June 2009
The game of life
The summer issue of University of Dayton Magazine is in the mail, but here is the Hidden Treasure inside story.
Actually, it's the underside story.
On the underside of dominoes bearing the names of Marianists working from UD to Japan is this advertising message:
John A. Mayer & Co.
Druggists
16 N. Main St. Dayton O
To learn more — and search for names of Marianists you know — click here.
My Old House: 431 College Park
431 College Park — the left side of this 10-person duplex — sits at the heart of UD, overlooks Albert Emanuel’s lawn and the dome of the chapel and houses the blue-haired men’s basketball cheerleaders.
Reunion Weekend 2009
The dorm keys are turned in, the picnic tables cleared, the tents packed away. Reunion Weekend 2009 is now one for the books — the record books, as it turns out. Reunion organizers are still tallying final numbers, but attendance is expected to top 2,500 alumni and guests, including almost 1,750 at the Saturday night porch party. Young classes continue to make a strong showing — 360 people attended the Class of 2004's Friday night party.
Eighty members of the Class of 1959 were on hand for induction into the Golden Flyers, which recognizes alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago. The 510 living members of the Class of 1959 bring the Golden Flyers' membership to more than 3,500 alumni.
And in the middle of it all, more than 150 hardy Flyers woke up Saturday morning for the Fun Run through campus and the student neighborhood. Click the photo for a slideshow of these and other highlights.
Marycrest nap time
I found four students sleeping on Marycrest Residence Complex’s backyard benches Friday morning.
One woke up when I stopped walking, saw my puzzled look and laughed. She explained: it was break time — which means nap time — for the four-person, Marycrest summer operations crew.
The fours students are living and working in Marycrest this summer moving and adding new furniture, cleaning out lamps, pulling up carpets and removing other room dressings former freshman left behind to prepare the Complex for next year’s freshman.
They start early, at 8:30 a.m., which clearly explains the midmorning nap. The crew will continue to lug furniture around Marycrest until school starts in late August, they said.
“I do (operations crew) for the free campus housing and the fact that it’s a job,” said Dan Hoelting, a senior finance major, who woke up while I talked to one student.
“I stayed on campus because it’s easier to secure a job here than go back home and find one, especially in this economy,” said Erin Kinney, senior psychology and criminal justice major.
That doesn’t make getting up early any easier, though.
'Next-generation Flyers'
I think I met the next generation of Flyer basketball players outside the Frericks Center today … give them 10 years or so to graduate middle and high school, first.
With Frericks’ parking lot closed for the first of five UD-sponsored Brian Gregory Basketball Camps this summer, I stopped to watch boys from second- to 11th-grade cheer teammates in a slam-dunk contest.
Over 60 boys had encircled the hoops chanting names of various team members as they lined up to shoot. Several kids slammed the lowered basket, teammates shouting “ooooh!” while they hung from the rim. One boy slam-dunked backward, stirring a roar from the surrounding crowd. 
Another boy dribbled around me, dunked and ran up to pose in front of my camera with arms crossed in victory. The camp coaches doubled over in laughter, but his ability to play and joke simultaneously reminded me of London Warren's spirit on the court.
Meanwhile, coaches encouraged the kids to root for each other and started chanting “one more try” when the boys miss baskets.
“Our couches focus on helping each kid be a better basketball player than he was at the beginning of the week," said Matt Farrell ‘06, director of UD basketball operations, who helps lead the camps. "It’s competition within themselves to strive for the best.”
This week’s four-day camp had 125 boys from the Dayton area. The slam-dunk contest was just one of many team- and skill-building exercises the boys played. They also met the men’s basketball team and Coach Gregory, inspiring them to reach for their basketball dreams.
“I want to be like Marcus Johnson,” said one boy in the slam-dunk competition.
Give it a few years, but I wouldn’t doubt him.
Golden
What's 50 years between friends?
$172.
That's what Richard Szink Jr. ’59 says he's still owed by Herb Wagner ’59.
And at the Class of 1959 party Friday during Reunion Weekend — among hellos and oh-my-gosh-is-that-yous — Szink reminded Wagner.
The reason for the debt?
"Because I fed him every Sunday." Well, "My wife did."
The two men graduated from UD and entered the service, only to be reunited years later at Ft. Chaffee in Arkansas. There Judy Szink cooked meals for her husband and three boys — Rick ’81, Jeff ’82 and Kevin ’84 (Tim ’88 would come along later, as would two daughters and 13 grandchildren including Jennie ’09). Wagner and other friends joined them at the supper table. "What's the difference — you feed five or eight," Szink said.
The debt is a friendly source of ribbing. Later that night at the party, Wagner confirmed the debt and the depth of the friendship: "If he came up and asked me if he could have a couple hundred bucks, I'd give it to him."
As far as we know, no ask was made, and the two men joined dozens of their classmates at the chapel Saturday at the induction ceremony for the Golden Flyers, proving friendship is good as gold.
My Old House: 30 Evanston
Since the summer semester is short and only two habitants fill the four-person house, 30 Evanston is a bit bare this summer.
The company you keep
The Flyer Faithful put UD in the nation's Top 30 in men's baskeball attendance for the 12th straight season in 2008-09. UD ranked 27th.
It's a familiar spot for us. Flyer fans have put UD in the top 35 in attendance every season since the Arena opened in 1969.
Some related numbers:
* 229,768 fans saw games at the Arena last season, an average of 12,765 per game.
* In conference games, the average was 13,093. Flyers led the A-10 in attendance for the 12th straight year.
* 391 of the last 393 regular season home games have drawn 10,000+, including the last 190.
And one more ranking that matters: Several preseason polls — including ones associated with Sports Illustrated, ESPN.com, CBS College Sports.com, and The Sporting News.com — have the on-court Flyers ranked in the Top 25 entering next season.
More than a pick-up game
Bob Welter ’81, retired NCR employee, does a little more than shoot hoops at RecPlex. He’s one of 14 alumni, graduate students and University of Dayton Research Institute employees that hit court 3 for several intense 4-on-4 or 5-on-5 basketball games every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during lunch breaks.
The team doesn’t have an official name or court reservations, nor do they play in an established league. But after sending quick passes, checking and rebounding for more than 30 years, they’ve marked their territory pretty well.
Roger Rondeau of UDRI was there in the early 1970s when several UDRI faculty met to shoot hoops at the old PAC. A few years later, the basketball games ultimately began to replace lunch breaks for the men several days a week, he said.
It was then that the group received some pretty extensive training when they started playing and getting whooped by UD's women's basketball team in 1980 — the same team that won the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national championship.
Most players are in their late 40s and 50s and have been playing for decades. Welter, who joined the group as a student in the early 80s, said the men keep returning year after year because the lunch date is more than a pick-up game: it’s tough competition and good exercise.
“I’d much rather play a sport with people than run by myself,” said the newest player, Andrew Black, graduate assistant in religious studies and doctoral can
didate at UD. “In the one year I’ve played, it’s also been a nice stress relief from work.”
Three other UDRI employees echoed his comment. After all, who can resists a break from the office for an intense game of basketball?
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