Notes From The Reunion Weekend

1. The meal by PSU catering at the Indoor Complex was one of the best I have ever had at an event like ours.  The BBQ 1/2 chickens and ribs were complimented by several sauces, the raspberry chipotle being my favorite.  The mac and cheese was the absolute best I have ever had.  Even the salads were esquisite to this "occasional" salad eater!  The open bar kept many in the best of moods. Desserts were "to die for".
2. I couldn't fly the drone Airship 800U outside on Saturday because of the rain, but it did get some Thursday and Friday flights at the track with great results.  And I flew it indoors at the Ashenfelter Complex before the Alumni "Run" and only crashed it while landing!
3. Coach Groves came to all the events with his private chauffeur and had a wonderful time.
4. The rain didn't daunt the golfers among us.  Thirty-one of the thirty-two who signed up braved the conditions for the duration.  There was even sleet at the finish, just to welcome all of us home to State College.
5. We all are trying to make next year's event over-the-top great!  We will attempt to arrange the whole thing during the PSU hosting of the Big Ten Outdoor Track Championships next year.  That may even free up some of you who can't come normally because of High School District Meets.  Stay tuned...
6. Some of you had some nice things to say to me about the blog and all of our efforts to unite all 1,500 or so PSU Track and Field Alumni.  I thank all of you for helping to spread the word.  It is starting to have a real effect!
7. Tim Backenstose went out of his way to present to me a framed pic of me in the Penn Relays Marathon in 1979 (He won the whole thing!).  He needed the help of a professional photo enhancement specialist in Hollywood to pull it off.  It means more to me than he can ever know. It will be on display in my treadmill room along with my Rec Hall lockers and Letter certificate signed by both Coach Groves and Joe Paterno.  Thank you Tim!!!
8. Coach Groves received the very first presentation of the "Rusty Boot", an award symbolizing everything that's good about PSU Track and Field and Cross Country.  This was made by bronzing one of Coach Bill Whittaker's javelin spikes from 1970, a quite gnarly sight.
9. Coach Gondak received an Alumni Singlet through the efforts of our Faucon 'de Orange Mark Hawkins.  This was only the second such special singlet given out with the word Coach in the lower bar.  We all thanked him for having the Penn Relays 4 x 800M winning team wear the throwback singlets for the Championship of America race.
10. With the constant rain all day Saturday, we forgot to place the markers for the specialty holes on the course, so we don't have Closest to the Pin, Longest Putt, Longest Drive winners this year.  But I'm pretty sure all of those winners were in my threesome.  Nick K. won the closest to the pin, Clark Haley won the Longest Drive and I won the Longest Putt.  And I have the Golden Putter to prove it!
11. Those usually in charge of the Coach Groves Golf Tourney Championship Cup forgot it at the track after the event and it was retrieved by our Chief Laundry Officer and given to Tim Backenstose for safe keeping.  Thus, Tim is now our Keeper of the Cup, a title of honor in our group.  Tim also won the "Rob Whiteside" Brotherhood Award for actually golfing with us despite hating golf more than I do!  Rob Whiteside was unable to attend the event, as he just had passed into New Jersey during his through-hike of the Appalachian Trail.  This was the only certified excuse for missing the event.  Others take warning.  

Turns out that The Cup was left behind on purpose by The Keeper of the Cup Harry Smith so that Owen Dawson would place it in a display for all to see year round at the Track Facility!  There is no Idiot quite like a Track Alumni Idiot Officer, me included!

All photos stolen from Hanna Humphries and Jim McClelland!

Most of the attending Alumni.

Beth Shisler, Doreen Statare McCoubrie, Vivian Riddick, Elaine LaFramboise Pino, Hanna Humphries.

The Mall

Coach Groves, the Ladies Man!

Coach Jordan, center.

The Alumni "Run" was well attended.

Fun despite the rain! Eric Schwartz, Don Ziter, Jim McClelland and Coach Gondak.

Coach Groves, center court, with his chauffeur.

Kierrun O'Brien.

Coach Gondak with a Penn Relays Wheel!

Coach Groves with the Rusty Boot.

I Built Fallingwater! And Waiter, More Wine!

PSU Track Alumni Golfer John McGraw recently visited Frank Lloyd Wright's famous residential creation Fallingwater near Pittsburgh.  I snatched a photo or two from his stash for those of you that aren't familiar with it.

I have had a recent experience with Fallingwater also, but it isn't quite as exciting as being there.

I built the LEGO version, which probably costs as much as the original full home did! A River Runs Through It.

And I have recently noticed that Eric Schwarz is thinking of expanding his wine making capacity with a course in Israel.

Brainiacs Among Us

Big Blue has slightly over 100 Distinguished Engineers among their ranks, and PSU alums have about one dozen in that number.  So it is rather amazing that I happened to run thousands of miles with 2 of them!

The main purpose of this blog is to attract members of our fraternity (and sorority!) to our annual Spring reunion and  golf tournament.  As Herder of Cats, I realize some of you need to be brought into our fold kicking and screaming, but rest assured, when finally rounded up, you will be quite pleased with the outcome.  Finding new friends and reuniting with old acquaintances only augments the bonds you share with old friends.  The golf is only incidental, as we just need more than your lack of hair and increased girth to gently tease you with!  Even All-Americans and Olympians incur that wrath.

New members of our group are appearing quite frequently.  Eric Schwartz happened to be contacted by an alert Jeff Sanden, and both of them are Distinguished Engineers at IBM!  That two members of the same sports team at the same school at the same time are in that select class points out that Brainiacs are certainly among us.

The Twilight Zone coincidences don't even end there.  Jeff was talked into CompSci as a major by Mark Hawkins, who preceded Eric to PSU from Baldwin High School near Pittsburgh!  This was all back in the day when the Computer Science Building was a converted outhouse across the street from the new Natatorium and punch cards were used for computer input!  It turns out Eric golfs too, so herding that cat may be somewhat easier.  He also makes wine, which would compliment Keeper of the Beer Clark Haley quite well.


We are also getting commitments from alums from the 60's, including Skip Krombolz who was coached by Dr. Lucas, who we hope will attend this year's events.

Here's a photo showing Jeff, Mark, Eric and myself from 1979! (among others).

And here's one of Eric bottling his wine while wearing a gray t-shirt! (us 70's/80's guys lived in those!)

And Matt Groves has an article in today's CDT about Terry Losch and Rapid Transit's support of the Dance Marathon and their raising of over $9 Million!