Friday, April 9, 2021

Two Points

TigerBlog would like to make two points today. 

For starters today, TB is extremely happy for Devin Cannady.

The Princeton alum made his NBA debut Wednesday with the Orlando Magic, with whom he signed a 10-day contract. Cannady played two minutes against the Washington Wizards, scoring two points and having one steal. 

His two points came when he hit two foul shots, which shouldn't surprise any Princeton fans. Cannady is Princeton's career leader in free throw percentage, having made just a shade under 90 percent for his career.

You can see for yourself. He has the same confidence at the line in the NBA that he did in Jadwin Gym, and the same results:

There are a lot of great, great college basketball players who never get to the NBA. Devin Cannady has made it. His resume will forever include achieving at the very highest level. 

Cannady's original 10-day contract still has five more games to go, including tonight, when the Magic host the Indiana Pacers. As TB said the other day, he sincerely believes that Cannady will spend more than 10 days on an NBA roster.

TB wanted to start out today with that. 

His other point is about women's athletic history. 

This coming Monday is the 50th anniversary of the first team event any Princeton women's team ever played. It was a women's tennis match, against Penn. Princeton won, 5-1. 

By that point, Princeton had already had women compete individually in tennis and swimming and diving. TB will have much more on the anniversary Monday, obviously.

He's almost at the finish line of the writing piece of his book on women's athletic history. There's still the editing and layout and all, but the challenge of writing it is almost over. 

One thing he's noticed about Princeton's women's athletic alums is that what seems like a high number of them have gone on to become medical doctors.

In fact there are more than 300 former Princeton women athletes who are currently doctors. You can pick a decade, pick a team, pick whatever you like and you'll find someone, multiple someones, who have gone on to medical school.

TB has brought you the stories of women like Deborah Saint-Phard and Vietta Johnson in the book excerpts he's posted. He's also spoken to a few other women who have become doctors.

His main question is what is the connection between athletics and medicine. He's gotten some pretty interesting feedback.

Actually it seems like there are two commonalities.

First, there is the fact that athletes are at a higher risk for injuries. Once they've been down that road, they are intrigued by the healing process.

The other is that medicine is very much a team-oriented venture. Almost every Tiger-turned-doctor that TB spoke to said this about the profession.

It's an interesting thing to think about. What you learn as a member of a team translates directly into being successful in an operating room or an emergency room or in a medical practice. That is in addition to the discipline it takes to be an athlete in the first place, not to mention the physical and mental stamina necessary.

Perhaps more than anything else, that's why so many former women athletes go on to become doctors. 

Or maybe they're just high achievers. Either way, it's a really interesting - and really impressive - part of women's athletic history at Princeton.

The first women's athletic event ever at Princeton was on Oct. 17, 1970, when Margie Gengler and Helena Novakova competed in the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Championships in New Paltz. 

Another hugely important day was April 12, 1971, which is 50 years ago Monday. That day was the first of so many games, so many amazing wins, so many championships and so many celebrations. 

TB has spent a year trying to chronicle that history. It's been a lot of fun to do so. 

He'll be back Monday with more on the historic occasion.

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