1997 AJC Article

No argument about it, Cyclone whirls to top

The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution

Thursday, June 12, 1997

Author: Cory Sekine-Pettite

When Alexander Cyclone Covey walks into a room, people notice.

With his football player physique and piercing eyes, which are often hidden behind aviator sunglasses, one might consider his name appropriate. With one whirling movement and without warning he could tear a room apart.

But this is not the case. Covey seems to be as docile as they come. He is no ordinary gentle giant, however. The recent Woodward Academy graduate has an extremely quick mind.

"I have two stories I tell people about where my name comes from," Covey said, "the short version and the truth."

The truth is he was named after his grandfather, whose father once worked for a Texas congressman named Cyclone. The name has since been passed down to every male.

Call Covey a smart person and he probably won't argue with you, but debate him on any other issue and you are likely to find yourself on the losing side.

Best of the best

Covey was recently named top individual debater at the Richard B. Russell All-State Debate Championships, which matched the best debaters from Class A through Class AAAA in head-to-head competition.

The Woodward senior and teammate Todd Fine, both from Morrow, defeated AAAA state champion Northside High School to take the team title as well. It was Woodward's first all-state victory.

"I don't think it was very hard," Covey said of the competition. "I like to talk about controversial things."

This future law school student loves to write about them, as well. He has written several editorials in his high school's newspaper, The Blade, on such topics as drugs and AIDS.

Covey refuses to take all the credit for the school's victory. He said he owes a great deal to his coach and to the organizer of the debate program at Woodward Academy.

"We were bad before (coach Frank Seaver) came," Covey said. "And (debate program coordinator) Paula Nettles is responsible for keeping it going."

This year's topic was the federal government's responsibility to reduce juvenile crime. Covey and his teammate argued for and against drug legalization.

You could say that Covey was born to debate. His parents were on debate teams in high school, and his grandfather won a national high school debating competition.

But Covey doesn't consider it a family tradition to argue competitively. He has another reason for joining the debate team

"I argued a lot with teachers when I was little," said Covey, who had been on the debate team since his freshman year. "I figured this was a good way to continue."

Ready for college

And continue he will. Recently, Covey took his talents to Wake Forest University, where he will be debating at a much higher level.

"Wake Forest was my first choice because they have a good debate team," Covey said.

In fact, the school recently won a national collegiate debating competition.

He turned down a scholarship to West Georgia State University to join that team.

"I'm looking forward to it," Covey said, "but I don't think the dorms will be much fun."

In preparation for college life, Covey spent his senior year taking advanced placement courses in Spanish, U.S. government, statistics and English literature.

And unlike most students who take the summer off before starting college, Covey has decided to jump right in.

"I want to get it over with as soon as possible," he said.

Computer science is what Covey said he wants to major in before attending law school. Getting a law degree, he said, is his parents' idea, but he does not want to be a lawyer.

His parents, Chris and Janet Covey, run Sadisco of Atlanta, a vehicle storage and auctioning company that works with insurance companies.

"I'll most likely just take over my family's business," Covey said.