Fiesta Bowl 1989 was a heartbreak for WVU, and for the whole state (I was in high school):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=fiesta+bowl+1989+major+harris+holtz+riceIn June 1990, Lou Holtz - the legendary Notre Dame coach - was inducted into the American Academy of Achievement as an adult honoree. I was inducted as a student honoree.
As much as I hate to say it, I can see why his players drew so much inspiration from him. He was an incredible speaker.
So was the first adult honoree to have also been a student honoree: Herschel Walker.
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/wal0pro-1http://www.achievement.org/It's a great program. No application - students are chosen without their knowledge. In fact, when the notice came in the mail, I almost threw it away, thinking it was a scam. The philosophy is that there should be at least one thing that high school seniors don't have to compete for; it's meant to give the adult honorees a chance to spend a long weekend letting their hair down around college-bound seniors, and to give those seniors a chance to meet some of the luminaries in their areas of interest.
In 1990, the program was held in Chicago. The opening night was surreal. I was one of the last to arrive (all-expense paid flight and lodging). My group of stragglers was picked up from the airport by shuttlebus, told to freshen up in 15 minutes, and come back to the lobby of the Hilton to catch the bus again, to the Field Museum of Natural History.
Back on the shuttlebus, the other students and I were comparing notes at the back of the bus: "Did you apply for this? Me neither. Ever heard of this program? Me neither."
Looking to the front row, I noticed an adult who looked vaguely familiar. I kept one ear to the conversation going on around me, but kept stealing glances at him. Suddenly, it dawned on me.
Standing, I walked to the front of the bus. "Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you, but aren't you Dr. Jarvik?"
He looked pleased and embarrassed, but said yes.
"It's an honor to meet you," was all I could say, and I returned to the back of the bus, to report to my new friends (funny how quickly any group of high schoolers bond, huh?). This new piece of data only deepened the mystery for all of us.
What *was* this program we'd been whisked off to?
At the Field Museum, we were informed that we had the run of the place; it had been closed, just for us. Once inside, we discovered that all those students whose flights had gotten into Chicago before our flights were already there. A major Egyptian exhibit (not Tut, but still cool) and the Impressionist gallery still stand out in my mind.
When we were called to dinner, it was in the atrium, and it was fancy enough to require cards printed on stock paper, describing the menu.
Over dinner, my new friends and I continued to speculate about what this was all about. By now, we'd all caught sight of at least one famous adult, milling around the museum.
Dinner over, we were ushered into the auditorium. At this point, "Spence" - as we nicknamed him - took the microphone and began to emcee.
He started off by telling us how much he'd enjoyed benignly eavesdropping on our confused conversations as we admired the artwork, and that his job was now to make everything clear.
(If a crew of Oompah Loompahs had walked across the stage at this point, I don't think anyone would have been that surprised.)
He proceeded to explain that - since the first annual event was held in 1961 - the Academy had selected student honorees such as us to spend this weekend, held in a different American city each year, in that crucial summer between high school and college. He explained the ground rules: (1) no press for the adults to worry about, so they could let down their hair, literally and figuratively; (2) past years' adult honorees welcomed back each year, to come and go as they please; (3) current year's adult honorees required to commit to the entire weekend(*); and (4) plenty of opportunities for the adults and students to interact, during field trips such as this, as well as in Q&A sessions.
Spence proceeded to say that there had been two "asterisks" to Rule #3 this year, and that those two honorees would be available tonight only, right here in the Field Museum of Natural History auditorium (for reasons that would become clear to us shortly, he promised).
Spence then began to do a sort of reverse "This Is Your Life," dropping hints about the first of the two speakers.
On about the third or fourth clue, I gasped aloud (and loudly enough to cause heads to turn near me).
That could only be -
- by the fifth or sixth clue, other gasps and murmurs began to be heard.
The first speaker was former President Reagan, who gave an impassioned - and cogent - speech in favor of the line item veto.
The second speaker was Michael Jordan, who had a game to go to that night.
The highlights of that long weekend are too many to recount here, but Lou Holtz was one helluva good speaker, Oprah has a beautiful autograph, and George Lucas' least favorite of the first three Star Wars movies was Empire (which is my favorite).
- Dave
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