Graduation Day

Four years ago I graduated with my friends from Elder High School. Today I'll do the same from UC

This one goes out to everyone and anyone who has made an impact on me in the past four years. There are a few a lot of you to thank, so let’s cut to the chase (and not the final ten races of the NASCAR season, although that’s normally an exciting time of the year).

To every one of my friends, whether from high school or college, or both, it’s been a great ride. There are far too many of you to thank individually, but you know who you are if you’re reading this. It’s been fun, and the past four years wouldn’t have been the same without my friends.

To the folks who have guided me to a career path including the folks at Channel 9 (Mark Slaughter, Dennis Janson and John Popovich amongst others) and Channel 19 (Rufus, Brian, Joe D, Dan Wood and while he was at Ch. 19 last year, Zach Wells); you guys have pushed me into an exciting world that I love every second of.

Brian Giesenschlag of FOX19 loves take me with him to Kentucky Speedway...and I love his hard hat

When I sit in classes and teachers tell me that the journalism world is dying and it’s tougher and tougher to get jobs, I know that through my experiences with you guys, I will have zero problems landing a job when I need to.

To my co-workers within the UC video department (including Joe Stanek, who is now at Tennessee); you guys are like my extended family, and while the past four years have been a blast, we aren’t done yet. Let’s make the next two-plus (possibly) even more fun.

To Wid and Greg Bruner, thanks for everything so far, and let’s keep it going. (Positively of course Wid…positive, positive, positive)

But the man who especially deserves a thank you is former UC video coordinator John Sells. Four years ago Joe Stanek and I walked onto the field at Nippert Stadium to film 1-Day camps. Neither of us really knew what we were doing.

Sells (in the white shirt) on the field in Miami before the Orange Bowl with (from left) Bambi, me, Joe Stanek and Marcus

Four years later Joe is at Tennessee and I’m going to be a Graduate Assistant for the Bearcats. Our love and passion for this job came from the way you taught us in the three and a half years you were around us.

To the coaching staff(s) I’ve worked with at UC under Brian Kelly and Butch Jones, thanks for allowing us to be such an integral part of the football program. I’ve enjoyed it and I’m definitely looking forward to the next few years as a GA.

But the people who really deserve a thank you are the three people who have had to deal with me for the past 22 years, my mom, my dad and my brother.

My brother, two years younger than myself, has taught me a lot about UC, and I hope I've done the same for him

Without their support and help, the past four years would have been a lot tougher. I could have made it on my own, no doubt about that, but having the help with laundry and meals is the reason I’ve been so successful as an undergraduate.

Even when I’m not home (and that’s quite often with all the odd jobs I do around the city for all sorts of different folks) someone will call to check on me or text me to see if I need food or anything done before I get home.

Four years ago we lined up in front of our old house for photos. We'll do the same in a few hours

I’m not the easiest person to deal with, but they’ve put up with me throughout the years, and for that I’m grateful.

And to all those of you who are offended or feel that I’ve missed you or shortchanged you some column space, I apologize. It’s my graduation day, I’ve got many, many more things on my mind today.

It’s time for “Pomp and Circumstance” at UC, and it’s time to get my degree. It’s been a long road, but a fun road. For all the times—happy and sad, good and bad—you folks have been here. It’s been a blast, and if these 500-plus blog posts don’t show what fun it’s been so far, I’m not sure what else will.

Thanks for reading, have a great Saturday, and congratulations to all my classmates. We deserve it.

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Watch me graduate, beginning at 2 p.m. at this link: https://www.uc.edu/ucvision/event.aspx?eventid=265

One day until graduation

First, if you’ve missed any of the countdown, here’s a look at each day in the countdown:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

No. 6- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/six-days-until-graduation.html

No. 5- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-days-until-graduation.html

No. 4- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/four-days-until-graduation.html

No. 3- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/three-days-until-graduation.html

No. 2- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/two-days-until-graduation.html

Moment 1: “The Game” (Dec. 5, 2009)

It was cold and somewhat snowy when I opened the shades in the Pittsburgh hotel room I was sharing with fellow video team member J.P. Hummer. My dad had just texted me to say that he and my mom were up and headed to breakfast on a chilly morning.

I’d hoped for the best, but I knew it was going to be a tough battle. We were on the brink of a perfect season and a shot at the BCS National Title game. These were unforeseen and nearly unbelievable times in the Cincinnati football program. And I was in the center of it all.

We packed the meeting rooms up, and headed down to the buses to put away our things. In just hours, the ball would be kicked, and the 60-minute journey to perfection would be right in front of our very eyes.

Setting everything up at Heinz Field was just like normal: I headed to my endzone area, two guys headed to the TV truck, and John Sells, video coordinator, headed to his spot in the sideline video booth. Minutes later we all hooked up in the Heinz Field pressbox for breakfast.

WPTS Sport Director Jake Meyer, a good friend of mine, met me there. The previous night Jake and I hung out and watched the MAC title game, featuring a highly-touted Central Michigan squad, led by quarterback Dan LeFevour and head coach Butch Jones. The Chips defeated Ohio University, and little did any of us know the significance of that game at the time.

Jake and I made our way to the radio booth where I met his co-anchor for the day, Dan, who I’d talked to on the radio earlier that week when I was a live guest on Jake’s weekly sportscast on WPTS radio in Pittsburgh.

For three years I called into the radio show, live from practice. Dan and Jake asked me what it would take for UC to defeat the Panthers. When I got into the radio booth that morning to chat with the guys, Dan said, “The first one to 45 wins this game.”

Funny how things work out some times.

I headed down to the field to join my actual co-workers with about 45 minutes until kickoff. ‘If this is the biggest game I’m ever a part of,’ I thought, ‘I might as well go down on the field and soak in some of the atmospohere.’

I talked to some local news folks on the field, including WCPO sports anchor Dennis Janson, who was about to go live for a one-hour special preceding the game on ABC. DJ was one of the nicest guys I had the opportunity to work with at Channel 9, so I stopped by and said hello.

Oh, and then there was a game to be played. I found my way back up to my film booth, which was somewhat heated, but since we had the front windows open it wasn’t the warmest place in the world. However, I felt bad for the folks sitting out in front of us.

And I felt bad for my mom and dad, who, for some reason, got stuck in the very top row of Heinz Field. I thought my dad was kidding when he sent me a text that said, “Look out to your left. We’re in the top row of seats.”

Holy cow, they were. (“It was colder than hell,” my mom will still tell you)

When the game kicked off it was business as usual. Start recording, watch the play, stop recording. Repeat. It’s what I had done all season, nothing new.

Except the fact that what we hadn’t done all season was get beat, like a drum. We were tied after one quarter at 7-7, but in the second the Pitt Panthers decided that the Bearcats of Cincinnati didn’t deserve the perfect season we had our sights on. The rattled off three touchdowns and a field goal, and led 31-10 with 1:26 showing on the clock in the second quarter.

Brian Kelly, who had his sights on a job in South Bend, was suddenly looking like a normal human being, not the super coach that every national media outlet had made him out to be.

After the touchdown that put Pitt up 31-10 I received a text from John Sells, my boss. While I forget exactly what it said, the message basically said, “This one is over. We’re going to Charlotte, bye bye BK.”

I wanted to respond, but I just couldn’t think of anything to say.

And I didn’t have to say much, because seconds later the play on the field said it all.

Mardy Gilyard stood on the UC goal line with a perfect season in his hands. He received the kickoff, and the rest, as they say, is history. The play that saved the perfect season took all of 16 seconds. Gilyard covered 99 yards and sprinted into the endzone away from me for a Bearcat touchdown.

“Why are you so negative?” I immediately responded to Sells.

From there, the momentum shifted. But it wasn’t the final time momentum would shift in the game.

With 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter an almost perfect Jake Rogers missed a PAT attempt to bring UC within seven. The Cats trailed Pitt 38-30. (Highlights from ESPN.com can be seen here: http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=293390221)

With less than six minutes left the Bearcats had the ball on the one yard line. Zach Collaros, who had played masterfully in replacement of Pike when Pike re-injured his left arm earlier in the year, came in to run the UC offense on the goal line. He handed the ball on a read option to Isaiah Pead for six. We trailed by two.

And who stepped up on the two-point conversion? None other than Mardy Gilyard.

Pike flipped the ball to Gilyard for two points, and the score was tied with 5:46 left in the game.

Pitt’s Dion Lewis punched the ball in from five yards with 1:33 left on the clock, leading my counterpart at Pitt to look at me and say, “Damn, bro, this is crazy! I think we left you with too much time though.” There was too much time for Pike and Gilyard to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Enter Andrew Janocko, Pitt’s third string back-up quarterback, and PAT holder. Janocko bobbled the snap and Dan Hutchins couldn’t put the PAT through the uprights. Pitt still led 44-38, but they needed to keep UC out of the endzone if they wanted to keep their hopes of securing the Big East title alive.

But with 33 seconds left on the clock Pike stood behind center Chris Jurek with four wide outs to his left and Armon Binns to his right. Binns, a junior from Pasadena, Calif., was only looking at one cover corner on his side of the field.

I don’t normally do this, but I glanced away from my camera for a split second and looked down at the field. ‘Oh…my…God. He’s singled covered!’ I thought. ‘Throw it to Binns Tony, throw it to Binns. This is a touchdown.’

Pike got the snap and lofted the ball for the right corner of the endzone. It fell into the arms of Binns in stride. The crowd in front of me—mainly Cincinnati fans—was pumped.

Pike celebrates (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

Jake Rogers came on and nailed the PAT, leaving my counterpart from Pitt to once again utter, “Damn bro. This has been one of the craziest games I’ve ever seen.”

I couldn’t agree more.

When Pitt got the ball back with 33 seconds remaining in the game, they had to throw the ball. Bill Stull was pinned on his own 18-yard line, and Bob Diaco, whose defense had been torched all day on the ground, sent out the best pass coverage guys he could get on the field.

Stull’s first pass dropped incomplete. His second fell to the turf, also incomplete. On third down he turned to Jonathan Baldwin, who had been a stud for the Panthers all season; that pass also went incomplete. With just ten seconds remaining, Stull dropped back with the game on the line.

The Cincinnati Bearcats celebrate after defeating Pitt in 2009 (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

He was sacked by Alex Daniels to end the game. Someone in front of me popped a cork on a champagne bottle. The party was on.

I leaned out of the video booth and waved at my mom and dad. I got the thumbs up from my dad. We had done it, so long as Tony Pike didn’t give the next snap to Pitt and let them run it into the endzone.

Brian Kelly sent the offense out onto the field and Pike took a knee. The clock said 0:00, UC-45 Pitt-44. For the second straight year I was headed to a BCS bowl game as the Big East champion.

Kelly and Jeff Quinn share a hug after beating Pittsburgh. (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

“Good luck wherever you end up,” said my counterpart from Pitt. “And represent [the Big East] well.”

“Same to you guys,” I said as we left the video booth.

I walked down a few steps and my mom and dad were waiting. I think my mom hit me numerous times saying, “I drove all this way and you guys almost lost!”

Almost.

I said goodbye to them and headed down the elevator toward the locker room to set my stuff in the equipment truck. The first person who greeted me was co-worker Joe Stanek.

The Big East champs hold their title in the locker room (from the Twitter account of Tom Gelehrter aka Tommy G)

He picked me up and gave me a huge hug. “Can you believe we did it!” he said, as excited as I was that we were a part of something so very special.

I’m not sure what my response was, but I know it’s almost unbelievable still. We were a part of one of the best college football teams in America that season.

And that, is the best moment I’ve ever been a part of in the past four years at UC.

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Disagreements? Comments? Concerns? Questions? Leave a comment below, and as always thanks for reading.

Check back tomorrow on graduation day for a special post. This has been a fun countdown to produce and organize. You’ve seen the good and the bad, the happy and the sad moments that I’ve lived through the past four years. These posts are only a small look into what I’ve experienced in the past four years, but it’s been a blast. I can’t wait to put some more memories in as I go through grad school. One more game like this one wouldn’t be too bad.

Have a good Friday.

Bengals hold work out at UC

The Cincinnati Bengals held a work out, put together by some of the veteran players including Jordan Palmer, at UC’s Nippert Stadium today. Tell me if you know the guy below

Photo from the Cincinnati Enquirer's website, Cincinnati.com. More photos can be found at http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=AB&Dato=20110608&Kategori=SPT02&Lopenr=106080805&Ref=PH&odyssey=mod|galleriespic|umbrella

I do what I can to attract any publicity I can get. Have a good Wednesday.

Four days until graduation

I’ve reached just past halfway in the countdown now. With just four days until graduation, it’s time to take a look back, and take a walk down memory lane.

Moment 4: “The Beginning” (Sept. 19, 2007)

Referees blow their whistles, the umpire yells, “Play Ball,” a cap gun is shot, a green flag is dropped. All of these things signal the beginning of my favorite things in the world—sporting events. But how do you signal the start of a school day, the start of a school career?

If you’re in grade school or high school, you might hear the dreaded bell, then announcements from teachers and administrators. So, imagine my shock when, after twelve years of nearly the same routine, I walked into a college classroom and didn’t hear a bell, didn’t hear announcements and just started learning.

Sort of.

I can remember all the same feelings I had when I began high school. ‘This place is huge. How will I ever fit in? Will any of these people know me? How many of them are cool enough to be my friend?’

I can also remember the class: Probability and Statistics 147. The teacher’s name was Dr. Horn. He walked in, and if he weren’t a few years older, you could have mistaken him for a student. He carried a backpack like the rest of us.

“For some of you this might be your first ever college class,” he said. “Welcome.”

‘All right,’ I thought. ‘This won’t be too bad after all.’

And it wasn’t bad at all. Each of the classrooms I visited was inviting enough for me to think I was back in high school again. It didn’t hurt that I was in a “Learning Community” with about 20 other students for two of the class meetings on that day.

We bonded, and introduced ourselves to one another three different times. We all quickly figured out a lot about one another (And for more on someone I met that day, check out this: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-best-friend.html).

Even though I had been working on campus with the football team since late July, I found the first day to be somewhat scary. There were a ton of people around, most of them, surprise, surprise, I did not know. It’s kind of tough to know roughly 25,000 other people, I know.

Things that were normally easy to do, like walking into the Tangeman University Center to grab lunch, were now an adventure, thanks to the throngs of fellow Bearcats who were back for class.

Even four years after day one, I still get skittish on the first day of each quarter. I still have those same, ‘How tough is this class going to be?’ thoughts rolling through my head.

But you can’t have graduation without first getting through day one. I found my way through it, and looking back, it was just another day on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.

I didn’t need a whistle or a bell to start my college career. But it would be darn cool to see President Williams wave a checkered flag on Saturday afternoon during graduation. We’ll see if he takes my advice.

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That was moment No. 4 on the countdown toward graduation, which takes place at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. I will find the link to the webcast for those of you who can’t travel to Cincinnati to watch me take “the walk.” Until then, enjoy your Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

If you missed any of the other countdown stories, click the links below:

No. 10- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/10-days-until-graduation.html

No. 9- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/nine-days-until-graduation.html

No. 8- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/eight-days-until-graduation.html

No. 7- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/one-week-until-graduation.html

No. 6- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/six-days-until-graduation.html

No. 5- http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/06/five-days-until-graduation.html

A progress report on the “Graduation Bucket List”

Six weeks ago, with 50 days until graduation, I compiled a list of seven things I wanted to do in seven weeks before I walked across the stage and received my diploma (Check it here: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-7-things-to-do-before-graduating.html).

Here’s the list again, with some comments on how close I am to completing it.

7. Learn the rules of lacrosse (Done)

I may not know every intricacy of each rule of lacrosse, but I’ll tell you this, I have a much better understanding of the general rules of the game after the two weeks I spent working on my 3-plus minute story for FOX19.com.

The story can be viewed here: http://www.fox19.com/story/14689199/lacrosse-growing-at-high-school-level-in-cincinnati

All the feedback I’ve gotten from the story has been positive. Once again I’ve got to thank the fine folks at Summit, Seven Hills and my alma mater Elder High School for the help with the story. I’ve got a much greater appreciation for lacrosse now than I ever have before.

6. Go to the Newport Aquarium (Not complete)

As I said in the original post, I’ve lived in Cincinnati my entire life and I’ve still never been to the Aquarium. Anyone want to go? I’ve only got a few days to get this one done.

5. Reds-Marlins series (Done)

The Reds and Marlins played at the beginning of the month of May and I got to go to one game, a Marlins win, on Sunday. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

4. Kentucky Speedway’s tire test (Done)

If you’ve missed any of my posts about the Kentucky Speedway tire test, just scroll down a little. Brian Giesenschlag and I went to the track on Wednesday and did everything Goodyear would let us do. I was disappointed, but at least there were some sights, sounds and smells to hold on to before the Cup cars really get rolling here in about five weeks.

3. Buy a suit (Done)

My dad and I headed out one Saturday afternoon and found some suits. I’m currently getting them, or at least the pants, fitted so I can look good when I have the chance to wear them.

2. Begin writing my book, or books (Not complete)

I spent 14 straight days working on that lacrosse story and much, much more for both FOX19 and the UC football team in that time. So I haven’t started writing anything book wise, but I have been writing a ton of blogs.

The month of May was actually the busiest month on the blog. Check out all the fun posts by clicking over on the right side of the blog under 2011, and May. Happy reading.

1. Write thank you notes to everyone who has supported me (Not completed, yet)

I do plan on writing a big, long thank you note sometime this week, and it will not be mailed out to everyone and anyone who has supported me while in college. But you’ll be able to find it, trust me.

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Stay tuned for the countdown and some more Kentucky Speedway notes from Greg Biffle and Joey Logano later this afternoon.

My 7 Things to do before graduating

Call it the graduation bucket list, and not be negative, but given how busy I am, I know it’ll probably be difficult to complete all seven tasks.

That being said, there are 50 days until I (finally) get to graduate from the University of Cincinnati

7. Learn the rules of lacrosse
One fun fact that a lot of folks don’t know about me is that on top of filming football at UC, I’m a freelance guy of sorts. I film youth football games during the football season and the same folks who have me film their football games have allowed me to film some lacrosse games at the Summit Country Day school.

Another fun fact is that I literally know nothing about lacrosse, and if you know me, you know that I love to know everything about something if I’m dedicating a lot of time to it. So, with as much lacrosse as I have filmed and will be filming in the next few weeks, I should probably learn the rules of lacrosse.

6. Go to the Newport Aquarium
I’ve lived in Cincinnati my entire life and ever since he Newport Aquarium opened in 1999 it has never been graced with my presence. I know, I’m not that important, but really, I need to go to the aquarium.

I visited the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago in 2003 on vacation with the family, and it was pretty cool. Now I need to go to the Aquarium in my own hometown to see what I’ve been missing.

5. Reds-Marlins series
Luckily for me the Marlins are in town before I graduate. So I need to go to at least one game of the series, decked out, of course, in my Florida Marlins shirt and one of my Marlins hats. Is there any other way?

4. Kentucky Speedway’s tire test
I can’t wait to go to the Goodyear tire test at Kentucky Speedway, especially if it’s before I graduate. People who know me know that I love NASCAR, and it’s an opportunity to relax and do what I love before graduation. I wouldn’t have it any other way, personally.

3. Buy a suit
I love the show “How I Met Your Mother,” so it’s time to suit up, as Barney Stinson would say. My grandma suggested I go out and buy a suit because I’ll never know when I may need one. So, this weekend I get to go out and buy a suit. I might just have to wear it to Channel 19 one night.

2. Begin writing my book, or books
I have this ultimate goal of writing a book, or maybe more than one book, and someday publishing a book or two. But I struggle with what to write about that I can actually share with the outside world. I’m sure Brian Kelly doesn’t want his “trade secrets” revealed in a book, but I thought of writing about the night he left Cincinnati.

Who knows, I might be able to fashion a book around my experiences as a fan and a media member at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Kentucky Speedway. If you have suggestions, leave them for me here or get in touch with me on Twitter or e-mail.

1. Write thank you notes to everyone who has supported me
Whether you’ve read my blog or just been there to say “Hi,” throughout the past four years, you deserve some thanks. So I feel like I should sit down and write out thank you notes to everyone I can think of to thank them for their support over the past four years.

I have a job, well, I have numerous jobs I guess you could say, that take up so much of my time that I rarely get to see everyone—family and friends included—that mean the most to me. I hope they’re reading this, so I can save on writing notes!

Thanks for reading, and have a great Easter weekend.

Elder football ready to kick off in 2010

Christmas, New Year’s Day, college football season kicking off and of course, my favorite, Brickyard 400 weekend. They all excite me. They all have a certain meaning. But maybe nothing gets my juices flowing quite like high school football.

Why? I’ve stated it numerous times before. High school football is as close to pure football as it gets. Even though players in high school are thinking about college, most of them aren’t considering playing football in college.

When I see NFL scouts at UC football games, I know that some college players want to go pro. It’s their ultimate goal. And most will get at least a shot to play in the NFL, whereas numerous high school players won’t even get a shot to play at the next level, at least for a big-time school.

High school football is all about school pride—at least here in Cincinnati where we have numerous nationally renown programs. Moeller, St. X, Elder, Colerain—all schools that battle it out in Southwest Ohio for supremacy.

Last year, before the Colerain-Elder matchup that was broadcast worldwide on ESPN, Paul Daugherty, the Cincinnati Enquirer’s sports columnist, wrote, “It’s just different at places like Elder and Colerain. Football doesn’t define those communities. It does help explain them. Football is a stitch in the fabric, a color in the local cultural palette. It’s an heirloom, mostly.”

Come to Price Hill on a Friday in September or October. It’s an experience you’ll never forget. People clad in purple walk for miles to see high school kids play. Current UC beat writer and LaSalle grad Bill Koch wrote a book about Elder High School called The Pride of Price Hill: Cincinnati's West Side and the Elder Mystique. In it he notes, “Perhaps there is no other school in America with such a huge legion of faithful. There’s truly something different about this place.”

And there is. When Elder takes the field on Friday night at UC against defending Division-II state champs Winton Woods, there won’t be one Elder fan who doesn’t think that the Panthers will roll the Warriors.

And for the seventh year, I’ll be sitting in the pressbox, doing stats and helping the coaching staff with whatever they need after the game. They enjoy having me back, and I’m just glad I still have the opportunity to do what I love at two different levels of football.

When people ask me how good Elder is supposed to be I tell them I don’t know, and this is one of the few years in the past decade where I really don’t know exactly how good the Panthers will be. But I know I’ve heard nothing but good reports from Elder fans and coaches.

I’m looking forward to seeing high school football. The question is, are you?

Holocaust survivor Werner Coppel shares his experiences with class

This quarter I’m taking a class called Literature of the Holocaust. I figured it would be an interesting topic to study and learn about. Mid-way through the quarter, my premonitions have been correct.

Today our class was lucky enough to listen to a Holocaust survivor, 85-year old Werner Coppel, a man who has lived in Cincinnati since the late ’40s.

Mr. Coppel was born in Germany in 1925. His father was a German soldier in World War I. Coppel was raised Jewish, and had one younger brother. “We grew up middle-class in a suburb, just like many of you,” he said. “Except we didn’t know baseball, we played soccer.” The class chuckled.

Coppel recalled his Bar Mitzvah at age 13. While worshipping in the Synagogue, German people marched outside. He said, “I heard Germans marching by, singing, ‘When Jew blood runs [on] our knives, then we have accomplished something.’” Months later during Kristallnacht (which means “the night of the broken glass” in German) that same synagogue was burned to the ground.

Coppel spent almost a year at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in a labor camp called Buna. He didn’t share much about his time in Buna, but did offer many pearls of wisdom about today’s society in his talk.

He talked about how the Germans didn’t do anything to stop the Nazi regime. “All Jewish men between the ages of 16 and 60 were put into concentration camps,” Coppel said referring to the events that followed Kristallnacht. “And the German people saw this and did not protest. And the world, including the United States did nothing. And because everybody was bystanders, the Nazis saw this and it gave them ‘carte blanche’ to destroy the Jews.”

Perhaps his most stunning comment about the camps was about how all identity was stripped from each man entering the Nazi camps. Coppel explained the process of becoming a prisoner. All your clothes were taken, your hair was shaved, and you were given a tattoo with an identification number on it. “When we had this number on our arms,” he said. “We ceased being human beings. We were strictly a number.”

In the 1970s a letter to the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer claimed that the Diary of Anne Frank was a hoax, and the Holocaust never happened. Coppel was offended to say the least. “Nobody was speaking up except me,” Coppel said, gripping a water bottle in his hands. “I will not be a bystander.”

He warned that a lot of youngsters use derogatory terms like “gay” and protesters compare various political figures to Adolf Hitler. Coppel explained that hatred and prejudice is not the way to live. He said, “Hate and prejudice—what caused the destruction in Europe—is with us today. Little kids, people your age and old folks all use language which really represents hate and prejudice.”

But how do we stop this hateful and harmful language? Coppel told students what he does when he hears terms that are hateful. “I walk up to that person [who said the word(s)] and say, ‘Look, what you just said represents hate. I have no right to tell you not to use it but I do have a right to tell you do not use it in my presence,’” he said. “And you can do the same thing. Including in your own home.”

Coppel shared a story about his youngest grandson to make his most profound point. His grandson was giving a lecture to some of his peers and he said, “Stand up against hate and prejudice even if it doesn’t affect you.”

“So that’s what I leave you with. Stand up against hate and prejudice, even if it doesn’t affect you.”

His half-hour talk about his life experiences certainly opened my eyes, and taught me a few things about how to deal with people in this world who aren’t “good” people. His final comment was one that taught the whole classroom that it is our job to make the world a better place. Even if the problems don’t affect us.

UC President bears all in memoir

New UC president Gregory Williams told the story of his life in the book titled, “Life on the Color Line: The true story of a white boy who discovered he was black”. For one of my classes this past quarter I had to read the book, and write a paper. Below is my entire paper. I suggest reading President Williams’s memoir. It is unforgettable.

Life on the Color Line: Interracial dating

As a child who grew up on both sides of a racially divided America, Gregory Williams found out about what it meant to be black and what it meant to be white in two different places. When he was born to a white mother and half-black father in Virginia Greg had a complexion that allowed him to pass for white, but when Greg, his brother Mike, and his father moved back to Muncie, Indiana, Greg learned that he was partially black. Greg grew up from age ten on in a racially hostile town. Throughout his story Life on the Color Line, Williams describes how he was treated differently because of his race. Even though he appeared white, his black heritage denied him the opportunity to numerous things in Muncie.

One big thing that Greg was denied from doing as he aged was dating white girls. At numerous times in his memoir, Williams points to moments where he secretly met with white classmates that he had a romantic interest in. In Muncie, as well as numerous other parts of America in the 1950s, it was socially forbidden for whites and blacks to date, or even get married. In fact, back in the 1850s many states passed antimiscegenation laws that made interracial marriages illegal (Desmond and Emirbayer 2010).

The racism that divided the country back in the 1850s was still around one century later, and Williams found that out as he tried to date white classmates. Still today, some parents discourage their children from dating across color lines. “Some parents, white and nonwhite alike, actively discourage their children from interracial dating,” say Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer (2010).

In middle school Williams learned that it was socially taboo for black boys and white girls to date. “Wilson’s racial tension was fueled by older white dropouts, who hovered around the school eager for an opportunity to prove their manhood. They stood ready to enforce the rule: ‘Black boys do not talk to, flirt with, or date white girls’ ” (163). The fact that Williams refers to this social idea as a “rule” shows how binding the racial lines were in that day. These young, white, male students were out to prove that white girls were their girls. White girls in Muncie did not belong to Greg and his other black friends. This was evident to Greg when he went to a dance with a very dark skinned classmate of his later on in the story.

Greg went to a dance party with a friend of his named Mayme. He points to the racism in the city, by noting that, “Then I realized—they were shocked to see a “white” boy on South Madison Street with a black girl” (166). Since Greg’s complexion did not make him seem like he was black, even though his father was, to passersby it seemed that Greg was a white boy dating a black girl. In Muncie this was a very unusual sight.

After the date, Greg sits on a park bench and thinks to himself, “I wrestled with the fact that Muncie would not permit me to date white girls, and apparently couldn’t tolerate seeing me with black girls either…My very existence made people uncomfortable and shattered too many racial taboos. Dating for me was going to be like swimming in shark-infested waters. I would have to give it up.” (166)

Greg became disillusioned by dating because he felt he couldn’t win no matter what he did. If he dated a white girl he might get in trouble since he was seen as black, but if he dated a black girl, his outward appearance—that of being white—would make him seem like an outcast in the white community. These incidents show Greg first-hand that dating for him would be complicated in the city he called home. But, little did he realize that his interest in white girls would lead to threats against him and his friends.

On a number of occasions, Williams and some of his black friends were threatened just for talking to white female classmates. At one point in high school at Muncie Central, Greg decides to help a classmate open her locker. The young girl’s brother stopped Greg the next day in the hallway and stated, “I tell you what, nigger, if you say one more word to her I’m gonna kick your black ass” (219). Greg had attempted to persuade him earlier in the conversation that he could talk to anyone he wanted, but that idea doesn’t fly with the kid, who was a football teammate of Greg’s, oddly enough. Greg learned that even trying to be nice to a fellow student, not attempting to engage in any kind of romance, subjected him to verbal abuse. It was when the verbal abuse turned into threats that Greg decided he was going to challenge the status quo.

He walked up to the same girl after her brother threatened Greg and attempted to hold a conversation with her. She sprinted down the hallway. After that incident, Greg learned that his dealings with white women might need to slow down.

He recounts that evening:“That night after midnight I awoke to the sound of glass breaking and tires squealing. Racing downstairs, I found Miss Dora standing in the living room with a brick in her hands. Broken glass from the front window covered the floor and Miss Dora’s sitting chair. She held the brick up to my face and said, “White girls mean trouble!” (219)

Greg had never been threatened like Emmett Till, who was lynched for whistling at a white woman, but he quickly found out that his classmates were not fond of him, a black boy, trying to talk to a white girl. Greg also found out from people in positions of authority that dating white girls would get him into trouble down the road.

Mr. Bennett, one of Greg’s teachers at Wilson Middle School, warns him that dating white girls will only get him into trouble during his life. “You better get it out of your mind that you’re ever going to date any white girls. That kind of thing is just not done in our society. It’s not going to be acceptable in my lifetime or yours, and it will never, ever happen here in Muncie” (182). Mr. Bennett was trying to protect Greg from the kind of trouble he encountered in high school.

Greg receives more advice from his guidance counselor Miss White right after Mr. Bennett tells him to never date white girls. She advises Greg, “Now about this business with Janie. It is simply not acceptable for you or any other Negro boys to socialize with white girls. If you continue this, you are going to create a lot of problems for yourself” (183). Greg is once again disillusioned by the obstacles put in front of him.

Even though the teachers are trying to look out for Greg’s future by telling him that he can get in serious trouble by dating white girls, Greg gets frustrated and angry, even going so far as to say advice he got left him, “badly shaken, confused, and hurt” (183). Even though Greg was discouraged from dating white girls, it didn’t stop him from falling in love when he got to college.

Greg met Sara Whitney his senior year at Muncie Central. Sara had to meet with Greg clandestinely because she was afraid her family would find out she was dating a black boy. “One of the boys who had seen us talking asked her if she had turned into a “nigger lover”. Most of all, though, she was worried about her parents’ reaction” (259). Sara’s family was trapped in the racist actions of the 1950s and ’60s. They knew that if she dated a black boy she was be stigmatized by the racially divided town.

Greg even asked her, “You don’t believe in the ‘Muncie Rules’ do you?” She replied, “Of course I don’t. They’re not fair, but whether they’re right or wrong, they still exist!” Greg answered that with, “They’ll keep on existing if we keep following ‘em!” (259). Greg’s determination to keep dating Sara, even though her family didn’t approve, and neither did the social “rules” of the town, showed that Sara was not afraid to live beyond the racial lines that divided Muncie. In fact, Sara shows courage in trying to maintain a relationship with Greg throughout the last years of high school and into their time at Ball State.

Why did Sara continue to meet with Greg and pursue a relationship with him, when she knew she could get in trouble for it? According to Desmond and Emirbayer (2010), “There are countless reasons why people traverse racial borders to marry, including the simplest and most powerful explanation of all: they found someone to love.” Sara kept seeing Greg because their relationship was very strong, and even though her parents ended up shunning her, she kept pursuing Greg.

Her grandmother kicked Sara out of her home because she felt Sara, “deceived me. I never want to see you again. You have disgraced the family” (269). Obviously Sara felt that her relationship with Greg was more important than the love she received from her family. She reinforced the thoughts of Desmond and Emirbayer fifty years before they wrote their simple assertion. Back when the Beatles were singing, “All you need is love”, Sara Whitney and Greg Williams proved it. They began a relationship that has withstood the test of time and racial boundaries.

Greg Williams found that life on the color line affected love on the color line. He learned the hard way that in Muncie he would have a tough time dating white girls. The social rules of the times forbade him from doing so. And even when his complexion allowed him to pass as white, he received odd glances as he escorted black female dates to dances and parties.

In middle school, teachers told him that he needed to stop dating white girls or it would lead him to trouble. When he got to high school, Greg found this out when he simply helped a classmate at her locker. His actions were taken by the girl’s brother as an attempt to romantically get involved with her. Greg had to wake up to the unfortunate sounds of glass shattering as the white boys of Muncie Central threw a brick through Miss Dora’s window.

Yet, when it came down to finding true love, Greg and his future wife Sara overstepped the racial lines of the times and fell in love. Maybe the Beatles were right; all you need is love.

Sources
Desmond, Matthew and Mustafa Emirbayer. (2010). Racial Domination, Racial Progress: The Sociology of Race in America. New York: McGraw Hill.

Williams, Gregory H. (1995). Life on the Color Line: The true story of a white boy who discovered he was black. New York: The Penguin Group.

Enquirer Columnist and UC Journalism Professor dies

When I arrived home late last Friday night (in fact it was early Saturday morning) I was met by my mom and dad, who I woke up on the way in the door. After making a few comments on the closeness of the UC-West Virginia game my mom asked me, “Did you hear anything about Jim Knippenberg?”

“No,” I responded. “Why? What happened?” I knew full well though that nothing good could have happened for my mom to bring up his name.

“They reported on the news tonight that he died,” she said. “Wow,” I said, with some amazement. “I just ran into him two weeks ago.”

(Local News outlets report on Knippenberg’s death:
http://www.newsrecord.org/sections/news/james-knippenberg-uc-adjunct-journalism-professor-dies-at-63-1.2065794
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Enquirer-Columnist-Jim-Knippenberg-Dead-At-63/joQOXgPr80aWN9lrUyEUDA.cspx
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091114/NEWS0104/311140005/1055/NEWS/Enquirer+writer+Knippenberg+dies)

That got me to reflecting on my former professor. Let’s start off with some short background.

Jim Knippenberg was an Elder grad and an Enquirer columnist. He also taught one class a quarter at UC, “Columns and Reviews,” a class I took in the winter of the 2008-2009 school year. He insisted that we call him ‘Jim’ even if he was old enough to be our grandpa. One time I called him to make sure we were still having class in inclement weather. “Mr. Knippenberg,” I said, “It’s Adam Niemeyer. I wanted to make sure we’re still having class today before I drive to school.”

“Adam,” he responded. “First, call me Jim. Second, I’m snowed in here on top of the hill. So we won’t have class. Enjoy the day off.”

He was a friendly guy and I guy that I consider the most influential journalism professor I’ve had in my two full years at UC. He told it like it was. He didn’t mince words, but he also encouraged us to continue pursuing our passions in journalism.

He’d bring clippings of news stories in. We’d read them, analyze them, and then discuss them. One of my favorite was a clip of a story in the paper that mentioned White Castle was running a Valentine’s Day special for couples to eat a “romantic dinner” at White Castle.

After reading the article he want around to each person in the room and asked questions like, “What do you think of the idea?” To the girls he asked, “What would you do if your boyfriend asked you to go to White Castle on a date?” To the guys, “Would you ever take your girlfriend to White Castle on Valentine’s Day?

Somehow that brought us around to talking about drinking. He asked everyone in the room, “Are you a happy drunk?” As I read the stories in the paper, written by former co-workers of Knippenberg, I laughed aloud. As John Kiesewetter, an Enquirer writer, wrote last week in tribute to a man referred to as ‘Knip’, “They weren't in the office every day to hear his catty, raunchy, irreverent, mostly unrepeatable, unprintable comments - and his laugh.”

And that’s what made class with him informative. Oh, and it was fun.

One day as class was getting ready to commence Jim turned and looked at me and said, “I have to talk to you. I know your whole family and life story now. You didn’t tell me you know my daughter.” I looked very puzzled as he went on to talk about my brother, using his first name, and one of my aunt’s (by her first name too). I guess he really did know everyone, as his colleagues recounted in the days after his death.

For one of my articles—which doubled as assignments—for his class I wrote about a West Side funeral home which started offering Elder themed caskets for Elder grads. Even though I can’t recall his exact thoughts on the situation, he did ask me if I’d like to be buried in the Elder themed casket. “Why not?” I asked back.

For some reason Jim loved to turn to my side of the room and ask me, “Adam, you’re an Elder guy, what do you think?” He’d bring up names of Elder people and Seton people that I knew, as everyone in the class stared at him in amazement.

Here are my stories/assignments from Jim’s class:
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/01/myron-rolle-goes-pro-in-something-other.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/01/put-me-in-coach.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/national-signing-day-features-local.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/nascar-not-immune-to-economic-downturn.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/maybe-sportsmanship-does-exist.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/tradition-never-graduates.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/03/post-100-usf-video-coordinator-assault.html
http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/03/youngsters-murder-reminds-cincinnati.html

Yet the reason I felt he was the best teacher I have had to this point in time (and not to put down my other professors, they’ve all been great too) was he told our class the scary situations that faced us upon graduation. The news media business is changing day in and day out, and Jim had no problem reminding us of that on a day to day basis in class.

But he also parted us with some really good advice. He said, “All of you have talent. There’s a lot of great writers in this room. Keep pursuing your passions because you all have talent.” And that’s why I’m still writing here today, with as much passion and fervor for UC football, NASCAR and other topics which cross my eyes on a daily basis. I write because I want a future in the profession. And what better way than establishing myself here?

When I ran into Jim a few weeks ago he was walking to his class as I was transferring between two of my own. We chatted about how the quarter was going and I reminded him that my work with the football team was going well. “Damn,” he said. “I forgot about that. You guys are doing well. I walked by and saw something going on last week.”

I told him, “Well, I was standing over there,” pointing to my normal practice locale. “You know I can’t see that far,” he replied. “I’m old and blind.”

That’s the humor that Jim Knippenberg shared with my class last winter, and the world in his writing. Although he’s no longer with us, his advice to numerous college students will live on for some time to come. It’s already worn off on me.

I’m an Elder guy, and that’s what I think.
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If you want to read some of Jim’s stuff, here’s a link to the archive of his stories from the Cincinnati Enquirer: http://www.enquirer.com/columns/knip/index.html