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Editor
Northwestern magazine
1800 Sheridan Road
Evanston, Ill.
60208-1800
Fax: 847-491-3040




Not on the Ball
Regarding your cover story “On the Ball” [summer 2003] on alumni in professional sports management, you missed one — me!

Daryl Morey (McC96)
Vice president of operations and information
Boston Celtics


I just finished Scott Holter’s article [“On the Ball”] and wish he had gotten his facts correct.

Rick Sund did play basketball at Northwestern in 1971–73. However, the leading scorers during those years were Barry Moran and Mark Sibley. Sund did not graduate as Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer; the leading scorer at the time was Jim Burns.

John F. Stewart Jr.
Chicago

Editor’s note: We fouled out in reporting Sund’s Northwestern record. You are correct. Sund (WCAS73) did not score 1,000 points during his Northwestern career from 1971 to 1973. By the time Sund graduated, nine other players had made 1,000 or more points in their careers here: Don Adams (1967–70), Jim Burns (1964–67), Frank Ehmann (1951–55), Rich Falk (1961–64), Hal Grant (1951–55), Dale Kelley (1967–70), Ray Ragelis (1948–51), Joe Ruklick (1956–59) and Mark Sibley (1970–73).

As you pointed out, during Sund’s Northwestern career the team scoring leaders were Barry Moran in 1971 and Mark Sibley in 1972 and 1973.

We also erroneously reported that Sund was an All–Big Ten basketball player during his three years of eligibility. He was, however, All-Big Ten Academic in 1972 and 1973, the team’s Most Valuable Player in 1971 and the team captain in 1973.
We regret these errors.


Leopold a Caring Mentor and Friend

Hurrah for Scott Martin’s story “Mentor, Intellect, Friend” about Richard Leopold in the spring 2003 edition.
It was a heartwarming piece and true to what I remember about my history adviser. Not only did Professor Leopold teach Diplomatic History of the United States with aplomb, but he was also available to me as a student.

When I became seriously ill in spring quarter of my senior year, he saw to it that my other instructors were contacted and that I graduated on schedule.

He also encouraged me some years later when I was writing and doing historical research about Eugene V. Debs for the Northwest Herald in McHenry Country, Ill.
I am proud and grateful also to say Richard Leopold was my mentor, intellectual stimulus and friend.

Joan Leichtfuss Abernethy (WCAS52)
Western Springs, Ill.


Northwestern Alumna all the Way
The article on my award [“Women’s Advocate Honored,” News on Campus, summer 2003] in the last issue was lovely. I was surprised that it did not mention that I am a double Northwestern alumna — MS 1950, PhD 1953, both from the Feinberg School of Medicine.

Neena B. Schwartz (GFSM50, 53)
William Deering Professor of Biological Sciences Emerita
Department of Neurobiology and Physiology
Northwestern University


Kudos on Polymer Pioneer
This letter is directed to writer Megan Fellman to tell her that a 77-year-old doc out here on the West Coast really appreciated the work she did in portraying the amazing professor Annelise Barron [“Polymer Pioneer,” summer 2003]. It was
a very interesting article that undoubtedly took a lot of work and made me think, What is it in Megan Fellman’s background that enables her to do such interesting and complex reporting?

William Johnson (FSM53)
Medford, Ore.

Editor’s note: Megan Fellman is a talented science writer who has an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Notre Dame. She began writing about science and engineering when she worked at Illinois Institute of Technology and she soon discovered that she really enjoyed it. Just more proof that English majors can write about anything!

Call for Norris Center Expansion
I was pleased to read that Campaign Northwestern had surpassed its $1.5 billion goal some months ahead of schedule. Perhaps now we can look forward to the much-delayed expansion of the Norris University Center.

Charles E. Bartling (GJ62)
Evanston


Honoring the Founder of Flag Day

Shortly after our story on Bernard Cigrand (D1888), the founder of Flag Day, appeared in Northwestern magazine [“The Stars and Stripes Forever,” summer 2003], this descendant of Luxembourg immigrants was fittingly honored with a new gravestone acknowledging his role in establishing this patriotic day.

Three years ago, after a Boy Scout ceremony at the Riverside Cemetery in Aurora, Ill., honoring Cigrand, Scout Galen Norman and his father, Steven Norman, unsuccessfully searched for Cigrand’s headstone.

Later, the two returned and finally discovered a modest marker bearing Cigrand’s name and his dates of birth and death. “It didn’t seem enough,” Galen told the Associated Press. “There should have been more on the marker, and a flag.”

Galen decided to erect a memorial to Cigrand, a project that would help him rise to Eagle Scout. He endured rejection after rejection while soliciting Aurora businesspeople last spring for donations to cover the cost of the new headstone and flagpole, estimated to be about $4,000.

But a big break came when Aurora Beacon-News columnist Denise Crosby wrote about the project. Within hours after her column ran, Galen and his father had enough money to establish a Bernard Cigrand scholarship fund in addition to the memorial, which was dedicated on Flag Day this year.

According to Crosby, the word “Luxembourg” was the key to getting people to open up their checkbooks. Many Aurora residents and business people claim Luxembourg heritage.

Cigrand initially came up with the idea of establishing Flag Day while a schoolteacher in Waubeka, Wis. After graduating from the Northwestern Dental School in 1888, he continued his lobbying efforts to honor the flag for 30 years. Before he died in 1932, Cigrand said that the proudest moment of his life was in 1916 when President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 to be Flag Day.




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