DePauw University Summer Magazine 2021: Good Sports by DePauw University

DePauw M A G A Z I N E

Summer 2021

IN THIS ISSUE: Sports, medicine and business / The Mourouzis tree / Title IX’s effect on women’s sports / and more

GOOD SPORTS

THE BO(U)LDER QUESTION

By Elissa Harbert

As DePauw University renews its curriculum for a new generation and a changing world, how should the School of Music, which traditionally focused on elite European arts and culture, adapt?

think about this question every day in my work teaching music history and co-chairing the School of Music’s diversity, equity and inclusion working group. At DePauw we profess diversity and inclusion as core values. I see a curriculum that centers Western art music as incompatible with these aims. Until recently, most university music programs in the United States focused nearly exclusively on the classical music canon, what some playfully call the music of dead, white, European men. If we are to dismantle the white superiority and racism baked into this traditional curriculum, we must diversify the music and musicians we teach, going far beyond the classical canon. Students want and need to be fluent with a diverse repertoire and have a deep commitment to cultural competency if they are to become leaders among the next generation of musicians and arts innovators. This spring at DePauw Dialogue, I asked attendees to re-imagine what university music programs would teach if

we made diversity, inclusion and antiracism our highest priorities. I asked them to set aside everything they knew about our School of Music, and start from scratch. “Imagine,” I told them, “a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive school of music that holistically nourishes contemporary students of diverse backgrounds.” The responses were telling: This aspirational curriculum would focus more fully on music of the African diaspora, particularly music rooted in Black American expression, such as jazz, blues, gospel and hip hop. It would delve expansively into musical traditions from around the world, including Asia and Latin America. And it would champion music by women, LGBTQIA+ and Black, indigenous and people of color. Other priorities were emphasizing creativity, improvisation and collaboration rather than re-creation of music from written scores and focusing on music as a social experience that unites communities and reveals cultural values of many times and places. These are

Photo: Brittney Way

Social upheaval is causing universities across the country to rethink their curricula in any number of disciplines. We asked Harbert, an associate professor of music and a musicologist specializing in music of the United States:

the directions many of us in the School of Music have already been heading. Some have been forging this path for many years, and others have embarked more recently. We still have a long way to go. Although we will continue to value and teach classical music, I believe we must renew our curriculum if we wish to model our professed values and attract a new generation of innovative, socially minded musicians to our university. I write from a musical perspective, but this necessary curricular shift also has been taking shape in other departments, and it is vital to the university’s commitment to diversity and inclusion as a whole. Music is among the most ancient, omnipresent and varied activities humans engage in. It’s time for the School of Music to embrace more of what Leonard Bernstein called the “infinite variety of music.”

DePauw

M A G A Z I N E

Summer 2021 / Vol. 84 / Issue 1 depauw.edu/offices/communicationsmarketing/depauw-magazine/ STAFF Mary Dieter University editorial director marydieter@depauw.edu 765-658-4286 Kelly A. Graves Creative director Joel Bottom Staff videographer/photographer Brittney Way Staff photographer Donna Grooms Gold Nuggets editor dgrooms@depauw.edu

IN THIS ISSUE

The Bo(u)lder Question

Letters to the Editor

2 EDITORIAL BOARD: Deedie Dowdle, vice president for communications and marketing; Sarah McAdams, internal communications manager; Leslie Williams Smith ’03, executive director of alumni engagement; Mariel Wilderson, assistant vice president for university communications and marketing; Dawna Sinnett Wilson ’82, interim associate vice president for development and alumni engagement; Wendy Wippich ’04, director of alumni engagement for campus and volunteer programs; Chris Wolfe, social media manager.

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DePauw Digest Book Nook Good Sports

The Mourouzis tree Women’s sports

The triathlon gospel Sports medicine Sports business

Academics first, but sports count too First Person Old Gold

Gold Nuggets

Leaders the World Needs

Photo: Brittney Way

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DEPAUW DIGEST President’s inauguration set President Lori S. White will be inaugurated Oct. 1 as DePauw’s 21st president, with celebrations continuing into the next day. White assumed the presidency July 1, 2020, but her inauguration was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony is scheduled for 2 p.m. that Friday, with a reception to follow. An inaugural picnic, which is open to all, is scheduled for 11 a.m. the next day, Saturday, Oct. 2, followed by men’s and women’s soccer games and a football game. Two invitation-only events also are scheduled for Saturday: a breakfast for members of the Washington C. DePauw Lifetime and Annual societies and, that evening, an inaugural gala and scholarship dinner, which will raise money for the Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Scholarship for Public Service and Community Leadership, at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis.

1920 grad Julian joins the faculty Percy L. Julian, the 1920 DePauw valedictorian and a renowned chemist who was denied a faculty appointment at his alma mater, was posthumously appointed to DePauw’s chemistry faculty in May by the university’s Board of Trustees. After he earned a doctorate degree, Julian was hired by DePauw to be a research fellow, but the administration denied him a tenure-track faculty position. He left DePauw for a corporate career in which he made numerous significant scientific discoveries and was granted more than 130 patents.

Community

Integrity

A GoFundMe page, set up by Nipun Chopra, assistant biology professor, benefits Albertina Brown and Estell Brown, longtime employees of Marvin’s, after their house was heavily damaged by fire. To donate, go to https://gofund.me/a853ea58.

Bill Fenlon, head basketball coach, was named the 2021 Jack Bennett Man of the Year by CollegeInsider. com, the president of which said “the coaching profession needs more guys like Bill Fenlon.” The award represents winning with integrity.

Roy O reno resumes The $30 million renovation of the Roy O. West Library, paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, resumed in June, the result of a decision by two Board of Trustees committees. The project, for which more than $23 million has been raised, will transform the library into a hub for multi-media, group collaboration, research, social interaction, advanced technology resources and individual study.

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Excellence A record 103 student-athletes were inducted into Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society for earning a varsity letter in at least one sport while maintaining a 3.4 or higher cumulative GPA throughout their junior and senior years. Chi Alpha Sigma was founded by the late Nick Mourouzis, DePauw’s former football coach.

Tops Space When Joe Allen ’59, a former astronaut, and his brother David ’61, a physician who worked in public and private health care settings, visited with President Lori White in April, they came bearing gifts, including a photo of Joe taking one of his two space walks. The photo was emblazoned with this message: “A DePauw education lasts at least 60 years! It travels well. And it can take you far beyond the edge of the earth.”

Anne Moelk, second-year head women’s lacrosse coach, was named North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, a first for DePauw’s program.

DePauw’s new VPs Welcome Anne Cunningham (right), our new vice president for development and alumni engagement. Cunningham most recently worked five years at Case School of Engineering, and previously spent eight years at Case Western University’s alumni association. Steven Setchell ’96 held the position until November 2019, when he took a similar post at Whitman College, and Dawna Sinnet Wilson ’82 held it on an interim basis since then. Also joining DePauw is Mary Beth Petrie (left), an Indiana native who will return to become the vice president for enrollment management. Petrie most recently was dean of admissions at Lawrence University.

Perfection Cami Henry ’22 pitched DePauw softball’s first perfect game April 22 against Denison University, and was subsequently named North Coast Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week for the fourth time in the season and eighth time in her career.

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LETTERS

DePauw M A G A Z I N E

Spring 2021

IN THIS ISSUE: Alums tell how they do all sorts of things / DePauw and Greencastle seek more than their common ground / DePauw’s contribution to conquering COVID-19 / and more

The How-To Issue

TO THE EDITOR: Congratulations on a most engaging edition of the DePauw Magazine. It was a great read cover-to-cover and blended both uplifting and thoughtprovoking stories. From the opening on the question about God and the pandemic, to the article about Dr. White’s bookshelf and the many “how to” stories, the issue reinforces the value of our time at DePauw. The issue’s common themes of looking internally for both inspiration and happiness, the need to think critically about the human condition and our collective triumphs and challenges as a society are the core principles received from the DePauw experience. I look forward to future issues of the magazine that are equally thought-provoking. – Scott Russell ’78 The spring issue is over the top! You outdid yourselves. What a great theme and it was delightful to read about town/gown. – Laurie Hamilton ’58

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Spectacular issue … I have read many issues of the DePauw Magazine … This latest is by far the most interesting. (There is) one omission in the article that talks about the town/ gown relationship in Greencastle being tighter than usual. I give ex-president Brian Casey credit for starting this in a big way. – Richard Patterson ’61 It was my honor and privilege to … give a presentation titled “Manda’s Story” to the DePauw community via Zoom from the Bottoms building Feb. 25. My narration detailed the enslavement of my daughter’s brain by her addiction to heroin and her subsequent death from it on March 30, 2002. … So it was with dismay while perusing the DePauw Magazine, spring 2021, I read your article, “How to sell pot (legally).” ... There is a very dark side to marijuana ... To be truly educated about marijuana, I highly recommend this website: learnaboutsam.org. Marijuana is often one of the stepping stones to heroin (as it was for Manda) and other life-threatening drugs. – Mann Spitler III ’70 I usually just scan the DePauw magazine and recycle it. However, this time, I went through the entire magazine and read the stories … I was so impressed with each one of these. I wanted to thank you for your efforts to make this edition one of the best. – Dorothy Taylor ’76

I recently read your article “How to sell pot (legally)” and am writing to express the many concerns and frustrations I have with the article and the university’s PR team. First and foremost, the article reeks of privilege as it celebrates an elite white businessman’s participation in the ongoing racist history around the war on drugs, and especially cannabis. To write an article like this without mentioning that white people make up 80-90% of the $10 billion (and exponentially growing) industry while Black and brown people are disproportionately still criminalized for simply possessing weed despite legalization, is not only irresponsible, but also violent as it participates in and upholds this ongoing racist history around weed. Moreover, if the university’s PR team uses cannabis stories to promote the university, the PR team has a special responsibility in ensuring that weed is decriminalized on campus, that all weed-related student conduct citations are thrown out and that university resources are being poured into the Black and brown communities that have been the most affected by the war on drugs. – Hyeree Ellis ’18 Editor’s note: Similar letters were sent by Rebecca Conley ’17, Emily Fox ’18, Rachel Hanebutt ’15, Mike Littau ’18, Annalysse Mason ’17, Eleanor Price ’17, Ellen Tinder ’17 and Lauren Wigton ’16.

Re. “town-gown”: A wonderful article! Hats off to everyone who has contributed to the renaissance of Greencastle. I attended DePauw from 1963 to 1967, a time when the Greencastle town square was vibrant and thriving, a picture-perfect small town center. I next returned in 1994, delivering one of my sons for his freshman year. Greencastle was depressing, a shadow of its former self centered on a square full of boarded-up buildings. It only got worse during my son’s four years at DePauw. Fast forward to June 2017 when 10 of my ATO pledge brothers and I convened for our 50th reunion. We were impressed with the DePauw campus, its extraordinary growth and beauty. I was perhaps more impressed with the revitalization of Greencastle. We lived in Europe for 13 years, during which I dined in over 30 Michelin Three-Star restaurants in France, Italy and Germany. I found Bridges pizza to be surprisingly worldclass. … Almost Home’s comfort food knocks it for six as well. Our 2017 group has returned every year since and … both are already booked for October. Now, if someone would only bring back the Monon Grill and its wonderful hash browns, eggs and sausage ... – Stephen R.S. Martin ’67 Is there another book coming after CASTE? – Ron Shiffler ’66 Editor’s note: President White will announce the next book for The President’s Book Club in the fall issue.

Editor’s note: The following letter is about “The Bo(ul)der Question” feature about racial justice that appeared in the fall 2020 issue: I wanted to thank the DePauw Magazine for the section on the Bo(u)lder. I also realized that I had some concerns about my section being taken out of context. I was asked to comment on the work of white people supporting the Black Lives Matter protests downtown last summer. Taken out of context, those comments could seem to appreciate the work of white supporters, while ignoring the work of Black activists and organizers. I would like to name that Black people have been fighting to get the United States to recognize that Black lives matter since before this was a country, and also name the courageous and sustained work done in the current movement, before and after it used the name ’Black Lives Matter.’ The surge in white activism supporting the movement is worthy of note, but only in the context of naming the true leaders and designers of the movement – Black activists throughout this country. – Rachel Goldberg, associate professor and director of peace and conflict studies

“The How-To Issue” is outstanding! It shows how people put energy, personality and risks together with an education to achieve success on personal, career and financial levels. The review of the first ever President’s Book Club conversation about “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson was interesting. For a followup book choice, I recommend “Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation.” – Paula Selby Kavanaugh ’70 You did it again! I just finished a cover-to-cover read of DePauw Magazine. Fantastic job! I loved all the stories and the organization … and the beautiful look. – Nancy Miller ’64

This latest issue … touches on the core and depth of thought that was encouraged at DePauw. Although I didn’t participate in Dr. White’s book club, your coverage will make me buy the book. – Rebecca Neal Hancock ’84

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BOOK NOOK Is a recent read occupying your thoughts? Has a book indelibly imprinted your life? We want to hear from you. Send your recommendation to marydieter@depauw.edu.

What We’re Reading By Anna Werkowski ’19 I remember learning about HeLa DNA in my AP biology class during my senior year of high school. The lesson was lauded as an important part of our greater scientific knowledge but was a brief section in our overall studies. I learned about the woman behind the DNA by reading her story in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. Lacks’s story is one of medical ethics, scientific exploration at the expense of citizens, institutional racism, socioeconomic disparities and personal autonomy. While her situation is not unique for the time period (the Tuskegee experiments were in full swing when she died), her legacy is one that has spanned decades, continents and countless scientific discoveries. This year will mark the 70th anniversary of her death. Honor her legacy by reading her story. In some way or another, Henrietta Lacks has helped you. You just don’t know it yet. Werkowski is assistant director of alumni engagement at DePauw.

The President’s Bookshelf By Lori S. White Bob Bottoms’s legacy of leadership as DePauw’s president involved prolific fundraising (including one of the largest liberal arts college fundraising campaigns at the time, growing our endowment significantly), several new buildings (his nickname was “Bob the Builder”) and an unwavering commitment to diversifying our faculty and student body. He writes about his life and years at DePauw in “A Story of Vision and Values, Memoirs of DePauw University’s 18th President.” Students during his presidency will recognize many stories (student protests; the difficult decision to close the School

The Book Nook features notable, professionally published books written by DePauw alumni and faculty. Self-published books will be included in the Gold Nuggets section.

Connie Campbell Berry ’67 “The Art of Betrayal”

Paul Michael Johnson ’04, associate professor of Hispanic studies “Affective Geographies: Cervantes, Emotion, and the Literary Mediterranean”

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Terry Nichols ’76 “The Dreaded Cliff”

Duane Nickell ’80 “Scientific Indiana”

of Nursing; the establishment of the Ubben lecture series, thanks to a gift from Tim and Sharon Ubben; and creation of the Women’s Studies Program with a gift from Janet Prindle, who later provided the gift to establish the Prindle Center for Ethics). As DePauw’s newest president, I appreciated and learned much from Bob’s reflections of his 21 years as DePauw’s president. Three leadership lessons stand out for me. One is the importance of presidential mentorship. In my short time as president, I already have established great relationships with more senior college presidents upon whom I can call for advice and support. Having others to serve as a sounding board is an important component of successful leadership. The second lesson is, as Bob wrote, that “sometimes one has to act out of a sense of justice, no matter the

Kurt Ofer ’78 “Transparent Drawing”

consequences.” Leadership means having a strong moral compass; a leader’s decision should be driven by doing what is just, not what is the least unpopular or least controversial. From time to time I make decisions with which some in our community may not agree. However, if I believe

Doug Riley ’91 and Sheryl Teeguarden Riley ’92 “Dead Dummy: A Duplicate Bridge Club Mystery”

such decisions are aligned with our institutional values, then I need to be brave enough to take a stand on behalf of the university. The third lesson is Bob’s commitment to diversity: “With diversity issues you never arrive – you have to constantly work at it … for me it meant making the DePauw community reflective of the society in which we live.” I hope we can continue Bob’s work and legacy to be a university that welcomes and affirms the rich diversity of all members of our community. I am not sure I will match Bob’s 21 years as president (if so, I will be well past the traditional retirement age for college presidents!) However, I suppose it is never too early for me to start working on my own presidential memoir.

Roland “Tom” Rust ’74 “The Feeling Economy: How Artificial Intelligence Is Creating the Era of Empathy”

Amy Kossack Sorrells ’94 “40 Days of Hope for Healthcare Heroes”

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GOLD WITHIN

d o o G Sports DePauw contributes to sports – and sports contribute to players By Mary Dieter

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or former pro quarterback Steve Young, playing sports was about “competing against yourself. It’s about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” For political columnist George F. Will, a baseball aficionado, “sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.” Whatever the reason – camaraderie or competitiveness, exercise, entertainment or the pursuit of excellence – numerous DePauw students find value in playing on one or more of the university’s 23 Division III sports teams or participating in intramural sports. And, as this issue of DePauw Magazine demonstrates, some go on to work in the sports world. “What I have found in my entire athletic career, both playing and working adjacent to it, is that sports literally has an overwhelming variety of ways that bring out the best in all of us – and that’s us as a society, as a people,” said Michael Akinbola ’09, a physical therapist for the New England Patriots. “In the context of sports, we have people get challenged to be their best selves, to be better than themselves tomorrow than today. … We find a community of people who begin to collaborate and work with each other regardless of their differences. In fact, many times it is celebrating their differences to get the job done.” As an individual freestyler and member of the relay team, Nancy Gritter ’88 broke a lot of records. The Carolina Panthers’ lead internist said, “the value of sports is goal setting. It’s that mentality of 1% better every day. … You’re part of a team to make the whole of the team better.” Tim Cooper ’97, assistant football coach at the University of Indianapolis, said sports

provides an opportunity “to work as a team and get along with others to be productive. … We can collaborate together and we can come up with a game plan (and) go through some adversity and battle back.” For Stevie Baker-Watson, DePauw’s associate vice president for campus wellness and the Theodore Katula director of athletics and recreational sports, sport “allows you on a daily basis to practice skills that you wouldn’t otherwise get to practice, like teamwork, discipline, work ethic, integrity. … “Sport enables us to practice those intangible things. People can teach knowledge, you can learn content, but it’s hard to teach people to be on time if they’ve never been on time, right? They lacked the discipline. It’s hard to teach resiliency, unless you’ve actually had to work through it yourself, to understand what you need to do physically and mentally to rebound from something that you’ve been disappointed on.” Sport, she said, also provides an environment “in which you are rewarded for great things” but must learn “to understand how to accept that with humility and look at it through an unselfish lens of ‘it’s not just me who is the one who did this, but we were able to do this together.’ It is a real-life learning lab for folks.” DePauw has produced many noteworthy alumni who have found careers or avocations in sports. In addition to those profiled herein, they include these alums: Brad Stevens ’99, a hall of fame basketball player, has left coaching the NBA’s Boston Celtics to run the team’s front office. Matt Bolero ’08, who played basketball and golf at DePauw, is the director of scouting for the Milwaukee Bucks and Javair Gillett ’01, a baseball player at DePauw, is the vice president of sport science and performance

for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Brad Brownell ’91, a member of the only DePauw men’s basketball team to play in a national Division III championship game, is the head basketball coach at Clemson University. ESPN recently ranked him No. 46 out of 68 NCAA tournament coaches as players, with a nod to his play in that 1990 game. In football, JaMarcus Shephard ’05, a two-time All-American wide receiver who was inducted into DePauw’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018 for his prowess in football and track, is co-offensive coordinator and receivers’ coach at Purdue University. Tim Hreha ’73 played football for DePauw and went on to spend 50 more years at DePauw, retiring as an assistant football coach and assistant track and field coach. Brad Hauter ’87, DePauw’s soccer goalkeeper for four years, played professional soccer for a decade. He has been DePauw’s head soccer coach since 2008 and is an on-air color analyst for broadcasts of Indy Eleven’s professional soccer matches. Noah Droddy ’13, a standout on DePauw’s cross country team, keeps chasing his dreams and last year became the fastest-ever marathoner out of Indiana. Despite having his right leg amputated below the knee, John Jessup ’17, played lacrosse in high school and competed in the Paratriathlon National Championships in 2017 and 2018. Other alums were not athletes at DePauw but have made sports their profession anyway. They include Jill Frederickson ’92, who was named senior vice president, production and content strategy, at ESPN in January 2020, and David Dietz ’11, the NBA’s social responsibility program director.

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The Mourouzis tree: Deep roots, broad branches, lasting legacy By Mary Dieter

ven 18 years after Nick Mourouzis retired, his death last Sept. 16 was a blow to DePauw University and many of its alumni. The late football coach, who presided over DePauw football for 23 seasons, left an extraordinary legacy of football success: A record of 138-87-4, which made him DePauw’s winningest football coach, and – perhaps more important – an indelible imprint on the game and the individuals who played it at DePauw. Mourouzis’s influence has reached the National Football League, with DePauw alums working as an assistant general manager, an assistant coach and collegiate scouts, and higher education, with alums working as head coaches and assistants. He called this his Tiger den; others in football call a coach’s expansive influence in the game a coaching tree. “The number of people coaching and scouting in college and the NFL?” said Pat Roberts ’95, a college scout for the Minnesota Vikings. “It’s not a mistake. That was because of Coach Mourouzis.” Other than John Carroll University, which boasts a long list of alumni working in the NFL, “I can’t think of anyone else in our division who talks about the Tiger den from the depth and breadth of the way Nick used to talk about,” said Stevie BakerWatson, associate vice president for campus wellness and the Theodore Katula director of athletics and recreational sports. “In every class that played for him, he inspired

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individuals to pursue sport as a career.” Eric Evans ’04 said that, by developing his players and his coaches and by fostering relationships across the coaching profession, Mourouzis “was able to bring opportunities to his coaching tree,” which, for a smaller school, “has got to be one of the best in the country.” For all of Mourouzis’s success in football, his energetic, upbeat approach to life and his respect for and genuine care about others off the field may have influenced his players just as enduringly, several of them said. They tell funny stories and have fond memories; many employ his methods in their own jobs and have allowed his lessons to permeate their personal behavior too. DePauw Magazine talked to 14 former players and one aspirant whose injury caused him to take another role about their relationship with Mourouzis and his effect on their lives. The list of men who played for Mourouzis is long and filled with stars, such as Greg Werner ’89, an All-American tight end and DePauw Hall of Fame member who briefly played for the NFL before becoming an orthodontist, so we narrowed the list to 15 with careers in sports. Five of them told a similar story to illustrate the coach’s enormous pride in DePauw, his unwavering belief that little things matter and his relentless pursuit of perfection. If Mourouzis spotted litter on campus – a paper straw wrapper or a cigarette butt – he’d stoop to pick it up,

or even chase it down as it swirled in the wind, and deposit it in a trash receptacle. “He won all these games (but) all he was worried about was making sure the Lilly Center and DePauw University were as good as they could possibly be in that moment,” Matt MacPherson ’99 said. “It wasn’t somebody else’s job. It was his job to pick up that trash because that meant that DePauw and the football program were going to get better that day. … I learned a lot of stuff from Coach Nick, but that’s probably the one that sticks with me maybe more than any.” To this day, Tim Cooper ’97 “can’t walk by something on the ground, out in the hallway, without picking it up and putting it in and thinking about Coach Nick talking about ‘hey, that’s school pride right there.’” Said Jeff Voris ’90: “All the little detail things that no one thinks matter, he not only thought they matter, he thought they made all the difference. And he’s right. It’s the details in life that make the difference.” Another thread that ran through these interviews? Most of those interviewed used present-tense verbs when they talked about Mourouzis, perhaps unable to grapple with his death and their inability, thanks to COVID-19, to gather en masse to mourn him. And at least four of these former football players, would-be tough guys all, choked up when they talked about their late coach.

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Nick Mourouzis: A primer

JEFF VORIS ’90: Teachable moments

Born April 16, 1937; died Sept. 16, 2020, of complications from COVID-19

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We invite alumni to return to DePauw to celebrate the life and legacy of

Coach Nick Mourouzis. July 16 – 18, 2021

Tree art: Vecteezy

ACCOLADES • Southern Collegiate Athletic Coach of the Year, 2000. • Indiana Collegiate Athletic Coach of the Year, 1990 and 1996. • Distinguished American Award, Indiana chapter of National Football Foundation, 2001. • Miami University Cradle of Coaches, 2002. • Sagamore of the Wabash, 2003. • Indiana Football Hall of Fame, 2004. • DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame, 2006. • DePauw commencement speaker, 2004. • Nick Mourouzis Field dedicated, 2013. • Featured in NPR’s “Songs of Remembrance,” 2021.

Photo: Butler University

ACCOMPLISHMENTS • 138-87-4 record over 23 seasons (1981-2003) at DePauw. • Professor of kinesiology. • Previously assistant coach at Northwestern, Indiana, Ball State and Ohio universities. • Founded Chi Alpha Sigma, the nation’s first collegiate scholarathlete honor society, which has 289 chapters in 42 states. • Quarterback at Miami University; graduated, 1959; master’s degree, Ohio University, 1961; director’s degree, Indiana University, 1971.

ourouzis “was all about enthusiasm and positive mental attitude,” said Jeff Voris, head football coach at Butler University since December 2005. “It wasn’t just practice or the games; it was life for him. “The energy he had for everything he did – it didn’t matter if he was shoveling his walk; it was going to be the best job done on that walk. … There wasn’t a day in the four years I played for him or in the six years I coached for him that he didn’t show up with energy and have great pride in being a DePauw Tiger and great pride in his program and his players.” Voris, whose teammate Rob Boras ’92 said was “probably the most successful football player that Coach Nick had,” was a four-year starting quarterback at DePauw, a two-time honorable mention All-American and a three-time team most valuable player. He was inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. After graduating from DePauw, he was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Illinois and an assistant coach at the University of Texas; Mourouzis helped him get both jobs. Voris returned to DePauw in 1994 to work under Mourouzis. He later spent a season as offensive coordinator and quarterback coach at Edinboro University and then five seasons as head coach at Carroll College before moving to Butler. Mourouzis “always took the game and spun it to life lessons and believed that football was life marked off in 100 yards. He never passed up a teachable moment,” he said. A coach may adapt Mourouzis’s approach “within your personality, within your program, and try to make guys better,” as Voris said he has, “but there’ll never be another Coach Nick.”

A schedule of events can be found at depauw.edu/alumni/go/coachnick/.

ROB BORAS ’92: Influence

Coach Nick with Rob Boras ’92 (left) and Joe Schoen ’01.

JOE SCHOEN ’01: Something you love

e had majored in communication, figuring one’s ability to communicate well would be a useful skill in, say, sales. So the offer that Joe Schoen got for a sales job with Stryker Corp., a medical technologies company, would seem to be a dream come true. A couple of his buddies were already working there, making good money and traveling. “That was all very attractive to me as I was about to end college,” Schoen said, “but I knew something was tugging at me and something just didn’t feel right.” Schoen, who as a wide receiver set a DePauw record in 2000 for 80 catches in his senior season, pushed up against the deadline to accept the offer, even though Stryker had given a two-month window to consider it. He signed the offer, sealed it in an envelope. But he couldn’t bring himself to drop it off at the FedEx office. Instead, he drove to the football combine in Indianapolis to meet with Brandon Beane, his supervisor the previous summer when Schoen interned in the ticket office of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. “I talked to him and I said, ‘I just want to do something. I don’t care what it is. I just want to get my foot in the door with Carolina.’ And you know, a month later I had an interview and it ended up working out.” Well, yeah. Yes, he eschewed a sure thing to take a $10-an-hour scouting assistant job. But he went on to become a regional scout for the Panthers before moving to the Miami Dolphins as a national scout, then assistant director of college scouting and later director of player personnel. In 2017, when Beane became general manager of the Buffalo Bills, his first hire was Schoen, whom he named assistant general manager. He’s among those mentioned when sports writers speculate on the next general manager for various teams. Mourouzis and other mentors told him, Schoen said, that “if you find something that you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. And that kind of stuck with me and they’re right. We work a lot of long hours and it’s hard and we travel, but there’s not a day I wake up and think, ‘Oh, shoot, I gotta get up and go to work today.’”

ob Boras was a Rector scholar and a political science major, and he planned to attend law school after his graduation from DePauw. But Mourouzis influenced Boras to go into coaching, a profession he has practiced for nearly 29 years, these days as tight ends coach for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Boras, a four-year starting center, said he changed his mind after experiencing Mourouzis’s coaching style. “He made you better because of his zest for life,” said Boras, whom Mourouzis hired to be the graduate assistant coach of the offensive line for two years. Boras later coached at three other universities, including Benedictine, where he spent a year as head coach. He moved to the NFL in 2004 when he joined the Chicago Bears. Two years later, when the Bears were in the Super Bowl, Boras got 15 tickets to give to family and friends and Mourouzis was one of only two non-family members whom he invited. (Mourouzis also is the only non-family member whose picture sits on the credenza behind Boras’s desk.) Boras later coached the Jacksonville Jaguars and the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams before heading in 2017 to Buffalo. As a young coach, Boras said, “everything I did, I tried to emulate him. I didn’t even have my own personality.” But he came to realize that “you can’t do (that) in this profession. You have to be yourself.” Still, he finds himself thinking about Mourouzis and recognizing, “when you look in the mirror at yourself late at night before you go to bed and you know your own faults, you want to be better so you can be like Coach.”

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Photo: West Point Academy

ucker Waugh transferred to DePauw for the second semester of his freshman year and had “an awesome experience” as a backup quarterback for three years. His father coached football for 58 years, but their relationship was centered on home life, not the football field, Waugh said, so “I learned probably more from Coach Nick than I did from anyone else.”

As a second-string player, he spent a lot of time with the coaching staff, especially Mourouzis, who taught him “how to treat people, how to coach in every situation, how to handle all the different adversity that may come his way.” The lessons paid off. After coaching

quarterbacks at Otterbein University for his first season after graduation, Waugh returned to DePauw for a season, coaching wide receivers, then moved on to assistant coaching positions at Illinois State University, the U.S. Military Academy and Stanford University before returning to West Point in 2007. These days, he coaches slotbacks. Lessons about adversity likewise paid off for Waugh personally, especially after he was diagnosed in December 2015 with Parkinson’s disease. “I like to think that Parkinson’s has affected me in a good way. A blessing, so to speak,” he said. “I feel like I’m a much better coach. And I care more about people whom I’m coaching than I ever used to before Parkinson’s. Sometimes you’re worried about the next job or winning the game and what’s this going to do for me. And now I really focus on the guys whom I work with every day and just love them and help them as much as I possibly can. I think I’m a better dad, a better husband, just a better person overall because, when you’re diagnosed with an affliction like that, you just keep your eye on the ball and on what’s important and lose sight of what’s not.”

PAT ROBERTS ’95: Father figure

hen he started at DePauw, Pat Roberts majored in French, thinking he’d like to get a high school job teaching the language and coaching football. A couple of higher-level French classes upset the first half of that plan (and fate eventually would disrupt the other half ), but Roberts, a four-year letterwinner as an offensive guard at DePauw, still wanted to coach. Mourouzis – a father figure for Roberts, who was 12 when he lost his dad

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to cancer – hired him as a graduate assistant to coach running backs. After two years, Roberts became a full-time coach; he also taught a physical education class and, when the women’s tennis coach resigned, took on that sport too. He had become interested in strength and conditioning, and he worked with the basketball and soccer teams as well. So it was a natural fit when Roberts, recognizing that it was time to move on,

Photo: Minnesota Vikings

TUCKER WAUGH ’93: Overcoming adversity

went to work as an offensive line coach and the head strength coach for all 18 sports at Millsaps College. Mourouzis helped him get the job. “About two months later, my stuff was still in boxes, and I get a call,” Roberts said. It was the college scouting director for the Chicago Bears, asking Roberts if he’d be interested in a job. Having just arrived at Millsaps, Roberts worried about leaving so quickly. And he knew nothing about scouting, a far cry from coaching, but “how many times do you get the opportunity to go work for the Chicago Bears?” He asked the Bears rep to smooth things over with the Millsaps athletic director, who asked only that the process move quickly. “So I went in on Wednesday; they offered me a job Thursday; I was moving my stuff to Chicago on Friday,” Roberts said. It turns out that Mourouzis had recommended him for the Bears job, which Roberts held seven years before moving to the Cleveland Browns for eight years and then, in June 2013, to the Vikings – all in scouting. “There was nobody like him,” Roberts said, “and he was always giving to me. It always made me want to work harder for him. ... If I ever had a major question or I needed some advice, whether it was football or whether it was kids or whatever, I would call him and I always knew I was going to get the honest truth and probably get a good laugh along the way.”

JOHNATHON STIGALL ’98: The right fit

Photo: New York Jets

e had come to DePauw in a roundabout way, so it was only fitting that Johnathon Stigall likewise took a roundabout way to become an award-winning NFL college scout. Stigall and his teammate Austin Johnson at Talawanda High School in Oxford, Ohio, signed to play football at Columbia University in New York City. “We both went to summer school at Columbia and figured out that country boys didn’t belong in the big city,” Stigall said. Johnson, a 1998 DePauw graduate and an elementary school principal in the Chicago suburbs, transferred to DePauw, where another Talawanda teammate, Tim Cooper ’97, was playing football. “My thought process was I was just going to walk on at Miami (University) and stay home,” Stigall said. But he visited his

friends at DePauw and met Mourouzis, a Miami alumnus, who told him DePauw “‘is the fit for you.’ He sold it to me and that’s why I ended up coming to DePauw.” Mourouzis was “kind of like the dad away from home” and “a true energy-giver,” Stigall said. “He was understanding but he was demanding at the same time. And also caring. I mean, the passion for DePauw for a man who didn’t go to DePauw? It was unbelievable. The man bled black and gold.” Mourouzis was right; it was a good fit. Stigall was a standout running back who was voted allconference and second team Division III All-American after his senior season. He lettered for four years and, more than 20 years after the fact, he still holds DePauw’s record (tied by Jeremiah Marks ’08 in 2005) for the most points scored in a season, 102.

Fast forward to spring semester 1999; having graduated from DePauw the previous December, Stigall was at Baylor University, working as a graduate assistant in strength and conditioning and pursuing his master’s degree. About four months in, history repeated itself. Or Pat Roberts ’95 was paying it forward. Whatever. Roberts, Stigall’s running back coach at DePauw who was then a scout for the Chicago Bears, called to ask: Would Stigall be interested in an NFL scouting job? “I talked to my adviser at Baylor,” he said, “and she said, ‘School will always be here. I would take this because it sounds like it’s your path.’” Indeed. He stayed a year as a scouting assistant with the Bears before becoming a scout for the Miami Dolphins for six years, the Philadelphia Eagles for four, the Cleveland Browns for four and, since June 2014, the New York Jets. The Fritz Pollard Alliance Foundation named him the American Football League’s Scout of the Year in 2018.

e was about to complete a graduate assistantship at Division III DePauw, and Tim Cooper was up for a job at a Division I school. But he was doubting himself. “Do you think I can do this?” he asked Mourouzis. “Without hesitation, he just looked at me and he goes, ‘chief, you’d be great at this. You’d be the hardest worker there.’” That, Cooper said, is an example of “the belief he

helped you instill in yourself.” That, plus Mourouzis’s connection at the University of Rhode Island and his offer to have his wife Marilyn look over Cooper’s cover letter, cinched the deal. It was Mourouzis who first interested Cooper, a linebacker and captain his senior season, in college-level coaching. “I was all set on getting a high school job and coaching high school football,” Cooper said, when one of Mourouzis’s graduate

Photo: University of Indianapolis

TIM COOPER ’97: Belief in yourself

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assistants resigned and the coach offered the spot to Cooper. “I caught the bug,” he said, “and I absolutely fell in love with college coaching.” Two years later, Cooper got the Division I job at Rhode Island and subsequently moved to several other schools, twice working under Jeff Voris ’90: at Carroll College for two years and at Butler University for almost seven. In 2019, Cooper joined the University of Indianapolis as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. “There are not many days that go by that you don’t use some type of Coach Nickism, as I like to say, whether it’s about recruiting, whether it’s about dealing with players, whether it’s about being organized,” he said. Control the controllables. Work hard. Treat people well. Cross at the crosswalk. Keep your elbow in when you swing the golf club. And don’t skip class; if you do, you might as well tear up a $100 bill. Tiger pride. Said Cooper: “He always had a coachable moment in everything.”

ERIC STISSER ’94: Perseverance

t was a tough adjustment for Eric Stisser ’94 to be the third-string quarterback at DePauw. He had been a star in high school. “In hindsight,” he said, “that did a lot for my perseverance.” Mourouzis “made a big impression upon me just as an individual,” teaching him the way to treat people, “the way to attack life” and, after Stisser suffered an injury his junior year, the way to overcome setbacks. As a communications major, Stisser wanted a career in broadcast journalism but ended up teaching and coaching for a year at his high school alma mater. Then he met an executive with the Continental Basketball Association and, for six months, doggedly called and wrote, asking for a job. His perseverance worked. He was hired as the association’s assistant director of business development, then moved after two years to the St. Louis Rams, where he was director of corporate sales and marketing for eight seasons. In 2006, he joined the St. Louis Blues as vice president of corporate partnerships for the professional hockey team and its stadium, the Enterprise Center. Stisser has had the good fortune to be with the Rams when they won the Super Bowl in 2000 and the Blues when they won the Stanley Cup in 2019. He recalled how Mourouzis taught complex offensive plays and said that, to this day, he emulates the coach’s approach when helping colleagues grasp a complicated project: First he talks about the project as a whole, then he divides it into parts and, once they’ve mastered the parts, he returns to discussing the whole. Mourouzis, he said, was “almost a mad scientist, but in a good way, in the sense that he was so smart the way he taught the offense.”

MATT MACPHERSON ’99: PMA, baby

Photo: Northwestern Athletics

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att MacPherson was a defensive star – a two-time first-team allconference linebacker and a four-year letterwinner for DePauw who was named a third-team Football Gazette All-American and DePauw’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1998. And so, when MacPherson was a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Coach Mourouzis assigned him to coach running backs. What? “The more I’m around football,” said

MacPherson, associate head coach in charge of defensive backs at Northwestern University, “the more I realize that a lot of coaches – and Coach Mourouzis was one of these guys, and I’ve worked for other guys like this – don’t really care how much you know about a certain position. They’re more interested in the way you’re going to coach as opposed to what you know. They figure, if you can learn, they can teach you what you need to know at a certain position. … “Coach Nick was a lot more interested in who you were as a person: Could you be

RYAN MCGUFFEY ’01: That hand-on-the-shoulder moment y the time she met Mourouzis at a football recruiting fair, Ryan McGuffey’s mother had already decided DePauw was the right fit for her son, the oldest of three boys being raised by a single mother and the first person in their family to go to college. But she nevertheless was nervous, McGuffey said, as she explained to the coach how, on their visit to campus more than three hours south of their Northwest Indiana home, Ryan liked DePauw and she loved it. “He put his hand on her shoulder and told her that ‘it’s all going to be OK; I’m going to make sure that he’s going to be OK,’” McGuffey said. “My mom still talks about that hand-on-the-shoulder moment, where it’s OK, you felt that connection, that you’re going to drop your son off for the next four years and it’s going to be OK.” For years afterward, whenever McGuffey saw Mourouzis, “there wasn’t a year that would go by, including 2019, … when he didn’t ask about how my mom is doing.” McGuffey was fast enough for DePauw

track coach Kori Stoffregen to recruit him (McGuffey won his first event – the 55-meter dash – but never again won an individual event). In football, he was a three-year starter at wide receiver and an all-conference honorable mention his senior season. But his goal “since the time I was 4” was to go into sports broadcasting, and the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media was “a huge magnet for me.” He announced games on WGRE, did some TV production senior year and, with a name and number provided by then-Pulliam director Dave Bohmer, landed a winter-term internship at Fox Sports Chicago. Without a job upon graduation, he did manual labor on the south side of Chicago until he summoned the gumption to call the same person who previously gave him the internship. “I called him every single day at the same time for 17 days,” McGuffey said. “I left a message – a voicemail – 16 of them. … On the 17th day, he picked up.” McGuffey worked day-to-day for

22 days and was hired full-time shortly thereafter. He had wanted to be an onair personality, but realized that he had more control of the content if he worked behind the scenes. And that is where he has remained, moving up the ranks to senior producer of original content for NBC Sports Chicago. He makes documentaries, for which he has won six regional Emmys and the Jerome Holtzman Award.

a teacher? And could you learn what you needed to know?” Mourouzis “talked about positive mental attitude – ‘PMA, baby; you’ve got to have PMA!’ – and ‘mental is to physical as four is to one,’” MacPherson said. “Otis Elevator: ‘You can’t be Otis Elevator, baby – up and down and up and down.’” When he came to DePauw, MacPherson, having played high school ball for his dad, wanted to be anything but a football coach. “But then I got into microeconomics and I thought, ‘well, I’d

better be a coach,’” he said. So MacPherson stayed at DePauw for that first post-graduation year, then turned to coaching defense: two years as a graduate assistant at Northwestern; a year at Kenyon College; two years at Eastern Michigan University; and then back in 2006 to Northwestern, where he remains. “I’m probably a little rougher around the edges than Coach Nick,” he said. “Probably yell a little bit more than Coach Nick did … I think – at least I hope – I take after Coach Nick as far as caring for people,

being prepared, not being afraid to try new things. … “When I think about Coach Nick and his influence on me, obviously I’m in coaching. He’s part of that; my dad’s part of that. But to me, it’s just more about the influence he had on you as a person, who you should be as a person away from the football field.”

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DAVID BLACKBURN ’04: A presence

Photo: Baltimore Ravens

avid Blackburn’s dreams of a career in professional football turned to determination when the DePauw cornerback read that his former teammate Joe Schoen ’01 had parlayed an internship with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers into a full-time job.

“That’s when I really started actively pursuing that line of work,” said Blackburn, who at DePauw was a fourtime all-conference selection as a defensive

back and captain his senior year. But when graduation arrived with no football job in sight, Blackburn went to work as a financial adviser. During that year, Mourouzis “went out of his way to try to help me,” helping Blackburn land two interviews with the Cleveland Browns. When neither resulted in a job offer, Blackburn contemplated the problem. “You need to go work in football,” he told himself. “You need to go get your experience up and become a little more of a viable candidate.” A different DePauw connection helped him this time. Neil Kazmierczak, who had coached at DePauw throughout Blackburn’s four years, was an assistant coach at Butler University, and he helped Blackburn land a graduate assistant’s job there. A year later, Blackburn was hired by the Baltimore Ravens, spent five years in a pay-your-dues job and was made a collegiate scout for the western United States in 2012. He was promoted to national scout in June 2020 and had the

good fortune to work for the Ravens when they won the Super Bowl in 2013. “I always had the idea I wanted to work on the personnel side of football,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be an NFL player, but the idea of building a team and scouting players and drafting and free agency and all those different types of things, negotiating contracts, were exciting to me.” Like others who played for Mourouzis, Blackburn was touched by the coach’s frequent inquiry – even years after graduation – about Blackburn’s parents and younger sister. “I don’t really think too much about Coach Nick as an actual Xs and Os football coach,” he said. “You think about your time being away from home and you’re learning how to become a man and you’re going through new experiences and he was just somebody who would have your back and would help you along your journey. He continued to be that presence for me long after I graduated. … I wouldn’t be where I’m at without him.”

t’s hard to imagine that a career-ending concussion could be a good thing. But that’s how it turned out for Eric Evans, largely because of Mourouzis. “It was some of the worst days of my life,” Evans said,” but looking back 20 years, it was probably the best thing that ever happened.” During a pre-season scrimmage in his first year at DePauw, Evans sustained a concussion – his sixth, after five in high school – and doctors told him his playing

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days were over. “I got knocked out. I was in the hospital for it,” said Evans, an assistant coach and pass game coordinator/ quarterbacks for Western Michigan University. “And I wanted to be a high school coach and teacher, and Coach Nick knew that. After I got hurt, he said, ‘hey, you’re done playing; you’ve had too many concussions. But we’d like you to join the staff.’ And I did.” In addition to Mourouzis, Evans

Photo: Western Michigan University

ERIC EVANS ’04: The best thing that ever happened

JOE ROGOWSKI ’00: The sports world

Rogowski, a four-year letterwinner, admired Mourouzis, who “stressed character as a No. 1 priority” and was “a very influential person in my career.” But Rogowski, who played receiver

his first year and was switched to safety, ultimately followed in the footsteps of someone else he admired – Rex Call, the head athletic trainer who retired in 2016. Rogowski majored in physical performance/sports medicine at DePauw. He worked several internships, before and after graduation, in several sports. While working at a basketball combine, he told someone with the Orlando Magic that he knew one of the team’s players from high school. That was enough for the guy to listen to his plea: “I’m cheap. I’ll come down. I just want to learn for a year.” He was brought on as an intern and afterward stuck around Florida, substitute teaching to complete his master’s degree in exercise physiology, with an emphasis in cardiac physiology. In 2006 the Magic hired him as a strength and conditioning coach, a position he held six years. He moved to the Houston Rockets for two years before the players’ association recruited him in 2014 for the new position.

“My main priority is to oversee the overall health of our players, to be a sounding board for our players and their agents and to help communicate from the team side to the player and the agent,” he said. “I’m sort of the middleman.” He proposed the cardiac screening program, which holds six events a year around the country for retired players to get extensive testing for free. He also created a network of orthopaedic physicians from outside the NBA to ensure that injured players get second medical opinions. And he was among the creators of the bubble – a locked-down environment at Walt Disney World Resort where players, coaches and staffers from 22 NBA teams completed the COVIDinterrupted season last summer. Rogowski, who lived two months in the bubble, noted the long list of DePauw graduates who populate the sports world. “We may not be the athletes playing in it,” he said, “but behind the scenes, DePauw is very well represented.”

credited Matt Walker ’99, then the wide receivers’ coach, with persuading him that “we need you; you have value.” He started out as “the low man on the totem pole, breaking down film, cutting up tape, organizing, creating stats, all those things, helping out as much as I could,” he said. By his junior year, Evans was coaching the tight ends. By the time he graduated, Evans “had four more years of coaching under my belt than most people do” at his age, possibly

making him a more attractive candidate to future employers. Mourouzis helped him get graduate assistantships at the University of Dayton and Northwestern University. From there, Evans went to the University at Albany for five years; the University of Alabama at Birmingham for a year; back to Dayton for three seasons; and then, in 2017, to Western Michigan. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Coach Nick,” Evans said. “The foundation that I have as a coach

comes from the foundation that Nick built and instilled in me. It really starts with the way that Nick treated people. Nick loved his coaching staff. He loved his players. He loved their families. And he knew how to not only motivate people but how to instill values, how to instill character, work ethic, all those things that are the basis of my coaching. I try to carry that over to my players every single day.”

Photo: National Basketball Players Association

ot a lot of people can say they saved two people’s lives. Joe Rogowski can. As chief medical officer at the National Basketball Players Association, he created a cardiac screening program for retired professional basketball players that identified two retirees with such significant heart problems that they needed transplants.

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oe Cheshire was good. A four-year letterwinner as a wide receiver. Allconference recognition and DePauw’s most valuable player in 1997. Team captain in 1998. But he didn’t see a future in football, and he chose DePauw for its superior academics, expansive alumni network and unusual opportunities – attributes outside of the game. Among the coaches recruiting him, Mourouzis “was the first one who really pushed the school: ‘This is what the school can do for you. This is the academic side of it. This is the networking portion of it. And use football as a tool just to prepare yourself for life.’ That was a huge, huge selling point to me,” Cheshire said. “I just instantly found a connection to him.” What’s more, Cheshire chose DePauw

over Butler University, where his father Jim played football. Mourouzis, he said, “made a huge impression on me. I mean, he’s really the reason I went there.” Late in Cheshire’s senior year, a company recruiter was on campus, and Mourouzis summoned the senior from a workout. “Nick knew I was still searching out what I wanted to do,” Cheshire said. “I went and interviewed with this guy just in shorts and a T-shirt.” He got the job at the Texas landscaping firm, managing the work at a large corporate client’s locations, and for four years it seemed he had correctly predicted his future wasn’t in football. “I loved the job. It was great,” he said. “But there’s just always something missing.” So he called Mourouzis, who

Photo: Butler University

JOE CHESHIRE ’99: Preparation for life

encouraged him to return to Greencastle and try out coaching as a graduate assistant. “I just fell in love with it instantly; just being out there with him and making a difference and seeing kids improve was huge,” Cheshire said. “I was hooked. And I’ve been doing it ever since.” During his two years at DePauw,

MATT WALKER ’99: Motivation

Photo: University of Wisconsin-River Falls

att Walker was, by his own account, a “very mediocre football player,” much better at baseball. And yet he may have spent more time with Mourouzis than virtually anyone outside of family. Growing up in Crawfordsville, the son

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of Dick Walker ’68, who played football and baseball at DePauw, Matt Walker was an early fan of Mourouzis and attended Mourouzis’s summer football camp. Living in Wabash College’s backyard, he was well aware of Wabash’s legendary rivalry with DePauw. Years later, Mourouzis teamed with then-baseball coach Ed Meyer to persuade Walker to come to DePauw to play quarterback and pitch. Harboring dreams of a major league career, Walker didn’t play football his first year. “The one year out of football was devastating,” he said. “I just missed it so much.” So he joined the team for three years and, as a backup quarterback, was under the direct tutelage of Mourouzis, a former quarterback at Miami University.

(Walker’s light did shine brighter in baseball; he broke DePauw’s strikeout record and post-graduation played semi-pro ball in Crawfordsville and amateur baseball in Wisconsin.) For a year after graduation, Walker was a graduate assistant in baseball and, when Meyer fell ill a year later, stepped into Meyer’s roles as head baseball coach and assistant football coach. He continued in those roles after Mourouzis retired in 2003 and, in 2006, after Mourouzis’s successor resigned, Walker was asked to be the head football coach too, “something I couldn’t turn down.” Mourouzis regularly visited Walker’s football practices, an “incredible” turn of events that “helped me in motivating. He

Cheshire was especially impressed with Mourouzis’s work ethic, professionalism, preparation and treatment of players. He took those lessons when he went to Butler, first as a graduate assistant for a year, then as a full-time assistant coach who got fired after a year, along with the entire coaching staff, after the team went 0-11. He stuck around, working month-to-month, and got rehired. These days, as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach under head coach Jeff Voris ’90, “there are a lot of things that either I say verbally – coaching cues – or that I do on a daily basis that are a direct result of being around” Mourouzis. “I don’t think you can emulate him,” he said. “I mean, he’s a one-in-a-billion type person.”

was always the father figure … He’s the way I learned how you’re supposed to conduct your life on campus, whether you’re the head football coach or a general student.” Walker held both head coaching jobs through 2008, then took a year away from coaching before working a year at Butler coaching the tight ends. He became head football coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2011. “In every role, no matter what, he was always the same guy,” Walker said of Mourouzis. “He was always the same person who made everybody in the room always feel cared about. He was the guy who lit up every room. His passion was motivating to you, regardless of the role you were in.”

The namesake: Passion and a memory for names Every once in a while, “there’s the occasional football player who glances up the scoreboard, then sees my name and is like, ‘Aren’t you? Is that you?’” But that, said Nick Harrison Mourouzis ’23, is the extent of any name recognition among his young peers at DePauw. Faculty members, he said, are much more likely to know that the name emblazoned on the scoreboard at Blackstock Stadium, identifying the turf as Nick Mourouzis Field, belongs to his grandfather and namesake, the late football coach Nick Mourouzis. His history professor told him that his grandfather, whom the younger Mourouzis affectionately called “Babou,” was an institution at DePauw. “It’s always great to hear that,” he said. He is too young to remember his grandfather as DePauw’s football coach; the younger Nick wasn’t even three when the elder Mourouzis retired after the 2003 season. But the DePauw rising junior and management fellow remembers “going to a lot of basketball games with him later on. Every single time he walked in the gym, he’d just get mobbed.” He said his grandfather was his coach too, offering advice when Nick played youth football through seventh grade, then focused on soccer and basketball. The elder Mourouzis was pleased that his grandson plays college-level soccer at DePauw and “was happy to come to every game last year.” Last summer, “my dad and I would come up here pretty much every weekend, and we would golf with him,” he said. “I’m not a very good golfer. So I got the last bit of coaching out of him, I like to think.” Younger Nick said he has some things in common with his grandfather. “I’m pretty passionate about things,” he said. “And I know he was, obviously.” In addition, “we really do not forget names and faces. I know he was pretty impressive because I bet he has met a million people.”

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FROM SOCIAL EVENTS TO Women’s sports have evolved since Title IX By Sarah McAdams

It wasn’t so long ago that colleges and universities could discriminate against women by denying them the benefits of competing in sports. Women were too delicate for athletics, the reasoning went. “Many doctors supported the idea” that playing sports would harm a woman’s ability to bear children, said JUDY GEORGE, who came to DePauw in 1965 to teach women’s physical education. Then, 49 years ago last month, on June 23, 1972, Congress passed Title IX, the federal law authored by U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana that prohibited sex discrimination in educational programs that received federal funding, including schools’ athletic teams. Neither attitudes nor the situation changed overnight, but they evolved. George, who as a Miami University student had participated in field hockey and basketball, part of the Women’s Recreation Association, liked the competition and wanted women at DePauw to experience athletics. “I was the only one at the very beginning who felt that way at DePauw,” said George, who became the field hockey club adviser in 1966 and, after field hockey became a varsity-level sport, coached for more than 30 years. “… It kind of blows my mind to think of some of those attitudes when I first came here.”

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1897 DePauw women’s basketball team

VIGOROUS COMPETITION Competitions had been social events rather than sporting events. “When I first came to DePauw, intramurals were a really popular part of women’s sports,” she said, “and there was great support for those few people who were out there competing so their sorority would be considered more popular.” It took “a few years of transition” and collaboration with the Greek system before women saw athletics as a priority, she said. It also took time for women athletes to recognize the rigor it would take for them to compete. “I would say, ’Okay, we’re going to warm up today by running four times around the hockey field.’ They would look at me like, ’you’ve got to be joking.’ They weren’t accustomed to vigor except in sports that had been determined socially acceptable – golf, tennis and swimming.” n

2020 DePauw women’s basketball team

MARY BRETSCHER came to DePauw in 1974 to teach aquatics classes. At the time, DePauw offered four women’s sports teams: field hockey, basketball, volleyball and golf. During her job interview, athletic director Tom Mont suggested that she may someday want to start a women’s swim team. The following year, she did. “I was like many other women involved in athletics during that era,” Bretscher said. “I was not really out to be a trailblazer or a crusader for women’s athletics. I loved my sport and wanted to make it possible for other women to have a similar experience.” Her efforts at DePauw weren’t universally welcomed, even after Title IX became law. Swimmers were fined for missing sorority

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JUDY GEORGE

Photos: Brittney Way

MARY BRETSCHER

events, including ice cream socials. When Bretscher planned for her team to participate in a season-ending regional swim meet scheduled for the same weekend as sorority rush, she gave her swimmers the choice to participate in the meet or stay on campus for rush. Most chose the latter, but a few wanted to swim – until, that is, Bretscher received a call from the dean of women, who told her “in no uncertain terms” that the women did not have an option. “They must,” she recalled the dean saying, “participate in rush.” In time, sororities valued their members who were athletes, supported them by attending games and meets and even provided late plates for athletes who missed dinner, Bretscher said. And DePauw, compared to the large university where she previously worked, treated female athletes decently and fairly, she said. Her swimmers received meals and lodging expenses and uniforms and equipment were provided. George retired in 2000, Bretscher in 2016. Both were troubled that inequities continue to this day, as evidenced recently

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by the disparity between the well-equipped and expansive weight room provided for men in the NCAA basketball tournament last spring compared to the paltry offerings in the women’s weight room. “I really hope Title IX is going to remain as a protection,” George said. “We may think this is the ultimate. But it is not. … Still, there’s a struggle with the attention given to women.” Said Bretscher: “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.” n STEVIE BAKER-WATSON remembers a 2004 forum on gender equity where she was “introduced to a compliance structure related to gender equity and sport that I didn’t realize actually existed.” Good news, right? But then BakerWatson, who wasn’t even alive when Title IX became law, came to realize that not all decisions made in college sports supported gender equity, and no framework existed to make sure that fair decisions were being made. What’s more, she saw talented individuals treated unfairly simply because

there was a louder voice in the room or someone who had different access to the decision-makers. “That’s when I started to say, I need to be in my own ship. I need to be the one who’s charting the course and steering when I need to,” she said. That determination caused her to apply for and become DePauw’s Theodore Katula director of athletics and recreational sports in 2012. She later assumed duties of associate vice president for campus wellness as well. “When I came to DePauw and interviewed, it was clear to me that there was this idea of equality between our men’s sports and our women’s sports,” she said. “And I saw that in terms of how they were funded. If men’s soccer got x dollars, then women’s soccer got x dollars.” But the issue, to her, was “about allowing each gender to fulfill their potential, which means that you might need to treat people differently in order to treat them equally,” Baker-Watson said. “ … That’s how we get to this modern-day place in terms of how we run our athletics program at DePauw. It’s about the experience – the totality of

STEVIE BAKER-WATSON Photo: Michael Eichhorn

SYDNEY KOPP ’20

the gender experience.” As a college student-athlete, she saw differences in sports funding and thought they were because some sports make money and others don’t. “And then I got into the business, and realized it’s not that simple,” she said. “Working in college athletics and trying to guide an athletics program is not about who generates the money. It’s about providing opportunities for everybody who’s engaged in those programs.” n SYDNEY KOPP ’20 grew up playing softball because that’s what her older sister did. But basketball “just became my world and, I mean, obviously, it still is today.” She plays guard for the Eintracht Braunschweig, a German professional women’s team, after an outstanding career at DePauw, where she broke a slew of records and garnered numerous awards for her athletic prowess and academic accomplishments. Though she was named an AllAmerican of the Year and an Academic

All-American, she particularly prizes the 2020 Jostens Trophy award. “It incorporates basketball, academics and community service and encapsulates a whole person,” Kopp said. “The Jostens award recognized me as more than just an athlete. I feel like a lot of times athletes struggle, especially high-caliber athletes, to be seen as more than just the player of the sport they are.” Kopp definitely is more that her athletic ability. At DePauw, she was a political science major and honor scholar. She also was a court-appointed special advocate who represented children in court. “I’d hang out with the kids, talk to them, learn what their needs were and what they were going through,” she said. “Then I’d go to court on their behalf. The judge would ask me to say what their wishes were.” She was accepted to law school during the spring of her senior year but, when her last basketball game ended, she decided she wasn’t ready to leave the sport. She began to look for opportunities to play abroad, and signed a contract to play in Germany. She has loved the experience, despite some of

the complications due to COVID-19, and plans another year with the team. And then she will attend law school, with the goal of becoming a women’s sports lawyer “to help women athletes make a change.” Though Title IX has been the law since long before her birth, Kopp is well aware of pervasive inequalities. When she saw the disparity in the NCAA men’s and women’s weight rooms, “the sad part is that I wasn’t surprised.” Yet she remains hopeful. “It just takes people who have a voice to use it, and now they’re beginning to, which is huge,” she said. Even after she leaves the professional team, she will continue to play basketball, she said. “Basketball has been the constant in my life, no matter what. If I thought I had a bad test, I’d go to the gym and shoot. If I was going through something personally with friends or family, I’d go to the gym and shoot. “It’s just always been there for me, and it has never disappointed me.”

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‘76 GRAD LIVES, PREACHES

By Mary Dieter

Anybody can complete a triathlon, says the woman who ranked sixth in the world in the 2017 sprint World Triathlon Championship. The woman who is a six-time qualifier for the championship. The woman who in 2019 was second in a qualifying event for the Ironman 70.3 world championship. That’s 70.3 miles: 1.2 miles swimming, 56 miles biking and 13.1 miles running. But before you dismiss Sue Engle Reynolds ’76 as a patronizing elite athlete, know this: She was that anybody. She did it, and she has done it more than a dozen times, with more races on the horizon. And when she completed her first triathlon, she was halfway through a six-year journey during which she lost 200 pounds. Reynolds was not overweight nor was she an athlete when she was studying zoology at DePauw in the 1970s. “When I left DePauw and started working, I became a teacher,” she said. “I loved my job, just loved it. And I often would stay up all night, writing lesson plans.” She would eat candy or cookies to stay awake and “the weight just started coming on” until she reached 335 pounds. She was sensitive to societal standards, of course, and dieted, but the diets failed because “I was trying to please someone else’s expectations of me,” she said. In 2010, “nothing extraordinary happened. It was just one day I thought ’this is

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THE TRIATHLON GOSPEL ridiculous. I’ve had enough.’” Reynolds started exercising, but “I think exercising is really boring,” she said. “So, in my mind, I started playing this little game. I would pretend that I’m training for a triathlon. … It gave purpose to the exercise.” Later, when she realized she could accomplish the distances, “curiosity got ahold of me and I wondered if I could actually do all of that.” She was approaching her 60th birthday when she entered an indoor triathlon sponsored by the Indiana University Swim Club in 2013. “I actually dog-paddled part of the swim,” she said, and “in the transition between the swim and the bike, I sat down and ate a sandwich and I brushed my hair

and I just took my time.” She came in last place, but she finished, and “I felt like I had won the Olympics. … Everybody remembers their first finish, because it’s just an amazing feeling of accomplishment.” She has written about her story in “The Athlete Inside: The Transforming Power of Hope, Tenacity, and Faith,” and donates 100% of her profits from it to the USA Triathlon Foundation to help those with physical disabilities and visual impairment participate in sports. In addition to conveying her messages that anyone can do a triathlon and that you can transform your life at any age, Reynolds tells about a spiritual awakening brought on by the rampant kindness and encouragement she has gotten from others. “I finally decided that God was showering me with all this kindness because he was trying to get my

attention,” she said. “… It made me realize that I could be the face of God for others.” Reynolds recently retired from her professional career, during which she worked as a high school counselor (she got a master’s in counseling from IU in 1981) and a school counseling specialist for the Indiana Department of Education. She has handed over the reins of the nonprofit she founded 20 years ago, the American Student Achievement Institute, which helps community leadership teams transform their schools to enable all students, especially lower-income students, to achieve at a high level. Reynolds did not compete in triathlons last year because of COVID-19. But she resumed racing in May, competing in the 65-69 age group. “I’d like to be doing this in my 90s,” she said.

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Former athletes meld interest in sports and medicine to treat others By Mary Dieter

ometimes a single incident can influence a career. That’s what happened for four DePauw University alumni and former athletes who, as medical professionals, practice in the sports world. Treating a single patient led to Nancy Gritter ’88, a kidney doctor, becoming the first female lead internist for a National Football League team. Erin Andrade ’08’s moment came much earlier in life; as a youth she won an award through which she discovered a passion for working with wheelchair athletes and treating people with neurological conditions. Michael Akinbola ’09 and Michael Stuart ’79 both saw medical practitioners in action when they sustained football injuries at DePauw, causing both to go into sports medicine – though along different paths. All four alums say that their own athletic participation also influenced their work in sports. Here are their stories:

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NANCY GRITTER ’88

While Gritter was in medical school, she wanted to bridge her avocation of athletics with her profession, but the path many similarly inclined people take – orthopaedic surgery – “wasn’t for me.” She settled on nephrology and was practicing in Charlotte, North Carolina, when the team physician for the Carolina Panthers NFL team consulted her about a player’s

additional records her relay team set. She is the only DePauw athlete to be named a first-team Academic All-American three times. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; won the Walker Cup; and was awarded a prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship.

kidney condition. She got to know the Panthers’ medical team and was “transported back into that time where you have teammates, people who have athletic goals,” she said. She began assisting the team on other internal medicine matters and, about seven years

Photo: Melissa Melvin-Rodrigues, Carolina Panthers

ven as an undergraduate at DePauw, Nancy Gritter had the makings of success in two worlds – medicine and athletics. She was a four-year AllAmerican freestyle swimmer who was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 in honor of the five individual school records she set and the five

ago, the team primary care physician asked her if she might want to succeed him when he retired five years hence. “I thought that was the right timing, and I said, ‘yeah, I’ll do that,’” she said. As the transition loomed, a new NFL collective bargaining agreement required team physicians – except those grandfathered in, “and it was all grandfathers because there were no females at that time on the medicine side” – to be certified in sports medicine. So, 23 years after graduating from Indiana University School of Medicine, Gritter undertook a two-year fellowship and passed a certifying examination that enabled her in 2018 to become the first woman to be the lead internist of an NFL team. She continues her private practice and teaches medical residents while attending preseason camps to prevent or treat illness and dehydration; all games, home and away; Monday post-game training rooms; and at least one practice a week. Her phone stays on after hours and on weekends. “I missed being part of a team. Physical fitness and wellness can be practiced solo, but there is nothing like being part of a team,” she said. “This position with the Panthers and being a member of the medical team within the team gives that sense of belonging, rewarding and long-lasting relationships and the camaraderie reminiscent of being part of ‘Team DePauw.’”

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MICHAEL AKINBOLA ’09

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Photo: New England Patriots

xcited to be a starter on DePauw’s football team, Michael Akinbola “got a little carried away during my lifting tests” during training camp before his junior year and tore his right pectoralis muscle. That left him a “miserable kid whose identity was getting shaken up because it was all about academics and football.” But the experience also exposed him to the staff physical therapist and athletic trainers, “who were the ones who worked with me day in and day out” over his sixmonth rehabilitation. It wasn’t lost on Akinbola, a Rector and honor scholar, that he saw the surgeon who repaired his muscle only a few times. For a young man choosing between careers in medicine and physical therapy, the difference was stark. “I figured I might like doing the rehab side of things more and work more intimately with the athletes,” he said. He liked “the culture of being a part of a team, the environment of being with the athletes, collaborating with other health care professionals.” And so began the career journey that took Akinbola to the NFL’s New England Patriots in 2016 as a physical therapist and assistant athletic trainer. From DePauw, Akinbola went to the University of Delaware, where he earned a doctorate in physical therapy in 2012. The field had been professionalized in the mid-1990s, when the first doctoratetrained physical therapists were graduated. As Akinbola studied, physical therapy was being used more and more in professional

sports and in 2011 the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement required every team to have at least at least one physical therapist on staff. His residency, in which he worked with athletes in a variety of sports, solidified his desire to work specifically in football. When no job opportunities came along, his friends urged him to try another sport but “I just couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

“I loved the sport and loved what it represented,” he said. “I loved the team mentality, the qualitative aspect of somebody having to try to win at their position, a collective group of these 11 folks on each side of the ball, trying to get something done.” Football injuries also offered the most interesting challenges, he said. “To work in an environment where there are going to be a lot of complex things but there also

are going to be a lot of high-stakes rehab incidents or cases was also attractive.” He volunteered for the Indianapolis Colts in 2014 and then, to make himself a more attractive job candidate, started a master’s degree program in athletic training at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. The university recently had established a clinical relationship with the Patriots, and Akinbola was assigned to the team. The Patriots hired him soon after he graduated and, in his first three years, the

team played in three Super Bowls, winning two of them. “Occasionally I have to sit back and remind myself I am blessed beyond measure,” he said. “I am living my dream in so many different ways.” Recently, the team has been in rebuilding mode, so while “it’s not always banners and Lombardi trophies,” his work has been satisfying in other ways. “It’s rewarding to be able to give back to people, to be able to see your effort and your labor be manifested out on the field

in a way that’s incredibly meaningful in several different, measureable ways, both by the smile on the kid who’s watching their favorite player back doing what they want (or) one of these players’ wives, who knows that their husband’s back doing what they want to do and they earn again and provide for the family. Or the player themselves. … “To see that light go back on, where they realize, ‘oh, I’m back and really I’m even better,’ is very, very rewarding.”

MICHAEL STUART ’79

knee injury ended Michael Stuart’s football career at DePauw before it got started, but it also inspired his professional trajectory. The preseason injury, incurred in Stuart’s first year, required surgery. When he tried to come back his sophomore year, he needed surgery again. While he had hoped to play sports at DePauw – he had played football, baseball and basketball in high school – “my priority was my academics (and) my quest to become a physician.” Stuart, a Rector scholar and zoology major, followed through with that quest, becoming an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, focusing on complex knee problems in his practice at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He spent his residency there and, except for a fellowship in sports medicine in Ontario, has worked there ever since. And that knee? He has had three more surgeries on it over the years, as well as

Michael Stuart with his son Mark.

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surgery on his wrist, shoulder and elbow. “I got the experience firsthand of orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine,” he said. “… I think it makes you a better doctor, a better surgeon, if you’ve had those kind of experiences.” He juggles his medical practice with a long list of professional and volunteer activities, most involving hockey: He is the chief medical officer, overseeing health and safety and medical issues, for USA Hockey, the national governing body for the sport of ice hockey. Through that role, has been the team physician at numerous international competitions, including the World Championships, the World Cup and the Olympic Games. He is a consultant for the National Hockey League Players’ Association, providing second opinions for injured professionals. He is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation’s medical committee and, as such, has participated

ink by link, Erin Andrade has, from her youth through her present, lived a life like a chain forged from interconnected interests and events. As a high school tennis star and an instructor in a community program, she won an award that enabled her to attend a Las Vegas workshop where she learned to coach wheelchair tennis. Then she started a wheelchair tennis program in the Indianapolis area. She had been planning a career in

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in establishing COVID-19 protocols throughout the world and supervising emergency action plans and drug testing at international competitions. Since beginning his residency in 1983, Stuart has volunteered as the team physician for high school football and amateur and high school hockey. “As a resident, I was covering football and hockey and different events. Marathons. Then I became the team physician of the Rochester Mustangs … and I ended up being their team physician for 17 years.” He encourages Mayo residents and fellows to do the same. “It’s a way to give back to the community,” he said. “It’s a way to learn an aspect of medicine or sports medicine that is different from being in the office with X rays and MRI and colleagues, where you have to think on your feet and you have to make a diagnosis and make a clinical decision without a lot of sophisticated imagery or information.”

Hockey, Stuart said, “has really consumed a lot of time and energy, but it’s a passion and I love it very much.” To ensure he spent plenty of time with his family, he used to take his three sons and one daughter to hockey games. “I would take them down in the locker room in between periods and, after the game, they would watch me stitch up facial lacerations.” Those experiences – stitches and all – combined with the kids’ exposure to one or two young hockey players, ages 17 to 20, who lived with the Stuarts for six or eight months of the year – sufficiently influenced the Stuart kids so that all four played hockey on scholarship at Division I schools, and the boys all played professional hockey. “My involvement probably did play a role” in their interest, he said, “but certainly their involvement kept me interested.”

ERIN ANDRADE ’08 research – and chose to attend DePauw in part to participate in the Science Research Fellows Program – but working with wheelchair athletes “got me thinking a little bit more about medicine,” she said. At DePauw, she was a biochemistry major and Spanish minor, a Rector scholar and a two-time All-American tennis player who was ranked with her doubles partner Kayla Smith Treat ’10 as high as fourth in the nation among Division III schools. She also was named an Academic

All-American and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. While participating in a summer research program at Harvard University, she connected with a gastroenterologist and DePauw grad who persuaded her that she could practice medicine and still conduct research. So Andrade headed to medical school and, as she considered the area in which she would specialize, “I was thinking it would be so cool if, down the road, I could use my knowledge of wheelchair tennis

and somehow apply that as a physician, either by providing care, doing research or helping those athletes.” She did just that, becoming a neurological rehabilitation physiatrist, who works to improve the lives of patients with spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, amputation, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy or other debilitating conditions. She is the vice chief of staff of a health care system that includes

two hospitals, and medical director of its inpatient rehabilitation facility in Wenatchee, Washington. As such, Andrade treats patients immediately after their injury and oversees their physical and occupational therapies during two- or three-week stays. She also practices in an outpatient setting. She continues to coach wheelchair tennis; instructs Nordic skiing for children and adults with disabilities; and provides

guidance to the U.S. Tennis Association about medical care for able-bodied athletes and athletes who use wheelchairs. The latter involvement led to an invitation to be a neutral physician at a qualifying round for the Billie Jean King Cup, the premier international team competition in women’s tennis, that was held in February 2020 in Everett, Washington. And she travels internationally to evaluate wheelchair tennis athletes’ mobility, strength and coordination and classify them for the Paralympics and the competitive circuit. “I manage the care of people who have had really devastating things happen to them and some of whom do not have a treatment or a cure or something to improve their condition,” she said. “So I have to do everything I can to make them as functional as they can be with whatever function they do have. “That can definitely be really tough. But it’s rejuvenating when I’m able to get out and go to these events and see people out doing what they most enjoy doing and knowing that you can have a high quality of life regardless of what ultimately happens to you in life.”

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Four alums minding their business in sports By Mary Dieter

For all their entertainment value, sports can be big business. Austin Brown ’07, a sports agent who has helped negotiate more than $2.6 billion in free-agent deals, can tell you that. So can Bill Rasmussen ’54, founder of ESPN. Sports also can be a labor of love. So says Dianna Minnick Boyce ’88, an uber-volunteer who occasionally gets paid for her work. Or, as in the case of Watchen Nyanue ’05, a marketer for the WNBA team Chicago Sky, they can grow on you. Here are the stories of these four DePauw alumni, who made sports their business:

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or winter term in January 1987, DePauw junior Dianna Minnick Boyce worked for the committee organizing the Pan Am Games, which would take place in Indianapolis the following August. As it turned out, “my first dipping-mytoe-into-the-water for an event like that just opened a can of worms that has been ongoing since then.” Not only did her winter-term job let her see if such work appealed to her, but it began a long-time connection with leaders of the Indianapolis Sports Corp. Since then, she has been a frequent volunteer with the civic organization, which seeks to advance Indianapolis through sports, and “then a few times in my life I’ve been able to combine the passion that I enjoy as a volunteer with my daytime job.” While working in the mayor’s office under Stephen Goldsmith, Boyce worked on the organizing committees for the 1997 and 2000 NCAA Final Four events. Several years later – during which Boyce continued volunteering – Indianapolis was

Boyce (right) at The Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge during NBA All-Star 2020 in Chicago.

DIANNA MINNICK BOYCE ’88 chosen to host the 2012 Super Bowl. “Of course I was intrigued,” she said. “I said all along, I am all in to serve in any volunteer capacity you want.” In early 2010, the organizing committee was having trouble finding a communications director, and its head leaned on Boyce. She agreed to take the job if she was given flexibility for a while, “with a full understanding that in the last six months I am in the office, sleeping there, whatever it takes.” In 2019, she was working as senior director of corporate communication for

The Finish Line Inc. and volunteering for the 2021 NBA All-Star game when the corporation organizing it tapped her to be its vice president. The game, set to take place in February, was cancelled last November because of the COVID-19 pandemic, then moved to Atlanta to minimize travel for its production crews. Indianapolis was awarded the 2024 game, and Boyce will again be involved in organizing it. Meanwhile, Pacers Sports and Entertainment named her its associate vice president for digital, and she worked

on the 2021 March Madness events as part of her day job and as a volunteer. “I’m not an athlete; I’m a wannabe athlete,” she said. “I was never good on the court or on the field, but I was always good on the sidelines or behind the scenes (doing) the elements that help bring off those events, but not necessarily the ones in the spotlight. I didn’t need the spotlight.”

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ost people who work in sports, Watchen Nyanue will tell you, “have wanted to work in sports their entire careers. They’ve always worked toward that. “I’m not that person.” As a marketing consultant to an organization that partnered with the Chicago Sky, she had gotten to know some high-ranking folks with the Windy City’s Women’s National Basketball Association team, and they had come to know her skills. So when two business-side employees left

right before the 2017 season began, the honchos asked her to help out for a season. “I literally thought I would help them get through the season and then I would be back to doing whatever it was that I wanted to do,” she said. “ … Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to have a deep understanding of the game. I had to have a deep understanding of the business, which I had.” She came to realize that “women’s sports are amazing” but that marketing a WNBA team is tough. For one thing, “most people have opinions about women’s sports but they haven’t actually sampled the product,” she said. “ … Once somebody has been to a WNBA game, it’s hard to kick them out of the arena.” For another, shortly after the season ends, WNBA players scatter to play in other countries, making it impossible to tap them to do interviews and participate in marketing events. Still, the work is invigorating, Nyanue said. “I am someone who gets bored very easily and so, if I don’t have something that is continuously challenging me, I

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Photo: Conrad Piccirillo

WATCHEN NYANUE ’05

check out.” The WNBA, founded in 1996, is still in its infancy, she said, so “there are so many problems to solve or challenges to solve, and that keeps the job interesting. “I’ve worked for a bunch of other well-known companies, but they’re all well-oiled machines … whereas with this, to me, it’s an opportunity to be part of the foundation of something.” Nyanue’s path has been anything but ordinary. She was eight when her family emigrated from war-torn Liberia. Her parents “knew nothing about navigating America and so, if I was going to be successful, it would take the intellectual capital and the resources of other people

who were not my blood,” she said. She came to DePauw via the Posse Foundation and, “if that’s not an example of mentorship and reaching back, I don’t know what else is.” She majored in communications, secretly hoping to be the next Oprah Winfrey but “too chicken to say it out loud.” She interned on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” where she met Bill Hayes ’57 (“he was so nice”) and worked at Comedy Central and Yahoo! “I remember being like, man, ‘did I go to DePauw to become someone’s assistant? I’ve got a degree! Do they know that the liberal arts prepared me for x, y and z?’” she said. “Now looking back, if I didn’t

BILL RASMUSSEN ’54

o this day, when he speaks on a campus, Bill Rasmussen tells young people, “don’t ever, ever be afraid to ask questions. You should always be curious. Never be complacent; always ask questions.” That’s one of the lessons he learned over his years of taking risks and acting on ideas, even when others discouraged him. The other lesson: Be willing to pitch an idea. “They’re not going to kill you; we know that. They’re probably not going to swing at you. They’re probably going to be really gentlemanly and polite about it.” He used those ideas early in his career, when he was working in advertising at Westinghouse Electric Corp. in New Jersey in a job his father-in-law helped him land. After observing that materials often arrived too late for advertising campaigns or meetings, Rasmussen

pitched the idea that he’d quit to start a company and guarantee shipments would be on their way within 24 hours. The plan was a success, but the broadcast bug kept nipping. Even before coming to DePauw in the early 1950s, he envisioned a career in sports – either playing baseball or broadcasting. Having served in the Air Force shortly after his 1954 graduation, he was too old, he said, to try to progress through the minor leagues. So broadcasting it was. He left the shipping company after three years and landed a series of jobs in

broadcasting, often having to cajole the boss into devoting more time to sports – or even allowing Rasmussen, hired as a weatherman at one station, to talk about them at all. In 1974, he went to work as communications director for the Boston Whalers hockey team but was fired four years later – along with everybody else who could be blamed for their miserable season. Without a job, he got to thinking: If he could persuade owners to let their games be broadcast live on radio or TV, he could create excitement and drive people to want

have those first few years, I would be in a world of trouble in this leadership role.” Nyanue passes along such advice through her company, I Choose the Ladder, which creates professional development workshops and events for clients’ employees. Until recently, she was the Sky’s senior vice president for marketing partnerships, but she stepped back to become head of strategy, which requires less of a time commitment. She also is studying for an MBA at the University of Chicago. “There is no career experience that is wasted,” she said. “You don’t know how you’ll end up using the things you learn in class or the things you learn as an assistant.”

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to go to games. He considered a 30-minute sports show but, before long and with involvement of his son Scott ’86, thought much bigger: a 24-hour sports station. One by one, he won over team owners, and ESPN went on the air Sept. 7, 1979. Rasmussen and ESPN have had some family feuds over the years – he was forced

out early on – but they’ve made up, so much so that ESPN invited him to pump up employees in several cities during celebrations of its 40th anniversary. At 88, “I hope we’re doing the same kind of discussion 10 years from now, on my 100th birthday or ESPN’s 50th anniversary,” he said. Meanwhile, having been diagnosed

with Parkinson’s disease in 2014, he is working with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research to raise awareness of the disease and encourage people who think they may have it to seek help. “Go ahead and ask,” Rasmussen said. “It’s OK.”

AUSTIN BROWN ’07

e came to DePauw with a plan to follow his father into finance. He briefly worked at J.P. Morgan as an investment banking analyst and, during law school at Washington and Lee University, handled investment management and mergers and acquisitions for a New York law firm. But Austin Brown “always found myself getting drawn back to basketball in some way, shape or form since it has given me so much of my life.” Brown had been a standout basketball player at DePauw, a four-year letter winner remembered mostly for his midcourt, buzzer-beating shot that won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference championship in 2006, was made ESPN’s “Play of the Day” and merited his appearance on SportsCenter. As a senior, he was named to the all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference’s first team. In the summer before he entered law school, Brown, who had majored in communications and minored in economics at DePauw, interned at a sports agency “and that’s where I really had sort

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1,000 WORDS’ WORTH of a lightbulb moment where I was like, wow, I think this is really something I could do and be really good at.” He was right. After getting his law degree in 2013, Brown joined CAA Sports, where his team has negotiated more than $2.6 billion in deals for free agents and represented 28 first-round picks, including Zion Williamson, the No. 1 pick in 2019. He has been included on Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list and Sports Business Journal’s “Forty under 40.” Brown played a variety of sports as he was growing up, but “basketball is truly a team sport and, at least for me, I intersected with so many different people from different walks of life, different backgrounds, different beliefs, and that really, really helped me.” The experience, he said, “directly translates to what I do today.” Before the pandemic grounded him, he traveled 20 to 25 days a month to watch his clients play, keep tabs on their progress and make sure “that they’re getting everything they need in their career and they feel like they’re on the trajectory they want to be on.” Brown said he tries “to be the agent I would want my agent to be if I were a player. … I have a profound respect and I feel a deep sense of responsibility for my clients, making sure I’m always honest with them. I’m working as hard as I possibly can for them to get them everything they could possibly need, so they can take care of their families long after their playing days are over. It’s in my DNA. It’s what makes being an agent so rewarding. It’s tough, but it’s rewarding to know that you’re playing a piece in helping somebody achieve a dream that very few get to achieve.”

Students in Cindy O’Dell’s Photo I class used “Jump,” a 1959 book by photographer Philippe Halsman, as inspiration for their assignment to capture a subject mid-air. Here’s a sample: Top by Jiayi Wang ’24; middle by Khoa Cu Dang Cao ’23; bottom by Michelle Torres ’24. O’Dell is the A. Reid Winsey professor of art and art history.

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’94 alum: Academics first, but sports count too By Sarah McAdams

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Angie Andrews Torain ’94 came to DePauw to play basketball, having been a standout player in high school. But after her first year, she decided to focus solely on academics. “I think I was a better high school player than college,” she said. “College is definitely more elite, more challenging. I was trying to adjust to a rigorous academic life at DePauw and something had to give.” The sociology major’s decision in favor of academics paid off; three years after graduating from DePauw, she earned a law degree from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Throughout her subsequent career, academics and athletics have converged. On July 1, she became director of athletics and recreation at the University of Chicago after spending more than four years at the University of Notre Dame, most recently as senior associate athletics director for culture, diversity and engagement. She previously worked as associate commissioner of the Summit League, a Division I conference of Midwestern schools, and deputy athletic director at the University of the Incarnate Word. Torain was drawn to sports administration because of its connection to student-athletes. “I know what it feels like to go somewhere and maybe not feel like you fit in,” she said. “And sports has been the way to get through and experience the things in life that you couldn’t experience on your own because of socioeconomics, or whatever the case may be. … “Everyone needs someone to champion them, because college is hard, but it’s rewarding, too.” While most of Torain’s Notre Dame job was to ensure the university complies with NCAA and conference rules, she also

oversaw diversity and inclusion work, in which she provided programming about biases and safe conversations and urged student-athletes and coaches who wish to make a difference to focus on the impact of their actions. “From the diversity and inclusion standpoint after everything with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, our student athletes were at a tipping point, and wanted to be more active in the community,” she said. “… My role is not to say, ’No, you can’t do it,’ but let’s talk about the impact. Is there anybody from campus that can help us with this? Is there another team that can help us? How do we get into the community?’” Torain said the process was heartbreaking but also rewarding as she witnessed the Notre Dame campus focusing on diversity and change. She foresees positive changes for women in the sports arena, though they have been slow in coming despite the requirements of Title IX. “It’s 2021 and we still can’t get that right,” she said. “It’s saddening. You see it across the country.” “Hopefully our children will be smarter and get into those positions where they can actually make the change where we couldn’t,” she said. The next generation – including her three daughters, ages 25, 20 and 14 – “is a lot bolder. They’ve found their voice a lot quicker than I did.” Her daughters all are volleyball players. The oldest played in Division I; her middle daughter, Division II; and the youngest hopes to play in high school. Torain said she has told them, “you can play as many sports as you want.” But she also passed along a lesson she learned after her first year at DePauw: “Let’s make sure academics are first and then everything else will follow.”

FIRST PERSON

By Micah Ling ’03

hen I arrived on campus at DePauw in August 1999, it was the first time I had been in a place where I knew no one. My only sibling is my twin brother, and for my entire life to that point, I had at least had him. But when we decided to go to different liberal arts schools – a state away from each other – it hadn’t occurred to me how lonely being totally alone would feel. At that age, I could be a social person, but my default was for sure introverted. I could keep my head down and do my own thing pretty indefinitely. So that’s what I did. I ate alone; I studied alone; I thought about transferring to a school closer to my home in Columbus, Ohio. I liked DePauw – my classes and professors – but I hadn’t found my place. In my free time, I’d often run the gravel roads around Greencastle – through covered bridges and next to horse farms. I didn’t pay attention to pace or distance. I didn’t have a GPS watch or a cell phone. I just ran. One evening, I was leaving the Hub

with my dinner to go, as had become my routine. A friendly-looking man with a huge smile stopped me and said hello. I had seen him around campus. He introduced himself as Kori Stoffregen, the cross-country coach. He said he had seen me running loops around town. He told me I should come to practice the next day – meet at the track at 4 p.m. I told him I had never run on a team or even raced before. Kori assured me I’d be just fine. So the next day, I showed up at the track, more nervous than I’d ever been. Kori introduced me to the team like we were old friends. Some people were stretching and warming up. Some were getting taped up by a trainer. Everyone was friendly and no one asked how fast I was or why I was there. After that first day, I was in. I was a cross-country runner. Most afternoons at practice we ran the winding country roads I had run alone. We ducked under a rusted barbed wire fence to get to the closed-down rock quarry that had miles of shade-covered paths. The pace was usually easy. Some days I led. On hot

afternoons Kori met us with coolers of ice water out on the dusty roads. I liked training a lot more than racing but, by the third meet of the season, I was holding my own. Not placing impressively well, but keeping up. And then, in the last kilometer, I heard Kori yell my name, “Ling! Pass two more. Two more!” I dug in and passed two more, realizing that I didn’t really understand how the point system worked. But also realizing that I was crucial to the team. I made a difference. Running became part of my identity – it made me better at my whole life. I wondered for a long time why Kori asked me to join the team, what he saw in my stride or my ability to run long distances that would help his team. I finally realized that it wasn’t about him or winning at all; it was about me. He didn’t see someone who could win races; he just saw a lonely kid. Years and years later, I still think all the time about that act. He gave me the opportunity to be part of something, and to know that I mattered.

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OLD GOLD

Ford Frick, Class of 1915, baseball czar By David Bohmer ’69

hen Ford Frick, a 1915 graduate of DePauw University, was announced as the new president of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs in 1934, and again when he was named commissioner of baseball in 1951, newspapers developed and perpetuated two myths about him. The first referred to him as an Indiana farm boy. Actually, he was born and raised in two small, adjacent, northeast Hoosier towns, Wawaka and Brimfield, where his father was a railroad worker. The second myth was that he had been a baseball standout at DePauw. In fact, he tried out for three seasons, never making the varsity squad. Obviously, one didn’t need to be a college baseball star to have a significant impact on the professional sport. His failure to make the baseball team was not reflective of his overall DePauw experience. He was a solid “B” student, majoring in English. Along with his studies, he was a campus leader. He was an editor, though never editor-in-chief, of The DePauw Daily, the forerunner of today’s campus newspaper, from sophomore year on. As a junior, he was editor of The Mirage, the school yearbook. During his two senior-year terms, he was recruitment chair and then president of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. During his last two years, he also served on two important university committees, one whose mission

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was to improve varsity athletics (organized after the Tigers football team lost to Wabash College 62-0) and the other to plan the graduation ceremony for the Class of 1915. In many ways, those activities would shape his later careers in journalism and management. Growing up by a busy railroad and interested in Western Native peoples, Frick decided to head west to Colorado after graduation. He taught journalism in high school and college during his seven years there, mostly in Colorado Springs, and also worked for the local newspaper. He met his wife, Eleanor Cowling, during his first year and their only child, Fred, was born there. In 1921, Frick reported on the great flood in Pueblo, gaining a perspective from flying over the area but not landing (those who did were unable to take off for days) that enabled him to get an early scoop on the story. It led to his being hired in 1922 by The New York American, a Hearst paper. A year later, he was switched to the Evening Journal, where he covered the Yankees and became Babe Ruth’s primary ghostwriter. He began doing radio broadcasts for Hearst-owned WOR in 1930, announcing both the New York baseball clubs and college football games, along with hosting the first radio show devoted to sports. He was one of the true

radio pioneers, which is why the Baseball Hall of Fame award given yearly to a baseball broadcaster is named after Frick. His fame in New York and nationally made him a logical choice to direct the National League sports information bureau, a job he began in February 1934. In November, he was named NL president, a post in which he remained 17 years. Had he never been named commissioner, he would still have left a rich baseball legacy. During the Depression and World War II, he helped save four of the eight NL clubs from bankruptcy. He was the driving force in baseball behind the creation of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, shaping much of its initial operation and selection process. When the National War Office considered stopping baseball’s season in January 1945, Frick persuaded its leaders of the sport’s benefits, thus saving the year. Finally, he had a major role in Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Frick’s impact on baseball continued during his two seven-year terms as commissioner, which ended in late 1965

Previous page: Dave Bohmer. This page: Ford Frick (l) and his son Fred ’38

when he was 71. For more than 50 years, baseball had been played in the same 10 cities until Frick implemented a reform that made it easier for a club to move. Cities such as Baltimore, Los Angeles and San Francisco gained major league ball teams as a result. His behind-thescenes efforts facilitated the game adding two new clubs in each league in the early 1960s and laid the groundwork for adding four more by the end of that decade.

As a result, cities such as Houston and San Diego experienced major league ball. During his tenure, many minor league clubs and leagues suffered severe financial difficulties. His efforts helped to consolidate and stabilize their operations, which was essential for developing players. Finally, his diligence achieved agreement on the creation of the player draft system that is still used today. Its establishment brought parity between the large and

small market clubs, making for a more competitive game. During his tenure in baseball, Frick remained committed to DePauw. He sent son Fred there, even visiting him in May 1935 before heading to Cincinnati for the first night game in the majors. He was responsible for Fred’s close friend, Emil “Buzzie” Bavasi ’38, attending DePauw. Bavasi would later have a distinguished career as an executive with the Dodgers and two other clubs. Frick also served as a trustee for more than 20 years and made numerous campus visits, including one as the keynote speaker at the 100th anniversary of Phi Kappa Psi on the campus in 1965, 50 years after his graduation. His impact on professional baseball was significant, clearly shaped by his DePauw experience, even though he never played a game for the varsity team. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1970, the only DePauw alum in any of the professional sports halls of fame, and into DePauw’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989. Bohmer was director of the Eugene Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media from 1994 until his retirement in 2014. He taught a DePauw course on baseball history, has published three articles about Frick and baseball and is writing a book about Frick’s impact on baseball.

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GIVE GO

depauw.edu/give

depauw.edu/ alumni/go UPCOMING EVENTS held on campus and in cities across the country are a great opportunity to stay connected with DePauw. VIRTUAL ALUMNI COLLEGE webinar series provides alumni with lifelong learning opportunities. ALUMNI TRAVEL PROGRAM offers a wide array of opportunities to travel the world together. REGIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATIONS connects you with fellow alumni in your area.

GIVE ANNUALLY to make a DePauw education possible for all students. Your annual gift of any amount affirms your commitment to the future of DePauw. MONTHLY GIVING increases the impact of your giving. LEADERSHIP GIVING is essential to advancing DePauw’s mission. Donors who give at leadership levels are honored with membership in the Washington C. DePauw Annual Society.

Get more details about INAUGURATION AND OLD GOLD WEEKEND, happening Oct. 1-2, 2021, at depauw.edu/alumni.

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HELP depauw.edu/ alumni/help RECOMMEND A STUDENT at depauw.edu/ recommend. HIRE DEPAUW STUDENTS and work with the Kathryn F. Hubbard Center for Student Engagement to connect with students to provide professional experiences and insights. ASSIST THE OFFICE OF ADMISSION by hosting a summer send-off party or representing DePauw at local college fairs. VOLUNTEER FOR CLASSES AND REUNIONS to maintain connections among alumni and plan successful reunions. BECOME AN ALUMNI MENTOR by being matched to students by industry. Email erinduffy@depauw.edu for more info.

CONNECT depauw.edu/ alumni/connect ONLINE DIRECTORY helps DePauw alumni find and connect with classmates, maintain contact information, share experiences, network and register for events. GOLD NUGGETS are published in DePauw Magazine. Submit items to dgrooms@depauw.edu. ALUMNI NEWS is a great way to learn the latest DePauw news, read the latest issue of The DePauw or tune in to WGRE.

GOLD NUGGETS GOLD NUGGETS publishes submitted updates about DePauw alumni’s careers, milestones, activities and whereabouts. Send your news to DePauw Magazine, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, IN 46135-0037 or dgrooms@depauw.edu. Faxes may be sent to 765-658-4625. Space considerations limit our ability to publish photos. Group photos will be considered if you include each person’s name (first, maiden and last), year of graduation and information about the gathering or wedding. Digital photos must be high-quality jpegs of at least 300 dpi. Submitted hard copies cannot be returned. Questions? Contact Mary Dieter at marydieter@depauw.edu or 765-658-4286.

1955 Robert H. Giles was honored by the National Writers Series of Traverse City with its Bill Montgomery Literary Service Award. for “instilling an appreciation of truth” during his long journalism career. He is the author of “When Truth Mattered” and was the managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal during its Pulitzer Prizewinning coverage of the 1970 Kent State shootings. He also was curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

1957 Esther Reece Painter, former Connecticut state representative who was elected justice of the peace in Woodstock, Connecticut, was inducted into the Plainfield (Indiana) High School Hall of Fame.

1963 Bayard “Bud” H. Walters, chief executive officer at Cromwell Media, was voted No. 1 leader in radio by his peers in the industry.

1973 Rebecca “Becky” Clark Williams selfpublished a book, “Sowing the Seeds of Justice/Courage, Persistence and Faith of African-American Women in the Delta.”

1974 W. Charles Bennett, a forensic

accountant, has written “Dirt Under the Cap,” a book about his experiences in the 1990s disputes between NBA owners and players. The book is due out in August. William H. “Bill” Tucker, a lawyer in Aiken, South Carolina, was awarded an honorary degree by the University of South Carolina Aiken, for which he has been a supporter, donor and advocate, including serving two terms on the university’s Education Foundation’s governing body.

of Virginia. He serves on the boards of the Max S. Baucus Institute of the University of Montana and the George C. Marshall Foundation. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Arlington, Virginia.

1979 Charles “Chuck” Brooks briefed the G-20 Energy Conference on operating systems cybersecurity. He is president of Brooks Consulting International and an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University’s graduate Applied Intelligence Program and the graduate Cybersecurity Programs, where he teaches courses on risk management, homeland security and cybersecurity. He was featured in the 2020 Onalytica “Who’s Who in Cybersecurity” as one of the top influencers for cybersecurity issues. He is also a cybersecurity expert for “The Network” at the Washington Post, visiting editor at Homeland Security Today, an expert for GovCon and a contributor on emerging tech and cybersecurity to Forbes.

Mary B. McClendon Johnson writes entries based on her dissertation for the YWCA blog.

David P. Nance received the Director’s Award from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of State Parks for his “commitment to conserve, manage and interpret resources while creating memorable experiences for guests in 2020.”

1977

1980

Stephen N. Polezonis was elected president of the Connecticut Association of Optometrists at its annual meeting in January 2020. A 1987 graduate of the New England College of Optometry, he has been practicing since his graduation. He is in a group practice, Doctor Pavano & Associates, with multiple locations. He has served the association in various capacities, including on the academic committee, the board of directors and as vice president and president-elect.

Paul McGrath retired from the insurance industry. He lives in Cameron Park, California, is married and has two children and three grandchildren. He asks that you send him an email at paulmc46@sbcglobal.net.

1975

Peter D. Prowitt is the chief operating officer for the Aerospace Industries Association. He is a member of the faculty at the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business at the University

1982 Katherine Pennavaria is the library director at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She recently published a book, “Genealogy for Beginners.”

1984 David M. Findlay has been elected to the Trine University board of trustees.

He is president and chief executive officer of Lakeland Financial Corp. and Lake City Bank in Warsaw, Indiana. Dave Jones is running for the California Senate. He previously was a Sacramento city councilman, a member of the State Assembly and state insurance commissioner for two terms. Frank Tigue has published a book, “The Power of Faith: How the Love of God Found Me,” a memoir about the presence of God in Frank’s life journey.

1985 Kris Kagler Burbank completed her leadership coaching certification through Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. The mother of three adult children, including one with cerebral palsy, she coaches families with disabilities so they can “learn to bloom.” Kris’s mission is to help parents build fulfilling lives and futures for themselves and their loved ones despite the demands of caregiving and work. She produces a weekly e-newsletter on this subject and advocates for individuals with special needs at the state and federal levels. Connect with her at www.krisburbank.com.

1986 Dora Hardman Black was selected as Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School Teacher of the Year in 2020. She is the school librarian at the Arlington, Virginia, school. William T. Jennings and his wife, Becky, have opened Golden Greens Provisioning Center in Lawrence, Michigan. Their store sells recreational and medical marijuana. They invite alumni to stop by and say hello if you are driving by Exit #52 off I-94 in Michigan and to “tell our folks you are a DePauw grad so you can get the special discount.” Sherry Richert Belul was featured on KTVU television in San Francisco sharing her book, “Say It Now,”

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GOLD NUGGETS encouraging gifts of love for people who are grieving, lonely, depressed or ill.

1988 Dave Martin, an economics professor at Davidson College, was given the Hunter-Hamilton Love of Teaching Award, which honors teachers who inspire the full potential of their students.

1989 Nancy Fox Ardell has joined the executive leadership team of the Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute as chief legal officer and general counsel.

1990 Mary McCracken Tyndall has joined the St. Joseph Community Health Foundation in Fort Wayne as its new Double Up program manager and chief storyteller.

1991 Michael A. Catalano is chief operating officer for Southern Research. (See photo.) Andrew J. Harmening is president and chief executive officer of Associated Bank and a member of its board of directors. David L. Singer was named No. 1 wealth adviser in Ohio by Forbes.

1991 Virginia “Ginger” Weiss Danz is a professional artist living in Roanoke, Virginia. Her most recent series of paintings focuses on still life arrangements using her mother’s handmade ceramic pieces. Her mother, Ann Weiss, who died in May 2020, was an instructor in DePauw’s English department and was co-founder of DePauw’s Speaking & Learning Center. The series explores universal themes of grief, loss and healing. Ginger’s work can be viewed at www.gingerdanz.com and at Instagram.com/gingerdanzart.

1992 “The Painter’s Daughter,” a portrait by Timothy Joseph Allen of his daughter Grace, was among 200 works selected by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters for its 2021 annual exhibition in London in May. “The Cabinetmaker,” another of Allen’s paintings, was one of 70 finalists in the ModPortrait 2020 competition, which was exhibited in Spain in May and June, and was long-listed for the 2021 Jackson’s Painting Prize. (See photo.) Stephanie R. Lancaster is the director of community health solutions for Emergent BioSolutions. She was awarded Director of the Year for 2020 in recognition of her work to make NARCAN® Nasal Spray accessible to those who may need it to reverse an opioid overdose. Stephanie covers the states of Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia. (See photo.)

Michael A. Catalano ’91

Timothy Joseph Allen ’92 painting

Stephanie R. Lancaster ’92

Patrick J. Terry Sr. ’94

1994 Patrick J. Terry Sr. is the president and chief executive officer of Triangle Financial Group, specializing in insurance and financial services. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Lori, and their five children. (See photo.)

1995

1998

Laura Allport Hammack is the superintendent of the Beech Grove (Indiana) school district.

Thomas D. Fagan Jr. is the chief operating officer at VMS BioMarketing.

Darrianne Howard Christian was elected chair of the Board of Trustees of Newfields, the first Black woman to lead Newfields and among the first to lead a major art museum in the country. She has been a driving force behind Newfields’ work to transform itself into a multicultural, anti-racist institution.

1996 David C. Wolf is chief executive officer of BSW Wealth Partners in Boulder and Denver, Colorado. BSW Wealth Partners was named the No. 1 Place to Work by the Denver Business Journal.

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Jeremy T. Stierwalt is a partner with Capco, a global technology and management consultancy, in its U.S. data practice.

1999 Gavin G. Greene is the chief growth officer for Expression Networks and is on the board of advisers for Integrated Systems and Sphinx Solutions.

2001 Justin M. Gash, professor of mathematics at Franklin College, was

Justin M. Gash ’01 awarded the 2021 Distinguished Service Award by the Indiana section of the Mathematical Association of America. (See photo.)

2002 Alison M. Knowlton and Lance Mason were married Jan. 18, 2020, in Miami. (See photo.)

2003 Leslie Williams Smith is a writer for the Indianapolis Recorder.

2004 Jason Becker, who has been with RICS Software Inc. since 2012 and its chief executive officer since 2015, will continue to lead day-to-day operations now that the company has been purchased by Fullsteam. Eric A. Wolfe is a board member of the Indiana 4-H Foundation. He is owner and managing broker of Prime Real Estate Group in Greencastle and a member of the DePauw Alumni Board of Directors.

2005 Olivia L. Hatton was promoted

to associate professor and granted tenure at Colorado College. She is an immunologist whose interests lie at the intersections of immunology, virology and cancer biology.

Rules, Creating Conversations, and Talking Action,” that was published in OT Practice, a magazine about occupational therapy.

2020 Brooks C. Thompson is an associate account executive with Brighton, a fullservice, integrated marketing agency.

Ashley R. Holland is the associate curator for the Art Bridges Foundation. Andrew B. Rosner is the director of digital fluency at Franklin College. He is the owner of digital marketing company Everlong Digital.

2009 Leah L. Seigel has joined Lilly Endowment as a program director in community development.

2017 Elizabeth Morales won the “Rising Star” award from the Global Social Media Awards for her work at Insider.

2018 Mary “Emma” Baldwin recently wrote an article, “Acting in 2021 for Occupational Justice: Acknowledging

Alison M. Knowlton ’02 and Lance Mason.

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GOLD NUGGETS DePauw Magazine marks the death of alumni, faculty and staff members and friends. Obituaries do not include memorial gifts. When reporting a death, please send as much information as you have about the person and his/her affiliation with DePauw to Alumni Records, DePauw University, P.O. Box 37, Greencastle, Ind. 46135-0037 or to jamahostetler@depauw.edu.

IN MEMORIAM 1941 Helen Marxer Bryant, 102, Alexandria, Virginia, March 16. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi and Phi Beta Kappa and a community volunteer. She was preceded in death by her husband, William C. Bryant Jr. ’39.

1942 Joanne Lloyd Molitor, Goleta, California, Dec. 19. She retired from Mastercraft Engineering Co.

1943 Barbara McDonald Decker, 99, Indianapolis, April 1. She was an accomplished musician who taught violin and piano.

1944 John R. Jewett, 98, Indianapolis, March 1. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi; a Rector scholar; a former member of the DePauw Alumni Board of Directors; and an alumni citation recipient. He was a commercial real estate broker who was active in many civic organizations. Survivors include a son, John R. Jewett Jr. ’77; daughter, Jane B. Jewett ’78; a grandson, Charles W. Jewett ’10; a nephew, Thomas S. Yeo ’70; a niece, Mary Day Kilborn Musgrave ’63; a great nephew, Charles J. Yeo ’00 ; and a cousin, Arthur J. Walters ’46. He was

preceded in death by his wife, Marybelle Bramhall Jewett ’45; his parents, Chester A. Jewett 1909 and Grace Rhodes Jewett 1909; a sister, Martha Jewett Yeo ’42; uncles Charles W. Jewett 1907 and Russell P. Jewett 1913; and aunts Elizabeth Daugherty Jewett 1907 and Mary Jewett Walters 1912.

1945 Elizabeth Fawcett Halsted Farone, 97, Burnt Hills, New York, Feb. 6. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta; a school psychologist; and a family counselor. She enjoyed theater, the arts and dancing. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Richard Halsted ’47.

1946 Robert DeVries, 98, Burnt Hills, New York, May 3. He was a Rector scholar who interrupted his time at DePauw to enlist in the Air Corps; after being given a medical discharge, he worked as a topographer for the U.S. Geological Survey before returning to DePauw. He earned a Ph.D. and taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute before joining General Electric Co.’s research lab, where he worked 34 years. Margaret Ebbert Lewis, 96, West Chatham, Massachusetts, April 21. She was a member of Alpha Phi. She enjoyed travel, sailing, swimming and tennis.

1947 Margaret Ross Black, 95, Richmond, Indiana, April 19. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta; an elementary school teacher; and a reading specialist. She volunteered in after-school activities with the Boys and Girls Clubs, and worked with the local library on literacy programs. She was preceded in death by a sister, Eleanor Ross Holby ’49. Frank Steele, 96, Kalamazoo, Jan. 7. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and a physician. He enjoyed camping, traveling, sports and family nights. He was preceded in death by mother, Leora Hahn Steele 1918.

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1948 Janet Ames Borman, 94, Pensacola, Sept. 4, 2020. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta; a commercial artist; and an art teacher. John R. Claycombe, 95, Indianapolis, Feb. 15. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi; a former member of the DePauw Alumni Board of Directors; an attorney; and former general counsel of Indiana Blue Cross and Blue Shield. He enjoyed golf and was active in various civic and community organizations. Survivors include a son, Richard J. Claycombe ’74; a niece, Carol Adney ’71; and a nephew, James R. Adney ’68. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Jean Maglottt Claycombe ’47; his second wife, Elizabeth Gift Claycombe ’48; and a sister, Mary Claycombe Adney ’42.

1949 J. Bruce Amstutz, 92, Brunswick, Maine, March 25. He was a member of Delta Upsilon, a retired minister counselor from the U.S. Foreign Service and an author. He received an alumni citation from DePauw. Beverly Campbell Cluster, 92, Palm Coast, Florida. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and the Washington C. DePauw Society and a teacher who taught keyboarding. She enjoyed golf, bridge, the organ and painting. She was preceded in death by her husband, Burton D. Cluster ’45. James P. Fairfield, 93, Indianapolis, Jan. 23. He was a member of Sigma Nu, a Rector scholar and an actuary who had a 40-year career in insurance. Richard E. Hamilton, 93, Indianapolis, Feb. 22. He was a member of Alpha Tau Omega; a former member of DePauw’s Board of Trustees; a Rector scholar; and a United Methodist pastor. He received an alumni achievement award and an honorary degree from DePauw. Survivors include a brother, Lee H. Hamilton ’52. He was preceded in death by his wife, Anna Schmidt Hamilton

’50; a brother-in-law, William E. Schmidt ’55; and a sister-in-law, Nancy Nelson Hamilton ’52. Lorraine Long Madsen, 93, Stuart, Florida, Jan. 20. She was a member of Delta Zeta and a teacher. She was preceded in death by her husband, Anders N. Madsen Jr. ’49. Gretchen Scott Anderson, 93, Fountain Hills, Arizona, Feb. 7. She taught high school English and Spanish. Survivors include her husband, Dean K. Anderson ’50. She was preceded in death by a sister, Janet Scott Schanken ’48. Richard H. Showalter, 98, Grand Ledge, Michigan, Jan. 7. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta; an executive with the Boy Scouts of America; and a real estate agent. He was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Foley Showalter ’46; his father, Wilbur H. Showalter 1913; his mother, Helen Guild Showalter 1916; an uncle, Paul C. Guild 1913; and an aunt, Geraldine Guild Noble 1926. Jules B. Sprung, 92, Westport, Connecticut, March 6. He was a business owner, a marketing consultant, a writer and a swimming instructor. Doris Starbuck Perry, 93, Fort Collins, Colorado, March 24. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta and a community volunteer who enjoyed painting.

1950 Neal L. Creswell, 93, Morrison, Colorado, March 6. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and a Rector scholar who had a career in insurance as a chartered financial consultant. Survivors include his wife, Ann Hartenstein Creswell ’50. Dale J. Ducommun, 92, Midland, Michigan, Jan. 20. He was a member of Sigma Nu and a physician. He was preceded in death by his wife, A. Janet Cain Ducommun ’52. Marjorie Gardner Schweitzer, 92, Boulder, Colorado, April 23. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi

and a professor of anthropology. She enjoyed music, baseball, needlework and photography. Survivors include a sister. Dorothy Gardner Goodnough ’43. She was preceded in death by a brother-inlaw, Frank O. Goodnough ’42. Susan Hoppinger Carson, 92, Rocky River, Ohio, Feb. 7. She had a career in finance and was a community volunteer. Carolyn Schwentker Daus, 92, Evansville, March 23. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and a community volunteer who traveled extensively and enjoyed playing bridge. Roland S. Yunghans, 96, Pittman, New Jersey, March 25. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi who worked in environmental protection for the state of New Jersey. Survivors include his wife, Dorothy Cline Yunghans ’49.

1951 Joyce Adams Patterson, 91, Southbury, Connecticut, April 12. She was a member of Alpha Phi; an adjunct assistant professor of English at Indiana State University; an associate editor; administrative assistant; and a librarian. She was accomplished in needlepoint and knitting and played golf, tennis and bridge. Survivors include a daughter, Diana Patterson DiSabato ’80. Ralph A. Berg, 93, Lombard, Illinois, Feb. 1. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta and had a career in banking. He enjoyed his book club, reading, poetry, music, hiking and bird watching. Bruce E. Kaufman, 91, Tucson, Jan. 9. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and a district judge. Survivors include a step-daughter, Jaclyn Rose Manzoni ’76. He was preceded in death by his father, Arthur D. Kaufman 1924. James D. Lyons, 91, Crossville, Tennessee, Jan. 8. He was a member of Sigma Chi, a Rector scholar and a director of pricing and market strategies. He enjoyed golf. Nancy Davis Morton, 92, Hendersonville,

North Carolina, Jan. 5. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and a community volunteer. She taught adult basic education and GED courses for Blue Ridge Community College. Survivors include cousins James R. Spindler ’59 and Joan Spindler ’61. She was preceded in death by her husband, James L. Morton ’50; her father, Royal E. Davis 1921; her mother, Mildred Spindler Davis 1927; an uncle, Charles H. Spindler 1934; an aunt, Flora Spindler 1931; and a sister, Joan Davis Vargo ’53.

Alpha Chi Omega who worked for the school corporation and taught Sunday school. She was preceded in death by her husband, Marion W. Herron ’50.

and Gina Pobanz Siegel ’87, and a granddaughter, Sarah M. Redman ’18. She was preceded in death by a sister, Louann Lynch Roe ’55.

Lester E. Tweedle, 91, Brownsburg, Indiana, Jan. 11. He was a member of Delta Upsilon; a meteorologist; and a dentist. He coached Little League; held Bible studies; and was a community volunteer.

Mary Naugle Kiszla, 89, Noblesville, Indiana, March 1. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and an author of Christian faith books. She enjoyed travel and board games.

John P. Rudy, 91, Alpharetta, Georgia, Jan. 8. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Washington C. DePauw Society; a Rector scholar; a former member of DePauw’s Board of Visitors; an alumni citation recipient; and a business executive. Survivors include a son, J. Christopher Rudy ’81, and a sister, Helen Price Steegmann ’59. He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Florence Durham Rudy 1889; his father, Preston O. Rudy 1917; and his mother, Maurine Hooker Rudy Price 1916.

Richard A. Hansen, 89, Dallas, Jan. 28. He was a member of Sigma Nu and the Washington C. DePauw Society who had a career in finance and accounting. He enjoyed traveling in the United States and abroad.

Norman L. Thomas, 93, Pleasanton, California, March 3. He was a member of Sigma Chi and the Washington C. DePauw Society. He attended DePauw on the GI Bill after serving in the U.S. Army. He retired after 25 years as executive director of the Retail Furniture Association. He loved to travel and was known for his wonderful sense of humor.

1954

Irving B. Weinstein, 92, Los Angeles, April 21. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association; a Rector scholar; and an educator and administrator of the Los Angeles Community Colleges. Charles A. Whitcomb, 92, Helena, Montana, April 26. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and had a career in international banking. He enjoyed golf, bridge, fishing, walking and volunteering. Survivors include a daughter, Laura P. Whitcomb ’79.

1952 Susan Shepherd Herron, 91, Columbus, Indiana, March 31. She was a member of

1953

Ronald C. Mottaz, 89, Alton, Illinois, March 24. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha and an attorney. He enjoyed golf, reading, jazz and playing clarinet. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothy Elfgen Mottaz ’53.

Jeanne Benson Van Nest, 88, Geneva, Illinois, March 14. She was a member of Delta Zeta; an office manager; and a community volunteer. She enjoyed bridge, travel and time with her grandchildren. Survivors include her husband, Robert G. Van Nest ’54; a daughter, Marcia Van Nest Smith ’89; and a son-in-law, Harry C. Smith ’90. She was preceded in death by her cousins Betty Benson Weiderman ’49 and Marjorie Benson Foster ’56. Nancy Langsenkamp Frenzel, 89, Indianapolis, Jan. 29. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She worked as a newspaper reporter and a real estate agent and for nonprofit organizations. Carmen Lynch Siegel, 89, Zionsville, Indiana, April 9. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta, a teacher and an accomplished pianist and violinist. She enjoyed gardening and community volunteering. Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, David L. ’87

Mary Schwartz Oakley, 88, Worcester, Massachusetts, Feb. 15. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega; a dietitian; a tax specialist; and a business owner. She enjoyed a competitive game of cards and bridge. David C. Stockwell, 88, Evanston, Illinois, April 7. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta and a partner and the creative director of an advertising agency. He was a Gilbert & Sullivan actor and a character baritone. For 13 years he was a story reader to grade school students. He was preceded in death by a brother, Michael S. Stockwell ’59. Robert M. Thomas Sr., 88, Leawood, Kansas, April 21. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi; a physician; and a member of several medical boards.

1955 Charles S. Sanford Jr., 87, Twinsburg, Ohio, Jan. 1. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association; a Rector scholar; and a sales representative. He sang in church choirs and enjoyed maps, exploring new places and diesel trains. Survivors include a sister, Virginia Sanford Tomsits ’64. He was preceded in death by his wife, Allison Paulett Sanford ’56, and his father, Charles S. Sanford ’29.

1956 Albert E. Crandall, 88, Indianapolis, Jan. 30. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and the Washington C. DePauw Society and an insurance underwriter. Survivors include a brother, Richard B. Crandall ’49. He was preceded in death by his wife, B. Louise Woods Crandall ’50.

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GOLD NUGGETS Phyllis Held Gephart, 86, Sarasota, Feb. 20. She was a member of Delta Gamma; a teacher; and a membership director for a private club. She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert I. Gephart ’55. Virginia Jordan Burchard, 87, Cleveland, Feb. 15. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and a secretary at Ursuline College. Martha Kerr Burrows, 87, Franklin, Tennessee, Feb. 22. She was a community volunteer who enjoyed tennis, reading, crossword puzzles and bridge. W. Glynn Roehr, 86, Spring Hill, Tennessee, Nov. 23. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha; a Rector scholar; and a business executive. His love of learning was insatiable. He was a scientist, an ornithologist, a musician, an artist and a writer. Survivors include a niece, Megan Hughes Stumpf ’90. He was preceded in death by his father, Walter W. Roehr 1929; his mother, Esther Bash Roehr 1931; and a sister, Jane Roehr Hughes ’59.

1957 Charles E. Curtis, 85, Plano, Texas, March 3. He was a member of Sigma Chi; the Washington C. DePauw Society; a Rector scholar; and a business owner. He was an avid golfer, pilot and enjoyed being near the water and mountains. Jerry H. Rose, 85, Geneva, New York, Jan. 20. He was a member of Sigma Chi; a Rector scholar; a professor of hospital administration; and corporate vice president at Oakwood Healthcare System in Dearborn, Michigan. He enjoyed playing and watching sports; live theater; concerts; reading; and volunteering in his community.

1958 James H. Beatty Sr., 85, Hinsdale, Illinois, April 26. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta and an account executive. Survivors include a son, James H. Beatty ’87; a daughter and son-inlaw, Kathleen Beatty Wunderlich ’87 and Robert A. Wunderlich Jr. ’88; and

a brother and sister-in-law, Stewart H. Beatty ’54 and Kathryn Fouts Beatty ’56. Patrick M. Ewing, 84, Ashland, Ohio, April 10. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta; a Rector scholar; a DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame inductee; a retired professor; and a farmer. He enjoyed travel, golf, snow skiing and sports. Barbara Smith Whitney, 85, Fort Wayne, Jan. 5. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega; an elementary school teacher; and an executive for the Association of Junior Leagues International. She enjoyed golf, tennis and swimming.

1959 William K. Blake III, 84, Dallas, Jan. 19. He was a member of Delta Chi; a former member of the DePauw Alumni Board of Directors; and a business owner. He delivered Meals on Wheels. He earned 11 varsity letters in swimming and track at DePauw. He and Thomas P. Blake ’61, who survives, are the only brothers in the DePauw Athletics Hall of Fame. He was a world-record holder in Senior Olympics swimming. Survivors also include a sister, Pamela Blake Peters ’66. Victoria Kennon Lewis Kelly, 83, Ludington, Michigan, Feb. 8. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and a fiber artist. She enjoyed the outdoors, fishing and gardening. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Robert E. Lewis ’57. Jack C. Morgan, 83, Sellersburg, Indiana, Jan. 29. He was a member of the Men’s Hall Association and Phi Beta Kappa and a Rector scholar. He was a college professor and the founder and executive director of the Kentucky Council on Economic Education. He enjoyed fishing, reading, coffee with friends, volunteering and time with family. Charles E. Racine, 83, Gallatin, Tennessee, Dec. 28. He was a member of Delta Chi and the Washington C. DePauw Society and an attorney. He was active in the American Heart Association and prison ministry.

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Mary Beth Edelson ’55, a New York-based, internationally known multimedia artist whose work celebrated women as goddesses and the feminist movement, died April 20 at age 88. Her work, exhibited around the world, included paintings, collages, drawings, photography and performance. She founded the feminist magazine Heresies and was an early member of the A.I.R. Gallery in New York, the first all-woman art gallery in the country. Her most famous work, a lithograph called “Some Living Women Artists/Last Supper,” replaced the male faces in da Vinci’s famous painting of Jesus and his disciples with photos of female artists. It is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection. She twice received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other honors, and DePauw awarded her an honorary doctorate in fine arts in 1993.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. ’57, a tenacious civil rights leader and a trusted adviser to American presidents, died March 1; he was 85. He was the only Black student in his class and one of only five African Americans in the student body when he first stepped onto campus, but immersed himself in the student senate, excelled in oratorical contests and, by his own reckoning, was something of a big man on campus. After graduating from DePauw, Jordan earned a law degree from the Howard University School of Law. He worked first at a law firm, then went on to become Georgia field director for the NAACP; director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council; executive director of the United Negro College Fund; and president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League. He was an adviser to every president from Lyndon B. Johnson through Barack Obama, and was especially close with Bill Clinton. He survived a 1980 assassination attempt in Fort Wayne by an avowed racist. He returned often to DePauw, serving on the Board of Trustees and delivering commencement addresses in 1973, 1993 and 2018. DePauw awarded him its McNaughton Medal for Public Service, the Old Gold Goblet and an honorary degree. In May, the board voted to name the newest residence hall after him and created the Vernon E. Jordan Jr. Scholarship for Public Service and Community Leadership for young people who wish to become leaders in public interest work. The Corning Inc. Foundation donated $500,000 as seed money, and fundraising will continue at the Oct. 2 gala celebrating President Lori S. White’s inauguration. Charles H. Watson, 84, Zionsville, Indiana, April 15. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and the Washington C. DePauw Society; a Rector scholar; and a former member of DePauw’s Alumni Board of Directors. He was a business executive, a community volunteer and an avid reader who loved to travel and explore new places. Survivors include his wife, Rosanne Nelson Watson ’59; a son, Andrew C. Watson ’87; a daughter, Cynthia Watson Yingling ’83; a sister, Carolyn Watson Kruger ’63; a sister-in-

law, Virginia Nelson Combs ’62; and a brother-in-law, Charles S. Combs ’62. He was preceded in death by his parents, Earl S. Watson ’33 and Judith McCormick Watson ’34.

1960 Mary Fromhold Oberhelman, 82, Mystic, Connecticut, March 28. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma who retired as the director of the MBA program at New York University’s Stern

Robert Willliam Schrier ’57, an international leader in the battle against kidney disease and an expert in patient-oriented research in acute kidney injury, died Jan. 23 in Potomac, Maryland. He was 84. He was a faculty member at the University of Colorado, where he was chairman of the Department of Medicine for 26 years. He was a prolific researcher, funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health for 45 years. He wrote more than 1,000 scientific papers and edited or co-authored more than 50 books, including three textbooks in nephrology. His contributions in science and leadership were recognized by the American College of Physicians, the Association of Professors of Medicine and the American Society of Nephrology. He was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine and was the only person to serve as president of the American Society of Nephrology, the International Society of Nephrology and the National Kidney Foundation. After high school, he was invited to the Brooklyn Dodgers spring training camp but chose to attend DePauw, where he still holds the basketball record for the highest scoring average of a four-year player. He was especially proud to be in three halls of fame: Indiana Basketball, DePauw Athletic and Indianapolis Public School. Upon graduation from DePauw, he won a Fulbright scholarship to study anthropology in Mainz, Germany. Survivors include his wife Barbara Lindley Schrier ’59; sons David Schrier ’83 and Douglas Schrier ’87; and brother-in-law, Barry Lindley ’60. He was predeceased by his daughter Deborah Schrier-Rape ’83. School of Business. She was preceded in death by her brother, George B. Fromhold ’63, and her sister-in-law, Janet Seaman Fromhold ’64, died April 18. Marilyn Hays Highland, 82, Naples, Florida, Feb. 6. She was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta; a piano teacher; and church organist. She enjoyed music, beautiful birds, sunsets and flowers. Kenneth R. Ingle Jr., 83, Indianapolis, Jan. 1. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon; a Rector scholar; a physicist; a math and science teacher in the Philippines through the U.S. Peace Corps; and an independent oil producer. He enjoyed the outdoors; classical music; and solving mechanical problems. Survivors include a daughter, Kathryn Ingle Calkins ’91. Kenneth R. Todd, 82, Indianapolis, Jan. 20. He was a member of Sigma Chi and a business executive with the Indianapolis Star and News. He enjoyed travel and reading and was a community volunteer. Survivors include his wife, Jo Ann Eggers Todd ’61. Patsy Vaughn Gartley, 81, Indianapolis, Jan. 4. She was a member of Delta Gamma; an office manager; a bookkeeper; and a community volunteer.

Thomas J. Walker, 83, Rockford, Illinois, April 9. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi; a Rector scholar; and a United Methodist minister. Survivors include his wife, Ellyn Vyhnalek Walker ’59, and a son, Stephen P. Walker ’85.

James N. Ross Jr., 80, Marco Island, Florida, Feb. 25. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta; a Rector scholar; a veterinarian; and a distinguished professor emeritus at Tufts University. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Marcia Collins Ross ’62.

1963 Barbara Walton Blankinship, 79, Colorado Springs, April 25. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She spent 10 years as the office administrator in her husband’s pediatrics practice. She was an enthusiastic volunteer at her church and with the Junior League of Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and James Madison Elementary School. She loved the outdoors and was an avid tennis player, a runner, a cyclist/ spinner and a skier. Charles Edward “Ed” Skeeters, 80, Portland, Oregon, April 2. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and a retired physician who served on several medical boards.

1961

1964

Marlene Poncar Lackovic, 81, Vonore, Tennessee, Dec. 29. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.

William B. Kipe, 79, Buda, Texas, March 25. He was a member of Sigma Chi and the Washington C. DePauw Society who had a 35-year career with IBM. He enjoyed sports officiating, collecting stamps and coins, playing golf and traveling.

Patty Rader Pelton, 81, Wilmette, Illinois, Jan. 22. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta and Phi Beta Kappa; a Sunday school teacher; a youth minister; and a pastoral associate. Survivors include her husband, Russell M. Pelton Jr. ’60. Mary Jo Steinmetz Hunsberger, 81, Northbrook, Illinois, Feb. 9. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She was an administrative assistant to presidents and owners of companies. She enjoyed theater performances, gardening and travel.

Janet Seaman Fromhold, 78, Middlebury, Vermont, April 18. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega; a teacher; and a clinical social worker in private practice. She enjoyed traveling, sailing and time with her family. She was preceded in death by her husband, George B. Fromhold ’63, and her sister-in-law, Mary Fromhold Oberhelman ’60.

1962

1965

Roger R. Fross, 80, Chicago, Feb. 16. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta; a Rector scholar; an attorney; and a community volunteer. Survivors include a brother, G. Gerald Fross ’60.

Caryl Fernandes Wilhoite, 77, Indianapolis, April 17. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma; a teacher; and a community volunteer. She enjoyed traveling in the United States and abroad.

Survivors include her husband, Bert M. Wilhoite ’65; a son, Bert M. Wilhoite Jr. ’93; a daughter, Rebecca Wilhoite Jacklin ’95; and sisters-in-law, Ann Wilhoite Brilley ’68 and Matilda J. Wilhoite ’73. She was preceded in death by her father-in-law, Adrian E. Wilhoite ’36; her mother-in-law, Martha McKinney Wilhoite ’35; and a brother-in-law, A. E. Chip Wilhoite Jr. ’63. Keith A. Gossard, 78, Greenastle, April 3. He was a member of Sigma Nu and owner of HBG Insurance and Bonds. He was a community volunteer and enjoyed playing golf. Survivors include a daughter, Dale Gossard Stevenson ’89; son-in-law, John G. Stevenson ’89; and a grandson, Alec N. Stevenson ’22. George K. Tesar, 78, Rockledge, Florida, April 1. He was a member of Sigma Chi who retired from the U.S. Air Force.

1966 Phillip J. Brookins, 76, Jackson, Mississippi, March 3. He was a Rector scholar; a member of Phi Beta Kappa; an attorney; and a businessman. He starred in track and field at DePauw. He taught mathematics at Talladega College for a year but switched to the law, graduating from Harvard Law School in 1974. He excelled at appellate work before moving into corporate law. He enjoyed walking and sledding with his grandchildren; golfing with his son; and spending time with family. Survivors include a brother, Oscar T. Brookins ’65.

1967 Bradford L. Cobb, 75, McKinney, Texas, Feb. 3. He was a businessman who enjoyed golf and traveling. Karen Greco Stuckey, 73, North Platte, Nebraska, Sept. 19, 2018. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma; a flight attendant; a farm manager; and a community volunteer.

1968 Timothy K. Buecher, 74, Wadesville,

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Indiana, Feb. 20. He was a member of Delta Chi. He retired as director of the Career Counseling Center at the University of Southern Indiana. He enjoyed coaching youth sports and deep-sea fishing. Patricia Englum Bader, 75, Fort Wayne, April 7. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi and the Washington C. DePauw Society. She was a physician, geneticist, professor, educator and advocate. John A. Gibson, 75, Indianapolis, Feb. 6. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi and a business manager. Survivors include a son, Michael G. Gibson ’04; a sister, Nancy Gibson Prowitt ’76; a brother, Thomas R. Gibson ’64; nephews Greg C. Gibson ’82, Thomas M. Gibson ’84, John W. Gibson ’85, Matthew B. Gibson ’93 and Jeffrey G. Gibson ’90; a niece, Katharine Gibson Wallace ’95; a great-nephew, John P. Gibson ’16; a great-niece, Nicole G. Gibson ’17; a daughter-in-law, Kristyn Tekulve Gibson ’04; and nieces-in-law, Margaret Mullen Gibson ’82 and Ann Sanger Gibson ’84. He was preceded in death by a brother, Robert W. Gibson ’60. Patricia White Kelly, 73, Dumfries, Virginia, June 2, 2020. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and a French teacher. She was a gifted musician and composer. She enjoyed gardening and travel.

1970 Donald E. Lovold, 72, Crawfordsville, Indiana, Feb. 9. He was a member of Sigma Nu and a business owner. He enjoyed golf, reading, boating, sports, travel and spending time with family. Survivors include his wife, Anne Sheldon Lovold ’81.

1971 Leslie Monson Crider, 71, Bay Village, Ohio, Oct. 17. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi and a studio manager. Survivors include her husband, Michael C. Crider ’70.

Jimmy A. Proctor, 87, Reelsville, Indiana, Jan. 21. He was a mathematics teacher and a community volunteer.

1973 Michael T. Harves, 73, Spokane, Feb. 19. He taught middle and high school and ended his career teaching at Yakima Valley Community College. He was a community volunteer. Phyllis Smelser Smith, 96, Bainbridge, Indiana, April 21. She was a retired elementary school teacher and a community volunteer.

1974 Rosemary R. Tudor, 89, Franklin, Indiana, April 2. She was an elementary school teacher who enjoyed traveling and reading.

1975 Lewis E. Moke, 72, Spencer, Indiana, Feb. 22. He was a teacher and coached high school football and wrestling and middle school basketball and track.

1978 Timothy A. Boyd, 71, Plainfield, Jan. 24. He was an elementary school teacher and a member of community organizations.

1980 Deirdre Kern Abbott, 62, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, March 9. She was a member of Delta Delta Delta; a music teacher; a choir director; and an organist. Survivors include a sister, Kathy E. Kern ’87.

1981 Terri Weese Neufeld, 61, Overland Park, Kansas, April 26. She was a member of Alpha Phi and Phi Beta Kappa and an attorney. She enjoyed golf; gardening; painting; concerts; and Jayhawk basketball games. Survivors include her husband, Timothy K. Neufeld ’80.

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Geoffrey Klinger ’88, who taught communication at his alma mater for 18 years, died suddenly May 9 at age 54. Known to don a toga when teaching about Cicero or a cowboy getup when the subject was modes of communication, Klinger also was director of forensics, a position in which he directed the debate program, and advised the student-run Debate Society. His scholarly interests were the connection between rhetoric and social theory; political communications; presidential, civil rights and business rhetoric; and Supreme Court opinions. As a DePauw student, he was an award-winning debater who double majored in communication and economics. He graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Survivors include his daughters Celeste ’18 and Sage ’21; his stepdaughter, Jessica Miller ’19; and his brother Kevin Klinger ’90. Donations may be made to the Geoffrey D. Klinger Debate Fund.

1982

Faculty

John B. Joss, 60, Charlottesville, Virginia, Jan. 25. He was a teacher; a counselor; and a salesman in the food industry.

Nahfat N. Nasr, 85, Indianapolis, June 8. He retired after 19 years at DePauw as a political science professor and former department chair. As a native of Lebanon, he brought a global perspective to his classes and believed time spent mentoring students could make a difference in the world. He started the conflict studies program; won a Fulbright Scholar grant to teach at a university in Lebanon; and received the Mr. and Mrs. Fred C. Tucker Jr. Distinguished Career Award in 2006. He also taught at American University of Beirut, Vanderbilt University, Indiana University, Southern Illinois University and the American University of Cairo. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the American University in Beirut and a doctorate from Vanderbilt. Survivors include his daughter, Lena Nasr Snethen, who worked in DePauw’s development office; his son, Ghassan Nasr, who taught languages at DePauw; and two nieces, Amal Sweis ’00 and Reem M. Sweiss ’02.

1988 Megan Reese Edwards, 55, Mission Hills, Kansas, April 6. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and a businesswoman who had a passion for art and design. Survivors include her daughter, Helen Reese Edwards ’16; her siblings, the Rev. Martha Grace Reese ’75, Sarah Reese Wallace ’76, Gilbert H. Reese ’79 and Lucius E. Reese ’85; a brother-in-law, John H. Wallace ’76; a niece, Sally Wallace Heckman ’05; and nephews John Gilbert Wallace ’08 and John Gerald Wallace ’08.

2003 Derek L. Thayer, 39, Indianapolis, March 4. He had various jobs from retail to bank manager to flight attendant. He designed t-shirts, personalized gifts and cards. He enjoyed movies, video games and reading.

Friends Ronald McGuire, 77, Greencastle, Jan. 28. He was a police officer at DePauw University for 35 years.

LEADERS THE WORLD NEEDS Baxstrom, third from left, in Zimbabwe.

Alum wanted to ’make things better’ – and Nobel Prize proves she does

aving been a media fellow who participated in theatre at DePauw, Ashley Baxstrom ’07 considered careers in communication and acting, and even spent a little time in both. But she also was a religious studies major and “I’ve always just wanted to do something to help and make things better – which is such a broad, stupid cliché, but I couldn’t not be doing something to make things better.” So she moved to New York to pursue a master’s degree in religious studies and reconnected with a woman who had supervised her during her media fellows internship in Rome, where she worked for the World Food Programme. In 2012, the woman asked Baxstrom if she would work – unpaid – on a project in the United Nation’s Secretary General’s office. The answer was “yes,” and the stint turned into a series of paid contracts that kept Baxstrom “growing within that role” for more than four years. During that time, she took a line from a speech given by then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and launched a Twitter handle

and hashtag, #zerohunger. The concept “became a movement” and was adopted as one of the U.N.’s sustainable development goals in 2015. A year later, after working four years “on this very, very broad, big-picture issue … I was keen to get a little bit more in the weeds,” she said. She had kept close contact with former colleagues in the World Food Programme who knew she was looking, “and they poached me.” The programme, an arm of the U.N., deploys as many as 5,600 trucks, 30 ships and 100 planes every day to deliver food and assistance to 100 million people in 88 countries. Last October, it was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. Baxstrom worked about seven months in the programme’s New York office, then moved in October 2016 to the Zimbabwe country office, where she was head of donor relations and communications. She spent time in the field, “making sure people are able to get through the day,” but mostly working to solve systemic problems and create sustainable systems that could be taken over by the country’s government.

Her three-year assignment, during which she contracted typhoid from contaminated water, coincided with a severe humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, which was racked with recurring drought and economic crises. Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Baxstrom was promoted to work in the programme’s regional bureau in Bangkok, Thailand. She visited home in Wooster, Ohio, in between assignments, and ended up stuck there several months. That’s where she learned about the Nobel win. “It’s incredible to feel appreciated for the work that we do,” she said. “… Maybe more people will look at the work that we’re doing and care about it and want to help.” She has finally made it to Thailand, where she supports management of a $3 billion portfolio of assistance for 30 million people in 15 countries across the Asia Pacific region. And she is doing something to make things better. “I guess I am a bit of a nomad,” she said. “I keep shifting careers and paths. And you know, I don’t necessarily have a plan for five, 10, 20 years from now. But where I go, there I am.”

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DePauw University Summer Magazine 2021: Good Sports

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