1980

The year 2005 has been a great year to reconnect. Many of us took advantage of the opportunity to socialize with several hundred of our best friends at the 25 th reunion. Others have discovered the stories and insight captured within the Reunion Book. And who can forget those shakedown calls from our class agents, often centered on writing uncomfortably big checks?

In 2004 this magazine presented Carol Willard and Wade Herring with the coveted "Secretary of the Year" award. Unfortunately, the best wasn't good enough for Andy Watson, who in his Reunion Book essay, called for the return of Mike Carothers and Dan Zenkel. Andy, we'll strive to be as entertaining as you were in the tent on Friday night. But we've been dealt different cards.

The conservative lives of 40-somethings may be fascinating but they're rarely funny. In August I spent a weekend at the Block Island summer home of Rob Ruocco. In a world full of appealing alternatives, Rob has maintained his loyalty to Budweiser-in-cans as his drink-of-choice. As he popped open yet another cold Bud on the beach, Rob expressed a vague interest in trying that new $100 designer beer from Samuel Adams. I'm guessing it won't happen. But Mark Alperin, who joined us on the island, is making a radical change. It's hard to picture Alpo without a Yankees (or Patriots) hat on his head. To better align his loyalties with his 10-year-old son's, Alpo is abandoning his beloved Yankees for the Red Sox. In an ironic twist, his son's name is Mickey, as in Mantle.

In April the NBAs New Orleans Hornets named Paul Mott as team president. Paul came to the Hornets from the NBAleague office, where he served as senior director of team marketing and business development. The new job has elevated Paul into the company of Daniel Webster as a "Dartmouth notable alumni" in Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Remarkably, our class now boasts four of the 17 entries in the business/finance section, with listings for Paul, Tench Coxe, Peter Dolan and Jeffrey Citrin. Because Wikipedia allows its readers to edit and submit, we can probably get all of our names listed by Christmas.

During our reunion dinners in Alumni Gym, I found myself gazing at those championship banners from the 'sos and dreaming about a return to basketball glory.This spring the Mount de Sales Academy in Macon, Georgia, honored Larry Lawrence with their 2005 Alumni Career Achievement Award. Larry, a genuine superstar on some forgettable Dartmouth teams, was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks and played in France for 15 years, where he was honored as one of the "50 Greatest Players of All Time." Larry lives in New York with his wife, Arlene, and two children. He works as a vice president for Citigroup, where he recently crossed paths with Hans Morris. Earlier this year Hans and his wife, Kate, gave a maj or gift to Dartmouth's Ethics Institute. During a round of golf we played together a few weeks ago, Hans insisted on counting a stroke each time he whiffed on a tee shot.

I thought I recognized that voice from the Middle East! It was National Public Radios Peter Kenyon, who just won a Peabody Award for his workwith the NPRteam reporting from Iraq.The Peabody is the highest distinction in radio and television journalism. Peters career landed himin Jerusalem four years ago and, in recent months, tours through Baghdad. His next assignment is a posting in Cairo, which is only half a world away from Alaska, where his wife, Nevette, manages a business.

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