Across the table in his office, professor Ted Spiker holds a pair of tortoiseshell reading glasses in his hand. When he first purchased them at Walgreens, he thought they were distinct and interesting.
“I posted a pic of myself in these,” Spiker said.
“I wore a brown suit with a pink shirt. The pink shirt had white checks on it. Someone commented that I looked like the Neapolitan ice cream,” he said, chuckling.
Spiker, 45, came to the University of Florida in 2001. He teaches courses in Advanced Magazine Writing and Sports Media and Society at the University’s College of Journalism and Communications. Spiker was named the campus-wide Teacher of the Year for 2016-2017.
Most of the items Spiker carries are what one would typically find in the bag of a journalism professor: a laptop, a notebook, pens. However, some of its contents are unique to him with stories to match.
Spiker’s brown leather Coach messenger bag was a gift from his wife for his 40th birthday. He totes all his belongings in it, but that wasn’t always the case.
Spiker used to carry a backpack with too many items in it, for fear he would forget something. To simplify his life, he downsized from the backpack to the designer crossbody bag. The transition was effortless and beneficial.
During his earlier years at the University of Florida, Spiker taught an Applied Magazines course. The course required its students to produce content for Orange & Blue, a 36-page student-run magazine that comes out twice a year. Per the course syllabus, Spiker’s role was to “advise, coach and critique students in all areas of producing a magazine.”
A current issue of The Independent Florida Alligator (The Alligator), a student newspaper covering the University of Florida and Gainesville, has a place in Spiker’s bag. “I do critiques with a handful of the Alligator staff once a week,” said the Delaware native. Spiker reads through the newspaper and provides feedback on what the young journalists can do to improve, which he feels reflects their willingness to succeed in a tough job.
Spiker’s writing career began with a focus on health, fitness and nutrition. The former Men’s Health editor has worked on multiple publications with Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen.
In a robin’s-egg blue case, Spiker possesses a silver pen with the Caduceus symbol on it. The Tiffany pen was a gift from Drs. Oz and Roizen as a thank you for his contributions to the book “YOU: The Owner’s Manual.” The gift came with a note bestowing Spiker with an honorary medical degree for his work on the book.
Fitness is as much a part of Spiker’s professional life as it is his personal life. In 2013, the author of “The Runner’s Diet” participated in and completed the Florida Ironman course (112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run, 2.4-mile swim) in the allotted 17-hour time limit. Spiker is currently the writer for the Big Guy Blog for RunnersWorld.com, a forum he uses to share his fitness goals and his journey to accomplish them.
A thin black cord lay on the table, the charger cable to Spiker’s new Garmin watch. He had gathered together several birthday gift cards to purchase the pricey fitness-tracking device. Incorporating the use of the Garmin into his routine has aided Spiker in his ongoing quest to be a better and faster runner.
Spiker is aware that he is physically imperfect, and he has no problem poking fun at himself about it. In his book “Down Size: 12 Truths for Turning Pants-Splitting Frustration into Pants-Fitting Success,” he uses self-deprecating humor when mentioning the less-than-flattering comments people have made about his body shape. Spiker knows his flaws and doesn’t mind talking about them.
“I sweat like a son of a gun all the time,” Spiker said, flashing a corner of an old, dingy white golf towel in his bag. The towel comes in handy when he needs to dry off between meetings and classes. Although it’s a little on the worn side, and he knows he should probably get a new one, Spiker keeps the towel in his bag “at all times” because it’s convenient and perfect in size.
Spiker takes his work seriously but not himself. He is proud of what he’s accomplished in his career but also embraces his imperfections and oddities.
“I don’t feel like that’s very interesting,” he said as he placed the items back in his bag.