Winter 2023

MADE FOR TV

JOE LAZAROV DIRECTS AND PRODUCES CAREER SUCCESS

Beg To Differ, led by Matt Tutor ’91, sings the national anthem January 9 before the Memphis Grizzlies overcame the San Antonio Spurs 135-129. It was the coda to MUS Memphis Day 2023, a celebration of the school’s connection to the city that included keynote speaker Darrell Cobbins ’91 and other community speakers, games on campus, and Memphis Day Wrestle Mayhem. Read more about the day and the wrestling match between History Instructor Jason Peters ’88 and Lacrosse Head Coach Joe Cummings in the Ross Lynn Arena wrestling ring on page 48. Photo by Joe Murphy Photography

6 The made-for-TV life of Joe Lazarov ’82

12 Foo tball Head Coach Bobby Alston hits 200 wins

18 Paul Tudor Jones ’72 on "Perfect Failure"

27 Board chair portr ait for Sam Graham ’80 unveiled

33 Bill Ta ylor fans gather for his portrait unveiling

musowls.org/media

IN EVERY ISSUE ON THE COVER

73

Director of Advancement

Perry Dement perry.dement@musowls.org

Director of Alumni and Parent Programs

Ann Laughlin ann.laughlin@musowls.org

Editor, Director of Communications

Liz Copeland liz.copeland@musowls.org

Contributors

Little did Joe Lazarov ’82 know, when he graduated with an economics degree from Boston University and headed back home, that he would build his career producing and directing television shows. That he would produce and direct TV movies for Dolly Parton. That he would win an Emmy. It all started when he listened to a voice directing him to head west. See his story on page 6.

Assistant Director of Communications

Rebecca Greer

Communications Specialist

Jonah Jordan

Graphic Designer

Kaitlan Koehler

Mike Azria, photographer based in Los Angeles

Daniel Black ’18, writer based in Memphis

Christopher Blank, news director at WKNO

Greg Cravens, illustrator based in Memphis

Jerry Gallik, photographer based in Memphis

Joe Murphy, photographer based in Memphis

Founded 1893

MISSION STATEMENT

Memphis University School is a college-preparatory school dedicated to academic excellence, cultivation of service and leadership, and the development of well-rounded young men of strong moral character, consistent with the school’s Christian tradition.

© 2023 Memphis

School.

HEADMASTER

Peter D. Sanders

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

James F. Burnett ’83, Chairman

Glenn A. Crosby II ’77, Vice Chairman

Chris R. Sanders, Secretary

D. Stephen Morrow ’71, Treasurer

Brandon K. Arrindell ’04

James H. Barton, Jr. ’85

R. Earl Blankenship

Andrew F. Cates ’89

William B. Dunavant III ’78

Robert M. Fockler ’77

P. Trowbridge Gillespie, Jr. ’65

J. Brett Grinder ’91

Mark J. Halperin ’67

Robert J. Hussey III ’81

W. Thomas Hutton, Jr. '91

Margaret C. McLean

Jeffrey B. Meskin

Richard C. Moore III ’98

Joseph M. Morrison ’78

William E. Orgel ’81

Jennifer R. Ransom

Wiley T. Robinson ’75

Frederick C. Schaeffer, Jr. ’88

William V. Thompson III ’95

Philip S. Wunderlich ’90

ALUMNI ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE BOARD

Ted Simpson ’85, President

Horace Carter ’89, President-Elect

Scott Adams ’02

Galloway Allbright ’98

Preston Battle ’07

Chris Beard ’84

Jeffrey Block ’94

Albo Carruthers ’78

George Coors ’09

Don Drinkard ’98

Cal Edge ’14

Elliot Embry ’04

Jim Gilliland ’89

Emmel Golden ’97

Wesley Grace ’86

Rob Heard ’76

K.C. Horne ’92

Graham Jones ’09

Trey Jordan ’83

Edward Lake ’13

Will Levy ’99

Neely Mallory ’07

Jay McDonald ’00

Greg McGowan ’86

Alston Meeks ’99

Shannon Rhodes ’90

Gideon Scoggin ’95

James Sexton ’14

McCown Smith ’98

Alex Snyder ’06

George Sousoulas ’78

Harley Steffens ’98

Reid Wesson ’06

Photo by Mike Azria

University

All rights reserved. The name, seal, and logos of Memphis University School, as well as MUS Today, Inside MUS, The MUSe, The Owl’s Hoot, The Owl, and Beg To Differ, are registered marks of Memphis University School and use in any manner is prohibited unless prior written approval is obtained from Memphis University School.

Slow Time Full-Speed Ahead

At one time in my career, the months of January and February were the “slow time” in the school calendar. Unlike the fall and spring when activity has always been at a high level, the winter months at a school tended to be low intensity. At Memphis University School, that is not the case, especially in 2023.

The new year began with a faculty in-service day featuring an opening address by Dr. Russ Wigginton, president of the National Civil Rights Museum. He urged teachers not to underestimate the impact they have on their students as they impart lessons that influence their lives. This message brought to mind countless testimonials I have heard from alumni about how MUS teachers have helped them shape not only their education but also their character.

Our Friday chapel later that week featured Nike Executive Willie Gregory who parsed wise advice on three words to live by: relationships, opportunity, and appreciation. His address lines up beautifully with our Community Creed, which has been at the forefront of our theme for this year, reconnecting to our roots.

Other highlights included International Week, a Shakespeare monologue competition, student-organized Black History month presentations, Mock Trial competitions, DECA Club meetings featuring alumni speakers, and the opening of campus on Saturdays for two CSO-Mid-South Food Bank distributions. All of this on top of the school’s academic, arts, and athletic activities make MUS a highenergy place in the winter as well as in the fall and spring.

Perhaps the most memorable event was our second annual Memphis Day on January 9. Because MUS produces so many leaders locally, Memphis Day is an important extension of our curriculum and our mission. Students and faculty focused on our city – its challenges and its superlatives. Starting off the day was a moving

address by Darrell Cobbins ’91 who spoke about his experience at MUS and how much the school has meant to him and to his brother, the late Donnell Cobbins ’89. Darrell thanked his mother, Shirley Peace Cobbins, who was there in the audience, for getting the brothers into the school. “She had a vision for what she wanted her sons to accomplish with their lives,” he said.

After the keynote, students heard from representatives of organizations committed to the betterment of Memphis. The community presentations ended on an action-packed note with a celebration of the city’s historical love for professional wrestling. Led by government teacher and wrestling aficionado Jason Peters ’88, Ross Lynn Arena was outfitted with a ring for an exhibition by local pro wrestlers and a special grudge match between Peters and his officemate, Lacrosse Head Coach Joe Cummings. The tongue-incheek contest was hilarious, and the boys went wild. (Read more on page 48 and at www.musowls.org/MemDay.) Memphis Day 2024 is already being planned!

As you read these words, the energy that is spring at MUS will be in full swing. I hope you can make it to campus for our many activities and events. Check our website calendars at www.musowls. org for dates and details.

Veritas Honorque

PETE.SANDERS@MUSOWLS.ORG

PETER D. SANDERS HEADMASTER

21 MUS Students Earn National Honors

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation and College Board have honored 21 Memphis University students for their high marks on the Preliminary SAT/ National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.

The 20 senior honorees represent nearly 18% of the Class of 2023.

Twelve seniors have been named National Merit Semifinalists, indicating their PSAT scores rank in the top 1% nationwide. Cristian Arocho, Charlie Gamble, Frederick Huang, Amar Kanakamedala, Varun Krishnamurthi, Jeffrey Liu, Kevin Ma, Ismael Qureshi, Kyan Ramsay, Alyaan Salman, Jack Zaptin, and Lou Zhou are among 16,000 students to receive the honor. Semifinalists will compete for one of 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $30 million offered in the spring.

Semifinalists Cristian Arocho, Charlie Gamble, Frederick Huang, Amar Kanakamedala, Varun Krishnamurthi, Jeffrey Liu, Kevin Ma, Ismael Qureshi, Kyan Ramsay, Alyaan Salman, Jack Zaptin, and Lou Zhou

Nine Musicians Named to All-State

The West Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association named nine Owls to its All-State Band and Orchestra.

Jeffrey Liu ’23 (clarinet) and Eshaan Patnaik ’24 (clarinet) will play in the 11-12 Blue Band; Lucas Zhang ’26 (clarinet) in the 9-10 Blue Band; Frederick Huang ’23 (violin), Gabe Chen ’24 (violin), Danny Dong ’24 (percussion), and Joel Lim ’24 (oboe) in the 11-12 Symphony Orchestra; and Michael Liu ’25 (violin) and Bill Chiang ’26 (violin) in the 9-10 Orchestra. These students will be attending the Tennessee Music Education Association Convention in April in Nashville, where they will be featured in concert.

The following eight seniors have received recognition as National Merit Commended

Owls in All-National Ensembles

Scholars indicating their PSAT scores rank among the top 3-4% in the United States: Aryaan Ahmed, Jack Blackwell, Joseph Keeler, Max Mascolino, Parth Mishra, Thomas Preston, Matt Walker, and Henry Yu.

In addition to being named National Merit Semifinalists, Arocho and Ramsay have been designated by the College Board as National African American Recognition Program Scholars. (Ramsay received this honor in 2021 when he was a junior.) Junior Jorge Garcia was selected as a National Hispanic Recognition Program Scholar.

Coding Club First in State

Dannie Dong ’24 (percussion, pictured right) and Joel Lim ’24 (oboe, pictured left) were selected for the All-National Honor Ensembles, sponsored by the National Association for Music Education. They attended rehearsals and events November 3-6 at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, D.C., and performed in concert November 6 with musicians from around the country.

The Coding Club, coached by Computer Science Instructor Jonathan Saunders, placed first in the state in the American Computer Science League. Members are Jeffrey Liu ’23, Lou Zhou ’23, Joel Lim ’24, Sai Madasu ’24, Jerry Xiao ’24, Alex Yong ’25, and Diego Guerrero Viloria ’25. Lim, Liu, and Zhou qualified for the final round in the Intermediate 3 Division, and Zhou placed first in the state individually. The competition tests students in fundamental concepts of computer science ranging from beginner skills to those meant for more advanced students.

2022-23 National Merit

To o or

Swim in L.A. Swim

BY CHRISTOPHER BLANK

Photo by Mike Azria

Here’s the working title, something quick and dirty until we’re officially greenlit:

ABOVE AVERAGE JOE: THE TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY

It’s a biopic, of course, but not a typical TMZ tell-all. We won’t be bleeping profanities or blurring body parts because 1) there’s no need and 2) we’ve been optioned by Hallmark.

The “true Hollywood story” of Joe Lazarov ’82 is an old-fashioned, feel-good, made-for-TV success story.

Here’s the short pitch: Memphis guy goes to Hollywood, stumbles into the entertainment industry, works hard, stays positive, and in the third act – spoiler alert! –he and Dolly Parton help bring Christmas to a small town.

And yes, Dolly’s already on board.

Providence meets pragmatism in a tale that Lazarov himself describes as “the spirituality of life: seeing the doors, opening those doors, and, when you’re inside, knowing how to read the room.”

True, Lazarov may not yet be a household name. But his name has appeared in your household. He has worked behind the scenes on so many television shows over the past 35 years that industry insiders could play the game Six Degrees of Joe Lazarov.

For starters, his production credits include the hit series Northern Exposure and Law & Order: SVU. The highly rated Gossip Girl, about a group of privileged New York teens, for which he worked as a supervising

producer and director, ran from 2007 to 2012.

More recently, he has hit new high notes alongside Parton. Three projects, including two holiday-themed movies, Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square (2020) and Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas (2022), showcase his affinity for uplifting family entertainment.

So how did a “nice boy” from Memphis end up making television for the masses? Grab a mug of hot cocoa and get cozy: This sleigh’s bound for TVLand.

PICTURE THIS

We open with a crane shot. Soft focus, naturally. The camera descends from the sky over North Memphis to a neighborhood in Frayser, alighting on a small, triangular park at the intersection of two quiet streets. This is Lazarov Park. (For dramatic reasons, our prop department has improved upon the current signage.)

These three shady acres are a small but significant reminder that Joe Lazarov’s roots run deep in his native city. In the early 1900s, his ancestors were among Jewish immigrants who settled in Memphis and found a niche, some as proprietors of a kosher deli and later in the scrap metal business, which hit its boom time immediately after World War II.

Lazarov’s father and grandfather made good in the construction and real estate business. His maternal grandfather owned Bloch Brothers millinery.

With so many family ties and local

No animals or egos were harmed in Joe Lazarov’s conscientious climb to Hollywood success

connections, Lazarov might have settled into a less cinematic career here. And that was the plan. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in economics, he returned to Memphis and got his real estate license.

Scene cuts to a young man in the business office of the William Len Building on Main Street. He has just put a deposit on a studio apartment. The manager says he can go up and check out the room.

“I’m up on the 12th floor or whatever, and I look out the window and down at all the people walking around below,” he says. “I heard a voice. It wasn’t a scary voice. But it was a voice. And the voice said, ‘Get out.’ And I knew this wasn’t for me. I went downstairs and asked for my deposit back.”

Over the next 22 straight hours (45 seconds in montage time) a silver Jeep Wrangler barrels west across the Continental Divide. Our music supervisor recommends Running on Empty for this scene, pending Jackson Browne’s permission.

Montage ends with Lazarov crashing at a cousin’s house in Los Angeles. After a few weeks, she asks a friend if Joe can drop by the set of a television commercial to see how it’s done.

“It was luck,” Lazarov says. “Luck how the doors can open just a crack. And sometimes that’s all you need.”

His entire first day in an industry he had only previously explored via a TV dial is spent watching the crew arrange titillating close ups – or beauty shots – of an Acura Legend.

As the day’s shoot is wrapping up, the production coordinator learns that an assistant has quit for a better gig – a not uncommon setback. She starts calling around

for a replacement.

The scene, as depicted in this re-enactment, goes something like this:

JOE I can do it.

COORDINATOR

You? What do you know about this job?

JOE

Well, I’ve been watching all day. That guy over there does the sweeping. That one’s an assistant to the director. That one is driving around picking up stuff. (Pause.) I have a degree from Boston University.

COORDINATOR

Okay. I’m going to give you the hardest job. Tomorrow, I want you to pick up an urn of coffee and Danishes from Canter’s Deli. If you’re not here by 5 a.m., you’re fired.

Cut to beauty shot of the craft services table, pastries glistening on linen like an ad for the world’s sexiest bakery.

“My dad always taught me to go one step further than what’s expected of you,” Lazarov says.

Dream sequence: A magical door marked “opportunity” appears. Lazarov floats through it. Now he’s a production assistant, building his resume. Then another door: This one leads to “post-production,” a job that entails working with the film after principal photography has wrapped.

He gets good at these jobs, always going the extra mile, making connections, mentoring

Joe Lazarov was co-executive producer for Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, 2021 Emmy winner for Outstanding Television Movie. Pictured, from left, is the production team of Hudson Hickman, Debbie Allen, Sam Haskell, Maria S. Schlatter, and Lazarov.

Directing the These Old Bones episode of Dolly Parton's Heartstrings, Lazarov talks with actors Ginnifer Goodwin and Kyle Bornheimer and watches as the crew sets up a shot. The episode, nominated for an Emmy, was filmed outside Atlanta.

Mark Von Holden/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images

Lights! Lights! Camera! Camera!

newcomers.

As the 1990s go by, he opens every new door he can. And this, he says, is how a person with no background or formal training in the industry can access Hollywood without ever appearing on Access Hollywood.

“I always tell people that there is a place for anyone in this industry,” he says. “You just have to learn how to fill the void when it comes open. That’s how you establish your reputation.”

MUS classmate Robert Davis ’82, an L.A.-based health media entrepreneur with a production company called Everwell, says neither he nor Lazarov could have predicted

where they would end up, given the options available here at the time.

“Growing up in Memphis, we didn’t have role models in this industry,” he says. “Our role models were doctors, businessmen, accountants. It really speaks to Joe’s courage and willingness to try something different that he took a chance to break free from that more traditional mold.”

For that reason, Davis says, Lazarov is the perfect case study for someone looking to forge a new, entirely unexpected path in life.

“He’s fun, he’s empathetic,” Davis says. “People just really like him.”

To underscore that claim, we present a flashback to Halloween 1982.

“There was this senior prank of putting a pumpkin up on the [Humphreys Hall cupola],” says former classmate Charles Blatteis ’82. “Nobody knew how it was done. But somehow Joe figured it out.”

Blatteis says he caught a glimpse of the future film director that night. Lazarov had the 3 a.m. caper all mapped out. Scale the building, traverse the rooftop, infiltrate the cupola, leave the pumpkin, vanish without a trace.

Blatteis, now an attorney, says the statute of limitations has expired on his silence. He can finally reveal that Joe Lazarov has always been creative, adventurous, and a good planner. He just needed a good script.

Dolly Parton and Joe Lazarov prepare for filming at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. “We filmed Dolly sitting in the middle of the field singing Mountain Magic, the title song of the movie Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas,” says Lazarov, the production’s director and executive producer. “We flew a drone over her to capture her singing the song.”

Action! Action!

SCENE: THE PRESENT

It’s December of 2022. Back in Lazarov Park, an abandoned sled pokes out of a blanket of unseasonably early snow. On its seat, the word “Rosebud” indicates there’s a real old-timer in our props department.

Meanwhile, Joe Lazarov is lounging by a pool in sunny California sipping a cocktail. If there’s one traditional mold he subscribes to, it’s that of a family guy who loves a SoCal lifestyle. He has a beautiful wife, Jill Kramer, and a daughter, Ava, now in her senior year at Cal Poly.

He’s his own boss, an independent contractor doing business as Junkyard Joe, Inc., a name inspired by the old family salvage operation that was also his CB radio handle as a kid.

His thoughts drift back to Tennessee

and folks bundled up by the fireplace, watching television. And for good reason. This year, he’s all over it.

His current lineup of seasonal shows started a few years ago after getting a call from Sam Haskell, president and executive producer of Magnolia Hill Productions through Warner Bros. Discovery. Like Lazarov, Haskell is a fellow southerner. He grew up in North Mississippi and understands the Midwestern entertainment market.

Haskell was teaming up with executive producer Dolly Parton on Heartstrings, a 2019 miniseries centered around her iconic songs. He knew Lazarov by reputation and recalled his work on the series Designated Survivor (2016-2019), which ran for three seasons.

Would Lazarov want to direct one of

Top, Joe Lazarov, supervising producer for the original Gossip Girl TV series, sets up a shot with Director of Photography Ron Fortunato on the rooftop of New York City’s Empire Hotel in 2010.

At the Dollywood premiere of the Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings Netflix series, Executive Producer Lazarov, right, poses with his wife, Jill Kramer, Executive Producer Sam Haskell, and his wife, Mary Haskell.

the Heartstrings episodes?

“I was already pre-sold on him from his reputation,” Haskell says. “But as soon as I heard he was from Memphis, I knew he had already done his homework.”

The episode, These Old Bones, told the story of a mountain woman, played by Kathleen Turner, who uses her psychic abilities to help the local townsfolk. Memphis native Ginnifer Goodwin also stars as a corporate lawyer trying to acquire her property. The episode is a certified tear-jerker that earned a 2020 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie. Parton tweeted that it was her “personal favorite” of the series.

Haskell says Lazarov didn’t just connect with the story; he understood the vibe of the production company –creating a positive, organized, respectful environment for cast and crew.

Haskell puts little stock in “southernness” as a secret ingredient to success, as if southerners were somehow more easygoing or insightful on certain subjects. But in terms of vision, Haskell says his “brother from another mother” was exactly what Dolly Parton expected in a member of her team.

“I would call him a grace-filled person,” Haskell says of Lazarov. “Whether that comes from the region he was raised in or from his family, I don’t know the answer to that.”

Lazarov traces his on-set alacrity to climbing up from the bottom, learning how people on a movie set do their respective jobs, and mastering the art of artistic diplomacy.

“On a Dolly production everybody treats each other with respect and kindness,” Lazarov says. “There’s a whole policy. No bullying, no harassment, no screaming on the set, none. There’s a way (to make movies) without hurting anyone, and that kind of comes from Dolly herself. There are certain things she expects.”

After the nomination for These Old Bones, Haskell asked Lazarov to be coexecutive producer for Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square, a musical directed by Debbie Allen. This time the production team won the 2021 Emmy – Lazarov’s first – for Outstanding Television Movie.

Haskell says producer-directors who aren’t divas are rare. In an industry known for its clashing egos, Lazarov respects others’ contributions while running a tight ship.

“When you’re around anyone long enough, you ultimately reveal yourself,” Haskell says. “We’ve had moments of drama and hilarity, but what he gives to a relationship is understanding. I trust his motives.”

That trust culminated in a big 2022 for Lazarov in the director’s chair. The television movie, A Walton’s Thanksgiving, premiered last November. It was followed a few weeks later with another Partonproduced holiday musical, Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas.

As of this writing, Lazarov has been tapped to be executive producer and a director for future additions to the Waltons franchise.

Here we might drop in some bonus footage in which Lazarov is asked, delicately, how his Jewish faith factors into directing Christmas movies starring one of the country’s most beloved Christian entertainers.

Or to a lesser extent, how his long history of producing shows like Gossip Girl, New York Undercover, Threat Matrix, and Kojak – big city shows – informs his direction of warmhearted tales in rural settings that riff on more conservative themes.

Lazarov doesn’t see these as contradictions but as a validation of his experience working in a diverse range of genres. And that goes way back.

“At MUS I played the bells in the choir at Christmas. At PDS I was an angel in the Christmas pageant,” he laughs. “I married a girl who is not Jewish. We do Hanukkah candles and a Christmas tree. So, we’re just a spiritual household.”

Our closing shot begins in this same household, with Lazarov’s family decorating for the holidays. The camera zooms out, into the sky across America, occasionally looking in on other families as they snuggle into their couches. We catch glimpses of what’s on their TV’s: It’s a Wonderful Life, Charlie Brown Christmas, Die Hard (yes, officially a Christmas movie).

Back in the sky, somewhere over Lazarov Park, a flying sleigh nearly runs into our camera. Dolly Parton is at the reins, her voice bouncing across the heavens: “And to all, a good night!”

The end. That’s our pitch. Now let’s make a movie.

25 SEASONS

Players and fans celebrate Alston’s milestones, as the coach focuses on his boys

BY DANIEL BLACK ’18

Few places are hotter than Memphis on an August afternoon.

It’s 4 p.m. and 90 degrees. The MUS football team is practicing on Hull-Dobbs Field, fine-tuning their skills in anticipation of the upcoming season.

They’ve been on campus since 7 a.m. It’s a 10-hour day consisting of practice, conditioning drills, and film study. They’re on the field one last time today, making use of tackling dummies and pushing sleds. It’s the conclusion of another “dawn ’til dusk.”

Observing it all is Bobby Alston, head football coach. He stands on the 50-yardline, directly in the center of the field’s logo – a giant red U. He watches intently with a whistle in his mouth, his only movement is an occasional pace.

He starts paying particular attention to the special teams activities on the other side of the field. He walks to the kickers and punters, provides advice on technique, and

goes back to his perch at midfield.

He calls his team to the giant red U and wraps up outdoor practice. Before heading back to a cooler climate, the boys break it down: “1-2-3 … U!”

Walking to the locker room, they pass Alston’s office.

Among the decades’ worth of championship plaques, coaching honors, and snapshots of family members and past teams, there’s a large sign behind Alston’s chair emblazoned with seven letters: BELIEVE.

“I sum him up in one word: believe,” says Stephond Allmond ’10, MUS running back from 2007-09 and now the school’s coordinator of student life. “When I first went into his office, one thing that stood out to me was the BELIEVE sign.”

This, the 2022 season, would be notable for two reasons. One, Alston would reach a quarter-century leading the Owls’ football

program. Two, his career record stood at 196 wins. He was just four W’s away from becoming the seventh football coach in Shelby County history to reach 200 victories. These milestones, however, were the least of his concerns. He was focused on the 91 players who would suit up in the red and blue in a couple weeks.

“It’s always about the players,” Alston says.

LESSONS FROM PETERS AND RUDOLPH

The son of a minister, Alston had moved with his family throughout the South during his youth before settling in West Memphis. He was a multisport athlete in high school and played a year of basketball at Mississippi College before graduating from Memphis State University with a degree in health, physical education, and recreation. (He later earned a master’s in athletic administration.) A mentor suggested he take a look at MUS

WINS... AND COUNTING

for a teaching and coaching position, and he took that advice. Headmaster Ross Lynn hired him in 1977.

He started directing the PE program, as well as coaching Lower School football and basketball. He worked with the track program under Basketball and Track Head Coach Jerry Peters and eventually joined Head Coach Jake Rudolph’s varsity football staff.

“Both believed in the mission of the school,” Alston says. “Coach Rudolph was always about teamwork and working together. Coach Peters was the same. I enjoyed working for both of them, and as it turned out, I ended up becoming more involved with football.”

Alston joined the varsity football staff in 1980, starting as defensive coordinator before moving to the other side of the ball to lead the offense.

His appointment as offensive coordinator resulted in Varsity Coach Barry Ray’s taking over the defense. Ray was impressed with Alston from the beginning.

“Coach Alston is a very smart man,” says Ray, now assistant headmaster. “He has a

very keen mind; he’s inquisitive. He would do a lot of reading and research into different offensive formations and how different successful coaches ran certain things.”

Alston moved away from the wishbone, the offensive scheme the Owls had run for years, to a split back veer offense, and eventually, the I-formation.

Alston’s offenses were consistently successful. The Owls appeared in the state championship game three times during his tenure as an assistant, winning it all in 1985, and averaged over 30 points per game in five seasons (over 40 in 1991).

“A lot of the victories we had in those days were a result of his ability to make adjustments,” Headmaster Emeritus Ellis Haguewood says. “Those adjustments and the plays he called caused us to beat teams with better talent.”

“He’s a good X and O kind of coach,” Ray says. “He could coach scheme really well, which made him a good offensive play caller.”

Haguewood joked that Alston’s intelligence resulted in some faculty calling him “Bobby The Brain,” a reference to former wrestler Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

Following the 1997 season, Coach Rudolph announced his retirement, and Alston was named his successor. “He was everybody’s No. 1 choice,” Haguewood says.

BUILDING A LEGACY, SEASON BY SEASON

Alston took over the program in a time of transition. The TSSAA had recently divided the public and private schools into their own divisions. MUS was now a part of Division II, along with six other powerhouse private schools throughout the state.

The league began to implement new features in its programs – expansion of coaching staffs and rosters, splitting the players into offense and defense, and greater reliance on technology.

“The league just exploded,” Alston says. MUS fell behind. In Alston’s first six years as head coach, the Owls complied a 3332 record with three losing seasons. Parents and fans doled out criticism, even some board members.

Coming off a 4-7 season in 2003, Alston made changes. He added members to the coaching staff. He expanded the roster. He split the players into a “platoon system,”

Photo by Gerald Gallik Photography

having them play on one side of the ball, offense or defense. It all set up for an important 2004 season.

Buck Towner’s ’07 first season as part of the varsity program was 2004, his sophomore year.

“Coach Alston instilled in us that if we did our jobs, we would succeed,” says Towner, also MUS director of Admissions. “We just had to know our responsibility and do it. It was a matter of trusting what we were doing.”

Despite the pressure and criticism, Alston trusted the players to do their jobs. The team’s motto? Believe.

“Trevor Knight ’02 wrote us something he had learned from the Naval Academy,” Towner says. “It was the ‘I Believe’ chant.”

In 2004 “I Believe” was everywhere throughout the halls of MUS. It could be heard from players, students, and parents. It was the mantra that helped lead the Owls to an 11-1 season and the school’s first state championship in 19 years.

“We weren’t going to be the biggest, we weren’t going to be the fastest, but we were going to believe that it will happen,” Towner says. “Coach Alston really was the one who orchestrated all of that.”

The Owls were kings of Tennessee. With a covey of players returning, confidence was

high heading into 2005. They started the season 7-0, winning every game by double digits, before a gut-wrenching 4-point loss to CBHS. However, they were presented a golden opportunity for redemption later that year – CBHS, again, in the state championship game.

MUS took a 17-14 lead, but CBHS came roaring back, scoring twice to claim a 27-17 advantage in the fourth quarter. With his team’s back against the wall, Coach Alston pulled a trick from his sleeve.

On the Brothers’ 36-yard-line, the Owls ran a reverse pass from the running back to the quarterback to a wide-open receiver for a touchdown.

“I remember watching the offense run that play every day in practice,” Towner says. “Because Coach Alston was so detailoriented, that’s why the play worked. It was executed perfectly.”

Down 3 points, MUS forced a crucial interception to get the ball back. They proceeded to march 87 yards down the field, capped off by a touchdown on a slant route from Michael Park ’07 to Max Prokell ’06, sealing the Owls’ second-consecutive state title.

“That was a great win,” Alston says. “Any time you beat Christian Brothers, whatever the situation, it’s big time.” Allmond was in attendance for that statechampionship thriller as an eighth grader. Having noticed the BELIEVE sign when he first stepped foot in Coach Alston’s office, he watched that message play out.

“We were down in that game,” Allmond remembers. “All of a sudden, I hear the student section do the ‘I Believe’ chant. To hear that chant and connect it back to the sign behind Coach Alston

was special.”

Allmond would soon have his opportunity to make his mark on Alston’s career. Coming off a difficult year in 2006, the 2007 group was talented but youthful. The 2008 campaign was unforgettable.

“Coming into 2008, I thought we were going to be pretty good,” Alston says. “We had a lot of good players – Barry Brunetti ’10 was a great quarterback, we had Stephond, great receivers, an excellent defense. All the pieces of the puzzle fit together.”

The Owls went on a tear, averaging 38 points per game en route to a 13-0 season – the first undefeated state-championship campaign in school history.

“All of it is credit to Coach Alston for trusting and believing in us,” Allmond says.

The trust and belief in his players would be on greater display in 2009. With most of the talent returning, Alston put together arguably the most difficult schedule the program had ever seen.

“I wanted to find out just how good we were,” Alston says.

The 2009 Owls rolled through their first two opponents by a combined score of 858. Up next, a road contest with one of the greatest dynasties in the history of Southern high school football – Mississippi’s South Panola.

“I had gone to Batesville and watched them play,” Alston says. “They were a phenomenal team.”

South Panola had gone 105-2 in their previous 107 games, won five state championships in the last six seasons, and hadn’t lost a home game in eight years. ESPN decided to televise the game.

“Coach Alston wanted us to make sure that it was just another game,” Allmond says. “He trusted us; he believed in us. We just had to go out and execute.”

Execute they did. The Owls came out of the gate with a vengeance, forcing the

Coach Alston, left, accepts the game ball and a collection of letters from alumni players September 23. At right, Coach Alston sports a "Collierville, Beat MUS" sweatshirt in 1984.

normally flawless Tigers to make a multitude of mistakes, and they capitalized in the form of a 21-0 lead.

South Panola didn’t go down without a fight, quickly putting together 19 points to cut the deficit, but Alston’s boys prevailed.

“That was an unbelievable night for our team,” Alston says.

The rest of the schedule was daunting, but MUS rolled through every opponent. It was another 13-0 season, and the Owls finished with a national ranking. Alston was named Sportsman of the Year by The Commercial Appeal, being selected over sports figures throughout the country who had been involved with Memphis that year.

“He’s won a lot of awards,” Haguewood says. “But that one captures what he is really like.”

In recent years the football program has continued success under Alston’s watch. Since 2010, the Owls have won six region titles and played in four state championship games. The 2016 and 2018 teams finished with undefeated regular seasons.

“Those teams had guys that rose up and faced the challenge,” Alston says. “The boys have worked so hard to uphold the tradition of MUS football.”

MARKING A MILESTONE IN STOKES STADIUM

September 23, 2022, seemed like any regular Homecoming game. Ridgeway made the walking-distance trip from down the road to face its neighbor at Stokes Stadium. This night, however, wasn’t a regular homecoming.

Alston, in the midst of his 25th season leading the Owls, had won 199 games in his career. Just one team stood between him and the elite company of six other coaches in Shelby County history to win 200 contests.

If you talked to him before the game, you wouldn’t have known.

“He never mentioned it,” quarterback Wilson LeMay ’23 says. “He didn’t mention

it once during the four days leading up to it. For him, it was a normal Homecoming Week.”

An aura of excitement reigned at the corner of Park and Ridgeway throughout the evening. The moment the clock hit three zeros – with MUS on top, 42-7 – Alston was rightly celebrated.

As he walked to the giant red U at midfield to shake hands, the players chanted his name: “BOB-BY! BOB-BY! BOB-BY!”

He was bathed in Gatorade. Confetti cannons were shot. His likeness was shown on the scoreboard screen in the form of pictures spanning his career. He was given a game ball, a banner signed by his 2022 team, and a scrapbook of 200-plus letters from alumni players.

It was his night, although he was quick to deflect the credit. “I’ve never scored a touchdown or made a tackle,” Alston told the crowd.

While 200 was a special milestone, it wasn’t his favorite moment of the season.

“I think 201 and 202 meant more to me than 200,” he says. “Those were against Briarcrest and Christian Brothers.”

Headmaster Pete Sanders describes that recent victory over the Brothers on their home field as a coaching masterpiece. “The play calling, time management, and strategy going into that evening’s contest by Coach Alston were simply brilliant.”

Sanders also cites his invaluable impact as a life coach. “I have had countless former players tell me how much Coach Alston

reminded them of what was important: their studies and how an MUS diploma would be their passport to a fruitful and meaningful life as an adult.”

Bobby Alston has walked the halls of Memphis University School for 46 years. He has left his mark on many facets of the school, but especially on the studentathletes who have crossed his path, all the while trying to keep a low profile.

“He’s not someone who calls attention to himself,” Ray says. “The team is more important than anything else. A lot of coaches will say ‘my team.’ Coach Alston has always been an ‘our team’ kind of guy.”

“He’s given as much to the school as any teacher or coach that’s ever been there,” Haguewood says. “He’s also done it quietly – without fanfare. That’s another thing I like about him.”

Alston walked off Hull-Dobbs Field on that September night a winner of 200 games, with newly acquired mementos to mark the occasion. He entered his office and sat in his chair, the BELIEVE sign at the end of his shadow.

“It’s the boys. They keep me young and enthused,” Alston says.

“We’re a family. It’s enjoyable to face those challenges and bring honor to the Red and Blue.”

Coach Alston accepts the trophy after the 2012 Owls defeated the defending Arkansas 6-A state champion Fayetteville High School in Razorback Stadium, 42-20.

VOLUNTEER s OF THE YEAR VOLUNTEERs OF THE YEAR

Alumni Executive Board Honors Robinson and Crosby

as Volunteers of the Year

BY ANN LAUGHLIN, DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI AND PARENT PROGRAMS

Any doctor will tell you that there is an expectation of getting phone requests for medical advice outside of office hours. However, early 2020 came with a more urgent ask of Volunteer of the Year honorees Wiley Robinson ’75 and Glenn Crosby ’77 The call was not for a Z-Pak or to work another patient into an already full book, it was instead for ideas on how to manage a pandemic for over 700 people. Not exactly textbook.

Faculty and staff had the expertise and resources to manage logistics, technology, and curriculum adjustments, but the safety of in-person learning during a pandemic was beyond the scope of their knowledge. So, they depended heavily on internist Robinson and neurosurgeon Crosby, both Board of Trustees members who serve on the Risk Management Committee, for insight and solutions.

Combining their professional experience, they helped construct a year of uninterrupted learning for students in the 2020-21 school year. At a time when students across the country were deprived of an in-person education, Crosby and Robinson played a key role in ensuring that our students could participate in an environment that was as normal as possible. Athletics Assistant Director Dave Ferebee, who was tasked with managing on-campus COVID protocols, says these advisors provided a sense of focus and wisdom when much of the world was hyper-reactive.

To Headmaster Pete Sanders, these advisors were essential to managing the situation. “It is hard to imagine what those pandemic months would have been like without Drs. Crosby and Robinson,” he says. Their devotion of time to MUS on top of their demanding professional responsibilities was the true mark of a committed volunteer.”

Board of Trustees Chair Jim Burnett ’83 recalls that Robinson, the Risk Management Committee chair, kept him well informed. “From the time the word COVID entered our world, Wiley was always available to give updates and reliable advice to me as we tried to navigate the uncertainties of the virus.”

And while Crosby was maintaining a practice that covers two states, Burnett says, “He went the extra mile to make himself available; even times he could not be present in person, he made sure to be available via conference call.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we are most grateful to these men.”

At the January award breakfast in the Wiener Hospitality Room, Crosby told gathered alumni, family, and friends that consulting on pandemic protocols provided an opportunity to stay connected to the

school. “Being on the board and on the Risk Management Committee has given us an opportunity to stay involved and to help this place that we all love. MUS has a special place in my heart.”

He likened serving on the Risk Management Committee to participating on a team. “Everybody had the same goal in mind: We were trying to keep the kids and faculty and staff safe and keep us in school. Having a leader like Wiley running that committee was invaluable. It was basically common sense, and he has so much of that. He was able to assimilate the data and know what was going on.”

Crosby also cited Sanders’ work in navigating a problem that no one had encountered before. “Watching these two guys work was really an honor. This is

The Alumni Executive Board presents the Volunteer of the Year Award to alumni who serve MUS in a significant and needed way throughout the year, seeking opportunities to promote the interests of the school. This year the Alumni Executive Board honored Wiley Robinson ’75 and Glenn Crosby ’77 at a January breakfast. AEB President Ted Simpson ’85 presided over the program.

Glenn Crosby and Wiley Robinson

humbling. Thank you very much.”

Robinson returned the compliment about the great advice offered by his “calm, collected” board colleague. He continued: “The real work on this business with COVID was done by Headmaster Sanders and Dave Ferebee. They were extraordinary in what they had to do to keep students here and have faculty teach while this was going

on. They came up with several plans and backup plans in case things got worse, but throughout the whole thing, they made sure students were here on campus as much as they possibly could be.”

Robinson expressed gratitude to other alumni physicians who provided invaluable counsel, including Infectious Disease Specialists Mike Threlkeld ’75,

Steve Threlkeld ’82, and their partner, MUS parent Dr. Imad Omer, as well as the late Dr. David George ’75.

Robinson thanked the Alumni Executive Board for their selection and closed by noting his and Crosby’s humility at being celebrated. “This is quite an honor.”

WILEY ROBINSON ’75 Volunteer of the Year

After leading the Class of 1975 as class president, Wiley Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Tennessee and his medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine, completing his residency in internal medicine at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center where he served as chief resident. Beginning private practice as an internist in 1987, he shifted to practice as a hospitalist in 1993 and has served as CEO of Inpatient Physician Management Company. He is a Tennessee Medical Association and Memphis Medical Society past president and currently holds professional advisory or leadership roles with both groups. He earned the designation of Fellow in Hospital Medicine from the Society of Hospital Medicine in 2009.

GLENN CROSBY ’77 Volunteer of the Year

Glenn Crosby received his bachelor’s degree from Rhodes College and a Master of Science Degree from Georgetown University. He went on to earn his MD from the University of Tennessee in Memphis and then completed training at the Massachusetts General Hospital Program, Mayo Clinic, and George Washington University. Glenn practiced with Semmes-Murphy Clinic before opening his own practice, The Crosby Clinic, which focuses primarily on general neurosurgical procedures involving the spinal cord and brain. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Congress of Neurosurgery, and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons among other notable medical societies and while serving at the board level for a variety of businesses and organizations.

Shade and Wiley Robinson '75 with, from left, Jesse Robinson '05, Jessica Robinson, Jim Robinson '68, September Eason, Bobby Eason '79, Chris Sanders, Melanie McFadden, Reid Sanders '67, and Stilly McFadden '75

Liz and Glenn Crosby '77

ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

Paul Tudor Jones on “Perfect Failure”

Hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and conservationist Paul Tudor Jones ’72 spoke to students September 23 about the power in life’s missteps. Jones was in Memphis for the 50th reunion of the Class of 1972, and many of his classmates were in the audience. He was also named 2022 Alumnus of the Year.

Drawing on the failures he has encountered in life, Jones illustrated how lessons learned paved the way for subsequent success. Swinging a medieval-style sword – an attention-getting tactic he learned from an MUS chapel speaker back in the day – he described the power in mastering failure.

“Make it become your tool,” he said. “You have to learn to change it from shaming to shining.”

He concluded with a dramatic oration set to the Chariots of Fire theme, “The next time the dragon of failure looms large over you. That’s when you rise up like the sun from its cradle in the morning, like the smoke that comes from the fire within. Rise up. Reach back in the firmament for that host of hundreds of people

[ancestors], many of whom came here to escape tyranny, many of whom came here against their will. Bring them like a summer storm with thunder booming and lightning bolts striking from the clouds. And take that sword, and take that dragon, and smite it,” he boomed, brandishing the sword. “Then stand in VICTORY, VICTORY, VICTORY!”

The students erupted in rousing cheers as they jumped to their feet for a standing ovation. Filing out of the chapel, many of the boys stopped to shake Jones’ hand and thank him for his inspirational presentation.

The founder of Connecticutbased Tudor Investment Corporation, Jones has also made a name for himself in philanthropy. In 1988 he cofounded the Robin Hood Foundation, with backing from many of his fellow hedge fund operators, focused on subsidizing results-driven programs that combat poverty in New York City. The foundation has invested more than $3 billion to date in povertyfighting programs, according to Robin Hood’s 2021 annual report.

Jones is also known for

conservation efforts in Africa, including establishing a 99year lease with the Tanzanian government for the 350,000-acre Singita Grumeti Reserves on the edge of Serengeti National Park. The preserves, in association with the luxury hospitality company Singita, generate low-impact ecotourism designed to combat wildlife poaching, preserve native habitats, create jobs, and develop sustainable programs for local communities. (Read about Jones’ Africa endeavors in the Winter 2014 issue of MUS Today at tinyurl.com/jones-africa, page 14.)

He founded the all-boys Excellence Charter School in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He has supported his college alma mater, University of Virginia, most notably with the naming of the John Paul Jones Arena in honor of his father. He established the nonprofit Just Capital to rank companies based on issues of importance to Americans.

With his son Jack he has cofounded SumerSports, a company that uses data analysis to optimize NFL rosters.

The Alumnus of the Year Award is presented to an alumnus who exemplifies community leadership and personal integrity, personifying the school’s guiding principle of developing well-rounded men of strong moral character. At a special student assembly in the fall, Student Council President Tanner Williams ’23 presented Paul Tudor Jones ’72 with a school medallion commemorating his selection as Alumnus of the Year. Watch Jones’ talk at musowls.org/roots.

Roger E. Van Cleef, curator of education at the Pink Palace Museum from 1967-1990, speaks in chapel in 1970.

Homecoming Fun and Games

Alumni flocked to Memphis to remember old times and celebrate the U during an action-packed homecoming weekend in September. Events included a Golden Owls Reception at the Headmaster’s House, a kickoff dinner in the Dining Hall, a 50th anniversary luncheon in Morgan Foyer, a golf scramble at the Links at Audubon, and class parties across the city. As for the football game, the Owls defeated Ridgeway High School 42-7. We enjoyed celebrating with our alumni Owls and look forward to seeing you again soon!

For more photos, see Alumni Album photo galleries on our website at musowls.org/photo-gallery. Selected photos by Gerald Gallik Photography

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR HOMECOMING 2023, OCTOBER 20-21

Ebet Peeples, Clayton Peeples ’77, Jim Rainer ’77, Missy Rainer, Beth Moore, Bruce Moore ’77, Caroline McCool, Allen McCool ’77, Liz Crosby, and Glenn Crosby ’77

Ryan Foley ’07, William Ware ’07, Buck Towner ’07, Walt Battle, Preston Battle ’07, and Scott Guinn ’07

From the Class of 1977, Bobby Neal, Andy Humphries, Kent Ihrig, Ken McCown, and Chuck Wilkinson

Class of 2002 friends Frank Langston, Trevor Knight, Mark Carney, Scott Adams, Estes Folk and his son, Humphrey Folk V

Peggy Haguewood, Fletcher Maynard ’97, Ellis Haguewood, and Will McDonald ’97

Joe Lazarov ’82, Charles Blatteis ’82, and Andrew Boshwit ’82

Celeta Golden (daughter of Amy and Emmel Golden ’97)

2022

Reunion Terrace Party Winners

The Development Office holds an annual competition among reunion-year classes as a challenge to increase participation. For Homecoming 2022, the classes ending in 2s and 7s were competing for those bragging rights in support of the school.

CLASS OF 1962

Greatest Total Raised for Annual Fund: $120,225

CLASS OF 1972

Greatest Percentage Increase in Participation: 250%

CLASS OF 1992

Greatest Percentage Increase in Total Class Gift: 155.42%

1 Gerald Lunn, Richard DeSaussure, John Stout, Sam Patterson, Scott Rachels of the Class of 1972 2 Tales of 1972 live on with Chris Eilertsen, Randy Taylor, Mike Fitzgerald, Henry Hutton, Eddie Crenshaw, Ken Humphries; and in front, Lisa Hutton and Joanne Humphries. 3 Friends from the Class of 1972 Joel Hobson, Hal Wellford, Todd Miller, John Anderson, Dick Fisher, Steve Northcross, and Paul Tudor Jones 4 Classmates from 1962 Pete Shearon, Jerry Bradfield, Cole Wilder, Sam Gary, Fred Smith, Nat Ellis, and Dan Copp 5 Jerry Bradfield, Cole Wilder, Jennifer Atkins, Pete Shearon, and Nat Ellis bring 1962 alive

again.

Class of 1972 Marks 50 Years

Eddie Crenshaw and Russell Day

Front row, Todd Miller, Hank Jones, Oliver Cobb, Gerald Lunn, Richard DeSaussure; middle two rows, Joel Hobson, John Heflin, Chris Eilertsen, Hal Wellford, Russell Day, Mike Fitzgerald; back row, Dan Michael, Eddie Crenshaw, Steve Northcross, Don Batchelor, Randy Taylor, and Chuck Farmer

A luncheon in Morgan Foyer of Humphreys Hall celebrated the Class of 1972 for their golden anniversary.

1 Yearbooks, photos, and vintage Owl’s Hoot newspapers help bring back old times. 2 Hank Jones, Joel Hobson, and Gerald Lunn 3 Richard DeSaussure, Chuck Farmer, and Todd Miller

Reunion Year Parties!

2022 Class celebrations featured loads of laughs and tales that just get better – and taller – with each retelling as alumni from classes ending in 2s and 7s gathered to reconnect at their reunion parties.

The Class of 1962 gathered at the home of Donna and Dan Copp. Dot and Dick Fisher welcomed the Class of 1972 to their home.

The Class of 1977 partied at the home of Lisanne and Tom Marshall.Jennifer and John Dunavant hosted the Class of 1982.

Pete & Sam’s was the backdrop for a Class of 1987 party. ’87

Kathryn and K.C. Horne opened their home to the Class of 1992. The Class of 1997 reconnected at Bounty on Broad.

The Class of 2002 headed to Railgarten for their celebration.

Wiseacre Brewing Company hosted the Class of 2007. The Class of 2012 gathered at Fancy’s Fish House on Thanksgiving Eve.

Golden Owls Reception

Alumni who graduated in 1972 or earlier were celebrated at a special reception hosted by Headmaster Pete Sanders and his wife, Tracey, at the Headmaster’s House before the game.

1 Pete Sanders, Tracey Sanders, Paul Tudor Jones ’72, Dee Burnett, and Jim Burnett ’83 2 Kelly McGuire ’70 and McKee Humphreys ’01 3 Joel Hobson ’72 and Lisa Hutton

4 Ray Brakebill ’64, John Stout ’72, Steve Northcross ’72, and Gerald Lunn ’72 5 Bruce Hopkins '68 and Ken Humphries ’72 6 Hank Jones ’72, Jila Tanha, JJ Doughtie, and Dick Doughtie ’64

Golf Scramble

Getting up early on a Homecoming Saturday may be a feat in itself, but 17 alumni greeted the morning with a round of golf at The Links at Audubon. They all came out winners, and prizes were awarded to the following:

Longest Drive, No. 4

Closest to Pin No. 9

Closest to Pin No. 12

Closest to Pin No. 16

First-Place Team

Second-Place Team

Third-Place Team

Best Class Team

Tom Higley ’82

Julian Prewitt ’07

Julian Prewitt ’07

Ben James ’99

Wilson Baird ’99, David Forsythe ’99, Ben James ’99, Jason Lewin ’98

Class of 2007: Drew Haight, Tyler Johnson, Julian Prewitt, Ian Thomas

Will Jones ’13, Chip Womack ’13, Charlie Jones ’17, Griffen Walden ’17

Class of 1982: Dan Barron, Tim Hayes, Tom Higley, Tom Owen, Thornton Brooksbank

MANY THANKS TO OUR 2022 GOLF SCRAMBLE SPONSORS

Grinder Taber Grinder

Adams Keegan

The Crump Firm

Financial Federal Bank of Memphis LPI

Pinnacle Bank

Lehman Roberts

City Silo

Price Hayes

Evans Petree

Pimentos Market Oak Hall

1 Class of 2007 golfers Drew Haight, Tyler Johnson, Ian Thomas, and Julian Prewitt 2 Ben James ’99, Wilson Baird ’99, David Forsythe ’99, and Jason Lewin ’98

3 Griffen Walden ’17, Charlie Jones ’17, Chip Womack ’13, and Will Jones ’13 4 Class of 1982 golfers Tom Higley, Tom Owen, Dan Barron, Thornton Brooksbank, and Tim Hayes 5 Tom Higley ’82 6 Tom Owen ’82

Board Welcomes Hutton and Ransom

Tom Hutton ’91 has returned to his alma mater to serve on the Memphis University School Board of Trustees. With Boyle Investment Company since 2001, Hutton is senior vice president in the Sales and Leasing Department, responsible for the leasing and management of about four million square feet of office space in Memphis.

A stellar Owl kicker, he is tied with Jody McCormack ’94 for the longest field goal made, at 55 yards. Serving as the starting punter at the University of Tennessee Knoxville from 1991-94, Hutton went on to a five-year career in the National Football League, playing for the Philadelphia Eagles (1995-98) and the Miami Dolphins (1999-2000). In the off-season he worked in commercial real estate, which led to his career.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Tennessee and holds the Certified Commercial Investment Member

designation with the Commercial Investment Real Estate Institute. He is a member of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors, Tennessee Association of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors. Hutton has served as chairman of the board of The Bodine School, a board member for the Children’s Museum of Memphis, and a volunteer coach with Memphis Gridiron Ministries. He is married to Garnett, and they have two daughters. Garnett, a junior at University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Callie, a senior at Hutchison School.

Business owner, second-generation general contractor, and MUS parent Jennifer R. Ransom has joined the Board of Trustees. Ransom is president of The Ransomed Group, specializing in commercial and industrial remodeling as well as commercial, residential, healthcare, office, education, and hospitality interior design.

Moore and Dobbs Retire from Board

Johnny B. Moore, Jr. has retired from the Board of Trustees after 12 years of service. President of the Tennessee region for Truist, Moore brought to the table his extensive experience in banking and finance by serving on the Finance and Endowment Committee. He also lent his expertise to the Athletics Committee.

“During the turmoil of COVID, one of the side issues was preparation for funding in the event of an extended shutdown,” Board of Trustees Chair Jim Burnett ’83 said. With Johnny’s advice as to the financial side of this equation, we were able to navigate very well. His involvement made our process much smoother as he was readily available for our questions and gave the school exceptional service. We are grateful for his efforts to help MUS.”

Before Truist, Moore was president and CEO of the Memphis region for SunTrust for

Gov. Bill Lee appointed Ransom to the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Board for Licensing Contractors, representing commercial contractors in West Tennessee. She also serves as chairman of the board for Tennessee Builders Education Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to expose high school students and young adults to careers in the construction trades. The Ransomed Group was named the 2021 Robert R. Church, Sr. Scalable Business of the Year and the 2020 Minority Business Development Agency Business of the Year for the MidSouth Division.

Ransom graduated high school in Colorado, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Memphis, followed by an MBA from the University of Virginia and a post-grad fellowship in health care management at Harvard Business School. Before launching her contracting company, she worked in health care management in Boston and Memphis. She is the mother of two Owls, Ricky Ransom ’22, a freshman at the University of WisconsinMadison, and Jackson Ransom ’24

10 years and Commercial Line-of-Business (LOB) Manager for National Commerce Financial for 17 years. A Certified Public Accountant, he was a senior accountant at Ernst and Young from 1988 to 1992.

Moore received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting from Rhodes College and completed the SunTrust Advanced Leadership Program in Management from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

Active in the community, he serves

Tom Hutton '91

Jennifer R. Ransom

Johnny B. Moore, Jr.

on the boards of the National Civil Rights Museum, Rhodes College, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Memphis, Memphis Tomorrow, and as vice chair of Nashville Downtown Partnership.

Moore and his wife, Merry, have two children, Trey Moore ’14 and Madison Moore (Hutchison Class of 2019).

Edward J. Dobbs ’89 stepped down after six years on the Board of Trustees. President of Dobbs Management Service, the family office for the John H. Dobbs Family; and president of Premier Distributing Company, an AnheuserBusch distributorship in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dobbs brought business and financial acumen to the board. He served

on both the Finance and Endowment Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee.

“Edward has a long history at MUS, and his service as trustee was most appreciated,” Burnett said. “He was always available for a call, and when asked for his advice or commentary on any issue, his words were measured and well thought out. Certainly, Terry Shelton and Norman Thompson would proudly endorse his communications skills! Many thanks to Edward for what he has done and will continue to do for MUS.”

A member of the Lynn Society, Dobbs

has volunteered with his alma mater as Thorn Society president and a member of the Alumni Executive Board. He was a generous donor to the Doors to New Opportunities Campaign and the Multi-Sports Stadium Campaign.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Dobbs serves on the board of the school’s Jefferson Scholars Foundation as well as on several boards in Tennessee and New Mexico, including Memphis Tomorrow and the Church Health Center. He is vice chair of the Hutchison School Board of Trustees.

Dobbs is married to Cindy Parnell Dobbs, and they have two daughters at Hutchison, Ella ’24 and Lila ’26; their son, Andrew, is a senior at St. George’s Independent School.

Portrait Honors Sam Graham’s Service as Board Chair

Sam Graham ’80 recalls a conversation with Col. Ross Lynn in Morgan Foyer. “I was standing almost exactly where I am standing now,” he said from the podium during the unveiling of his Memphis University School Board of Trustees chair portrait.

“He asked me, ‘Mr. Graham, what do you plan to do with your life?’… I felt like I was standing in the presence of Moses – or maybe George Washington. I think I recall telling him I planned to be a lawyer or maybe go into the investment business. That seemed to please him, and he said, ‘Carry on.’”

Graham did carry on, becoming CEO of Diversified Trust, serving as MUS board chair from 2013-20 and as a member of the board from 2004-21, and lending his talents to multiple professional and nonprofit boards.

Family and friends gathered as Headmaster Pete Sanders, Headmaster Emeritus Ellis Haguewood, and current Board Chair Jim Burnett ’83 paid tribute to Graham, highlighting his many contributions to the school.

Established in 2006, the Chairman Portrait Series honors the school leaders who have created and sustained the tradition of excellence at MUS. Graham’s portrait, painted by renowned artist Beth Stephens, now hangs in the Loeb Conference Room of the Campus Center along with paintings of the preceding chairmen.

Burnett, who succeeded Graham as chair in 2020, served as a pledge, of sorts, shadowing his predecessor for his last year and effectively “walking a mile in his shoes,” he said. “Little did I know how big these shoes were.”

Although pandemic challenges marked the transition between the two chairmen,

Graham had a way of putting Burnett at ease. “When you sat in a meeting with Sam, his wisdom, humility, and overall positivity left you with a good feeling.”

Sanders spoke of Graham’s role in the headmaster search and, after he had been selected, in his acculturation. Indeed, his first view of the campus was from Graham’s office in the Crescent Center. In the months leading up to his arrival on campus in the summer of 2017, Sanders spoke biweekly with Graham, learning the history and traditions of Memphis University School. That support continued as Graham remained chair until 2020.

“The one employee of the board is the headmaster, Sanders said. “Sam, I have never had the chance to say this in public – you were a great boss. Thank you for all you have done for the school and all you have done for Tracey and me.”

Haguewood spoke of the debt of

Edward J. Dobbs '89

gratitude the entire MUS community owes Graham for his leadership.

“His honesty, his wide range of abilities, his commitment, his good-heartedness, his patience, his humility – these characteristics conspired to make him a powerful but unselfish leader,” Haguewood said. “His obvious affection for the school, his belief in the good, and his sense of personal responsibility inspired and encouraged trustees, faculty, staff, students, and two headmasters. The measure of a great school leader is that he leaves the school better than he found it. And by any measure, Sam did.”

Graham’s integrity is rooted in his faith and his family, Haguewood said, his mother, Billie Jean Graham, and his father, the late Dr. Joseph Graham, and brothers Mark Graham ’75, Stephen Graham ’75, and Jody Graham ’87. He highlighted the encouragement and support of Graham’s wife of 35 years. “Margaret has consistently supplied ‘the steady pressing down of the stamp upon the wax’ to shape him and make him a better man. Their sons, Nelson Graham ’08 and Garrott Graham ’12, are living testimony to the wisdom and guidance of Margaret and Sam as parents.”

Describing Graham’s myriad activities as reported in the 1980 yearbook, Haguewood pictures a young man “imbibing deeply what he would four decades later call ‘the timeless, ineffable elixir that preserves the MUS mystique from generation to generation,’ a young man growing intellectually and in favor with his peers.”

Haguewood likely spoke for all in attendance when he closed with these words: “Sam Graham, we hold you in the highest esteem, we will always be grateful for you, and we will never forget what you mean to all of us who love Memphis University School. Veritas Honorque!”

Tales of Mother, Coach Peters, and Two Headmasters

BY SAM GRAHAM ’80

Editor’s note: Following are excerpts from Sam Graham’s words of thanks at the portrait unveiling.

There are so many people I could thank, but today I want to thank one person in particular. Her name is Billie Jean Graham. If not for her, I would have never attended MUS.

One night back in the ’70s, Mom comes into my bedroom and says, “Well, you have been accepted to MUS like your older brothers. But I am not convinced you are cut out for that school. You are probably smart enough, but they will never tolerate all the clowning around you have been doing. You will have to buckle down and get serious. Your father and I are not going to spend that kind of tuition money for you to barely get by while you play around.”

I know what all of you are saying. She looks like such a gentle, graceful, Southern lady. Don’t be fooled. Even today, she is one of the hardest-working, most disciplined people I know.

Mom always told us that she and Dad considered every dollar spent on MUS tuition as a long-term investment. Then she added, “And we are expecting some very

good returns on our investment.”

Mom and I agreed that I would go to MUS for one year and see how it turned out. I wanted to prove to her that I could do the work and maybe even excel, and then go back to my co-ed school. Then I fell in love

Sam Graham ’80 with family members, from left, Wills Graham, Jody Graham ’87, Margaret Graham, Billie Jean Graham, Garrott Graham ’12, Nelson Graham ’08, and Meg Carpenter Graham

“

”

MUS taught me always to surround myself with motivated, smart people who have strong ethics and values.

-Sam Graham

with MUS and decided to jump in with both feet.

One day Coach Peters sent a letter home. To paraphrase, “Dr. and Mrs. Graham, Sammy is doing fine on the crosscountry team; however, he is currently No. 6 on our seven-person team roster, and I believe if he worked a bit harder, he could be No. 5. He sometimes does not give his full effort at practice. Also, I recently looked at his academic progress report and noticed he made a C+ in Geometry. There is no excuse for that. If he would spend more time in the library and less time in the student lounge, he could likely make a B-.”

Confucius once said, “If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.”

I was never in the wrong room at MUS.

MUS taught me always to surround myself with motivated, smart people who have strong ethics and values. I am very fortunate to have business partners today like that – some of whom are MUS alumni or members of MUS families.

A few years ago, there was a dedication ceremony in what I still call the “new gym.” The floor was being named for Ruth and [Basketball Coach] Jerry Peters. Many of us went up to Coach Peters to show our appreciation. When my time came, I could not hear his faint voice, so I knelt down to get eye-to-eye with him.

He looked at me with those piercing eyes, and he said “Sammy, thank you for all you have done for the school. It is important. I am proud of you.” I stuttered out an inadequate “Thank you,” and that’s when the magic happened. He said, “Sammy (long pregnant pause), you are a fine example of how great things can be achieved by someone who works hard yet is just slightly above average.”

I laughed. He didn’t. We both knew he was right.

As the board chair, I had the incredible

privilege of working with two great headmasters.

Ellis [Haguewood], I have never witnessed a leader like you. Your wisdom. Your unselfishness. Your dry wit. Your steadfast devotion to doing what is right. As long as I live, I will aspire to emulate those qualities as best as God grants me grace to do so.

After Ellis had announced his retirement, and we were beginning the search for his successor, I went to Kent Wunderlich ’66 for advice. He simply said, “Don’t screw it up.”

Pete [Sanders], our search committee knew you were the right person for the job. You reminded us of the intangible qualities of your predecessors. You are an experienced teacher, administrator, and coach. You exude humility and do not seek the limelight. You are steady under pressure.

When you and I walked through the Dining Hall on one of your visits, you got excited about how our school celebrates the faculty and coaches. That is when we knew.

It has not sunk in yet that my portrait will hang alongside those former board chairs to whom I owe so much and whom I greatly admire. Or that it will even be in the same building with the portraits of faculty who significantly shaped my life. So I will close with this scripture passage, Deuteronomy Chapter 6:10-12:

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant, then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord.”

Dear MUS, how kind the fate that brought me to these halls. Thank you.

Graham’s Top 10

Headmaster Emeritus Ellis Haguewood offered a top-10 list of accomplishments during Sam Graham’s chairmanship.

Multiple years of improvements to the cross-country trails.

Left-turn signal going south on Ridgeway at our Primacy Parkway campus entrance.

Widening of the Webb Soccer Field and addition of bleachers while adding concrete amphitheater seating for Rogers Lacrosse Field.

Addition of a robotics lab in the McCaughan Science Center.

Completion and dedication of the Jake Rudolph Plaza in front of Stokes Stadium.

Completion and dedication of the Kroeker-Petroysian Fencing Center.

A plethora of technology upgrades to allow teachers to teach effectively during the COVID pandemic lockdowns.

Completion and dedication of the Ruth and Jerry Peters Basketball Court.

Redesign of Wunderlich Lobby and the Wiener Hospitality Room in the Sue H. Hyde Sports and Physical Education Center to reflect the history of sports at MUS.

An intensive headmaster search, which Sam led, ending with the auspicious hiring of Pete Sanders and Pete’s successful transition to MUS.

Sellers Language Teacher of the Year

Looking at Ryan Sellers’ extensive list of accomplishments in the field of Latin education – from scholarly presentations to catapult competitions – it’s no wonder he was selected by the Tennessee World Language Teaching Association as the 2022 Joyce Ward Teacher of the Year.

Chair of the Department of Classical and Modern Languages and instructor in

Outside the classroom, Sellers has consistently offered his leadership in extracurricular education-related activities. In his quest to bring the ancient language and its culture to life, he founded Fall Festivus (2008), an annual Latin competition event drawing students from throughout the Memphis area. He also founded the yearly intramural Trigon Tournament (2013) – an ancient Roman ball-toss game culminating

scored a 3 or better on the national exam, and the percentages of those scoring 4 or 5 have ranged between 63% and 100%. Such a background has given students a head start in language pursuits at the college level.

At the state Latin convention, whether his students are earning top scores in Advanced Certamen or serving as the most enthusiastic drivers in the Chariot Race, he is there offering his full support. In addition, he shares his abiding interest in Latin through engaging chapel presentations, for example, on the recent topic “Martin Luther King and the Classical Tradition.”

A valued team player, he is highly regarded at MUS, even serving the varsity basketball team as bookkeeper for a decade. In 2018 administrators tapped him to take on a new role as yearbook advisor, which he readily accepted, successfully overseeing production of yearbooks before relinquishing the role to take on new responsibilities as chair of the Classical and Modern Languages Department. Additionally, he has served as a graduation committee co-chair, helping to plan Baccalaureate and Commencement –an especially daunting challenge when the organizers dealt with pandemic restrictions.

Latin, Sellers came to MUS in 2007 after teaching at Houston High School (19962007) and as an adjunct instructor at University of Memphis (2000-03).

A lifelong learner and enthusiastic teacher, Sellers has a master’s degree in instruction and curriculum design from the University of Memphis (1999) and a master’s in Latin from the University of Georgia (2012). At MUS he has taught Latin I, II and III, Advanced Readings in Latin IV/V, and Advanced Placement Latin, and he has been instrumental in the success of the school’s program, which claimed its 14th straight Tennessee Junior Classical League (TJCL) Championship in March.

in a Thomas Amphitheater finale. In 2014 he worked with students to create a Latin motto for the state of Tennessee. Gov. Bill Haslam accepted Musica e montibus fluit (Music flows from the mountains) as the motto and declared April 2014 as Latin Appreciation Month (renewed annually). That same year Sellers helped resurrect the annual Latin Veterani dinner, a banquet for advanced Latin students from throughout Memphis.

Sellers’ instructional methods engender a long-term positive impact. His teaching influences students by providing them organization and language skills that serve them well in college and career. Over the last five years, all his AP Latin students have

In all his undertakings, Sellers has demonstrated his reliability, creativity, adaptability, and composure under pressure. Aptly, he was the 2018 recipient of the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools’ Hubert Smothers Award, which recognizes teachers who have shown a deep commitment to the profession and who have demonstrated excellence in all they do.

Beyond MUS, Sellers is respected for his continual efforts to improve Latin programs in the wider community. He has served on the board of the Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association and as a regional vice president of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. He has been co-chair of the CAMWS Latin Translation Contest and a state co-chair

Ryan Sellers times three, as depicted on Latin Club T-shirts

of the TJCL. He has presented on a variety of topics at conferences for the American Classical League and the International Boys’ School Coalition, and he has published articles in the academic journals Classical World, Teaching Classical Languages, and others. In 2016 he presented on the value of studying Latin at the second TEDxMemphis conference. He has also served as president of the Tennessee Classical Association.

In 2022 Sellers received a Bridge Initiative Grant from the Committee for the Promotion of Latin and Greek (a division of CAMWS) to support his podcast, Quintilian: The Latin Teacher Podcast, in which he takes a deep dive into classical language, culture, and the challenges of teaching the subject. Sellers seeks to connect teachers of classical studies so the profession can continue to advance.

“The objectives of the podcast are to showcase classicists who have had interesting careers and/or who are doing innovative things in the field of classical studies, to provide a platform for the discussion of important professional issues, and to build bridges between members of the profession,” Seller says.

One of only 50 teachers in the country selected for the National Gallery of Art Summer Teacher Institute in 2017, Sellers spent a week studying the art of the Renaissance and learning how to integrate art into the classroom. He was selected recently to participate in the National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture program.

“I am particularly interested in the ‘teaching tough history’ component of this

Lacrosse Coaches Named to Hall of Fame

The Tennessee Chapter of USA Lacrosse inducted two outstanding MUS coaches into its inaugural Hall of Fame: Elliott Dent and David Gearhardt.

Arriving from Hampden-Sydney College in 1996, Dent turned a fledgling varsity sport into a competitive interscholastic program. In his 24 years as head coach, he compiled a remarkable 293-78 record with 13 state championships, and he coached 34 AllAmericans. In addition, he played a major role in the development of the primarily East Coast sport in Tennessee. He was Tennessee Scholastic Lacrosse Association Coach of the Year in 1999 and served as TSLA president from 2001-04 and vice-president in 2000. He was a co-founder of the Memphis Lacrosse Indoor League (1996-2004), the Memphis Lacrosse Summer League (1997-2008), and the Memphis Lacrosse youth League (19982005). In 2002 he was the coach for the West All-Star Team in the United States Lacrosse

High School All-Star Games, and in 2019 he was assistant coach for the Under Armour All-America Highlight Division South Team.

“Coach Dent brought honor to the Red and Blue throughout his tenure as the head lacrosse coach at MUS,” Athletic Director Bobby Alston said. “He built a program that excelled on the field and competed with class. He is very worthy of this recognition.”

Gearhardt, MUS head coach from 1990-96, coached the Owls to their first state championship in 1990 and coached at Hutchison School from 2009-22. His Hutchison teams won eight TGLA state championships. In addition to MUS, he founded teams at Southwestern at Memphis, Germantown High School,

workshop. When it comes to the ancient Romans, there is undoubtedly a lot of tough history involved (slavery, inequality, imperialism, etc.), and I’m always looking for new strategies for helping students confront and evaluate these sorts of difficult issues.”

At the 2022 American Classical League Institute at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, he presented on the topic “ACL Institute Diamond Jubilee: Nihil Sub Sole Novum?” (nothing new under the sun?).

Sellers, who accepted the Joyce Ward Teacher of the Year Award at the TWLTA conference in Franklin November 4, qualified as a nominee for the regional language teaching award, presented by the Southern Conference on Language Teaching in March.

Team Stickhead Girls Lacrosse Club, NoExcuse Girls Lacrosse Club, and Memphis Men’s Lacrosse Club. Gearhardt has been the president and a board member of the Tennessee Girls Lacrosse Association since 2017.

Celebrating the Tennessee Chapter USA Lacrosse Hall of Fame induction are, back row, Jeffrey Block ’94,

Whit Tenent ’00, Pat DiMento, Elliott Dent, David Gearhardt, Chris Colbeck, Ron Ansley ’97; front row, Joe Cummings, Kyle Slatery ’04, Jason Lewin ’98, and David Ratton '02.

Smothers Award Goes Green: Mathematics

Department Co-Chair Darin Clifft honored

Building relationships and knowledge go hand in hand for Mathematics Department CoChair Darin Clifft. His teaching matches his personality – fun, quick-witted, and cheerful. Students are drawn to him not only because of his deep understanding of mathematics but also his unbridled passion and ability to make lessons enjoyable and engaging.

His dedication to teaching and to his students earned him the Hubert Smothers Award, presented at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools award ceremony in November. Nominees for the honor must have at least 20 years of teaching experience, expertise in student needs and development, contributions that benefit the local, regional, and/or national educational community, and demonstrated leadership in school activities outside the classroom.

Headmaster Pete Sanders, who composed the nomination, says Clifft embodies these qualities. “As co-chair of the Mathematics Department, Darin works with a talent-laden group of committed professionals,” he says. “His leadership style combines strong interpersonal skills, and his great sense of humor keeps his fellow math teachers focused and in good spirits. He is also greatly respected for his leadership beyond MUS, in the city, state, and national network of math teachers – especially those in statistics.”

Clifft joined the Memphis University School staff in 1999 as a math instructor. Since then, he has exhibited remarkable enthusiasm for his students and subject matter. Owls have received instruction in Algebra II and Geometry from Clifft, but his specialty lies in statistics – he teaches both Honors and AP level – and in making lessons memorable.

His fanaticism for the Incredible Hulk is just one unforgettable aspect of

his character. His classroom and office are brimming with Hulk memorabilia, and his wardrobe is often tinged green. At Halloween he goes into full-tilt Hulk mode. He also uses games as learning tools, such as tossing Hershey’s kisses like dice to calculate the probability of them landing tassel up.

“Darin shares himself with the boys, conveying positivity and encouragement,” Mathematics Department Co-Chair Phillip Stalls says. “If he can make you enjoy being around him, he can make you enjoy math.”

That jovial and supportive nature extends to his colleagues as Clifft can be heard in the hallways offering advice or a quick laugh to his fellow educators. He works to get faculty and staff involved in social activities to build morale and community, including restaurant gatherings and a recent bowling outing.

“Both his students and colleagues recognize what a special individual Mr. Clifft is, and establishing real personal relationships is his trick,” says History Instructor Ted Fockler ’10, a former student turned colleague. “Papa Clifft, as we called him when I was in his AP Statistics class,

recognized that by getting to know us personally, he could motivate us to work harder and make us more comfortable seeking help outside of class. He is exactly the same to his fellow teachers, regularly bringing joy and levity to faculty meetings and lunches.”

Beyond MUS, the math community would not be the same without Clifft’s involvement. He has served as an Advanced Placement table leader, question leader, or reader for the past 15 years. Since 2017 he has hosted an AP Best Practices Night, obtaining, prioritizing, and organizing teacher submissions and presentations. He has made presentations at over two dozen conferences, including three TAIS biennial conferences.

Clifft also serves as the school’s TAIS liaison, resident quizmaster, and coach for MathCounts and Math Madness.

All his activities are infused with his funloving nature, but make no mistake, Stalls says, “He puts thought into everything he does, and it pulls students in.” For him, it’s all about the boys – building relationships and building knowledge in his subject.

Faculty at the Tennessee Association of Independent Schools award ceremony, from left, Zach Sandberg, Wendy Trenthem, John Simi, McKee Humphreys ’01, Pete Sanders, Darin Clifft, Shelli Henry, and Phillip Stalls

Bill Taylor Portrait Unveiled: Alumni Executive Board celebrates the man, the myth, the legend

Family and friends honored Faculty Emeritus Bill Taylor at his Alumni Executive Board portrait unveiling November 15. Led by AEB President Ted Simpson ’85, the evening featured tributes punctuated with humorous anecdotes from Bubba Halliday ’82, Headmaster Emeritus Ellis Haguewood, and Headmaster Pete Sanders.

Coach T was a triple threat at MUS for 44 years, coaching the tennis team to record heights; reinvigorating the MUS in Europe program; and teaching Biology, AP Biology, and Genetics. Beloved by students and athletes, he is known for his ever-calm demeanor and dry wit – plus the Coach T milkshake, a tasty blend of what he called the trinity: vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, whole milk, and “the intangible: viscosity.”

As guests enjoyed milkshakes, Simpson introduced the program and described the positive influence Taylor had on him and the Class of 1985; his son, Edward Simpson ’13; and his nephew David Simpson ’23 (who had recently performed his top five Coach T impressions for his uncle).

“Edward said it was remarkable how Coach T used his sense of humor to connect with his students and get the best out of them. If you gave an incorrect answer, he would say, ‘Sorry, one more time on that? I couldn’t hear you over the … lights,’ despite complete silence in the classroom. Or, knowing that a student was regularly behind on reading or homework, he would ask an obscure question to the class and then say, “I am going to call on someone at random here” while staring directly at that student with his signature Coach T smirk.”

Sanders recounted the story of Taylor’s hiring in 1976 after he had earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology from Rhodes College where his father, Dr. Jack Taylor,

was a revered physics professor. “Legend has it that Bill’s interview at MUS included a win on the tennis court with his doubles partner, the headmaster, Colonel Ross M. Lynn. That win may have been instrumental in his joining the faculty to teach science and coach the tennis team.”

Outside of the classroom and off the court, Taylor immersed himself in the life of the school, Sanders said, including serving as a spotter in the football press box for over four decades and overseeing the MUS in Europe program. “Thanks to Bill’s leadership, more than 500 students were able to participate in the program, and more than 30 faculty members had the opportunity to get involved in pursuing their fields of interest while teaching and traveling with their groups.”

Sanders added that Taylor’s legacy includes family members who have walked the halls: his sons, Michael Taylor ’98 and Andrew Taylor ’02; his stepson, Will Shirey ’02; and nephews John Taylor ’05

and Ben Taylor ’13. The tradition continues with currently enrolled great nephew Wills Frazer ’25 and grandson McEwen Taylor ’26.

“Many of you may be surprised to know that Bill’s roots at MUS run much deeper,” he continued. “His grandfather, Harold Adams Sparr, graduated from the old school in 1912. In that year’s annual, Sparr is described thusly: ‘Gigantic of limb, yet supple as a dish rag, awkward, but agile withal, Sparr has stumbled his way to a secure place in the hearts of all. Everybody likes him, his droll antics, his ludicrous actions, and his generous heart.’

“I believe our Coach T, our Biology Bill, inherited a great deal from his grandfather, and we are honored that he shared himself with MUS for such a distinguished career as an educator, mentor, and coach.”

Halliday, who arrived in seventh grade the same year Taylor joined the faculty, took the podium next. “I played tennis for Coach T from 1978 to 1982, barely made it

Bill Taylor’s large family surrounds him after his portrait unveiling ceremony in November.

through his Biology class my sophomore year, and subsequently have spent time with him off and on these past 40 years since my graduation playing tennis, going on canoe trips, catching up at lunch – it’s been a special relationship for me, and I know for many of you.”

He went on to share a few tales from tennis trips, including one involving a local TV newscast and student-initiated fireworks. “For my crew that I traveled with over those years – Jeff Gray ’80, Bill Lewis ’81, Eddie Murphey ’81, Gwin “Scotty” Scott ’83, John Kremer ’83, Jeff Barry ’84, Murray Garrott ’85, and John Morris ’86 to name a few – the interactions, stories, and fun times are always memorable to recount,” he said.

“But here’s the kicker: All those decades of tennis memories are only part of the story. There were hundreds of students who took his classes, traveled with him to Europe, sat in his homeroom, or visited with him in the halls, in his office, and around the school.”

Through it all, there was an overriding goal. “Coach wanted us to know what drove us, what affections were primary, and he questioned us and challenged us to know what we believed about the world we inhabited and why. My ’80s crew – and I am sure others – talked about life and death, our own brokenness, guilt, and who created this world. My takeaway was that Bill wanted us to think deeply about our faith, whether in God, or in man, or in something else. And he challenged us to understand our faith’s

connection to reality and its impact on our daily lives.”

Haguewood described his colleague and friend as “transformational in the lives of boys, now men, who remember, revere, and love him for his excellence, his integrity, his wisdom, and perhaps especially for his wit.” (Read more of Mr. Haguewood’s speech on page 35.)

realized time had stopped. You’re drowning in existential distress and facing a challenge on a biblical scale involving the number 40: Noah’s 40 days and nights of rain. Moses’s 40 days in the desert. Jesus’s 40 days of fasting and temptation. If I were to multiply the dance by 44 years and compare it with Sisyphus pushing a big rock up a hill and repeating this for eternity, Sisyphus’s fate would pale by comparison.”

After the dance, he said, a tonic was needed. “The writer Lawrence Durrell suggested that ‘a taste older than meat, older than wine’ is just a cup of cold water – a tonic every generation of mankind has known. I opted for a room-temperature Colt 45 malt liquor tall boy from the 7-Eleven store, just to reestablish homeostasis.”

After the explosion of laughter in the Dining Hall waned, Taylor concluded, “Thank you very much. It’s just an incredible evening. Drive safely.”

As Taylor and his wife, Nancy, took to the stage, Sanders unveiled the portrait, painted by award-winning artist Dawn Whitelaw, a graduate of David Lipscomb University where she was an adjunct art teacher for 30 years.

In thanking the Alumni Executive Board and the speakers for the honor, Taylor remembered how Halliday had given him “a gift certificate for 44 milkshakes (money, actually)” upon his retirement. Taylor commented, “It’s interesting how the milkshake evolved at MUS from being just a liquid asset into being a kind of cryptocurrency.”

Among the enjoyable aspects of teaching, coaching, and guiding trips, there was the “not great” duty of chaperoning a basketball homecoming dance.

“Forty minutes into the dance, you

The Alumni Executive Board created the Faculty Portrait Series in 2005 to honor faculty members who have dedicated their lives to serving MUS. There have been many changes in the campus over the years, but these portraits serve as a daily reminder that the faculty have been unchanging in their steadfast commitment to providing the highest quality teaching and experience for our students. Bill Taylor’s portrait is the 17th in the series. See the collection at musowls. org/faculty-portraits.

See more photos from Coach T’s portrait unveiling musowls.org/photo-gallery. A video of the event is on the MUS YouTube channel at tinyurl.com/CoachT22.

“ ”

Coach wanted us to know what drove us, what affections were primary, and he questioned us and challenged us to know what we believed about the world we inhabited and why.

-Bubba Halliday ’82

With Coach T, Life Was Copacetic

FEditor’s note: Headmaster Emeritus Ellis Haguewood spoke at the unveiling of Bill Taylor’s portrait. Following is an excerpt. or me, Bill Taylor has always epitomized the ideal teacher in an independent school for boys – a superb biology teacher whose students scored extremely well on Advanced Placement examinations, a tennis coach whose record is unparalleled in the state of Tennessee, and the architect and guiding force of our unique MUS in Europe initiative.

In all his roles – teacher, coach, and guide – he was transformational in the lives of boys, now men, who remember, revere, and love him for his excellence, his integrity, his wisdom, and perhaps especially for his wit.

Bill joined the faculty in 1976, wearing his trademark khaki pants, well-cut beige corduroy jacket or traditional blazer, buttondown tattersall or pale blue shirt, red or blue tie, and Wallabees or Hushpuppies.

He brought with him his own collection of memorable argot: Almost anything ironic or outstanding could be “Claaasic.” Old knee injury, “shrapnel” or simply, “Ho Chi Minh Trail.”

On a good day, all was “copacetic.” Asked about something he didn’t know anything about or had no opinion about, it was “But have you tried Colt 45?”

“Which way to the beach?” always a good question when the occasion arose.

Tennis balls were “spheroids.” If you were thirsty, you drank “dihydrogen monoxide” (H20). If Coach T had a question, his approach was a smooth “Hey… ahh, what’s the deal?” A great shot? “Holy moly” or “good golly, Miss Molly.” A long, drawnout rally point that was lost or won was “the rope a dope,” and if he were thoroughly upset, it might be “Judas Priest.” When not interested in the conversation, he might excuse himself with “Got to see a man about

a dog.” Anytime he was quite angry at his students, it was “Whoa, whoa, whoa” or “Hey, hey, hey, wrong song, muchacho.” As his players were ready to make their way to the court, the new can of balls might come with a last bit of coaching wisdom: “Just win the last point.”

His classroom expertise, his quick wit, his easy rapport made him a favorite among colleagues and students of every persuasion.

Allen Graber ’87 put it this way: “Coach Taylor was never overly preachy. Instead, he had an innate ability to quietly influence students and players to do their best. The lessons he taught are still important to me: Show up, play fair, do your best, be responsible to yourself and others, persevere, and endure like Darwin. He taught me that the only musicians I need to listen to are Sam Cooke and Jerry ‘The Ice Man’ Butler.”

[Instructor in Latin] Trey Suddarth offered this brief encomium: “Bill Taylor is from the old school. His is the way teaching/ coaching/mentoring should be. He was a role model for students as a scholar, athlete, and gentleman. Bill could mix it up with any scholar of biology or evolution. He was a fierce competitor on the tennis court as a player and a coach, and no boy could hope for a better role model of a renaissance man with strong moral character.”

During his career, in addition to Biology, both regular and Advanced Placement, he taught Earth Science and an elective in Genetics, and for years his students scored well above the national average on the Advanced Placement Biology examination.

A product of Midtown, he graduated from Central High School and Southwestern at Memphis (Rhodes College), and later did graduate work at the University of Missouri and the University of Georgia.

In 2002 he was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award, established by John Murry Springfield [the first Lower School principal]. He served as chairman

Bill Taylor circa 2017 and 1978

of the Science Department from 1999-2003, and he held the endowed Ruth McCaughan Morrison Chair of Science from 2012 until his retirement.

Bill was famous for his quick answers to questions from students: Lewie Smith ’00 asked him in class once, “Should we be taking notes during this lesson?” Coach Taylor replied, “I would imagine some of the better students will.”

Or the time a student asked, “How long do you think this test will take? Bill said, “About this long,” with his arm extended horizontally.

Students in his biology classes learned that milkshakes seemed to hold, as [English Instructor] Norman Thompson elegantly put it, “some alchemical property of enhancing leaden grades.” Some say that the quest for the holy grail, i.e., the perfect milkshake, might be a get-out-of-jail card for Saturday School punishments. When pressed for

comment by reporters, Coach T clarified that “In all seriousness, the guys were just being nice to me. These milkshake stories have taken on a life of their own.”

The historic Coach T milkshake, ritually prepared, combines the “holy trinity” (vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and whole milk) mixed so that a quintessential but ineffable viscosity results. The object of veneration and myth, the Coach T milkshake was a big seller for a time at the nearby Cold Stone Creamery, celebrated with its own plaque containing instructions for preparation. Like offerings made to placate a god, Coach T milkshakes appeared often at the door of his office.

Outstanding biology teacher, yes, but also an extraordinary tennis coach.

In an article by John Varlas in The Daily Memphian celebrating Bill’s years as tennis coach, Varlas noted that “Coach Taylor’s career at MUS began with a handshake. It

ended with dozens of state titles, hundreds of players’ lives impacted for the better, and thousands of miles put on the odometer in building the state’s top high school tennis program.”

To be precise, it was 14 team state titles, 16 doubles championships, 10 singles winners, 40 regional titles. Three straight state championships between 2013 and 2015 and then five consecutive titles between 1998 and 2002. More singles and doubles winners than any other school in the state.

Bill told Varlas, “I figured out one day that I had circumnavigated the globe twice in a 15-man van filled with testosteroneladen guys.”

As tennis coach, he was part teacher, part strategist, part psychotherapist, part disciplinarian, part Zen master. In other words, a complete coach.

Zach Dailey ’00 pointed out that “an underrated characteristic of a

The 2014 varsity tennis team with the TSSAA Division II-AA championship trophy, from left, Head Coach Bill Taylor, Andres Carro ’16, Michael Apple ’15, Alec Carro ’14, Walker Sims ’14, Paul LaHue ’15, Jacob Birnbaum ’14, Spencer Richey ’15, Michael Birnbaum ’14, and Coach Phil Chamberlain

high-performing team is outstanding team chemistry, which, of course begins with the team leader. I’ll always remember his fierce competitiveness under the surface. Of all the competitive situations I’ve experienced, I’ve rarely seen someone with emotions so balanced in tense moments.”

Greg Sossaman ’02 called him “master of the mental game.”

Mason Cousins ’99 mentioned that “he gave his players the freedom to play their own games and often simply stood under a tree silently watching the matches. But if he recognized a player getting frustrated or having a tough go of things, he provided words of encouragement or cracked a joke to help the player calm down and refocus.”

Superb tennis coach, excellent biology teacher, and the guiding force behind MUS in Europe, one of the most innovative, creative, and successful programs in the history of the school. Each year from 1999 until he retired in 2020, he promoted, recruited, planned, organized, and shepherded the summer trips with [French Instructor, now Faculty Emeritus] Reginald Dalle, sometimes two trips in one summer. During the two decades of his leadership, he guided hundreds of students and scores of faculty members, all with his usual calm and dry wit.

[Faculty Emerita] Barbara Crippen observed, “Traveling with Bill and Reginald in the lead meant sharing genuine scholarship and daily adventures, exhilarating and unforgettable for students and adults alike. Bill’s reserved demeanor combined with his vast knowledge and unique sense of humor made him a person around whom myths easily accumulated.”

His wife, Nancy, offered this classic anecdote: “On an MUS in Europe trip highlighting WWI, while in Cambridge on graduation day, university students were celebrating along the Cam River. As our boys punted downstream, a totally nude female

graduate walked across a bridge and stood at the edge of the river. Immediately, our boys went silent. Tension hung heavy in the air. As the young lady entered the water, Bill slowly turned to me, raised his right eyebrow, and said, ‘Holy Smoley, … great posture.’”

Elizabeth Crosby [English Department chair and MUS in Europe director] captured what we all love about the man with this tribute: “Bill’s a renaissance man. He reads; he sketches; he designs pétanque courts and restores canoes; he composts; he travels; he plants elaborate gardens and tends them; he founds life-changing programs for boys; he mentors them in museums, on tennis courts, and in biology labs; he appreciates ’50s rockand-roll, What’s New Pussycat, Bridge Over the River Kwai, and ice-cold French rosé; he guides expeditions on foot or by canoe to the best spots down the street, up the river, or across the ocean; he makes Nancy, his wife, as well as his many friends and large family laugh and enjoy what life offers because of the spin he puts on it.”

One of Bill’s Lessons in Life, “Look Good, Feel Good,” seems especially appropriate. Bill, you look good today, and you should feel good as well, knowing that you have blessed and influenced and shaped and sharpened the lives of each of us in this room, along with scores of colleagues and thousands of boys who are not present this evening.

Your portrait now joins those of other iconic figures in the history of Memphis University School, this pantheon of teachers whose memory we and succeeding generations will never willingly let die.

Today, with deepest gratitude, we salute you and your legendary contributions as teacher, coach, guide, mentor, and friend. Congratulations!

The many roles of Coach T: biology teacher, tennis coach, football spotter, and MUS in Europe director (with Bruno and Reginald Dalle at Chateau de la Giraudière)

Peters and Rudolph Inducted into Memphis Hall of Fame

The Memphis Sports Experience and Hall of Fame inducted two legendary MUS coaches in October. Following are the Hall of Fame descriptions:

Jerry Peters

Coach Peters graduated from Rhodes College in the spring of 1960 and went to work that fall at Memphis University School. And there, Jerry Peters stayed for 52 years, touching countless lives and winning basketball games … lots of games. Named head coach in 1964, he compiled a 1,001-429 record over the next 48 years, making him Shelby County’s all-time winningest coach. He also ranks second in the state and is one of only 20 coaches nationally to win 1,000 games or more. He guided teams to seven state tournament appearances, winning the 2007 state title plus seven region and 16 district championships. He retired in 2012, having also served as track and field and cross-country coach for 18 years. In tribute, the court in Ross M. Lynn Arena is named after Peters and his wife, Ruth, and the school’s annual tournament is called the Jerry Peters Summer Classic. He was inducted into the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2008 and Rhodes College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

Jake Rudolph

He was a 5-7, 155-pound defensive back for Georgia Tech who made a dramatic fourth-down, goal-line tackle – literally knocking himself out – to keep Tech undefeated on its way to the 1952 national championship. Jake Rudolph tackled coaching with the same determination. In a 39-year career as head coach and athletic director at Memphis University School, he compiled a 295-1194 record, second-most wins in Shelby County and in the top 10 in Tennessee. The Clarksville native guided the Owls to the 1985 state championship, two runner-up finishes, six regional titles, 10 district championships and 16 playoff appearances. Before coming to MUS in 1958, he coached one season in Rome, Georgia, posting a 7-0-1 record to give him 302 career victories. He was inducted into the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 2011, Tennessee Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014, and Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2015, joining younger brother Mason, a pro golfer.

On a side note, Jimmy Ogle ’70, who served on the originating committee for the Memphis Sports Hall of Fame, reports: “Another connection to MUS that evening was the induction of University of Memphis Women’s Basketball Coach Mary Lou Johns. In 1967 her husband, Jimmy Johns, was the coach of the MUS 9th grade team that won the Shelby County championship that year.” Pictured, standing, from left are David Morris ’70, Buddy Best ’71, Wearen Hughes ’70, Gary Stevens ’70, Ogle, Mac Caradine ’70, David Jones ’70; seated, Hughes Mayo ’70, Charles Cannon ’70, Mac Cone ’70, Coach Johns, Jud Whitlock ’70, and Lou Adams ’70.

Coach John Jarnagin Honored

The Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association honored Head Baseball Coach John Jarnagin for his 784 career victories.

Jarnagin took over the Owls program in 2014 and has since taken them to a state runner-up and region championship in 2018 while adding 136 wins to his career total. The Owls started the 2023 season as part of the Battle for the Beach Tournament March 15 in Biloxi, Mississippi. Read an article about Coach Jarnagin by Daniel Black ’18 in the Summer 2019 issue of MUS Today, tinyurl.com/Coach-Jarnagin (page 12).

Joe Cummings Named Admissions Director

Joe Cummings has been named director of Admissions and Enrollment Management, effective August 1.

Cummings arrived at MUS from Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina, in summer 2022, taking on the roles of lacrosse head coach and Admissions associate. He will continue to coach the lacrosse program as he assumes the leadership role in Admissions.

“Joe comes to the position with admissions experience in the fast-paced market of Greenville,” Headmaster Pete Sanders said. “A graduate of a school for boys, he will be an authentic and appealing person to represent the school

and tell our story.”

In addition to coaching at Christ Church, Cummings served as the school’s director of Auxiliary Programs, overseeing summer camp and after-school and youth sports programs. Previously, he was Admissions student enrollment officer.

Familiar with balancing sports with academics, he is a 2008 graduate of Loyola Blakefield School in Baltimore where he was captain of the lacrosse and football teams. At University of Maryland, College Park, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies, he was a four-year recipient of the Jack Faber Memorial Lacrosse Scholarship and a 2012 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Scholar All-American. He will complete a Master of Education in Independent School Leadership at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College in August.

Security Team Welcomes Two Officers

James Stroud has joined MUS as a security officer. James has over 31 years of experience in law enforcement, including 20 with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. He was assigned to the jail at 201 Poplar and supervised the Gang Unit and Special Response Team. He subsequently worked as a school resource officer at Frayser High School and served as the operations manager for Men in Blue Security. Before coming to MUS, he worked security for Baptist Hospital.

Earnest D. Buford, Sr. has joined our security team in a part-time position.

Known as “Buford,” he serves as a detective for the Multi-Agency Gang Unit with the Memphis Police Department, a role he has held for seven years. He was named Officer of the Year for the Ridgeway Station. Buford served in the Army with the 5th Special Forces Unit (A) 3rd Battalion from 2006 to 2016, completing three combat tours to Iraq, one to Afghanistan, and one to Jordan. During his time in the Army, he earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bethel University, and he will complete a master’s in criminal justice from Bethel this fall.

Marisa Leard, Lower School Counselor

Marisa Leard joined MUS as Lower School counselor after internships at Power Center Academy in Memphis, Carter Lawrence Elementary School in Nashville, and West End Middle School in Nashville. Leard started her journey into the counseling profession in 2006 as a childcare provider who planned the academic curriculum and social activities for children. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Master of Education in Human Development Counseling at Vanderbilt University.

Margaret Rodriguez, Lower School Academic Support Coordinator

Margaret Rodriguez joined MUS as Lower School academic support coordinator. She started her career teaching English in the Prince William County Schools in Woodbridge, Virginia, and taught Advanced Placement English for Shelby County Schools for two years before joining St. Benedict at Auburndale as the dean of students. Rodriguez collaborated with the administrative team, teachers, and parents to provide the best possible environment for students to learn. In addition, she taught a curriculum that focused on reading, writing, and research.

Jeff Posson, Instructor in English, Origins of Language

Jeff Posson ’03 returned to his alma mater as an instructor in English and Origins of Language. He has worked in Memphis theater as an actor, director, stage manager, dramaturg, and theater teacher. A two-time Ostrander-nominated director and winner for All Saints in the Old Colony (2018), he directed the MUS productions of Almost, Maine in 2022 and Twelfth Night

in 2023. He served as playwriting and acting teacher as well as assistant director of theater education at Playhouse on the Square. Posson completed a double major in English and theatre arts at The University of the South and a master’s in English literature from the University of Memphis.

Earnest D. Buford, Sr.

James Stroud

Chelsea Cheshire, Library Assistant/Archivist

Chelsea Cheshire joined the staff of Hyde Library as library assistant/archivist from the Memphis Public Interest Law Center where she worked as a consultant. She previously served as an associate attorney at Ralston Buchanan Consumer Law Group. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Memphis and a Juris Doctor from University of Mississippi. Cheshire is pursuing a master’s degree in library and information science at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Courtney Funk, Instructor in Mathematics

Courtney Funk became the newest member of the Mathematics Department following three years teaching seventh and eighth grade at Lester Preparatory Middle School. After receiving a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics Education from the University of Central Oklahoma, Funk taught seventh through ninth grade math at William Carey Academy in Chittagong, Bangladesh, for three years. Once she returned to the United States, she earned a master’s degree in urban education from Union University.

Phillips Takes on New IT Role

Lower School Technology Instructor Corey Phillips was named Information Technology Support and Data Specialist January 30. He continues to perform his duties as technology instructor, as well, for the remainder of the school year.

Phillips came to MUS in January 2022 to oversee the Lower School Computer Lab and teach computer skills to seventh graders and sophomores. He has a 10-year background in higher education, most recently as instructional technologist from 2018-21

Candy Harris, Upper School Counselor

Candy Harris brings 15 years of experience to her role as Upper School counselor. She served as a programming counselor at Georgetown University for four years before teaching history in Tipton County Schools (2007-18) and Millington Municipal Schools (2018-21). She joined Memphis Shelby County Schools as a counselor in 2021. Harris earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from The University of Tennessee at Martin and a master’s in interdisciplinary studies from Cambridge College. She also completed the Freed Hardeman University School Licensure Program to prepare for her career in counseling.

at Rhodes College. He received a Bachelor of Arts in English, history, and sociology from the University of Mississippi in 2012 and a Master of Divinity from Memphis Theological Seminary in 2017.

“Corey brings a wealth of experience to his new role supporting the use of data throughout our entire operation,” Director of Technology John Simi said. “His logical thinking and analytical mindset will help ensure our data is used properly and efficiently and that it is protected.”

Ashley Webb, Instructor in Physics

Ashley Webb came to MUS from Desoto Central High School where she was head of the Physical Science Department. She was Desoto Central Teacher of the Year in 2015 and a STAR Teacher in 2017, 2018, and 2021. The University of Mississippi named Webb a national board mentor through their World-Class Teaching Program. She graduated summa cum laude from William Carey University with a bachelor’s in biology and a minor in chemistry. She received a certification through the NASA Endeavor STEM Teaching Certificate Project and was a finalist for the 2021 Presidential Award in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Dr. Allan E. Strand, Jr. 1930-2022

Dr. Allan E. Strand, Jr., faculty member from 1959-66, passed away July 26, 2022, at age 91. Strand taught English and other classes at MUS, he served in Admissions and College Admissions, and he composed the school handbook for 1961-62. Strand was the first administrative aide to Col. Ross M. Lynn, and he left MUS to become headmaster at the Donoho School in Anniston, Alabama (formerly Anniston Academy). As headmaster of The Lovett School in Atlanta, he worked for eight years to diversify the student body and staff. As president of the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools in the 1970s, he promoted continued integration. He then served as headmaster of Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, for over 17 years.

Among many accomplishments, he helped found and served as chairman of the board for St. Philips Academy, a preparatory school for children in inner city Newark. Later he was appointed president of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation supporting colleges across the South.

An avid tennis player, he helped integrate the Greensboro, North Carolina, city courts in 1957 when he invited George Simkins, a talented African American player to join him on the court.

Upon retiring to Oxford, Mississippi, he founded the GED literacy program sponsored by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and helped to establish the first lending library in the local men’s prison. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, artist Anne Strand, four children and their families.

M Michael Rodgers Deaderick 1942-2023

ike Deaderick, beloved MUS history teacher from 1970-74 and 1975-92, died February 3, 2023, at the age of 80.

At Memphis University School, reads his obituary, “he found his greatest passion, which was always for his work with students – teaching, mentoring, and guiding them.”

Chair of the History Department, Deaderick taught a dozen history courses and served as faculty advisor to The Owl’s Hoot, among other roles. As director of Student Activities, he created a comprehensive community service program for students. He also held the Ross M. Lynn Chair of History, and the Class of 1992 honored him with the John M. Nail Outstanding Teaching Award. He

was designated a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar, an award given by the national Organization of American Historians for excellence in teaching and for contributions to the history profession.

In 2011 the Alumni Executive Board

selected Deaderick for a painting in the Faculty Portrait Series, and the reasons are clear in the description at musowls. org/faculty-portraits: “The lessons he taught – individual responsibility, diligence, preparation, attention to detail, decorum, respect – are woven into the lives and the hearts of the many alumni he taught.”

Mac McCorkle ’73, principal at McCorkle Policy Consulting of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was one of those alumni. “As he did so with so many of us, Mike changed my life by building a still-burning fire in me to learn. We used to call him “Fighting Mike” – but we knew he was not fighting us, he was fighting for us and pushing us to push ourselves to become the best students and citizens we could be.”

Dr. Allan Strand served in many important roles from 1959-66, including as administrative aide to Col. Ross M. Lynn.

Mike Deaderick’s office was a popular gathering spot for students.

McCorkle cited his AP History teacher as a major influence in his decision to pursue the field in college. “He agreed to teach a special course for me senior year in American intellectual history. I had many great courses in college and law school. But that one-on-one course with Mike was by far the most powerful, the most influential one I ever took,” McCorkle said.

MUS Instructor in Religion Clay Smythe ’85 recalled a teacher who let his students in on the “realm of adult-like conversation” as he held court in his office.

“We would frequently gather during a free period with excited anticipation to assume our roles. Mr. Deaderick would eventually direct and encapsulate each office hour bull session with some sweeping conclusion, thereby offering both context and direction to boys needing the discrimination of priorities over opinions, of standards over popular trends, of direct confrontation over genteel avoidance, of true values over pragmatic means to an expedient, easy end.”

Smythe began an undergraduate major in history after Deaderick’s senior elective, America Since 1939. “Continually I was reminded of various authors’ points of view and writing styles as I grew in my understanding of what it meant to be a student,” Smythe said in a speech at Deaderick’s portrait unveiling. “I’m still growing into that student as I attempt for the boys under my care to mimic the empathy, the ethic, and the mastery of my subject as Mr. Deaderick so clearly did for us.”

In 1992 Deaderick began a second career in commercial real estate with the Poag and McEwen Company, and then the Spectra Group, developing Wal-Martshadowed shopping centers throughout the United States. He was senior project developer for numerous retail centers in five states.

A deacon and elder at Idlewild Presbyterian Church, Deaderick taught adult and youth classes and was superintendent of the adult Sunday School. Dedicated to the welfare of children, he was board president at Porter-Leath Children’s Center. For his work there, the Child Welfare League of America named him Outstanding Board Leader. In retirement Mike continued his educational pursuits, tutoring American history at Idlewild Elementary School and teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) for adult migrants as a volunteer with Literacy Mid-South. He also published peerreviewed and award-winning papers in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and the West Tennessee Historical Society Papers.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Blanche (Buckingham); his sister, Camille; his brother, David (Jody); his nephews, David Deaderick ’06 (Whitney), John Deaderick, and Rob Buckingham (Lou), his niece, Anne Buckingham (Steve), and many

cousins.

At the 2011 portrait ceremony, Smythe closed his tribute to Mr. Deaderick with words that seem fitting here:

“Thank you for sharing your life as our teacher, for allowing us to encroach selfishly upon your free time and your personal space amidst your heavy demands, for respecting us as people … when we were but boys.

“May God bless you and keep you, and may His face continue to smile upon you, and give you peace.”

The Alumni Executive Board selected Mr. Deaderick for the 2011 Faculty Portrait Series painting.

Mr. Deaderick was an influential teacher, advisor, and mentor at MUS from 1970-74 and 1975-92.

As he did so with so many of us, Mike changed my life by building a still-burning fire in me to learn.

-Mac McCorkle ’73

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

In the 2021-22 MUS Annual Report published last fall, many of our generous parents were not included or were listed at the incorrect giving level in their son’s class giving section. We apologize for this mistake. MUS is deeply grateful for the support of all our constituents, and we seek always to publicly recognize their gifts. The corrected Parent Giving by Class section appears on the next few pages.

Thank you to everyone who helped us surpass our 2021-22 Annual Fund goal. We could not do what we do without you!

DIRECTOR OF ANNUAL FUND CLAIRE FARMER DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT PERRY DEMENT

PARENTS OF SENIORS

46.46% Participation

$57,622

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. J. Brett Grinder ’91

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Schaeffer, Jr. ’88

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. James H. Barton, Jr. ’85

Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Varner

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY SUSTAINER

Mr. and Mrs. Kurt A. Nelson

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. William P. Halliday III ’82

Mr. and Mrs. T. Gaillard Uhlhorn V ’93

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY PATRON

Mr. and Mrs. Steven W. Hieatt

Mr. and Mrs. O. Thomas Marshall IV ’77

Ms. Jennifer R. Ransom

Mr. John G. Ross ’87

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. Louis F. Allen, Jr. '86

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher W. Bird

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh C. Fraser

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery R. Harris '81

Dr. Kristen D. Ring and Mr. H. Dennis Ring III

Mr. and Mrs. E. Lee Rudd II

HONOR CIRCLE

Anonymous

Dr. Bindu B. Betapudi and Mr. Raj Betapudi

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin L. Daniel, Sr. '86

Mr. and Mrs. D. Shawn Fussell

Mr. and Mrs. Gary M. Gavin

Dr. and Mrs. Jason Infeld

Mr. and Mrs. Terry D. Kerr, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Mark B. Whitehead

SCHOLARS CIRCLE

Ms. Christine L. Barzizza

Mrs. Luzviminda Jimenez-Clorina and Mr. Elmer Clorina

Mrs. Wei Wu-Emmert and Dr. Gary L. Emmert

Mrs. April Zhou and Mr. Jack Li

Mr. and Mrs. Lee B. Loden

Mr. and Mrs. Brian M. Mellone

Dr. and Mrs. Jay M. Saenz

Dr. Shameela N. Ahmed and Dr. Muhammad S. Siddiq

Dr. and Mrs. Rajeev Singh

Dr. and Mrs. Daniel L. Unowsky

Mrs. Hua Liu and Mr. Xiaolin Zhao

FACULTY CLUB

Dr. Mia Boyland James

The Reverend Dr. and Mrs. D. Noah Campbell

Mr. and Mrs. Sampath Giledi

Mr. and Mrs. J. Evans Jack '84

Ms. Marian Kirk

Mr. and Mrs. S. Pearson Ledbetter, Jr. '85

Mrs. Kyoung A. Jun and Mr. Naksung Lim

Mr. and Mrs. E. Cavett Ostner ’93

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence W. Pittman

Mr. and Mrs. Gregg W. Smith

OWLS CLUB

Ms. Shawna M. Herring

Mr. and Mrs. J. Patrick Yarbrough

GIFTS-IN-KIND AND RESTRICTED GIFTS

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. James H. Barton, Jr. ’85

Mr. and Mrs. Louie C. Bishop

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery R. Harris ’81

Mr. and Mrs. Seh J. Ra

Mr. and Mrs. T. Gaillard Uhlhorn V ’93

PARENTS OF JUNIORS

47.97% Participation

$57,604

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY MEMBER

Dr. and Mrs. Barden A. Greenfield

Dr. and Mrs. S. Barrett Sexton

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY HEADMASTER’S CIRCLE

Mr. and Mrs. T. Mason Ezzell III

Mr. and Mrs. P. Jason Farmer

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Preston, Sr. '74

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY SUSTAINER

Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. McDaniel

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan J. Schell

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. S. Eliot Morris, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Watkins III '91

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY PATRON

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew L. Hayden

Ms. Lei Cai and Mr. Xuan Liu

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan S. Smith '91

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald T. Solberg

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. J. Wesley Butler, Jr.

Dr. and Mrs. Jordan T. Coffey

Mrs. Margaret Burchfield and Mr. Jason A. Gallop

Mr. and Mrs. Steven P. McBride

Dr. and Mrs. Norris W. McGehee '81

Mr. and Mrs. Clyde L. Patton III '86

Dr. Ruth C. Patton and Dr. Kurt T. Patton

Mr. and Mrs. Edwin L. Rawson

Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. West III

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew C. Wilson

Mr. and Mrs. JonPaul Zaptin

HONOR CIRCLE

Mrs. Rukhsana Awais and Dr. Hafiz A. Elahi

Mr. and Mrs. Miles S. Fortas '89

Mr. and Mrs. G. Hall Gardner

Dr. and Mrs. Bhanu Kanakamedala

Ms. Ramya Rajagopalan and Mr. Ganesh Krishnamurthi

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel M. Nickey IV '89

Mr. and Mrs. Seth L. Palmer

Mr. J. Heiskell Weatherford IV

SCHOLARS CIRCLE

Mr. and Mrs. Ceylon B. Blackwell III '89

Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan M. Jones

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Keeler

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey D. Lewis '88

Mr. and Mrs. Zachary H. Street II

Mr. and Mrs. Scott J. Van Der Jagt

FACULTY CLUB

Mr. David Arocho

Dr. and Mrs. Debashis Biswas

Mr. and Mrs. Mark S. Chubb

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Knighton

Ms. Ann C. Lee

Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. LeMay

Ms. Katherine H. Patteson

Mr. and Mrs. David L. Simpson IV '80

Ms. W. S. Edith Yim and Mr. K. P. Alex Tam

Mr. and Mrs. Mark P. Temme

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Walker

Mrs. Cynthia C. Stobbe-Yaren and Mr. I. Hakan Yaren

Mrs. Angie R. Huan and Mr. Vincent Yu

Mrs. Hong Zheng and Mr. Yu Zhou

OWLS CLUB

Mr. and Mrs. Ali R. Chambers

Ms. Maggie Heinz

Mr. John R. Lee III

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Mascolino

Ms. Stephanie S. Weatherford

DONOR

Mr. and Mrs. Geroge S. Flinn III ’91

GIFTS-IN-KIND AND RESTRICTED GIFTS

Dr. and Mrs. Jordan T. Coffey

Mr. and Mrs. T. Mason Ezzell III

Mrs. Margaret Burchfield and Mr. Jason A. Gallop

Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan M. Jones

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Mascolino

Mr. and Mrs. Steven P. McBride

Dr. and Mrs. Norris W. McGehee '81

PARENTS OF SOPHOMORES

48.33% Participation

$64,663

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. D. Ellis Haddad '91

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. Michael R. Hess

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony L. Tancredi

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. John D. Alexander

Dr. and Mrs. Michael P. Lowery

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. McAllister

Mr. and Mrs. Sanford C. Thomas

Mr. and Mrs. William V. Thompson III '95

Mr. and Mrs. T. Gaillard Uhlhorn V '93

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY PATRON

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Eubank III

Dr. Teresa B. Gramm and Dr. Marshall K. Gramm

Dr. and Mrs. Kristopher C. Horne '92

Ms. Jennifer R. Ransom

Ms. Allison P. White

Dr. Christopher L. White

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. Louis F. Allen, Jr. '86

Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy G. Alpert '91

Mr. and Mrs. Paul W. Barcroft '89

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver F. Doughtie, Sr. '92

Mr. and Mrs. A. Nicholas Goetze

Mr. and Mrs. Troy R. Graham

Mr. and Mrs. J. Paul Henley

Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey E. Kerlan '90

Mr. and Mrs. Benji Pollan

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew T. Wilson '92

HONOR CIRCLE

Ms. Elaine Sheng and Mr. Jeffrey F. Barnes

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth O. Cooper

Mrs. Yan Yan and Mr. Sheng Ding

Mr. and Mrs. Todd L. Griesbeck

Mr. and Mrs. Casey S. McCandless

Mr. and Mrs. Justin W. Miller

Dr. Bethany M. Owen and Dr. Keith B. Owen, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. J. Thompson Weller, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin C. Wunderlich, Sr. '97

Dr. Ying Xu and Dr. Qihong Zhou

SCHOLARS CIRCLE

Ms. Sujuan Huang and Dr. Yixin Chen

Mr. and Mrs. Les Jones

Dr. Michele E. Neal and Mr. Robert L. Neal

Dr. and Mrs. Vikram P. Patel

Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Sayle IV '92

Ms. Jun Wang and Dr. Gang Wu

FACULTY CLUB

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry G. Couloubaritsis

Dr. Gerald T. H. Dang '93

Mr. Steven L. Johnson

Mrs. Kyoung A. Jun and Mr. Naksung Lim

Mr. and Mrs. Kevin L. Miller

Dr. Cynthia S. Sands and Mr. Stephen W. Sands '88

Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin J. Sego

Ms. Lin Jin and Mr. Yun Xiao

OWLS CLUB

Dr. Hongmei Zhang and Mr. Li Dong

Mr. and Mrs. J. Patrick Yarbrough

GIFTS-IN-KIND AND RESTRICTED GIFTS

Anonymous

Dr. and Mrs. David G. Brown, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. Troy R. Graham

Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey E. Kerlan '90

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. McAllister

Mr. Pravin J. Thakkar, Jr. '94

Mr. and Mrs. T. Gaillard Uhlhorn V '93

PARENTS OF FRESHMEN

48.00% Participation

$84,983

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. Preston B. Frazer

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY PATRON

Mr. and Mrs. James S. Gilliland, Jr. '89

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Brundick III

Dr. Lyle H. Davis and Mr. Timothy E. Davis, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Jason M. Gowen

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson A. Moore '96

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan B. Peters '84

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY HEADMASTER’S CIRCLE

Ms. Hardin B. Kimmel

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY SUSTAINER

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan J. Schell

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. William P. Halliday III '82

Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Lightman, Jr.

Dr. and Mrs. Michael P. Lowery

Mr. and Mrs. George V. Steffens IV '98

Mr. and Mrs. William V. Thompson III '95

D.

EUGENE THORN SOCIETY PATRON

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Byrnes '89

Ms. Jennifer McCullough

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel H. McEwan '88

Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Mitchell Redd

Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Solberg

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. John J. Bragg

Mr. and Mrs. Patrick T. Burke, Sr.

Ms. Bifang Lin and Mr. Heping Chen

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey D. Engelberg '94

Mr. and Mrs. Jason J. Fair '89

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin M. Ladd

Mr. and Mrs. Albert E. Laughlin III '94

Dr. Jiexin Huang and Dr. Xiangxia Liu

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Ray

Mr. and Mrs. E. Lee Rudd II

Mr. and Mrs. K. Phillip Stalls, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. David P. Tashie

Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. West III

Mr. and Mrs. JonPaul Zaptin

HONOR CIRCLE

Mr. and Mrs. James R. Liles, Jr. '88

Mr. and Mrs. David N. McCabe

SCHOLARS CIRCLE

Ms. Christine L. Barzizza

Dr. and Mrs. Blake T. Billups

Mr. Samuel W. Henry

Mr. and Mrs. Bifu Liu

Mr. and Mrs. D. Landon Mills

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley W. Snider

Mr. and Mrs. Michael C. Stockburger

FACULTY

CLUB

Mr. and Mrs. David D. Akers

Ms. Songmei Meng and Dr. Cheng Cheng

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Godwin

Mrs. Esther G. Manoharan and Mr. Paul K. Gunaraj

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Knighton

Mr. Paul D. Marek

Dr. Cori C. Grant and Dr. Jonathan A. McCullers

Ms. Tammy McKay

Mr. and Mrs. Kevin L. Miller

Dr. and Mrs. Jay D. Smith

OWLS CLUB

Ms. Jenni Brooks

Dr. and Mrs. Edward S. Friedman

Ms. Rebecca L. Yong

GIFTS IN KIND AND RESTRICTED GIFTS

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Brundick III

Mr. and Mrs. Jason J. Fair '89

Mr. and Mrs. Jason M. Gowen

Mr. and Mrs. Albert E. Laughlin III '94

Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Lightman, Jr.

PARENTS OF EIGHTH GRADERS

53.13% Participation

$51,698

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. Steven W. Sansom

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. William W. Deupree III '91

Dr. Dana W. Giel and Dr. Thomas V. Giel III

Mr. and Mrs. James A. West IV

Mr. and Mrs. David A. Willmott '88

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY HEADMASTER’S CIRCLE

Mr. and Mrs. T. Mason Ezzell III

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY SUSTAINER

Dr. and Mrs. James R. Echols II '94

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. John D. Alexander

Dr. Jennifer K. Giles and Mr. Gary O. Giles

Mr. and Mrs. John R. Norfleet '78

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY PATRON

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan E. Ehrhart '91

Dr. Teresa B. Gramm and Dr. Marshall K. Gramm

Dr. Geeta Gyamlani and Dr. Ganpat Valaulikar

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. Jeremy G. Alpert '91

Mr. and Mrs. Oliver F. Doughtie, Sr. '92

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher C. Lee '89

Mr. and Mrs. William M. McDonald, Jr. '97

Mr. Warren G. Milnor, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. Nick Nunn

Mr. and Mrs. W. Wilson Pace

Dr. Ruth C. Patton and Dr. Kurt T. Patton

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew J. Saenger '98

Mr. and Mrs. Tracy Speake

Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Tayloe, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Yining Zhang

HONOR CIRCLE

Mrs. Yan Yan and Mr. Sheng Ding

Mr. and Mrs. Miles S. Fortas '89

Mr. and Mrs. Todd L. Griesbeck

Dr. Bethany M. Owen and Dr. Keith B. Owen, Sr.

Dr. Wendy B. Stinson and Dr. William D. Stinson III '78

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew H. Taylor

Mr. and Mrs. Michael M. Taylor '98

Dr. Terry W. Turner

Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin C. Wunderlich, Sr. '97

SCHOLARS CIRCLE

Dr. Chaya S. Iyer and Mr. Ramakrishnan P. Iyer

Mr. and Mrs. Worth Jones '96

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Keeler

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley S. Leavitt

Mr. and Mrs. Brian A. Moak

Mr. and Mrs. Dominick Phan

Mr. and Mrs. M. Shannon Rhodes '90

Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Sayle IV '92

FACULTY CLUB

Mr. and Mrs. Cheyne W. Harris

Ms. Demetria Leakes

Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. LeMay

Dr. Cori C. Grant and Dr. Jonathan A. McCullers

Mr. and Mrs. Scott M. McKnett

Mr. and Mrs. David L. Simpson IV '80

Mr. and Mrs. Michael G. Younker

OWLS CLUB

Ms. Betsy C. McKay

Dr. Katherine Morrill and Mr. Peter Melcher

Dr. Clarissa Turner

Mrs. Tonga T. Nguyen and Mr. Loi P. Vuong

GIFTS-IN-KIND AND RESTRICTED GIFTS

Anonymous

Dr. Gwendolyn D. Alexander and Mr. Tony D. Alexander

Mr. and Mrs. Trevor B. Benitone '91

Dr. and Mrs. David G. Brown, Sr.

Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. Brundick III

Dr. and Mrs. Jordan T. Coffey

Mr. and Mrs. T. Mason Ezzell III

Mr. and Mrs. Jason J. Fair '89

Mrs. Margaret Burchfield and Mr. Jason A. Gallop

Mr. and Mrs. Jason M. Gowen

Mr. and Mrs. Troy R. Graham

Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan M. Jones

Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey E. Kerlan '90

Mr. and Mrs. Albert E. Laughlin III '94

Mr. William T. Levy, Sr. '99

Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Lightman, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Mascolino

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. McAllister

Mr. and Mrs. Steven P. McBride

Dr. and Mrs. Norris W. McGehee '81

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew J. Saenger '98

Mr. and Mrs. S. Clay Smythe, Sr. '85

Mr. Pravin J. Thakkar, Jr. '94

Mr. and Mrs. T. Gaillard Uhlhorn V '93

Dr. Geeta Gyamlani and Dr. Ganpat Valaulikar

Mr. and Mrs. David A. Willmott '88

PARENTS OF SEVENTH GRADERS

53.13% Participation

$41,540

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. Preston B. Frazer

Mr. and Mrs. Steven W. Sansom

ROSS M. LYNN SOCIETY MEMBER

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Fogelman II '90

Mr. and Mrs. Joel J. Hobson III '72

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson A. Moore '96

Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Smith

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY HEADMASTER’S CIRCLE

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Glenn

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY BENEFACTOR

Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Mattern

Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. M. Nichol, Jr. '85

Mr. and Mrs. Scott S. Sherman '89

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Watkins III '91

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY PATRON

Dr. and Mrs. Paul R. Brezina

D. EUGENE THORN SOCIETY MEMBER

Mr. and Mrs. Allen P. Halliday, Sr. '85

Dr. Shari S. Jefferies and Dr. John L. Jefferies

Mr. and Mrs. Brook H. Lester

Mr. and Mrs. Steven P. McBride

Mr. and Mrs. Michael J. Ray

Dr. Kathryn A. Stakem and Mr. Timothy D. Stakem

Mr. and Mrs. K. Phillip Stalls, Jr.

HONOR CIRCLE

Mr. and Mrs. James R. Liles, Jr. '88

Dr. Kyle P. Martin and Mr. Jonathan T. Martin

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Russell II

SCHOLARS CIRCLE

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Gardner P. Brooksbank III '87

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart S. Cohen

Mr. and Mrs. Woodson Q. Dunavant '97

Mr. and Mrs. D. Hamilton Eggers, Sr. '94

Mrs. Wei Wu-Emmert and Dr. Gary L. Emmert

Mr. Samuel W. Henry

Mr. and Mrs. Lance Russell

Mr. and Mrs. Scott B. Shanker

Mr. and Mrs. Bradley W. Snider

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond G. Trammell, Jr.

Dr. and Mrs. Gary T. Wilson, Jr. '98

FACULTY CLUB

Anonymous

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald L. Ansley '97

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar P. Atkinson '96

Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Cacioppo, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. H. Nelson Cannon, Jr. '96

Mrs. Thelma Freeman-Hill and Mr. Justin Hill

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Knighton

The Reverend Dr. Deborah C. Suddarth and Mr. Samuel D. Suddarth III

OWLS CLUB

Mr. and Mrs. Ali R. Chambers

Mr. and Mrs. J. Patrick Yarbrough

GIFTS-IN-KIND AND RESTRICTED GIFTS

Anonymous

Dr. Gwendolyn D. Alexander and Mr. Tony D. Alexander

Mr. and Mrs. Steven P. McBride

MEMPHIS DAY MAYHEM CELEBRATES THE CITY

Memphis Day 2023 showcased the best of the city with a little wrestling on the side! Keynote speaker Darrell Cobbins ’91 set the tone for the day, encouraging the boys to “be leaders, to be courageous, to gather your intellect, and most importantly, to take action.”

Then students heard from a variety of community speakers before History Instructor Jason Peters ’88 and Lacrosse Head Coach Joe Cummings took to the wrestling ring in Ross Lynn Arena to battle over who would get Mr. Peters’ office for the rest of the year. It was a tag-team bout for the ages with their partners, pro wrestlers Colton Cage and “Big Swole” Justin Cole. With Dustin Starr providing commentary, Cage and Peters were eventually pinned in front of the roaring student section. (A post-match challenge led to a no-contest ruling, so the two combatants continue to share an office!)

The morning ended with games on

Hull-Dobbs Field, inflatables in ToddSnowden Gym, and video game trucks outside Stokes Stadium. Then many Owls headed to FedExForum to watch the varsity basketball team take on FACS, followed by tours of the National Civil Rights Museum, and later, a Grizzlies game where our a cappella group Beg To Differ, led by Matt Tutor ’91, sang the national anthem.

See more about Memphis Day – including the wrestling video – at www.musowls.org/MemDay or by scanning the QR code below:

SCAN ME

Dustin Starr interviews Jason Peters and his tag-team partner, Colton Cage. Students play Spikeball on Hull-Dobbs Field. Keynote speaker Darrell Cobbins with his mother, Shirley Peace Cobbins, Athletics Director Bobby Alston, and Assistant Principal Barry Ray. Joe Cummings appears to pin Jason Peters.

OWLS CROSS-COUNTRY ROOSTS

From 6191 Park Avenue, alumni paths transport them to locations near and far, so we decided to take a graphic look at the numbers. After graduation, alumni are off to colleges and universities across the country. Many find their way back to the Mid-South, as you can see from the nearly 3,000 alumni with a Tennessee address. Others find career opportunities in the 49 states beyond the Volunteer State. Make that 46. If our database can be trusted, it appears North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia are virgin territories for Owl settlement.

Numbers indicate the Owl count in each state.

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After MUS, Jack Henard graduated from Vanderbilt University, then earned an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After a successful career as a headhunter for various American businesses, he and wife, Bette, retired to the good life on Sanibel Island, Florida. Then on September 28 Hurricane Ian hit with 15 feet of Gulf surge, putting over 5 feet of water in their condo. All possessions gone, they watched both autos and three storage units float away. They moved to the relative safety of their clubhouse, but another surge destroyed that, including the last generators, leaving the entire island powerless. A daughterin-law’s TikTok plea was viewed nationally, including by a Florida state official who arranged for a marine escape to the mainland and temporary safe relocation in Bradenton. Bette and Jack were looking forward to reestablishing their lives with two sons and seven grandchildren.

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The Class of 1959 continues to hang in there in spite of COVID setbacks, hurricanes, and election results! The Memphis ’59ers enjoyed a Conundrum Club dinner at the new Iris Restaurant recently. Turley, Keesee, Simmons, Nearn, Bailey, and their spouses, and Mary Malone and Becky Deupree enjoyed reminiscing about the old days at MUS. Unfortunately, Don Austin, a regular member of the Conundrum, was unable to join us as his brother, Tommy Austin ’65, had just passed away.

Turley reported that he has just returned from a trip to visit with Lanny Butler in D.C. where they had great fun together. Lanny has sold his company, Multi-Employer Property Trust, and retired. He and his wife, Carol, spend their time at their farm in Virginia horse country, raising quarter horses.

Lanny was recently honored for his chairmanship of the Shakespeare Theatre Company where he led the campaign to

build a new theater. (Wouldn’t Mr. Hatchett be proud!)

Tom Waring reports that he retired in 2009 after 43 years with International Harvester and Komatsu America Corporation. He was marketing planner for Komatsu with four guys reporting to him until the company decided to move the marketing division to Chicago. In an effort to stay domiciled in Memphis, he was promoted to manager of Customer Services here, with 35 women suddenly reporting directly to him. He claimed it “was the best job I had in my career!” When he retired, he held the title manager, Komatsu International Distributor Parts Support and Technical Services. Tom and his wife, Sandy, were in the process of moving to Ft. Myers, Florida, as soon as the clean-up in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian was completed.

Becky Deupree was also impacted by Hurricane Ian damage at her home in Boca Grande, Florida, and hoped that repairs could be completed before she returned

there for the winter season.

The Keesees returned from their North Carolina home after a delightful summer there.

The Simmons enjoyed visits from their daughter and son-inlaw, Mary and Tom Nylan, and grandkids, William and Hudson, during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

The Nearns visited Clemson, South Carolina, over Thanksgiving to see their grandson, Peter, in action for Clemson against South Carolina in their archrival game that weekend.

Lyn and Ted Bailey are finally settled in their new home in The Woodlands, here in Memphis.

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We received a call from Franklin Alley’s wife, Jeannie, letting me know Franklin has been “in a roller coaster state for the last three and a half years.” It has been an overwhelming change in their lives. Franklin

stays at home with health care coming in to help.” If you want to send a note, his email address is frankalley@ gmail.com. Franklin was a veterinarian for all his career.

George Owen recently caught up with former MUS French teacher David Morelock, living at Lambeth House in New Orleans. We recalled a trip to Europe when we were in high school, led by him and Charles Mosby, where we went to an opera in which Joan Sutherland was making her debut. Morelock had his French class translate the opera Carmen and learn to recognize who was singing and what was happening when he put the needle down on the record player. He immediately recognized the talent of the then-unknown Sutherland. Now, twice a month, he gives a lecture at his retirement home.

At the first assembly when MUS first opened, C.D. Smith and I were surprised to see Pete Pace, whom we had met at a

Thanks to UPrayer Speakers

Hunter Humphreys ’70, pictured with his son Assistant Headmaster McKee Humphreys ’01, led UPrayer October 14. Parents, faculty, and staff gather for this devotion time before varsity football games. The elder Humphreys wore his vintage letter jacket and gave the history of the Buzzard and the Owl, describing how students are Buzzards on the field and Owls in the classroom.

We are grateful to Barbara Clenin, mother of Seventh Grade Football Coach Derek Clenin ’03, for founding UPrayer as well as the Owl Walk – the parade of players into the stadium – during her time as a football mom. Elizabeth Dickinson suggested adding speakers when her son, Robert Dickinson ’20, was playing (followed by son McRae Dickinson ’22). According to tradition, the football captain moms organize UPrayer.

Mary McDaniel, mom of Will McDaniel ’23, arranged the following speakers this season (in order of appearance): Buck Towner ’07, Andy McCarroll ’86, Carter Campbell ’91, Headmaster Emeritus Ellis Haguewood, Barbara Clenin, the Rev. Jay Biedenharn, Max Painter ’88, Hunter Humphreys ’70, PURE Academy Founder Melvin Cole, and Tom Hutton ’91.

summer camp near Traverse City on Lake Michigan. It turned out that Pete’s dad, Lawrence Pace, had moved his business to Memphis. He had been helped by Met Crump’s father, Charles Crump, who was instrumental in founding MUS. Pete, who passed away in June, later graduated from Michigan State, and for years owned and operated Gray Gables Inn in Charlevoix.

It is wonderful to be on the move again with the easing of COVID: Sally and C.D. Smith were hosted by Kathy and Scott Ledbetter at their home in Middleton in November. Lucile and John Bondurant spent more than a week in Hilton Head this fall. The Wellfords attended Karen’s 60th reunion of the American College in Paris, where she was in the inaugural class, then took the fast train to Barcelona to meet with granddaughter Anne Grinder, who was spending a work/study program sponsored by Princeton. A few weeks later, Alex and Karen went to

his 55th reunion at Yale Law School. Ferrell Varner keeps trying to improve his tennis, golf, and bridge games each week now that he is retired from running the Methodist Hospital emergency rooms.

When the local American Contract Bridge League group resumed its live Friday afternoon bridge game, Alex Wellford and John Bondurant commenced play in a game they started playing together before they were old enough to drive. After finishing in the middle a number of times, they finally won recently. Bondurant continues to trade commodities. Both of them have made visits to see Kingsley Hooker, who has been rehabbing at Signature HealthCare of Primacy.

Class of 1961 friends Jody Brown, Scott May, and Arthur Seelbinder share tales of MUS adventures at Barbara and Pitt Hyde’s birthday party in September. Remember to submit photos whenever possible with your Class News items! Email ann.laughlin@ musowls.org.

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Fred Smith received the Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in October. “My hope is that others can see this award as shining a light on the role business can play in building a more just society,” said Smith, with 2018 Freedom Award winner Pitt Hyde ’61. Photo by Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian

The highlight of the fall social season was the late September joint birthday party held by Barbara and Pitt Hyde at the newly opened venue, The Kent, located just east of Mud Island in Downtown Memphis. The function featured dinner, a great New Orleans band, and friends of the Hydes from around the country, including several friends from the Class of 1961.

Most in our class have retired and spend time traveling to their various properties, depending on the time of the year and their interests. Tammy and John Bell were spending two months in Northeast Florida near the St. Johns River where they planned to chase largemouth bass from their new 25-foot bay boat that has more electronics than the Space Shuttle.

From Louie Spencer: “Since COVID has been ‘over,’ I have been back to my usual routine –two to three months in France, in spring and fall. I have a bike in St. Remy de Provence and another in a village in the Lot/

Dordogne in Southwest France. I got too old to be dragging a bike across France on trains, so Mr. Cheapskate bought a second bike. No real news. I am still alive and functioning. I headed to Sun Valley just after Thanksgiving. I hope all the classmates are doing great. Life does not get easier with old age, but I am still having fun.”

The Mississippi River was at a record low level for several months. Along with the Mississippi, the White, and Cache, and Bayou in Arkansas were all very low, as were the rivers in North Mississippi. Deer hunting prospects were also gloomy as the deadly Chronic Wasting Disease has now been found in the deer woods of the Mid-South. Time to get out those skis and head to the Rockies, or the fly rods and pound the White, Little Red, and Norfork rivers in Arkansas, if they are releasing enough water.

’62

We were all pleased that our 60th reunion was such a resounding success. Friday night was well-attended with about 15, including wives and partners. Dinner was great, and we were on the Alumni Terrace for the Homecoming game because our class raised the highest total for the Annual Fund. The biggest surprise of the night was Fred Smith making an appearance. He was immediately surrounded by admirers, but we were able to keep him in our carefully defined circle until he had to leave to attend another dinner. He flew out the next day to Seattle for a retreat with Boeing company employees and to attend the game between the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons (his son Arthur Smith is head coach of the Falcons!). He was duly impressed with the changes taking place on campus. It is almost unrecognizable to those of us who left there in 1962. If you come to Memphis, or live here,

by all means stop by for a tour. Saturday night was quite special too, thanks to the gracious hospitality of Donna and Dan Copp. Their home is attractively decorated with many of Donna’s beautiful paintings. A catered dinner – which we enjoyed at candle-lit, flower-decorated tables – was impressive. The delicious meal and drinks were all on the house! Many of us were treated to a tour of their new exercise/sauna and greenhouse recently added in the backyard. A lap pool is in the works as well. Headmaster Pete Sanders and Director of Advancement Perry Dement dropped by as well as Director of Communications Liz Copeland and freelance photographer Jerry Gallik, who took a group picture. Liz is always a huge help preparing our class news every month. Assistant Director of Annual Fund and Alumni Programs Austin Hasenmueller sent several of the photos to me, Dan, and Donna to enjoy before publication.

The evening was well attended by about 15 who seemed to enjoy talking about old times and current projects. A composite photo of the graduating class was mounted on the mantle, and it generated a lot of interest and choice comments!

The entire weekend was fantastic, and Dan wants to do it again in five years. I wish him well with that undertaking!

’65

Al Varner is retired and working to elect Democrats.

’67

McClain Gordon is serving as co-chair of his Wharton MBA 50th reunion to be held in Philadelphia in May 2023.

’69

Joel Bailey is thankful they survived a house fire last January, and they are back in their home now.

Phillip Crawford reports his health is good and he welcomed a granddaughter, Cora Grace, in July.

Webster McDonald ran across Wylie McLallen on the web, and Webster and Cynthia went to Coquitlam, British Columbia, to stay with Wylie and his wife, Nickey. They had a great time catching up and said to tell everyone hi.

’70

Kelly McGuire's son, Britt McGuire ’11, got married February 4, 2023.

Billy J. Murphy, father of our classmate Mike Murphy and grandfather to Michael Murphy, Jr. ’03, was inducted posthumously into the College Football Hall of Fame in December. Murphy was head coach of then-Memphis State University (1958-1971), led the team to a 94-44-1 record, and served as athletic director for 16 years. In 1963 the Tigers went 9-0-1 and ended the year No.14 in the UPI Coaches Poll, the

highest final ranking in school history. Murphy was named National Coach of the Year by The Detroit Times. Between his playing years at Mississippi State, he served in the South Pacific during World War II in the Marine Corps Reserve, earning a Bronze Star. Following his service, Murphy returned to Mississippi State as the captain of the 1946 Bulldogs football team.

’71

Mark Bogatin shares the release of The Legal Guide for the Visual Artist, a book he co-authored with Tad Crawford.

Tom Bryan is still working and having fun. As president of the International Division of Great Plains Manufacturing, he travels the globe working with their international staff to improve farming operations. He said the invasion by Russia in Ukraine has caused some chaos to major agricultural business, but “we continue to tackle the challenge and pray for an end to the war soon.” Living in Salina, Kansas, for the past 25 years, he recently bought a house in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and he splits his time between the two. Eventually, he plans to retire in Jonesboro full time with his wife, Stephanie, with whom he just celebrated 39 years of marriage. They have three grandchildren and number four was on the way in December. Forever a loyal Mississippi State Bulldog, he cheers for the Kansas State Wildcats, but the cry is always Hail State.

’68

Bruce Hopkins reports: “We had a great time celebrating the Hoehn’s 50th wedding anniversary in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Kenny Loggins was the featured entertainment. It was truly an amazing weekend.” Pictured, from left, are Cynthia and Ames Yeates, Mary Creed and David Cunningham, Susan and Bill Hoehn, Carol Povenmire and Henry Myar, and Janie and Bruce Hopkins.

Bruce Edenton was getting ready to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Hampton Inn in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

’72

Paul Tudor Jones spoke to students in September about the power in life’s missteps. Jones was in Memphis for the 50th reunion of the Class of 1972, and many of his classmates were in the audience. He was also named 2022-23 Alumnus of the Year. Read more on page 18.

’73

MUS Alumni Engagement

Officer Steve Hickman ’76 visited with Mark Schandorff in Lynch Station, Virginia.

Kip Caffey had his first AND second grandchildren recently, both boys. The first, Brooks, was born to daughter Reed and her husband on August 10, and the second, Oliver, was born to daughter Grace and her husband on October 4. He says, “Other than that, I’m as boring as the decor in Clack Dining Hall.”

B DIVISION CHAMPS

Alumni Basketball League 2022

Alumni Basketball League competition was fierce last summer, and two teams emerged victorious.

B Division Champs: Honchos, led by David Blankenship ’14. Pictured, back row, Yashua Trent, David Blankenship ’14, Chima Onwuka ’13, Jerell Bernard, Lee Tate; front row, David Foster and Carlton McCord ’12; not pictured, Virgil Deanes ’09 and Renn Eason ’14

C Division Champs: Basketball Enthusiasts, led by Michael Schaefer ’03. Pictured, from left, Colin Donoghue ’13, Hunter Adams ’06, Peter Zanca ’06, Jack Beard ’21, Matt Dowty, Caleb Brock ’20, Michael Schaefer ’03, Henry Talbot ’03, and Sam Buckner ’04

C DIVISION CHAMPS

Thinking about Clack reminds me of dances after football games. And that reminds me of the “Midwinter Coat and Tie” in February of our senior year – no one wanted a formal. The band for that was Faris Junior and the Jacksonians, whose claim to fame was a brief appearance in the movie Walking Tall. The highlight of the evening was when they played Love Train, then a newly released song. I recall that Jim Varner led a very long train of people all around the dance floor.

Stu Collier just had total hip replacement robotically in Birmingham. A success, but it will be about six months before he’s ready to take all challengers in golf.

Nancy and Tim Cowan have a new granddaughter, McNeilly Cowan, daughter of Hunter and Miller Cowan.

Recently caught up with Gary Garner. He was coming “home” to Memphis for his mom’s 93rd birthday, and he promised to touch base with us for a convivial consumption of an adult beverage. He and Stephanie were headed to Japan in January for snowboarding –their third trip there.

Reb Haizlip completed an art show of his paintings in Asheville, North Carolina. You can purchase a small one for $50,000.

Jim Harrison reports that while all you yoga, gluten-free, no-drinking folks will live to 100, he’s still enjoying steak and distilled spirits and living large.

Larry Hayward has a daughter getting married next year, hopefully avoiding our 50th reunion weekend dates!

Keith Ingram went to New Orleans to see Arch Manning’s high school game and convince him to decommit from Texas and go to UTK like his uncle Peyton. He ran into Mary and Bob Loeb who were in NOLA for the Tulane vs. Memphis Tigers game. Bob also shared, “I heard an old adage recently: Life is like a roll of toilet paper … the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.”

Bob Lafferty and Vicki have six grandchildren, front runner in the class of 1973!

Buck Lewis is the Larry Wilks Practitioner in Residence and co-founder of the Institute for Professional Leadership at the UT College of Law. He teaches two classes, one in the fall on leadership for lawyers, and one in the winter on leadership maxims and habits. He reminds us Tennessee’s home opener in 2023 is the last weekend in September, and October 7 is an open date for Tennessee in 2023, in the event we can schedule around those dates for the reunion!

After stepping down as president and CEO of Montgomery Martin Contractors, Montgomery Martin shares that he's still working hard! At the same time, with the communication freedoms existing today, he is experiencing more lake life, gulf fishing, bird hunting, cycling, community activism, and instructing grandchildren how to appreciate him better.

Investment Bolsters Big River Trail System

As the Mississippi bike-pedestrian bridge Big River Crossing celebrated its sixth anniversary in October, Big River Park Conservancy’s Dow McVean ’92 announced a new investment in the Big River Trail System, which comprises a network of trails west of the river. West Memphis secured $2.2 million in Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funding for the Big River Trail and $700,000 in matching funds provided by the West Memphis Advertising Promotion Commission. The funds will be used to expand the trail system.

Opened in 2016, Big River Crossing connects Downtown Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas. The project has been supported by a parliament of Owls, including McVean, Henry Turley ’59, Keith Ingram ’73, Doug Carpenter ’82, Bert Robinson ’90, and Paul Morris ’92. These men and other supporters brought to life the vision of Dow’s father, Charlie McVean (who passed away in 2021). Read about their involvement in the Winter 2017 issue of MUS Today here: tinyurl.com/ mus-bigrivercross.

For more information about these rich Mid-South resources, visit www.bigrivercrossing.com and www.bigrivertrail.com.

Improvement gained in all areas, especially the last! It’s good to be a member of the great Class of 1973.

Bill Phelps retired and is still working part-time doing some consulting work. He and his wife are considering a move back to Middle Tennessee to be near family. They are making plans to join us for the reunion.

Steve Schoettle recently returned from an outstanding South Dakota pheasant hunt.

Eugene Smith sends an update that Grady McDonald is doing really well.

Jim Varner reports he and Suzanne just had their first grandchild, a grandson, in New York. Jim just began his tenure as president of the Memphis chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society!

’74

Virginia and return to West Tennessee.

Chuck Day and his loving wife, Carrie (St. Mary’s ’74), bought a house in Counce, Tennessee, inherited three cats, three dogs, and three grandchildren, plus, a tritoon boat.

Mark Ruleman has celebrated 39 years of marital bliss and recently welcomed his third grandchild.

Chairman Emeritus of Baker Donelson Ben Adams, pictured with Student Council President Tanner Williams ’23, spoke in chapel about lessons learned while at MUS. Watch Adams’ talk here: musowls.org/roots.

Brett Bonner has retired from Kroger where he was VP of Research and Development and Operations.

After 42 years in Christian ministry, and 37 of them as a Baptist minister, Frank Crawford was retiring in January 2023. Following retirement, Frank plans to leave

Sandy Schaeffer reports that he is still busy teaching on the faculty at the University of Memphis Business School and thankful that life keeps rolling.

’75

Mark Graham will be retiring from Republic Services (formerly BFI) in April 2023 after 35 years of service. Mark and his wife, Catherine, plan to relocate from Scottsdale, Arizona, to Knoxville.

Harvey Kay has retired as a pilot with Delta after 34 years

of service. I am guessing Harvey will not stay retired long.

The Alumni Executive Board named physicians Wiley Robinson and Glenn Crosby ’77 Volunteers of the Year for their counsel during the COVID pandemic, which helped keep students learning on campus in 2020-21. See the story on page 16.

Bill Williams welcomed his second grandchild in August 2022.

’76

John Hammons, Jr. and his son, John Hammons III ’05, recently joined Raymond James, both as senior vice president, Investments.

’77

The Atlantic Coast Conference recognized Barry Hendon for working his 300th game as a football back judge. Barry,

The floor of Seal Athletic Center at Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia, was named Hickman Court in honor of Steve Hickman ’76, head of school from 2014-19. Hickman, pictured with his family at the dedication in August, is the MUS alumni engagement officer.

whose day job is serving as a veterinarian in Fort Myers, Florida, is a member of the South Gulf Football Officials Association Hall of Fame. Read more here: tinyurl.com/barryhendon.

’78

Andy Cowan reports that his son, Henry, was married in December 2022.

John Jemison hopes to retire in about a year and plans to spend more time doing the things he enjoys: hiking, fishing, and his music.

Management, spoke to MUS students in November about the Investment Club, a group of Owls that will manage a portion of the school’s $50 million endowment. Launched in 2015 with $10,000, the Student Endowment Fund was at that point valued at about $20,000. The club was dormant during the pandemic, and Morrison said he looks forward to involving students again, allowing them to choose the stocks and bonds for the fund. The process, which includes Morrison’s guidance, provides the boys with real-world investment experience. About 20 students have expressed interest in the club.

’80

Joe Morrison, principal at Sentry Private Wealth

Lisa and Louis Jehl welcomed their second grandchild in September. Beckett Pauley Mathewes, son of Michelle and

BIRTHS

David Sassen and Mike Hollinger ’00, a daughter, Alexandra Paige, born April 11, 2022

Ebony Smith and Brandon Arrindell ’04, twins Emory and Smith, born September 16, 2022

Katelyn and Warner Russell ’05, a daughter, Mary Porter, born November 4, 2022

Ashely and Trevor Skelley ’05, a daughter, Mae Elizabeth, born September 10, 2022

Michelle and Andrew Jehl Mathewes '07, a son, Beckett Pauley, born September 2022

MARRIAGES

Ausdley and Tucker Carr '08, a daughter, Alice Nicola, born January 2023

Ann Tipton and Kent Francis ’08, a daughter, Virginia “Ginny” Lesslie, born July 7, 2022

Hayley and Toby Baker ’12, a son, Thomas Harwood Baker, Jr. born September 23, 2022

Kalen and Britt Colcolough ’12, a son, Cashel “Cash” Britt

Steve Bledsoe ’70 to Mary Cantwell on November 15, 2022

Hite McLean ’03 to Blake Travis on October 8, 2022

Nelson Graham ’08 to Meg Carpenter on September 25, 2022

Ian Stockstill ’10 to Lindsey O'Connell on November 20, 2021

Britt McGuire ’11 to Elle Bragg on February 4, 2023

James Duke ’12 to McKenzie Maness on November 5, 2022

Will Forsythe ’12 to Anna Hedgepeth on October 1, 2022

Chima Onwuka ’13 to Monica Thompson on September 2, 2022

Andrew Jehl Mathewes ’07, joins his older brother, August.

James Ward reports: “I’ve been a professor of finance at The American University of Paris for 22 years, full-time for the past 10 after a long stint with AXA Investment Managers. For the 60th anniversary of the University’s founding (as The American College of Paris), I gave a featured faculty lecture for alums on “Linking Classical, Mathematical, and Behavioral Finance.” Perhaps Karen and

Alex Wellford ’60 were there (see Class of 1960 news). In other news, Mrs. James Noel Ward (Chantana) and I have begun the move from Paris suburbs to the Atlantic coast of France, to Jardsur-Mer, where cliffside rambles over the seething sea sufficeth to satisfy our weary souls of stress. In other words, we are looking forward to, and preparing for, retirement. My best to you and yours, and my prayers all is well. Veritas Honorque.”

’83

Cole Inman is retired and spends his time traveling and supporting Ukraine.

’84

Eddie Murphey with cross-country Owls at the 2022 Classic

Eddie Murphey ’81 asks fellow Owls to mark their calendars for the 7th Ed Murphey Classic August 4-5, part of the PUMA American Track League. Named for Eddie’s father, a University of Tennessee track standout, the Classic brings elite athletes to the Bluff City as it helps Memphis youth.

The 2023 Classic will once again be a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver event. In 2022 it was ranked fourth in the U.S. and 27th in the World on the World Athletics Competition Performance Ranking list.

Proceeds from merchandise, concessions, registration fees, and tickets go to local youth programs, supporting the nonprofit’s mission: “to empower Memphis youth to pursue healthy lifestyles through track and field competition, clinics, and coaching.”

It’s become a personal mission for Murphey. “We’re trying to reach more kids, teach them how to stay on the right track,” he says.

Check out the website for more details: www.edmurpheyclassic.com.

’81

Lee Dillon and his wife, Lucia, live in Destin, Florida, by the beach where Lee is a real estate appraiser. They now have three grandkids, Posey (4), Annie (2) and James (2 months). When asked, “What is your most memorable experience at MUS?” Lee had two responses: “When Coach Peters called me [out] for wearing blue jeans on a Friday.” And “When Jack Stokes ’79 knocked me out during spring practice.” The second incident effectively ended Lee’s illustrious football career.

Alumni from the Class of 1981 celebrate a day at the races beneath the Twin Spires at historic Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, from left Jeff Fuller, Jeff Harris, Greg Harris, and Jeff Harris’ son, Andrew Harris ’22

Time Editor-in-Chief and Executive Chairman Edward Felsenthal and his son, Eric, drop by to visit Norman Thompson, now in his 51st year teaching English to Owls.

Troy Benitone is enjoying grandparent life with two granddaughters, Ezra and Addison.

Shawn Snipes and his wife, Kim, have become survivalists living in the hills of North Carolina.

Walker Upshaw's son, Hall, is a senior at Alabama, and his daughter has graduated from TCU and is working in Dallas.

Sherman Willmott brought the excitement of vintage Memphis wrestling to chapel, showing a portion of the 2011 documentary he produced, Memphis Heat: The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin’

’85

John Apperson shares that he has started a new position as managing director at HF Capital.

The pastures in Tennessee are literally greener than Texas’s. Especially this summer. See you later Willie; Hello Dolly!

’86

Rob Williams has taken a position as profit strategist at IronGate Entrepreneurial Support Systems.

Russell Tabor, son of Wellford Tabor ’86, is a backup quarterback for the University of North Carolina Tarheels. He comes from a family of athletes. Brother, Alex, played basketball at SMU and sister, Grace, was a four-time state lacrosse champion at Charlotte Country Day.

’87

Jeff Blumberg started a yearlong term as the chairman of the board for the National Society of Compliance Professionals, a nonprofit organization that serves and supports compliance professionals in the financial services industry.

Carter Campbell ’91, Trey Watkins ’91, and Miles Fortas ’89, don the jerseys of their sons, Carter Campbell ’23, William Watkins ’23, and Jack Fortas ’23 on Senior Night. All played football for Coach Bobby Alston.

Business Leaders Enlighten DECA Members

Bo Brooksbank is nearing his 20-year milestone selling commercial flooring for Mannington Commercial. He has proudly outfitted the MUS Upper School and Lower School with new carpeting over the past few years.

Chris Joe has been named a Best Lawyer by U.S. News and World Report. His firm, Buether Joe & Counselors, was likewise named Best Law Firm for multiple years.

Bill White is starting a financial coaching business, Peacebridge Financial Coaching, dedicated to helping people achieve debt-free living. ’88

’90

Will Gotten is currently serving as naval attaché in Hong Kong.

’91

Darrell Cobbins, the keynote speaker at the second annual MUS Memphis Day, described some of the Memphis servantleaders he admires, including his mother, Shirley Peace Cobbins, who got off a MATA bus 37 years ago to ask Headmaster Gene Thorn about her son, Donnell Cobbins ’89, enrolling in MUS. See the story on page 48 and the website at musowls.org/MemDay

The MUS DECA Club, advised by Headmaster/Business Office Administrative Assistant Michele Cacioppo, has been very active this year. The following alumni spoke to the group in fall semester:

Paul Stephens ’10 discussed investing and gave tips to students participating in the Stock Market Game.

Stephens Managing Director George Sousoulas ’78 (father of Michael Sousoulas ’08, Evan Sousoulas ’11, and John Sousoulas ’12, Norfleet Abston ’10, and Wills Abston ’13) discussed his career and what’s happening in the economy.

BioTissue Chief Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer John Knighton (father of Jack ’23, Will ’25, and Drew ’27) spoke about some of the cases he has encountered at the regenerative medicine company.

Deloitte Digital Manager Deandre Jones ’08 addressed the role of consultants in business.

Principal at Sentry Private Wealth Management Joe Morrison ’78 (father of Joe ’12 and Murray ’16) spoke to students about participating in the MUS Investment Club which will manage the Student Endowment Fund (more on page 56).

Crestview Collection Director of Business Development/ Director of Sourcing David Lee ’12 discussed his experience in international business, supply chain management, and the importance of understanding and respecting cultural norms. Lee is also co-owner of Porch View Home.

MUS History Instructor Jason Peters took to the Ross Lynn Arena wrestling ring during Memphis Day to challenge Lacrosse Head Coach Joe Cummings to a tag-team match over who would get kicked out of their shared office. See the story on page 48 and the website at musowls.org/MemDay.

’89

Pat Hopper was recently promoted to vice president at FedEx Services in Memphis, and he and his wife, Angie, are enjoying being empty nesters. Their daughter Sara is a senior at the University of Tennessee, and Lauren is a sophomore at the University of Arkansas.

’92

David Henderson is currently IT manager, Mission Applications for the Department of Energy. In his free time, he is the owner and a martial arts instructor for Samurai Dragons where he is an Isshinryu karate lead instructor and an Okinawan kobudo weapons specialist.

’93

Tommy Boyle runs the largest and busiest shuttle service in

David Lee answers questions during a DECA Club meeting.

Montana, which keeps him busy 24/7 most of the year. However, Tommy snuck back into town for the Mempho Music Fest in October. Above is the photographic evidence of his visit. He is pictured with his sisters, Lucretia and Devin Boyle, and cousin Lake Newton

Dean DeCandia and his family recently moved to Texas where Dean took a job as an attorney with the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) in the Dallas office. Before moving, Dean sought advice from Brian Bolton, a newly elected Criminal Court judge in nearby Tarrant County.

TORREY WINS HONEY COMPETITION

MUS Instructor in English Dax Torrey ’94 has always been a champion of grammar and sports statistics, and now he can add honey champ to his credits. At the Memphis Area Beekeepers Association’s November 14 meeting, he took home first prize in the most competitive category – light honey. The 16-ounce jar of light amber honey pictured here was taken from a colony of bees surrounded by blackberry flowers near Bolivar.

Torrey occasionally shares his honey with faculty and staff … while supplies last. In addition to blackberry bushes, his bees can draw nectar from cotton blossoms or clover/wildflowers, with each source providing distinctive flavors.

Craig Christenbury ’83, who recently got into the honey business, alerted us to the news. “Dax beat all the old heads that win this contest every year. It was a HUGE upset victory for Team Torrey,” Christenbury said.

“He allowed me to take a taste after the contest was over, and I have to admit that the flavor was spectacular. Extremely light and very fruity.”

Sports is focused on building progressive approaches to sports, media, and technology, including creating new pathways for the next generation to enjoy sports. TMRW Sports joins Woods’ TGR Ventures and McIlroy's Symphony Ventures, and is led by McCarley, founder and CEO. McCarley was most recently president of NBC Sports golf and global strategy.

’94

Zac Zaricor has taken a new position as a customer experience agent at Alorica.

’95

Sandy Hooper is taking a break from the grind of his legal practice as a “trialproven defense attorney” with Lightfoot, Franklin & White in Birmingham and is traveling in his customized Sprinter Van with his dog, Louis. See attached picture from a recent stop in Montreal. MUS alumni throughout the country should be on the lookout for an unexpected visit from Sandy in the coming months.

Founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and sports executive Mike McCarley, TMRW

Lake Newton is an artist and educator living in Memphis, where he currently serves as an assistant professor at Southwest Tennessee Community College. Lake has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally with recent shows at Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio), Katonah Museum of Art (Katonah, New York), the Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans), and Crosstown Arts in Memphis. His work can be found at www.lakenewton.com.

Joseph Hagerman has been named the director of Georgia Tech’s Energy, Policy, and Innovation Center (EPICenter). Hagerman joins Georgia Tech from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where he served as section head for Building Technologies Research, managing a team of about 80 scientists and engineers who focused on innovating building materials and systems at all scales of the building sector to ensure affordable, efficient, resilient, and low-carbon buildings. EPICenter was created to provide an unbiased and interdisciplinary framework for stimulating innovation in

energy science, technology, and policy for the Southeast region. It operates as a division of the Strategic Energy Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Charlie Phelps is senior director of Financial Crimes Compliance at KYC and Sanctions.

Phillip Rogers is working as a financial advisor for Stifel Financial.

Cobb Scott is an assistant professor of Clinical Psychology in the Brain Behavior Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.

Brandon Woo is a senior project engineer for A.O. Smith Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina.

February 3, 2023

November 27, 2022

July 31, 2022

October 9, 2022

November 10, 2021

November 9, 2022

December 25, 2022

’96

Elliott Ives and his business partner have purchased Young Avenue Sound from Cameron Mann.

August 6, 2022

August 15, 2022

’97

February 3, 2023

lives in Sunnyvale, California, with his wife, Catherine, two daughters, Charlotte (12) and Clara (9), and Labrador retriever, Daisy. ’98

Rusty Shappley, U.S. Magistrate Judge Annie Tauer Christoff, and Robert Tom at the investiture ceremony for U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ruthie Hagan. Worth Jones also attended.

Members of the Class of 1997 Washington, D.C. gang got together for their own reunion of sorts. Pictured are John Scruggs, Luke Iglehart, Alex Strong, Ben Jenkins, and Sean Alpert

Eddie Aftandilian joined GitHub as a principal researcher in March 2021 and helped launch GitHub Copilot, an AI pair programmer that uses machine learning to help programmers write code. He

Kevin Bohannon has relocated from Collierville to Beaufort, South Carolina. He has accepted a position as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist with Low Country Anesthesia and will be working at Beaufort Memorial Hospital. ’99

Nicola Guillaume Chimenti is the co-founder and controller of Financial Wing LLC. This new venture improves the financial lifestyle of small businesses and

the entrepreneurs that run them. By identifying strategic financial opportunities, mitigating risks, providing timely and accurate monthly financial reports and dashboards, they help businesses make better decisions. ’00

Jim Levy is working at Oak Hall.

Mark Awdeh, pictured with Assistant Headmaster Barry

Francis Hammond Cole, Jr. ’61

Walter Trinner Moore ’77

John Smith King III  ’62

George Harry Treadwell III ’64

William Franklin Adams ’65

Howard Ellis Misner ’73

Thomas Gibson Austin ’65

H. Stephen Rosen ’77

James Phillip Harbin ’87

October 15, 2022

Shomik Mukherjee ’96

Roy Elwood “Woody” Degan III ’82

Franklin Pearson Allen ’61

Ray during a visit to campus, is co-founder and president at CheckedUp, a digital patient education company that actively engages patients, caregivers, and physicians at the point of care. The company provides condition-specific, active patient engagement through a variety of digital touch points, including TV’s in waiting rooms and interactive exam room digital wallboards in specialty healthcare providers’ offices and hospital systems across the U.S. In October CheckedUp acquired Health Media Network, a provider of digital healthcare solutions and wellness content to health venues across the country.

Brent Blankenship is vice president for business development at Sheridan Capital Partners, a Chicago-based healthcare private equity firm that focuses on lower middle market buyouts and growth equity in the U.S. and Canada.

’02

Scott Douglass has joined the law firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz as a shareholder in the Memphis office; he was previously with a boutique IP firm based out of Nashville.

’03

Marshall Goldsmith has a new position as director at Satori Capital.

Brothers Faris Haykal and Zane Haykal ’06 founded The Tutors

tutoring agency in February 2017 to help students in the Memphis area excel academically. Read about their programs at thetutorsmemphis.com.

Sean Gould has been promoted to partner at Waddell & Associates.

Shahzad Khan has taken on an additional role as board member at Hawkins Service Company.

Alex Pao is living the dream with his family and friends and enjoys seeing alums around town.

Zone Dozen, just under 30 hours to complete, which was good enough for seventh in the Men's Open Division and 31st Overall. Team Captain Warner ran just under 14 total miles over three legs, while Reid and Buck each ran roughly 20 total miles over their three legs.

Peter Millar LLC in Durham, North Carolina, has named Charles Askew as director of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis.

John Hammons III and his father, John Hammons, Jr. ’76, recently joined Raymond James, both as senior vice president, Investments.

Fadi Assaf ’09 and his father, Mohammad, represented Memphis while travelling in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. Read more about their experience here: tinyurl.com/worldcupfad

Tyler Beard recently joined the board at the Memphis Zoo.

’05

Andrew Manugian is back in Thailand. ’06

Warner Russell ’05, Buck Towner ’07, and Reid Wesson ’06 along with nine others, recently completed the Bourbon Chase Ragnar Relay. Starting at the Jim Beam Distillery in Clermont, the race spanned over 200 miles of Kentucky roads and trails before ending in Downtown Lexington. It took their team, The Danger

Sam Coates has launched Driven By Sam Coates where he produces interviews for corporations, non-profit organizations, and families that tell the story of what each client is building and the impact on their associates, clients, industry, or communities. This started out of his podcast in the summer of 2020 and grew to use a company’s story to strengthen culture and hiring, giving leadership a way to connect with all of their stakeholders directly. These interviews leverage modern-day technology to tell stories through podcasts, video, and interviews.

Bryce Hendry, CFA, has been promoted to vice president, Investments at Pittco Management.

Following the sale last spring of Pelitas software company and a summer of travel with his family, Donald McClure started a new role as EVP and CFO of Identity Digital, the owner and operator of the world’s largest portfolio of nearly 300 top-level domains (TLDs) such as .live, .global, .digital, .finance, and .restaurant. He lives with his wife, Michelle, and their two children in Denver.

Dex Witte completed a musculoskeletal radiology fellowship at the University of Virginia and has joined MidSouth Imaging. Dex and his wife, Anna, have three children Dex V (5), Rivers (3), and Poppy (1).

Owls Among Memphis

Who’s Who

Memphis magazine included 10 alumni in their 2022 Who’s Who list. The list includes “people who shaped this city in the past and who will play important roles in its future.”

PAUL BOYLE ’87

Chairman of Boyle Investment Company

CHANCE CARLISLE ’01

Chief Executive Officer of Carlisle LLC

DARRELL COBBINS ’91

President of Universal Commercial Real Estate

ROBERT M. FOCKLER ’77

President of Community Foundation of Greater Memphis

PITT HYDE ’61

AutoZone Founder and Philanthropist

WORTH MORGAN ’05 Memphis City Councilman

BILLY ORGEL ’81

President and CEO of Tower Ventures, Downtown Preservationist

FRED SMITH ’62

FedEx Founder and Executive Chairman

STEVE THRELKELD ’82

Managing Member of Threlkeld Infectious Disease and Baptist Memorial Healthcare Spokesman

HENRY TURLEY ’59

Founder of the Henry Turley Company, Downtown Developer

’07

Philip May has taken a new position as assistant to vice president, mortgage production coordinator at Studio Bank.

Ed Porter recently began a new position at Shared Vision Psychological Services as a predoctoral intern.

’08

Michael Folk has been promoted to transaction manager at Amazon.

Ben Khouri has started a new position as director of Executive Communications at Vanderbilt University.

Colin McDonald has been promoted to a new position as director of Strategy and Innovation at Orion Federal Credit Union.

with KUNGFU.AI as a learning engineer.

Drew Karban has recently been promoted to financial advisor and asset allocation specialist at Atkins Capital Management.

Jon Kastan is performing postdoctoral research working on early detection of cancer.

Brad Ringel works in corporate finance for Team Cymru, which is an international cyber security firm. He has lived in New York since graduating from the University of Texas in 2014. He is engaged to Rebecca Hanai, and they are planning a wedding for June 2023.

Jake Rudolph has taken a new position with PNC as assistant vice president, underwriterReal Estate Banking.

Deandre Jones and Scooter Taylor ’11 at the 2022 AFROTECH conference in Austin, Texas

Ben Arnold recently began working in-house at FedEx Freight as a senior attorney on the Litigation Affairs Team. In this role he coordinates and strategizes with local defense counsel to defend against lawsuits across the country and in Canada.

Michael Shoptaw has taken a new role as director, Real Estate Legal and Leasing at Dollar General.

’09

Michael Brennan has taken a new position as loan officer at Paragon Bank.

Strive Health President and Chief Strategy Officer Will Stokes was recently recognized in Becker’s Rising Stars: 104 Healthcare Leaders to Know, a list of emerging healthcare leaders 40 years and younger who are focused on accessibility, affordability and boosting the patient experience. Leaders were selected based on their quick ascent within their organizations and drive to improve patient care. Congratulations, Will!

Robert Vestal has joined MECA, Memphis Eye and Cataract Associates, as a comprehensive ophthalmologist.

’10

Edward Cates is pursuing a new role in the field of AI

John Straton has started a new position as senior financial analyst, Express Financial Planning at FedEx.

Mitchell Thompson has taken the offensive coordinator position at Bates College.

George Utkov is the co-founder and CPO of Yendo, based in Dallas.

Parker Wilson has been promoted to senior project management analyst at FedEx Services.

’11

Drew Connors is a project development associate with Forsite Development in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Shea Gabrielleschi recently took a new position at Hartman Executive Advisors as vice president of Client Relationships.

Through his company West Peek Productions, Scooter Taylor has

coordinated virtual events for Nike, Waste Management, and the Clinton Foundation. A serial entrepreneur, Taylor spoke in chapel about how he eventually found success despite multiple failed ventures. He listed four points that have helped him discover his place in business and to persevere through difficulties: find your pace, find your lane, embrace the hurdles, and avoid status games. Taylor also offered entrepreneurship tips to the DECA Club. Now living in San Francisco, he is happy to connect with anyone visiting the city. Watch a video of his chapel talk at musowls.org/roots.

Alex Dale is preparing for his second season as a scouting associate for the Minnesota Vikings.

a donation by David Lee of Crestview Collection– and other foods in the Civic Service Organization’s drive-through food distribution event in December. Crestview employees came to help. ’13

Derrick Baber has been promoted to account supervisor at Poolhouse advertising agency.

Tyler Dang ’24 and Parth Mishra ’23 helped distribute turkeys – thanks, in part, to

Matt Bolton and his wife, Rachel, are in Memphis where he is completing the first year of his radiology residency.

Coordinator of Student Life Stephond Allmond ’10 saw a need among Memphis University School seventh- and eighthgrade boys for a greater sense of belonging as they navigate middle school. In response he joined with other faculty to initiate a monthly program dubbed Manhood Breakfast. As students eat, alumni and faculty speakers address a range of subjects that influence growth from boyhood to manhood. Topics have included knowing oneself, building personal character, transitioning to high school, and discovering the intrinsic reward in a job well done (rather than seeking external praise). The breakfasts have been a big success, with as many as 40 boys and six fellow alumni joining Allmond in the 7:30 a.m. sessions. The most popular topic to date? How to interact with girls.

From left, Jordan Bond ’23, Scooter Taylor ’11, Ben McBride ’23, and Alyaan Salman ’23 at the DECA Club meeting

Manhood Breakfast speakers Mahad Jamil ’16, Keith McBride ’10, Stephond Allmond ’10, and DeAndre Jones ’08

Tucker Brock is working in human resources as a talent and development specialist for NexAir.

Chris Fiedler has moved to Oxford and is an underwriter for Burns and Wilcox.

Charlie Goodfellow is currently serving in the United States Army.

Kyle Gossett is in Memphis working at Gossett Motors.

Jarrett Jackson is a resident physician in Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Edward Lake, senior associate in the Audit division for KPMG Memphis, is one of 24 honorees nationwide to receive the company’s national Award of Distinction for outstanding performance and living the firm’s values.

Buckner Loaring-Clark is a Navy air traffic controller and will marry Rachael Brewer in September.

Hurston Reed is in Memphis working in commercial real estate with TSCG, focusing on retail spaces.

Andrew Renshaw is in his second year of orthopedic surgery residency in New Orleans.

Brian Ringel has lived in New York since graduating from the University of Michigan in 2017. He is currently in the MBA program at Columbia University.

After playing baseball professionally for three years with the Atlanta Braves organization, Jordan Rodgers is now an allergy consultant with ALK Abello in Nashville.

“I remain active in baseball as I coach and mentor high school

baseball players in the summers, which serves as my release. Helping kids maximize their potential is one of my biggest passions and brings me my greatest joy.”

Bobby Scott is living in Downtown Memphis and continues to work in sales at Coyote Logistics, where he has been since graduating from the University of Arkansas.

Amit Shah is living in New York where he recently took a new job as an associate with Credit Suisse.

Alexander Taylor graduated from Arizona State in December and will begin a job with Charles Schwab in Phoenix.

Win Duncan is a graduate of the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. He has worked as an extern for a federal judge and for a large corporate litigation group. He served as a law clerk at Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz before joining the firm as part of the auto and worker’s compensation practice section.

Max Meyer has taken a new position as private equity associate at Banyan Square Partners.

’14Thornton Brooksbank is a geologist with Tioga Environmental Consultants in Memphis. He received a BS in earth sciences from the University of Auckland.

John Estes has taken a new position as accounting bookkeeper at Shuler Construction.

Salman Haque has been appointed Co-CEO of Medsender, a software startup in New York City working to automate healthcare administration.

Myatt McClure has started a new position as junior editor at German Law Journal.

Tom Fowlkes has assumed a new role as government public service consultant at Deloitte.

Danny Harris is in his third year at Vanderbilt Law School.

Parker Sexton has begun his first full year as men’s basketball director of operations at the University of Texas. He is the youngest in the nation to serve in this role at a Power Six school. Sexton served as basketball operations assistant during the 21-22 season. ’17

Edward Apple has started a new position as senior valuation associate at CBRE in Nashville.

Christian Berry has taken a new position as investment engineer at Bridgewater Associates.

MUS English Instructor Anna Hedgepeth and Will Forsythe ’12 tied the knot in October and celebrated with fellow teachers, from left, Lin and Sally Askew, Leigh Packard, Heather Davis, and Elizabeth Crosby.

Eli Christenbury is a project engineer with Chris-Hill Construction Company.

Max Scott joined BBG Commercial Real Estate after graduation and is being trained to be an appraiser, which is a three-year process.

Griffen Walden has moved back from Fayetteville, Arkansas, to Memphis to work with OT Marshall Architects as assistant project manager.

Louis Wittenberg recently began a new position as analyst, Corporate Development and Initiatives at ADG, The Artisan Design Group. ’18

Josiah Crutchfield recently started a new position as field engineer at Kiewit Corporation, one of the largest construction and engineering organizations in North America.

Leon Vo will be an incoming medical student at UTHSC College of Medicine in Memphis.

’19

Jonathan Douglass is a current junior at Harvard University and serves as president of Harvard Ventures, a venture capital club. He has an episode on The Bottom Line podcast interviewing David Sacks ’90. Listen here: tinyurl.com/douglass-sacks.

’20

Ben Lindy and Daniel Meskin drop by campus for a visit with Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management Buck Towner ’07.

he said. “Find a way to serve the country that has given so much to you.”

’21

2nd Class Cadet Alex Warr spoke in chapel about his experience at Virginia Military Institute, focusing on its sense of brotherhood and the ironclad honor system that remind him of MUS. Warr described the tough training that has given him a deep sense of accomplishment, and he encouraged his fellow Owls to consider a career in the military or another way to give back. “Your nation needs you,”

’22

Tamaz Young, pictured with Headmaster Pete Sanders, has published his second book, Token for My Sanity. The book is described as “a collection of poetry and prose that takes the reader on a journey of themes that shift from racism, pain, loss, and social stigmas to an appreciation of relationships, mental wellbeing, hope, and societal growth,” It is widely available.

Turner Bishop was Choose 901’s example for serving the city. He started volunteering when he arrived at MUS in 7th grade, and helping others is still a constant in his life. “Serving makes me love my city for what it is, for I see firsthand the many people living here that make it unique.”

Loro Lado is in the freshman class at West Point.

Lawson Touliatos plays a lead role in the musical feature film It’s Christmas Again, in theaters November 29 for one night only. Watch the trailer and learn more at itschristmasagainmovie.com.

Board Chair Jim Burnett ’83 caught three of his favorite Ole Miss football players on a break, from left, Drew Burnett ’21, Sellers Shy ’19, and Mac Owen ’22.

Alex Li ’22 and Tamaz Young gave College Counseling Directors Jenny Byers and Zach Hansen the grand tour of Rice University in September. Go, MUS and Rice Owls!

WESAW

Edward Lake ’13, Billy Dunavant ’16, and Cal Edge ’14

Emerging Leaders at City Leadership

The Emerging Leaders met at City Leadership in Crosstown Concourse in September to learn about getting more involved in the community. City Leadership Executive Director John Carroll and Soulsville Foundation CEO Pat Mitchell Worley led the discussion.

Retro Hoops

Basketball alumni gathered with Coach David Willson ’99 and current varsity players – in vintage uniforms – for a Retro Hoops reception before the team’s 61-51 victory over Raleigh-Egypt in Todd-Snowden Gym. Halftime entertainment: an alumni knockout competition.

Nashville Owls Reception

Nashville’s Char Restaurant was the setting for an alumni get-together October 27 that included Headmaster Pete Sanders and Mathematics Department Co-chair Darin Clifft.

Gavin Murrey ’21, Henry Nickey ’21, Ross Montague ’08, Louis Amagliani ’07, David Blankenship ’14, Tyler Cannon ’99, Norfleet Thompson ’99, Peter Zanca ’06, Drew Burnett ’21, Scott Burnett ’19, and Les Nicholson ‘58

Big Apple Alumni Gathering

Owls reconnected at the Harvard Club in New York City January 30 along with Headmaster Pete Sanders, English Instructors Sally and Lin Askew, and other special guests.

John Carroll and James Long ’10

Weldon Wilfong (Hutchison ’15), Bennett Wilfong ’15, Alexander Goodwin ‘18, and Tate Bailey ’18

Edward Apple ’17, Steve Vogel ’03, and Darin Clifft J.J. Johnson ’19, Bryan Parker ‘95, and John Callison '67

Lin Askew, Reggie Richter ’89, and Pete Sanders

Vijdan Gill ’20, Witt Miesse ’18, and William Miller ’18

Salman Haque ’14, Jackson Pacheco ’16, Seamus Fitzhenry '14, and Theo Wayt ’16

Senior captain Reid Chauhan ’23 leads current and former basketball players in a loud “U on Three” chant before the Retro Game.

Henry Duncan ’24, Kristopher Horne ’24, K.C. Horne ’92, Clarence Chapman ’23, Reid Chauhan ’23, and Barton Thrasher ’82

'58 Claude Crawford: grill17@yahoo.com

'59 Bryan Nearn: bryan@bnearn.com

'60 Metcalf Crump: metcrump@crumpfirm.com

'60 Alex Wellford: awellford@farris-law.com

'61 Scott May: sfmay@bellsouth.net

'62 Jerry Bradfield: jbradfi293@aol.com

'63 Doug Ferris: dferris@ffcfuelcells.com

'64 Bill Quinlen: wlq1975@aol.com

'65 Bob Heller: hrheller3@comcast.net

'65 Rick Miller: drrick640@gmail.com

'66 Chuck Smith: chucks@ngp.com

'67 John Pettey: john.pettey@raymondjames.com

'68 Bill Ferguson

'68 Terry Wilson: fishriveractor@gmail.com

'69 John Cady: johnrcady@gmail.com

'69 Parks Dixon: parks@gwpalmer.net

'70 Herb Davis: hdavis52@outlook.com

'70 Kelly McGuire: c.kingu70@gmail.com

'70 Jimmy Ogle: jimmyogle14@comcast.net

'71 Barlow Mann: barlow.mann@sharpenet.com

'71 Phil Wiygul: philwiygul@earthlink.net

'72 Russell Day: rkday54@gmail.com

'72 Joel Hobson: jhobson@hobsonrealtors.com

'73 Cecil Humphreys: cecil@cecilhumphreys.com

'73 Wise Jones: Wise.Jones@regions.com

'74 Mark Ruleman: markruleman@gmail.com

'74 Walker Sims: wsims@walkersims.com

'75 Lee Marshall: lee57marshall@gmail.com

'76 Gib Wilson: gwilson@lehmanroberts.com

'77 Bruce Moore: jmoore1977@comcast.net

'78 Cecil Godman: cecil.godman3@gmail.com

'78 Rob Preston: robertbatespreston52@gmail.com

'79 Arthur Fulmer: afulmer@fulmerco.com

'79 Jerry Martin: jerry.martin@mcgriff.com

'80 Louis Jehl: louis.jehl@jehlconsulting.com

'80 Bryan Jones: oatmeal0930@gmail.com

'81 Jeff Harris: jharris3@comcast.net

'81 Boyd Wade: bwade@fcgtn.com

'82 Ron Helmhout: ron@thecompanynurse.com

'83 Craig Christenbury: craig@chrishillconstruction.com

'83 Jimmy Harwood:jeharwood4@gmail.com

'84 Evans Jack: evans.jack@emesales.net

'84 Drew Taylor: taylorjamesandrew@yahoo.com

'85 Ted Simpson: ted.simpson@pnfp.com

'85 Owen Tabor: otabor@aol.com

'86 Andy McArtor: andy@mcartor.com

'86 Rob Williams: robwilliamsiii@gmail.com

'86 Andy Wright: adwri@bellsouth.net

'87 Jeff Blumberg: jrblumberg@gmail.com

'87 Bill White: bill.white@westfraser.com

'88 Max Painter: max.painter@att.net

'88 Fred Schaeffer: fschaeffer@strategicfinancialpartners.com

'89 Scott Sherman: scott.sherman@fhnfinancial.com

'90 Brian Eason: brian@cobuilt.com

'90 Hootan Hidaji: hootanh@yahoo.com

'90 Jeff Kerlan: jeffrey.kerlan@sterncardio.com

'91 Trevor Benitone: benitonec130@yahoo.com

'91 Ellis Haddad: ellis.haddad@raymondjames.com

'92 Chuck Hamlett: chamlett@goarmstrong.com

'92 K. C. Horne: horneKC@gmail.com

'93 Thomas Quinlen: tquinlen@gmail.com

'93 Gil Uhlhorn: guhlhorn@bassberry.com

'94 Ben Clanton: bclanton@duncanw.com

'94 Kirby May: kirbymay@hotmail.com

'95 David Bradford: dcbradford@tcco.com

'95 Gideon Scoggin: gscoggin@finfedmem.com

'95 Will Thompson: wthompson@nfcinvestments.com

'96 Nelson Cannon: nelson@cannonaustincannon.com

'96 Rusty Shappley: wshappley@gmail.com

'96 Spike Treadwell: spiketreadwell@hotmail.com '97 Justin Grinder: jgrinder@grindertaber.com '97 Trey Jones: trey.jones@ldc.com

Michael Thompson: mthompsonjr@gmail.com '98 Erick Clifford: eclifford@pointcappartners.com

dddrinkardjr@gmail.com

lohmanjw@yahoo.com

richardtburt@gmail.com '99 Chip Campbell: chip.campbell3@gmail.com

'99 Norfleet Thompson: fltbuck@aol.com

'99 Josh Winters: joshua.n.winters@gmail.com

'00 Chris Hamilton: jchamil19@gmail.com '00 Jay McDonald: jaypmcdonald@gmail.com

'00 Ryan Miller: phillipryanmiller@gmail.com

Kay: harvey.kay@gmail.com

'09 Rhobb Hunter: srhunter5@gmail.com

'09 Jim Moore: jimmoore910@gmail.com

'10 Stephond Allmond: stephond.allmond@musowls.org

'10 Hank Hill: hank4hill@gmail.com

'10 Jake Rudolph: jcrudolph4@gmail.com

'10 Paul Stephens: paul@fpkcap.com

'11 Blake Hennessy: blakehennessy11@gmail.com

'11 Chase Schoelkopf: cschoelk@gmail.com

'11 Scooter Taylor: scooter@scootertaylor.com

'12 Edward Francis: jefrancis56@gmail.com

'12 Anthony Hodges: ahodges.phys@gmail.com

'12 Lee Marshall: leermarshall41@gmail.com

'13 Tripp Crews: trippcrews@gmail.com

'13 Sam Moore: smoore410496@gmail.com

'13 Hurston Reed: hurstonreed@gmail.com

'13 Jake Woodman: jakecwoodman@gmail.com

'14 Hayden Combs: haydenpcombs@gmail.com

'14 Cal Edge: caledge901@gmail.com

'14 Chris Galvin: chris.finn.galvin@gmail.com

'14 Anthony Walton: anthonylwalton@gmail.com

'15 Tom Garrott: tom.garrott11@gmail.com

'15 Pierce Jones: spj.jones09@gmail.com

'15 Kamar Mack: kamar@appdrop.com

'15 Joseph Preston: jpres1@ucla.edu

'15 Connor Wright: connor.m.wright97@gmail.com

'16 Nathan Dinh: nathan.dinh47@gmail.com

'16 Tim Hart: 35skates@gmail.com

'16 Mac McArtor: mcartor.mac@gmail.com

'16 Trammel Robinson: trammelrobinson16@gmail.com

'17 Josh Gray: 98joshua.gray17@gmail.com

'17 Alex Hyde: alexhyde@live.unc.edu

'17 Evan Smith: evansmith11@gmail.com

'18 Barry Klug: pbklug64@gmail.com

'18 Mathon Parker: mathon.parker99@gmail.com

'18 Daniel Shumake: foofighter2210@gmail.com

'19 Scott Burnett: scottyb2256@gmail.com

'03

'04

'19 Stephen Christenbury: christenburystephen@gmail.com

'19 William Quinlen: wquinlen@gmail.com

'20 Robert Dickinson: rd3804@gmail.com

'20 Hunter Kendall: kendall144@gmail.com

'20 Will McEwan: will.mcewan@icloud.com

'20 Will Portera: wportera5@gmail.com

'21: Drew Burnett: drewburnett2002@gmail.com

'21 William Patteson: williampatteson3@gmail.com

'21 Edwin Shy: edwinshy21@gmail.com

'21 Nash Stewart: nashrstew@gmail.com

'21 Tamaz Young: poetrybytamaz@gmail.com

'22 McRae Dickinson: mcraedickinson@gmail.com

'22 Clayton Nearn: nearnclayton@gmail.com

'22 Fred Schaeffer: schaefferf3@gmail.com

Your gifts in memory of loved ones or in honor of special friends enable young men at MUS to receive a world-class education. Memorials to Memphis University School support the Annual Fund program. Families of those whose memories are honored will be notified by an appropriate card with an acknowledgment to the donor. We gratefully acknowledge the following gifts to the school:

In Memory Of __________

SUE AND COOPER ADAMS

Mr. and Mrs. Johnston C. Adams, Jr. ’66

ANN SUMMERFORD ADAMSON

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

FRANKLIN PEARSON ALLEN III ’61

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan E. Nearn, Jr. ’59

LOUIS F. ALLEN, SR.

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

Mr. and Mrs. P. Ryan Miller ’00

SAMUEL ANDERSON

Mrs. Mary Lee Marcom

EDWARD ATKINSON III ’73

Dr. and Mrs. Stephen P. Schoettle ’73

THOMAS G. AUSTIN ’65

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan E. Nearn, Jr. ’59

Mrs. Nancy Welsh Smith

HARRY I. BASS

Mr. and Mrs. Pearce W. Hammond, Jr. ’86

HAROLD R. BECK

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

A. ROBERT BOELTE, JR.

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey S. Schlosberg ’86

RICHARD “RICH” K. BOLLINGER III ’04

Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Bollinger, Jr.

MARION S. BOYD, JR.

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk P. Bailey

MATTHEW R. “BUDDY” BRESCIA ’64

Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Michta

BYRON NORMAN BROWN III

Mr. William L. Askew III and Mr. William L. Askew IV ’97

Mr. and Mrs. Byron N. Brown IV ’97

RONALD W. CALLAN, JR. ’90

Mr. and Mrs. Mark E. Dumas ’90

FRANK L. CAMP, JR.

Ms. Ann Camp Lee

JAMES T. CARNEY ’96

Mr. and Mrs. H. Nelson Cannon, Jr. ’96

BLAKE N. CAUMMISAR ’11

Mr. and Mrs. John M. Summers ’05

WINSTON ELMER CHEAIRS III

Mr. Perry D. Dement

JASON L. CRABB ’91

Mr. and Mrs. J. Alexander Crabb ’93

JOHN T. CREWS

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

Mr. and Mrs. Peter D. Sanders

Mr. and Mrs. S. Clay Smythe, Sr. ’85

MICHAEL R. DEADERICK

Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Broer

Mr. and Mrs. E. Hope Brooks III ’80

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

Dr. and Mrs. Haywood H. Henderson, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Loeb ’73

Mr. and Mrs. J. Stillman McFadden ’75

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan E. Nearn, Jr. ’59

Mrs. Margaret R. Taylor

Mr. and Mrs. Norman S. Thompson, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander W. Wellford, Jr. ’60

Mr. and Mrs. Gary K. Wunderlich, Jr. ’88

HART G. DILLARD ’70

Mr. George J. Whitlock ’70

WAYNE E. DUFF

Dr. Janice Jin Hwang and Dr. David Y. Hwang ’97

WILLIAM B. DUNAVANT, JR.

Dr. Allison M. Garrott

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Morrison ’78

MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM D. EVANS, JR. ’61

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander B. Evans

ELIZA WELLFORD FLETCHER

Dr. Amanda Wellford and Mr. Harry W. Wellford, Jr. ’72

ELLEN LEWIS FORTAS

Mr. and Mrs. Bobby A. Alston

Mr. and Mrs. Scott E. Anderson ’92

Mr. and Mrs. Dan Applegate

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

Ms. Elaine Sheng and Mr. Jeffrey F. Barnes

Ms. Christine L. Barzizza

Mr. and Mrs. R. Kemp Conrad, Sr.

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mr. and Mrs. A. Rankin Fowlkes

Mr. and Mrs. Brent C. Gerhart

Mr. and Mrs. W. Thomas Hutton, Jr. ’91

Barry and Tia Odom Family

Presbyterian Day School

Mr. and Mrs. Elliot L. Pope ’99

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew J. Saenger ’98

Mr. D. Andrew Shipman ’89

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan S. Smith ’91

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald T. Solberg

Ms. Virginia Stephens

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew H. Taylor

Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Treadwell III ’96

Mr. and Mrs. Kelly Truitt ’81

WAGERMAN KATZMAN

Mr. and Mrs. J. Kyle Webb

Mr. and Mrs. Gary K. Wunderlich, Jr. ’88

Mr. and Mrs. Michael G. Younker

DAVID L. GEORGE ’75

Mr. and Mrs. Mark B. Ruleman ’74

FRANCIS D. GIBSON III ’61

Mrs. Doris A. Gibson

DALE GOLDMACHER

Mr. and Mrs. Clifford F. Goldmacher ’86

HIRAM JENNINGS GOZA III ’71

Dr. and Mrs. George W. Dameron ’71

JOHN E. HARKINS

Mr. and Mrs. Michael G. C. Webster ’71

WIL J. HERGENRADER

Mr. Perry D. Dement

JOHN F. HILTONSMITH

Dr. Lea Gilliland and Dr. Charles A. Gilliland IV ’95

Mr. Jeffrey W. Posson ’03

THOMAS NEEDHAM HORTON, SR.

Mr. and Mrs. W. Price Morrison, Jr. ’75

ROBERT H. HUMPHREYS

Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Humphreys ’98

THOMAS NELSON HUNT

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

KYLE T. KING ‘87

Mrs. Rachel Fuerst and Mr. Kepler D. Knott ’87

BOBBY J. KELLEY

Mr. William L. Askew III

ROBERT CARRINGTON KELSEY

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

PENG KONES, JR.

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

JOHN H. LAMMONS, JR. ’74

Dr. Lea Gilliland and Dr. Charles A. Gilliland IV ’95

JERRY LEE LEWIS

Anonymous

PATRICIA DIANNE MAGEVNEY

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

KATHERINE CREWS MORRISON

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mr. and Mrs. Peter D. Sanders

DOUGLAS H. MCCLEW ’14

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas E. McClew

KENT D. MCKELVEY, JR. ’87

Mrs. Rachel Fuerst and Mr. Kepler D. Knott ’87

FONTAINE B. MOORE III ’70

Mr. George J. Whitlock ’70

CARTER LEE MURRAY ’94

Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Gentry, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs G. Kirby May ’94 Midsouth Grain Inspection Service

Mr. and Mrs. W. Seldon Murray III

MEG O’SHAUGHNESSY

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk P. Bailey

JERROLD W. OMUNDSON

Dr. Janice Jin Hwang and Dr. David Y. Hwang ’97

SCOTT D. PATTERSON ’81

Mr. and Mrs. Brett Patterson

GEORGE A. PERA

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

Mr. and Mrs. W. Reid Sanders, Sr. ’67

Mr. and Mrs. S. Clay Smythe, Sr. ’85

H. JERRY PETERS

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Askew III

Mr. and Mrs. R. Tal Johnson

Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey S. Schlosberg ’86

SCOTT M. REMBERT ’70

Mr. George J. Whitlock ’70

PHILIP M. PHIBBS

Mr. and Mrs. Ebben J. Raves

JACKSON J. ROBERTS ’14

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Breazeale

Mr. W. Calvin Edge III ’14

Mr. and Mrs. Walter C. Edge, Jr.

Mr. Christopher F. Galvin ’14

The OLAS

Mr. and Mrs. Steve Roberson

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth J. Roberts

Mrs. Nancy Roberts

DOUGLAS C. ROCKETT ’83

Mr. Derek Scheidt and Mr. D. Kevin Isom ’83

ROBERT P. ROGERS

Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Rogers III ’83

JACOB C. RUDOLPH

Mr. John R. Cady ’69

JAMES D. RUSSELL

Mr. Michael E. Gunn

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth H. Kyle ’75

MONTGOMERY B. SERNEL ’90

Mr. and Mrs. Kevin J. Wilson ’94

MARTIN COYLE SHEA

Mr. Perry D. Dement

THOMAS H. SHEARON ’65

Dr. and Mrs. Albert A. Varner ’65

TERRY N. SHELTON

Mr. J. Durham Bryce, Jr. ’12

DR. AND MRS. KUNG TSO SHENG

Ms. Elaine Sheng and Mr. Jeffrey F. Barnes

HARRY G. SOLDAN, SR.

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Pretsch, Mr. W. Austin Pretsch ’13, and Ethan S. Pretsch ’15

CHARLES SOWELL

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

JOHN MURRAY SPRINGFIELD

Mr. David D. da Ponte Cooper and Mr. Frank H. da Ponte Cooper

ALLAN E. STRAND, JR.

Dr. and Mrs. Albert A. Varner ’65

Mr. and Mrs. Alexander W. Wellford, Jr. ’60

PAUL TASHIE

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk P. Bailey

HOWARD K. “CHIP” TAYLOE, JR. ’64

Mr. and Mrs. Kirk P. Bailey

Ms. Susan H. Sutton

Dr. and Mrs. George H. Treadwell III ’64

MARGARET “PEGGY” ROSS TEMPLETON

Mrs. Mary Lee Marcom

MARTHA JANE PULLEN TIBBS

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Tibbs, Jr. ’86

THOMAS A. THOMPSON ’65

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis K. McKee, Jr. ’65

Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Tenent, Sr. ’64

VIRGINIA SLOAN TOWNER

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan E. Nearn, Jr. ’59

GEORGE H. TREADWELL III ’64

Mr. and Mrs. Frank C. Tenent, Sr. ’64

Mr. and Mrs. Van Spear ’64

Mr. and Mrs. William L. Quinlen III ’64

MARY ELEANOR STAFFORD TRUITT

Mr. Perry D. Dement

Mrs. Claire K. Farmer

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

DAVID J. WATKINS, SR.

Mr. William L. Askew III

J. BARNEY WITHERINGTON III ’62

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel N. Copp, Jr. ’62

ALEXANDER W. WELLFORD, SR. ’30

Mr. Jeffrey W. Posson ’03

ROBERT “BOBBY” WHITLOCK

Mr. George J. Whitlock ’70

MALCOLM BARBORO WOOD ’71

Mrs. Mary M. Wood

In Honor Of

BOBBY A. ALSTON

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

ROBERT A. AYOTTE ’20

Mr. and Mrs. Ron Ayotte

MATTHEW D. BAKKE

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

JOHN G. BILLIONS ’23

Dr. and Mrs. Gerald F. Billions

MARK G. BILLIONS, JR. ’26

Dr. and Mrs. Gerald F. Billions

W. STEVENSON BLEDSOE, JR. ’70

Mrs. Meredith G. Pritchartt

MICAH BRAFFORD ’98

Mr. and Mrs. H. Wayne Brafford

OWEN H. BRAFFORD ’03

Mr. and Mrs. H. Wayne Brafford

P. QUINN BRESEE ’27

Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Bresee

E. LOUIS BRUNDICK IV ’25

Dr. and Mrs. Edward L. Brundick, Jr.

J. GRANT BURKE

Dr. and Mrs. James H. Burke

THOMAS C. BYRNES, JR. ’25

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. Byrnes ’89

JAMES F. BURNETT ’83

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Gooch III

THOMAS P. CATES ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Joel H. Porter

CLASS OF 1960

Dr. and Mrs. Robert G. Dillard ’60

CLASS OF 1962

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick W. Smith ’62

CLASS OF 1992

Mr. and Mrs. John N. Laughlin ’92

CLASS OF 1977 45TH REUNION

Class of 1977

KENNETH O. COOPER II ’24

Mr. and Mrs. James A. Cooper, Jr.

LEE A. COULOUBARITSIS ’24

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry G. Couloubaritsis

GLENN A. CROSBY II ’77

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

MARK R. CROSBY ’79

Dr. Jere L. Crook III ’63

ERIC G. DALLE ’93

Dr. Teresa Dalle and Dr. Reginald A. Dalle

REGINALD A. DALLE

Mr. and Mrs. William R. McKelvy III ’85

MICHAEL R. DEADERICK

Mr. Kenneth C. Koleyni ’93

W. REESE DEUPREE ’26

Ms. Shirley Whiteside

DONALD D. DRINKARD, JR. ’98

Mr. D. Dwight Drinkard ’66

DONALD D. DRINKARD III ’28

Mr. D. Dwight Drinkard ’66

WOODSON Q. DUNAVANT, JR. ’27

Dr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Samaha

PHILLIP B. EIKNER ’77

Anonymous

Mr. Brandan J. Roachell ’19

Mr. and Mrs. Brian S. Roachell

Mr. Jianyin Roachell ’11

JERRY M. ELLIS

Mr. Nash R. Stewart ’21

Includes gifts received 7/26/22

FIRST DAY OF THE 2022-23 SCHOOL YEAR

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ringel ’83

RICHARD L. FISHER ’72

Dr. Amanda Wellford and Mr. Harry W. Wellford, Jr. ’72

NICHOLAS A. GALLER ’23

Ms. Mary S. Shelton

SAM M. GALLER ’26

Ms. Mary S. Shelton

CHARLIE B. GALLOP ’23

Ms. Katherine A. Burchfield

FRAZIER H. GARDNER ’23

Mrs. Margaret W. Jones

THOMAS M. GARROTT V ’15

The Reverend Dr. and Mrs. T. McMurray Garrott IV ’85

MR. AND MRS. P. TROWBRIDGE GILLESPIE, JR. ’65

Mr. and Mrs. John Ogles

EVAN K. GILLILAND ’25

Mrs. James S. Gilliland, Sr.

MARSHALL P. GOLDSMITH ’03

Mrs. Carol C. Hunt

WILKES A. GOWEN ’25

Mrs. B. H. Hawkins

J. WELLFORD GOULD ’13

Dr. and Mrs. Richard H. Gould

SAMUEL N. GRAHAM II ’80

Mrs. Billie Jean Graham

Dr. and Mrs. Tod S. Singer ’80

MILLER H. GRIESBECK ’26

Mrs. B. H. Hawkins

WALKER L. GRIESBECK ’24

Mrs. B. H. Hawkins

FRED GROSKIND ’68

Dr. and Mrs. William S. Pollard III ’68

ELLIS L. HAGUEWOOD

Anonymous

MR. AND MRS. ELLIS L. HAGUEWOOD

Mr. and Mrs. Jamie W. Howell, Jr.

Mr. Brandan J. Roachell ’19

Mr. and Mrs. Brian S. Roachell

Mr. Jianyin Roachell ’11

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

E. PALMER HALLIDAY ’25

Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Danner, Jr.

DANNY H. HARRIS III ’16

Mr. and Mrs. L. Charbonnier Miller

WILLIAM B. HICKY ’99

Mr. and Mrs. Bliss Y. Hicky

JOEL J. HOBSON III ’72

Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Batchelor ’72

ALAN F. HUMPHREYS ’03

Dr. and Mrs. Robert A. Humphreys

L. MCKEE HUMPHREYS ’01

Mrs. Mary Taylor

ROBERT C. HUMPHREYS ’98

Dr. and Mrs. Robert A. Humphreys

R. MCKNIGHT JOHNSTON III ’21

Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Johnston, Sr.

WARREN A. JOHNSTON ’21

Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Johnston, Sr.

ANDREW L. JONES ’97

Mrs. Margaret L. Samdahl

ANDREW M. JONES ’23

Mrs. Violet Olsen

MICHAEL P. JONES ’01

Mrs. Margaret L. Samdahl

JOSEPH H. KEELER ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd L. Hearn

WALLACE L. KEELER ’26

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd L. Hearn

MARTIN C. KERLAN ’24

Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey E. Kerlan ’90

PHILIP KIRSCH ’98

Mrs. Ronni Z. Kirsch

W. MCCULLOUGH LADD ’25

Mr. and Mrs. Jerry D. Ladd

Mr. and Mrs. James L. McCullough, Jr.

NICHOLAS C. LEE ’26

Ms. Mary Ann Lee

ELI J. LEWIS ’23

Mrs. Kaye G. Lewis

JAMES B. LONG ’10

Mr. and Mrs. Christopher R. Long

JOHN E. MARCOM, JR. ’75

Mrs. Mary Lee Marcom

PAUL D. MAREK, JR. ’25

Ms. Lori Marek

JUSTIN P. MARTIN ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Martin, Sr.

FLETCHER F. MAYNARD III ’97

Mr. and Mrs. Bliss Y. Hicky

ANDREW A. MCARTOR, SR. ’86

Mr. and Mrs. A. Wellford Tabor ’86

ORLANDO R. MCKAY

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

AMELIA SIMS MCKEE

Mr. and Mrs. J. Walker Sims ’74

MARGARET C. MCLEAN

Mr. and Mrs. William S. Craddock, Jr.

J. LAWRENCE MCRAE ’70

Ms. Debra McRae

SMITH R. MCWATERS ’19

Ms. Anne M. McWaters

ANDREW H. MILLER II ’13

Dr. and Mrs. Robert H. Miller III

WARREN GIBSON MILNOR, JR. ’26

Mr. and Mrs. Cooper Y. Robinson ’65

HENRY L. MILLS ’25

Mr. and Mrs. H. Paul Mills

HENRY E. MOAK ’26

Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Johnston, Sr.

LOYAL W. MURPHY IV ’86

Mrs. Loyal W. Murphy III

RICHARD L. OUYANG ’15

Mrs. Hua Peng and Mr. Shen Ouyang

JOHN H. PETTEY III ’67

Dr. and Mrs. Minor C. Vernon ’67

GWEN PHIBBS

Mr. and Mrs. Ebben J. Raves

ANDREW C. PHILLIPS, JR. ‘28

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew C. Phillips, Sr.

CHRISTOPHER M. PIECUCH

Mr. and Mrs. Steven E. Hancock

A. DOTY RAWSON ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Doty

Mrs. Mary C. Rawson

EDWIN L. RAWSON, JR. ’20

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Doty

JACOB H. RAY ’26

Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Pulley

W. BARRY RAY

Mr. and Mrs. L. McKee Humphreys ’01

Mr. Brandan J. Roachell ’19

Mr. and Mrs. Brian S. Roachell

Mr. Jianyin Roachell ’11

JACOB H. RICKELS ’21

Ms. Katherine F. Morris

JANE AND TOM RICKETTS

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

BRADLEY J. RINGEL ‘10

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ringel ’83

BRIAN D. RINGEL ‘13

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Ringel ’83

WILEY T. ROBINSON ’75

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis L. Haguewood

GLENN E. ROGERS, JR.

Dr. and Mrs. Phillip O. Flinn ’05

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

COLEMAN F. RUSSELL ’27

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Autry

PETER D. SANDERS

Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Gooch III

Mr. and Mrs. Brian S. Roachell

MR. AND MRS. PETER D. SANDERS

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

ANDREW F. SAUNDERS III

Dr. and Mrs. George B. Elder

CARTER N. SAYLE ’26

Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth G. Carter

HARRY E. SAYLE V ’24

Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth G. Carter

FREDERICK C. SCHAEFFER, JR. ’88

Mrs. Frederick C. Schaeffer, Sr.

BAKER M. SCHELL ’25

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan J. Schell

M. ANDREW SCHELL ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Ryan J. Schell

H. CLAY SHELTON IV ’97

Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Shelton III ’68

WILLIAM W. SHELTON ’99

Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Shelton III ’68

P. TANNER SHERMAN ’27

Dr. and Mrs. Phillip Sherman, Jr.

W. CANNON SHERMAN ’27

Dr. and Mrs. Phillip Sherman, Jr.

WALTER S. SHERMAN ’27

Dr. and Mrs. Phillip Sherman, Jr.

ELIZA SIMS

Mr. and Mrs. J. Walker Sims ’74

JOSEPH WALKER T. SIMS ’14

Mr. and Mrs. J. Walker Sims ’74

JACKSON S. SOLBERG ’17

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Solberg

R. TATE SOLBERG ’14

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Solberg

W. COOPER SOLBERG ’25

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Solberg

Mr. and Mrs. Robert T. Solberg

WYATT M. SOLBERG ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Solberg

R. DUDLEY SPEAKE ’26

Mr. and Mrs. Tracy Speake

THOMAS R. STEPHENSON ’05

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Stephenson

CHARLES J. STREET ’20

Mr. and Mrs. Zachary H. Street, Sr.

R. BARRETT SUMMERS II ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Halter

EMERY F. TAYLOR ’28

Mr. and Mrs. F. Fitzhugh Taylor, Jr.

W. FLETCHER TAYLOR ’26

Mr. and Mrs. F. Fitzhugh Taylor, Jr.

WILLIAM S. TAYLOR

Mr. and Mrs. C. Edwin Murphey, Jr. ’81

Dr. Keith A. Tonkin ’93

RYAN E. TURNER ’10

Mr. and Mrs. Steven M. Turner

MATTHEW D. TUTOR ’91

Captain and Mrs. William M. Gotten, Jr. ’90

JOSEPH S. TYLER

Mrs. Deborah Dunklin Tipton

JAMES T. VAN DER JAGT ’23

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Bozeman

D. SWEPSTON WALLACE III ’16

Mr. and Mrs. David S. Wallace, Jr.

DENNIS J. WHITE ’25

Mr. Stephen D. White

J. MCKEE WHITTEMORE ’20

Mr. and Mrs. John M. Whittemore, Jr.

JERRY R. XIAO ’24

Ms. Lin Jin and Mr. Yun Xiao

MICHAEL W. YARBRO ’25

Mr. and Mrs. John M. Barzizza

Cultivating Friends Across Time and Space

by Norman Thompson

Illustration by Greg Cravens

Norman

Gentlemen, while it is no doubt true, as you have no doubt been told countless times, you are sent by loving and solicitous parents to Memphis University School to acquire a sound academic and moral education. But another reason looms large in your parents’ decision to send you here and to some select college in the future: the acquisition of friends and contacts who will help you in times of need, console you in times of grief, advise you in times of uncertainty, and care about you in all times.

In our choice of friends, we would all do well to remember George Washington’s sage advice: “Associate yourself with men of quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.”

But why must your friends, those by whom you will be judged, those who will in large measure determine your reputation, why must they be only those with whom you engage in the dreary discourse of everyday life? May your friends not include those from whom you are separated by time and space?

Edward Hirsch in his book How to Read a Poem: And Fall in Love with Poetry advises us to “Read these poems to yourself in the middle of the night. Turn on a single lamp and read them while you’re alone in an otherwise dark room … Say them over to yourself in a place where silence reigns and the din of the culture – the constant buzzing noise that surrounds us – has momentarily stopped. These poems have come from a great distance to find you.”

Hirsch continues: “Imagine you have gone down to the shore, and there, amidst the other debris … you find an unlikely looking bottle from the past. You bring it home and discover a message inside. This letter, so strange and disturbing, seems to have been making its way toward someone for a long time, and now that someone turns out to be you.”

The great Russian poet Osip Mandelstam, using the same metaphor, sums it up this way: “At a critical moment, a seafarer tosses a sealed bottle into the ocean waves, containing his name and

a message detailing his fate. Wandering along the dunes many years later, I happen upon it in the sand. I read the message … the last will and testament of one who has passed on. I have the right to do so. I have not opened someone else’s mail. The message in the bottle was addressed to its finder. I found it. That means I have become its secret addressee.”

Thus, it is for all who become the secret addressees of literary texts. I am at home in the middle of the night and suddenly hear myself being called, as if by name. I go over and take down the book – the message in the bottle. Tonight, I am its recipient, its posterity. What can we gain from friends not corporeally present? Well, what about pleasure? Yoshida Kenkō, a fourteenthcentury essayist, wrote, “To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations – such is a pleasure beyond compare.”

What about knowledge, which we may use to better our own lives and the lives of others? Voltaire wrote, “The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.”

What about an anodyne for loneliness and alienation? Elizabeth Barrett Browning remarked that “no man can be called friendless when he has God and the companionship of good books.” Who could have been more alienated, have had more reason to be lonely, than Helen Keller? Yet this transcendent human being could write, “Literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the sense shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”

What about those unseen friends as a preparation for periods of grief, loss, pain, and depression to which all human flesh must fall victim? A.E. Housman, in his poem “Terence, This is Stupid Stuff,” told me (he died nine years before I was born) that he and others like him would help me through the inevitable sorrow

that I must sometimes endure. He wrote: Therefore, since the world has still Much good, but much good than ill, And while the sun and moon endure Luck’s a chance, but trouble’s sure, I’d face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good.

‘Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale Is not so brisk a brew as ale [here, of course, he is talking about his poetry] Out of a stem that scored the hand I wrung it in a weary land.

But take it: if the smack is sour, The better for the embittered hour. It should do good to heart and head When your soul is in my soul’s stead; And I will friend you, if I may In the dark and cloudy day.

Perhaps you will allow me to introduce a couple of my many friends to you, friends with whom I have spent considerable time, and from whom I have learned much, and who have made me I hope, a better, wiser person.

Shakespeare has been, and will always be, a friend to anyone who seeks his companionship. Alexandre Dumas said,” After God, Shakespeare has created most.” Why is Shakespeare so revered by so many? Perhaps because he seems to exemplify best what Alexander Pope said in “An Essay on Criticism”:

True wit is nature to advantage dress’d, What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d

All sincere readers of Shakespeare discover this truth: Every feeling that we have ever had, but thought that feeling peculiar to ourselves, we are startled and consoled to find that feeling sublimely expressed by Shakespeare long ago in seemingly the only way it could be expressed. This discovery prompted Flaubert to write, “When I read Shakespeare,

I became greater, wiser, purer.”

Critics speak of Shakespeare’s versatility, and variety, his wide range of perception, his profundity, his unfathomable understanding of human nature, his quotable texts, his unequalled imagination, his depth and range of learning, and his timeless universality. In the famous words of his friend and rival playwright Ben Jonson, “He was not of an age, but for all time.”

It is estimated that Shakespeare used about 29,000 different words in his writings. By contrast the King James Bible uses only 6,000 different words, Chaucer only 8,000. The average modern speaker of English uses about 2,000. Not only was Shakespeare’s vocabulary enormous, but much of it was original. About 2,000 of his words were terms he either coined or published for the first time. His contributions to the language include many terms that are now household words, including “household words,” which originated in his play Henry V.

“We who speak Shakespeare’s tongue,” as Winston Churchill put it, every day echo his genius, for Shakespeare added more than 1,700 words to the English language. It is a “foregone conclusion” (another of Shakespeare’s inventions) that if you speak English well, you will quote Shakespeare often, even if you don’t realize you are doing so.

The English poet Robert Graves, no doubt with a twinkle in his eye, said, “A remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he is really very good in spite of all the people who say he is very good.”

One could do far worse than cultivate a friend like Shakespeare.

Another great friend of mine, for somewhat different reasons, is this giant of twentieth century humor, P.G. Wodehouse. Immensely prolific – he wrote more than 90 novels and I have no idea how many stories, but it is a very large number. He published his first novel in 1922, his last more than 50 years later. One measure of the serious regard in which this humorist has been held is the Oxford University Doctor of Letters degree awarded him in 1939.

Wodehouse created an urban and

urbane world of nattily dressed young English twits wearing spats and living a life of leisure, a world in which the greatest evil might be humiliating oneself by wearing the wrong necktie or being pelted by tomatoes for a woeful performance in the village school Christmas talent show.

To read Wodehouse is to momentarily inhabit a gentle universe where everything goes wrong but all comes out right in the end. And each abortive escapade is expressed in a prose so refined, so indefinably funny, so sophisticated, so allusive, that one feels entertained on the one hand and superior on the other for recognizing the allusions and just in general “getting it.”

Evelyn Waugh once famously said that Wodehouse’s books had “three uniquely brilliant and entirely original similes to each page.” For example, he wrote, “He groaned slightly and winced, like Prometheus watching his vulture dropping in for lunch.” Or “Hash looked like one who has drained the sour ale of life and found a dead mouse at the bottom of the pewter.” One more: “Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing gloves.”

Wodehouse’s frequent allusions to Shakespeare attest to his vast reading and to his considering Shakespeare a friend speaking to him from the past, supplying him with humorous allusions. For example, in Uncle Fred in the Springtime (1939), he writes, “Poets, as a class, are businessmen. Shakespeare describes the poet’s eye as rolling in a fine frenzy from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven, and to giving to airy nothing a local habitation and a name, but in practice you will find that one corner of that eye is generally glued on the royalty returns.”

In Nothing Serious, a novel of 1950, he writes, “I don’t know if you ever came across a play of Shakespeare’s called Macbeth? If you did, you may remember this bird Macbeth bumps off another bird named Banquo and gives a big dinner to celebrate, and picture his embarrassment when about the first of the gay throng to turn up is Banquo’s ghost, all merry and bright, and covered in blood. It gave him a pretty

nasty start, Shakespeare does not attempt to conceal. But it was nothing to the start Bingo got on observing Nanny Byles in his midst. He felt as if he had been lolling in the electric chair at Sing Sing and some practical joker had suddenly turned on the juice.”

In The Girl in Blue (1970) we read, “A statuette that had been on the mantelpiece, a thing about a foot long with no clothes on … Shakespeare it may have been. Or Queen Victoria.”

So, whenever I find myself lolling about in the dumps, feeling sorry for myself, I consult my old friend Wodehouse, who never fails to cheer me up.

In his book deifying my friend Shakespeare entitled What Would Shakespeare Do? Personal Advice from the Bard, author Jess Winfield asks, “What would Shakespeare do to keep a friend?” The answer is clear in Hamlet, as Polonius says in the first act,

Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel.

Polonius in Hamlet

So, let us all take Shakespeare’s advice. Whether that true friend is sitting next to us or is separated by gulfs of time and space, let us grapple them unto our souls, because to have such a friend will help us become such a friend.

Norman Thompson has been an MUS instructor in English since 1972, and he holds the L. Edwin Eleazer III Chair of Excellence in Teaching.

Owen Sharp ’24 grabs a rebound in the Owls’ game against FACS at the FedExForum on Memphis Day, January 9. Also pictured, from left, are Makhi Shaw ’24, Max Painter ’23, Brandon Nicholson ’24, and Reid Chauhan ’23. Head Coach David Willson ’99 led the team to the TSSAA Quarterfinal game and thrilling victories over regional foes Briarcrest and Christian Brothers. Read more about the second MUS Memphis Day, which celebrates our connection to the city, on page 48. Photo by Joe Murphy Photography

THE ALUMNI MAGAZINE OF MEMPHIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

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Varsity soccer players come together before a rainy game against Central on March 21. The Owls took the contest, 2-0.

Photo by Gerald Gallik Photography