Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Number One. Yes, Number One.

THANK YOU, Davidson alumni, for a remarkable year in supporting the college and the Annual Fund. Together we raised record-breaking dollars, received a record-breaking number of gifts, and... wait for it... we've made Davidson NUMBER ONE in the country in Annual Fund participation (this year, 61%). Think about that -- of all the colleges and universities in America large or small, no group of alumni supported alma mater in a more convincing way. Thank you, and congratulations!

Road Trip!

So today Elena, Shea, Gabriel, and I leave for Virginia Beach to see Colby's all-star team in their SE regional baseball tournament. We'll have a minimum of two games in the double-elimination format; at best we'll have four games and win 'em all by midday Saturday; at most we'll have five games stretching into Saturday evening. From there we head to Maine for a week and a half (Elena and the boys will be there longer). On Monday, August 2, John Syme and I kick off our Road Trip 2010 with an event on Casco Bay in Portland... and then we take a week or so to drive back to Davidson, visiting alumni and colleagues along the way and doing lots of writing and taking lots of photos. John put together a fun map tool for tracking the trip -- as of this moment he has just his first solo leg, going from Davidson up to Pittsfield, MA. You can follow us here:


View Road Trip 2010: The New England States in a larger map

It's going to be a crazy and fun few weeks. Be on the lookout for two guys and a dog in the Caliente!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Kid Sells (2)

At an alumni directors' conference at the College of Wooster last week I had the pleasure of meeting Sara Dresser, a 2009 Wooster alumna and the daughter of Davidson alumna Mary Gilliam Dresser '78. Sara works in Alumni Relations at Wooster, and is clearly a Davidsonian at heart. She was good enough to send me some photos and information about her love affair with Davidson, and with one of our more recent and notable alumni.


Sara Dresser with Curry, her own personal #30. Please look at this photo and tell me that you would have guessed she's a Wooster grad who now works in their alumni office. Go ahead. Dare you.

She says:

"After growing up a Wildcat fan and more importantly a Davidson College enthusiast/fan/wannabe it was hard to explain to the average person what makes Davidson so special. No one really understood why I could be enamored with a school the size of a farm village. Then came Steph Curry. When Davidson made its magical run to the Elite Eight in Detroit, being from Michigan we had to go. So my parents (my mom is '78), myself, and my boyfriend all made the trip to watch Davidson play Wisconsin in the Sweet 16. What an experience. Normal Michiganders were on the Davidson band wagon. People came up to us and couldn't stop talking about how great Davidson is. My mom even made Charlotte Local News. After that weekend we decided we had to watch him play again. So when Davidson played Butler in the Bracketbuster, the four us made the trip to North Carolina to watch the 'Cats play again. When Steph announced he would go to the NBA the four of us were like, well, let's figure out when we can watch him again. We made the trip to NOLA, hung out with other alums, got a chance to meet him after the game - again, another unbelievable experience. We're in the process of planning our trip next year - different city, hopefully the same experience. Our plan is to watch him every year as long as we can. When Nate and I decided to get a dog, the only name we could actually agree on was Curry. So people assume we named him after the spice and when I inform them who his is actually named after, we tend to get funny looks."


Nate is also a Wooster alumnus and a big Ohio State guy -- you know the athletic-fan baggage that must come with that territory -- and a converted Wildcat. Here he is with Sara in New Orleans this past winter, sporting his Davidson game hat.






Here's our boy after the game in NOLA signing a fan's shirt while another unidentified Davidson person looks on. Steph was so gracious with Davidson folks all through his stellar rookie year.

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Kid Sells

From a member of the Davidson family in San Francisco:

"So at this weekend's annual art festival in Menlo Park the Warriors organization had a booth promoting tickets for the upcoming season. Any idea who their big drawing card is? :)"

Congratulations, Boys!

So yes, this all happened while I was in Ohio this weekend… I missed the whole thing, including (from what I hear) the most unbelievable individual performance that my son has ever had on the field. I’m currently trying to find a way to get to Virginia Beach for this week’s tournament – the boys’ first game is Wednesday evening – as we prepare to leave for Maine at the end of the week. Stay tuned.