Even gone, they still hear his voice. One of CCU’s most impactful people and his legacy
To this day, Harry Titus Jr. still doesn’t know how Travis Overton found out he was considering leaving Coastal Carolina University. Yet, Overton’s intervention changed the young man’s life.
Overton may not have a building named after him at Coastal Carolina, but he is one of the most influential people in the university’s history. In his 17 years of service to the institution, Titus was just one of the hundreds of students Overton championed.
CCU announced Overton’s death to the university in an email Dec. 31, 2024. He was 42. He is survived by his older brother Christopher Overton, adopted brother Brandon Batts and their respective families.
A viewing will be held Jan. 17, 2025, at the New Generation Funeral Home in Antioch, Tenn., from 1-5 p.m. Scheduled for Jan. 18, 2025, a second viewing will be held at 11 a.m. before Overton’s funeral service begins at noon at the Bethesda Original Church of God in Nashville, Tenn.
Overton worked at Coastal Carolina since 2007. He served as CCU’s vice president for executive initiatives and chief of staff. In the years prior, he held many roles in student affairs, greek life, the university’s information service CHANT411 and as a faculty advisor for the African American fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc.
Coastal Carolina will hold a celebration of life event March 2, 2025, on what would have been Overton’s 43rd birthday, at 3 p.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium. CCU’s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha and the African American Initiative for Men will also hold a candle-lighting ceremony Jan. 24, 2025, at 6 p.m. for Overton at the front steps of the Edward M. Singleton Building on campus.
Harry Titus Jr. is the assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Lenoir-Rhyne University. He credits Overton’s influence with getting him there.
Overton called Titus into his office for an impromptu meeting after learning the student was considering leaving.
“I don’t know how he knew that, but he found me on campus,” Titus said.
The conversation convinced Titus to stay at CCU, but Overton’s impact went further. He became Titus’ mentor. Titus changed his career path, switching majors and dedicating himself to the same vision of higher education. His career has almost mirrored his guide’s.
It led Titus to get a PhD. He dedicated his dissertation to Overton, but Titus didn’t expect his advisor to appear in person when he defended his dissertation.
“I sent him the Zoom link for it, and he called me immediately. (He) was like, ‘Have you lost your damn mind? I’m not going to get on a Zoom. I will be there in person,’ and he showed up,” Titus remembered. “My career has really modeled his career for the most part so far up until this point … Every job, I’ve called him before I say yes to the job.”
Travis Overton sought people out and provided friendship and mentorship
Overton focused on preparing students and faculty members for their futures. He created a second family in the community he cared about, consistently motivating them to pursue their dreams.
Whether it was an ill student, someone thinking about leaving Coastal or helping a colleague pick their new car, Overton found them and ensured they were okay.
CCU Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Harrison saw this firsthand. Harrison started at Coastal in 2010 and worked closely with Overton. Harrison saw how he pushed people to fulfill their promise.
“The number of people who have said to me, ‘Travis was my person, dot, dot, dot.’... It is implicit in what they’re saying. How was he this for everybody?” Harrison said.
As his protege, Titus’ success was particularly sweet for both of them, considering the speed of his ascent.
When Overton hired his mentee at CCU, he predicted Titus would become a dean of students one day. The pair joked that the student had reached the position faster in his career than the teacher.
Titus told Overton he’d beaten him again when he became an assistant vice president at Lenoir-Rhyne.
The two regularly talked via phone or text and met as recently for dinner as Dec. 21, 2024.
However, there were others that Overton expected to fulfill their innate ability. At heart, Overton was all in with all the things he did.
He didn’t settle and had high expectations for those in his orbit.
Neither Titus nor CCU’s Associate Vice President of University Marketing and Communication Ashley Holloway could exactly pinpoint how Overton made so many strong connections.
The vast institutional knowledge he’d gained from more than 17 years working at Coastal Carolina helped. Holloway said Overton could be everywhere all at once.
“That’s why we’re all so devastated,” Holloway said. “We all felt like we had his heart.”
One way Overton managed being everywhere was through his role as faculty advisor for the African American fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. and his involvement with the African-American Initiative for Men. It brought him into contact with many, one of whom was current Coastal student Shaun Wyatt.
Wyatt met Overton through AAIM and got to know him better as an Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. member and later chapter president. Wyatt said Overton stressed solidarity among the young black men that he mentored. Titus added it meant a lot to Overton because that was his experience during college.
“He would always enforce that when you see each other, don’t just pass by like you don’t know them or anything like that. That just makes us another statistic,” Wyatt added. “Embrace that bond and embrace that brotherly love that we all have for each other and that we’re all friends and brothers.”
Overton frequently provided advice on all matters. Even down to the minute details, Overton had feedback on a speaker’s syntax and word choice during a fraternity event. Wyatt said he always made himself available if you needed help or advice.
“We don’t know when his day started. We don’t know when his date ended,” Wyatt added. “He will always make time for you ... always checking up on somebody and always making sure they’re not alone.”
Former CCU student Amos Wise also met Overton through AAIM. He said Overton taught a simple lesson on navigating an uncertain future. Don’t miss your mark; give a part of yourself when others need it.
“I will live my life in a life of love and compassion for everybody,” Wise concluded.
His ability to seek people out came from his family growing up, which shaped the empathetic man many met.
Titus says Overton often spoke of his late mother’s and stepfather’s influence. Overton reflected his parents’ values of honesty and caring.
He said that Overton would notice little things, like if someone had a new haircut or sounded down on the phone. It was in those small interactions that he showed he cared.
“He just filled in the gap where it was, where the work was needed,” Titus added.
Listen to Travis Overton sing here
One of Overton’s greatest passions was bringing joy to those around him, and he did that through his love for music.
It was one pastime Overton made time for. Conway’s Theater of the Republic planned to run the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” in October 2023. Executive Director and Artistic Director Tim McGhee received an email from Overton asking if he could audition.
The pair had never met before the audition, but Overton “blew away” McGhee with his bass voice. Overton got the role of Audrey II. A gigantic plant, the character is the show’s main antagonist and eventually eats the entire cast.
While out of character to play a villain, fellow cast member Emily Martel said he relished playing the part.
She added his first words during the musical were “feed me,” which elicited hysterical laughter from the audience.
Of Overton’s many passions, music was one of his most important, permeating much of his life. Overton named his dog after the main character of his favorite movie/musical, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Harrison said Overton’s colleagues honored him with a slideshow of photos accompanied by the musical’s soundtrack.
Overton’s love of music came from where his mentorship of others came from. It was an additional opportunity to move them and bring joy.
“Travis was seeing in people an expression of who they were, and people reaching for a dream and seeing something deeper inside them,” Harrison added. “Expressions via art and music, there’s no better way to do that, and it certainly was something that obviously mattered to him all the time.”
Music brought Overton and Alyssa Frison together. She enrolled at CCU in 2007, earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Coastal and now works as a choral director in Fort Worth, Texas.
Frison’s first year at Coastal coincided with Overton’s. The pair first met through their appreciation of gospel music. Frison sang in the Coastal Inspirational Ambassadors gospel choir, and she met Overton at her first concert in 2007, where he praised her singing.
“At the time as a little country girl from Coward, South Carolina, a little town with no stop light, no big grocery store chain, first-generation college students for my family,” Frison said. “It was just nice seeing somebody who looked like me and who was kind of country like me.”
When Frison performed a jazz-inspired version of Overton’s favorite number from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory — “Pure Imagination”— Overton closed his eyes while he sat, taking in the music. He later congratulated her after the performance.
For a time, Frison didn’t know Overton could sing, but she soon found out. Overton hosted two gospel choir sing-out events, and he shocked the crowd when he began to sing at one of them.
He chose “Thank You” by Walter Hawkins, and Frison and the others watched his performance with surprise. When he either didn’t know or forgot some lyrics, Overton’s humor kept the audience engaged.
“Travis said, ‘I don’t know all those words,’ and we died laughing,” she said. “It was a beautiful moment and a coming together of just all the hearts and minds that were in that room for that concert. It set the tone for us to come out and do our worship set with so much joy in the building.”
His love of music extended to his work at Coastal. Whether singing the school’s alma mater or performing Christmas Carols at a party, he brought his dedication to the university.
If Coastal Carolina had a problem, Travis Overton fixed it
Coastal Carolina President Michael Benson called Overton CCU’s Swiss Army knife because he could perform many different tasks. Benson recognized Overton’s value to Coastal early on.
Overton was CCU’s mechanic, and he could diagnose and fix a problem using a tool from his belt.
“It’ll take multiple individuals with clear focus to be able to pick up the pieces,” Benson added. “If there was an area on campus that needed attention or needed supervision, or needed kind of a shot in the arm, as it were, Travis, was it.”
Benson said these qualities made Overton a perfect college president for a smaller college.
He added that Overton planned to enroll in a PhD program in the fall of 2025 to pursue becoming a college president someday.
Benson said Overton was leaning toward the doctorate program at Clemson University and was an example of what higher education provides.
“(He needed) a smaller campus where you have an impact on students every day ... I really saw him marked for that opportunity,” Benson said. “I quote George Washington Carver all the time. ‘Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.’ It’s a very powerful message that, in many ways, Travis in his life embodied.”
His life included many responsibilities. As ‘VPO,’ Overton’s portfolio covered nearly every aspect of the university. He also dedicated himself to the city CCU called home. Since 2021, he served as the vice president of the non-profit Conway Downtown Alive’s board of directors.
Conway Downtown Alive Executive Director Hillary Howard wrote in an email that Overton built a bridge between the university and the city. He often volunteered and offered to help lighten other’s load.
When needed, Overton provided some of his trademark humor. She added that the organization will formally recognize his efforts in due time.
“I could go on and on recounting the numerous ties that Travis wove to bind the University and Conway, but that would take hours,” she wrote.
He often found inventive ways to stay productive.
Harrison said Overton’s day wasn’t over even when the self-described ‘pup dad’ went home to let his dog Charlie out. It wasn’t uncommon for Overton to work late into the evening, send emails past midnight or take a work call while simultaneously at Sonic’s drive-thru.
“He’d order a slushy or some tots or whatever, and without skipping a beat, right back into the thing we were talking about, of note, of seriousness,” Harrison said. “I truly don’t understand how he had the hours in the day.”
Travis Overton was Coastal Carolina’s evangelist. Here was his dream for Coastal
Overton dedicated himself to CCU because he believed in the institution and its potential.
“He showed us a way,” Harrison said. “We owe it to Travis and to this place to try and achieve the dream of Coastal that he wanted us all to see.”
Harrison said Overton’s work at first-year orientations showed his passion for Coastal.
While Overton was on stage, he would sometimes stop his presentation if he spotted a student in the crowd wearing a shirt from a different school. Overton quizzed the freshman in front of everyone.
“He would walk up to the student or from the stage, and say to the student, ‘Excuse me, do you go to University of whatever, the College of whatever?’” Harrison remembered. “They remember him from this, and there’d be this lovely and wonderful exchange.”
Harrison said the bit intended to make a point in a fun way. Sometimes, he had a shirt already available to trade.
Holloway also saw his dedication to the school. She started working for Overton in December 2022 and said he truly believed in what Coastal could become someday.
CCU has a weekly tradition called Teal Tuesday. Students and faculty wear the school’s primary color, and Holloway said Overton ensured everyone participated and knew the alma mater. Coastal will hold a special Teal Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, with limited edition shirts available. All proceeds will go to a student benevolence fund partially named after Overton.
“Travis gave his whole self to everything that he did. He didn’t do anything halfway,” Holloway said. “When it came to his time here at Coastal, he just gave his whole self to it, and people knew that it was real and that it was genuine.”
Howard added one of Overton’s most significant achievements for Conway Downtown Alive was implementing a Teal Tuesday for the city.
Overton’s legacy endures with his students and colleagues. He taught them what to do.
When he learned of Overton’s passing, Titus could hear his teacher spurring him on.
“I just could hear him saying, ‘Get your ass up. There’s a world out there to change,’” Titus said. “He just wasn’t a complainer. He was a doer. He was a fixer.”
