Alumni and Friends of VMI:
VMI Portal Site: For those of you who have listened to VMI football games webcasts you've run across a VMI portal site at www.VMIKeydets.com. I understand that VMI basketball games can also be heard through this site. The site is run by George Inge '91. If you haven't done so, I encourage all to visit this site as it contains links to the VMI Cadet newspaper, etc., etc.
A Jaunt in the Woods Lands Many Rats a Number One: OK, OK here's what I understand about this story. Seems the cadre was going to send the Rats on a forced march one Saturday morning a number of weeks ago. Unknown to the cadre and in an effort to show Rat mass unity, a bunch of the Rats decided to get up at 2:00 AM and go hide out in the woods (I believe somewhere behind Patchin Field). When the cadre went to roust the Rats at 4:30 that morning about 160 of the Rats were nowhere to be found. So....the Commandant runs a CCQ status check. Lo and behold the 160 Rats have to bone themselves. End result...a 160 Number Ones which is 4 months confinement, 60 penalty tours and 15 demerits. Guess they'll have plenty of time to establish that unity during the next several months. Whew!
Foreign exchange / Former Keydet has starring role
in CFL, Montreal
Sunday, October 17, 1999
BY MIKE HARRIS
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
MONTREAL
From the balcony of his 19th-floor apartment, Thomas Haskins has
a view of virtually the entire city.
He likes to sit out there when it's warm. He looks one way and
can see the expensive mansions even higher up the hill than his
building. Off in another direction is Olympic Stadium. Downtown's
high rises are straight ahead. Just down the hill is Molson
Stadium, home of Haskins' employers -- the Montreal Alouettes of
the Canadian Football League.
It's appropriate that Haskins lives where he can see most of
Montreal. It's a town that he's well on the way to making his
own.
Three years removed from his record-setting career at Virginia
Military Institute, Haskins is getting a chance in the CFL and
making it count. The "Als" put Haskins, a graduate of
Highland Springs High, on the field regularly when star running
back Mike Pringle was injured. Now they can't take him off.
Haskins rushed for 262 yards and two touchdowns in the two games
he started for Pringle.
When Pringle came back, Haskins moved to slotback. In his first
two starts there, Haskins had 221 receiving yards and scored
three touchdowns. Through 14 games of an 18-game season, Haskins
was second in the CFL in kickoff returns and third in total
yardage.
"Thomas is really something special," said Jacques
Dussault, Montreal's assistant head coach. "I wish I had 12
Thomases on the field. He came up here and made himself a good
punt returner. Then he made himself a good kick returner. Then he
made himself a good rusher, a good receiver.
"Whatever you ask of Thomas he'll do it, and whatever he
does, he'll do it well. He's amazing. It's that simple."
OK, so it isn't the NFL. Despite rushing for a then-Division I-AA
record 5,349 yards at VMI, Haskins didn't get a chance at the
NFL. He's never been to an NFL camp. He's over that, somewhat. It
still gnaws at him a little, though nowhere near as much as it
once did.
He has a job, a good one, even if the money isn't the same as it
is in the NFL.
He lives in a magnificent city and has a growing following. More
and more people are recognizing him as he strolls along Rue
Sainte-Catherine. There are places in town where his money's no
good, where management is just happy to have in the house the
player some are starting to call the most exciting in the CFL.
Twice on a recent national CFL broadcast, commentators called
Haskins exactly that.
"Things are definitely sweet right now," Haskins said.
"I was talking to one of the coaches for the British
Columbia Lions after we played them. He said he enjoyed watching
me play, said I was probably the hottest guy in the CFL right
now.
"This league so far has been awfully good to me."
The CFL and Haskins fit each other. The field is wider and
longer, there are 12 players on each side of the ball and motion
on offense is legal. At full speed when he gets the ball and with
extra room to maneuver, Haskins is a dangerous man. Montreal
quarterback Anthony Calvillo calls Haskins "future
dog." Before long, he said, Haskins will be universally
recognized as a marquee player.
"Thomas is one of the greatest athletes I've ever played
with," Calvillo said. "He makes plays. He can turn a
5-yard catch into a 90-yard touchdown. People are getting the
idea now of what he can do."
.
The big question with Haskins is what is he doing in Montreal in
the first place? People at VMI, in Virginia and in the Southern
Conference have known for a while what Haskins can do. There's a
perfectly good league in his own country.
Surely, what he did at VMI merited someone taking a good look at
him.
His career numbers were spectacular. He had a minimum of 1,509
rushing yards each of his final three years with the Keydets.
He's third all-time on the Division I-AA rushing list. He
averaged 6 yards per carry. He scored 50 touchdowns. Twice he was
the Southern Conference's offensive player of the year, and he's
the only VMI player to have his jersey (No. 10) retired. Eight of
the top nine rushing games in school history are his. He had
7,405 all-purpose yards, tops in the league. He was first team on
six All-America teams. He has 21 school records and shares five
others.
Sight unseen, that should have been enough to get him in
someone's camp. It never happened. He didn't get much more than a
sideways glance. Some workouts and nothing more.
"It still bothers me a little, especially on Sunday nights
and Monday nights when I'm watching," Haskins said. "It
humbled me more than I was already humbled. To be able to achieve
what I did and not even get an opportunity is really puzzling.
"I look back now and can't tell you exactly why I didn't get
a look. That's all I ever wanted, just a chance to get into
somebody's camp."
Various reasons are trotted out for Haskins being overlooked.
He's not very big. He stands 5-8, weighs 185 pounds. But Virginia
Tech's Vaughn Hebron and William and Mary's Robert Green weren't
big either. Both were listed at 5-9, 195 pounds in their senior
years in college. Both spent some time in the NFL in the 1990s.
Scouts questioned his speed. Haskins said he ran once after his
junior season for someone who claimed to represent a scouting
service. Haskins ran a 4.6 for the 40-yard dash on what he called
a bad day. His actual time is 4.4.
"I believe that 4.6 got spread around the NFL," Haskins
said.
Could he catch? He caught plenty of pitches but not many passes
at VMI. Haskins had 27 receptions for 179 yards in his career at
VMI. That yardage total is a good game for him now. Catching, he
said, is what he does best and what he likes to do most.
It can't be his character. Haskins is a VMI graduate. They're not
all saints -- a couple of VMI guys held up a Brinks truck not
that long ago -- but Haskins is one of the bright lights.
"Thomas is a terrific young man," is a phrase you'll
hear often in Montreal, in English and in French.
"They don't come any better," said Danny Maciocia, the
Alouettes' running backs coach.
So what gives?
Bill Baker, a former University of Richmond defensive
coordinator, is a scout with the Seattle Seahawks. Baker, still a
Richmond resident, was scouting for the Atlanta Falcons when
Haskins was at VMI.
"It kind of surprised me that he didn't get in [a camp]
anywhere," Baker said. "I had him as a free-agent
possibility and I think that's what most teams had. I had hoped
somebody would have given him a chance. It just didn't happen. It
works that way sometimes. We weren't looking for that type of
back at that time. I don't know about the other teams.
"He is small. That might have hurt him as much as anything.
Small player, small college. When that's the case, you really
have to have something that stands out. Thomas doesn't have great
speed. He did have that outstanding production. I would have
thought he'd of gotten into someone's camp."
One person watching Haskins' situation with interest was Jim
Popp.
As Haskins wrapped up his junior year at VMI, the Baltimore
Stallions were wrapping up their days in the CFL. They were part
of a short-lived experiment with the CFL in the United States.
When the old Cleveland Browns relocated and became the Baltimore
Ravens, the Stallions were sent looking for a home. For a brief
time, they looked at Richmond.
They ended up in Montreal, where the previous edition of the
Alouettes had been dead for 10 years. Popp was one of the few
Stallions' employees who made the move. He's now the team's
general manager.
He invited Haskins to a tryout camp near Charlotte, N.C., in the
spring after Haskins' final season as a Keydet.
"Thomas was a lot faster than what everybody kind of had him
pinned at, especially the NFL teams," Popp said. "He is
short. He's also very strong and stocky. He's a terrific person,
too. I always describe our game in the CFL as full-court pressure
on a football field. You have to be that kind of athlete. Our
rosters are smaller. You have to be versatile. You can't be
specialized."
In Haskins' case, he also had to be patient.
His first year in Montreal, Haskins was on injured reserve most
of the season. He can't describe his injury because there really
wasn't one. Like the NFL, teams in the CFL sometimes try to hide
a player they like on injured reserve. He ended up playing two
games at the end of the year, rushing 18 times for 134 yards and
catching two passes for 15 yards.
Last season, he played a little more. He had 211 rushing yards,
207 receiving yards, 412 kickoff return yards and 267 punt return
yards.
This year figured to be more of the same. Pringle, who played
with the team in Baltimore, set a league record last year by
becoming the first CFL player to have a 2,000-yard rushing season
(2,065). He had 13 consecutive games with at least 100 rushing
yards, shattering the old record of eight. He was the league's
Most Valuable Player.
Pringle, at 32, is seven years old than Haskins. Even if Pringle
hadn't gotten hurt, the team had plans for Haskins. Pringle can't
last forever. When he injured ligaments in his right knee and
missed two games, Haskins stepped in and gained 137 yards one
game and 125 the next. Moved to slotback after that, Haskins kept
up the production. In Monday's 43-7 victory over Saskatchewan,
Haskins had 114 receiving yards. One of his catches was good for
a 32-yard touchdown.
"Thomas stays ready," said Montreal coach Charlie
Taaffe, a former head coach at The Citadel where he had to try to
defend Haskins for three seasons.
"What he's been able to do for us is a testament to his
character. He feels he's as good a back as anybody he plays
against, and he makes a very good argument for himself."
That's what he wanted to do, get a chance and go.
"Thomas has been very patient. The guy in front of him
[Pringle] has been an MVP in this league," Popp said.
"We told him to keep working hard, that it would all pay
off. Now, the truth is he's one of the most outstanding players
in the league because of how hard he's worked. Now we're trying
any way we can to get the ball in his hands."
Said Haskins, "I've shown I can make plays. That's what it
is all about. That's how your money grows. Now my expectations
are even higher. I'm doing some good things, some exciting
things."
Montreal is 10-4 with a two-game lead in the East Division over
the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Six of the CFL's eight teams will make
the playoffs. Winning the division means a first-round bye and a
home game for a chance to go to the Grey Cup, the CFL's version
of the Super Bowl. That game is scheduled for Nov. 28 in
Vancouver.
When the season ends, Haskins said he'll take one more look at
getting into an NFL camp. He's going into the option year of his
contract and league rules allow players in that situation a
nine-week window to try to secure an NFL contract. Haskins knows
Detroit Lions coach Bobby Ross through their VMI connection.
That's a likely starting point.
Baker said NFL teams regularly study CFL talent, and Haskins'
production will be noticed. With the NFL ready to expand again,
more players are needed.
"Frankly, we're starting to run out of players," Baker
said. "I think you'll see more guys who are playing in
Canada and in the European league in our league. There's no
question Thomas is somebody who will be evaluated.
"His chances might not be great. But there are players who
have done it."
Said another NFL scout who didn't want his name used, "He's
been productive. He has good speed and good short-area quickness.
If he continues to be productive in Canada, he might be someone
you look at and consider signing. But you're always going to want
bigger. He might be a hell of a player. But he might not be quite
what we want."
With things going so well for him in Canada, it might seem
strange that Haskins even wants to leave for a no-promises chance
at the NFL. He has good reasons, starting with the money. He's
not that concerned with the size of a contract. It's the tax
thing that hurts U.S. players in Canada. They get hit twice.
The NFL is also the football league of his home country. News of
the CFL isn't a big thing back home. At times, he feels cut off
from his family. His mother, father, one of two brothers and
fiancee Monika Taylor still live in Richmond. Phone calls and
e-mail do only so much.
"Guys have gone from this league to the NFL," Haskins
said. "Look at Doug Flutie. Guys like him keep the dream
alive for a lot of us here."
But he's ready if things don't work out. Haskins has already
discussed a long-term deal with Popp that would put him in the
$150,000-a-year (Canadian) range. There are other ways to make
money. Former William and Mary runner Michael Clemons has become
a fixture in Toronto, complete with a fancy nickname
("Pinball") and endorsement deals.
Haskins recently bought a software program for his computer that
will help him learn French. You can survive in Montreal without
knowing French. But it's much easier if you do know it.
"I took it for four years in high school and never really
paid attention," he said with a laugh.
The NFL may never happen. Things could be worse, much worse.
Haskins needs only to step onto his balcony and survey the
beautiful city below to remind himself of that. He lives in the
heart of it all. He can ride the subway to practice at Olympic
Stadium, walk to games at Molson Stadium. A couple of blocks from
him is a row of restaurants, and Haskins may try all of them. He
has a favorite, an Italian place, and it took him several minutes
on a recent visit to reach his table because he kept stopping to
greet and thank well-wishers.
Montreal may soon become more than a part-time home.
He came to the CFL, he said, thinking it would be a stepping
stone. He knows it may be the final step. It wouldn't make him
unhappy.
"You can do fine here. Pinball has made himself an icon in
Toronto," Haskins said. "It's every football players'
dream to make it to the NFL. Not everyone can do it, that's the
reality. I wouldn't consider myself a failure if I ended up
having a long, productive career here and that's what it may come
down to.
"If the NFL happens, it happens. If it doesn't, I've got a
home here."
CFL via Virginia
Thomas Haskins (Virginia Military) and Winston October (Richmond)
of the Montreal Alouettes are not the lone flag-bearers of state
colleges in the Canadian Football League. Others who attended
college in Virginia on CFL rosters as of this week are:
Player Pos. College CFL team
Michael Clemons RB W&M Toronto
Kelly Wiltshire DB JMU Toronto
Donald Smith DB Liberty Toronto
Mike Cawley QB JMU Saskatchewan
VMI Success Stories: In a recent update I
opined that VMI needs to do a better job touting its success
stories. I recently received the following and thought I'd share
it with our participants. Oh, and by the way, my first name is
Robert, but I much prefer to go by my better know handle of RB.
Thanks to Alex for sharing his experiences.
Mr. Lane,
Forgive me for not using your first name, but I don't know it,
but since you're an Alum of the finest school in the nation, you
probably remember how often as cadets we referred to each other
by our last names anyway. I saw the bit below and I just thought
I would shed a little personal insight on this to you. VMI
education, as is often touted, has many advantages besides just
teaching academic book smarts. For one thing, its the other
lessons from VMI that have gotten me to where I am today. Working
under pressure, time management, leadership, seeking and taking
responsibility, etc. have gotten me to where I am today. I have a
Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of South Carolina (awarded
Dec. 98, 4 1/2 years after I graduated from VMI) and I was
awarded a very prestigious National Research Council (NRC)
Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST).
First of all, the NRC postdoc is an award competed for nationally - so I was probably up against high level brainiacs from MIT, CalTech, what have you when I applied for the position. Further, NIST is a premier govt. lab, so working here is also a bit of an achievement. I'm blowing my horn a bit here, but I'm still surprised that I ever got this award. Graduate school, and the classes there, were very very difficult for me when I first go there, but lessons taught at VMI, such as working under pressure and time management, got me through the rough first year of heavy academics.
The other lessons of VMI got me through the rest of my time
there. I graduated with my Ph.D. with a 3.7 (maybe 3.6, I can't
remember) GPA, and I had enoughother accomplishments to land me
here. To go on further, in my graduating class of 1994, among the
6 chemistry majors, 4 of us now have Ph.D.s in chemistry.
Academics at VMI could be improved, but its the other lessons at
VMI that make our graduates succeed at just about anything we do.
Okay, I'm preaching to the choir here, but I thought I might just
tell you how far a VMI education has gotten me. Share with others
if you like.
Sincerely,
Alex Morgan, VMI '94
BASKETBALL
Thursday, October 14, 1999
Keydets look up in S.C. polls
FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
VMI's basketball team was picked to finish last in its division
in a poll of media members at the Southern Conference's preseason
press gathering in Greenville, S.C., on Wednesday.
League coaches picked VMI fifth in the six-team North Division in
their poll.
VMI went 12-15 overall and tied for third in the division with a
9-7 league mark last year. The Keydets lost in the first round of
the league tournament.
Appalachian State was picked to win the North in both polls. The
coaches picked Chattanooga to win the South, but the media chose
the College of Charleston.
Last season, its first in the league, the College of Charleston
went 16-0 in league play and won the conference tournament. The
Cougars beat North Carolina and Massachusetts in nonleague play.
The only starter returning from the 28-3 team is center Jody
Lumpkin. The Cougars have 11 freshman on the roster. Highly
regarded junior James Griffin, who transferred from Wake Forest,
won't be eligible until after the fall semester.
""Last year's team was cake to coach,'' Cougars coach
John Kresse said. ""This year, I'll have to combine
some yelling and screaming, a great deal of patience at times,
and all the motivation thoughts and sayings I can produce.''
And it still might not be enough. The Cougars placed a
stranglehold on the Trans America Athletic Conference in their
five seasons there, but the parity in Southern Conference makes a
similar dynasty unlikely, Davidson coach Bob McKillop said.
""Charleston had a number of close calls last year,''
he said. ""That will be experience for every team this
year.''
Houston Alumni Activities: Joe Leonard, Jr.
'83, President of the Southeast Texas Chapter Alumni Association
asked me to pass along a couple items:
1) Joe requests that all Houston area alumni contact him at JLeonard83@aol.com with
their respective e-mail addresses. They're trying to create a
local e-mail list (newsletter?) for area alumni.
2) If anyone is going to be in the Houston area on Nov 13 and
would like to attend the annual VMI-Citadel party, contact Joe
for details.
That's it for this week.
Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75
Last Updated: October 11, 2009
Site Created by: Richard L. Neff II, '90 - Network Technologies Group