‘World’s most dominant sprinter’ a Baylor Bear
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics
As the 2008 Summer Olympics open tonight in Beijing, Jeremy Wariner is one of four former Baylor track stars gunning for the gold. Darold Williamson and Reggie Witherspoon will join Wariner in competing for the U.S., while Bayano Kamani competes for Panama.
But it’s Wariner who is earning the most press. He will again compete in the 400 meters and the 4×400-meter relay after winning gold medals in both events at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Track stars don’t get quite the notoriety of some other sports’ athletes, but do tend to get incredible coverage every four years when the Olympics roll around, starting with practically round-the-clock coverage on the NBC family of stations.
In Wariner’s case, not only was he named the No. 8 athlete in the world earlier this year in a Wall Street Journal study, but he’s also the subject of a well-written feature in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine. Adidas created this three-minute commercial featuring Wariner (with a 30-second variation ready for airing as well) and even worked with Wariner to design his own shoe, the Lone Star, that complements his unique style of running.
We’ll keep you posted as Wariner, Williamson (4×400 relay), Witherspoon (4×400 relay) and Kamani (400m hurdles) take on the world’s best this month in Beijing.
Sic ’em, Baylor Olympians!
New book profiles alum’s 35 years as a medical missionary
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni
I’ve got almost an entire shelf of books at home that I’ve bought or received as gifts that I haven’t yet found time to read, but I may have to skip over those and get this one first. Rebekah Ann Naylor, M.D.: Missionary Surgeon in Changing Times is a biography of Naylor, a Baylor graduate who spent 35 years as a medical missionary in India.
From reading reviews, the book covers not only what Naylor has done (helping develop Bangalore Baptist Hospital and then serving as both administrator and surgeon, for starters), but also why she did it (her faith and her sense of calling). Such stories often serve as inspiration for me, even as I live and work in the not-so-exotic locale of Waco, Texas — and all the moreso when it’s a fellow Bear’s story!
Incidentally, the book was written by another Baylor alum, Camille Lee Hornbeck, who also taught English at Baylor.
Sic ’em, Dr. Naylor!
Triple-A All-Star one of 22 Bears in pro baseball
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics, Honors
Former Baylor all-Big 12 infielder Mark Saccomanno drove in the winning run in Wednesday night’s Triple-A All-Star Game (video available here), capping off a big first half for the former letterwinner. Through July 20, Saccomanno was hitting .294 and ranked among the league’s top 10 with 27 doubles (tied for ninth), 22 home runs (third) and 68 RBI (seventh).
Saccomanno is one of 22 former Baylor baseball players active in professional baseball. (Click on any player’s name to see his stats and more.) He is joined by Michael Griffin (Reds) and Steven White (Yankees) at the AAA level, one step away from the big leagues. Former first-round pick Mark McCormick (Cardinals) leads a host of Bears at AA that also includes Kyle Reynolds (Cubs), Kevin Russo (Yankees), Drew Sutton (Astros), Cory VanAllen (Nationals), Sean Walker (Astros) and Abe Woody (Diamondbacks).
Four more Baylor alums are active in A-ball: Zach Dillon (Orioles), Seth Fortenberry (Yankees), Jeff Mandel (Nationals) and Tim Matthews (Rockies). Last but not least, four Bears drafted just last month are playing at lower levels: Nick Cassavechia (Tigers), Randall Linebaugh (Reds), Mace Thurman (Reds), and just-signed Beamer Weems (Padres).
Of course, there are also the four Bears in the Major Leagues right now — American League Rookie of the Year candidate David Murphy (Rangers), catcher Kelly Shoppach (Indians), and veteran pitchers Jason Jennings (Rangers) and Kip Wells (Rockies).
Sic ’em, baseball Bears!
J.P. Stapp: ‘fastest man on Earth’ — and quotable alum
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Just for Fun, Alumni
I’m a sucker for strange stories, but stay with me on this one…
I stumbled across this story just the other day, about “the fastest man on Earth,” John Paul Stapp — who just happens to be a Baylor grad (BA ‘31, MA ‘32). In the 1940s and ’50s, Stapp was an Air Force colonel working at a research facility studying the effects of rapid deceleration, testing both the strength of seats and harnesses and the human tolerance to the G forces encountered in simulated plane crashes. Unwilling to risk injury to any of his own men, Stapp repeatedly served as his own test dummy over a period of several years (like in the test pictured at right).
In 1955, Stapp was featured on the cover of Time magazine after he (and the rocket he rode) broke the land speed record. Later in life, he used his research to emphasize the need for seatbelts in cars; when President Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation in 1966 that made seatbelts mandatory, Stapp was in the room.
All of that would be enough for most men, and it was indeed enough of a career that the Baylor Alumni Association included a profile of Stapp in its ongoing “Alumni 150” series in the Baylor Line. But it’s an almost completely unrelated happenstance that makes Stapp — and Baylor by connection — the answer to a trivia question: “Who coined the term ‘Murphy’s Law‘?”
The exact evolution of the phrase is murky, but most signs point to Stapp as the person who first used the term. (This long feature is an excellent read, and details both Stapp’s experiments and how the term came to be.) A captain by the name of Ed Murphy had come to check out Stapp’s experiments. Something went wrong, and Murphy commented on the occurrence. Later at a press conference, Stapp reportedly mentioned that “we do all of our work in consideration of Murphy’s Law.” When questioned, Stapp explained that it was the idea that you had to think through all possibilities before doing a test so as to avoid disaster.
In the years since then, the term has become quite commonplace — even earning a spot in Webster’s Dictionary. All thanks to a Baylor Bear!
Sic ’em, Colonel Stapp - for your life-saving research, and your way with words!
Young alum honored for research in chemistry
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Academics, Alumni, Research
If I asked you to picture a scientist, chances are good that you’d picture a man. In the past, that might have been fair; even in the early 1970s, women made up less than 10% of the science and engineering workforce. In just one generation, however, that number has jumped past 25% — and Baylor graduates are among the leaders in that trend.
Dr. Julia Chan, a 1993 Baylor grad, recently received the Agnes Fay Morgan Research Award, given by Iota Sigma Pi, an honorary society for women in chemistry, for research achievement in chemistry or biochemistry to a woman under the age of 40.
Chan, now a chemistry professor at LSU, serves as chair of the Division of Solid State Chemistry for the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. She was honored as an Outstanding Young Alum in 2006 by the Baylor Alumni Association and speaks highly of her time at Baylor. An active researcher who has published more than 65 papers and given 75+ invited talks, Chan spent this past spring as a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Solid State Physics at University of Tokyo.
Sic ’em, Dr. Chan!
Honored med students each got their start at Baylor
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Honors
The staff at UT Southwestern Medical School noticed a trend when rounding up the winners of their annual student awards; an unusually high number had all done their undergraduate studies at the same school — Baylor.
Five Baylor alums were recognized by UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas with a variety of honors; click on each name below for a PDF of an article from the school’s paper about that student.
* Dr. Sara Lindsey (pictured) was awarded UT Southwestern Medical School’s Ho Din Award — the highest honor for a graduating medical student. She will remain in Dallas for a residency in radiology at Baylor Medical Center.
* Dr. Katie Vick received the school’s top family medicine award, the William F. Ross, M.D., Scholarship Award in Family Medicine, a $1,000 scholarship given to a graduating UT Southwestern Medical School student. She will serve her residency at the McLennan County Family Medicine Practice Center in Waco.
* Dr. Joseph Fitzwater won the 2008 Annelle M. Ahmed, M.D., Women’s Health Care Award, the school’s top women’s health honor. He is completing a general surgery residency in Lubbock is completing his ob-gyn residency at Parkland Hospital in Dallas (sorry for the error; that’s his brother in Lubbock).
* Dr. Sarah Davis claimed UT Southwestern’s top neurology award, the 2008 American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology. She will be a resident at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
* Dr. Ben Brown is this year’s recipient of the Vanatta, Hesser, Schmalstieg Excellence in Tutoring Award. He will stay at UT Southwestern for his general surgery residency.
Sic ’em, Baylor doctors!
Alum chosen to sing German anthem for audience of 300 million
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Just for Fun, Alumni, Honors
At big American sporting events, it’s usually pop or rock stars who are selected to sing the National Anthem — singers like Billy Joel or Carrie Underwood.
The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship (commonly called Euro 2008) wrapped up Saturday in Vienna as Germany faced Spain in the title match, which is roughly equivalent to an international Super Bowl of soccer. And who was selected to sing the German national anthem? Baylor grad Eddie Gauntt, a native of Clifton, Texas, who now sings opera in Karlsruhe, Germany.
An estimated 300 million people worldwide tuned in to the game, and thus heard a Baylor grad singing. (Click here for video from ABC’s coverage, or here for the view from inside the stadium.) Gauntt graduated from Baylor in 1979 with a bachelor of music degree in voice. His wife, singer-composer Cae Cooley Gauntt, is also a Baylor music graduate (class of 1978).
Sic ’em, Eddie!
Legendary sportswriter putting away his pen
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics
Legendary sportswriter Dave Campbell, creator of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, and longtime sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald, announced recently that he’s retiring — for at least the second time.
Campbell spent 40 years as the Trib’s sports editor in the middle of a career that began (as a student, graduating in 1950) and ended (working for the Baylor Bear Foundation) at Baylor. He last retired in 1993, when he left the Trib; five months later, though, he accepted an offer to head up the Baylor Bear Insider, a newsletter sent out to Bear Foundation members. That job ended up lasting 15 years.
A member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame, Campbell founded Texas Football in 1960; he still serves as editor-in-chief for the publication, which quickly emerged as the nation’s prototype for regional sports publications and is still known as “the Bible of Texas football.” Among his many recognitions, the press box at Floyd Casey Stadium — where Campbell has spent countless hours — is named in his honor.
Sic ’em, Mr. Campbell!
Former NFL star volunteers to experience an athlete’s worst nightmare
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics
Former Baylor and NFL linebacker Ray Crockett was never a teammate of Kyle Woods, but he recently volunteered to experience some of what Woods has dealt since his 1979 accident. Crockett spent a month confined to a wheelchair for an episode of FX’s 30 Days, learning what life can be like for a paraplegic.
The show, headed up by Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame, takes individuals outside of their comfort zone for one month to see how others live. Crockett, a 14-year NFL veteran, won two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos, and he was there when Denver Lions teammate Mike Utley was paralyzed during a game in 1991.
Crockett was clearly moved from the experience, both from what he went through and from others he met who didn’t have any choice about their fate. This 30-second commercial previews the episode, and FX has clips from the show online here, here, here and here.
Sic ’em, Ray, for your willingness to help others learn, and an extra-big sic ’em to those who deal with such disabilities everyday, for your courage in the face of adversity!
Former Bear among baseball’s top rookies
Posted by The Baylor Proud Team in : Alumni, Athletics
In 2003, David Murphy set a Baylor record for batting average when he hit .413, earning all-America honors and leading the Bears within two innings of a College World Series trip. That June, he was selected in the first round (17th overall) by the Boston Red Sox.
Three years later, he was in the big leagues, getting brief appearances with the Red Sox in ‘06 and ‘07 before a midseason trade to the Texas Rangers. Since then, he has done nothing but hit, and he is among the top candidates for American League Rookie of the Year.
As of today, Murphy is hitting .274 with 10 home runs and 51 RBI, leading all other rookies in hits, doubles and RBI. Apparently that was good enough to get the attention of President George W. Bush when the Rangers visited the White House this weekend; Bush recognized Murphy as the “Baylor boy.”
Sic ’em, David!
