ACL "when I was probably doing something I shouldn't have been doing" after a track practice.

"That was the moment when I realized, 'Okay, sports can be taken away from you in an instant. So, what else are you going to do?''' he said. "I picked up a small business and management minor. And that's where I really found my love for business."

With an extra year of eligibility remaining, Donovan transferred to Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania and threw the shot put while completing a master's degree in sport management.

"The DII school I went to was smaller, but we had a few more resources," he said. "I remember thinking it was a big deal that we actually had a shed where you could get a protein bar. At DIII, you all go on the same bus for a track meet, you get $10 in meal money and the meals you get is peanut butter and a bagel."

At Hood College, a small Division III school in his hometown of Frederick, Md., Donovan wore more hats than he could count. As an intern in the athletics department, he worked on corporate sponsorships and doubled as a sports information director for track; worked with the throwers, jumpers and sprinters as a part-time assistant track coach; and also ran the strength and conditioning workouts.

"I made $2,500 per semester," he said. "I would be at the school at 5 a.m. to run the lifting, and then I would go up and intern with communications and with our AD until about 5 o'clock. And then, I would come back downstairs because that's when all of our student-athletes were getting out of classes. And I would run their practices the second half of the day."

Without any connections to Baylor, Donovan went online and saw that Baylor had an opening for a part-time character formation coordinator.

"I didn't know anybody here. I had no family in Texas," he said. "It was truly a Jeremiah 29:11 experience. We're just going to go for it and see what happens. My mom and dad and I, we packed up two cars and drove everything down. It was a 27-hour drive."

To avoid working a second job as a part-time employee for the first four months at Baylor, Donovan donated blood plasma up to three times a week "just so I would have money for groceries" and also sold some of his clothes to Plato's Closet.

Donovan was actually in the parking lot at Plato's Closet, waiting to take another bundle of clothes in, when he got the call from Cori (Pinkett) Bolts that he was being promoted to a full-time position as Character Formation Coordinator.

"I just broke down in the parking lot," he said. "I said, 'Wow, this is just so affirming.' I'm definitely here for a reason, to serve the student-athletes here. The Outback was right there, and I said, 'I'm going to get a steak! We're living it up today. And I'm getting a Bloomin' Onion, too.' They asked me if I wanted extra brown bread, 'Sure, throw it in there. It doesn't matter.'''

Working in Character Formation until April 2021, Donovan saw his role evolve where it became more "external-facing."

"It was a blessing working with Cori and Marcus (Sedberry), because they knew that long-term, I want to be a Director of Athletics," he said. "I did all the career and professional development for our student-athletes with the mock interviews, networking events and job shadows. And really, what they wanted me to do was to go out and find partners that wanted to serve our student-athletes, which is very similar to what I do now (in the Bear Foundation)."

Bolts, who's now on the executive team as Senior Associate AD for Student-Athlete Success, said Donovan joined the Character Formation team at a pivotal time.

"I had two team members transition earlier that summer and was a one-woman team (until Donovan went full-time)," she said. "He immediately made an impact and proved to be an invaluable asset. He built great connections with our students, brought innovative ideas for consideration and was the ultimate team player. He enhanced our mentor program, created and launched the START program, which provided micro internship opportunities to student-athletes, and made a lifelong impact on the students he served."

Needing to get experience in other areas, Texas A&M-Commerce gave Donovan the chance to "dive head-first into fundraising and development" as director for the Lion Champions Fund, with a focus on major gifts and philanthropic giving.

GTK Donovan Burriss

"Until we restructured some different things, I reported to our Director of Athletics and our Vice President for Advancement on campus," he said. "I mostly focused on the annual fund and major gifts. Our AD would focus more on corporate sponsorships, but I would help him with some of that as well."

That position helped prepare Donovan for his current role as Director of Resource Development that he took on in the summer of 2022.

"One thing Cori always challenged me with when I was in Character Formation was: 'Hey, you work in career development and you want to help our student-athletes have success in their college-to-career transition. But think about it in a non-athletic lens,''' he said. What are some other people doing that are doing the same thing as you? And then, how can you morph it to make it fit athletics? And that's the same thing I try to do in my day-to-day in the Bear Foundation."

Even though he's working outside the Character Formation space, Donovan has continued to strengthen his relationships with the student-athletes by going to the mock interviews and networking events.

"When they do Bears in the Workforce and they bring back former student-athletes for a panel discussion, I'll just go to those and sit in the back of the room," he said. "I just have to be around that so I can pull stories from that. And then, when they see me out and around practices or their games, they're like, 'Oh, that's Donovan. I sat with him during mock interviews for 15, 20 minutes.' So, that's really helped me."

Donovan and Zoe were married Aug. 25 in Grantville, Pa., "which is basically Hershey," and "cannot wait to be parents."

"We're not rushing anything, but we're really excited to take what so many people have given us in terms of knowledge, wisdom, how to care for people," he said. "And then, just pour all of that into a little one and just love on them. For now, our dog gets all of that."

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