These weren't his exact words, but 2016 Rotary Citizen of the Year David Ball said he got a degree in caring. The plainspoken, tie-eschewing former restaurateur who has made a career of volunteerism and fundraising for charitable causes came to Statesboro from Atlanta in 1974 as a student at what was then Georgia Southern College. Admittedly not a great student and admitted under a special studies program, he never completed a degree but decided to remain in Statesboro.