University of Rochester

Rochester Review
January–February 2013
Vol. 75, No. 3

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lettersPHOTO SESSION: Ansel Adams was hired for a project to document life at the University before the merger of the men’s and women’s colleges. (Photo: Ansel Adams Collection/Department of Rare books, Special Collections, and Preservation)
Remembering Frances Horler

The November-December issue contains an eloquent tribute to Dr. Frances Horler by Dr. Harold Munson (In Memoriam). I would like to add the comment that Dr. Horler was the kindest and most compassionate teacher I encountered during my college years. When I was dealing with financial difficulties and health crises in my family, she encouraged me to remain in the graduate program, visited my relative who was hospitalized at Strong, and treated my wife and me to dinner at the Faculty Club upon my graduation from Rochester.

In sum, Frances Horler was a marvelous role model and mentor for all the students she worked with in the College of Education. Her valuable contributions to students and to the college will not soon be forgotten.

Richard Kellogg ’70W (EdD)

Alfred, N.Y.

The writer is a professor emeritus of psychology at Alfred State College.

The Adams University

In the September-October issue, we included a 1952 photo taken by Ansel Adams that showed Ruth Adams, then an assistant professor, talking with a group of unidentified students (“An Adams of Adams,” Class Notes). Thanks to several alumni, four of the five students seem to have been identified. And two of those students agree that Adams was meeting them in her apartment, where she held a regular English seminar.

Regarding the names of the students: I am the student on the far left. The others are Don Lesh ’53, Joe Pagano ’53, and Frances Young ’53. I’m afraid I don’t know the name of the student sitting next to Dr. Adams.

Mary Ellen Russell Bowling ’53

Hoover, Ala.

The fellow in the center rear with pen poised is my brother, Dr. Joseph Pagano ’53. Joe is director emeritus of the Lineberger Cancer Center at UNC–Chapel Hill, N.C., where he resides with his wife, Jody. Joe is still very active in research.

Bob Pagano ’61

Duluth, Ga.

Joseph Pagano ’53

Chapel Hill, N.C.

Football at 45

I enjoyed your article on the 1987 football team and their reunion (“‘Proving What We Knew about Ourselves,’ ” September-October). I can relate to the stories, and perhaps you would share my thoughts on the 1968 football team which will be celebrating its 45th reunion in 2013.

Back in the 1960s, football was football, but without many of the things we take for granted today. The “Weight Room” only existed in my junior year and that was a limited amount of free weights that were placed under a stairwell at the Palestra. Information about our opponents consisted of newspaper clippings of the opposing starting lineup and their heights and weights. This was way before email and faxing. Xerox ruled. A “training table” for meals only began senior year.

The freshman team was a great group of guys mostly from upstate New York—Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse—with a few of us foreigners from Boston and Pittsburgh and as far away as Florida. A highlight was traveling to play RPI in two Volkswagen buses, a total of only 16 players, and beating them in a driving rain storm. The victory was inspired by our fiery coach Clarence Aikey.

By senior year we had an eclectic group of seniors led by Dave (Rags) Ragusa ’68, ’76W (Mas), cocaptain, Little All-American, and Hall of Famer; Wayne Erdelack ’68, cocaptain; Mike (Cincy) Cirrincione ’69, Hall of Famer; Guy Bailey ’68, Hall of Famer known as “Mr. Cling” by the Campus Times; and our quarterback Bob Young ’69, dubbed “Mr. Fling” by the Campus Times. We also had Dave Murante ’68 at tackle and today a leading defense attorney in Rochester; John Norris ’68, known as “Big Daddy” at guard; Gary Henehan ’69 at linebacker; John Dunnigan ’68 at fullback; Pete Taddie ’68 (“Gator”—who would have guessed he was from Florida?) and myself, “Kodiak,” at tackle.

Coach Don Smith was our head coach and led us along with his assistants—John Sullivan ’22, who played for the U of R against Hobart in 1919 (talk about bridging generations), and John Parrinello ’60, who played for the 1958 undefeated U of R team. Coach Sullivan told us to “hit, whack, and smash our opponents into submission,” and Coach Parrinello preached speed.

Senior year, we won four games and lost four games, the losses by a total of only 13 points. We beat Amherst, which was a highlight moment, and lost to Williams by one point, Denison by two points, and Alfred by three points on a field goal, which had not been kicked by an Alfred player in 20 years.

In our victory over RPI, Guy Bailey caught four touchdown passes, which is still a U of R record for a wide receiver. In our away game at St. Lawrence, I had signed up for the business boards to be taken Saturday morning on the St. Lawrence campus. Coach Smith allowed me to take a bus from our hotel Friday night so I could stay on campus. I still remember missing breakfast, taking the test, skipping lunch, and running from the test site to the locker room in a snowstorm to make the opening kickoff and grabbing one of the halftime oranges for a quick energy boost. We won the game!

These were fun times. It’s hard to believe that we are talking about football in 1968, but no different from Coach Sullivan retelling his 1919 stories to us in the ’60s.

Larry Brodney ’68

Lincoln, Mass.

Department of Corrections

In a description of the book, George Eastman: A Biography, by Elizabeth Brayer, in the November-December issue, we misstated the book’s publication dates. It was originally published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1996. A reprint edition was published by the University of Rochester Press in 2006 and a paperback reprint edition was published by the University of Rochester Press in 2011.


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