Pittsburgh Pirates centerfielder Andrew McCutchen recently changed his Facebook cover photo to an image created by a senior graphic design student at University of Lynchburg.
In late October, Jacob Laverty ’16 noticed that McCutchen had announced a contest on Facebook and invited fans to submit ideas for a new cover photo. “I decided to jump on it. It was due the next day at noon,” Jacob said.
He started by looking at other baseball-related cover photos, including McCutchen’s own previous cover images. Most of them showed players smiling and looking at the camera; few showed athletes in action.
“I wanted to get him hitting a home run,” Jacob said. He found a photograph of McCutchen swinging the bat in a home run that helped the Pirates defeat the St. Louis Cardinals this summer. He turned that into the final design.
Jacob submitted the entry at 7 p.m. on a Saturday and learned that his design was selected the following evening.
Jacob plans to continue living and working in Lynchburg, his hometown, after he graduates in May. He plans to apply his graphic design skills as a business owner someday.
