As an undergrad, sports provided my best memories of good times and of close relationships. I remember surprisingly few classes, but I have strong feelings to this day of feeling at home on the Charles River Basin in a sailboat. The competition that included most of New England and the Middle Atlantic introduced me to competitors from other schools with whom I am still lifelong friends today. My closest Harvard friend today is Tom Reps, the B-Division skipper with whom I traveled to main regattas my senior year, and another good friend is Arthur Rousmaniere (son of fellow inductee James Rousmaniere), 2 years behind me at Harvard, who crewed for me my last two years. Relying on sports for one’s primary source of camaraderie and challenge can have its downside, too. After winning the Nationals in ’74, I had a let-down that summer, given the graduation of the other varsity teammates with whom I sailed most frequently (3 seniors, including fellow inductee Chris Middendorf), so I took a year off. I am not so sure that this decision was wise, but my choice to take a year off showed how important the sailing team members were to me.

I wish that I had provided more team leadership my junior and senior years. Appropriately, I was not captain because I did not provide that leadership. Lastly, after my year off, I played JV hockey, and that also added greatly to my sense of “belonging” at a big university.