February is finally here. Groundhog Day, Valentines Day, and the start of the spring season. On Feb. 14th the team will meet in Austin, TX to officially mark the beginning of spring. It's a great day to be a Bobcat!
As part of our deal with the Holiday Inn, the catering service provides us with tasty meals. But thanks to Jeff Tulis '72, we'll be treated to a team dinner at Iron Works BBQ on Tuesday the 16th. Coach Peter and myself are pretty familiar with Iron Works (it's impossible to walk by it and not stop in for a quick bite before the afternoon training session), and it will be quite a treat for everyone.
Jeff attended Bates about a decade before the team was started as a club, but he and his wife, Jean ( UC - Santa Cruz), are crazy about rowing in Austin. He is currently a professor of political theory at the University of Texas. Jeff was active in Debate and the Campus Association. He is still great friends with Tom Moser, the former debate coach, and current furniture maestro (he has furnished the Atrium of Pettengill Hall). The Campus Association governed most student activities and Jeff was the Social Action Commissioner. While serving in that role the Campus Association founded the Bates big brother/big sister program, started a downtown referral office for citizens of Lewiston who were poor and struggling, ran a speaker series on political events and problems, and coordinated various political protests prompted by the Cambodian incursion during the Vietnam War (including a blood drive and a large caravan of trucks to fill in for the city's bulk trash collection which had been cut from the budget that year - due to economic difficulties caused by the war). Jeff and his fellow associates even arranged for the lead truck to be driven by the President of the College.
Jeff was introduced to rowing when he studied abroad at Oxford. Although he rowed for only a brief time he did not develop a passion for rowing until about six years ago when his wife, Jean, took up the sport with Austin Rowing Club. Jeff and Jean make annual trips to Craftsbury's sculling camp. He hopes to spend part of this coming summer in Maine.
We are certainly happy that Jeff and Jean found a passion for rowing. Their generosity will be greatly appreciated by a team of rowers who should expect to have quite an appetite by the time they sit down at Iron Works. Austin is an amazing place to row and we cannot wait to get back on the water.
Posts
