CARROLLTON -- A new Peachtree T-shirt legacy | News

CARROLLTON, Ga. -- From the Buckhead headquarters of the Atlanta Track Club, Director Tracy Russell retells a story she's shared dozens of times: "In the early days of the Peachtree Road race, they didn't order enough T-shirts, so it became this badge of 'I finished and I finished fast because I got a shirt."

The legacy of the Peachtree T-shirt is well-documented.

The recent domination by a small classroom is less well-known.

"I've joked with them; they should rename the design competition the Clint Samples design competition because he's dominated it for the last three years. The students have -- all credit to the students," said University of West Georgia President Beheruz N. Sethna.

He's talking about Art professor Clint Samples. His digital media class at the UWG includes most of the T-shirt finalists for the last three years. Out of 15, 10 came from his class.

The students call it the beginning of a legacy. He shrugs it off as a successful learning experiment.

"They've got to go out and compete in the real world and I saw this as a great opportunity for them to do that," Samples said.

PHOTOS: Peachtree Road Race 2010

The Atlanta Track Club accepts hundreds of design ideas from all over the state, a panel narrows it down to five, and online voting picks the winner, which stays a secret until July 4th. Last year's winner, UWG senior Allison Bennett, says that's the hard part.

"It's really hard keeping the secret," she said. "Super hard, especially when you can't even tell your mom or dad. But it's worth it when you get on the stage." The winner gets a $1,000 prize, but Bennett said the exposure is more important.

"This is on my resume," Bennett said. "55,000 people wore my design. And it has been a good connection to get me other paying jobs designing T-shirts and flyers."

This year, three of the designers in Samples' class are hoping for that call.

Jessica Ferguson's design was created by using paint and a palate knife. She scanned the thin paint into the computer to arrange the letters in order. It's a design that looks drastically different than past winning designs. "In the past, they had geared more towards having the peach and the skyline, but Clint said we didn't have to do that to be successful, so I went with something different," she said.

Alyssa Chitwood also used free form paint in her design. "I wanted to go with something patriotic, because I've been down to Lenox on that day, and that's what it's all about. But I also wanted to make it fun and modern," she said. She submitted two designs and the other one has already been chosen as the T-shirt design for the volunteer shirts.

Barbie Klimaszewski is a regular runner in the Peachtree Road Race. "I was looking at pictures from last year," she said. "And everybody was wearing their number, and everyone wants a T-shirt, so I wanted to incorporate the two. She printed a race number with the date in place of the bib number.

The competition is fierce, the criticism intense, the exposure HUGE, but most of all, these students just want someone from their class to win. "Oh, yeah," Bennett said. "I think we can keep it going. It's our legacy now. It's awesome."

Voting continues on the five T-shirt designs through the end of April. Click here to vote now.