First – a thank you from all of us receiving this honor tonight – to all of you for coming – to the Varsity Club and SU athletics – to all Orange supporters - and especially to family and friends without whom I think we’d all agree it would be pretty difficult to accomplish much of anything. The fact that you’ve been there – and are here tonight – means a great deal.
Being a collegiate athlete of course is a terrific experience. It is also very prestigious. Especially when you participate in what we used to call a “minor” sport but now we cleverly call an “Olympic” sport – such as rowing. That’s what the coaches told us anyhow. I remember when I was a freshman we were told that crew guys were liked and respected by professors and by the opposite sex. Yep- you’ll get good grades and you’ll get girls. In my freshman year we still had the awful tradition in which - during spring camp – which then was held at the boathouse…in the snow – the upperclassmen would wrestle us out of the bunk room upstairs and into a training room on the first floor, where they would use electric barber’s clippers to cut all our hair off. They didn’t shave it. They just cut it REALLY short. As close to shaving as it gets. So, we survived it and when we got back on campus for classes after spring break, here we are looking like a nest of newly hatched buzzards. And a young woman in my class – whom I would have loved to ask out – asked me what happened to my hair. “I’m on the crew team” I proudly told her. “How do you play crew? “she inquired. I did not get the date. 1
I think it was in my sophomore year that a lot of us athletes got the word that Doctor Smith’s Public Address 51 class was a good one to take – not too difficult and she really liked athletes. So I signed up and on the first day the front row desks the Hall of Languages classroom was filled with athletes. Steve Ludd, from the basketball team, a couple of football players – I seem to remember Jim LeMessiuer. Guys from half a dozen teams – hair neatly combed, collared shirts, looking alert and ready to learn. And in walks a guy who looked like a Prussian general. Stocky, silver haired in a brush cut and a steely look in his eyes. Should have been carrying a riding crop. He put his briefcase down and stepped to the podium…took a look at us – the finest of Orangemen…and said “you fellas are athletes, aren’t you?’ “Yes, sir” we eagerly acknowledged. “I don’t like athletes,” he said. It was the wrong Doctor Smith. // I got a D in public address. // Which might explain this speech.
A mantra I get MY students involved these days in comes from the movie Caddy Shack. Bill Murray AS Carl Spackler tells the story of caddying for the Dalai Lama and after the round hinting around for a tip. Spackler says the Dalai Lama told him “oh, there will be no money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." “So I’ve got that going for me,” he says. “Which is nice.” He has a point. Here’s what is nice.
It is possible to be proud and humbled at the same time. Let me mention a few Letterwinners of Distinction. I came to SU because of Ernie Davis – even though I was never good enough to make my high school’s football team. Ernie Davis was my childhood hero. I thought if SU was good enough for him it was good enough for me. When I sat in his mother’s living room in Elmira years later and leafed through his scrapbook while working on “The Legend of 44” documentary I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Of course that would be my only chance to meet Ernie Davis now. When I came to Syracuse I learned about Dave Bing and saw his magic on the court for two years. I’ve since witnessed his remarkable class, dignity and community involvement. I also learned about Jim Boeheim – wound up living on the floor In Sadler where he was an RA and we won an intramural football championship with him at QB. I don’t need to list Jim’s accomplishments and contributions since. He still talks to me. Even though I am a media person. By the way – on that floor, Tom Coughlin lived across the hall from me. Floyd Little! Number 44! Floyd made my Saturdays very happy for several years and has been kind enough to tell people all these years that I am a friend of his. I am privileged to be a friend and brother of 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft in Kappa Sigma fraternity. He’s a letterwinner because of his skills at golf – and all the things he has done in his career and for SU since. And he got me my first two jobs in television news. 3
Bill Sanford was my coach. He taught me how to row and counseled me in so many other areas of life even after I left the team. Especially – loyalty. And forgiveness. His coaching, mentoring – not to mention political skills – make him outstanding.
I’ve known many more honorees personally, but whether I’ve ever met them or not, they all have my admiration. I never saw any of my fellow honorees tonight compete in person. But I rooted for them from afar. In truth I didn’t know most of their names. It didn’t matter. They competed for my alma mater. We had…and have that common bond. Art and Craig played on the same football team for a couple of years. Eileen was on the same basketball team with the first woman to gain this honor – Martha Mogish…who also lettered in two sports – basketball and rowing. Oh – and Eileen met her husband here. Randy is quite an accomplished fellow himself. The lacrosse guys all connected to each other – and their turnout shows their allegiance to each other…and to SU. And they got to play for the inimitable “Slugger” Simmons.
Because I have the honor of speaking for all of us tonight, I asked the other honorees what they’d like me to include…and to ask - with all the honors each of them has received in life, why this is special.
Art said SU was the place where he was “equipped to go out and be successful in the world and where he forged new relationships that helped to broaden his perspective on life.” Craig said Syracuse ”was the place of learning about oneself and the parallelism of sports to the real world.” Eileen agreed and told me “having the privilege of competing in athletics with so many other great athletes gave her an edge in understanding the value of teamwork, hard work and the beneficial results.” Jeff McCormick said the ’83 champion lacrosse team taught him…and the other guys on the team…about teamwork, selflessness and respect for everyone.
Becoming a Letterwinner of Distinction is about so much more than winning a varsity letter at SU. That just makes you eligible. It’s more about what you have done since then – representing your alma mater and contributing to it and to society in different ways – enough so that the people who select you feel you are worthy. I can’t speak for myself here, but when you look at the accomplishments of the other people in this year’s group – foundations, charitable work, sports halls of fame, business success and so much more – impressive doesn’t quite suffice. It is just short of mind-boggling. All these people put the lie to the persistent stereotype of the dumb jock. 5
When the people who decide who is to become a Letterwinner of Distinction make that decision, it turns out you get a call from one of them. The call is not just to tell you you’ve been selected but to ask if you’ll accept. Can you imagine that? Will you accept? Are you kidding?
There Is something special about representing your school in athletic competition, whether the public ever learns your name or not. And there is something VERY special about representing your alma mater in everything you do for the rest of your life. We are all proud to represent Syracuse University. And we are pleased and humbled that our alma mater is proud of us. So we’ve got that going for us. Which is nice.