Posted on Jun 5, 2006

Jim Tedisco doesn't remember everything about Tuesday, Dec. 29, 1970.

It was windy, cold. The winter temperature hit only 21 in Schenectady. And his Union College basketball team was leading the University at Albany 66-65, with just over a minute left in the game.

Tedisco, the Dutchmen's hotshot guard, was fouled by one of the Great Danes. He stepped to the foul line, made two shots and gave Union a 68-65 edge – a lead the team never relinquished.

With the win, Union took the 1970 Capital District Basketball Tournament, a hoop party that also brought together Siena and RPI. Tedisco was named most valuable player, and took home a small golden man on a wooden base, right arm outstretched, basketball in the palm.

Almost 36 years later, the college basketball star from Rotterdam has become the Republican leader in the state Assembly. The trophy from 1970 is also in Albany – on a table behind Tedisco's desk.

“I could never throw them out,” said Tedisco, 55, of the hundreds of trophies won during his high school and college days, and in later years. “To me, they're meaningful, they're a big part of my life.”

As athletes age, many give up games they love. Another decision comes later – the fate of silverand gold-colored mementos won on fields and courts of honor.

Some entomb softball, golfing and bowling figurines in cardboard boxes, burying them in basement corners. That's what happened to a lot of Tedisco's trophies, and he hated to do it.

The assemblyman keeps a few at work as reminders of past glory. Two silver bowls, each with a little tarnish, were given to Tedisco in 1971 and 1972, when he was named the nation's Division III player of the year.

LITTLE PIECES OF HISTORY
Schenectady clinical psychologist Rudy Nydegger offers a good reason people keep sports awards.

“It's kind of a tangible attachment to a point in your life that's probably worth remembering,” said Nydegger, also a psychology professor at Union College. “So in that sense, it's just a little piece of history there. Throwing them away, of course, becomes almost like a break with the past, disassociating yourself from your history, and probably that's hard to do.”

Nothing wrong with showing them off. Professional athletes may have display cases or rooms for their awards; when friends and family visit, they often want to see the hardware.

Pieces from the past can do more than just decorate an office. “Somebody might say, ‘You know what? I keep it out there because it's always a good thing to kind of break the ice and get a conversation started,' ” Nydegger said.

Tedisco knows the stories behind his trophies, and likes to tell them. One 1968 tribute in his office came from Sports Illustrated, who named the Bishop Gibbons High School senior a “face in the crowd” for scoring 55 points in a game.

“Back then, it was a lot of points,” Tedisco said. “No three-pointers. It was a night where everything I threw up went in the basket. I think I was like 19 for 21; I don't think I missed a foul shot.”

Tedisco also has two basketballs in his Assembly trophy assembly. One marked his 1,000 th career point at Union; he got the other after becoming Union's all-time scoring leader in 1971.

He doesn't keep them to hang onto the past. “These trophies represent hours bouncing a basketball, shoveling snow off a basketball court,” he said. They represent something else, too -competition, working together as a team and knowing your role on a team – all things Tedisco said he learned in uniform.

Posted on Jun 5, 2006

Jonathan Gerard is looking forward to his summer break. 

He's going to spend two weeks of it living, eating and working with two dozen strangers on a tiny wooden ship tossing about on the Atlantic Ocean. Oh, and he's paying for it, and there will be a test at the end. 

Gerard, of Albany, is a student at Union College, majoring in American history and pre-med. He and 11 other Union students will spend Wednesday through June 24 on the Half Moon, a replica of the 1609 ship Henry Hudson used to explore the New World for the Dutch East India Company. 

The students are the first participants in a new mini-term course involving the college and the New Netherlands Museum, which owns the Half Moon. 

Union Professor Carol S. Weisse designed the course after she had a “life-changing” experience on the Half Moon two years ago. She served as a volunteer cook on the ship when it was used to film the movie “New World.” 

“I felt it would be a wonderful program for Union College students to participate in,” Weisse said. The ship's 12-member crew will join the students, but the students, novices all, will have to help run the ship.

“They will have to learn how to sail, navigate, chart weather patterns and be involved in every kind of duty a sailor would have done 400 years ago,” Weisse said.

They will learn sailing firsthand, under the watchful eyes of the experienced crew and captain, Weisse said. “He's very safety conscious,” she said.

To earn their college credits, students will conduct labs, maintain a field journal and write a final paper, she said. Course work will combine history, environmental science, maritime medicine and geography.

They will study soil samples, area plants and wildlife and do water chemistry. They will read journals of 17 th century Half Moon sailors and compare those accounts with current conditions.

During their trip, the nine men and three women students, most 19 and 20, will live on the Half Moon with the sailors and with Weisse, Union Professor Robert Wells and Betsy Henry, a water chemistry professor.

The tiny wooden Half Moon, built to hold a crew of 20, lacks most modern conveniences, other than a bathroom and kitchen. Students will sleep on a deck floor, along with the anchor cable. They will climb masts and stand latenight watch, much as did 17 th century sailors.

“There are no showers, beds, cell phones or Internet,” Weisse said.

The Half Moon will set sail from Athens and travel to the three rivers that once defined the boundaries of New Netherland: the Hudson, Delaware and Connecticut. The ship will end its trip in Wilmington, Del.

Students had to write an essay to get on the ship, Weisse said. “We were looking for adventurous students,” she said.

Gerard said he jumped at the chance to sail on the ship.

“I'm an American history buff. When I first heard about the trip, I didn't know it was for credit. I thought it was a great opportunity. When I learned more, and found out it was for credit, I jumped at it. It's a chance to learn more about the roots of the country and how it was discovered,” he said.

He admits he's a bit intimidated by the trip and the idea of spending two weeks in close quarters with strangers. “But I know it will build relationships and I'm absolutely thrilled about this adventure,” Gerard said.

His only worry: “I hope I don't get seasick.” 
 
 
 
 
  
 

Posted on Jun 5, 2006

A 1969 Union College graduate who lost a tight presidential election in Zambia four years ago that brought allegations of corruption and ballot-stuffing, has died.

Anderson K. Mazoka, 63, a business executive who led an opposition party in the African nation, died on May 24 in a Johannesburg, South Africa medical clinic, according to published reports.

“He was a wonderful, wonderful person and a great student,” said Mazoka's former faculty advisor, Dick Shanebrook, a professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Union, in a statement released by the school. “He was amazing. He always wanted to better himself.”

Shanebrook and his wife, Joan, had Mazoka over for dinner several times when he was a student, he noted. Mazoka built his senior thesis, a wind tunnel, in 10 weeks for less than $100. The college named it the “Mazoka Wind Tunnel” and used it for instructional purposes for more than 30 years, Shanebrook recalled.

Mazoka, who distinguished himself as a soccer player at Union and worked summers at General Electric, served as chief executive officer of Zambia Railways, one of that country's main rail systems. He later became general manager of Anglo-America Corp., a mining and general resources company.

“He was so loyal to Zambia, always talking about it,” Shanebrook said. “He wanted to do great things for his country, and he did.” By 2001, Mazoka, the founding president of Zambia's United Party for National Development, was in a tight race against leading party candidate Levy Mwanawasa. Mazoka declared himself the winner at one point in January 2002, only to lose the race when ballots were counted. His loss in Zambia's third-ever presidential election not only sparked street protests in the nation, but the allegations of corruption and vote-rigging.

“If he comes into power, you're going to be emptying and shutting off the siphon of money for a lot of corrupt people,” Vinson Lewis, a Schenectady native whose sister, Zenobia Lewis, was once married to Mazoka, told the Times Union.

Ulrich Schweitzer, a Westchester County man who served Mazoka's home state parent while he studied in America, told the paper at the time that he wasn't surprised to see the African native become such a high-profile leader.

“He was a very charismatic person,” Schweitzer said. “He attracts people. I would have assumed he would be successful.”

Posted on Jun 2, 2006

Anderson Mazoka, who graduated from the College in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, died last month in a South African hospital. He was 63.

Mazoka garnered worldwide attention in 2001 when he was president of the United Party for National Development, Zambia's chief opposition party.

That December, Mazoka narrowly lost to President Levy Mwanawasa of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) party, collecting 27 percent of the vote. He unsuccessfully sought to have the results overturned by the country's Supreme Court, alleging corruption and ballot-stuffing.

The South African businessman was expected to challenge Mwanawasa again later this year when his term was up.

Mazoka died of kidney complications May 23 after he had been admitted to a hospital for a routine medical checkup, according to newspaper reports in Lusaka. He had been on dialysis following kidney failure caused by suspected poisoning, according to the reports.

While at Union, Mazoka designed and built a wind tunnel in just 10 weeks for his senior thesis. The project attracted media attention because of the size of the tunnel, which filled a large room in the basement of Science and Engineering. The tunnel was used for more than three decades by students and faculty.

In a 2002 interview, Mazoka's faculty advisor, Dick Shanebrook, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, remembered his former student as “personable, friendly and very persistent.''

Posted on Jun 1, 2006

The College is hosting an evening of dessert and dancing for graduating seniors and their parents on Saturday, June 10, 8-11 p.m. on Rugby Field. The evening includes a band, dancing, light desserts and refreshments, and a cash bar.

“We've welcomed approximately 1500 people to each Gala we've hosted,” says Theresa Finney '04, assistant director of Alumni Relations. “This is a great opportunity for faculty to come and wish their students and families farewell and good luck.”

No need to RVSP; simply show up on Rugby Field. For more information, visit www.union.edu/commencement or call the Alumni Relations Office at x6168.