Inside Furman is published quarterly by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
The wonderful, wacky Whippets
Faculty-staff softball recreation team has been around
since the 70s
What is a Whippet?
a) A small, furry woodland creature that populates the Highlands of Scotland.
b) A wildly popular 1980 song performed by Devo.
c) A tasty shake served at Sonic
d) A dominant Furman recreational aoftball league team
The answer, of course, is D. (the Devo song is Whip it)
At this writing, the Whippets, a colorful collection of faculty and staff
members, were poised to capture the squad’s second consecutive recreation
league championship. The team, managed by economics professor David Rowe,
collected the 2006 championship and had a winning streak of 15 entering this
year’s play-offs.
But it’s not the win-loss record that makes the Whippets noteworthy.
It’s their uncommon camaraderie, humor and history.
Founded by retired Philosophy professor Douglas MacDonald in the late 70s
as the Hedonists, the squad was a far different than the loosely organized
ragtag bunch that takes the field today.
According to Theater Arts professor Rhett Bryson, a founding member of the
Hedonist and self-appointed team historian, MacDonald took softball seriously.
He organized practices, try outs and kept statistics on each player.
“Doug liked to compete,” remembers Bryson. “It was like
we were competing for the World Series.”
Some of Bryson’s teammates on those early squads were Roe, Gil Einstein,
Stan Crowe, Bill Rogers, Mark Stone, Jon Shelly and Harry Shucker.
In 1987, Roe assumed leadership of the team and renamed it the Whippets. In
keeping with the personality of its new general manager, the Whippets adopted
a more laze fair approach to the game.
Renown for his humor and (often biting) satire, Roe began organizing and motivating
his troops with regular email communications that have become a legend of
sorts in some campus circles.
In 1990, Bryson compiled and published the works in Roe-Grams: The collected
wit, wisdom, advice, admonitions, warnings and heteroclite ramblings of Whippet
softball coach David Roe.
The Whippets find their GM’s edgy and politically incorrect ramblings,
always amusing, sometimes embarrassing, but never to be distributed to a wider
audience. A recent selected and publishable entry mused on the pre-game meal
of selected players.
Tony Caterisano, the strapping, weight-lifting Italian enforcer of the team:
“After each victory, I rip the hearts and lungs from vanquished opponents
and store them in a Ziploc bag in my freezer. After defrosting them in the
microwave, I ingest them raw before each game.”
Andrew Burr, a speedy, but hair-challenged outfielder: “Rogaine. What?
You’re supposed to rub it on your head, not eat it? No wonder it hasn’t
worked.”
Bryson, whose Roe-prescribed pre-game meal includes Ensure, Viagra,Vioxx,
Lipito and a tab of acid from the 60s, says humor, a common love of baseball
and playful sportsman bind the Whippets.
“We simply have a wonderful time, doing something collective,”
says Bryson. “It gets me out of the office, away from my petty concerns
here to play the game I played as boy.”
While the Whippets roster does include some handy players – Tim Fehler
and Jeff Yankow both played professional baseball – members say the
team’s recent successes are more a sad commentary on the declining baseball
skills of contemporary college students than the team’s skill and prowess.
“We are old and slow,” says Whippet centerfielder and coach Owen
McFadden. “Some of the students today don’t even know to tag up
on a fly ball. Kids just don’t grow up playing baseball today.”