Dealing With Rejection

Fred Opie (far left) in a Herk vs. Nassau game at Hofstra University 1983  

It’s that time of the year when college coaches are out traveling around the country watching tournaments and checking out prospective players and deciding who they can and should recruit. Soon some players will start receiving email, mail, and phone calls and invitations to visit campuses. Some highly coveted players entering their sophomore and junior years in high school are starting to feel the pressure. Those not   receiving any "love from coaches" are starting to feel low self-esteem.  My story as former scholarship lacrosse player at Syracuse University and U. S. National Team player may surprise you. I did not receive allot of love my junior or senior year. As senior I might have received two letters from Division III coaches  My prospects improved after attending junior college (JUCO) at Herkimer County Community college and playing for now Hall of Fame Coach Paul Wehrum.  I first tearn All American honors my first year at Herkimer but the honor did not help my case much because are team did not advance to the final four teams in the JUCO championships. That was the stage in the game when coaches came to see players like they now do at summer tournaments and thereafter offered opportunities to the players they believed would contribute their programs. Clay Johnson from my hometown played for Maryland and he was my hero. Thus naturally I wanted to play for Maryland one day. The problem was I recruited Maryland harder than they recruited me a guy with little notoriety. University of Maryland coach Dino Mattessich supposedly sent somone to watch me play against Nassau Community College on the island. Nassau was the top rank team in the nation at the time and players from the program regularly earned scholarships to the top lacrosse programs and schools in the country. I played perhaps my best lacrosse ever. However following  the game Maryland continued show little interest no discussion of scholarship money occurred. I sent inquiries’ to the coaches at Carolina and West Point receiving in turn cordial rejection letters. It was during this time I learned the skill of how to spot a rejection letter without opening the envelope. This skill would later serve me well as I tried to get my first books published from 2000 to 2009. Syracuse went on to beat Maryland in the NCAA quarter finals that year in the Career Dome. Coach Dino Mattessich resigned as the Maryland lacrosse coach shortly thereafter and left coaching to become an athletic director. I don’t believe one of my many phone calls to the Maryland lacrosse office ever made it pass the secretaries who screened calls; nor did any of the coaches return my calls. Now that friends and people who I've coach are college coaches, I better understand both the process and just how many contacts they get about prospective players. Most do the best they can returning calls and emails but they are simply understaffed and overworked. Coaches feel terrible when a great player gets overlooked and players feel slighted when coaches show them no love. I certainly learned over the years how to make myself more attractive as I candidate and much of what I learned happened through lacrosse. Perhaps most importantly, I learned how to separate what I do from who I am and the importance of fit when potential employers or publishers say no to me.

My College Recruiting Series: 

 http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=recruiting

http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=College+Lacrosse+Recruiting+Series

Big 10 vs ACC Lacrosse Championship Game

Head Joe Breschi left celebrating a win 

Today the Big 10's University of Maryland faces off against the ACC's  Univeristy of North Carolina to decide the 2016 NCAA College Lacrosse national champions. Fred Opie interviews UNC Lacrosse Coach Joe Breschi about how he entered the coaching profession and his journey to becoming UNC head coach. The Tar Heels have not won a championship since 1991. [Listen Now 26min 50sec] https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/the-study-table-joe-breschi

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/FrederickDouglassOpie?ref=hl and Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/DrFredDOpie

University Maryland Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=University+of+Maryland

UNC Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=UNC

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.com/

Syracuse Lacrosse Community Mourns the Lost of John Schimoler (1962-2012)

Reunion of the 1983 Syracuse Championship Team at the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four in 2008  Above of #21 Paul Schimoler from top to bottom in 1984 and 1983. (photos courtesy of Derek Maltz)

My former Syracuse University (SU) lacrosse teammate John Schimoler (Class of 1985) died unexpectedly in his sleep at his home in Anne Arundel, Maryland on Sunday August 12, 2012. He had a fever and upset stomach the night before but the cause of death his yet undetermined.  Born in 1962, Schimoler grew up in Glen Head, New York in Nassau County, Long Island. “Schimolls” as his friends and teammates called him, was a 1981 graduate of St. Mary's high school in Manhasset where he was captain of the lacrosse team his senior year. He entered Syracuse as a member of a talented freshman class which included Fred Cambria, Brad Kotz (National Hall of Fame), Frank Lanuto, Derek Maltz, Emmett Printup, and Eric Jeschke. Kotz and Schimoler remained roommates during their four years at SU. Tim Nelson (National Hall of Fame) would transfer into that same class from North Carolina State (NC State) after that ACC school disbanded its lacrosse program following Nelson’s freshmen season. As a freshmen in1982 Nelson led the country in assist. “I'll never forget how nice he was to me when I arrived at Syracuse” says Nelson.  “It wasn't until August of 1982 that I knew I was going to Syracuse and had no idea where I was going to live . . .  the coaches brought me to the Sky Top apartments and I was told that I would be sharing a room with John Schimoler.” He adds, “John had no idea who I was but he unselfishly gave up his privacy to allow me to have a bed in his room and we laughed for the rest of the year!” Nelson says, “That's the type of guy John was, easy going and a friend to all.” A member of the second midfield in his sophomore year Schimoler contributed 12 goals and two assists when SU won its first national championship in 1983. Teammate Derek Maltz (his son is currently a starting SU attackmen), recalls that Schimoler a 6-2 190 pound midfielder “pushed members of the first midfield to be better players during practice” Kotz, recalled that “John’s nickname was Mr. P” because he enjoyed practice as much as games. He was a teammate that kept the team in rolling in laughter and therefore loose and relaxed because of "his ability to find humor in just about everything" says Eric Jeschke who ran on second midfield with Schimoler in 1984. Teammate Christ Burt, who like me arrived at SU in 1983, insist that Schimolls "was one of the funniest men I have ever" known.  I transferred to SU from Herkimer in the fall of 1983 and played two seasons together with John sharing locker rooms, icy cold world pool after practices and games, and lots of meals.  We talked regularly on those bus rides to and from class and away games. We also shared the agony of defeat losing three games between 1984 and 1985: two national championships and one regular season game all against John Hopkins. John's younger brother Paul was a standout goalie at St. Mary’s High School, Cornell, and the US national team. “John was extremely proud of Paul's accomplishments,” says Kotz, and played a role in helping Paul to develop into one of the best goalies of his era. “John would tell me stories about how they spent hours in the basement of their Long Island home with John pounding Paul with shots using tennis balls and small makeshift goal. When Paul made the 90 team that went to Australia, John felt like he made it as well” Today Paul Schimoler is the defense coordinator for the Dartmouth College men’s lacrosse team. A marketing major at SU Schimoler married and settled in Anne Arundel, Maryland becoming a committed and devoted husband to wife Jane. John was also a loving father of daughter Heidi (a college undergrad) and son Gunnar (a high school sophomore).  Schimoler worked in the construction industry in the Baltimore and Washington area. Perhaps only locals can testify to how he helped increase the quality of youth lacrosse in Anne Arundel County. His family, friends, and many teammates have too many great memories and funny stories to ever forget him. “John was an incredible friend, husband, father, and guy who loved the game,” said Kotz. "Every year he drove from Maryland to the Canadian boarder with New York to play on a SU alumni team in the over forty bracket and watch his son Gunner play on a U 15 team in the Lake Placid Lacrosse tournament. SU’s Kyle Fetterly wrote upon learning of Schimoler’s passing that he was “too young to go so soon, [and] God’s Speed [to you] John.” In the words of one of the program’s Hall of Fame Coaches, Roy Simmons Jr., Fetterly said one last time to John, “Head, Heart, and Hustle.” 

From the Schimoler Family: "In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the educational fund established for John's children. Please direct to "Schimoler Family"  c/o Ellen Schimoler Kelly, 82 Lewis Point Road, Fair Haven NJ 07704.

Related Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/23/sports/lacrosse-cornell-goalie-gets-his-shot-at-a-title.html [New York Times Article]

http://www.facebook.com/john.schimoler.9 [photos]

http://www.fanbase.com/John-Schimoler

Remebering The 1983 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament

Hall Famer Brad Katz

In 1983 I played lacrosse at Herkimer County Community College for Hall of Famer Paul Wehrum. I had earned first team Junior College All American the year before and thought that might help me gain the attention of the coaching staff at the University of Maryland where I wanted to continue my lacrosse career. I don’t believe one of my many phone calls to the Maryland lacrosse office ever made it pass the secretaries who screened calls; nor did any of the coaches return my calls. In contrast Coach Roy Simmons Jr. reached out to me. Coach's demonstration of genuine interest in me as person and not just an athlete made positive impression on me. I'll never forget seeing Syracuse beat Maryland in the NCAA quarter finals that year in the Career Dome. I went on to watch every one of the Syracuse playoff games in 1983 including SU's come from behind to win and first National championship. Shortly before the final game Coach Simmons sent me a scholarship offer which I gladly accepted. How the Lord orchestrated my scholarship to Syracuse, the defending national champions in 1983, is still a faith building memory to me.

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The 1983 NCAA Tournament: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-i-will-never-forget-syracuse-win.html

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.co

Clay Johnson’s Impact Down Under Part II

Bob Henrickson, John Detomasso, Larry Quinn, at a pratice in Perth, Australia 1990

According to seven time Australian National Team Midfielder (wow, that’s got be a record!) and two time Adelphi University All American, Gordon Purdie credits allot of what he learned about lacrosse as a youth player from Croton native and University of Maryland All American midfielder Clay Johnson. I saw Clay for the first time in many years at the 1990s World Cup. During his more than twenty years as a player and coach down under, Johnson with his California cool looks, unpretentious, friendly, and caring demeanor, proved instrumental in improving the quality of lacrosse in Australia. I asked Purdie, what made Clay different from the many American lacrosse players who spent time playing and coaching in Australia at the end of their college playing days? He said “Brook Sweet also a similar impact, but Clay was different because he stayed in Australia for the rest of his life, he became one of us [an expatriate] and he got along with so many people, and the players loved him.” Purdie, who was named the best midfielder in the 1994 World Cup, goes on to say, “truly Clay was a legend and our link to American lacrosse. We learned how to play like Americans because of him.” Clay had the same impact on Westchester County lacrosse, when he showed up at game at our local summer league when I first entered high school, everybody knew who he was and took notice, and the same happened in Australia.

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

U. S. National Team: http://www.laxmagazine.com/teamusa/men/index

Integrating the U. S. National Team Tryouts in 89: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/04/integrated-us-national-team-tryout-in.html

My College, Club, and U. S. Team Players and Coaches: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

Meddling Parents and Athletics Part 3

Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Freshmen Team Coach (left) Jeremy Sieverts (University of Maryland Lacrosse alum) being interviewed with Dylan Maltz (right) after the FCA team won the 2010 Dick's National Tournament in Tampa this month. Dylan, son of my SU teammate Derek Maltz, won the tournament MVP award.

Allot of my former teammates, guys I played against, and guys I coached in high school and college are now at the top of the high school and college coaching ranks across the country. Some tell me that the biggest head-ache they have are problematic parents—that come in all forms. Many of these parents are people carrying around unresolved emotional traumas from their childhood. Others are unconsciously reliving their lives through their children. We all have seen this at one time or another and it’s not pretty. Out of the older generation of coaches who have recently retired, truth be told, they got out of the game earlier than planned in part to escape problematic parents, their constant phone calls and emails and denial when confronted about their child’s poor performance and or character on and off the field. “I can't figure out why parents who from our generation, a time that seemed to be without parent medaling seem to feel entitled to question everything the coaches, the professional, do. It's hard to except your child isn't as good as you may think or that they deserve playing time over others the coach, the professional, feels is best,” writes fellow Croton Native Chris Weber, who both still plays (don’t know how you do that man but more power to you and plenty of post game ice!) and coaches lacrosse, Chris I concur with you. Tomorrow I want to share my own parent coach experience back in the 1970s when I played in high school

Delusions of Graduate School Grandeur

We recently relocated to Boston and in the process of cleaning out files I came across my GRE scores when I was applying to graduate programs (see yesterdays post) in 1991. This was when I had completed my master's in history at Shippensburg University and working as an interim dean at Gettysburg College as well as an assistant lacrosse coach at the college. This GRE document revealed an extremely low verbal score (380) yet a list of elite institution I hoped to attend; I had no contact with reality and allot of delusions of graduate school grandeur. As a prof now, I've seen undergrads who I work with make similar mistakes and overestimation of their academic record. The second time I applied to graduate programs I considered both PhD programs in history and theology with hopes of entering full time Christian ministry equipped with a knowledge of African American history and Christian theology. Back then I aspired to be a Christian version of Malcolm X. Like Malcolm I always had a book or two on hand to read and I was constantly consuming National Public Radio keeping up to date on world events (Malcolm read papers but people like me with ADD do allot better with an oratory consumption of the news). My list of graduate schools in the fall of 1991 included Union Theological, Yale Divinity and history programs at Columbia, Princeton, Berkley, Duke, Howard, Maryland, and Syracuse. In reflection, all these graduate programs were grand cannon reaches for my academic record—I just didn’t know it then. During my second time trying to get into PhD programs I had learned the importance of communicating with potential advisors. One does so because they will serve as your advocate and intellectual personal training for the next five to seven years of your life. You need to know early on in the process if there is flow or not between you and a potential advisor; more tomorrow.

Clay Johnson’s Impact Down Under Part I

Me on the wing of a face off against the Australian National Team, Perth 1990

During the 1990 World Cup in Perth, Australia I ran into a lacrosse icon from my home town of Croton-on-Hudson in Westchester County, Clay Johnson who was standout quarterback and midfielder in high school and later for Hall Fame Lacrosse coach Buddy Beardmore at the University of Maryland in the late 1970s. In the 1990 Lacrosse World Cup I also played against then Team Australia midfielder Gordon Purdie who went on to represent his country in several world cup and earned all world honors as well as having a stellar career both as club and professional indoor players in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s. “Clay Johnson was a legend in the Australian lacrosse world,” says Purdie. In an interview he told me, “Clay brought American style lacrosse to Australia” as both a great midfielder and coach. “Before him we mostly played with one hand on the stick; he taught us that the best players play with two hand on the stick” so they are always a threat to score or assist on a goal. “Clay also introduced a number of man up offenses, man down defenses, and all even slide packages on defense that revolutionized lacrosse in Australia,” says Purdie who is now the Head Coach of Adelphi’s Men’s Lacrosse Team. More tomorrow from on Clay Johnson.

U. S. National Team: http://www.laxmagazine.com/teamusa/men/index

My Club and US Team Coaches: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22


Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html


Interesting link on the history of the game down under: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacrosse_in_Australia

Fred Opie interviews Jeremy Sieverts

Photo Courtesy of the Denver Outlaws

Fred Opie talks food and sports with University of Maryland alumni Jeremy Sieverts and the training change that made him a starter and All-Star in Major League Lacrosse. A Maryland native, Sieverts plays for the Denver Outlaws.  His story of how he has risen in the ranks of professional lacrosse is inspiring. [Listen Now 26min 25sec] https://soundcloud.com/thestudytable/the-training-table-jeremy-sieverts

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/FrederickDouglassOpie?ref=hl and Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/DrFredDOpie

Listen to Our Podcasts and More: http://www.fredopie.co

Cortland State the Cradle of Lacrosse Coaches Series [Listen Now] https://soundcloud.com/search?q=Fred%20Opie%20Show%2C%20Cradle%20of%20Coaches

Jeremy Sieverts: http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/jeremy-sieverts-signs-with-under-armour/30459

Hobart's Ed Howard on Signing Autographs for the First Time

At the close of my interview, I asked Ed Howard if he ever experienced any racism on the field “I never experienced anything like that,” he says, but on two occasions (one at Adelphi University on Long Island and the other at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania) white opponents called his teammate and fellow Buffalo native Mac Nelson, nigger. “When I heard that, you know I got in there because” I was ready to fight, “I wanted some,” recalls Howard. It’s interesting to me that these incidents did not happen down south when Hobart traveled to North Carolina and Maryland at the start of the spring semester in the mid to late 1970s. No, the incidents happened up north where historically most of us assume white folks are beyond that stuff. What’s also interesting is a story Ed told me about playing in the North South All Star game held at John Hopkins University in Baltimore his senior year. In contrast with the racist slurs Nelson confronted on Northern college campuses, for the first time in his college lacrosse playing career, two boys asked for Ed’s autograph, “Two white kids,” says, Ed. The request “shocked me” remembers Howard years later. Ed never played post-collegiate lacrosse after leaving Hobart, that’s a shame too. “By the end of his career he was spectacular,” says Marc Van Arsdale, Associate Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach at UVA and a former Hobart ball boy in the 1970s. Coach Van adds, “I often thought that if he had continued playing after college he would have been a good bet to be a USA Team Player.” In 2003, Hobart inducted Ed Howard into its Athletic Hall of Fame. His bio for the event reads in part, “A stifling defenseman, . . . Howard was a four-year letter-winner and a member of the College’s first two NCAA Championship teams (1976-77).” The bio goes on to say, “During his career, the Statesmen posted an impressive 49-8 (.860) record, including a 15-0 mark and the Division II/III championship in 1977.” Ed lived in New Jersey where he worked as a senior executive for Chubb Insurance. 

Ed Howard Obituary:  http://thekimblefuneralhome.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=1511935&fh_id=13488


My Series on Hobart All American Ed Howard: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Ed+Howard

Hempstead's Lacrosse Legacy

Aaron Jones clearing the ball in a game at Yale University, circa 1987

Hempstead, New York, is a predominately African American suburban community with a urban feel to it. It had a successful program under Coach Al Londy which for some unknown reason went defunct but not before sending attackman James Ford onto Rutgers where he earned All American honors. After Londy, Coach Al Hodish jumped started the program in 1975 introducing it to me and a bunch of junior high classmates. That nucleus of players in my community developed a bond with each other and passion for lacrosse. By 1980 we had advanced to high school, added players like Danny Williams (Army), Brian Duncan, Tim Pratt, and John Williams (all three played at Adelphi), and we had become a dominate program used to competing at the highest level of lacrosse without regard to region or resume of our opponents. We played legendary teams from Concord, Massachusetts, Carlisle, Pennsylvania; Ottawa, Canada; Baltimore, Maryland; and throughout Long Island. By the end of my senior year in high school (1983), guys on the team had earned All league, All County, All Long Island, and invitations to play in the National High School North – South All Star game. Many of us went on to play collegiate lacrosse and earn All American honors and invitations to play in the college North South All Star game. For me, Hempstead lacrosse was a springboard to Cornell University and a chance to play for legendary coach and Hall of Famer, Richie Moran. Today when I think back to my roots, I am grateful for the springboard to a division 1 lacrosse program and a prestigious academic atmosphere, however, I am more thankful for the foundation that community provided me. At Cornell things were tremendously different. Socially I, like all my high school teammates, transitioned from a uniform background where we were all black and working class to an elite Ivy League environment with an almost exclusively upper class white student body and faculty, with a few black faculty and some blacks working as staff around campus. Our love for the game was the only tangible commonality between me and a great majority of my white teammates at Cornell. Through it all, Cornell lacrosse was a phenomenal period in my life. On the field we were fortunate to resurrect the winning prowess that lacrosse program had established throughout most of its history; more tomorrow.

Hempstead Lacrosse History: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Hempstead

Cornell Lacrosse Stories: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Cornell

Food and Athletic Performance

Frederick Douglass Opie played lacrosse at Croton Harmon High School in New York's Hudson Valley, Herkimer County Community College in the New York's Mohawk Valley, and at Syracuse University. He played and loss in two NCAA national Championships for SU's orange men in 1984 and 1985 to John Hopkins. He won championships with Long Island and Maryland Lacrosse Clubs and played on the 1990 U. S. National Team which won a world cup in Australia. Opie has served on the Board of Directors of US Lacrosse, he is a member the Metro Lacrosse Board of Directors, coaches youth lacrosse, and share his experiences and insights on the game.  Fred Opie received his Ph.D. in history from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is a Sheila Biddle Ford Foundation Fellow at The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University and a Professor of History and Foodways at Babson College.

Recruiting and High School Pedigree

Me left, covering Yorktown's Rob Hoynes in my senior year of High School. Hoynes would go on to have a great playing career at Army.

My entrance into the Syracuse University (SU) lacrosse community on campus in 1983 happened awkwardly in large part because of my own insecurity as a player void of any noted tradition. The incoming class of 1983 came in with allot of players with loftier credentials then mine. We became acquainted during shoot arounds on the old beat of turf field located next to Manley Field House on south campus peppering each other with questions about our high school programs. My school, Croton Harmon High School in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, only Yorktown players knew about being from the same league. At the time, Croton had only produced Maryland’s Clay Johnson; so what I learned then and understand the better now, is that like many other spaces, the lacrosse world has a rigid hierarchy. For a new unproven recruit, one’s high school opened or closed doors. That has changed with the emergence of club teams and the various All this and that teams. So here I was in 1983 feeling like a marginalized lacrosse player with no creditability until I could prove myself on the field. I was a stepchild and outsider among a group of players from high schools with legendary histories. 

My Syracuse Teammates: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=%22Tom%22

Croton and Yorktown Lacrosse: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/01/be-steve-mabus-in-your-lacrosse-world.html

Clay Johnson: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=Clay+Johnson

Navy's Syd Abernethy Part 1

 Navy vs. Hopkins game circa 1978 

Syd “the squid” Abernethy gained his nickname for his patented head and shoulder fake at the attack position that allowed him to blow by defensemen and score bunches of points during his lacrosse career. A lot of young players today of all stripes know nothing about him. I witnessed his game first hand and I think his story is important for serious fans and students of the game. A tall well-built attackman with powerful legs and blinding speed, Abernethy was born at John’s Hopkins University Hospital in 1958. He grew up in Annapolis, Maryland where he first played middle school lacrosse at the Key school and then later for a Hopkins’ lacrosse alum, Dave Roberts, at Annapolis High School located down the street from the U. S. Naval Academy. At Annapolis High, he excelled both at athletics and academics where he achieved high school lacrosse All-American honors. His brother, who was three years older than him, played as a walk on defensemen at the Naval Academy for Hall of Fame Navy coach Dick Szlasa. Syd received offers to play college ball at West Point, Yale, and Navy and he chose to follow his brother to Navy in the summer of 1977. More on Syd and the role he played as part of Navy’s triple threat offense tomorrow.

Syd Abernathy: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/search?q=syd

Guest Blogger Navy Coach Rick Sowell Parts1: http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/04/rick-sowell-on-how-he-started-playiing.html

Navy Head Coach Rick Sowell on How to “Really Play Part 2:  http://lacrossememoir.blogspot.com/2010/04/rick-sowell-learning-how-to-really-play.html?spref=tw

Navy Coach Rick Sowell: http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-lacros/mtt/sowell_rick00.html

Wining Coach Sowell’s Way: http://www.americanathletemag.com/ArticleView/tabid/156/ArticleID/142/Winning-Beyond-the-Game.aspx

Interview with Coach Sowell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XimZNwcXWcg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqphHerSL8I

Learn Spanish in Three Months, Fat Chance

While coaching at Gettysburg and going to graduate school at Shippensburg University I played for Maryland Lacrosse Club (MLC) back when it existed as a member of the United States Lacrosse Club Association (USLCA). In my last season with MLC the club made it to the championship that year against I believe the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) at Hofstra University. The game was scheduled for the same time I was scheduled to be in Mexico enrolled in a Spanish immersion program. Earning a PhD in history required that I pass foreign language translation exams. So the summer before I returned to Syracuse I started studying Spanish first with a tutor at Gettysburg College. My tutor was one of the librarians in the college library (women named Francis something?) that I got to know while studying for my master’s degree in history. I had an introduction to Spanish book I used that summer then headed to Guadalajara, Mexico for three months Spanish language immersion program (course work plus live with a family). As part of my interim dean contract with Gettysburg College I cut a deal that they would pay for my graduate studies should the following year should I stay on as the dean. Well as the spring semester came to a close, Dean Janet Ramsey called me to her office to inform me that the school would be doing search to for a permanent dean and I would not be considered for the job. I didn’t get offended, and I as part of my departing package the provost of the college agreed to pay for immersion program in Mexico where the college sent its students too. Now was really naive I had convinced myself that after some study with my book and tutor and the three month immersion program I would be close I would be close to fluency—fat chance!

The Gettysburg Years Part 2

Teammates Bob Henrickson (Manhasset, Cornell 2 x USA), John Detomasso, Larry Quinn, at a US National Team practice in Perth, Australia in 1990.

So in August of 1989 I went to Gettysburg College working as a graduate assistant (GA) for the soccer and lacrosse teams and the Intercultural Advancement Center. I enrolled in the MA program in history at Shippensburg University. My under graduate grades were so low that I had to enter the program on probation. I had to teach myself of to use a computer and how to write my papers. I was serious about my work and I loved history and it took only a semester to gain full acceptance into the program. After practice I’d order a Hawaiian pizza without the ham and eat it on the way to class. I joined a great church in metro DC and I commuted 90 each way on Sunday to attend the Sunday worship service. The drive relaxed me and I made lots of new friends. Following services on Sundays in the spring of 1990, I drove from DC up to Baltimore to play for Maryland Lacrosse Club (MLC). By that time, Larry Quinn had completed Law School and moved back to Maryland to practice law. SU Teammate Brad Kotz had been with the time for several years; he and about 4 other teammates had all earned spots on the 1990 US. National team. MLC also included Frank and his younger brother Brian Kelley (BK). BK had recently graduated from UNC fresh off a national championship season. That MLC team also included Aaron Jones and Ricky Sowell. Ricky worked at the time as Dave Urick’s assistant lacrosse coach at George Town. I enjoyed playing club lacrosse that season and working as Gettysburg. I was unmarried and acted like it going where I wanted and eating what I wanted and returning home when I felt like it. That’s something I tell my students all the time, don’t act like you’re married when you’re not and enjoy your single life now.