Happy 90th

If TigerBlog wanted to, he could probably give a "happy birthday" greeting pretty much every day here. 

With all of the Princetonians out there, it's always someone's birthday. Singling out people would only lead to offending others, who would think "hey, how come so-and-so got a birthday shout out and I didn't? That TB is a jerk."

And, well, you know, TB doesn't want anyone to think he's a jerk or anything.

Today, though, is a special birthday for one of the most special Princeton alums there's ever been and one of the most special people TB has ever met. And so, because of that, TB will break his usual birthday stance and wish someone a happy birthday today:

Happy 90th birthday, John McPhee.

For those who don't know, John McPhee is one of the greatest American writers of all time. In addition to his long career with the New Yorker magazine, McPhee has written more than 30 books, all of them non-fiction. He's a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, having been honored for his work "Annals of the Former World."

You can go into any bookstore you want and randomly buy anything he's written and be immediately enthralled. It doesn't matter what the subject is.

The history of growing oranges in Florida? The New Jersey Pine Barrens? Shad fishing? The life of the Merchant Marine? The longtime headmaster at Deerfield?

There's all of those and more.

McPhee's books are all written in the first person. He embeds himself into the story and the subject, but never in a way that makes it about him. Instead, his role is to make it seem like you, the reader, are the one in the middle of the story, and in that way you get such a clear picture of the subject.

McPhee is a member of the Princeton Class of 1953. Before that, he graduated in 1948 from Princeton High School and then did a PG year at Deerfield.

His father was Harry McPhee, the first Princeton Athletics team physician who worked at Princeton from 1933-64 (and who also was part of the U.S. delegation at the 1964 Olympic Games).

John, whose college roommates included Heisman Trophy winner Dick Kazmaier, worked for Time Magazine after graduation. He continued to unsuccessfully submit pieces to the New Yorker until 1964, when the magazine bit on a story he wrote about Bill Bradley, then a Tiger senior men's basketball player.

When the 1964-65 season ended with a trip to the Final Four for Princeton, McPhee expanded his story into his first book, named for Bradley's uncanny ability - honed through hours and hours of practice - to know exactly how to shoot each shot from every spot on the court. Its title: "A Sense Of Where You Are." 

Since then, he's continued to write, and even does so today, as he turns 90. Also, since 1974, McPhee has taught a writing seminar at Princeton each spring. For the last 35 years or so, it's been offered exclusively to sophomores. 

Along the way, McPhee developed a very close relationship with Hall-of-Fame men's basketball coach Pete Carril. They would play tennis together, and McPhee has always joked that he could tell he was playing well when Carril had to put his cigar down. 

McPhee also was very close with another Hall-of-Fame Princeton coach, men's lacrosse coach Bill Tierney. In fact, he would become an Academic Athletic Fellow for the men's lacrosse team, and you won't find a men's lacrosse player in all the years he's done it that will have one bad thing to say about him. In fact, they're simply awed by him, as have been Tierney's successors, Chris Bates and Matt Madalon, and every assistant coach who has been with the team since. About the only person in the program who would ever say anything bad about McPhee is Bryce Chase, and he doesn't really mean any of it. Bryce loves McPhee as much as anyone.

It was through that Academic Athletic Fellow role that TB met McPhee nearly 20 years ago.

Since then, the two have become very good friends. They've spent hours and hours and hours riding their bikes miles and miles and miles. They've traveled internationally together with the men's lacrosse team three times. 

They've even gone fishing together. TB had never caught a fish until McPhee took him out one day on the Delaware. Now he's caught a bunch. 

TB has heard hundreds of John McPhee stories, many of which he's promised not to write about - and he's always kept that promise.

What he can tell you is that there aren't many people in this world quite like John McPhee. He knows so much about so many different subjects, and every bike ride was an educational opportunity as well as a form of exercise. He's funny. He's thoughtful. He's caring. 

He's kind and exceedingly humble, with a great sense of humor. 

He's as good a person as you can ever hope to meet. 

And today he turns 90.

So happy birthday to the great, legendary John McPhee. 

TigerBlog is so proud to call him his friend.