Seen & Heard

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "The class of 1953 is Dartmouth's greatest class ever. There's 110 class that can statistically touch us. The way the game tends to be playet is who gives the most money." DON GOSS '53, IN THE VALLEY NEWS ON JUNE 8 DURING HIS 50TH REUNION IN HANOVER

Two reporters stepped from behind the keyboard as the reporting scandals and resignations at The New York Times made headlines. Times reporter Jacques Steinberg '88—whom readers may recall from the Nov/Dec 2002 issue of DAM, where he gave an insiders look at the college admissions process—was part of the team that described in an extensive article how colleague Jayson Blair had made errors or committed journalistic fraud in at least 36 Times stories. Steinberg then reported in early June on the subsequent resignation of two top-ranking editors at The Times. Deborah Sontag '78, 12-year veteran of The Times, was quoted in the Washington Post's coverage of the resignations: "People are shaken up, but we're optimistic. The Times has too much talent to be damaged."... There have been more positive changes in another newsroom: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (and Dartmouth trustee) David Shribman '76, longtime Boston Globe Washington bureau chief, has taken up residence in Pittsburgh as executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. To say that his arrival came with some fanfare would be an understatement; witness this line in a profile of him in the May issue of Pittsburgh Magazine: "It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Shribman." The magazine continues that while Shribman's goal is to make the Post-Gazette a must-read for everyone in southwestern Pennsylvania, "he faces a challenging economy, daunting demographics and dogged competition." Shribman acknowledges the potential enormity of the task. "Editing a paper is a big job," he told the magazine. "Sometimes this job is like kissing a fire hydrant."...Paul Centenari '79 and his brother, Peter, graced the cover of Inc. magazine in March, when the publication did a story on the success the siblings have enjoyed with their box-making business, Atlas Container. The original plan was typical entrepreneurial talk: Buy the company, fatten it up, sell it, make a profit. "Seven years and out," as Paul said. But after nearly going bankrupt they built the business back up—and slowly developed a new, democratic business plan, one that included everyone in the process of spending the company's money. "This isn't just about being nice," Paul told inc. "When people feel they're part of an organization, they feel the passion. And if they feel the passion, you're going to be dangerous in the marketplace." The proof: Atlas has grown nearly 25 percent a year for each of the last 10 years to become a multi-million dollar venture....Another addition to Dartmouth's stable of TV faces: Sarah Wayne Callies '99. She is playing Jane in a new, updated version of Tarzan that will run on the WB network. How updated? Well, this Jane is a New York City detective, so I doubt Tarzan will throw her over his shoulder and steal her away....When Sports Illustrated put out an issue in May that focused on the "101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports," four Dartmouth grads were included. Any alum worth his athletic salt could probably come up with one of them, but major props to anyone who could come up with all. Coming in at No. 88: Reggie Williams '76. Easily the most distinguished Big Green football alum (sorry, young.alums, but Jay Fiedler '94 is still working to supplant the venerable Mr. Williams), Williams has made a nice transition from his 14-year NFL career and now serves as a vice president of Disney Sports Attractions. He currently leads a 2,000-person team at Disney and oversees the marketing, sales and sponsorship for Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, which hosts more than 150 athletic events each year. However, a couple of Dartmouth alums have Williams beat, at least according to SI—though not for their athletic prowess. Running the"New World Order," according to the magazine, is Jimmie Lee Solomon '78, Major League Baseball's senior VP of baseball operations. SI ranks him at No. 9 because "few executives influence more facets of the game." Solomon, who has worked in baseball since 1991, oversees the league's U.S. and international operations, the Scouting Bureau and the Arizona Fall League. No. 24 is HBO senior VP of sports programming Kery Davis '79, who "picks fights all day," according to the magazine. "Two years ago Davis became the network's boxing czar, making him one of the most powerful figures in the sport, which relies on HBO for muchneeded exposure." Rounding out the foursome is Pamela Wheeler '89 at No. 82. SI noted the job she did in negotiating with National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern to put together the new collective bargaining agreement for the only women's pro basketball league in the country, the Women's National Basketball Association. Wheeler—whose official title is director of operations for the Women's National Basketball Players Association, a position she has held since the WNBA was formed in 1999—was also featured in Women's Business NewYork magazine in March. According to that article, when she was 6 years old Wheeler told her dad she was going to be a sports lawyer, a role she has since filled for the WNBA Players Association. In addition to putting together the first collective bargaining agreement in women's pro sports history in this country (in June 1999), she established the organizations infrastructure and managed the day-to-day operations, strategies and business needs. "I decided early on to be a pioneer," she told Women's Business. "There weren't many women sports lawyers, and no African-American women. Personally, it makes me feel good that I came close to being the first, but it also makes me sad that opportunities weren't previously available." ...After 23 years working on Madison Avenue, Mitch Kurz '73 has cashed out and headed to the Bronx last year to teach pre-teens. Long involved with education advocacy organizations—he started an education consulting firm and was a board member of Teach For America—Kurz left his job as an executive for the worlds largest marketing services company, Young & Rubicam Inc., to teach math to sixth-and seventhgraders at MS 118 in the Bronx. "One of the best preparations in advertising is to put yourself in the mind of the customer," he told News day in March. "I have a much more important customer now. I have a human being that's 12 years old."...Another alums classroom experience also made news: R. Aileen Yingst '91 returned to her hometown of Berrien Springs, Michigan, to tell fourth-graders at nearby Oak Manor Elementary School about her role as director of NASA's Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. The event was covered in an online story by CNNMoney. "Have you ever been to the moon?" was one of the questions from her young audience, and Yingst gave an indication of her ultimate goal with NASA: "No—not yet." As Yingst told CNNMoney, "I love talking to kids. Some of those questions are the most fundamental science questions in existence: 'Why don't we fly off the earth if the earth is spinning?' They have been asking that question since we have been arguing if the earth is the center of the universe. I love that kind of curiosity. It's great." Getting back to the moon question, Yingst was equally enthusiastic. "Oh yeah, I want to be an astronaut. You bet." These days Yingst is a scientist who, among other things, served on the Mars Pathfinder and Mars PolarLander missions as part of the Mars Atmospheric and Geologic Imaging Team in Tucson, Arizona. She continues to work on those projects at the consortium in Green Bay, Wisconsin....More along the tranquil lines you expect from guys with green thumbs—guys with green thumbs?—there is Floyd Moore '64, whose Gala Rhododendron Nursery in Valencia, Pennsylvania, was featured last summer in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (before Shribman took over). A former venture capitalist, Moore got into the nursery business about 11 years ago and has become a local favorite among rhodie enthusiasts. "I simply got into the rhododendron end of it because I was collecting them," he said....One of the tastiest things to find on supermarket shelves has to be Fluff, a sandwich staple for any kid growing up in the East. The man behind the marshmallow spread is Donald Durkee '49, son of founder H. Allen Durkee, who has been at the firm since he graduated because "Dad sort of expected me to start here," he told The Boston Globe in a March profile. Durkee says he has no plans to expand his Lynn, Massachusetts-based firm into other foods because "everybody else seems to already make everything that needs to be made." As the Globe writer commented: "Fluff is enough."

Paul Centenari '79

Sarah Wayne Callies '99

Mitch Kurz '73 student

Pam Wheeler '89

Floyd Moore '64

Mike Mahoney is associate director ofathletic media services at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and the 92 classsecretary.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "I want to take exception to Don Goss sftatement about '53 being 'the greatest.' The class of '53 does Dartmouth proud, but so do many other classes. Perhaps a little more humility is called for." HENRY NACHMAN JR. '51, IN THE VALLEY NEWS "LETTERS" SECTION ON JUNE 13