Barack Obama went to Harvard, and George W. Bush graduated from Yale. Past Presidential hopeful John Kerry also went to Yale, and incidentally, almost flunked out. Al Gore graduated from Harvard then went to Vanderbilt University to the school of divinity; he quit and never graduated.
Anyway, the brief campaign to bring a few chosen Midwesterners to the hallowed grounds of the Ivy League world offered an opportunity to mingle with the future rich and famous, the high and mighty, the few, the proud, the well-to-do.
Back to the lone area athlete. Grade Point Average (GPA) for the latter student was close to 4.0; subject of interest: medicine; sport (I’ll leave this blank but will say he was very good). In fact, if he lacked in natural talent, he made up a hundred-fold in determination, persistence, dedication, and that good-ol’ fashion Iowa ethic called work.
He had received several letters from those Ivy League palaces. In return, the young man energetically detailed his plans, sent information and press releases, filled out and mailed forms, and duly put his nose to the grindstone believing he would have a shot at being picked up by one of the three.
It didn’t happen.
So, I called up one of the schools and asked to talk with the particular coach of the young man’s sport. When the coach answered, I asked him about the athlete. “Well, we are done with our recruiting and have everyone we need,” he told me.
“What about the letters you sent to him?” I said, having told him about the young man from our area who had been in contact with the famous school.
“Oh, we send those to hundreds of prospects,” the coach said matter-of-factly.
“You mean to tell me that you send out cards and letters of interest and you have no intention of following up on any of those kids?” I said.
Silence.
“You know, coach,” I said, “that kid was honest with you, but you weren’t at all honest with him. I think that is not only shameful, it is dishonest and reprehensible.” I told that coach I was going to write about what his school was doing and hung up.
