Monthly Archives: May 2010

Class notes submitted May, 2010: Changes and Memories

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 Changes and Memories

 

                        During our student days, dorm conversation that touched on South Bend was often dismissive, our intelligence on the area drawn from a little world marked by Notre Dame Avenue, a few watering holes, restaurants, the often-relocating Senior Bar, and a few venues for dances.  Things are changing.  Of course, some of the watering holes are gone, along with the manufacture of Studebakers.  But at the edge of the campus, as well as in the neighborhoods and cities beyond, there is a stirring of cooperative plans for the formation of new companies that can take advantage of academic research along with attractive housing costs and other features of the area. Classmates who return and visit South Bend as well as the campus seem pleased.

                        One who returns regularly is Tom McCloskey, whose venture capital firm underwrites the annual business plans competition put on by the business school’s Gigot Center each April.  Some of the sharpest questions and most meaningful suggestions put to the entrepreneurs at this year’s event came from Tom’s wife Bonnie, who is a partner in the firm.  Three of the McCloskeys’ four children live in San Francisco, which is where Tom and Bonnie now live part of the year.  While Chris Murphy and Carmie were tied up with a dinner in honor of a South Bend CEO, Gene Cavanaugh was one of the Irish Angels investors who attended a Thursday night reception as well as other events of the Gigot program.  The crowd included undergrads and MBA students who are active in clubs that never existed in our time, clubs that give sophomores chances to invent businesses and bond over things like growth capital.

                        The business plans event rolled into the Blue-Gold game weekend, which Granger, IN resident Monk Forness celebrated with returning friends, some of them on hand solely for the chance to honor the late Father Bernard H.B. Lange, C.S.C.  Monk wrote: “Though not a member of our class, Big Mike McCoy stayed with me for 11 days. He has a ministry and travels the country speaking to Catholic schools and prisons (is there a difference?) to inmates and students (like I said, is there a difference?) on SAD — sex, alcohol and drugs. You have no idea how effective he is.  He is one guy who TRULY can keep kids out of trouble/get them back on the right path. I'm not saying Mike eats a lot, but I'm sure I had a three-car garage that's no longer there.  The Saturday activities and dinner and everything were spot on, except for the old-timers flag football game. It got canceled because the field was a little wet due to some rain, and the coaches didn't want the field torn up by the old farts. Steve Quinn was really geared up to play in it, as he did last year.  Coach Kelly spoke at the dinner Saturday night and he can wow an audience.  Ara had an impromptu lunch at the Morris Inn on Friday. The guy is 87, if you can believe that, but his memory is so sharp it's unbelievable. He was talking about certain games, certain plays, down and distance, etc.  He said that Cheeseburger Charlie's buyout is $53,000 a month, for more than 23+ years!!! ($18 million, total). Ara, to his credit, said he never would have taken the money.   Can't remember all the names of all the guys — and some are not of the class of '68 — but off the top of my head was Coach Parseghian, “Little Jack” Butler (manager), Mike McCoy, Tom O'Leary (retired from Ford Motor Co., living back in his home town of Columbus, Ohio, still married to his high school sweetheart, and taking some courses at Ohio State for the pure pleasure of learning), Mike Burgener, Steve Quinn, John Lium, Dave Casper, Tom Longo, Ron Jeziorski, Pat Steenberg, and the usual gang of Fr. Lange's boys, (me, Mad Dog Burgener, Clint Garber, Tom Kelly, Dan Saracino, Mike Murphy, Paul Gill, Fast Eddie Fitzpatrick, Kent Durso, Mark Vogel, and even Professor Bill Leahy (who is STILL teaching Econ and is completing his 58th consecutive year at ND, from a student, to law student, to doctoral student, to Econ faculty and Dept. Chair).”

                        Jed Ervin sent Monk this interesting note, something we never read carved on a desk in a lecture hall: A patient of Jed’s, a graduate now in his 70s, has been a lifelong lifter.  The two began talking about the Blue-Gold weekend and Father Lange.  The grad remembered that “Paul Hornung went to Lange's once and Fr. Lange physically picked him up and carried him out and told him to never return.” 

                        Pat Hermann was swimming at the University of Alabama recently when he noticed someone with an “Irish” cap in the next lane.  Did she swim for Notre Dame? Pat asked her.  No, but her father went there: Ron Kurtz.  Ron Kurtz!  Pat remembers Ron as a standup guy who urged him to get out to the track and train.  “I just couldn't seem to stick with laps at the Fieldhouse, and gave up after a short time, a lifelong regret (always the things we didn't do, aren't they?)  Ended up teaching and writing about medieval lit at UA for 31 years, and coaching cross-country and track here for 11.  My son is in the Corps of Engineers at Ft. Bragg, my daughters live in New Orleans and Atlanta.”

                        Joe Kernan, who serves with President Tom Weyer and Jim O’Rourke as a class officer, had the class’ attention when he and Maggie visited Vietnam for the first time since Joe’s release from imprisonment.  According to a newspaper report of the February trip, the Kernans’ experience included a surprise connection with a Vietnamese woman who, as a 15-year old, saw her father and mother save Joe’s life by standing up to angry villagers until military personnel could take Joe into custody.  A couple of months later, another event reminded us of that period.  Tom Moore and John Walsh were part of a group of family and friends, about 100, who attended a San Diego ceremony commemorating Mike McCormick, killed when his plane was shot down. 

                      Bill Holahan called out of the blue, which led to a good visit over lunch at the Harley Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.  Bill has made Milwaukee his home for 37 years, and is now head of the Economics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  He came for a short-term gig after earning his doctorate from Brown University. 

            The December, 2009 issue of Leading Lawyers Network magazine has a lengthy and impressive article about the work Chicago lawyer Tom Durkin has taken on as a defender of people such as Guantanamo Bay prisoners. 

                        Jim Hutchinson found a new feature in this year’s coverage of the NCAA tournament: an on-air shoutout to Fred Ferlic from Digger Phelps. 

                        You can post comments, see photos, and read additional details at http://www.ndclass1968.com, our class blog.  – Tom Figel, 1054 West North Shore, Apt. 3-E, Chicago, IL 60626, tel. 312-881-7391, tfigel@lake-effect.com.

Bob Brady honored by a Connecticut YMCA

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Bob Brady: Making a Big Splash at the “Y”

Published 05/13/2010 12:00 AM

Updated 05/13/2010 11:16 AM

It's no wonder that the new fitness center at the Valley-Shore YMCA in Westbrook is named The Brady Family Wellness Center, as it is truly a family affair.

Robert “Bob” Brady, board president of the YMCA since 2007, said as a kid growing up in Titusville, Pennsylvania, he was encouraged by his father, Bud Brady, to join the local YMCA. Bob's daughter Lindsay learned to swim at the Darien YMCA and was a member of the swim team at the Westbrook facility. He and his wife Margaret not only joined the Y in the 1970s and served it in a volunteer capacity, but they also have given generously, financially, to its causes for many years.

An active lifestyle has always been important to the Brady family-and the results show.

Bob's mother Dorothy is 96 years “young” and still plays tennis. His father, who passed away recently, was also in his 90s and enjoyed golf and tennis far into his golden years. It is fitting that the couple first met on a tennis court, says its son.

“My parents have been a big influence on my life,” adds Bob, noting that his father, a dentist, worked hard, but also enjoyed himself through a love of sports.

One of the many reasons Bob has continued his devotion, participation, and contribution to the YMCA is the organization's focus on a healthy, active lifestyle.

“In our country, technology is allowing us to live longer and longer, but our lifestyle is working against us,” he says.

YMCAs both locally and nationally have created an initiative called Activate America, says Bob.

“Healthcare is in an enormous crisis in our country,” notes Bob, who owns Business & Legal Reports, Inc., in Old Saybrook, a publishing company that employs 150 people. “As a business owner, health care costs are my biggest expense.”

Bob believes there are three levels of folks as they relate to an active lifestyle: the bottom level is the person who doesn't care about exercise and will never buy into the notion that a moderate amount of activity would improve his or her life. The middle level is composed of people who need the extra motivation to get moving. They often gravitate toward a place they find easy and fun to use. The top level is made up of people who are active on a regular basis or have always made it a part of their lives.

Activate America and the Y target the middle group, explains Bob.

“There is a huge opportunity here to have an impact on our local community and answer these global problems surrounding health care,” he says.

Making exercise easy, fun, and available to the community is another goal of the YMCA. Founded in 1844 in London, England, YMCA stood for Young Men's Christian Association. The first U.S. YMCA was founded in Boston in 1851.

“We are not all young, or all men, or even Christian,” jokes Bob. “Everyone is welcome at the Y. You see all generations and ages. No one is denied participation for lack of an opportunity to pay.”

Since joining the Valley-Shore YMCA board in 1994, Bob has volunteered on the Public Relations Committee, the Initiative 2000 Committee (which raised money for a second swimming pool), and served as chair of the Staff Development Committee and the Golf Committee.

Many changes and improvements have taken place at the Westbrook Y, including the addition of the aforementioned second pool, renovations to the existing 40-year old pool, replacement of the plumbing and heating system, and the addition of a new aerobics area the new Brady Family Wellness Center. All in all, the improvements were a

$5 million investment, funded by donations from the community, operating surpluses, and a $1 million mortgage.

Bob, who calls himself more of a follower than a leader, said he is thankful for the guidance of fellow board members Stanley Prymas and Kathleen Laundy.

“I am truly honored that the Valley-Shore YMCA Wellness Center will bear my family's name,” he says. “I hope that lots of people will get as much benefit and pleasure from it as I have over the past 30 years.”


Photo by Fay Abrahamsson/The Harbor News
Robert 'Bob' Brady sits in the lobby of his Old Saybrook company, BLR. He was recently honored by the Valley-Shore YMCA in Westbrook as it opened the doors to the new Brady Family Wellness Center.