{"id":34443,"date":"2010-08-27T14:00:57","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T18:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/home.bates.edu\/?p=34443"},"modified":"2018-06-04T09:35:14","modified_gmt":"2018-06-04T13:35:14","slug":"connections-calling-bobcats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2010\/08\/27\/connections-calling-bobcats\/","title":{"rendered":"Connections: Calling All Bobcats"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mike Bonney \u201980, P\u201909, P\u201912 enjoys the video presentation. Bonney is the chair-elect of the Board of Trustees.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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The event was held at the Seaport World Trade Center.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Jeff Price \u201987 (left), who served as emcee, is the new president and publisher of \"Sporting News.\"\r\n\r\n<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Ted Beal \u201964 (center) was a member of the Host Committee that worked to bring people together at the event to celebrate Bates athletics.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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Jim Callahan '65 (center) speaks with Ruth Leahey P'86, P'88. Callahan, a Trustee emeritus, received the Papaioanou Award for Service at this year's Reunion.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t

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The first athletics-wide celebration in years summons the Bobcat faithful<\/h3>\n

By H. Jay Burns<\/em><\/p>\n

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Carolyn Campbell-McGovern \u201983 figured that the recent Athletics Celebration Dinner <\/a>was a success when she heard familiar laughter from a table nearby.<\/p>\n

Campbell-McGovern was sitting up front with her mother, other honorees and their families, and President Hansen. The elegant setting \u201cwas very special,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Nearby, friends from her field hockey and lacrosse days were enjoying a Bobcat mashup with other generations of alumnae and \u201creally having a great time,\u201d Campbell-McGovern says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of night it was \u2014 a tribute to great Bates spirit, where everyone supports each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The evening featured a number of awards (Dan Doyle \u201972, for example, was inducted into the Scholar-Athlete Society that he helped found five years ago) plus a tribute to the late Robert Hatch, Bates\u2019 longtime athletics director and professor emeritus of physical education.<\/p>\n

It was delivered by Trustee Ed Wilson \u201962, who neatly distilled the elements of Bates spirit when he described Hatch and the late Dean of Admissions Emeritus Milt Lindholm \u201935 as true \u201cpatriots\u201d of Bates athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cUCLA had John Wooden; Bates College had Bob Hatch,\u201d said Wilson.<\/p>\n

The event at Boston\u2019s Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center reflected the spectrum of Bobcat sports, from coaches and senior staff to former All-Americans, Bates award winners, and those most loyal partisans, parents and relatives.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIsn\u2019t this great!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

President Hansen welcomed the group by noting how Bates understands that \u201cpassion for athletics only deepens over time.\u201d Jeff Price \u201987, the new publisher and president of The Sporting News<\/em>, served as emcee and said the evening was about \u201cpride and excellence.\u201d Director of Athletics Kevin McHugh stood behind the lectern, looked out at the 200-plus crowd, paused, and said, \u201cIsn\u2019t this great!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while since Bates hosted a major Bobcat celebration \u2014 but not hard to draw a straight line between then and now.<\/p>\n

In 1973, for example, a \u201cFriends of Bob Hatch\u201d testimonial honored Hatch when he retired as football coach. Attending that event, among others, was Steve Brown \u201969, just a few years removed from a football career under Hatch.<\/p>\n

Flash forward 37 years to the June event, and there was Brown, now a Trustee, receiving one of several newly created Bates Best awards (see sidebar) for his athletics contributions, including his role in establishing the Friends of Bates Athletics program.<\/p>\n

And back in 1979 at the Park Plaza in Boston, the last big all-sports dinner helped raise funds for Merrill Gym. William \u201cChick\u201d Leahey \u201952 was there in his role as baseball\u2019s winningest baseball coach under AD Bob Hatch. And in June 2010, there was Leahey, retired since 1990 and soon to turn 85, receiving the first Robert Hatch Award for \u201cdemonstrating a passion for Bobcat athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell-McGovern, who received a Bates Best athletics award, liked the way the Leahey and Hatch tributes reminded her of her Bates experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cBob Hatch was a great administrator. From where I sit now, I appreciate that fact even more,\u201d says Campbell-McGovern, deputy executive director for the Ivy League.<\/p>\n

She says she was a Bates athlete \u201cat a really good time\u201d for women, as Hatch and others were attentively moving Bates sports toward true coeducation. \u201cI never felt disparity between men\u2019s and women\u2019s programs,\u201d she says. As a captain, \u201cI would\u2019ve noticed it.\u201d She does recall asking in her freshman year why the football team was allowed to arrive on campus before classes, \u201cbut then the field hockey team was allowed to arrive early by my sophomore year.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while fundraising was a background theme at the June event, attendees did buzz about the ongoing Garcelon Field project<\/a> to install a FieldTurf surface plus new grandstands, lights, and press box. The $2.6 million project, as a matter of fact, is entirely donor-funded.<\/p>\n

Bestest Behavior<\/h3>\n

Newly created this year, Bates Best awards recognize significant work by alumni and parents that engages Bates people with the College and that displays passion and commitment for advancing the Bates mission.<\/p>\n

The Bates Best awards presented at the Volunteer Recognition Dinner in May honored volunteer work during 2009\u201310, while at the Athletics Celebration, Bates Best awards recognized lasting contributions to the Bates athletics program.<\/p>\n

Volunteer Service<\/h4>\n

Reed Chisholm P\u201913<\/p>\n

Renee Leduc Clarke \u201998 and Liam Leduc Clarke \u201998
\nWeston Bonney \u201950
\nMichael Charland \u201993
\nAlan Green \u201975
\nLarry Handerhan \u201905
\nJennifer Glassman Jacobs \u201900
\nJudy Marden \u201966
\nSarah Pearson \u201975
\nJennifer Guckel Porter \u201988
\nChristian Rogers \u201904
\nJames Ross \u201985
\nKen Spalding \u201973
\nBill Sweat \u201979
\nKathy and Bob Whelan P\u201905
\nJim Wylie \u201960<\/p>\n

Athletics Achievement<\/h4>\n

Steve Brown \u201969
\nCarolyn Campbell-McGovern \u201983
\nIra Waldman \u201973
\nLynn Willsey \u201954
\nBecky Flynn Woods \u201989<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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