Powerade and Food City are bringing fan-favorite Zakai “Ziggy” Zeigler for a meet and greet at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at Food City Deane Hill, 284 Morrell Road in West Knoxville.
“Excited for this one,” said special projects manager Betsi James.
Zeigler and Vol Jahmai Mashack, both senior guards, just made the elite 15-player list for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. The award is sponsored by the Atlanta Tipoff Club/ Naismith Awards. Tennessee was the only school with two players on the watch list.
Zeigler gained semifinalist status each of the past two seasons. He is averaging 2.1 steals per game. The 5-foot-9, 172-pounder is the all-time steals leader in Tennessee history and his 228 takeaways rank No. 11 among active Division I players.
Ten Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalists will be revealed near the end of the regular season, with four finalists then announced during the NCAA Tournament.
Wearing Big Orange
Steven Jones and Joe Greene did the guy equivalent of “wearing the same outfit” at a recent event. Of course, Betsi James grabbed the photo.
Since Food City secured naming rights for the Tennessee basketball arena – Food City Center – associates have stepped up an already intense interest in all things Volunteer. Meet two team leaders:
Steven Jones was named district manager for District 8, the western district of the Knoxville operating division, in April 2021. He’s a grocery veteran with some 26 years of industry experience.
Jones joined the Food City team in 2005 as an assistant store manager for Food City in Halls Crossroads, in north Knoxville. In 2015, he was promoted to store manager for the Bearden Center store and later managed the original Pigeon Forge store before assisting with the opening and managing the company’s new Teaster Lane store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
As district manager, Jones is responsible for directing store operations for 11 Food City locations across Campbell, Roane, Anderson, Cumberland, Loudon, Rhea and Putman counties in Tennessee.
Jones is a graduate of Jefferson County High School in Dandridge, Tennessee, and attends Shady Baptist Church in Strawberry Plains, where his father serves as pastor. He and his wife, Maraya, currently reside in Knoxville and are the proud parents of four children.
Joe Greene is vice president of produce and floral operations at Food City. He was promoted to this post in 2023 after serving as a district manager for almost nine years. Before that he was a senior human resources specialist for 12 years.
In July 2023, a Food City produce manager, Skylar Leonard, of the store in Piney Flats, Tennessee, was one of 15 honored by the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA)
Joe Greene congratulated Skylar “on this well-deserved honor,” calling him a tremendous asset to both the company and the community as a whole.
Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City’s parent company) operates 157 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia and Alabama.
