Posts By By Skip Tate
Brian Grant
October 2, 2013 | By Skip Tate | 2 CommentsThe four boys are spread out along the end of an otherwise empty football field, running around and sweating in the heat of a summer Portland sun.
“Cut and change direction,” Matt James yells at them. “Good. Slide, slide, don’t … Read More
October 1, 2013 | By Skip Tate | One Comment
In 1999, the National Basketball Association awarded Brian Grant with its J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in recognition of his outstanding community service and charitable work. Some of his efforts include:
• The family of Dash Thomas contacted Grant, asking if … Read More
Main Musketeer
July 2, 2013 | By Skip TateGreg Christopher was hired as athletic director in March. We asked him about himself and his vision for Xavier sports as the University enters the Big East.
Q: What attracted you to Xavier? A: Really three things. First and foremost … Read More
Game Changer
July 2, 2013 | By Skip TateThe official announcement of the worst-kept secret in college sports happened March 20: Xavier is leaving the Atlantic 10 Conference and joining a newly restructured Big East. Talk of the change was a shadow story throughout much of the past year, and making … Read More
The Competition
July 1, 2013 | By Skip TateAs Xavier prepares to enter its first season in the Big East, it faces an entirely new set of competitors. Here are the new Big East teams with basic information on how they stack up against Xavier.
Xavier Musketeers
Location: … Read More
Words to Run By
April 26, 2013 | By Skip TateI run. I don’t run very far, nor do I run very fast. And I try to run early in the morning before the sun comes up so it’s dark and no one can see me sweating and swearing and gasping for … Read More
A Golfer’s Dream
April 4, 2013 | By Skip TateI don’t golf. My life is frustrating enough.
But I know a lot of people who do. And, as a result, I know a lot of people who are soon going to be drooling over the latest addition to Xavier’s … Read More
March 1, 2013 | By Skip Tate
I once sat next to James Buchanan at a lunch. James is the director of Xavier’s Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue and one of those people who knows just waaaay too much. He’s got degrees from Yale and Chicago. He’s … Read More
Snow, Suffering and the Human Soul
March 1, 2013 | By Skip TateThe human soul is a marvelous thing. Although outside of the abilities of science to pinpoint, its existence is hard to deny. We’ve seen too many times the terrors of its tormented dark side—Sept. 11, Columbine, Newtown. Such reckless disregard … Read More
I do. A lot.
March 1, 2013 | By Skip TateIn working to help put together all of the admissions materials, it becomes apparent that Xavier—in some subtle but evident ways—helps self-select its students. That is, we make it apparent that these are our values and beliefs, and if they … Read More
Going Retro
March 1, 2013 | By Skip TateFor a number of years, I had a Xavier basketball sitting on the bookshelf in my office. It was light blue with the old sports logo—the one where the Musketeer is decked out in knee-high boots and feathered hat, and is … Read More
A Glimmer of Hope
March 1, 2013 | By Skip TateThere’s a photo hanging in our office, just outside my door. It’s the cover of a Xavier magazine, actually, although not one that ever saw the printing press. It’s a mock-up those of us in the office created to give … Read More
Into the Wild: A Teaching Experience That is Both Intense and In Tents
January 1, 2013 | By Skip TateMike Cottingham is a teacher. Only his classroom is 13,770 feet up on top of Wyoming’s Grand Teton mountain. It’s also in a kayak next to a humpback whale just off Alaska’s Chochagoff Island. And in the middle of the … Read More
Of God and Grizzly
October 2, 2011 | By Skip TateWe’re halfway up the hillside when we first see the footprints. Grizzly bear. The dirt around the edges of the prints is still loose, not compacted by the recent rain, meaning the tracks are fresh. Meaning the bear is here. … Read More
Where are They Now?
January 2, 2011 | By Skip TateJack Thobe, 1962
The first time Jack Thobe ever flew on a plane, he was 18 years old. It was 1958, and Xavier was in the National Invitation Tournament in New York. Thobe sat in the stands at Madison … Read More
