By Charis Boylan

Senior professional writing major from Tyler

I have a hard time exercising moderation with anything I really like, and my obsession with the Baylor men’s basketball team is no exception. Of all my fixations, however, this one is perhaps the most reasonable. If the men’s team was hidden behind the shadow of the Lady Bears’ national title, they are in hiding no longer. With a 15-5 game record, the whole campus seems to be humming with excitement over the team. In Big 12 rankings, Baylor has progressed to fifth place beneath the nationally ranked teams of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas.

All over sports blogs and information boards, the Baylor men’s team is receiving notable attention for not only their present playing, but also their undeniable potential to win the Big 12 in the near future. The efforts of Coach Scott Drew to pull the men’s team from national scandal to national standing are finally paying off. His encouragement, vision, and coaching have helped propel his team into the limelight once again. He’s recruited a team that is stocked with talent, from the deserts of Senegal, Africa, to the bayous of Louisiana.

The greatest difference I can perceive between Baylor’s team and the other teams in the Big 12 is unity. With four seniors who have substantial amounts of playing time, there is respect and leadership present to expel any division among the team members both on and off of the court.

Curtis Jerrels, a senior from Austin, can be likened to a team legend. He’s got speed, ball handling, and, consequently, the respect of all of his teammates. He ultimately decides the attitude of the team, and there hasn’t been a game where his playing has been a disservice to Baylor. He scored thirty-one points against Oklahoma State and is likely to do even better in the other upcoming Big 12 conference games.

Senior Kevin Rogers is an oak in stature and just as solid in talent; he is a source of relief for the team whether he’s in the locker room cracking jokes or on the court rebounding, dunking, and congratulating his teammates’ efforts with quasi-affectionate head pats.

No one can deny the always fresh and unadulterated talent that is Henry Dugat. This senior has agility, athleticism, and team-mindedness as part of his genetic makeup. He’s all over the court, at all times, attentive and alert–ready to assist, defend, and score at the drop of a hat.

Towering at least head and shoulders above every Baylor Bear is the student body favorite from Senegal, senior Mamadu Diene. He is reliable in his performance and supportive, whether he is on the court or abdicating his starting position to freshman Quincy Acy.

Unlike most teams playing college basketball, the Baylor men’s team has a sort of unity about it that enables every player to have a moment of fame. No man plays for himself on Baylor’s side of the court, and the effect of that kind of “team-ness” is unstoppable.

Not only is Baylor stocked up with solid senior leadership, but the team also has talented younger players who are projected to earn even better rankings in the years to come. The literal “hot shot” of the team is junior Lace Darius Dunn, who can launch shots from several feet behind the three-point line, racking up points with ease. In Baylor’s victory over Kansas State on January 21, he sank nine three-pointers, tying the Baylor school record. He’s been quickly developing a dribble likened to Jerrels’.

Acy, the six-foot-eight freshman from Mesquite, has made himself notorious with fans with his explosive dunks. Junior Tweety Carter is solid as a point guard and is reliable in shooting from the free-throw and three-point line. Rumor has it our new transfer from Michigan will take the team by storm as well.

With this kind of lineup, the future success of the men’s Baylor basketball team is certainly secure–as secure as my ongoing obsession with Baylor b’ball.

By Judy Henderson Prather, Communications Coordinator

I’m not usually an “after-five” kind of girl. More evenings than not, my after-five attire is pajamas–slipped into as soon as I get home from the office because I can’t think of a good reason for changing clothes twice in an evening.

But once a year, I gladly don my shimmery best for an alumni association-sponsored black-tie event–the Distinguished Alumni Awards Banquet. I join my colleagues and a very distinguished guest list, as we annually celebrate the accomplishments of some of Baylor’s brightest and best. (Here I am pictured between two other members of the Class of 1973, David and Mary Massar Malone.)

I have to admit that for a job, it’s a lot of fun. During the twenty-plus years I’ve been employed with the association, I’ve helped celebrate the lives and accomplishments of several dozen Baylor graduates, all of whom have gone out from our alma mater to make a distinctive mark on the world, while reflecting honor back onto Baylor University by the lives they have lived.

This year, the four honorees could not have been more different. A young West Texas oilman, a retired missionary to Nigeria, a Houston doctor, and a Hollywood writer and director–each one worthy of acclaim for their worthy, generous lives.

As I look back over the roster from years past, a few other recipients stand out in my memory as well:

Carole Cook, the red-haired Lucille Ball-style actress, called everyone “Dahling.” And after her acceptance speech, she plopped herself down into the lap of a very surprised Dr. Herbert Reynolds.

The writer Robert Fulghum accepted his award with a different style than that to which we were accustomed. Wearing a turtleneck sweater and a lapel mike, he walked as he talked–delivering thoughtful, finely crafted words like those that had earned his best-selling-author status.

Last year, the award was given to Abelardo Valdez, a Washington, D.C., attorney and former ambassador and chief of protocol for the White House. The child of poor migrant workers, Valdez reminded us of something we saw demonstrated again during this Inauguration week–that the United States of America is a land of opportunity for those willing to strive for excellence, regardless of ethnicity or background.

Perhaps the recipient who affected me most was Faith Willard, a preacher’s kid/retired schoolteacher who made the decision back in the 1970s to travel to Bangladesh, the poorest country in the world at the time, and try to make a difference. Within a few years, Willard had established a widow’s training center, an orphanage, a community clinic, and a hostel for young women. As we left the banquet that evening, I overheard one of the deans of our university comment about Miss Willard, “That woman has single-handedly accomplished more than many governments have.”

This year, as banquet-goers were leaving, I again heard the comment that someone says almost every year: “Wasn’t tonight amazing? How can we possibly find recipients this good again next year?”

What’s truly amazing is that we only scratch the surface. This year, it was corporate business, entertainment, medicine, and missions. Next time it might be government, education, sports, and the arts. In countless fields of endeavor, Baylor alumni are flinging their green and gold, making distinguished contributions–though they may not ever receive wide acclaim.

Our program staff would shudder at the thought, but we could hold a banquet like this every Friday night and not begin to acknowledge the thousands upon thousands of Baylor graduates who are making their mark in this world every day.

Now that’s worth dressing up for! Don’t you agree?

By Meg Cullar, News Editor, the Baylor Line

One of the things I’ve learned from working at the Baylor Alumni Association (BAA) is that the graduates of Baylor University tend to be amazing people. And during the past few years, as part of the BAA’s Sesquicentennial Celebration, I’ve learned about even more of them. That’s because in every issue of the Baylor Line, we profile ten of the “Alumni 150.” These are individuals, either living or not, who are truly remarkable graduates of Baylor. Each issue, I have the task of writing, in four hundred words or less, a story about three of them.

The hardest part, of course, is keeping the story to four hundred words, because these are extraordinary people, some of whose lives have spawned full-length books. But the best part, without question, is the inspiration that I find in each individual. The three profiles I wrote for the winter 2009 issue are good examples. I wrote about a well-known Baptist statesman, a young up-and-coming scholar, and an outstanding leader in health care. Two of them are now deceased, and one is living. Two of them are people I know or knew, and one is someone I wish I had known.

Baker James Cauthen ‘30, who died in 1985, is the graduate I didn’t know. He is credited with building the Southern Baptist Convention’s robust missions program, which he took over in 1953. In the 1960s, when I was growing up in a Baptist church, learning about missionaries in Mission Friends and saving money for Lottie Moon in a little cardboard bank, I had no idea who he was. But he was the person who made that good work possible for all those missionaries.

Melissa Rogers ‘88 is someone I have met only a few times, but I have watched her career in church-state affairs, because it’s an important issue to me. I first became aware of her work when she was general counsel at the Baptist Joint Committee and was honored as an Outstanding Young Alumna of Baylor. It’s inspiring to see someone so young out there making such a big difference on an issue of great importance on the national scene.

But the profile I enjoyed writing the most this issue was the story of Frank S. Groner. I knew Dr. Groner from when I was a little girl until his death in 1994. I was there at the banquet in 1983 when he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Baylor. He and his wife, Daisy, were at my wedding that year. Groner was a leader in health care and made his name as the president of Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. That’s the hospital where I was born, and my father, Joseph Powell, worked there as an administrator, eventually succeeding Groner as president.

I have fond memories of visiting Dr. Groner in his office when I was young, and, as I perused the extensive file of his accomplishments, they came rushing back. Of course, I had no idea back then that he was such a giant in the industry. To me, he was a kind gentleman and, most importantly, a supplier of fancy cigar boxes in which I stored my doll clothes. Dr. Groner was a connoisseur of fine cigars, and when a box was empty, he would give it to me and my sisters. The most famous cigar-box story is about my little sister, Lea Powell Jacobson ‘87. She had seen the boxes at our house. One day, when she was visiting Dr. Groner, she eyed one on his desk, and it seems her desire for it was written all over her face. The fact that it was still full of cigars was not a problem. Dr. Groner dumped them out all over his desk and gallantly presented the box to her.

My mother still has a few of Dr. Groner’s cigar boxes, where she keeps spools of thread. I’m fresh out of doll clothes, and mine have been appropriated by my sons, who have kept boyish things like Matchbox cars, baseball cards, and money in them. You have to be impressed with the quality of a plastic cigar box that can last so long! Those must have been some cigars.

The interesting thing about Dr. Groner’s generosity is that these stories–especially the one about my little sister–were included in the press coverage about him when he passed away. He was known not just for his accomplishments–charter inductee into the Health Care Hall of Fame, winner of the top three national awards in the industry, leader of the world’s largest private hospital, innovator who pioneered the use of private hospital rooms. He was also known for the kind of person that he was–kind, gentle, respectful of all people (including little children), and a leader in every way.

And this is the kind of person that often represents Baylor University. This is the kind of person out there showing what Baylor is all about. What a witness! And what a tribute to our great university.

When you get your Baylor Line, don’t miss the “Alumni 150″ section. Perhaps you will find inspiration there. If you haven’t received the winter 2009 issue of the Line, you can view much of it, including “Alumni 150,” at the website for the Baylor Line.

Reaching Out in 2009

By Jeff Kilgore, Executive Vice President and CEO of the Baylor Alumni Association

On New Year’s Day, my wife, Stephanie, and I sat at our kitchen table with our sons, Luke (seven years old) and Patrick (five years old), attempting to explain to them why eating black-eyed peas was important this particular day–even though such peas are not, as they protested, a regular part of an elementary scholar’s diet. We spent time talking about tradition and reflecting on the presents, parties, vacations, and special events of the past year. But we spent most of our energy trying to help them look forward. We talked about what a “resolution” was and the importance of challenging ourselves in the year to come. Their conversation still drifted toward parties, presents, and vacation, but I think some fun and maybe a little bit of life lesson emerged from that fairly bland bowl of black-eyed peas.

At 10:00 a.m. this past Monday, our Baylor Alumni Association staff gathered for our regular weekly staff meeting. We enjoyed cups of coffee instead of bowls of peas, replaced holiday spirit with work schedules, and contemplated second-quarter budget and planning metrics rather than toys and birthday parties gone by. It wasn’t nearly as much fun as Christmas, but I believe our staff cast their eyes toward all the possible things we could achieve in 2009 with the same seriousness and sense of challenge that my family had at our dining table on New Year’s Day.

For me, I believe the greatest challenges ahead for 2009 have a common thread of uncertainty: about the economy’s effect on the world and our families’ livelihoods; about the change sweeping through the international, national, and local political landscapes; and, here on campus, about the future of Baylor University. I am the first to recuse myself as an authority on any of the above subjects, but what I can be responsible for is how I challenge myself to become personally involved as part of the process.

Whether talking about corporate America’s escapades, national politics, or my alma mater, I feel very much a part of the sweeping wave of people who desire to be openly informed about and included in decisions that affect me and the things of value to my family and friends. Such inclusiveness and transparency result in a mutually beneficial environment. Their absence, in contrast, creates an unhealthy environment. When people don’t feel they can speak privately to those in power or have a role in decisions, those same people feel compelled to voice their opinions publicly, often resulting in further criticism and rancor.

Whether it’s regarding private or public institutions–from the outcry about corporate scandals to controversy over political manipulation–we have seen the reemergence in our society of the values of inclusion and transparency that form the cornerstone of our great nation. While I remain convinced that the rapidly growing sentiment in our country is going in the right direction, I’ve also accepted the realization that I am flawed, deserve less, and require more grace than most and certainly can’t be “throwing any stones.” So I believe my first challenge in 2009 should be directed toward myself.

As I challenge the public and private officials in our country and on our Baylor campus to be inclusive, shouldn’t I challenge myself and also ask:

What can I do better to involve our BAA members, Board of Directors, Alumni Council, and staff in the decisions that affect the BAA and our alma mater?

What can I do to better serve and communicate with our members and the Baylor family?

What can I do to communicate with, seek feedback from, and include Baylor alumni, students, faculty, staff, and administrators in BAA events and programming?

What can I do to reach out to and include Baylor regents with the BAA?

In 2009, I will be making these efforts to reach out, to be more inclusive, and to communicate more openly and directly. I hope they are received genuinely with all intended respect and common love for our Baylor University and all else who have a care.

Please let me know what you think by emailing me at jeff_kilgore@baylor.edu.
To publicly comment on this column, go to the thread on it at the BAA’s forum.