[TonyLima]

Slightly OT. When was the last time the men's basketball team played in the post-season and the women's team didn't? I figure you gotta go back at least 32 years.

[TonyLima]

Slightly OT. When was the last time the men's basketball team played in the post-season and the women's team didn't? I figure you gotta go back at least 32 years.

[Spiny_Norman]

Slightly OT. When was the last time the men's basketball team played in the post-season and the women's team didn't? I figure you gotta go back at least 32 years.

Probably 1942. Remember the men didn’t play any postseason games from 1942 until the 1988 NIT.

[Spiny_Norman]

Slightly OT. When was the last time the men's basketball team played in the post-season and the women's team didn't? I figure you gotta go back at least 32 years.

Probably 1942. Remember the men didn’t play any postseason games from 1942 until the 1988 NIT.

[M T]

And do note, Stanford WBB is playing in the postseason this year, as are the men.

[M T]

And do note, Stanford WBB is playing in the postseason this year, as are the men.

[BobK]

Oh ?? Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

[BobK]

Oh ?? Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

[81alum]

Oh ??  Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

Led by Howie Dallmar, who later became head coach for 21 seasons.  He could never do as a coach what he accomplished as a player.

[81alum]

Oh ??  Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

Led by Howie Dallmar, who later became head coach for 21 seasons.  He could never do as a coach what he accomplished as a player.

[StanUSwagU]

Oh ??  Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

Led by Howie Dallmar, who later became head coach for 21 seasons.  He could never do as a coach what he accomplished as a player.

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

[StanUSwagU]

Oh ??  Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

Led by Howie Dallmar, who later became head coach for 21 seasons.  He could never do as a coach what he accomplished as a player.

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

[GK3]

Oh ??  Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

Led by Howie Dallmar, who later became head coach for 21 seasons.  He could never do as a coach what he accomplished as a player.

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God  ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

Or you have to wear a white shirt to sit in the Student Section and do card stunts?  When was the last time we ever did that?  I was one of those who did that.

[GK3]

Oh ??  Stanford won their only ncaa title in 1942.

Led by Howie Dallmar, who later became head coach for 21 seasons.  He could never do as a coach what he accomplished as a player.

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God  ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

Or you have to wear a white shirt to sit in the Student Section and do card stunts?  When was the last time we ever did that?  I was one of those who did that.

[TonyLima]

And do note, Stanford WBB is playing in the postseason this year, as are the men.

Yeah, I finally figured that out. Question withdrawn.

[TonyLima]

And do note, Stanford WBB is playing in the postseason this year, as are the men.

Yeah, I finally figured that out. Question withdrawn.

[fullmetal]

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God  ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

In 1942, there would have been no Japanese students allowed.  Minority students (black, Jewish, Latino, etc.) were few and far between.  People were still dying of polio, influenza, diptheria, etc.  I'm guessing university enrollment everywhere was lower due to wartime enlistment, and that affected the competitive landscape.  Hank Luisetti, of Stanford basketball fame, suffered a bout of near-fatal spinal meningitis that prevented him from playing professionally for the Knicks (or any team ever again) in 1946.

In 1949 Wallace Sterling became president (1949–1968) and he oversaw the rise of Stanford from a regional university to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Before the 1950s many regarded Stanford as being "a college for the children of wealthy parents".

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1435607944

Basically, Stanford in 1942 was SMU right about now (or some years prior to their ACC membership).

There should be no wistful longing to return to Stanford of 1942, nor should that time be held as a standard for Stanford of today.

[fullmetal]

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God  ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

In 1942, there would have been no Japanese students allowed.  Minority students (black, Jewish, Latino, etc.) were few and far between.  People were still dying of polio, influenza, diptheria, etc.  I'm guessing university enrollment everywhere was lower due to wartime enlistment, and that affected the competitive landscape.  Hank Luisetti, of Stanford basketball fame, suffered a bout of near-fatal spinal meningitis that prevented him from playing professionally for the Knicks (or any team ever again) in 1946.

In 1949 Wallace Sterling became president (1949–1968) and he oversaw the rise of Stanford from a regional university to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Before the 1950s many regarded Stanford as being "a college for the children of wealthy parents".

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1435607944

Basically, Stanford in 1942 was SMU right about now (or some years prior to their ACC membership).

There should be no wistful longing to return to Stanford of 1942, nor should that time be held as a standard for Stanford of today.

[Goose]

In 1942, there would have been no Japanese students allowed.  Minority students (black, Jewish, Latino, etc.) were few and far between.  People were still dying of polio, influenza, diptheria, etc.  I'm guessing university enrollment everywhere was lower due to wartime enlistment, and that affected the competitive landscape.

Actually the University was beyond full. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/stanford-s...ture/1940s Stanford was full of students that were not "admitted" by normal channels. As the article states the military took over the University. The fate of Stanford's (few) Japanese students is also covered. During the war years I seriously doubt admission standards were "normal", as the number of places available to non-military students was not under Stanford's control.

[Goose]

In 1942, there would have been no Japanese students allowed.  Minority students (black, Jewish, Latino, etc.) were few and far between.  People were still dying of polio, influenza, diptheria, etc.  I'm guessing university enrollment everywhere was lower due to wartime enlistment, and that affected the competitive landscape.

Actually the University was beyond full. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/stanford-s...ture/1940s Stanford was full of students that were not "admitted" by normal channels. As the article states the military took over the University. The fate of Stanford's (few) Japanese students is also covered. During the war years I seriously doubt admission standards were "normal", as the number of places available to non-military students was not under Stanford's control.

[jacket3ree]

I always thought nostalgia should be reserved for the future, not the past. (I recognize that is non-sensical, only mean to say that as fondly as we remember yesterday, it was really probably a shit show.)

I recently read Bissinger's The Mosquito Bowl. He's the author of Friday Night Lights. The unifying event was a football game between the 4th and 29th Regiments of the 6th Marine Division, played on a dirt and coral field on Guadalcanal right before the invasion of Okinawa. The regiments had prominent college and NFL players. The game ended in a scoreless tie and barely occupies two pages of the narrative. The narrative is about love and war and life in the late '30s and early '40s and an ungodly casualty rate among game participants.

My grandfather invaded Saipan in 1944 as a LCDR one month before turning 43, losing the use of his right arm in the process, and I still have his yearbook about all of that. Brutal, brutal times. No longing to go back to that.

As related to this thread, if you think the NIL/Portal era is the wild west, it was nuts during the war. Star players (all white of course) moved around in V12 programs and played wherever they were stationed, and there were examples of players suiting up for different teams in the same season.  Army and Navy (especially Army) dominated because that was a way to basically dodge the war with three years at an academy guaranteed. Supposedly Iowa Pre-Flight missed the 1943 national championship by one missed extra point against Notre Dame.

Stanford temporarily dropped football in 1943, I believe.

[jacket3ree]

I always thought nostalgia should be reserved for the future, not the past. (I recognize that is non-sensical, only mean to say that as fondly as we remember yesterday, it was really probably a shit show.)

I recently read Bissinger's The Mosquito Bowl. He's the author of Friday Night Lights. The unifying event was a football game between the 4th and 29th Regiments of the 6th Marine Division, played on a dirt and coral field on Guadalcanal right before the invasion of Okinawa. The regiments had prominent college and NFL players. The game ended in a scoreless tie and barely occupies two pages of the narrative. The narrative is about love and war and life in the late '30s and early '40s and an ungodly casualty rate among game participants.

My grandfather invaded Saipan in 1944 as a LCDR one month before turning 43, losing the use of his right arm in the process, and I still have his yearbook about all of that. Brutal, brutal times. No longing to go back to that.

As related to this thread, if you think the NIL/Portal era is the wild west, it was nuts during the war. Star players (all white of course) moved around in V12 programs and played wherever they were stationed, and there were examples of players suiting up for different teams in the same season.  Army and Navy (especially Army) dominated because that was a way to basically dodge the war with three years at an academy guaranteed. Supposedly Iowa Pre-Flight missed the 1943 national championship by one missed extra point against Notre Dame.

Stanford temporarily dropped football in 1943, I believe.

[BostonCard]

In the words of Mary Schmich, as immortalized in that famous song by Baz Luhrman in the song "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", "[Nostalgia] is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth."

BC

[BostonCard]

In the words of Mary Schmich, as immortalized in that famous song by Baz Luhrman in the song "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", "[Nostalgia] is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth."

BC

[fullmetal]

Actually the University was beyond full. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/stanford-s...ture/1940s Stanford was full of students that were not "admitted" by normal channels. As the article states the military took over the University. The fate of Stanford's (few) Japanese students is also covered. During the war years I seriously doubt admission standards were "normal", as the number of places available to non-military students was not under Stanford's control.

Great link Goose, thank you for that connection.  And I remember now the engineering emphasis on military technologies that were developed in part or in full on Stanford's grounds.  

https://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-se...-stanford/

[fullmetal]

Actually the University was beyond full. https://exhibits.stanford.edu/stanford-s...ture/1940s Stanford was full of students that were not "admitted" by normal channels. As the article states the military took over the University. The fate of Stanford's (few) Japanese students is also covered. During the war years I seriously doubt admission standards were "normal", as the number of places available to non-military students was not under Stanford's control.

Great link Goose, thank you for that connection.  And I remember now the engineering emphasis on military technologies that were developed in part or in full on Stanford's grounds.  

https://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-se...-stanford/

[TonyLima]

Most impressive thread drift in recent memory! Congrats to all who participated.

[TonyLima]

Most impressive thread drift in recent memory! Congrats to all who participated.

[Mick]

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God  ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

In 1942, there would have been no Japanese students allowed.  Minority students (black, Jewish, Latino, etc.) were few and far between.  People were still dying of polio, influenza, diptheria, etc.  I'm guessing university enrollment everywhere was lower due to wartime enlistment, and that affected the competitive landscape.  Hank Luisetti, of Stanford basketball fame, suffered a bout of near-fatal spinal meningitis that prevented him from playing professionally for the Knicks (or any team ever again) in 1946.

In 1949 Wallace Sterling became president (1949–1968) and he oversaw the rise of Stanford from a regional university to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Before the 1950s many regarded Stanford as being "a college for the children of wealthy parents".

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1435607944

Basically, Stanford in 1942 was SMU right about now (or some years prior to their ACC membership).

There should be no wistful longing to return to Stanford of 1942, nor should that time be held as a standard for Stanford of today.

My grandparents were class of '42, and I think they would share your sentiment. Granddad never expressed any longing for that period. He attended most of the home football games as he was in the area. His son, my father, was born at Stanford Hospital in 1942. But Granddad expressed no nostalgia for the time period, and the few times he discussed it weren't particularly wistful.

For example, his roommate at Stanford was Jewish, and Granddad (of Irish/French descent) considered him a close friend, and put him up for his fraternity only to have the fraternity turn him down. He was genuinely puzzled, until the frat president explained that he was Jewish and would join a Jewish fraternity.

Granddad was taking a Japanese Economic History class that met at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and that's how he found out about Pearl Harbor. My grandmother was already five months pregnant with my dad. The war took over their lives and Granddad spent it in the Navy working at the Pentagon as a computer operator after he graduated.

Granddad grew up in a small town in Idaho, and his best friend there, who was Japanese-American, spent the war in an internment camp. Granddad's only sister married a native Hawaiian of Japanese descent. Granddad attended every one of his high school reunions and always looked forward to catching up with his former buddy. But he never attended a single Stanford class reunion. He was proud of the school, he had many dear friends from Stanford, including Charlie Seaver (predated him by a decade, but they were in the same business) and admired and appreciated Stanford for how it grew and evolved from the SMU of the time (Granddad would probably have said USC) into what it is today. But I never heard either of my grandparents once express any admiration or affection for Stanford in the 1940s.

[Mick]

I wonder if in 1942,

• If Stanford clutched its pearls as rigidly as it does today in 2025, about thinking their 'academic standards' were better than Notre Dame or Duke, or unchangeable edicts/standards from God  ?

• If the Stanford Band ran around the football field, like chickens with their heads cut off, or mice scurrying around after the kitchen lights were turned on at night, or if they played & marched like a traditional sane college-band (Dont mean to offend any LSJUMB members, but I just wonder if maybe our current band could do 1/2 the games as a traditional marching band, & the other half as the irreverent band, just to make sure some Athletes and students who like great marching bands that march in unison aren't turned off from coming to Stanford)

• If the student body took pride in calling themselves 'Nerds' ?


Just wondering ....

In 1942, there would have been no Japanese students allowed.  Minority students (black, Jewish, Latino, etc.) were few and far between.  People were still dying of polio, influenza, diptheria, etc.  I'm guessing university enrollment everywhere was lower due to wartime enlistment, and that affected the competitive landscape.  Hank Luisetti, of Stanford basketball fame, suffered a bout of near-fatal spinal meningitis that prevented him from playing professionally for the Knicks (or any team ever again) in 1946.

In 1949 Wallace Sterling became president (1949–1968) and he oversaw the rise of Stanford from a regional university to one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Before the 1950s many regarded Stanford as being "a college for the children of wealthy parents".

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1435607944

Basically, Stanford in 1942 was SMU right about now (or some years prior to their ACC membership).

There should be no wistful longing to return to Stanford of 1942, nor should that time be held as a standard for Stanford of today.

My grandparents were class of '42, and I think they would share your sentiment. Granddad never expressed any longing for that period. He attended most of the home football games as he was in the area. His son, my father, was born at Stanford Hospital in 1942. But Granddad expressed no nostalgia for the time period, and the few times he discussed it weren't particularly wistful.

For example, his roommate at Stanford was Jewish, and Granddad (of Irish/French descent) considered him a close friend, and put him up for his fraternity only to have the fraternity turn him down. He was genuinely puzzled, until the frat president explained that he was Jewish and would join a Jewish fraternity.

Granddad was taking a Japanese Economic History class that met at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and that's how he found out about Pearl Harbor. My grandmother was already five months pregnant with my dad. The war took over their lives and Granddad spent it in the Navy working at the Pentagon as a computer operator after he graduated.

Granddad grew up in a small town in Idaho, and his best friend there, who was Japanese-American, spent the war in an internment camp. Granddad's only sister married a native Hawaiian of Japanese descent. Granddad attended every one of his high school reunions and always looked forward to catching up with his former buddy. But he never attended a single Stanford class reunion. He was proud of the school, he had many dear friends from Stanford, including Charlie Seaver (predated him by a decade, but they were in the same business) and admired and appreciated Stanford for how it grew and evolved from the SMU of the time (Granddad would probably have said USC) into what it is today. But I never heard either of my grandparents once express any admiration or affection for Stanford in the 1940s.

[M T]

Granddad was taking a Japanese Economic History class that met at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and that's how he found out about Pearl Harbor. 

That would be like not knowing about 9/11 until 9/12 !  Obviously no TV and probably no car (with radio). I can imagine he got no newspaper on Sunday night or Monday morning. I can imagine not listening to the radio at all on Sunday. But someone around where he lived or shopped (most stores would be closed) or studied or worshipped would be talking about it on Sunday. Did he say why he was so insulated that day?

I have never attended a reunion of my college but did attend a couple of my high school. That doesn’t mean for me that there was anything wrong with the school or the time.

[M T]

Granddad was taking a Japanese Economic History class that met at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and that's how he found out about Pearl Harbor. 

That would be like not knowing about 9/11 until 9/12 !  Obviously no TV and probably no car (with radio). I can imagine he got no newspaper on Sunday night or Monday morning. I can imagine not listening to the radio at all on Sunday. But someone around where he lived or shopped (most stores would be closed) or studied or worshipped would be talking about it on Sunday. Did he say why he was so insulated that day?

I have never attended a reunion of my college but did attend a couple of my high school. That doesn’t mean for me that there was anything wrong with the school or the time.

[Mick]

Granddad was taking a Japanese Economic History class that met at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and that's how he found out about Pearl Harbor. 

That would be like not knowing about 9/11 until 9/12 !  Obviously no TV and probably no car (with radio). I can imagine he got no newspaper on Sunday night or Monday morning. I can imagine not listening to the radio at all on Sunday. But someone around where he lived or shopped (most stores would be closed) or studied or worshipped would be talking about it on Sunday. Did he say why he was so insulated that day?

I have never attended a reunion of my college but did attend a couple of my high school. That doesn’t mean for me that there was anything wrong with the school or the time.

No television, and he was studying for the upcoming week on a Sunday. Basically sequestered himself. Lifelong habit of his. Said he first heard of of the Pearl Harbor attack from his next door neighbor early Monday morning. When he arrived at the JEH class, there were 100+ people in a classroom set up for a dozen. The professor, a Japanese national (who was in an embassorial capacity) arrived five minutes late, clearly shaken. He said "yesterday, the Empire of Japan declared war upon the United States of America." Then went on to say that, while he felt Japan was in the right with respect to the dispute over rubber, oil and other commodities, he felt that they had chosen the wrong way to express that difference. And then, the biggest MP Granddad had ever seen before or since, entered the classroom and took the professor away in handcuffs.

With respect to the reunions, I do think it says something if you attend literally every single high school reunion for 60 years in which the high school is three states and nearly 1,000 miles away but you don't attend any college reunions during that time when the college is 25 miles away.

I leavened my comments with my own observations after knowing the man for 40 years. He was clearly fond of Stanford and well remembered his time there. At the same time, I don't think he felt nostalgia for that time period, and I know that my grandmother didn't. She felt that the time period didn't represent America's best or future. She didn't like the lack of a social safety net, the lack of medicine (she lost her sister at a young age when the sister fell, skinned her knee and it became infected), the omnipresent smoking, the Great Depression, WWII, the casual violence of rural America, the persistent local political corruption and a variety of other things, all of which she opined on to me.

[Mick]

Granddad was taking a Japanese Economic History class that met at 8 a.m. on Mondays, and that's how he found out about Pearl Harbor. 

That would be like not knowing about 9/11 until 9/12 !  Obviously no TV and probably no car (with radio). I can imagine he got no newspaper on Sunday night or Monday morning. I can imagine not listening to the radio at all on Sunday. But someone around where he lived or shopped (most stores would be closed) or studied or worshipped would be talking about it on Sunday. Did he say why he was so insulated that day?

I have never attended a reunion of my college but did attend a couple of my high school. That doesn’t mean for me that there was anything wrong with the school or the time.

No television, and he was studying for the upcoming week on a Sunday. Basically sequestered himself. Lifelong habit of his. Said he first heard of of the Pearl Harbor attack from his next door neighbor early Monday morning. When he arrived at the JEH class, there were 100+ people in a classroom set up for a dozen. The professor, a Japanese national (who was in an embassorial capacity) arrived five minutes late, clearly shaken. He said "yesterday, the Empire of Japan declared war upon the United States of America." Then went on to say that, while he felt Japan was in the right with respect to the dispute over rubber, oil and other commodities, he felt that they had chosen the wrong way to express that difference. And then, the biggest MP Granddad had ever seen before or since, entered the classroom and took the professor away in handcuffs.

With respect to the reunions, I do think it says something if you attend literally every single high school reunion for 60 years in which the high school is three states and nearly 1,000 miles away but you don't attend any college reunions during that time when the college is 25 miles away.

I leavened my comments with my own observations after knowing the man for 40 years. He was clearly fond of Stanford and well remembered his time there. At the same time, I don't think he felt nostalgia for that time period, and I know that my grandmother didn't. She felt that the time period didn't represent America's best or future. She didn't like the lack of a social safety net, the lack of medicine (she lost her sister at a young age when the sister fell, skinned her knee and it became infected), the omnipresent smoking, the Great Depression, WWII, the casual violence of rural America, the persistent local political corruption and a variety of other things, all of which she opined on to me.

[82lsju]

With respect to the reunions, I do think it says something if you attend literally every single high school reunion for 60 years in which the high school is three states and nearly 1,000 miles away but you don't attend any college reunions during that time when the college is 25 miles away.

Reunions are interesting events.  I've worked on all eight of my Stanford reunions and find there are many local people who never attend them, the most common reason seems to be "I'm in contact with my friends/the people I would want to see so I don't need to go to reunions".  Outside of the Stanford reunions my dorm in 1979-80 (Serra) has organized two "dorm reunions" over the years where everyone we could get contact info for who lived in the dorm from 1978-1981 was invited.  These were a lot of fun as you got to see people from adjacent classes that you typically don't see at a class reunion.

[82lsju]

With respect to the reunions, I do think it says something if you attend literally every single high school reunion for 60 years in which the high school is three states and nearly 1,000 miles away but you don't attend any college reunions during that time when the college is 25 miles away.

Reunions are interesting events.  I've worked on all eight of my Stanford reunions and find there are many local people who never attend them, the most common reason seems to be "I'm in contact with my friends/the people I would want to see so I don't need to go to reunions".  Outside of the Stanford reunions my dorm in 1979-80 (Serra) has organized two "dorm reunions" over the years where everyone we could get contact info for who lived in the dorm from 1978-1981 was invited.  These were a lot of fun as you got to see people from adjacent classes that you typically don't see at a class reunion.

[jacket3ree]

Liking the thread since it has drifted.

1. Any thread that references Sunscreen is a good thread. Kudos BC. There are many videos on Youtube that go with Baz Luhrmann's soundtrack. I probably find one every couple of months for the type of affirmation Stuart Smalley could never provide.  Even though that wasn't an actual commencement address (Schmich wrote the hypothetical address she would give, in the Chicago Tribune), they should have retired commencement addresses after that.

2. Like Mick, my grandfather grew up in small town Idaho. Born 1901 and raised in Shoshone. He was in the first graduating civil engineering class in Moscow (Idaho). He and my grandmother (Gotebo, OK and educated at Columbia University where she met him while he was in New York for some reason) were tough as nails. He was building dams across the west for BuRec. All the big ones. Shasta, Coulee, Hoover. All the small ones. When the war broke out he forced himself into a construction battalion in the Navy and forced himself into the action. He was a Seabee and island hopped with the Marines as an XO telling the combat engineers what to do and out there doing it. She worked for the American Association of University Women and then went west with Andy to live in damsite camps, teach, and eventually sell real estate in Billings, MT. She found out through censored mail that he was returning from the far east. She was camped out in Idaho with my dad and figured out on her own that his ship would land within a certain window of time in either New Orleans or San Francisco. She went to San Francisco because it was closer, the weather better (certainly for camping outside for two weeks waiting for a ship that didn't have him as a passenger), and Gump's. In January 1972 in a house full of Michigan men and women, I watched her root for Stanford because of that experience and Rod Garcia was 'a little guy and I like the little guys.' She passed nearly 50 years ago but would be thrilled I work a few blocks from Gump's. She would not be thrilled that I've purchased exactly nothing there. On any list of who who you want to have dinner with, living or dead, Fay and Andy are on the list along with my late brother.

3. Yeah, reunions are interesting. I've never been to a high school reunion other than two of my wife's and those were.....a thing. She was a popular cheerleader voted "friendliest." Good lord she was popular and certainly not because she ultimately married this dufus. I found a barstool next to a classmate of hers just released from prison. My 40th is this fall in Atlanta. Class doesn't really mean anything - I'm close to certain folks across several years there and we stay in touch. I would go for the football and to pretend my liver was 40 years younger. It is wild to see someone for the first time in 30 or 40 years and think, 'holy crap, you look old' and know that they look at you and are saying the exact same in their head. I went to a funeral for someone I worked for and with for 28 years, and that happened in spades last Sunday.

For the nostalgic, enjoy courtesy of BC. But really, find the soundtrack somewhere.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists
Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
Than my own meandering experience
I will dispense this advice now
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back
At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now
How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked
You are not as fat as you imagine
Don't worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying
Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum
The real troubles in your life
Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday
Do one thing every day that scares you
Sing
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours
Floss
Don't waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind
The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
Stretch
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life
The most interesting people I know
Didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't
Get plenty of calcium
Be kind to your knees
You'll miss them when they're gone
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken'
On your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much
Or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can
Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own
Dance
Even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room
Read the directions even if you don't follow them
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
But with a precious few, you should hold on
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
For as the older you get
The more you need the people you knew when you were young
Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard
Live in northern California once but leave before it makes you soft
Travel
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don't expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Don't mess too much with your hair
Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
And recycling it for more than it's worth
But trust me on the sunscreen

[jacket3ree]

Liking the thread since it has drifted.

1. Any thread that references Sunscreen is a good thread. Kudos BC. There are many videos on Youtube that go with Baz Luhrmann's soundtrack. I probably find one every couple of months for the type of affirmation Stuart Smalley could never provide.  Even though that wasn't an actual commencement address (Schmich wrote the hypothetical address she would give, in the Chicago Tribune), they should have retired commencement addresses after that.

2. Like Mick, my grandfather grew up in small town Idaho. Born 1901 and raised in Shoshone. He was in the first graduating civil engineering class in Moscow (Idaho). He and my grandmother (Gotebo, OK and educated at Columbia University where she met him while he was in New York for some reason) were tough as nails. He was building dams across the west for BuRec. All the big ones. Shasta, Coulee, Hoover. All the small ones. When the war broke out he forced himself into a construction battalion in the Navy and forced himself into the action. He was a Seabee and island hopped with the Marines as an XO telling the combat engineers what to do and out there doing it. She worked for the American Association of University Women and then went west with Andy to live in damsite camps, teach, and eventually sell real estate in Billings, MT. She found out through censored mail that he was returning from the far east. She was camped out in Idaho with my dad and figured out on her own that his ship would land within a certain window of time in either New Orleans or San Francisco. She went to San Francisco because it was closer, the weather better (certainly for camping outside for two weeks waiting for a ship that didn't have him as a passenger), and Gump's. In January 1972 in a house full of Michigan men and women, I watched her root for Stanford because of that experience and Rod Garcia was 'a little guy and I like the little guys.' She passed nearly 50 years ago but would be thrilled I work a few blocks from Gump's. She would not be thrilled that I've purchased exactly nothing there. On any list of who who you want to have dinner with, living or dead, Fay and Andy are on the list along with my late brother.

3. Yeah, reunions are interesting. I've never been to a high school reunion other than two of my wife's and those were.....a thing. She was a popular cheerleader voted "friendliest." Good lord she was popular and certainly not because she ultimately married this dufus. I found a barstool next to a classmate of hers just released from prison. My 40th is this fall in Atlanta. Class doesn't really mean anything - I'm close to certain folks across several years there and we stay in touch. I would go for the football and to pretend my liver was 40 years younger. It is wild to see someone for the first time in 30 or 40 years and think, 'holy crap, you look old' and know that they look at you and are saying the exact same in their head. I went to a funeral for someone I worked for and with for 28 years, and that happened in spades last Sunday.

For the nostalgic, enjoy courtesy of BC. But really, find the soundtrack somewhere.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '99
Wear sunscreen
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it
The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists
Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
Than my own meandering experience
I will dispense this advice now
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth
Until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back
At photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now
How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked
You are not as fat as you imagine
Don't worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying
Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum
The real troubles in your life
Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday
Do one thing every day that scares you
Sing
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours
Floss
Don't waste your time on jealousy
Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind
The race is long and in the end, it's only with yourself
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
Stretch
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life
The most interesting people I know
Didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't
Get plenty of calcium
Be kind to your knees
You'll miss them when they're gone
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't
Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the 'Funky Chicken'
On your 75th wedding anniversary
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much
Or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can
Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own
Dance
Even if you have nowhere to do it but your own living room
Read the directions even if you don't follow them
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly
Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings, they're your best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
But with a precious few, you should hold on
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle
For as the older you get
The more you need the people you knew when you were young
Live in New York City once but leave before it makes you hard
Live in northern California once but leave before it makes you soft
Travel
Accept certain inalienable truths
Prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too, will get old
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young
Prices were reasonable, politicians were noble
And children respected their elders
Respect your elders
Don't expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Don't mess too much with your hair
Or by the time you're 40 it will look 85
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
And recycling it for more than it's worth
But trust me on the sunscreen