The Best Old Place Of All

A massive thunderstorm came through these parts yesterday morning. 

TigerBlog loves a good thunderstorm, though not everyone does. An old friend of his used to hide under the bed when one came along.

Hopefully the storm yesterday is the last of the wet weather for the weekend, he said alliteratively. While it's true that Reunions goes on rain or shine and that there have been more than a few really muddy ones, it's obviously much better when it's not soaked.

The forecast is encouraging at least. 

The weather should be pretty much perfect today at noon, when the Tiger Fan Fest returns to the front of Jadwin Gym. There's more information HERE.

It also doesn't figure to be raining tomorrow at 2, when the P-Rade commences. TB loves the P-Rade more than a thunderstorm. 

For someone who didn't actually attend Princeton, TB is very drawn to the way the University is able to celebrate itself. For starters, there's a lot to celebrate and a long history to draw on, but then again, that's also true of his alma mater in West Philadelphia — and there's nothing there that's in the same ballpark as what happens here.

Fortunately, Miss TigerBlog did the hard work of being a Princeton engineering student, presumably for the education but possibly, as TB likes to think, so that he could add the suffix "P’22" to his name and feel even more like a part of things. 

The unofficial beginning of Reunions, at least in the Department of Athletics, is the Gary Walters Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet, which took place last night in Jadwin Gym.

The first part was the cocktail hour, during which there were pictures, hugs, smiles and laughter. Then it was time for dinner and the main program.

The top awards were presented, with the biggest of those the Roper Trophy to the top senior male athlete and the Von Kienbusch Award for the top senior female athlete. This is never an easy choice, which is a sign of just how strong Princeton Athletics has always been. 

In this case, the big winners were NCAA men's fencing champion Tristan Szapary and women's basketball's three-time Ivy League tournament Most Outstanding Player Kaitlyn Chen. For his part, TigerBlog was glad to see that Chen's teammate, Ellie Mitchell, was recognized as a finalist for the Von Kienbusch Award.

More than anything else, the banquet is a celebration of all the graduating senior athletes, a group of primarily 18- and 19-year-olds who came to Princeton unsure of how they'd fit in and who went down vastly different paths to get to this point. 

Yes, it's nice to honor the award recipients, but this is for everyone who didn't give up when giving up might have been the easy thing to do. That's why there are so many smiles during the cocktail hour, and that's why TB has always thought the absolute best moment of each of these banquets comes when each senior is honored with an action picture at the end.

Some thought they'd be here a year ago. Others only competed for three years. 

Some were four-year starters who never missed a day with injury. Others were part of an unlucky group that couldn't seem to stay out of the training room.

There were high school All-Americans and top recruits. There were walk-ons. There was everything in between. 

They all had their own unique experience. Looking for a commonality? 

They will all draw on that experience for the rest of their lives. TB has seen it through the decades here, and he's not the only one. For instance, he's always loved this quote: 

"Most of you will go on to careers and lives that will take you far from where we are currently gathered. Whatever path you take, I'm pretty confident that you too will remember Princeton University the way I do, as a place that challenged you every day, improved you every day, made you work as hard as you could to achieve and ultimately left you very much changed from the person you were when you arrived here."

Whose words are those? 

That would be the man for whom the banquet is named — Gary Walters.

To all of the senior athletes, TB wishes you the best. 

And to everyone who will be on campus this weekend, have a great time. This is, after all, the Best Old Place Of All.