For family, friends, & alumni of Cistercian Preparatory School
Fall 2017
INSIDE
Coaches making an impact Annual Report 2016-17 school year
Checking in with alumni who are making things better out there.
Difference Makers
Will Harris ’03 connects with kids in West Dallas through the Mercy Street bike shop.
REMEMBERING CISTERCIAN WITH A PLANNED GIFT
Gregory Kuhn ’79 and his parents, Julie and Ron, in the school chapel
A special bond “The Class of 1979 was small, with just sixteen graduates. It amazes me how close we remain almost 40 years later. We will forever be united by our experiences, our love for the school, and especially for our beloved form master, Fr. Aloysius. “We feel a little like an odd ball class, since it was so small. But we enjoy getting together along with other classes, the monks, other members of the faculty, and our parents. We are proud to have a special bond among ourselves and with the wider community.”
To remember Cistercian with a planned gift, contact Erin Hart. 469-499-5406 | ehart@cistercian.org 2
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Enlightening and serving others
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CISTERCIAN PREPARATORY SCHOOL Rev. Paul McCormick Headmaster Head of Middle School
Greg Novinski ’82 Assistant Headmaster Head of Upper School
Jim Taylor
Director of Admissions
Chris Blackwell
Director of College Counseling
Erin Hart
Director of Development and Alumni Relations
André Bruce
Director of Athletics & Physical Education
Tony Johnston ’05 President, Cistercian Alumni Association
o one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” This quote is referenced by James Burk in our lead article to describe his philosophy of coaching. It also goes a long way to describe what helps create the enduring sense of community and of mission that is enkindled in a young man during his time as a student and athlete at Cistercian, and which challenges him later as Letter from an alum to, in turn, go above the headmaster Fr. Paul McCormick and beyond in enlightening and serving others. In this Fall issue, we strive partly to “pull back the veil” on the secret of what enables our athletic program year after year to further the great legacy inherited from the likes of Cahill, Haaser, and Hillary. Our stories on Coaches Burk, Walsh, and Bruce explore some of the formative events in each man’s own discernment to coach boys into men as well as what motivates them and their players both
continuum David E. Stewart
Invested to make an impact 8 Relationship building lies at the heart of coaching that influences athletes long after their final game. By David E. Stewart
Departments News & Notes.............................. 4-7 Sports................................................53
david@yardstick.co
Class Notes...............................54-58
Erin Hart
Afterthoughts by Jess Clay..........59
Jim Reisch
On Prayer by Fr. Roch Kereszty...... 60
Alumni Relations Photography Editor
continuum is published
twice a year (spring & fall) by Cistercian Preparatory School.
3660 Cistercian Road Irving, TX 75039 469-499-5400 www.cistercian.org
In this issue
Volume 44, number 1
School Board Rt. Rev. Peter Verhalen ’73 Rev. Thomas Esposito Rev. Roch Kereszty Rev. Robert Maguire Rev. Bernard Marton Rev. Paul McCormick Kent Clay Mike Donohoe ’80 Charles Lipscomb ’84 Kathleen A. Muldoon Peter P. Smith ’74 Jere W. Thompson, Jr. ’74
on and off the field. Of course, each would insist on the sacrifices and contributions of their fellow coaches, including two young alums (Jack Dorn ’05 and Conner Roberts ’12) hired this year, that makes our coaching staff such an effective team in caring for the boys. In his inaugural piece for Continuum, Jess Clay ’13, with the very wit and wisdom that would make our usual columnist, Smokey Briggs ’84, proud, reflects back on some of the “locker room talk” that lastingly shaped his own experience in Cistercian athletics. Our cover feature sheds light on the care and concern for others that is manifest in the lives of so many of our alumni. These inspiring stories reveal how each is selflessly carrying on the tradition of enkindling and enlightening by addressing real needs in real time. Finally, the 2016-17 Annual Report highlights the generous and ongoing financial support the School receives from so many alumni, alumni families, current parents, and the larger Cistercian family as an expression of their own care and concern for helping us continue our mission in forming and educating talented young men.
Cover photography by Jim Reisch
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Annual Report Difference makers 46 Checking in with alumni who are making things better out there. By Patrick Spence
Cistercian Preparatory School was founded with the aim of preparing talented boys for the colleges of their choice by challenging their minds with excellent academic programs, molding their character through the values of Catholic education, and offering them guidance with both understanding and discipline. Cistercian Preparatory School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national, or ethnic origin in the administration of its admission and education policies, financial aid programs, athletic programs, and other activities. FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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News & notes CISTERCIAN LEADS WAY ON NORTH TEXAS GIVING DAY
The Cistercian community’s generosity continues to shine on North Texas Giving Day. It led all community organizations with $672,681 raised from 767 donors (up from last year’s $638,141 from 691 donors). “The generosity of current parents, alumni, and alumni parents is absolutely overwhelming,” said Fr. Paul McCormick. The Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) will provide an additional percentage of bonus funds on top of the money raised.
IMPROVEMENTS TO BOOSTER CLUB, ATHLETIC FACILITIES
The year’s sport festivities got off to a great start thanks to Form V mom Bitsy Hudnall, Booster Club events coordinator. The Dinner and Bash featured a dunking booth for monks and coaches, a huge inflatable obstacle course/slide, a football toss, a basketball shooting contest, and a raffle. Over 500 guests attended. Athletic facilities improved include repairs to the irrigation system for the recently re-crowned baseball field, new light bulbs on the lower field, a new security gate between the US and the East Gym, and hand rails for the home bleachers.
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NOTES
Abbot Peter Verhalen ’73 blesses the crowd and the renovated science building at the November 10 event. Members of the capital campaign’s steering committee stand close to the building’s doors.
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN CONCLUDES
Solid foundation established for abbey and school On Friday, November 10, the entire student body gathered in the courtyard to watch Abbot Peter Verhalen ’73 perform the Rite of Blessing for the renovated science building. The ceremony officially concluded the $10 million “Building on a Solid Foundation” capital campaign, one which raised funds for renovation and expansion of the abbey and science building and funded the school’s endowments for student scholarship support and faculty development. Fr. Paul McCormick expressed his gratitude for the many donors and the members of the campaign’s steering committee and the school board (Andrea and Kent Clay, Mike Donohoe ’80, Charles Lipscomb ’84, Jan Mitura, Mark Roppolo
’88, and Peter Smith ’74
were present). The campaign was the school’s second largest and the first to raise funds for both the abbey and school. Improvements to the abbey included the addition of a crypt, dedicated in June, the renovation of the guest
Form VII physics students experiment with some of the facility’s new technology and devices with Martina Kroll (right) looking on. See more photos of the science building on pp. 29-34.
The Cistercian community once again ranked #1 in dollars donated on North Texas Giving Day (ahead of some of DFW’s most well-known organizations).
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house (formerly the retreat house), and an expansion of rooms inside the abbey. The science building, originally constructed in 1985, was expanded and renovated to emphasize hands-on scientific learning and to offer the latest in scientific technology.
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Students and faculty alike were delighted with the return of Dr. Cambria Reinsborough (Form VI chemistry) after a two-year absence ... Sid Reggie ’18 and Colton Scrudder ’18 coordinated a tutoring program this fall for the West Dallas Community Center and St. Mary’s of Carmel. Thirty students from Cistercian, Hockaday, and Ursuline were recruited to participate ... Donovan Campbell ’97 served as the commencement speaker for the Class of 2017 ... Prior to Thanksgiving, the Community Service council collected shoes for donation to Soles4Souls ... Upper School students collected items this fall to assist victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
JIANG ‘17 MAKES SPLASH AT UNC
It didn’t take Alvin Jiang ’17 long to make
an impact at the University of North Carolina. For his efforts in the school’s upset win over #19 Virginia Tech, he was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Week for October 30-November 5. Jiang swam the fastest split in UNC’s win in the 200yard medley relay. Then Jiang won the 100-yard butterfly in 48.15 and blew away the field in the 100yard backstroke.
Alvin Jiang ’17 moved into fifth place amongst all-time
swimmers at the University of North Carolina with his time of 48.15 in the 100-yard butterfly this fall.
Photos by Jim Reisch
News & notes MILITARY VISITS, YOUNG AND OLD
JIM & LYNN MORONEY AWARD
Beloved English teacher Tom Pruit to be honored
Mr. Achilles Kozakis, a WWII veteran, spoke to Third Formers about his wartime experiences this fall. And alumnus Thomas Williamson ’16, a cadet at West Point, also visited the school to address Upper School students.
Tom Pruit will be made an honorary alumnus at the Tower Club on Saturday evening, January 20, and subsequently will receive the 2018 Jim and Lynn Moroney Award. The award is given each year to an alumnus “whose spiritual commitment to Cistercian is very much aflame.” Peter Saliga will introduce/roast Pruit at the dinner.
Talented group of new faculty members (l-r): Jack Dorn ‘05, Br. Benedict Lacombe, Br. Matthew Hegemann, and Connor Roberts ‘12.
NEW FACULTY
Young alumni, monks bring passion, talent
Retiring business manager, MaryClare Milner (sitting), with Kati Ferenczi (left), assistant business manager and the incoming business manager, Cindi Tenney.
BUSINESS OFFICE
Milner takes retirement, Tenney to succeed her In June, Cindi Tenney, the mother of Jake Tenney ’06 and Max Tenney ’09, was named to
succeed MaryClare Milner as business manager at the end of December. Since October, Tenney has worked closely with Milner, who retires in December. “MaryClare has blessed us with both exceptional business skills and her deep sense of a vocation to serve Cistercian,” said Abbot Peter Verhalen ’73.
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The four teachers/coaches who joined the faculty this fall come from two reliable sources: the alumni pool and the monastery. “The older I got,” said Jack Dorn ’05, whose familial connections with Cistercian include dad Mickey, a varsity basketball coach in the early ’90s, “the more I felt I was meant to be here.” He brings a master’s degree in athletic administration as well as a wealth of experience to his positions teaching Form III Health and serving as an assistant coach in football and basketball. He served as assistant basketball coach at St. Edward’s University in Austin for four years, and most recently, as athletic director and head basketball coach at The Atonement Academy in San Antonio, a private, Catholic School. In his second year at the abbey, Br. Matthew Hegemann comes to Cistercian (Form II religion) with experience teaching fifth grade at Great Hearts Irving for one year. Having played four years on UD’s soccer team, he was also welcomed at practices by Coach JP Walsh. “I have heard many stories,” said Br. Benedict Lacombe, a UD graduate who is in his second year at the abbey, “about students who discovered a talent because of a teacher at Cistercian.” The assistant to the director of technology who also teaches an English elective hopes to be one of those teachers one day. Passions for history and soccer grew in Connor Roberts ’12 during his years in Europe. While at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, he earned two soccer coaching qualifications (i.e., credentials). Roberts (history elective) pursued his passion for history by earning a master’s degree from Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands. Over winter break 2015-16, he was inspired by classmate Patrick Ryan ’11 who was assisting JP Walsh. “I need to do that,” he thought. He serves as a football and soccer assistant coach.
The number of faculty members recognized as honorary alumni. Rodney Walter was recognized in 2009 and Bob Haaser in 2012. Tom Pruit will be so honored in January.
Photos by Jim Reisch
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FIND CISTERCIAN ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM
Cistercian’s social media has come alive this fall with expanded content from all corners of the campus, featuring both the Middle and Upper Schools. Fr. Anthony Bigney has played a major role in the expanded social media presence, which includes both Facebook and Instagram. In addition to promoting specific events (e.g., Open House), Fr. Anthony has covered activities such as pep rallies, First Formers flying paper airplanes, and lab projects. Video has played a major role in the posts. Fr. Anthony’s coverage of the Homecoming game — which included shots of the festivities on and off the field — attracted over 3,000 views. The video of the Homecoming Party drew the Facebook page’s largest organic audience, over 4,400 views, and spread the word on Cistercian’s distinctive event.
The number of alumni now teaching in the school, not including Stephen Hoefer ’13 who substitutes occasionally for Nick Merrick in his finance elective. FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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News & notes CLASS OF 2017 CAMPUS SNAPSHOT
COLLEGE MATRICULATIONS
Members of the Class of 2017 put high college costs, financial concerns into perspective This year, nearly 40 percent of the Class of 2017 made their ultimate decision based principally on financial concerns. While that is not a new phenomenon, this class handled it especially well, according to their college counselor, Peter Saliga. “The modesty and fiscal prudence exhibited by such a robust number of students in this process,” said Saliga, “was unlike anything I’ve seen in twelve years assisting with or running this office.” The class generated an historic total of $8.75 million in academic or personal merit award offers through the 293 applications they submitted (73 percent earning an offer) to 128 different schools. The class showed a slight preference for private institutions (51.2 percent) and 18.6 percent are attending Catholic universities (Creighton, UD, Notre Dame, St. Joseph’s University, and Villanova). With 57 percent planning to major in STEM or business-related fields, the class
reversed a strong trend that peaked in 2016 with 91 percent intent on such majors. This group is instead strongly embracing majors in the social sciences (14 percent) and humanities (21 percent), with 8 percent “thoroughly undecided.” Nolan Pitts ’17 and Ray Kitziger ’17 have joined the Plan II community at UT Austin, where Joseph Watt ’17 was invited to be a Jefferson Scholar. Watt plans to graduate with a Certificate in Core Texts in addition to his Chemistry major. Luke Maymir ’17 has been invited to join the Honors Program at Ohio State. Jamison DeCuir ’17 will join a similar community at Tulane as a Dean’s Scholar, a distinction that comes with a full tuition scholarship. Collin Petersen ’17 won a place in the Honors Program at St. Joseph’s University as a Dean’s Scholar, earning him a full-tuition scholarship. Oscar Parmenter ’17 is attending the United States Naval Academy.
Class of 2017*, colleges by state * Includes one member of the Class of 2018
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Cistercian students have enrolled in college before completing their senior year. Hudson Kirkpatrick ’18 is attending Princeton. The last was nearly 30 years ago.
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35%
Percent planning to major in social sciences or humanities
39.5%
ultimate college decision based principally on financial concerns Four were recruited to D-I varsity sports:
Daniel Hu ’17 (water polo - Brown), Alvin Jiang ’17 (swimming - UNC), Tommy Nealon ’17 (soccer - Villanova), and Collin Petersen ’17 (rowing - St. Joseph’s).
This marks the first year that a graduate will attend Miami University (Ohio), The Ohio State University, and the University of California at Berkeley. And for the first time in nearly a decade, a senior, Will Hartnett ’17, is taking a Gap year (he will then attend the University of Chicago).
Colleges Baylor University (2) Brown University (2) Creighton University Furman University Kansas State University Miami University, Oxford (OH) Princeton University (2) St Andrews (Scotland) St. Joseph’s University Sewanee – The University of the South Southern Methodist University (2) Tulane University Texas A&M University The Ohio State University The University of Alabama
The University of Oklahoma The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of Texas at Austin (8) The University of Texas at Dallas U.S. Naval Academy University of Arkansas University of California at Berkeley University of Chicago (3) University of Dallas (3) University of North Texas University of Notre Dame University of St Andrews Villanova University (2)
members of the Class of ’17 enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin, breaking last year’s record of six. Twelve of 20 applicants (60 percent) were admitted directly.
News & notes BEATIFICATION
Pope declares Cistercian priest a martyr
Fr. Bernard Marton shares his thoughts at his Golden Jubilee Mass celebrated before a packed abbey church in August.
GOLDEN JUBILEE
Community gathers to celebrate the one and only Fr. Bernard On Sunday morning, August 20, many in the community gathered at the abbey church to honor Fr. Bernard Marton at his Golden Jubilee Mass. The overflow crowd came to celebrate Fr. Bernard’s 50 years in the priesthood, and to enjoy a hearty handshake or hug with the man who has, and is, touching so many lives. In his homily, Abbot Emeritus Denis Farkasfalvy unearthed important facts and some heartfelt feelings. The former abbot noted that Fr. Bernard was the first novice to join the abbey, forming the perfect bridge to the future —
part Hungarian, part American. “I admired and envied you for having been so successfully ‘Americanized,’” he recalled. But it would take “several decades to realize that this business of finding a new home was not as easy for you as I had thought.” As with most stories, there is much more to Fr. Bernard than his 15 years as headmaster, his six decades of service as a form master for six different classes, his meter stick, and his life as a marathon runner. It is nearly impossible for us to comprehend, Fr. Denis said, “the brokenness of Hungary’s post-war life,” let alone escaping it alone at age 15 (the subject of Fr. Bernard’s popular memoir). And now in his seventies, Fr. Bernard is offering his help back in Hungary. “[I] feel almost dizzy for the dimensions of your life and the challenges you meet,” the abbot said, “to revive and reorganize the Hungarian monastery of Fr. Bernard signs a copy of his memoir at our origins.” the reception following his Jubilee Mass. Fr. Bernard has a habit To obtain your copy of the book, contact of beating the odds. Erin Hart (ehart@cistercian.org).
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The number of Hungarian-born Cistercian monks in the history of the abbey to discern their vocation and enter the novitiate in America: Fr. Bernard Marton.
Photos by Jim Reisch
In November, Pope Francis declared the martyrdom of Fr. John Brenner, a Hungarian priest and clandestine member in simple vows of the Cistercian Abbey of Zirc, who was “murdered while carrying and defending the Holy Eucharist” on December 15, 1957. “There was a certain power radiating from his presence,” said a parishioner in Rábakethely, Hungary, when describing Fr. John Brenner, whose magnetic ministry lasted just two years. His popularity made him a target of the Soviet-controlled Hungarian government, which had banned religious activity in 1950. Brenner, educated at the Cistercian school in Pécs, was warned. But the young priest was defiant. “I am not afraid,” he said. “I’d rather stay.” In the wee hours of December 15, 1957, Fr. John was brutally stabbed and murdered by a gang who was lying in wait as the young priest attempted to reach a dying parishioner who had asked to be anointed and to receive the Eucharist.
Chris Stewart ’91 (left) with Roberto Munguia and the donated art works.
ART DONATION CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY
Black-Eye founder, Chris Stewart ’91, makes gift to honor Roberto Munguia Three encaustic works by Roberto Munguia (from his 2012 Teotl Azul series) now hang in the headmaster’s office hallway, thanks to their former owner, Chris Stewart ’91, founder of Black-Eye, a design and marketing communications agency celebrating 20 years in business. “If it hadn’t been for Mr. Munguia,” said Stewart, who would go on to earn an MBA and Master of Arts on the hilltop, “I definitely wouldn’t have gone to SMU to paint.” After SMU, while working in marketing in San Francisco, Stewart took note of the exploding internet and its need for a design aesthetic. So, in 1997, he returned to Dallas to found Black-Eye. The gift of Munguia’s artwork to Cistercian celebrates the school’s (and the artist’s) contribution to the agency’s founding.
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The number of Hungarian-born monks in the abbey to be called back to Hungary to serve the Abbey of Zirc for two or more years: Fr. Bernard Marton. FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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INVESTED IMPACT to make an
Relationship building lies at the heart of coaching that influences athletes long after their final game. By David Exall Stewart 8
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Coach
The word originates from the name of a Hungarian village, Kocs, where luxurious carriages were built in the 15th century to carry passengers from Budapest to Vienna. First known as a kocsiszekér, or a wagon of Kocs, they eventually became known simply as kocs. The term caught on in France as coche and then in England as coach. In the 19th century, “coach” became a slang term in England for tutors who “carried” students comfortably to passing grades.
HIGH FIVES Defensive coordinator André Bruce pumps up his players during the first quarter of a victory over Oakridge at Hawk Field. FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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COACH JAMES BURK Head football coach
Family man
The trials of a football season give Burk opportunities to model good character
S
EVERAL OF THE SENIOR MOMS gathered at the home of Kent and Andrea Clay were puzzled when James Burk appeared. But the moms, who had been discussing T-shirt designs and team dinners in June 2015, greeted him warmly. “I don’t mean to interrupt,” insisted the newly named head football coach, “but I wanted to stop by and thank you for giving your sons to the football team and for being a part of our program.” Many had never met Burk before. “He couldn’t have been more gracious,” said Andrea Clay, mother of Brennan ’10, Jess ’13, Jameson ’16, and Sam ’19. “His reaching out to us really hit us like, this is different!” “I figured I didn’t know enough people and wanted to show my face,” remembered Burk, who’d arrived at Cistercian only the year before as the strength and conditioning/offensive line coach. “I thought I’d ask some questions, and get to know the moms a little.” It wouldn’t be the last time Burk sought opportunities to build bridges with parents. Each August for the past several years, Coach Burk has conducted a Mom’s Clinic in which he discusses his coaching philosophy, delves into Xs and Os, introduces the assistant coaches, and acquaints them with the facilities. “I learned so much about the game in that hour and a half,” said
Maryanne Odom, mother of Will ’16 and Chris ’18. “But I also gained a sense of how much he cares for the boys, not just as football players, but as good godly men. He’s not afraid to share his faith.” “If your son has an issue,” Burk suggested to the group, “have him come to me directly. We are training your sons to be men.” Dads aren’t left out. In August, Burk hosts an overnight retreat near Athens, Texas, for seniors and their dads. For 22 hours, they have some fun and time for a good deal of reflection — in groups and in one-on-one sessions. Little talk of football; just strengthening relationships. “It’s a time for the dads and sons to get emotionally naked,” Burk explained. “It probably had a bigger impact on the fathers than the sons,” laughed John Garda. “We shed some tears of joy. It was a tremendous bonding experience.” “That retreat,” said Kevin Schieferdecker, who gave up attending his 30th high school reunion to be with his son, Max ’18, “was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with my son.”
“THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU,” Fort Worth Christian Coach Ken
Davidson explained to a 17-year-old, 200 lb. senior linebacker named James Burk, “this is about the team.” “That was a good lesson,” Burk said. “It helped me to see beyond myself, and it helped me understand the importance of being able to communicate. “And it actually did help the team.” The Cardinals won the TAPPS state championship that year. One of the team’s few losses that season came to Trinity Christian Academy, coached by Barry Morgan. (Burk thought, “That’s a coach I’d like to learn from some day.”) Talk to Coach James Burk about his influences and you open a tap of names and experiences that trip over one another for attention. Only a few are included here. As a walk-on at Abilene Christian, Burk marveled at how “Chris Thompson coached and motivated me no differently than the scholarship players. He didn’t have to do that. “He coached me like the player I could become,” Burk emphasized, “not the player I was. That made a difference.” “James brought a lot to the room,” remembered Thompson, who took over coaching the offensive line COMMUNICATING at TCU this season after several years at Arizona State. Coach Burk discusses “Great sense of humor, quite the dancer, involved with strategy with QB Max the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And James worked Schieferdecker ’18 during the Casady game. very hard.”
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Wesson, who quarterbacked Burk’s ESD As Burk took each step in his career in coaching, he consulted his mentors — team to the SPC championship in 2007, especially as he pondered the possibility of has been part of the Burk family ever since moving toward a head coaching job after a (along with many others). few years of focusing exclusively on strength “Coach Burk builds a family,” he added. and conditioning. “He relates so well with kids. It’s natural for Davidson, his high school coach (now him. And they can tell he’s genuine, even head coach at Graham High School), advised if he can be intimidating. He knows how to him to follow his dream. get the most out of a team, and it starts with “There are so many ups and downs, bringing the guys together.” triumphs and trials involved in a team sport,” Emotion began to well up in the he told his former player, “that’s when you Cistercian players as the coach shared his can make an impact on kids. They don’t keep thoughts on the field after the game. score in the weight room.” “I want you to know that this is only the His first job in his pursuit of a head second time I have had the chance to coach — Coach Barry Morgan, coaching position proved fortuitous. a group of guys from their freshman year legendary TCA coach That coach he’d wanted to learn from — to their senior year,” said the coach who Barry Morgan — offered Burk the chance to has found a home after stops at TCA, First step in and coach the offensive line at Trinity Christian (in addition Baptist Dallas, ESD, and John Paul II. “I think you know how much to strength and conditioning). I’ve grown to care for every one of you. “He taught me organization and old-school discipline with a “Don’t take this for granted,” he added. “Look at the guys around loving hand,” Burk said. you. This is your football family.” Morgan won five state championships and more games than any A few days later, Burk reflected on the moment. private school coach in Texas. Over the years, he’d had some great “There are so many memories from a season,” he said. “I spend help from players like his sons Beau, an All-American quarterback more time with these guys than their parents and more time than I at Air Force, and Blaine, who currently coaches quarterbacks at San spend with my own kids.” Diego State. Much of that time is off the football field — in the weight room, In 1999, Morgan was honored to be selected as one of two head meetings, the halls, the father-senior retreat, the breakfast gatherings coaches in the inaugural DFW All-Star Game for private school at the Original Pancake House, and Burk’s BBQ. football players. (Morgan greatly admired the other coach named to “Coach Burk,” added Jack Albert ’16, a former running back and coach the other side: Cistercian’s own Tom Hillary. When Hillary now a sophomore at Auburn, “impacts his players on and off the passed away just months later, the game was renamed the Tom field. He’s not just a great football coach, but also a builder of men. Hillary Classic.) He genuinely cares about each of his players.” “James is coaching for all the right reasons,” explained Morgan, The caring does not end with the football season or even their who has spent 45 years in coaching. “He has a really strong faith and high school years. trust in God that he is coaching for a purpose. He teaches and models “As a player,” said Robert Luce, who played on three of Burk’s ESD teams, “he always takes that extra 20 minutes to build relationwhat a man should be like. ships here and there. And you become part of his family. “If we ever needed that, it is now.” “He even took the time to travel up to Columbia to see one of my “I TRIED NOT TO CRY,” Burk acknowledged of his remarks college games at the University of Missouri. following this season’s final game against Pflugerville Weiss. “But it “Coach Burk is one of the big reasons I went into coaching.” didn’t work.” (Luce is currently a graduate assistant at the University of Houston.) “He was so choked up,” laughed Trenton Wesson, quarterback “It’s a cliche,” Burk said of coaching, “But no one cares how coach, “he couldn’t get any words out.” much you know until they know how much you care.”
“James is coaching for all the right reasons. He has a really strong faith and trust in God that he is coaching for a purpose ... to model what a man should be like.”
Photos by Jim Reisch
FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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COACH J.P. WALSH Head soccer coach
SUNDAY SCRIMMAGE Coach Walsh (second from right) can usually be found in the middle of a crowd (l-r): Connor Roberts ’12, Joe Capasso ’88, Patrick Cruz ’11, and Ramón Cordova ’09.
Winning culture
A fun, competitive atmosphere breeds teams that overachieve for J.P. Walsh
“T
HE GUYS SEEMED PRETTY NERVOUS about the first game on the schedule,” remembered Coach J. P. Walsh of his inaugural season at Cistercian in 2007-08. The opponent in that first game, St. Mark’s, had embarrassed the Hawks the year before by a score of 8-0. But that wasn’t their only concern. A few players were quietly expressing some apprehension about the qualifications of their new coach. “The decision to hire a soccer coach from Hockaday did not impress me,” remembered Ramón Cordova ’09, one of two junior select soccer players on the squad. “I was skeptical about how his coaching would translate to the men’s game.” The skepticism didn’t last long. “Almost immediately,” said the junior class’ other select soccer player, Paul Pesek ’09, “Coach Walsh connected with us. He had played at Jesuit and on top club teams and in college. He knew how to handle select players. He made us feel like partners, and he was really competitive and wanted to win as badly as we did.” “Think of it as a scrimmage,” he counseled the team. “We’ll see what we need to work on, how we can improve. “But don’t get me wrong, we are playing to win.” And win they did, 3-1, with Cordova scoring the first goal. The Walsh era had begun, and he’d turned the ship around on a dime. “I can remember celebrating after the game with Alejandro 12
CONTINUUM • FALL 2017
Torres ’08,” said Simon Raad ’08. “We sat on the hood of a car in the parking lot in near disbelief that we’d beaten St. Mark’s.” Walsh’s first Cistercian team made it all the way to the D-II SPC championship game. The following year, with Pesek and Cordova as seniors, they won the D-II title. “With that victory over St. Mark’s,” said Cordova, “the momentum began to build.”
“ALL RIGHT, EVERYBODY OUT,” Greg Novinski bellowed near the end of lunch, “get to your classroom.” The dean of students regularly had to scatter the boys from various forms packed into Walsh’s office (then located behind Kathy Nevitt’s reception desk). “Looking back,” smiled Scotch Gorman ’14, “I feel bad for Mrs. Nevitt for having to listen to those many hours of juvenile banter.” (Nevitt noted Walsh’s popularity and recommended he consider counseling. Fr. Peter, then headmaster, formalized the request. Walsh completed his master’s in counseling at SMU in 2015 and became the school’s counselor last year.) The banter with Walsh seemed to never end, encompassing soccer, pro sports, movies, and beyond. “Coach Walsh is always in the middle of a crowd of students,” laughed John Garda, father of Jack ’15, Danny ’17, Jimmy ’19, and Patrick ’24, “and he’s always the coolest guy in the group.” “One of my favorite things about Cistercian,” Walsh said, “is that I get to know the guys through a variety of activities: coaching, teaching, community service, and counseling.” Photo by Jim Reisch
“WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A TOUGH TIME this year,” Walsh
They share their coach’s ethos: prepare to win. tells anyone who asks about the soccer team’s prospects for any Nearly every one of Walsh’s ten seasons at Cistercian has coming season. And many former players text and call to ask. culminated with a run at an SPC championship (see sidebar below). The loss of departing seniors (and the chronic lack of select players) fuels Walsh’s determination to overcome the odds, and to “I NEED MORE,” Walsh told his 2014 team after losing the first create new relationships. game of the season. “I need more from all of you. Not more skill or So he always encourages anyone interested in soccer — more possessions or more plays. including those who haven’t played soccer since grade school — to “I need more heart, more love for soccer, more love for each othjoin the team during the many informal opportunities he organizes er. No more accepting losses.” during the summer, fall, PE, and even lunch. “We went undefeated from there,” said Gabe Rogers, “until the Those occasions give the guys a chance to improve, to enjoy SPC Division I title game (Cistercian’s first appearance).” the camaraderie, and to show Walsh how they might contribute. “Each week in practice, we’d work on something different,” Over the years, players with little experience have regularly been Rogers added. “Possession drills, conditioning exercises; entire groomed into important, even All-SPC, contributors (e.g., Clint practices were conducted to neutralize the next team we’d face. Murchison ’08, Steven Imaizumi ’10, Gabe Rogers ’14, and Cole “There was not a single week that we were not perfectly Gimenez ’17). prepared for the next game.” “Walsh is a master at relating well with everyone so that they The undefeated streak included two wins over Greenhill within will be receptive to his coaching,” Paul Pesek said, laughing. “He’s a span of one week (in the final week of the season and a victory in really good at egging players on against one another. He makes the SPC semifinal). practice fun and competitive.” “To this day,” Rogers said, “Coach Walsh remembers what “I always looked forward to practice,” agreed Patrick Cruz ’11, classes I am taking in graduate school, how far along I am in my whose 2011 team won SPC D-II. “We laughed a lot even though we physical therapy program, stories about my friends at Saint Louis were working hard and competing.” University, and personal struggles I have been dealing with.” Interacting regularly — between his office, classes, extracur“There was a time when Coach Walsh needed more from me as riculars, and practice — “creates an uninterrupted channel for a player,” said Rogers. communication with his team,” said Will Halle ’11. “We’re talking “But I have never needed more from him as a friend.” about what’s wrong, what to focus on, what to build on.” Along with what’s cooking with the Cowboys. And what movies to go see (he’s a big movie guy, Cruz pointed out). “Coach Walsh is open to suggestions, too,” said Pete Smith ’11, “like players wanting to play different positions,” although the experiments (including in Smith’s case) usually end with the player back in his original position. “He is very realistic,” explained Cory Martin, who has served as head soccer coach (and math teacher) at St. Mark’s for over 20 years. “J.P. always finds a way to get the most out of his guys. They are always willing to work and sacrifice for each other. The 2011 SPC D-II champs “And they are always much better in February than they were in November.” “J.P. is constantly strategizing,” said Joe Capasso ’88, who has volunteered as goalkeeper coach for nine years, “on what the team will have to do to meet its goals. And he scouts the really good teams, even 2013 D-II champions 2008 D-II finalists if it means a drive to Fort Worth. “That willingness to put in the extra 2014** D-I finalists 2009 D-II champions work makes an impression,” he said. “The 2015 D-I consolation champs 2010 D-II consolation champs players have learned that extra work pays 2016 D-I consolation champs 2011 D-II champions dividends.” “In recent years,” Walsh added, 2017 D-I semifinalists 2012 D-II semifinalists “players have said, ‘We should go watch, * Walsh’s 10-year record: 127-42-23. ** D-II absorbed into D-I in 2014. we can learn about this team and gain an advantage.’”
A decade of excellence*
Walsh’s teams always contend for an SPC title
Photo courtesy of Buffie Halle
FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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COACH ANDRÉ BRUCE
Athletic director and defensive coordinator
Defining character
C
Bruce’s interest in the lives of his players makes his words hit home
OACH ANDRÉ BRUCE WALKED into a mid-April meeting of the football team “with his usual swagger,” recalled Mike Garnett ’18. But the gathering of the 2016 team weeks before spring practice 2017 felt anything but normal. He sat on the edge of a table in front the team. “I have been diagnosed with cancer,” said Bruce in the low measured voice everyone knew so well. “I am doing everything in my power to get well, and I will be undergoing chemotherapy. “I wanted you to hear the news straight from me. “You know I preach to you a lot,” Bruce emphasized, “about being mentally and physically tough. “I plan to live out that message.” “It was as if,” said Donovan Coronado ’17, one of the seniors in the room, “one of my parents had told me they had been diagnosed with cancer. “He’s played that kind of role in my life.” “Everyone was shocked, of course” Garnett said. “We all offered to help. If we could do a fraction of what he’d done for us, we were all prepared to do it for him.” Bruce would have to miss spring practice and the athletic banquet. Or, at least, those were the doctor’s orders. But during spring practices, the players spotted him in his car up on the hill by the gym. “That meant a lot,” Garnett said. “He had lost his hair and was wearing a mask (to help fight off infections). But he had chosen to check in on us. That showed us how much he cares for us.” He also sneaked into the back of the gym to watch a little bit of the athletic banquet. Craig Sklar, who as assistant athletic director stepped in for Bruce (as he does during football season), kept Garnett and the team informed on their coach’s progress. “There’s a lot of permanence around Cistercian,” said Garnett. “There are the monks and so many teachers who have been here forever. “I thought about how I want to be friends with Coach Bruce for a long time after I graduate.”
countable, just like I told your parents I would. You have a place in college football and you will be successful.” The words carried a lot of weight. “He reaffirmed his interest in me as a person,” Bruce said, “and emphasized that he believed in me.” This heart-to-heart was just what the struggling freshman needed; he would go on to serve as a team captain and win the Abe Martin Award (TCU’s highest football honor), along with the Iron Frog (team’s strongest player, pound for pound). So, Bruce knew just how Donovan Coronado felt when the sophomore suffered an ACL injury in the final game of the 2014 season. “I didn’t know if I wanted to play football again,” Coronado recalled. But, during spring semester of sophomore year, he took Bruce’s elective on leadership.
“I AM NOT ALLOWING YOU TO SLIP AWAY,” TCU Head
Coach Pat Sullivan told a freshman running back named André Bruce in late 1995. Sidelined by a broken leg that ended his days as a running back, Bruce was feeling isolated, “like I was on an island.” “You belong here,” the head coach and 1971 Heisman Trophy winner continued. “You’re one of my guys. I’m holding you ac-
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Photo by Jim Reisch
“He was really big on stories, parables, “André was a great player, but he’s a better and lessons,” he said. “Many of them emperson. phasized the importance of shaking off “He was always able to relate. He’s not a adversity and focusing on what you can screaming guy in a crisis. That’s why he’s a control.” good coach.” Thurmond and Bruce had become close They read books from authors like John friends soon after he graduated and began conWooden, John C. Maxwell, and Dr. Tim sidering his career options. (“Chris was the one Elmore. who encouraged me to go into coaching,” said “Work as hard as you can, and one day it Bruce.) will pay off.” Pat Sullivan checked in from Alabama, too. Bruce’s messages and private conversaAs did Charlie Rizzo from Daytona Beach. tions took hold. During Coronado’s junior Sullivan and Rizzo, who both played for — Donovan Coronado ’17 year, he stayed late in the weight room and Auburn’s legendary Ralph “Shug” Jordan (as after practices. And he worked just as hard in Jordan-Hare Stadium), had sat in the Bruce’s to raise his grade-point average from just living room in 1994. They persuaded Mr. and Mrs. Bruce of their above the class average toward a 4.0. genuine interest in their son, as a person, student, and player. “Coach Bruce was pushing me all along,” he said. “And even “They recruited me to play football,” Bruce said, “but they really when he wasn’t pushing me personally, I could see how he cared cared about me.” about all the other students, not just athletes. He cares about all of A few years older than Sullivan, Rizzo had become a coach in the students. the late sixties after a tour in Vietnam. “Seeing that, pushed me even more.” “After that,” he’d say, “everything else is just gravy.” “Charlie lived life to the fullest,” Bruce laughed, “and enjoyed AS WORD OF THE DIAGNOSIS SPREAD in April, Bruce’s every aspect of life. But he also was a strict, firm father figure.” many friends scattered across the country called to check on him Rizzo’s career in football started at Army, under a young assisand wish him well. tant coach named Bill Parcells. He would go on to coach with Steve “André got through it just like everyone else,” said Chris ThurSpurrier, of course Sullivan, and many others in Texas and Florida. mond, who coached defensive backs during Bruce’s senior year at “Just remember,” the retired coach told Bruce during a phone TCU. “He minimizes it publicly, but privately, it is a struggle. conversation in April, “make your players do things your way, the right way.” “On a personal level,” Bruce emphasized, “that’s all Charlie wanted for his coaches and players. He wanted them to take the right approach to academics, sports, and life. “He was impressing upon me how important it was that I impact my players on a personal level.”
“I could see how he cared about all the other students, not just athletes. Seeing that, pushed me even more.”
TAKING IT TO ANOTHER LEVEL Coach André Bruce helping players focus on the task at hand in the Cistercian locker room before the Casady game.
THE 2017 SEASON BOILED DOWN to a high-stakes October showdown with crosstown rival Greenhill, the winner moving on to the SPC 3A championship game. Bruce, having returned to good health, prepared a devotional that called on voices from his past. “Nearly all my coaches over the years had the ability to motivate,” he reflected, “starting with my dad.” As usual, a parable took center stage. At 16 years old, he had taken a job at a convenience store where Bruce’s attitude and attention to detail impressed the store manager. Bruce also was feeling very good about the job and his boss. “Then one day,” Bruce told his players, “the manager asked me to clean the bathrooms.” While completing the task, Bruce’s head filled with angry thoughts and questions. When he arrived home, his parents noticed immediately. “What’s made you mad?” asked Bruce’s dad. “Mr. Gerland made me clean the bathrooms at the store,” responded the son. “What’s wrong with that?” his father (and Pop Warner coach) asked. “Why are you letting him dictate your level of excellence? “Put your jacket back on and walk back over there. Tell Mr. Gerland you want to clean the bathrooms.” Upon returning to the store, Bruce told Mr. Gerland, “I want to clean the bathrooms from now on.” FALL 2016 2017 • CONTINUUM
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BREAKING THROUGH A few words from Coach Bruce, spoken in his low and measured voice, can speak volumes. “And,” he added, “I plan to keep them cleaner than ever before.” “Tonight,” Bruce emphasized, “don’t let Greenhill dictate your level of excellence. You dictate your level of excellence.” Bruce also reminded the players — as he often does — to “make sure your servant’s towel is bigger than your ego. “Give yourself to something greater than yourself. Make that extra effort to serve your team. Your name may not be announced on the loud speaker, but know that you have played a role.” He concluded his remarks by emphasizing the importance of making an impact, not just an impression, on the game. “When I first saw my wife as a freshman at TCU,” he said. “She made an impression. But over the years as my wife, she’s impacted my entire life.” He also may have been thinking of the coaches in his life, too; his dad, Pat Sullivan, and especially Charlie Rizzo, who passed in June. His players, however, were thinking about the man in front of them, and how his words meant so much because he lived by them.
THE GAME DIDN’T UNFOLD AS HOPED. Greenhill took what appeared to be an insurmountable 36-7 lead with four minutes left in the third quarter. “But we refused to quit,” said Mike Garnett. And with less than two minutes remaining, the Hawks had a first down on the Greenhill 29 with less than two minutes remaining, trailing by just eight. “I’ll remember the comeback the same way I’ll remember last year’s win over Greenhill,” said Garnett. “Even in defeat, we knew what we were about. The coaches had pushed us to our limits. Without that leadership, we couldn’t have done it.”
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After the game, the players consoled one another, and their coaches. “Multiple kids came up to apologize to me for the outcome of the game,” Bruce explained. “Most of them will never play again. It tugged at my heart. “I apologized to them,” he added, “for not putting them in a position to win. I really wanted it for them.” “Of all the coaches at Cistercian,” said Bobby Prengle ’10, whose senior year coincided with the coach’s first year at the school, “Coach Bruce embodies the Cistercian way. He’s all about building better men. “I played quarterback, so I wasn’t coached directly by him,” added the Duke graduate who is a physical therapist in Florida. “But he took time to get to know me and take an interest. He even attended my senior piano recital.” “Coach Bruce had lunch with me before I left for Princeton,” said Coronado. “He talked about the dramatic changes I had made in high school. “Those changes were due in large part to Coach Bruce. He impacted me not just as an athlete, but as a person, as a human being. “He’s so much more than a coach.” “Coach Bruce,” said Jack Garda ’15, “cares about shaping his players into men of character who will someday be leaders. “Above all, Coach Bruce taught us humility,” explained the senior at Vanderbilt. “We saw in his leadership style — in the way he led and taught us — how to be a humble leader. “It was an absolute honor to be shaped by Coach Bruce. I look up to him every day in his fight with cancer. He inspires his students and players to never give up.” Photo by Jim Reisch
Will Harris ’03 swapping stories with a young man at the Mercy Street bike shop.
Difference Makers
Checking in with alumni who are making things better out there. By Patrick Spence ’08
I
Making connections in West Dallas ~ Will Harris ’03
T’S A SLOW MAY AFTERNOON when I meet Will Harris ’03 in front of Mercy Street, an Evangelical outreach in West Dallas (Bonnie and Clyde’s old neighborhood), where he runs a bike shop with the help of the local teenagers. We stop by the Keurig for a coffee. Harris likes to re-brew pods that have already been used — “otherwise it’s too strong” — and not finding any, he decides he’ll get coffee another time. “Eight years ago,” he tells me, “Mom dragged the whole family to Mercy Street in an attempt to make us … do more good?” After volunteering to coach youth soccer, Harris wandered out behind the building and stumbled on the bike shop, a closet-sized project run by Johnny Garippa, a pastor’s son from Arizona. “John-
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ny’s friend was asleep in a field. That was my first impression of working at the bike shop.” Harris went back inside, rescinded his offer to coach, and joined the bike shop he now helms. The fields have mostly been replaced by apartments and public housing and charter schools, but when Harris isn’t teaching boys how to assemble bikes from donated parts, he takes them on rides to creeks, where they catch crawdads, or to the public pool. Behind Mercy Street’s back fence, cottonwoods, chinaberries, American elms, and a couple of three or four-hundred-year-old post oaks grow along a deep green fosse cut by an old watercourse of the Trinity. Once, to keep the boys interested during a nature walk, and because it was someone’s birthday, Harris ate a live grasshopper back there. Everyone knows the story. Harris’ shop now houses a hundred or so bikes, all donated, in Photo by Jim Reisch
different stages of assembly. Fourteen- to seventeen-year-olds in the team. Later, Harris tells me, “He’s practiced every day for the last Earn-a-bike program take Harris’ bike repair classes two or three year and a half, right out there. He’s got a pretty good attitude. He’s times a week, and work with him on bikes that — after about seven- gotten a whole lot better.” ty-five hours of labor — they get to keep. They also fix customers’ Both Daniel and his older brother Miles spend time at Mercy bikes, sweep the shop, wash cars out back, and (when Harris is feel- Street every day they can. “I really feel like their uncle,” says Haring lenient, which is often) work with him on their basketball skills. ris. “It was their mom’s birthday two weeks ago, and I went out to Justin, seventeen, is clamping a white Mongoose BMX to a dinner with them, just Daniel, Miles, and their mom, and it was a work stand and humming “Rocket Man.” The bike, which has no lovely evening. I had an immense sense of gratitude that of all the brakes, was a bare diamond frame a few weeks ago, without wheels people they could invite, they asked me. or handlebars. Justin and Harris review the differences between “Even if the bike shop burned up and I moved out of town, I’ve brake cables and shift cables, cable heads for road bikes and cable gotten to the level with those boys where I’ll be at their graduations, heads for mountain bikes. They spend forty-five minutes routing I’ll be at their weddings — we talk all the time.” one through its housing to the rear wheel, Daniel looks me in the eye when he cutting and securing it and adjusting its shakes my hand and remembers my name tension. Most of the time they’re talking on his way out. about other things: how Harris’ dog Nala ate his irreplaceable suede shoes; how JusWHEN I COME BACK to the bike tin’s girlfriend set his friend Juan up on a shop in the fall, the chinaberry trees are boring date. turning bright yellow from the bottom up. They get along like old friends, but they The raised herb beds out back are full of only met five weeks ago through Justin’s sweet peppers, which are delicious, and grandmother, who’s a long-time customer arugula, which only Harris will eat. I find of the shop. out that Jay has moved to Forney. Younger kids come in just to hang out. “People that are this poor move a lot, Jay, ten years old, shows up looking for his because you can get kicked out of public little brother Elijah, and for a turtle. But housing if your kid’s acting up in school, Harris has let the turtle go. “Releasing the — Will Harris ’03 for example. They have so much authority. turtle is better for him,” he says firmly. As And most of the low-rent places aren’t Jay’s face falls, Harris takes a penny from really going to work with you on a late the nearly-empty “pizza jar” on the shop counter and distracts him. payment. So Jay moving isn’t too strange. But he does come back “This has probably been in there for four years now. Let me to the bike shop every single time he’s in town, which is encoursmell it. I can tell the year of a penny from its smell.” aging.” Jay stifles a grin as Harris takes an authoritative sniff: “It’s a Hector has quit the shop and is working two baking jobs while 1998.” going to college. He wants to start a bakery, which Harris seems Jay checks. It’s from 2007. thrilled about. They still see each other regularly. Harris shrugs: “Allergies.” Daniel tried out for the basketball team and didn’t make it again. On bike trips with the boys, Harris rides an ’80s Trek mountain “That was a tough one,” says Harris, “but I told him, you’re learnbike, with a functional frame that can carry a lot of weight. He ing a new language. You’ve really worked on your vocabulary — crams the huge front basket with first aid, bike tools, water, and pic- because his ball-handling skills and his shooting are way better — nics. Last year he took ten kids to Fair Park, ten miles each way, no but you’ve got to work on putting those into a sentence or a phrase. flats, no accidents, no one killed. “That was a miracle.” He needs to learn how the game flows and when to pass and when Another time, Harris tells me, “I gave a ride on the top tube of to shoot. I recommended he join a Y league where he can get some my bike to a woman who had just been assaulted on the street. more game play.” “There’s a whole lot of really terrible human suffering in the Miles has gotten into a Dallas County community college. city, but riding my bike I’m not separated from any of it — seeing it, Marcus, a nineteen-year-old at El Centro with a linebacker’s smelling it. Living in West Dallas, I’ve been attacked by dogs, got build, is working with stoic dignity on a very small, hot pink, flowrabies shots, had my house broken in to, got shot at.” er-stickered girl’s bike when a gentleman in his sixties comes in with Plenty of Harris’ pupils have been through worse. There’s Hecbald tires. Never changing his expression, Marcus replaces the tires, tor, twenty, who came up through the bike program and now works switching a burst inner-tube and realigning the brakes for free. at the shop with Harris. “His parents and aunts and uncles were all Marcus, who wants to join the Marines to help with school debt, drug dealers; they would put cocaine in his underwear and send him came up through the Earn-a-bike program. He and Harris just got down the block to make the deal when he was six. He can handle back from visiting Mercy Street’s hospitalized custodian, who himself. At his age I was like a big baby, compared to how he is.” shares Harris’ taste for ’70s funk and has a young nephew at the “I think what Hector likes about our relationship is that I treat bike shop. him as an equal — like we’re buddies, whereas a lot of people from Tonight Marcus and Harris are going to the Lamar-Trinity game the other areas of his life just tell him what to do. to cheer on Jacob, a bike-shop trainee I haven’t met. “It’s the middle “I just want him to know that he can do this kind of work and be of his basketball season,” explains Harris, “and it’s a big deal. It’s happy in life.” going to get him into college.” A boy playing basketball in the shop’s parking lot comes over to Harris confides later that he’s trying to steer Marcus towards the say hello. Daniel has been trying for three years to make his school Coast Guard. “They’ll still help with your school loans, and you
“I’ve gotten to the level with those boys where I’ll be at their graduations, I’ll be at their weddings — we talk all the time.”
FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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maybe won’t die.” This is about as overtly prescriptive as I see him get. More often, he simply suggests that a boy “do some research on that” — on how high, for example, to set the saddle of the shop’s frequently-crashed unicycle, or on how to organically repel beetles from the purple basil plants. “Will isn’t interested in amassing wealth or prestige or power,” says his form master, Fr. Peter Verhalen ’73. “In a way, he seems to be a monk without the habit — he’s concerned about relationships, about understanding, about making the lives of individuals a bit better.” “He has a real heart to be present,” says Trey Hill, who founded
Mercy Street fifteen years ago. “Will is going to be there, faithfully — with a consistent love, without judgment. The bike shop is kind of a unique thing: I think what he’s doing is helping them discover their own sense of passion — to understand who they are, what drives them. “And that’s not necessarily a set process. It’s doing life and sharing stories. I don’t think in Will’s world — and in some ways I find this really beautiful — that this push for efficiency and productivity and all these words that drive our culture today — means that much to him. He values more the relationship, the connection itself. “You know, there’s tons of grace extended through Will.”
Rob Bode ’92 (left) and Doug Barnes ’92 (right) with Port Arthur resident Dan LeBlanc
Boating in Port Arthur ~ Doug Barnes ’92 | Rob Bode ’92
D
OUG BARNES ’92 STOOD IN the doorway of Cypress Glen Nursing Home in Port Arthur, Texas, eying the chaos: “There were people sitting in beds and wheelchairs in two feet of water. The smell of human waste was so extreme I checked a couple of doors, looking for somewhere to throw up. But they don’t leave a lot of doors unlocked in old folks’ homes.” Twenty-four hours earlier, Barnes was coaching polo in Virginia. He’d seen a post about Hurricane Harvey on Facebook and was thinking of Rob Bode, a Cistercian classmate of his who lives in Dallas. Bode and Barnes have been friends and hunting buddies for the last twenty-five years. “Rob and I have traveled all over. We’ve been fishing, off-road mudding, navigated boats in the fog. I know I can trust him under pressure. I called him that night and said, ‘Hey, we’re perfect for this.’” Bode was in. Barnes left his polo company in the hands of his employees, and Bode met him at the airport at nine-thirty the next morning.
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They hitched up Bode’s flat-bottomed johnboat two hours north of Dallas, stocked up on life jackets at a Bass Pro Shop, and headed towards Houston. The check-engine light came on. As they switched cars at Bode’s house, Barnes was almost run over by a passing aide from Sen. John Cornyn’s office. The driver backed up and introduced himself. Were they on their way to Houston? He couldn’t believe Barnes had flown in from D.C. “He told us, ‘Here’s my number, give me a call and keep me up to date.’” At a pit stop on I-45, a stranger gave them fifty dollars for gas. In Houston, Barnes and Bode downloaded Zello, a walkie-talkie app for coordinating rescuers — which is how they learned that there were already enough teams helping in the city. A friend remotely unlocked his house, and they spent Tuesday night in Houston, planning their next move. Port Arthur — the next town in Harvey’s path — was twenty miles away through two feet of water. It sits below sea level, and when the levee broke, that water rose from two feet to six in some places. On the way, Barnes remembers, “we’d get on Zello and ask, ‘Are we going to make it?’ And someone farther up ahead would say, Photo courtesy of Doug Barnes ’92 and Cart Weiland ’04
Bode directed the growing stream of bass boats, inflatable boats, and johnboats that would ferry Cypress Glen’s patients to safety, 20 minutes away.
‘It gets deep, but you can make it.’” Barnes and Bode got to Port Arthur, parked in a Kmart lot next to a flooded neighborhood, and set out in their eighteen-foot duck-hunting boat. “We just asked people — there were a lot of people — where did you come from and who needs help?” Someone said that a nursing home needed to be evacuated. This is how Barnes came to find himself in two feet of raw waste, or what smelled like it, in the lobby of Cypress Glen. “There were plenty of Indians but no chief,” he recalls. The lobby was crowded with elderly patients, nursing home staff, Coast Guard, police – but no one was going anywhere. “I sought out the head of staff and asked her, ‘How many people do you have?’ She said, ‘A hundred and twenty-eight.’ ‘How many do you need to evacuate?’ ‘All of them.’ ‘How many are ready?’ ‘None.’” After twenty years of playing and coaching polo, Barnes is adept at galvanizing teams. “In their defense,” he tells me, “an evac is probably not an everyday event. They were all very responsive to commands: I sent one to print out medical histories, another to get all their meds and supplies, another to load medicine carts onto boats and send them with patients.” The problem was, once he got rescuers moving, “everyone just wanted to grab people and throw them in the boats. But what do you do when an eighty-five-year-old can’t remember his medical conditions or what he’s allergic to at the rally point?” Barnes stationed Bode outside to direct the growing stream of
bass boats, inflatable boats, and johnboats that would ferry Cypress Glen’s patients to the Little Port Arthur Theatre, twenty minutes away, where Black Hawks were landing every four minutes to pick people up. “It looked like a military op there: a constant stream of air activity.” Meanwhile Barnes grabbed a reliable-looking gentleman (Dan LeBlanc, a father of six from Port Arthur) and went after the chaos within. Every patient got a red vest, which held identification, medical history and vitals. Staff were sent to gather medicine and take patients out in wheelchairs. Barnes set up two checkpoints to make sure no one left without records. Twenty-six of the patients were bedridden. The last five were on dialysis or breathing machines that couldn’t be unplugged. Barnes found electrical generators and set them up on big flat-bottomed boats. The machines stayed on. Thanks to the congressional aide they’d met in Dallas, Barnes and Bode were eventually recognized by Sen. Cornyn in a speech on the Senate floor. Their classmate Matthew Naftis told form master Bob Haaser, “When I heard that Rob and Doug were helping out in South Texas, it made perfect sense. Even in high school, they were such dependable, thoughtful guys. And of course they were always up for any chance to use four-wheel drive.” Wednesday night, Barnes and Bode slept in tents in the Kmart parking lot. Twenty-four hours later, the National Guard rolled up to an empty Cypress Glen. Barnes was already on his way to Wellington, Florida, to secure his polo operations there before Hurricane Irma arrived.
Working to improve the third-world health apparatus ~ Mark Shrime ’92
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ARK SHRIME ’92 IS CRAMMING in ER shifts before a month-long voyage to Cameroon. During a lunchtime lull, instead of grabbing a sandwich or a few minutes’ peace, Shrime calls me from Boston to talk. It’s possible that not all of Harvard’s medical professors wanted to pursue medicine from an early age, but I doubt whether any besides Shrime were still rebelling against the idea as surgical residents. “I am the first-born son of an immigrant family, so I had the options of medicine, law, or business as the only things I could do,” Shrime tells me. “I wanted to be a linguist, I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to be a philosopher.” (Shrime’s younger brother, Ryan ’96, is an actor and recently appeared on Madam Secretary.) “But” — Shrime continues with an air of weary inevitability — “you know, I liked science, I liked biology, so I majored in Molecular Biology in college.” (This was at Princeton, I later discover, where Molecular Bio isn’t an easy major to muddle through.) “I hated every minute of medical school,” Shrime goes on. “I tried to quit I don’t know how many times. I took a year off and lived in Singapore, taught organic chemistry, literally walked myself into the immigration office in Singapore thinking I was going
to apply for permanent residency, and then chickened out. “I went back to med school, graduated, and decided since I hated medicine so much but didn’t have any other marketable skills, I was going to pick a specialty in which I could do as little work as possible and make as much money as possible — so I could do all the other things I wanted to do with my life. “Turns out,” he adds, “that’s the wrong reason to pick a specialty. So I picked ENT and really did not like my residency either — tried to quit a hundred times — and it wasn’t until I started doing head and neck surgery and meeting the cancer patients that I started to think, ‘Wow, this is cool and I actually kind of like this.’” Talking to Shrime makes me feel like I can achieve anything, as long as I hate training for it enough. Shrime completed fellowships in head and neck cancer, which, he tells me, “primarily impacts seventy-year-old men who drink and smoke their entire lives.” Looking for a broader group to serve, he took a month off in 2008 and went to Liberia for the first of eleven (and counting) stints with Mercy Ships. Mercy Ships turns ocean liners and ferries into floating hospitals serving impoverished countries. Shrime tells me that Africa Mercy, which he’s meeting at Cameroon in September, will spend ten months in port there. Anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 surgeries will take place in its five operating rooms, staffed by five to twelve FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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(Left) Mark Shrime ’92, top right, screening patients in the Congo for operations on the Mercy Ship (below). Shrime spends two months a year on board the ship performing between two and five surgeries a day (he’s on the right in the bottom photo).
surgeons, two hospitalists, and four Africa Mercy was docked on the hundred medical and non-medical east coast of Madagascar, and Samstaff from nurses and radiologists to bany was at the southern tip of the officers, crew, and cooks. island. To get from his rice farm to “Walking down the ship’s hospital the nearest road, he was carried on ward for the first time was a turning a man’s back for two days. Then he point,” he tells me. “I saw all these took a six-hour taxi ride to the ship. head and neck cancer patients that His surgery was successful, and free, weren’t going to get surgery otherbut in order to pay for his two-and-awise, and had this epiphany, ‘Gosh, half-day transit, Sambany had to sell this is why I’ve been training for fifhis rice paddy. teen years.’” “So he gained his health and siJim von der Heyt ’92, who attendmultaneously lost at least some of his ed Princeton with Shrime, recalls how livelihood in doing so. And that tenShrime’s parents passed on “an ethic sion between the healing and impovof kindness and gentleness. That’s erishing effects of healthcare is what why surgery by itself would never my research focuses on.” satisfy him. Mark wants to bring Which brings us to the other ten top-quality medicine everywhere, months of Shrime’s year. As an Asnot just to the patients that can get to sistant Professor of Otolaryngology where he is, and have the means to and Global Health at Harvard, his pay for it. He lives by the Beatitudes.” research, public speaking, and policy Shrime, who like the other docwork all deal with surgery in low-in— Mark Shrime ’92 come countries, where one hundred tors actually pays to live on the ship, operates on two to five patients a day, and fifty million people face financial five days a week, for two months each year. Surgery, medication, catastrophe every year from medical costs. Of these, fifty million and post-operative care are all free on board Africa Mercy, but that’s face disaster because of the costs of accessing care, like Sambany. often not enough to avoid impoverishing those who come looking Shrime advocates for improving surgical infrastructure in develfor Shrime’s help. oping countries. “It’s more expensive than distributing vaccines and antibiotics, but it lets us treat a much wider range of health issues.” SHRIME MET SAMBANY in Madagascar. He was a sixtyBefore I can bring our conversation around to Shrime’s two year-old rice farmer with a sixteen-pound tumor on the side of his auditions on American Ninja Warrior, he has to go. “I just saw a face, which had cost him first his social life, and then his ability to patient walk in with blood coming out of her nose,” he tells me, and work. He’d sought treatment in ten different hospitals, during which after promising to e-mail if I have any questions, he says a hasty time he had seen only three surgeons, none of whom would operate. goodbye. I’m not sure if I thanked him.
“That tension between the healing and impoverishing effects of healthcare is what my research focuses on.”
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CONTINUUM • FALL 2017
Photos courtesy of Mark Shrime ’92
Working to end homelessness in Berkeley, and beyond ~ Peter Radu ’05
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T’S STILL EARLY ON A SATURDAY morning, about providing these interventions to people, because it seems, Pacific Time, and I’m on the phone with the homeless when you’re working with them, so unlikely that they’ll be able to services coordinator for the city of Berkeley, discussachieve self-sufficiency, right?” ing a sonnet he once wrote for Fr. Denis’s Algebra II I ask him for an unlikely story. class. Dr. Pruit alerted me to the poem’s existence, “I’m thinking of one client I worked with in particular, who was recalling how Peter Radu ’05 delivered it in a thick a serious alcoholic, an unsheltered homeless male in Sunnyvale Hungarian accent. Pruit recalled that “you think you (which is not far from Stanford in the South Bay). And he had been will pass” rhymed with something harsher than “hard class.” on the streets probably ten to fifteen years. A serious alcoholic — I Radu vows to look for the sonnet, but if he finds it he never tells mean, blacking out all the time, had serious long-term memory me. complications as a result of it; he would sort of forget that we had Now in his eighth month as homeless services coordinator, Radu talked about certain things. has been working with homeless in the Bay Area since his Stanford “He was difficult to work with because of that, but he held a job days, when he volunteered at the Salvation Army and Bay Area down at the Shoreline Amphitheatre, working the door for concerts, shelters, helping the homeless with housing searches, rental vouchand he slept underneath a tree on the side of a busy road in Sunnyers, and move-ins. He warns me that he no longer manages individ- vale, where people would leave him alone. He really didn’t want to ual cases, and that his work is “kind of wonky and bureaucratic,” be a burden, on people or on society. though he still volunteers at shelters. On the other hand, Berkeley “Because of how complicated his alcoholism was and his cogniis famous for citizen participation in tive deficiencies were, I really questioned government, and people with first-hand whether he was going to be able to make experience of homelessness aren’t it in a permanent housing setting, but strangers to City Hall. we found a unit for him in Sunnyvale, “Cross Country” was a sixty-fivethe subsidy paid for it — there was a lot year-old black man who grew up in Louof red tape we had to work through, but isiana, and had gotten his nickname by we finally got him housed — and it was doing time in seven or eight state prisons. transformative for him, I have to say. He suffered from schizophrenia and se“He didn’t stop drinking, but he rious diabetes complications. “He almost stabilized. He kept working. He was a had his feet amputated while I was workdecent neighbor, property management ing with him,” Radu tells me. didn’t have any problems with him. By “To me he really exemplified a couple the time I left that position he was still of things: on one hand, how difficult life housed, and I would not have expected is for people who are poor and who sufhim to have that level of success. fer from mental illness; but on the other, “At the risk of getting on my soapbox Peter Radu ’05 believes that the goal of ending how resilient people are in finding a way here, we expect so much in this country homelessness is achievable, concrete, and realistic. to survive, a way to make it in a country that people will solve their own probthat I think could do a lot more for our poor people. lems and pick themselves up — the bootstraps thing. And I don’t “He was basically slowly dying from his diabetes and had been think this gentleman would have been able to without some sort of chronically homeless in a number of different states, and yet he public-sector safety net support — but it wasn’t that much support found a way to get housed — obviously with my help and with the that we gave him: it was case management and a time-limited subprogram’s help — in the worst housing market in the country, and sidy. But that enabled him to keep his job, to really get his life back generate enough income to survive. on track. “For someone like myself, who grew up in a comfortable mid“At the same time, at a policy level, you can’t be too consumed dle-class environment at a school like Cistercian, it wouldn’t have by anecdotes, because the risk is that you end up creating policies really been possible to fathom survival under those conditions, but that solve small problems at the expense of the greater ones. We he made it work. have very limited resources: how do we want to spend them? We “You can’t be friends with your clients when you’re a case mancan lose sight of what we’re trying to do, which is provide permaager — that crosses a professional boundary — but I really enjoyed nent affordable housing for all people — to make sure, as a society, working with him. He was funny, he was resilient, he was a pain that no one has to sleep outside every night. in the neck at times. But he continues to be the human face for me, “Ending homelessness is, of all our social goals, one of the most now that I’m in more of a policy role. I always tend to think, ‘OK, achievable, concrete, and realistic. Unlike poverty and unlike racwhat would that mean for someone like this gentleman.’” ism, homelessness has a clear-cut solution: we can end it. There is no money in the budget for permanent housing for peo“But there are so many competing interests, and so many things ple like Cross Country. Instead, cities “basically provide housing we could do with that money. I remember Fr. Paul used to talk subsidies that cover from two months to no more than two years, about the Fundamental Moral Law — and I think that sort of baseand during that time the expectation is that you work to gain employ- line thinking is important. Just keeping a strong sense of what’s just ment, increase your income, and achieve long-term self-sufficiency. and what’s not just has been really important, and that’s something I “There’s this reticence, among providers, and for good reason, learned from Cistercian.”
Photo courtesy of Peter Radu ’05
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The RETREET planting group in Kodomo, Indiana, earlier this fall, after a tornado hit last summer. Grady McGahan ’00 is hugging the tree.
Trees breathe new life into disaster relief ~ Grady McGahan ’00
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RADY McGAHAN ’00 IS DRIVING eighteenth trip.) back to Dallas from Kokomo, Indiana, “A woman on the phone with us was really bitter. She and her a town of 57,799 hit by a tornado last husband had worked their whole lives and saved up all their monAugust, leaving half its residents without ey and built their dream home in Bastrop. A year before the fire power and scores without housing. happened he passed away, and she was telling me, ‘He got to die in What is he doing there a year and a half our beautiful house in my arms, but I’m stuck here in this FEMA later? trailer.’ Disaster relief. He just planted his five thousandth tree. “When we got there, you could still smell the burned-out cars “Immediate relief roles are pretty saturated,” he tells me, “but in the neighborhood. But she was so excited to see us. She was out long-term help is scarce. No one’s replanting there with lemonade, in tears, and she wrote us neighborhoods after natural disasters. FEMA’s a super-sweet letter about the hope and happinot replanting trees, Habitat for Humanity’s not ness it had brought her to see all these people doing that, but of course it matters to people. planting trees, and how she looks out her win“In Kokomo, the tornado is five or six news dow at them and they remind her of the young cycles down the road. People are rebuilding, people. they’re locked into this long process of gov“It isn’t just the things that people lose. It’s ernment contractors, insurers, and so on. But the sense of normalcy. It’s impossible to feel everyone else has kind of moved on. normal when you’re looking at stumps — that “Then we show up with a bunch of people stump that maybe you planted with your wife from all over the country, with big smiles, to on your wedding day, or the one your kids’ say, ‘Hey, we haven’t forgotten about you, and treehouse was in, or the one that shaded your we’re here to put some living things back into barbecues. your community.’” “I actually had an older gentleman tell me McGahan is the founder and sole permathat if he’d been given a choice between losing nent employee of RETREET, which organizes Grady McGahan ’00 is the founder and his house and losing all the trees in his comvolunteers to replant trees in the long-term munity, he’d say, ‘Take the house,’ because he sole full-time employee of RETREET. aftermath of natural disasters. “We wait till can rebuild it, but he’s not going to live to see it’s appropriate to talk about this kind of work,” he tells me. “We the big trees in his neighborhood again. A tree grows in value over aren’t in Puerto Rico right now, for example. But you’ve got all this time, to the point that it’s invaluable, because it’s irreplaceable.” willing labor and people who want to improve someone’s life in a In the next year and a half, McGahan will answer requests from concrete way. And trees can do that, for the rest of their owners’ cities hit by Irma, Harvey, and the California wildfires. “We’re the lives, and for future generations.” only ones in the country right now doing this work,” he tells me. “As Since 2012, McGahan has been running four to five RETREETs our national profile has grown, I’ve gotten a kick out of telling peoa year, planting roughly two hundred trees each time in neighborple from other places that we’re based in Dallas. Dallas is not really hoods from California to Texas. It takes at least a year to line up known as an environmental or nonprofit epicenter — they expect each event, depending on factors from the planting season to the Austin or Portland or something. But this is a non-partisan cause. progress of rebuilding efforts. He relies on a deep bench of friends “We want to change the paradigm for what disaster relief can in local governments and on forestry boards, sponsors like Home look like. This is going to change the world, and I’d love to have it Depot who supply locally adapted trees, and the dozens of volunbe known as something that came out of Dallas, and that came out teers who show up every time. (Some are on their seventeenth or of Cistercian.”
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CONTINUUM • FALL 2017
Photos courtesy of Grady McGahan ’00
Sports FOOTBALL
High-scoring Hawks nearly reach second SPC 3A championship game Powered by the highest scoring offense in the annals of Cistercian football (36.7 points/game), the 2017 Hawks sat perched in late October on the precipice of a second consecutive appearance in the SPC 3A championship game. In the season’s final conference game, however, crosstown rival Greenhill held off the Hawks’ furious late-game rally, winning 36-28, to claim the spot instead. (Greenhill was defeated by Trinity Valley, 24-14, in the championship game.) The team’s explosive firepower was showcased in a late September game against Oakridge, one in which Cistercian nearly didn’t even score in the first half. “During the first half, we seemed to have a hangover from our loss to Trinity Valley the week before,” said Head Coach James Burk. The Hawks finally scored when Max Schieferdecker ’18 hit Sam Clay ’19 from around midfield with 18 seconds left in the first half to tie the score at 7-7. That broke the spell. In the third quarter, Schieferdecker rolled, demonstrating the skills that have set him atop Cistercian’s
BREAKING RECORDS Career passing marks broken by Max Schieferdecker ’18
Yards TDs
Schieferdecker 7,691 89 Matthew Merrick ’15 5,998 58 Matt Walter ’86 4,616 N.A. Behind Max Schieferdecker ’18, the Hawks set a school record for scoring at 36.7 points per game. record books in career passing yardage and touchdowns (see sidebar above) as well as several other categories. In the course of just eight minutes, “Schief” threw three scoring strikes: 49 yards to Harry Crutcher ’19, 27 yards to Jack McGuire ’18, and 61 yards to Kaosi Unini ’20. The scoring outburst subdued the Owls, a team that would defeat eventual champion Trinity Valley. “It was probably our best win of the season,” Coach Burk said. Crutcher led the team in scoring with 21 touchdowns (tops for all DFW private schools) and in rushing yards (871).
The holes were gashed by an offensive line anchored by Sidney Reggie ’18, Colton Scrudder ’18, and Ben FitzGerald ’18. Sam Clay topped all receivers in yardage with 47 catches for 784 yards, but Crutcher, Mike Garnett ’18, and Jimmy Garda ’19 all caught passes for over 500 yards and seven touchdowns (Garnett being the exception with eight TDs). The defense was spearheaded by Garnett at safety, Lucas Watt ’19, who led the team in sacks with nine, and linebacker Chris Odom ’18, who led the team in tackles with 119. Garnett, Schieferdecker, Crutcher, and Clay were named All-SPC.
CROSS COUNTRY
Freshman talent continues to serve Hawks well
Connor Blend ’18
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For S.L. Roane, Cistercian’s cross country coach, the 2017 season felt like déjà vu all over again. As in 2016, a freshman emerged as the Hawks’ number one runner. Last year, Evan Anderson ’20 played the role. This year, freshman Alex Smith ’21 became the team’s top runner (Anderson played football). The team ran well in early meets including a first at the Garey Horner Invitational and a second at the WT White Longhorn Invitational.
The number of career touchdown passes thrown by quarterback Max Schieferdecker ’18 (a school record). He also scored one rushing touchdown.
Football photo by Kavin Schieferdecker; cross country photo by Joe Dunikoski ’20
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The Hawks also ran well in the SPC North Zone meet in late October. “Many of the guys came up with personal bests at that meet,” Roane said. “John LeSage ’20 opened our eyes there.” Key contributors included Connor Blend ’18 and J.B. Hudnall ’21, who ran well until he suffered an injury. Max Rogers ’19 and Nico Walz ’20 rounded out the top-flight group of runners. With 20-21 runners out this year and a strong JV program, Roane sees a culture developing that bodes well for the future.
The number of touchdowns scored by Harry Crutcher ’19 this season (14 on the ground, seven receiving) led all DFW private schools.
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The Friday night parables of Coach André Bruce I t has been said that no good Southern fiction is complete without a dead mule, and Coach Bruce’s story began with the body of a mule at the bottom of a well. The way he told it, the mule had tumbled headlong into the well but survived the initial fall. Once it had regained its senses it thrashed about in the cold well water and brayed loudly enough to send the farmer running. At first, the farmer considered trying to save the animal. He thought of how he might pull the mule out of the well, but grew increasingly disenchanted by the idea the more he thought about it. The prospect was filled with Afterthoughts terrible visions of tangled ropes and kicked-in Jess Clay ’13 skulls and the sort of obituary that might be written about such a death. In the end, he decided that only one jackass needed burying, so he went and grabbed a shovel. By the time he started digging, the mule had settled down somewhat. The mule quivered in the darkness but raised its head upwards and began to gaze at the small patch of sky above the well. It was still gazing when the dirt began to fall. The first shovelful hit the mule between its eyes, but it shook the dirt off and nickered softly and returned to looking at the sky. As one shovelful after another landed, the mule shook it off into the water around its hooves, and the water grew shallower as it mixed with the fresh-flung soil and began to turn to mud. This went on for hours. The mule refused to lay down and die, and the farmer refused to stop shoveling, and the pile of dirt beneath the mule rose higher and higher and higher. The farmer shoveled until the sun dipped below the horizon. As the sky grew dark above, the mule walked out of the well. Coach Bruce paused, and the locker room was silent as he flashed his eyes around it. “So no matter what happens out on that field tonight, you need to be like that mule. Shake it off, and step up.” “Shake it off and step up.” It was not exactly Faulkner, but I suspect my teammates and I have retained the details of that story of stubborn perseverance better than we can recall Faulkner’s words in The Unvanquished, or the complexities of calculus, or the finer points of Latin conjugations. In fact, Coach Bruce’s pep parables still serve as shibboleths for those of us who played football for him, potent passwords of a team and a time – the tale of the mule in the well, perhaps, or the two boys getting raisins from a barrel at a general store, or an Australian sheepherder who won an ultra-marathon at the age of sixty-one.
They were mesmerizing in the moment, and they have stuck with me long after I last took off a Cistercian uniform. We inhabit a world in which the sitting president of the United States has hijacked the phrase “locker room talk” as a euphemism for vulgarity, the sort of crass and crude language that festers away from the public’s eyes and ears. But there was a decidedly different quality to the talks my teammates and I heard from our coaches in the Cistercian locker room. They were profound rather than profane, and their underlying theme was not “boys will be boys,” but instead an abiding belief that boys would one day become men. Everyone who ever suited up for the Hawks heard locker room talks. The coach may have been Haaser, or Hillary, or McCarthy, or Burke. The sport may have been basketball or baseball, soccer or swimming. Not every Cistercian graduate has had the particular privilege of hearing a Coach Bruce story, but an entire issue of this magazine might well be filled with alumni recollections of the talks that stood out for them over the years. I found myself wondering why we can still remember the brief words of coaches as if we heard them last Friday night. It is strange, after all, considering how fast memory fades of the subjects that we spent hours on in the classroom. Ultimately, I believe that locker room talks struck a resounding chord with those who heard them because of who we were then, and are now. None of us were ever quite Faulkner, or Newton, or Cicero. But we have all been a mule at one point or another, and we have all fallen into a well. Sometimes, it felt like the teachers forgot that truth about boys and men alike. The only perfect man in history hung on a crucifix at the front of every classroom, but that detail never precluded the expectation that we would remember every name, date, equation, and formula that came our way. The coaches never seemed to entertain such notions of perfection, though, and as such the locker room was always different from the classroom. Before every game, it was a foregone conclusion that mistakes would be made, try as we might to avoid them. The locker room talks made us think of how each of us could respond, and how something bigger than any single one of us might yet prevail. For most of us, those talks quit coming after graduation, as we gave up sports to take up college. But the thoughts remain always, and so too do the echoes of the locker room, to better aim our gazes upwards toward the light.
I found myself wondering why we can still remember the brief words of coaches as if we heard them last Friday night.
Smokey Briggs ’84 will be back next edition. FALL 2017 • CONTINUUM
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Community calendar DECEMBER
PREPARATORY SCHOOL 3660 CISTERCIAN ROAD IRVING, TEXAS 75039
16 Alumni Christmas Party
JANUARY
20 Jim & Lynn Moroney Award Dinner 27 Admissions testing
FEBRUARY
7 Admissions testing
Longing for heaven, where love and joy grow eternally
O
n the rare occasions when we think about heaven, we imagine that it will consist of light and joy, all coming from the vision of God. And we will meet once again the deceased members of our family and friends. This is all true, but God has revealed much more to us, and I would like to outline for you what I have come to understand. Heaven, just like hell, begins in this life. Every experience of true love and true community, every sight of beauty is a foretaste, even if tenuous and fleeting, of heaven. (Just as any manifestation of hatred, On Prayer revenge and hurtful lies Fr. Roch Kereszty reminds us of the hidden presence of the Father of Lies who has been a murderer from the beginning.) Jesus promised to be with us always. And always with Jesus are all the angels and saints, and Jesus is always united with his Father in the Holy Spirit. Thus, the entire “habitat” we call heaven interpenetrates this temporary habitat of our world. The uncorrupted, glorified spiritual bodies of Jesus and Mary, the new Adam and the new Eve, are the foundation in heaven to which, at our resurrection, our spiritual bodies, conformed to that of Christ, will be united. In fact, the body of Christ exists already in our world. Our souls and our bodies are connected to him. To the extent of that union, we share already on earth in the Son’s relationship to his Father. In heaven, however, our union with Christ will be complete, unbreakable and manifest to all members. Thus our participation in the Son’s relation to his Father will also become perfect and definitive. Even now having “received the Spirit of adoption, we cry Abba, Father” (Rom 8:15), but in heaven we will also see and taste in the Spirit the Father’s infinite goodness. If the above reflections are true, in heaven our joy will not consist of standing before the Holy Trinity as we contemplate the triune God face to face. Just as now we are (in the state of sanctifying grace) not “outside” the communion of the Holy Trinity but within,
much less shall we be “outside” in heaven. The transforming presence of the Holy Spirit within us, who is the same in Christ, in the Father and in all redeemed, will make us share in Christ’s beatifying vision and love of the Father. We will praise the Father “through him, with him and in him,” as well as return the love and praise of the Father to the Son. Gregory of Nyssa explains that our union with the Triune God will have an eternal dynamism of growth. The life of the Holy Trinity is a never exhaustible infinite mystery. The more we find a joyful rest in Him (stasis), the more we want to penetrate and enjoy Him (kinesis). Thus our knowledge, love and joy will grow eternally. (While those in hell will experience the opposite: since human life without love is no longer life, their dying will be unending.) As our love for God cannot be authentic without loving our neighbor, in heaven the unity of both loves will be perfect and manifest. As St. Thomas explains, in heaven we will love our neighbor as much as ourselves; consequently, we will love also our neighbor’s experience of God as our own. Thus our knowledge, love and joy will be multiplied by the number of the redeemed. We shall be perfectly “one heart and one mind.” I conclude here with a text of Blessed Aelred, the abbot of the Cistercian Abbey Rievaulx in England, about the same topic of community life in heaven.
There will be no hidden thoughts or hypocritical sentiments there.
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In heaven ... ... everyone will love the other as himself and thus enjoy the other’s happiness as much as his own. In this way, everyone will possess the happiness of everyone else, and each individual the totality of happiness. There will be no hidden thoughts or hypocritical sentiments there. This is the true friendship which begins here and is consummated there. (On Spiritual Friendship)