The Haverblog

In the spring of 2002, a senior from St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, named Sasha Brady and two sophomores, Jen Ward from New York State and Caitlin Kimura from Hawaii, found themselves softball teammates at Haverford College.

Brady was winding up a notable diamond career at Haverford by hitting .368, speedy Kimura was stealing 11 bases in 11 attempts, and hard-throwing hurler Ward was starting to show the form that would make her one of the Fords’ best pitchers in 2003 and 2004.

If Jen, Caitlin and Sasha ever thought briefly about fate taking a hand to bring them together in 2002, we can guarantee you none of them spent a second then predicting than an even stranger turn of fate would lead to a softball reunion in Orange, CA, on March 10, 2008– with each of them having become a Division III varsity coach!

But that’s just what happened last week when Haverford with Ward as head coach and Kimura as assistant outscored Wheaton College, 6-3, in the Sun West Tournament at Chapman College.

Brady left her sunny island last fall for the snows of Chicago and a master’s degree program at Wheaton, where she is also assisting in softball.

Ward took over the Fords as head coach in fall,  2004, only a few months after her graduation. She’s already led the team to a Centennial Conference championship and an NCAA tournament berth.

Kimura spent a year back in her native state, and then returned to Haverford as an assistant coach. She too is working on a master’s degree  at Neumann College) and thinking about a career in college sports.

The spring break tournament was also a homecoming for Southern California Fords Lindsey Sullivan ‘08, all-time HC career leader in hits, and Dana Irshay ‘09, another top Ford batswoman.

We’ll leave it to the philosophers to ponder the meaning of time, space and coincidence and the mathematicians to calculate the odds of three  teammates from 2002 ending up as coaches of colleges which played each other in 2008. For our part, we’re just happy to see three such fine Fords still on the diamond, passing on what they know to today’s
students.

–Greg Kannerstein ‘63

Here’s a game for Haverfordians to add some extra spice to their daily perusal of The New York Times.

While you catch up on world news, the campaign, various scandals, and the vain hopes of the New York Mets to beat the Phillies this year, try to count the number of Haverford alums mentioned every day in the NYT’s pages.

We’ll give you a hint:

For now–and for a good long time to come, we hope–you can start your count with an automatic minimum of one. Times Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager Dennis Stern ‘69 occupies a prominent daily space on the right side of The Times’ masthead.
Most Sundays, you’ll also find Mark Hulbert ‘78 in the Business Section with his column on
financial advice newsletters.

But rarely a day goes by without at least a couple of other Fords appearing in the august pages of The Times. We just wish that when they have a chance, the alums would mention where they went to college!

We haven’t opened our Times this morning, but we already know that the paper will be running a book review of “Human Smoke by Nicholson Baker ‘80.

And, yes, there was even a Ford playing a tangential role yesterday in the extensive coverage of the New York State scandal–demonstrating just another reason we can be so proud of John Whitehead ‘44. Turns out John was once on the receiving end of an over-the-top rebuke from
the politico everyone else now realizes made being over-the-top a lifestyle.

A week ago Sunday, two alums looked out of photos at Times readers–Tim Hanrahan ‘95, who had just gotten married (which leads to the vital question of whether Fords are proportionately over-represented in the wedding pages) and Jon Berenbom, early ’90s grad, who was the iconic
representative of folks commuting *out* of the city in roomy, relaxed surroundings on the train.

So keep your score, and we’ll keep ours, and at another time we’ll see how the scoreboard looks.

PS–while he didn’t make the New York Times Tuesday, senior Ben Zussman had a big day in the Philadelphia newspapers, being quoted in the Phila. Metro about how students at Haverford are reacting to calls for a smoking ban and then being photographed for The Inquirer, gazing out at Philadelphia’s new Cira Center, to accompany a story about how locals react to the controversial new lights there.

And speaking of making us proud, you’ll find Tony Petitti ‘83 in USA TODAY today (no, that’s not a typo). Tony, Executive Producer of CBS Sports, reacting to ESPN’s hiring of boorish Bobby Knight as a commentator, makes it clear CBS has no room for and no interest in adding the loudmouth ex-coach to its roster.

–Greg Kannerstein ‘63

A life of courage and triumph over adversity came to an end all too soon this Sunday when Joe Schwartz ‘83 passed away.

Joe had been a star cross-country and track athlete and a history major at Haverford and later graduated from law school. At the age of 33 Joe began to suffer from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Though almost completely paralyzed for many years, Joe not only kept up a lively and cheerful stream of messages to Haverfordians and other friends, but attended Haverford meets and championships and other events in his wheelchair.

Plans have been underway for a long time for the First Annual Joe Schwartz 3K Run/Walk, now to be held in memory of Joe on April 20, 2008. See the Athletic web page for details.

Joe is survived by a son, a high school student and runner.

The College would like to hear more stories about Joe and the impact he had on the many people
whose lives he touched. Please send any information or reminiscences you would like to see made available about this remarkable Haverfordian to gkanners@haverford.edu

–Greg Kannerstein ‘63