Carol Prosser sits at a gaming computer in UTC’s Esports Complex. Photo by Nathan Webb.
Over the last decade, esports has seen a dramatic rise in popularity worldwide. It has reached the point where there are now professional esports teams that compete against each other, and colleges and universities are recruiting and funding their own teams.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is no different. UTC’s own esports team officially began competing in spring 2022, playing games such as Call of Duty, League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League, among others.
However, those around UTC may not even realize that they have an esports star walking around campus. Rising senior Carol Prosser is one of the world’s top female League of Legends players.
The youngest of four siblings from Connecticut, Prosser remembers always playing and being around video games, which eventually led her to her signature game.
“It was either a Game Boy or an Intelevision or a Game Cube,” Prosser explained. “There was just always something. What got me into League [of Legends] in particular was when a bunch of friends were like, ‘Oh, there’s this free game you should try. It’s a free download.’ I was like, ‘All right, cool.’
“I tried it and oh gosh, that was a bad decision,” she joked. “That’s what got me into that game in particular.”
Fast forward to today, and Prosser has seen herself rated as the highest-ranked female user for the League of Legends character, Xerath. However, she remains humble about it.
“To be fair, he’s not a very popular character with women. He’s not really a fun design. He’s just magic energy and rocks compared to the muscular men or pretty ladies in the game,” she said. “I think it’s a hard sample to say, but from what I have seen and what the ranking systems were, I am the No. 1 with Xerath.”
Prosser now calls Riceville, Tennessee, home, a small city just an hour north of Chattanooga that has “only got 700 people in it.” After taking five years off from school after graduating high school, she started her education by taking online courses through the University of Cincinnati before transferring to UTC.
It was during her time at Cincinnati that Prosser realized she wanted to pursue esports, both as a coach and a student-athlete.
“They had a League of Legends club, which also had the League of Legends esports team; I always thought it was pretty interesting,” she explained. “I wanted to play it, but I was a remote student and they wanted in-person students.
“I looked into UTC’s eSports program because I saw that they had one, but they didn’t really have a league team. I reached out to the esports coordinator, Chase (Daffron), and I asked him about it, and he’s like, ‘Oh, there isn’t really a coach right now.’ I asked, ‘What are the qualifications?’ He said, ‘Do you want to be a coach?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ and here I am. It wasn’t really the intention. I just wanted to join a crew, but I guess this works out perfectly fine, too.”
Carol Prosser stands with fellow UTC gamers in the UTC Esports Complex. Photo provided by Carol Prosser.
Prosser is currently pursuing a double major in accounting and finance in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business and is expected to graduate sometime around 2027 or 2028, “give or take.” She hopes to use her experiences and what she has learned to help people by building her own financial support business.
“I was poor all my life, but I saved up, worked really hard, paid off debts and got my first home when I was 21 as a single woman,” she said. “I know that other people can, too, if they have the knowledge, the education and the help because a lot of the time people just have vices. My business will be focused on helping people with their vices. So it’ll be more therapeutic—and then also helping them with their finances at the same time.”
UTC Associate Professor of English Sarah Einstein, an avid gamer herself, brought Prosser’s story to light and was glowing about her personality and character.
“Carol is hugely enthusiastic and she just jumps in,” said Einstein, who oversees the University’s narrative design minor. “If there is a project or something happening, I can always count on Carol to volunteer.
“I run a Discord server for the narrative design students, and somebody was asking questions about an install of this really old game that somebody is bringing back for research purposes. Carol was the one walking that person through how to make it work on her computer. When we have game jams, Carol’s there and she’ll bring people. She is exactly the sort of good campus citizen that I think exemplifies the UTC student.”
When asked about how someone of Prosser’s skill and status in the League of Legends community could improve the reputation and success of the UTC esports program, Einstein finished up the conversation with a quick and simple answer: “By winning, which fortunately she does a lot.”
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