By Scott G. Sullivan
Short and sweet this time. Light news and, for once, not a single fatality to report. What a relief!
Tim Hogen reports on the first Princeton tailgate party of the post–Richie Case era. Food was provided by Joel and Donna Schiavone. Attendees left the game as quickly as possible to convene again for cocktails at Alumni House. Among those present were Harvey Sloane, Alan and Susan Davidson, Steve and Marjorie Riker, Ken McAdams, Art and Nancy Bober, Bob and Ceci Morgan, Phil Ness, Rich and Harriet Case, Ed and Charlotte Holahan, Mike and Robin Cavallon, Cinda Embersits, and Bill Becklean. Hogen took the opportunity to check on our current class size—we are down to 726 mates.
At the last meeting of the class council, keen enthusiasm was expressed for holding as many ’58 class events as possible between now and our 60th reunion in May 2018. To that end, Steve Riker hosted an animated holiday event in New York, which brought about 30 of us together with our spouses. We are now trying to organize a mini-reunion in Boston; Bill Becklean and Linus Travers are leading the charge.
Bill Fitzgerald continues to rally our mates in Southern California, as do Grant Hellar and Jon Turner in the Bay Area. Tom Wheeler is indefatigable in organizing class lunches across Florida.
A surprise guest turned up at the November lunch at the New York Yale Club: Sherman Bull on crutches. He broke his leg when he was hit by a truck while he was riding his bike from the Canadian border down to Mexico. The accident happened at mile 1,400!
I received a remarkable note from Casey Bensinger; I wish I got more like it. Here is Casey’s text in full:
“For me, this year was about the Cubs winning the World Series. I’ve been a Cub fan since I was 6 years old and went to the 1945 World Series to watch the Cubs lose in the 7th game to the Detroit Tigers and Hal Newhouser. This year, the Cubs had the best team in baseball and proved it. I was able to watch them win the World Series in Cleveland in the 10th inning. My association with the Cubs became more important after meeting Ryne Sandberg in 1982, watching him play baseball for 15 years and receive his Hall of Fame recognition in Cooperstown in 2005. Having seen more than 1,500 Cubs games in person, and even thrown out a first pitch at Wrigley Field, I know all about black cats, goats, foul balls that should been caught, but the 2016 Cubs disregarded mythology and curses. They came back from being down three games to one, played the last two games away from home, watched a 6–4 lead disappear in the bottom of the 8th inning, and won the ballgame and the World Series in the 10th inning. The Cubs are the World Champs and this Cub fan is now smiling after 71 years. A big smile from this Midwestern Yalie who also watched the Cubs Ivy League pitcher from Dartmouth achieve the distinction of having the lowest ERA in the Major League.”
A final, personal note. I plan to spend the month of January in Manhattan in a house-switching arrangement with Peter Wolf, Class of 1957; I would love to see as many classmates in town as I can. Please drop me a note.