By: Joey Mullins
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Today, we continue our series named the S-Club Profile, focusing on former student-athletes and giving updates on what they have been up to since finishing their Samford careers. In today's eighth edition, we will highlight Boyd Kaiser, who played on the men's basketball team from the 1996-97 season through the 1999-2000 season.
 
Kaiser grew up in the Birmingham area, attending Vestavia Hills High School. He caught the attention of the Samford coaches, however, while on a recruiting visit with a Samford opponent.
 
"John Brady started to recruit me really late," Kaiser said. "He didn't start to recruit me until I came to a game as a guest of a different team. I came as a guest of Campbell to a Samford game in town, and he saw me up in the stands and called me the next day. So, that kind of started the process late. I guess that was probably January or so of my senior year."
 
Kaiser said, growing up in the Birmingham area, he was aware of Samford, and even knew some of the players on the Samford team.
 
"Just from growing up around Birmingham, I had played pick up with some of the guys on the team before I came to Samford," Kaiser said. "I knew a few of the guys. I knew Joey Davenport from a team I played on that went to France in high school, and that was before he had committed to Samford. I think it definitely helped knowing some guys on the team, and their being successful. And then getting on campus and walking around for the first time, I really loved the campus and the people there."
 
Kaiser redshirted during the 1995-96 season, and then played as a redshirt freshman in 1996-97 under head coach John Brady. Following his redshirt freshman season, Brady left the program to become the head coach at LSU, and Jimmy Tillette was promoted to the head coaching position, installing the Princeton Offense.
 
In that sophomore season, the Bulldogs posted a 14-13 record, but the following year, the team had a breakout season. The 1998-99 basketball team went 24-6 overall and 15-1 in the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC), winning the regular season and tournament titles and earning the program's first NCAA Tournament bid. The Bulldogs then repeated as TAAC Tournament champions, earning a second-straight NCAA Tournament bid.
 
Following that sophomore season, Samford returned all but one player the following season. Kaiser credits that fact with the progress the team made in his junior season.
 
"That was really basically two years of having the whole group together to bond and work on everything on and off the court," Kaiser said. "It was just a great feeling to be the first team at Samford to ever do that. That group of guys had been around working so hard for the last couple of years. It was just a great feeling to be able to experience things that a Samford team had never experienced before, like having Selection Sunday in the gym with all of the students there. Our student support was so great, throughout the season and for that too, and then even some traveled with us down to Orlando. Then you roll into next year, add a couple of more pieces and get to go back-to-back, it was special."
 
Kaiser earned his business degree from Samford, and then went on to pick up is Masters of Business Administration (MBA). He was one of the first student-athletes admitted into the executive MBA program at Samford due to the work experience requirements for the program.
 
Following graduation, Kaiser went to work for Survey Capital, working with nursing homes on their finances. He was in that job for a short time before making a career change.
 
"We were in charge of making sure the nursing homes had their budgets in line and everything going well so they could keep running," Kaiser said. "I did that for about a year and a half, and I changed pretty quickly, and I've been in advertising ever since."
 
He now works for Martin Advertising in Birmingham. He is a Vice President Account Director. He talked a little about his duties with the company.
 
"I've always been on the account side of things, working with different clients," Kaiser said. "It's group advertising work for automotive groups. Then I took over all of our non-automotive clients, we work with Wal-Mart and All-State, Fifth-Third Bank, Ace Hardware. Now, since the pandemic, I've kind of rotated into a new role too. I'm still doing a lot of my account job with clients, but I'm also our digital buying team's operations person. Our digital department has gone from about three people to 60 in the last four year.  I'm trying to help them get lined up on how to operate, how to make it all work more efficiently and making sure we have the right people in the right spots."
 
Kaiser and his wife, Melissa still live in the Birmingham area. The couple has three children, Josh is a senior in high school, Kate is a sophomore and Chase is an eighth-grader.
 
Kaiser is still involved at Samford as well. He serves on the board of the S-Club, which has allowed him to stay in touch with his fellow former student-athletes. Additionally, for the last few seasons, he has served as the main color analyst for the ESPN+ broadcasts of Samford's men's basketball games.
 
"I'm involved with the S-Club, and I've been enjoying that for the last year and a half or so," Kaiser said. "I appreciate the opportunity to work on the ESPN broadcasts, which is an opportunity I would have never had, otherwise."
 
Kaiser has also been involved in the Christian missions field over the last 15 years. That is an interest that he says he developed at Samford.
 
"The Christian focus of Samford was something that I looked forward to," Kaiser said. "I didn't get to take a lot of trips, outside of basketball, to different places when I was in school. But, I've been going on trips to Ecuador for the last 15 years and I think that's a passion that started at Samford, for the mission field."
 
For more information on the S-Club, contact Hal Langston at hlangst1@samford.edu. For giving opportunities, please contact Maggie Rountree at mrountr1@samford.edu.