Names In The News

A couple of Dartmouth alums who would have crossed paths in the late 1970's are in the news, one for his football prowess, the other – a former Big Green hoopster – for baseball prowess. That would be his son's baseball prowess.

The football player is former placekicker Nick Lowery '78, who is headed for the Kansas City Chiefs' Hall of Fame. From a KansasCity.com story:

The 39th member of the Chiefs Hall of Fame stands out among his peers for one reason: his resolve.

"None of the others were cut 11 different times by eight different teams," interim Chiefs president Denny Thum said. "While that may not sound like a badge of honor, it certainly speaks to the perseverance of one Nick Lowery." Lowery, the Chiefs’ kicker from 1980 through 1993 and still their all-time leading scorer, was announced Saturday as the latest member of their Hall of Fame.

The former basketball player is Eugene Heyward '81, whose son gets a nice mention in an espn.com story by esteemed baseball writer Peter Gammons:

I have seen some extraordinary young players in Florida this spring. Jason Heyward of the Braves. Rick Porcello of the Tigers. Lars Anderson of the Red Sox. In that group, the common denominators are skill and clear intelligence, whether it's Heyward's being the son of Dartmouth graduates, Porcello's being so decent he still calls coaches at North Carolina, or any literary discussion.

Lest mom's contribution to gene pool go unrecognized, she's Laura Benjamin Heyward '79. Jason was the subject of this mlb.com story a few weeks back. There was a nice story about the Dartmouth family dynamic in the Atlanta Journal Constitution last year that included this:

Eugene and Laura Heyward are Dartmouth graduates. He is an electrical engineer for ITT Technologies, designing electronic warfare systems for Robins Air Force Base. She was an insurance underwriter for Life of Georgia before taking a job at Georgia Power to work closer to their McDonough home. What's been smart about their parenting is how they've guided Heyward while giving him freedom to make his own choices.

"I wouldn't be anywhere if they didn't let me do what I said," Heyward said. "They said: 'You choose. If we choose it for you, you're not going to be doing what you want to do.' "

Eugene Heyward, who played basketball at Dartmouth, wishes he had chosen baseball. He makes no pretenses about that with Jason.

Congratulations to the Dartmouth women's basketball team on winning at least a share of a 17th Ivy League title last night with a victory over Brown. The Big Green will play host to Harvard Tuesday with a trip to the NCAA Tournament possibly hanging in the balance. With a win, Dartmouth clinches the outright Ivy League title and heads to the Dance. A loss and Harvard will grab a half of the crown and the teams will play off at Brown for the right to go to the NCAA's. Dartmouth defeated Harvard earlier this season at Lavietes Pavilion. ...

The Dartmouth women's ice hockey team will play RPI today for the ECAC championship and the automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The men's team saw its season end with a loss to RPI last night while the men's basketball team was being downed by Brown in Providence.