It's time for the National pastime - Little Giant style

Headed to Texas today with Athletic Director Joe Haklin ’73.  We’ll join the baseball team, traveling parents, and local alumni for dinner tomorrow evening in San Antonio following a game in the afternoon in Seguin, Texas.

We’ll be in Dallas on Wednesday night for an alumni get-together as well.

Meanwhile the baseball team will continue their spring break road trip before coming back to campus.  They open the season at home on March 13, 2012.  First weekend home game is the following Saturday (3/17/12) at 1:00 PM.  You can follow all the action here.

The Calm Before The Storm

Wabash hosts the NCAC Indoor Championships this weekend.  I was in the Allen Center and caught a glimpse of all the high tech “stuff” they are setting up.  Gone are the days when we passed out stop watches for all and let it go at that!

Imagine 10 mens teams and 9 women’s teams involved – it will be exciting to say the least.  For more information, click here.

Go Little Giants!

Steve Coons ’63 and his brother Phil ’67 were on campus last night for a dinner with President White,  members of the Political Science Department, and three students who were Harold D. and Margaret Coons Public Affairs interns last year – Andre Adeyemi ’12, Nick Curosh ’12, and Alex Robbins ’13.

It was a great evening because it showed the very best of Wabash College.

Professors David Hadley, Ethan Hollander, Lexie Hoerl, and Kevin Marsh talked of the impact of the Coons Public Affairs Internships to the overall education of our young men. David and Lexie were just hours away from leaving on spring break immersion trips with their students but this was important – thanking the Coons family for making the internships possible.

Andre, Nick, and Alex spoke of the internships and their experiences.  Absolutely incredible.  National Public Radio, Planned Parenthood, the United States Congress.  It wasn’t simply these organizations but it was the in-depth opportunities, especially given the times, that our guys had.

Pat White mentioned these opportunities and others like them give our guys serious learning opportunities in classrooms near and far.

Thanks Steve.  Thanks Phil.  Some Little Giants!

Ray Knight '69 with a photo of his Porsche racing back in the 1950s

It’s pretty much the standard car guy love affair.  It happens to a lot of guys, Grunge included.

Here’s Ray talking about his Porsche back in its racing days at Wally at the Wheel.  The house was packed.  Yes there were a couple of seats up front – nobody sits in the front pew – but there was an overflow crowd in the back.

Ray literally rescued this car from a junk yard and spent years restoring it.  It’s a beauty.

The detail work is great - car is 61 years old!

Steve Charles does a great job – you and I KNOW that.  I’d put the Wabash Magazine up against any other at any time.  He’s a creative guy who really cares about what he does – the Wabash Magazine is a true labor of love for him.

So,  it was nice when I was greeted this AM with an email that mentioned a Facebook post by Steve’s sister, Kelley Poynter.

“My middle brother, Steve Charles, works here. He is the editor of the alumni magazine. Proud sister. When you have a clever brother it is fun when you grow up. However, he also used to call me “kookie kan’s catastrophe carpet cleaners” to which, being neither clever nor quick-witted, i had not response. Now, of course, he is sweet as can be to me!!”

Kelley’s post made an otherwise #$%^&*& morning much, much better.

1958 Edsel

I thought the idea was a great one…the automobile and the liberal arts.  Perfect.  Faculty interest, alumni interest…PERFECT!

At points in the process?  An Asian area fire drill to be sure?  It was warm jello for a long time.  The final product?  Priceless and a great time for all who participated in any way.

We had classics, to be sure.  Below is a 1955 Chevy Bel Air convertible provided by General Motors.  This car looks new inside and out.  Look at the smiles on the faces of Brad Johnson ’71 (one of the event organizers) and the student.  A timeless car.  If you had one of these when I was in high school…you were DaMan!

1955 Bel Air Convertible

But we had vehicles that were used, and used hard every day.  Check out Chris Bryan’s Willys.  He uses it off road, as you can tell.  The Willys was designed in WWII to last about 10 days – that was their typical lifespan.  This one is only 65 YEARS old.

Chris Bryan's 1947 Willys

It was a great day topped of by a keynote from good friend, and Vice President and Treasurer of General Motors, Jim Davlin ’85.  Jim told the group of the forward looking product development going on at GM.  He also cited the many major accomplishments of liberal arts graduates in the American automotive industry.

It was a great day!!!

For a photo album, click here.

The Pep Band was great to have on hand

It was great to have the Pep Band at the Wabash – Denison game the other evening.  They really added something to the entire game…(thank goodness!)

I have no clue what this thing is called but the student mastered it, for sure.

A Texas Longhorn?

You Know You Wanna Make...

The best parts of the other night was to see the Sphinx Club pledges in action.  They are obviously a great group and they are having a boatload of fun.

The Tower of Sphinx

Susan Dyer's New Car

Jim Dyer ’83 bought his lovely bride a new car… a Mini Cooper.  It’s exactly what she wanted.

Jim even offered to pick out the paint scheme for her….what a gentleman!

As you can see, Susan’s car is “scarlet” and white.  And, when Jim made the trip over to campus this week for the Top 10 Visit day, it even sported a few special add-ons.

He should be on the payroll!!!

2005 - President Andy Ford with the Wabash team...and the Bell!

Retired Wabash President Andy Ford H’03 is in the news.  For the past few years, Andy’s played a role in advising the leadership at North Central College (NCC) in Naperville, IL.  As current NCC president Harold Wilde prepares to retire after more than 20 years, Andy will play a key role in the transition.

For the entire story on the change at NCC see this article.