The question was a simple one: When did you reach your athletic peak? Any age, any sport, any memory. Whatever sports moment you're most proud of. The answers were good.
History Prof. Julian Bond: "In high school, I was on the wrestling, swimming and soccer teams; in college, on the swimming team and won a letter. But I think I was at my peak in high school. I was a soccer goalie and had some modest successes."
University President John T. Casteen, III: "I have two sets of recurring peaks. One comes during a long walking trip when sore calves and blisters are under control and I experience the first long, perfect day. This is usually about the fourth day of a long walk. The other comes while sailing when my sea legs are back, and balance on the boat is perfect but balance on land is tricky. This usually takes three or four days also.
So far as I can tell, these two peaks are not tied to any age or place. They seem to happen every time one goes through a regimen that gets what must be endorphins ready to kick in shortly after the activity begins. Both peaks improve sleep quite a lot."
Asst. Dean of Students Clarybel Peguero: "When I lived in Boston, I would get up every morning and run around this big lake by Boston College. At first I couldn't run for more then two minutes straight and really walked more than ran. It was a three-mile distance, but I never gave up and I will never forget the first time I ran the whole thing without walking one inch. It was such a great moment, and even though I have never ran a marathon I felt like I had completed something that at first seemed impossible, physically and mentally."
Athletic Director Craig Littlepage: "Playing my first college basketball game in the Palestra." [The Palestra is the 90-year-old basketball arena at the University of Pennsylvania. Littlepage, a Pennsylvania native, was a member of three Ivy League basketball championship teams at Penn in the early 1970s.]
Nursing School Dean Jeanette Lancaster: "Several years ago, I ran the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta on the Fourth of July. The course has some hills, but you had to finish in a certain time to get the shirt. I had to have the shirt since I had told so many I was going to do the run. One friend who finished before me came back and ran the last part again with me so I wouldn't give up."
Interim College Dean Karen Ryan: "I think my peak was winning a women's road race near Syracuse, N.Y., when I was about 16. I had been running track and cross country as the only girl on an all-boys team in my high school in rural upstate New York because at that time, there was no girls' team. So I had been running despite heckling -- people would often yell 'are you going to let that girl beat you?!' -- and it was an incredible high to run this race with other girls and women and to have all that training pay off."
Economics Prof. Kenneth Elzinga: "I suppose the peak was winning my college conference tennis championship at my flight level (though I was only the No. 5 singles player). The match I remember most was a summer tournament while I was in high school, beating Bobby Gill, who was ranked way above me (and deservedly so). I suspect he did not take the match seriously and that proved problematic for him. I took him in straight sets. I suspect Bobby does not remember the day, but I do."
Asst. Surgery Prof. Ben Peeler: "I played baseball at Catawba College my freshman year (lefty junkball pitcher with no velocity), so that would be the official peak of organized sports participation. I was actually in better shape in med school and early in my general surgery residency when I learned how to work out. I have now forgotten again due to time problems."
Kathy McGruder, patron saint of Newcomb: "When I was 11 years old, I ran a race with 400-some people and came in 17th. Usually whenever my coach tried to run me in distance races, I would come in second to last. I thought I was pretty cool that day."
Politics Prof. Larry Sabato: "For the five years I lived in Britain in the '70s and '80s I was a committed cyclist. I never had a car -- not one day -- and I cycled for miles each day, exploring the countryside. I never felt better. That is not a competitive sport but it best fits the term 'peak.' Now I have gotten fat and lazy and own a gas guzzler, and I just hope Al Gore doesn't find out."
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