Humility

Watching the Amherst team yesterday win the Div III championship brought back some memories of years past.  The current coach, I believe, is an AC grad and played basketball for Rick Wilson (again, I think).  Coach Wilson was a legendary basketball coach, the first recipient of the prestigious Doggie Julian Award for basketball coaching excellence. 

He was my freshman baseball coach.  I'm so old, freshmen weren't eligible for varsity competition when I played.  (In fact, our freshman team, like the UCLA basketball teams of Lew Alcindor, et al, could beat the varsity.)  I won't go into the lengthy story (humorous, too) of how Coach Wilson and I finally arrived on the same wavelength, but I'm certainly glad we did.  That arrival was on his terms and I learned much from it.  From that day/practice on, I held Coach Wilson in the utmost regard and respect.  He became a mentor (I don't like that term, but can't think of a better one right now.) of sorts for me.  And what he taught me, with many conversations, was not necessarily about the world of sports, but life.  I made a point to look him up each time I returned to campus.  I hope he recognized that was my way of saying "Thanks!"  As wise as he was, I'm pretty sure he did. 

At a class reunion about three years ago, I had a lengthy conversation with a basketball player, one of the very best in the college's history.  He and Coach Wilson butted heads--a lot!--and much more intensely and more often than I did.  Our talk came to how much Coach Wilson meant to our lives, how much he influenced them.  When I think of those who say athletics have no place in academia, I think of what I learned from him and immediately dismiss any such claptrap.

As I've noted, I feel very fortunate to have graduated from a school such as Amherst.  Most of the professors were tops, what I can only dream of being.  But, I have wondered one thing over the years.  OK, I can never match, regardless of my studies, teaching, etc. their knowledge in their chosen fields.  For instance, who could ever know more than Professor Czap about Russian History or Professor Havighurst about British or Professor Ratte about European and Intellectual History?  Yet, I wonder if they knew as much, say, US History as I do or if Professor Rozwenc knew as much European/World History as I do.  Hmmm......  I suppose not, but I do wonder.  But I'm still betting on them.

What resparked that thought were a couple of List Serves to which I belong, history ones.  Sometimes they bring up questions or whatnot of things/events of which I am only vaguely familiar.  I don't know if I never knew them or have forgotten them.  Regardless, such posts on these List Serves are reminders that there is still so very much out there to learn.