Wabash College - Class of 1991

I know, I know. I've pronounced at least twice on this blog that--since the Bell game is at Dannieland this year--our tailgate will be held at Homecoming on Sept. 29. We were alerted to one big fact: We're hosting big conference rival Witteberg during Midsemester Break!

It's shaping up to be a really big game, and most of the students won't be on campus. So...we thought we should move this year's official tailgate. The game will also be taped for later broadcast on local Indianapolis cable. Therefore, if you have but one Wabash football game to attend this fall, make it this one:

The Official Class of '91 Tailgate Party
Saturday, October 13, 2007
in a parking lot somewhere behind Hollett Little Giant Stadium

Tell a classmate, bring the wife and kids. If anyone wants to help organize this year's tailgate, please let us know. For the gridders full schedule, click here.

Thought it was time to provide my own update after my announcement that I had left my job earlier in the summer.

I just started work a couple of weeks ago at Creative Street Media in Indianapolis, where I'm working as a writer/producer. It's a much better environment than the one I left.

 Many of you know that I help volunteer as an assistant coach for the Wabash swim team. Throughout the summer, the team's Lanelines blog has been posting updates on how swimmers and divers, and they asked me to contribute. You can read that here.

So, how has your summer been? Trips? Marriages? Kids? News? Any more reunion stories? Keep us posted.

Those are but two of the edicts laid forth in Wabash College's mission statement. And for the past few years, they have been put to no better use than at Wabash Day. Established by Jon Pactor '71 through the NAWM, Wabash Day is a national day--well, actually two days--of community service planned and carried out by alumni, family, and friends throughout the country.

This year's Wabash Day is the weekend of October 6-7.

The College has created a spiffy new Web site to coordinate the activities and where you can locate infomation on project leaders and locations. There's even a Google map designating Wabash Day sites all the way from Seattle to Boston! Be sure to help fulfill Wabash's mission and sign up for Wabash Day.

...or close to it that we first set foot on Wabash's campus as nervous freshmen. While my memory tells me that, for us, it was Freshman Wednesday, I do know for sure that we certainly didn't need as rigorous an orientation schedule as they--and their "helicopter parents"--need now. Yes, there's a time designated for parents to say goodbye to their sons! I always joke that my folks didn't slow down the car that much when they dropped me off for orientation.

Just think of what has changed between when we late-thirtysomethings were rung in on that August day in '87 and these "kids" that followed the same tradition last weekend. For one, they have a lot more stuff (iPods, TVs, cell phones, etc.). I wonder how much easier my pledgeship would have been with a cell phone! The only buildings that have not seen major renovations (or outright replacement) in the past two decades are the Baxter Hall, the Chapel, the buildings in the Historical Section (Hovey Cottage, Kane House, and Forest Hall), Sparks Center, and the Kappa Sig house. Think of how many professors and coaches have retired or moved on: Jim Barnes, Bert Stern, John Fischer, Jim Fisher, Hall Peebles, Paul McKinney, Austin Brooks, Greg Carlson, Chick Clements, and Max Servies just to name a few. Our class has seen four Wabash Presidents and one Chancellor. Kip and I have served as Class Agents for three outstanding Alumni Directors.

But, as you've no doubt heard me say before, the more Wabash's physical appearance and personnel change, the more the core values it teaches remain the same. We certainly wish these boys well as they embark on their journey to becoming men in a difficult world.

As a precursor to grueling football camp two-a-days, members of the Wabash Football Team once again competed in the FedEx Plane Pull for Special Olympics Indiana at Indianapolis International Airport on Saturday. I think this is a cool event, and I'm so pleased that Wabash participates in it.

The fundraising event pits teams of up to 20 people in a tug-of-war competition against a FedEx Boeing 727 aircraft weighing more than 147,000 pounds. Each participating team includes up to 20 people who raise at least $1,000 to participate. The event consists of a speed competition, in which each team tries pull the aircraft a distance of 12 feet in the least amount of time. This year's event raised more than $83,000 for Special Olympics, an all-time record from 40 competing teams.

Last week, senior defensive lineman and team captain Jared "Bubba" Lange said, “The Wabash College football team is looking forward to participating in this year’s Special Olympics Plane Pull, “Hopefully we can have a better showing than we did last year. We enjoy the competition while raising money for a good cause.” In 2005, the Little Giants won the event with a time of 6.773 seconds. But their repeat effort in 2006 trailed in the competition, and the team finished eighth overall in 9.01 seconds.

This year, our boys won the Fastest All-Star Team division with a time of 7.010 seconds.

I did notice one thing while researching the competition: The team has set up a donation page online, and so far no one had donated to it! I couldn't bear to see $0.00 raised, so I kicked in $25. (Hey, I just started a new job!) So, if you want to give to Special Olympics and make Wabash look good in the process, click here. Bubba thanks you.

Dave Stone sent the following about his reunion:

Perry Meridian's reunion was about a month ago. Attendees included me, Doug Gaebler (Delt House for a year before transferring to IU, now working with autistic kids), and Simon Bogigian (working for the BlueManGroup in NY). Randy Head (a county prosecutor) was there with his wife, but I couldn't find a picture.

Marty Coffey couldn't make it. He's now a chemist in the Rochester, NY area.

Pictures: Dave and Kristin Stone, Doug Gaebler, and the elusive Simon Bogigian.

Well...it turns out that I missed mine. But not on purpose. The 20th Reunion of the Class of '87 at good ol' Franklin Community High School took place in Franklin, Indiana--the Cultural Center of the Universe--a couple of weeks ago, and I had no idea. I was only (finally) logging in on my MySpace page last week, when I noticed a message from April (a classmate and the month). They did all the invites online. They even had a class MySpace page set up! I guess sometimes there's no substitute for the US Postal Service or Ma Bell. Truth be told, I had trouble figuring out who some of the attendees were. Did I really go to high school with these people? Wow.

My best friend from high school, swim team co-captain, and Wabash classmate Greg Mead did manage to attend (pictured below).

From the looks of things, he had a good time. How about you guys? Any reunion stories (good, bad, or ugly) to relate? C'mon spill.

I had to laugh at this picture that pledge brother Mathe van Heeswijk sent of Eelco, his 9-month-old.

Mathe says, "He's crawling, and he's driving his mom Linda nuts already!" Man you really have to keep an eye on young kids, or you don't know what they'll get into! The couple have three wonderful kids and live in the Netherlands.