5 minute read
Conversation with Hank Deily ’72
A CONVERSATION WITH… RICHARD "HANK" DEILY ’72
By Dr. Paul Barker Dr. Barker sat down with the 2022 recipient of the Brother Robert Arrowsmith ’63 Distinguished Alumnus Award,
Richard “Hank” Deily ’72.
This interview was conducted in the spring of 2022.
Location: Wheaton, Maryland
PB: How did you end up at Good Counsel?
Hank: It was never in doubt. Tom Kolar (legendary GC History and Social Studies teacher and coach for more than 50 years) lived two doors down from us. He was so influential. Although he had attended St. John’s as a student, his decision to teach at Good Counsel set in motion a whole stream of us from St. Camillus to GC.
PB: What were the Xaverian Brothers like?
Hank: I really liked Brother Emeric. He was my Algebra teacher. On the first day of school in freshman year, Brother asked each student to state his name. When it was my turn, I stood and said “Richard, call me Hank, Deily.” And so he always called me “Richard, call me Hank.” Principal Brother Bonaventure had some almost radical beliefs; he thought athletics should be intramural, not interscholastic. We did not agree! Freshman and sophomore year, we had classes in the same classroom pretty much all day and the teachers came to us. Brother Bonaventure introduced a modular schedule. Twenty-minute mods combined for classes of different durations. There was a lot of movement. Seniors could even leave campus.
PB: What GC teachers were most influential and why?
Hank: As a senior, I took a creative writing class with Barry Trick. Our final assignment was to write a short story. Mr. Trick liked mine. Years later, just before a board meeting around the time
the school was getting ready to move to Olney, then Advancement Manager Debbie McKinney approached me and said, “Barry Trick wants you to have this.” She handed me that story. He had kept it all those years. And I still have it today.
I remember having football coach Bob Lukomski for modern European history. It was my favorite class. I learned things that help explain some of the things we see in the world today.
PB: Any especially memorable educational experiences?
Hank: Through taking Larry Grabenstein’s economics class, I was invited to a week-long Classroom for Young Americans program. I was with about 200 students from across the country. We stayed at the old Shoreham Hotel. By the end of the week, I had eaten lunch with Congressman Gilbert Gude (of Gude Drive fame); been addressed by Senator Tom Eagleton who was, for a time, George McGovern’s running mate; met the Chair of the Joint Chiefs; seen the Changing of the Guard at Arlington Cemetery and we even had a surprise visit from comedian Bob Hope.
PB: How about athletic memories?
Hank: I was the receiver on one of the wildest plays in Good Counsel football history. I had returned to the field only a couple of weeks after being hospitalized for four days with bruised kidneys and a concussion, courtesy of our game against DeMatha. This was way before there were concussion protocols. I went into the game late against Gonzaga. On my first play, a pass up the middle was tipped into my hands, and I ran in an 87-yard touchdown, securing an upset come-from-behind victory.
I decided not to play basketball my senior year. I was a point guard who couldn’t dribble or shoot, and I told Coach Bob Bombard that the game had passed me by. I didn’t want to be like the 13th man on a 12-man team. It was a lot of fun to watch though.
The 1972 baseball team was special. I was a senior and Coach Kolar pulled me aside and said, “Hank, you’re not going to start.” Just being part of the team that won the WMAC was a blast.
▲ Deily (front row second from the left) with the 1972 baseball team
PB: You served two full terms on the Board of Directors, 18 years. What motivated you to serve so long, so generously?
Hank: After graduation, I had been away from Good Counsel for a while. I wasn’t on the Board when the school went co-ed in ’88. I got re-engaged as a member of an advisory group of accountants for business manager Tim McNiff (who went on to become superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York). It was in the early 1990s that President Mike Murphy invited me to the Board. It wasn’t a hard decision to serve. It was thrilling to be involved with decisions for the move and, years later, for construction of the Performing Arts Center.
PB: You were on the Board and Chair of the Finance Committee during the time we planned and ultimately moved the school from Wheaton to Olney. Any special memories?
Hank: Getting it done was very complicated and really just short of a miracle. We were trying to figure out how to finance the move. I had met with so many bankers that the last thing I wanted to do was meet with another. Ultimately, though, a connection made on my first day at Good Counsel in 1968 made the difference. John Coan ’72 sat in front of me then. He went on to become an investment banker. John made the introduction that led me to lunch with Kevin Quinn of Wye Capital. Kevin was tremendous. He had confidence in us and with his help, we ended up with a series of bonds through the Maryland Development Authority and offered to the public in $25,000 increments. That $33 million issue was oversubscribed.
When I went to Good Counsel, I thought we had an institutional inferiority complex when comparing ourselves to Prep, Gonzaga, St. John’s. We had a nondescript building. The change in physical structure has had much to say about our school. Our inferiority complex is gone.
PB: You’re receiving this award 50 years after you graduated from GC. Our graduates head into a very different world than you did 50 years ago. Any message to inspire our young men and women?
Hank: Be ready to serve. There is something and someone out there that needs your talents.
And you don’t need to commit to a single path for the rest of your life too early. Keep your mind open. You never know when you might say, “Now, this is for me,” and change horses in midstream.
