On a beautiful spring day four
years ago, Jeremy Dibbell turned to his mother
in the middle of a campus tour and said, “We don't have to visit Middlebury.
I'm coming to Union.”
So ended Dibbell's search for a
College. And so began a journey that would take him to the Frank Bailey Prize,
awarded to the senior who has rendered the greatest service to the College.
“The atmosphere of this place, the
beauty of the campus, draws you in,” explained Dibbell. “And I have a feeling
it probably never lets go.
“Union gives
so many opportunities, I've just jumped at a few of them,” he says. “It's a
matter of taking those opportunities and making of them what you will.”
Dibbell, a fixture at most campus
events, is perhaps best known as past editor-in-chief of Concordiensis, the student newspaper.
“It's hard for me to imagine how
anyone did this before we had computers to do everything for us,” he said
recently at the end of his term. Some of his predecessors, he noted, produced Concordy twice weekly.
“Having a product on Thursday morning
is a surprise,” he said. “Having it look good is a bonus. There will never be a
perfect Concordy, that's one
thing I have learned. But we can come close. It takes a lot of eyes and a lot
of effort.”
“One of the things I've really
liked is that you can tell people are reading and that [the paper] is sparking
debate. That's what we all need to be going for.”
He also has served on a number of
committees including Planning and Priorities, which gave him “the ability to
have a voice for students and to be involved in the nitty-gritty of the
College's budgeting process.”
A political science major, Dibbell
is a native of Bainbridge, Chenango County.
He recently completed his thesis on the origins of the Electoral College with
Prof. Clifford Brown.
He also held various positions
with the Office of Residence Life and has been on the Writing Board, Minerva
Committee and Commencement Committee.
Union offers case study in history
Union proved
to be a wonderful case study for the young history buff. “Every aspect of
American history is somehow encompassed at Union
College,” he said, “The institution
is so rich in history.”
Dibbell has worked in the
College's Special Collections, showing a special interest in Eliphalet Nott,
president of the College from 1804 to 1866, and William
Henry Seward (Class of 1820), Lincoln's
secretary of state and the driver behind the purchase of Alaska,
known at the time as “Seward's Folly.”
Dibbell, who spent much of the
past year researching Nott's speeches and letters will continue next year in
the archives planning the commemoration of the bicentennial of Nott's
inauguration this fall and assisting with other projects.
Dibbell's favorite Nott quote
comes from a speech he gave in 1811: “But what can a youthful adventurer, a
mere individual, hope to accomplish for the benefit of virtue or the world?
What! Almost anything he wills to undertake and dares to persevere in.”
He is also fond of the Talmudic inscription
on the domed roof of the Nott Memorial, which translates to, “the day is short,
the task is great, the reward is ample, and the Master is urgent.”
Last summer, he joined a dozen
college journalists in the 11th annual Anti-Defamation League Albert
Finkelstein Memorial Study Mission to Israel,
Poland and Bulgaria.
He met with government officials, historians, journalists and others to learn
about the Israeli-Palestinian situation and the history of Jewish communities
in Europe during the Holocaust. He published accounts of
his adventure in Concordiensis.
His plans include graduate school
in history and teaching at a liberal arts college, perhaps Union,
he says.
"Taking in a Game: Baseball In Asia" by Joe Reaves
Baseball was widely played by Chinese soldiers as a grenade-throwing exercise at the turn of the 19th century, according to Joe Reaves, author of the award winning book, Taking in a
Game: Baseball in Asia.
This fact was one of many discussed by baseball authors, journalists, and scholars, on Friday, May 7, when Professors Ted Gilman and George Gmelch hosted a day-long program on “Baseball in Asia.”
The next day, Union students joined the two Union professors and four lecturers, on a bus trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nearby Cooperstown, N.Y.
“Tokyo Underworld” by Robert Whiting
Robert Whiting, author of two books, You've Gotta Have Wa
and the recently released The Meaning of Ichiro, spoke about the
influence that Japanese players, like Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, and Hideo Nomo, have had on the U.S. and Japanese major leagues.
Whiting is working with DreamWorks to create a major motion picture version of one his fictional books, Tokyo Underworld.
Marty Kuehnert, a one-time journalist, broadcaster, and agent in Japan's major league, and author of books on Japanese
baseball, talked about the reasons for baseball's current Japanese decline.
He suggested much of the blame falls on their league's corporate structure, but also cited the recent exodus of Japanese superstars.
Robert Whiting's "The Meaning of Ichiro"
Bill Kelly of Yale University, who has written on the
Hanshin Tigers and Japanese fans in general, gave an anthropological
perspective.
In addition to speaking at Union on Friday, the four scholars
were the featured panelists in a roundtable discussion at the Baseball Hall of
Fame the next day, also entitled, “Baseball in Asia.” The special program,
moderated by Prof. George Gmelch, was hosted in the Hall of Fame Library's
Bullpen Theater on Saturday afternoon.
For the students, the trip was a great opportunity to
interact with their professors and the speakers in an informal setting. Not
only did the they get a chance to chat on the bus trip up, but also at the HOF's
Doubleday Field where they had lunch.
Notes
“Baseball in Asia” was the culmination of five weeks of Asian-themed events. Past topics included, “The Current Chinese Olympic Movement,” “The Development of Sport in Japan,” “Sumo,” and “Fitness, Aerobics, and Beauty in Japan.”
Although open to the public, last Friday's program was
especially attended by students taking “Sport, Society & Culture”, taught by Prof. George Gmelch, and “Politics & Sports in Asia”, taught by Prof. Ted Gilman.
What a GREAT season is was this past spring. Softball qualified for its second
consecutive NCAA tournament (and the second in the 29-year history of the
program), women's lacrosse missed the NCAA postseason party by two goals and
qualified for its first-ever ECAC tournament, both the women and men's crew
teams received their first-ever postseason invitation, and baseball was a
first-time qualifier for the four-team UCAA championship tournament.
Individually, several of Union's student-athletes were
recognized at the conference, state, and national levels for their
performances.
ABBY ARCENEAUX
UCAA “Player of the Year”PETER BROWN
UCAA “Coach of the Year”
Softball
Seventh-year head coach Pete Brown guided his softball team
to the UCAA championship and to its fifth 20-win season and into its sixth
consecutive postseason tournament.
Individually, sophomore Abby Arceneaux (Mechanicville, NY) was named the
UCAA's “Player of the Year” while picking up All-Conference first-team honors
as a pitcher and second-team honors as a first basewoman. Freshman second basewoman Colleen White
(Westport, CT) and sophomore centerfielder Julie Gawronski (Dunkirk, NY) joined
Arceneaux on the first-team. Meanwhile,
sophomores, shortstop Beth Carcone (Utica, NY), catcher Alicia Gifford
(Altamont, NY), and pitcher Jackie Coffey (Boston, MA) joined Arceneaux on the
second-team.
White (first-team) and Arceneaux (honorable mention) were
both named to the NCAA All-Tournament team while three Dutchwomen, Arceneaux
and Gawronski (second team) and White (third team), were selected to the
All-Region team.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, Brown, who now has a career record
of 155-75-2, earned his second-straight UCAA “Coach of the Year” award and his
third overall (the first coming in 2001).
MOLLY FLANAGAN
Established new single-season scoring record and is two points shy of becoming the program's all-time leading scorer.CORINNE HENNESSY
Selected to play in senior all-star game in Maryland on June 5.
Women's Lacrosse
Linda Bevelander completed her seventh season at the helm of
the women's lacrosse team by guiding the Dutchwomen to a 15-win season, which
is a program record (surpassing the mark of 14 which she first set in 1999 and
equaled in 2002). The Dutchwomen, who
lost to William Smith in the UCAA tournament championship, 9-8, were invited to
their first-ever ECAC Mid-Atlantic Championship Tournament. Union finished second to top-seeded Drew,
16-11.
Junior attack woman Molly Flanagan (Simsbury, CT) had an
incredible year, especially considering that she missed the last five games of
the 2003 season after suffering a knee injury.
That injury also forced her to sit out the 2003 soccer season (where, as
a two-year starter, she had scored nine goals and 22 points) as well as the
2003-04 ice hockey season (where, as a first-time player in 2002-03 she
finished as the team's third-leading scorer with 14 goals, 16 assists and 30
points despite missing all of preseason and the first six games while finishing
her soccer season).
Flanagan, who is two points away from breaking Nina Mandel's
(Class of 2003) all-time scoring record of 217 points, once again rewrote the
Dutchwomen's single-season scoring record.
As a freshman, Flanagan set the standard with 62 goals and 76
points. This year she finished with 69
goals and 97 points.
So far Flanagan's individual honors this year include being
named the Inside Lacrosse Division III “Player of the Week” (after scoring 12
goals and four assists in wins over Skidmore, St. John Fisher and Rochester);
UCAA All-Conference first-team, and New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic
Association All-State first-team.
National awards have not yet been released.
Flanagan had a lot of company when it came to postseason
honors. Senior midfielder Corrine
Hennessy (Mahopac, NY) was named to the Division III North-South Senior
All-Star game, which will be held at the University of Maryland on Saturday,
June 5. A total of 70 nominations came
from 46 institutions.
Hennessy also earned All-State first-team recognition while
junior attack woman Kathy Dolezal (Clearwater, FL), junior midfielder Tanya
Davis (Fayetteville, NY), and junior defender Liz Flanagan (Simsbury, CT) were
second-team selections. Senior attack
woman Julia Davis (Skaneateles, NY) picked up third-team honors.
The Dutchwomen were also well represented on the UCAA
All-Conference squad as Dolezal and Hennessy were first-team selections with
both Julia and Tanya Davis (no relation) and Liz Flanagan earning second-team
honors.
SHANNA THIERAULT
Helped lead the Dutchwomen to a fourth place finish in the ECAC Invitational.BRETT DURIE
Hepled the Dutchmen qualify for the ECAC Invitational
Crew
By virtue of their showings at the New York State
championships, both the women and men's crew teams earned their first-ever
postseason berth when they were invited to participate in the ECAC National
Invitational Collegiate Regatta.
The Dutchwomen, whose Varsity 4+ team consisted of: c-Liz O'Connell (junior from Brooklyn, NY), s-Shanna Theriault
(senior from Queensbury, NY), 3-Lindsey Gish (senior from Smithtown, NY), 2-Ali
Stoyan (sophomore from Liverpool, NY), and
b-Carrie Dancy (junior from Concord, NH), finished fourth of 18 teams
and missed the Bronze Medal by three-tenths of a second.
The Dutchmen, whose
Varsity 4+ team consisted of: c-Manny
Rojas (freshman from Bayside, NY), s-Brett Durie (senior from Cobleskill, NY),
3-Brad Coyman (senior from Watertown, NY), 2-Jon Menz (senior from Colton, NY),
and b-Tresten Beeble (freshman from Cohoes, NY), placed ninth of 18 teams.
Union's women finished
first in the state meet with the men placing fifth.
ADAM CHADWICK
UCAA First Team
Baseball
The Dutchmen diamond
squad earned a place in the four-team UCAA championship tournament by virtue of
its 6-6 conference record. “We are
going to surprise some people in the tournament,” said rookie head coach Jeremy
Rivenburg before the event, and surprise people Union did.
While they lost their
opening game to regular-season champion Clarkson, the Dutchmen gave the Golden
Knights all they could handle before dropping a 3-2 decision. Rochester, which finished second in the
conference at 9-3 and was 25-8 overall, was shocked when the Garnet eliminated
the Yellowjackets, 6-0. Clarkson's 8-2
victory in a loser's bracket game ended Union's season with a respectable
record of 16-20.
Junior outfielder Adam
Chadwick (Hampton, NY), was named to the UCAA All-Conference first-team while seniors,
first baseman Jim Griglun (Southington, CT) and Dan Mehleisen (Latham, NY)
earned second-team recognition.
KATIE ELIAS
Set a Union record in the 100 meter hurdles at the NYS meetSEAN WASHINGTON
Broke his own 100 meter record while capturing another UCAA championship.
Track
Senior sprinter Sean Washington (Dale City, VA) won the
100-meter by blowing away the field at the UCAA Championship Meet. His time of
10.71 provisionally qualified him for nationals, which will be held later this
month. That time also that shatters his school record by .15 seconds (old one
was 10.86). Washington's time of 22.40 in the 200 was his personal best. He
finished fourth in the event.
At the state meet, Washington finished first in the 100
meter with a 10.88 while senior Bernard Carey (Dale City, VA) was seventh. Also capturing a state title for the men was
the 4×100 relay team, which set a Union record with its time of 42.11. The quartet consisted of freshman Doug Davis
(Yonkers, NY), Washington, Carey, and junior Mandon Lovett (Alexandria,
VA). The men finished eighth.
Senior Katie Elias (Williamstown, MA) paced the women, as
she took ninth in the 100 hurdles while setting a Union standard.
DAN MYEROW
Led the Dutchmen in scoring with 51 points.
Men's Lacrosse
While the men's lacrosse team didn't make any playoffs,
first-year head coach Erv Chambliss put down some strong foundational blocks
this season. First, the Dutchmen won
twice as many UCAA games as they have in the last two seasons. Second, the Garnet won more overall games
since winning eight games in 2001.
Three of this year's losses were by one goal and two of those were in
overtime.
The Dutchmen will graduate five seniors, but will return
their top five scorers and all three of their goaltenders.
Tim Gerrish, assistant coach with
the 2004 United States Women's Hockey National Team, has been named head coach
of the Union College
women's ice hockey team. He will begin July 1.
“We are excited to have someone of
Tim's caliber join our staff,” said Val Belmonte, director of athletics at Union. “Tim is a true coaching educator and he brings
a diverse background to the College and our women's hockey program.”
In addition to his coaching
background, Gerrish is a respected author and authority on coaching. He has
been featured in several hockey coaching videos and has presented world-wide at
coaching conferences and conventions.
“With his passion for education and knowledge of the game, Tim will
blend into the fabric of Union and will have an immediate
impact on our program,” said Belmonte.
“Tim has dedicated a large part of
his career to furthering the game of women's hockey and he is especially
passionate about developing young female coaches,” said Belmonte. “One of the
things that Tim stressed during the interview process was how much he looked
forward to mentoring his assistants, including current Union assistant coach Laura
Hays, with the idea of developing more women head coaches for the future of the
game.”
Gerrish
takes over from Fred Quistgard, who resigned as head coach after six years
with the program.
While
working with the National Team, Gerrish recently served as an assistant men's
hockey coach at Middlebury College, helping lead the Panthers to a 27-3 record and the 2004 NCAA
Division III national title. Prior to assisting his good friend Bill Beaney at
Middlebury, Gerrish served as head coach of the men's ice hockey team at North
Country (N.Y.) Community College for 24 years before retiring in 2002.
Gerrish's
experience with USA Hockey includes helping guide the 1996 U.S. Women's Select
Team to a silver medal as an assistant coach at the 1996 Pacific Women's Hockey
Championship in Vancouver, British
Columbia. He also served
as an assistant coach for the silver medal-winning 2001 U.S. Women's National
Team at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World
Championship in Minneapolis, Minn. In November 2002, Gerrish assisted Head Coach Ben Smith as
the 2002 U.S. Women's Select Team earned a silver medal at the 2002 Four
Nations Cup in Kitchener, Ontario.
“Nobody has spent more time
with the national women's program than Tim and he has been a tremendous asset
to me and the players he has worked with over the years,” said Smith. “I
am sure that Tim's move to Union will inspire great
confidence for the program. The players
at Union are lucky to have such a great coach and a
great person leading them into the future.”
Most recently, he served as an
assistant coach for the U.S. Women's Select Team at the 2003 Four Nations Cup,
in Skövde, Sweden.
The U.S. team
won the gold medal, marking the first time that Gerrish has been a member of
the staff for a National or Select Team that has captured that honor.
Gerrish also served as the head
coach of one of four teams at the 2003 USA Hockey Women's National Festival,
held Aug. 12-18 in Lake Placid, N.Y.
This marked his second consecutive coaching appearance at the Women's National
Festival. In August, Gerrish was an assistant coach for the Under-22 Women's
Select Team that defeated Canada
in the annual three game series.
Gerrish has served as a
goaltending evaluator and coach with several other U.S. Women's National Teams
prior to World Championship and Olympic competition, as well as USA Hockey
Women's National Festivals and camps. He
will maintain his position and activity with the national program while serving
as Union's head coach.
Union
recently completed their first season as a Division I member of the prestigious
ECAC Hockey League after competing for four seasons as a Division III program. Similar
to their Ivy League counterparts in the ECAC, Union does
not offer athletic scholarships.
MAHWAH, NJ-Senior pitcher Jamie Anzaldi
picked up her 14th shutout of the season as she blanked Union on two
hits to lead Ramapo to a 6-0 victory over the
Dutchwomen in a loser's bracket game of the NCAA Division III Eastern Regional
Softball Tournament at Ramapo College.
Head coach Pete Brown waves home sophomore Erika Eisenhut in the fourth inning of Union's 3-2 win over Allegheny.
The loss ends Union's season at 25-5
while Ramapo, the event's second seed, needs to
defeat top-ranked Moravian twice on Sunday (May 9) if they are to advance to
next week's World Series in Salem, Virginia. Union, which went into
the event as the fourth seed, defeated No. 3 Allegheny, 3-2, behind the
pitching of Abby Arceneaux and the hitting of
freshman second basewoman Colleen White.
Anzaldi, who allowed just one walk
in pitching Ramapo over Allegheny, 1-0, on Friday
(May 7), allowed a first-inning bunt single to Arceneaux
and a one-out single to left by sophomore shortstop Beth Carcone. Anzaldi, who came
into the game with a 20-5 record, an earned run average of 0.51, and 134
strikeouts, fanned nine Dutchwomen, walked three, and allowed two balls to
leave the infield….Carcone's single and a fly out to
center off the bat of Erika Eisenhut in the fifth.
Ramapo, which improves to 35-7,
scored three times in the first on three hits, added a run in the fifth and two
in the seventh, one of which was a home run by Andrea Pastiglione.
Union sophomore Jackie Coffey, who had thrown 132 pitches
while leading the Dutchwomen to a 4-3, 10-inning win over Staten
Island in the tournament opener Friday morning, picked up just her
third career loss in 26 decisions.
Arceneaux, who lost to Moravian,
5-2, on Friday afternoon, was in complete control against Allegheny. She continually got in front of the hitters
and had the Gators completely off stride while finishing with a five-hitter
that included eight strikeouts.
Freshman second basewoman Colleen White scores what turned out to be the winning run in the Dutchwomen's 3-2 victory over Allegheny. White also had a pair of rbi singles in the game.
White, who finished the season as the Dutchwomen's top run
producer, drove in her 22nd run of the year in the fourth to snap a
0-0 tie and made it 2-0 in the sixth before Caitlin DelZotto's
single in the sixth proved to be the game-winning hit.
Erika Eisenhut helped build the
Dutchwomen's first run when she was hit with a pitch on a one-ball, two-strike
count (after falling behind two strikes) and promptly stole second. She easily beat the throw home on White's
single to right.
Union scored two in the sixth as Arceneaux, the team's leading hitter, opened the frame with
a single to left and moved to second as Julie Gawronski's
batted ball was booted for an infield error.
White's single plated Arceneaux and Gawronski scored on DelZotto's
hit.
The 2004 Dutchwomen posted a record of 25-5 while earning their second-straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Union graduated slugger Jill Ring after putting together a 26-7 record in 2003 and does not have a single senior on this year's roster.
“It was another outstanding season,” said seventh-year head
coach Pete Brown, whose Dutchwomen do not have a senior on the roster. “We fell a little short of achieving our goal
of moving on to the World Series, but a two-year record of 51-12 and the
program's first two trips to the NCAA tournament isn't
too bad. These women will continue to
improve and two trips to the national tournament shows
them exactly what they need to do in the off season if we are to qualify for
the NCAAs again next year and then win the regional
title.
“The entire team should be proud of its accomplishments; I
know Brian (assistant coach Brian Speck) and I are extremely proud of the these women, as people and as players.”
