Jessie Wagner ’04, a career development specialist in the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, will be a special guest speaker at halftime of the Kalamazoo College men’s basketball game against Adrian College on February 13. (Tip off is 8 PM in the Anderson Athletic Center.) Jessie’s halftime appearance is part of a benefit fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Jessie is a former patient at St. Jude, and she will share her story of her struggle against childhood cancer. Proceeds from the game’s ticket gate and special activities at the game will be donated to St. Jude’s.
athletics
Reflection, Motor, B-Ball
Two public events of note on the Kalamazoo College campus Friday Jan. 11. And one on Saturday.
“Everyone Has a Steak In It: Implications of How We Eat at K.” The Winter Quarter Week One Community Reflections is co-sponsored by K’s Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning. Join students and faculty as they share personal stories and critically examine how the choices Kalamazoo College makes regarding its food vendor have lasting implications. This motivational, challenging, and informational reflection will explore the intersections and influences of food–including health, culture, race, environment, and accessibility–while inspiring us to speak out and act to create a just food system at K. Stetson Chapel, 10:50 a.m. Refreshments at 10:30. Free and open to the public.
“The Motor of Campus.” This photo exhibit features 26 environmental portraits of K’s Facilities Management, or FacMan, employees. Photos by Sam Doyle ’13, exhibit curation by Eeva Sharp ’12. Reception 6-9 p.m. in the Light Fine Arts Lobby. Free and open to the public.
The K Women’s Basketball team hosts Trine University in Anderson Athletic Center at 3 p.m. Saturday. Inexpensive and open to the public. Go Hornets!
Hornets Join Broncos in Hurricane Cleanup
Brock Crystal’s ’15 decision to attend the weekly athlete bible study at Kalamazoo College led him on an adventure in giving and gratitude he says he’ll never forget. Crystal, a member of the K Men’s Cross Country team, heard about a planned mission trip during Thanksgiving weekend to the East Coast where Hornets would collaborate with Broncos—Western Michigan University’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes—to help people affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Though he had never tried anything like this before, Crystal decided to tag along with fellow K students. Sophie Roberts ’16, Quinn McCormick ’14, Jacob Lenning ’15, Liz Lenning ’16, Guiherme (Will) Guedes ’15, and Crystal carpooled east where they met up with the WMU volunteers. The group of 14 student athletes worked for five days tearing out damage from flooded homes and helping residents take photographs for insurance claims.
This trip marked Crystal’s first time volunteering at a disaster site. He said many homes still lacked power and water, and many people were stranded or living with friends. One day, Crystal and others travelled to the Jersey Shore where they met homeowners Vicki Laudien and Joe Danski whose house had been flooded with four feet of water.
“They basically said, ‘everything in this house from four feet below has to leave,’” said Crystal. As the K crew worked clearing out the house, they discovered a board in the back of a first-floor closet. The board held pencil markings of Laudien’s and Danski’s grandchildren’s changing heights over the years. Crystal and his crewmates pried the board from the closet, and presented it as a gift to the family.
“It was really powerful to connect so deeply to someone in the span of half a day,” said Crystal. Now that he’s back home, Crystal says he caught the volunteer bug. “I really now see it’s not about us and not about getting gratitude for what we’ve done; it’s about helping other people,” he said. “It was a very rewarding experience I’d go on 100 times over.”
Story by Elaine Ezekiel ’13
Hornet’s Olympics
Chris Manning ’12 finished 88th out of 139 swimmers with a time of 1:04.73 in the 100m Breaststroke at the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. on Monday, June 25. Manning moved up nine spots, but did not qualify for the the evening’s finals.
“Chris had an absolutely amazing season this year and to end his career with a top 100 finish at the Olympic Trials is really icing on the cake,” said Kathy Milliken, Kalamazoo College’s head swimming and diving coach.
“The amount of determination that he showed to get to the meet by training by himself for the last three months and the composure that he showed stepping up on the blocks with the best swimmers — pro and all college divisions — made me feel extremely honored to be his coach. He made all those associated with Kalamazoo College swimming very proud today and over the last four years.”
Basketball Coach Will Move to Oregon
Rob Passage ’93, Kalamazoo College’s head men’s basketball coach since 2002-03, announced this week that he is leaving to become the athletic facilities and operations manager at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.
“We are extremely grateful to Rob for his hard work, dedication, and commitment to Kalamazoo College,” said Kristen Smith, Director of Athletics, “He was a mentor to student-athletes and coaches, not just in basketball, but in many of our programs. He will be missed, but we wish him all the best in his new position.”
In addition to his head coaching duties, Passage served as the assistant athletic director for operations and facilities and assistant professor of physical education.
“My years at Kalamazoo have been filled with great friends, colleagues, and student-athletes,” Passage said, “K has provided me with so many great experiences since I first stepped onto campus as a student in the fall of 1989. I can only hope that I have been able to positively impact the K community even just a portion of how much it impacted my life. Kalamazoo College will always be a special place to me, but it is time for me to move on to other challenges and opportunities.”
A search for his replacement will begin immediately.
College Rezoning Approved
By Suzanne Curtiss ’14
After three-and-half hours and 48 college and neighborhood speakers, the Kalamazoo City Commission approved an amended version of Kalamazoo College’s Institutional Campus (IC) rezoning application at its Monday, June 18, meeting in the City Commission chambers.
With the approved IC zone, the College can now move forward with its 10-year campus plan, including the construction of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership and the installation of stadium lighting at the Angell Field athletic complex. The latter had been a particular point of controversy. As proposed by Commissioner Bob Cinabro, the stadium lights on the football field will be limited to 20 nights per year and must be turned off no later than 8:30 p.m., instead of 10:30 p.m.
Commissioner Don Cooney deemed the amendment a “reasonable compromise” and commended the College for its efforts in the last month to work closely and considerately with neighbors.
During the 14-month master plan process, K held a total of 21 meetings with neighbors, and on June 14 ceded to neighborhood concerns by excluding the closing of Thompson Street from the plan. Commissioner Barbara Miller, too, acknowledged the compromises of the College. “I think they [Kalamazoo College] have been good neighbors and Kalamazoo is a better place because of them,” said Miller.
Junior football player Erran Briggs ’14 (see photo) spoke of the impact the stadium lights will have on the lives of student athletes.
“We are more than just students,” he said, “Athletics can have as much of an impact on us as academics.”
Kalamazoo College President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran said she is “very happy about what the decision means for our student athletes” and pledged that she and College staff will work hard to keep lines of communication open with neighbors.
Professor Baker Named to Athletic Hall of Fame
Ed Baker, former Kalamazoo College football coach and physical education professor, has been named to the Athletic Hall of Fame at Haverford High School in Havertown, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.
He was athletic director at Haverford from 1959 to 1967 and head football coach from 1958 to 1966. He won three league titles as football coach, leading the 1961 and 1965 teams to undefeated Inter-Ac Championship seasons and an 18-game win streak from 1964 to 1966.
Ed was named Philadelphia Coach of the Year in 1961. During his coaching tenure, 21 players made First Team All Inter-Ac; four achieved All-City status. He is credited with starting the lacrosse program at Haverford School, and coached the team to an overall record of 39-21-1. During his tenure as athletic director, the “Fords” had 28 Inter-Ac championship teams.
Coach Baker was appointed head football coach and head track coach at Kalamazoo College in 1967. In his final football game in 1989, he led the Hornets to its first victory over Hope College in 20 years!
Coach Acker Named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
George Acker, longtime Kalamazoo College coach and physical education professor who died in July 2011, has been named to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. Coach Acker served at K for 35 years (1958-93), coaching men’s tennis teams to seven NCAA Division III championships while winning 35 consecutive MIAA championships. His tennis teams were 537-231 overall and an incredible 209-1 in the MIAA conference. He was inducted into the Kalamazoo College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.
Student Researches American Volley Ball Coaches Association
Colleen Leonard ’12 examines results from the first-ever salary survey conducted by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) in the February/March 2012 issue of Coaching Volleyball, an AVCA publication.
She drew valuable conclusions from coaches at all levels of NCAA competition for “Money Talks: AVCA Salary Survey Analysis,” an article she researched and wrote as part of her Senior Individualized Project at K.
Colleen is an economics major with minors in math and art from Mason, Mich. who studied abroad in Strasbourg, France and interned with AFLAC in East Lansing. She was an outside hitter on the Hornet volleyball team for four years, earning All-MIAA First Team honors as a junior and senior, Second Team as a sophomore. She also traveled to China with her Hornet team in 2009. Well done, Colleen!
Professor Jeanne Hess on her Book, “Sportuality: Finding Joy in the Games”
Jeanne Hess, professor of physical education and head coach of volleyball, has written Sportuality: Finding Joy in the Games, a book that examines how people can attain peace, understanding, and joy through sports.
Hess has coached volleyball and taught at “K” for 28 years. She said Sportuality can help readers redefine words traditionally associated with sports—competition, victory, sacrifice, education community, spirit, humor, holiness, and more.
“I have a deep belief in the power of athletics to shape and sustain us toward a more positive and peaceful ideal,” she said, “Whether you are an athlete, coach, parent, official, or fan, I believe seeking the larger purpose of play is critical to transforming sport within our culture.”
Using a journal and questions for self-reflection—called a “box score” and “time-out”—readers can reflect upon and create their own spiritual sports, or “sportual,” stories. These stories, according to Hess, ultimately can lead readers to joy, increased awareness, and a renewed commitment to engage in positive competition.
Hess said part of her inspiration for writing the book came out of a self-study curriculum called “A Course in Miracles” that aims to assist its readers in achieving spiritual transformation, and by the words of author, lecturer, and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson.
“But I’ve also been inspired by more than 30 years worth of teams, colleagues in teaching and coaching, my students, and my family,” which includes two sons who have both played for Division I university baseball programs and in the Detroit Tigers minor league organization.
Jeanne Hess ranks in the top 30 NCAA Division III coaches with the most wins. She earned her 500th career volleyball victory at Kalamazoo in 2011. Published by Balboa Press, a division of Hay House, Sportuality is available from the Kalamazoo College Bookstore, Balboa Press (www.balboapress.com), Barnes and Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com) and on Amazon (www.amazon.com).
