Alumni and Friends of VMI:
Cyber Corps Numbers: 579
Blue & Gray Magazine Article: The April 1999 issue of the Blue & Gray Magazine contains an article about VMI Cadets at the Battle of New Market. You can check out a bit of the article at the magazine's website: http://www.bluegraymagazine.com/. The introduction to the article is written by Lt. Col. Keith Gibson '71.
Now You Really Have A Recent to Read the Sports Page:
Ryan Glynn is VMI '96. Looks like the launching of a promising
baseball career.
Glynn's a winner without the win
The Virginian-Pilot
Copyright 1998, Landmark Communications Inc.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- According to the strict record of
baseball, Portsmouth's Ryan Glynn was not a winner Tuesday night
in his first major league start for the Texas Rangers.
Some fans in Section 107 at Tropicana Field knew something very
different.
``I always told Ryan the Lord gave him a gift, and what he did
with it was his gift back,'' said Eileen Glynn as the youngest of
her four sons buzzed 92 mph fastballs at the Tampa Bay Devil
Rays. ``It's all in what you do with it.''
The record will show that Ryan Glynn, a lean 24-year-old
righthander out of Churchland High School and Virginia Military
Institute, did just fine.
Not well enough to put a W next to his name in the box score;
Glynn was unable to finish five innings to officially qualify for
the win in the Rangers' 7-2 triumph.
But in 4 innings, Glynn was good enough to strike out Jose
Canseco, the hulking American League home run leader, with
runners on first and third to end a fourth-inning threat dripping
with danger.
Good enough to prevent Wade Boggs, the future Hall of Famer, from
inching any closer to the 3,000-hit mark in two at-bats. Good
enough, ultimately, to limit Tampa Bay to two runs, spicing seven
hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
However, after Fred McGriff doubled to lead off the fifth inning,
John Flaherty lined out to the leftfield wall. With the
lefthanded Boggs on his way to the plate, another veteran
lefthanded hitter Paul Sorrento on deck and Glynn approaching 100
pitches for the night, Rangers manager Johnny Oates decided the
kid's evening should end.
Sure, Glynn might have gotten two more outs, completed five
innings and left with a 5-2 lead.
He also could have been moments away from bad memories that would
have overshadowed all that was good about Tuesday night -- for
Glynn, for his mom and dad, two of his brothers, his
sister-in-law and a few other friends and family members in the
seats.
So Oates, who was raised and still lives outside Richmond, took
the walk to the mound. He motioned for lefthanded reliever Mike
Venafro -- another rookie and a fellow Virginian from Chantilly
-- who wound up earning his first big-league victory.
And then, with a few words and a pat on the back, Oates sent
Glynn off. Into his future.
``The whole Tidewater area can be proud,'' Oates said. ``I just
told him that, as a manager, when you send a guy out there like
that you want to do everything in your power to give him the
chance to get the win.
``But I just thought . . . that I'd gone as far as I could. He'll
get many, many more opportunities for that first win. I told him
not to be satisfied with the way he pitched, but to be happy with
it.''
Glynn didn't have to be told twice.
``I looked right at him and said, `Johnny, whatever we have to do
to win,' '' said Glynn, who was actually making his third major
league appearance after two brief relief stints last week.
``This team's goal is to win a world championship. And if it
means I have to pitch 4 my first start and not pick up a win,
that is fine with me.''
The game started at 7:05. But the Rangers might mark the time of
Glynn's true arrival as Canseco's at-bat in the fourth inning.
Glynn had struck out Canseco last week in Texas, but that was
while doing mop-up duty. This was trouble brewing, Canseco
filling the batter's box, waving the bat that's launched 17 home
runs so far, his left forearm padded in protective armor, runners
on the corners, ahead 2-0 in the count.
Glynn battled back to 2-2 with sliders, refusing to yield with
fastballs. The fastball came next, and Canseco fouled it back.
So, geared for the fastball, Canseco waved at the low, biting
curveball that came next.
Inning over, and point made . . . the point being that it was the
kind of pitch that winners make. The kind of pitch Glynn made all
the time in his backyard wiffle-ball games, in Portsmouth's youth
leagues, pretending he was Braves' star Tom Glavine.
The kind of moment that launches careers. That fills the heart
and mind with pride. And endless possibilities.
More From the Alumni Association Minutes: The
following provides additional excerpts from the minutes of the
April 10 Alumni Association Board meeting.
James Adams '71 provided the Report of the Foundation - Mr. Adams
reported that annual giving set a record last year in terms of
dollars. The concern is the decreased rate during FY98 - fewer
alumni giving more money. A concerned effort was made to increase
participation. Currently in FY99, we are up about 9.9% in dollars
contributed to Annual Giving, 12.3% in participation. This is
more significant and efforts will be made to get more people back
into the family and new alumni contributors.
The class agent system is a good system but it needs more help.
Class agents have a big job to do keeping class members informed
of all the happenings at the Institute. Fund raising is not
necessarily the strong point of a particular class agent. We are
in the process of creating a class stewardship, where if the
class agent desires, we will go out and recruit BR's in the class
ultimately to have a group or a committee of stewards to assist
the class agents with a ration of 50 to 1 or 25 to 1.
BRs will be contacted by phone and by mail and there will be open
communication at all times. A real emphasis will be placed on
what their donation does for VMI. At one time VMI alumni enjoyed
the claim that alumni participation was as high as 50% which
placed us among the leaders of this country in colleges and
alumni participation. Last year, VMI alumni were at 31%. To some
extent, VMI is a victim because we count much more honestly than
some other institutions. And the rule is that if you attended VMI
for one semester (enrolled in VMI and left in good standing) you
are in the count. As fundraisers our goal will be to raise the
participation by our alumni.
We're also keenly aware that annual giving has not done a good
job in barracks. We're going to work on this problem. We need to
inform the Corps of the benefits of alumni giving to them.
Another area of concern for the Foundation is the subject of
donations made to restricted funds not being credited to Annual
Giving for a particular class. That will change so that the class
will get credit. The other subject of concern is the athletic
situation and, in particular, the funding of athletics as it
relates to Annual Giving. Annual Giving is composed of two parts.
The Annual Fund is the Foundation part. People give unrestricted
gifts to the Annual Fund of the Foundation and those funds are to
be used for any purpose of VMI other than athletics. The other
arm of Annual Giving is the Keydet Club Scholarship Fund, that is
unrestricted gifts to the scholarship fund which means that these
funds can be used for any sport or any purpose under the
scholarship umbrellas. Those gifts are restricted to athletic
scholarships. The problem is the cost of running the athletic
program. It's great to have kids on scholarship but what if
there's no team. You've got coaches' salaries, facilities, travel
costs, recruiting and all of those things have to come out of the
revenue stream in other areas. Starting with the next fiscal
year, July 1, 1999, we will introduce a third arm of annual
giving. It's a test. We don't know what the reaction of our
alumni will be. We don't know if this will be a permanent or
temporary addition and only time will tell us. What we are doing
is a concerted educational campaign by mail with letters from the
Superintendent and the Development Board to explain to alumni
constituencies the cost of running the athletic program at VMI.
The final step of that program will be to announce the Athletic
Operations Fund of Annual Giving, a third leg asking for gifts
for the athletic program. The response by our alumni body to that
call is going to help the Institute determine the level of
support we have for athletics.
Donnie Ross '74 provided the Report of the Keydet Club - Mr. Ross
vice president of the VMI Keydet Club, Inc. presented data on
giving to the Alumni Educational Fund for nine months. That total
giving to date was $713,544, representing an increase of 10.31%
over FY98; and total donors was 2,581, a 5.52% increase over
FY98.
Paul Maini '66 provided the Report of the Executive Vice
President - Mr. Maini reported that to date we have had 70 alumni
meetings, chapter events, dinners and New Cadet Recruiting events
that have been attended by approximately 3,500 alumni across the
country. A couple of highlights to note are some innovations that
have taken place in the Potomac River Chapter in Roanoke and most
recently in the Tidewater Chapter where they have started monthly
networking breakfast meetings, which have been extremely
successful. Coach McCombs and General Bunting both have been
supportive of our chapter speaker requests.
Mr. Maini announced to the board that Margaret Jones Tait would
retire on June 30, 1999. Margaret will continue to work the big
events throughout the fall of 1999 in order to help with the
transition of the new person.
Mr. Maini reminded the board of the Red, White and Yellow Pages
effort, which will go forward again this year. Forms for ads for
this publication are available for your convenience in the Alumni
office.
The VMI At War project is ongoing with some 430 responses being
received thus far. Mr. Maini encouraged everyone to return the
forms as soon as possible. The Legislative Reception in Richmond
on February 13th was most successful. The 3rd Alumni College will
be held July 11 - 17, 1999, and will complete the campaigns of
Stonewall Jackson in this session.
Mr. Maini complimented Bert Deacon for his dedication to the
board as president and stated his gratitude for his leadership
and cooperative attitude.
Mr. Deacon next recognized Clifford Foster of the VMI Club of
Richmond and Curran Bowman, president of the Atlanta Chapter for
the strong leadership given to their respective chapters.
Cyber Corps Items Update: The VMI athletics office has accepted the request to sell Cyber Corps t-shirts, etc. This week the athletics office will be supplied with some samples of the stuff we'll be selling. If ultimate approval is granted I should be able to begin taking orders in the next week or so.
That's it for this week.
Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75
Last Updated: October 11, 2009
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