Life After Columbia...
Stop the Presses!
A couple of former Lions are in the news today...
First, CFL rookie Tad Crawford '07 is getting more playing time as the B.C. Lions continue to rack up the injuries.
While the article portrays Tad and the other replacements as second-rate, it should be noted that everyone is impressed with Crawford's play so far. He has a great career ahead of him in the CFL.
Chandler Bocklage (CREDIT: Trader Daily)
But there's impressed and then there's impressed. You have to be impressed with Chandler Bocklage '00, and his role as the top trader for hedge fund king Stephen Cohen Stephen Cohen.
(The link for Bocklage requires a login, so let me just give you the highlights):
"This Minneapolis native played center for the football team at Columbia, but these days he's at the center of Stevie Cohen's $14 billion–plus empire. Bocklage is taller than his famous boss, but the general consensus is that he's Cohen's personal Mini-Me. "He's Stevie's right hand," says one of Cohen's oldest trading collaborators.
Naturally, he makes major coin — at least $5 million last year, we hear."
The incredible success so many former Lions have enjoyed in the financial world is astounding when you remember that Columbia does not offer any real business classes to undergrads. For recruits thinking about coming to Columbia, I would not forget to consider this fact and the rich networking opportunities that will be afforded to you. Yes, the other Ivies offer that too, but the Columbia football fraternity is a smaller, more close-knit group of guys who will go the extra mile for each other time after time.
posted by Jake @ 12:31:00 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Jake, maybe some of the Lion alumni can exert some influence on the local media. I heard there was none at the "Media Day".
Perhaps this is an appropriate place to express these thoughts. According to a list I've seen, several prominent former Lion athletes did not contribute any money to the department.
The captain of the BB team and at least one 3-year BB starter in my years (which I'll not specify, of course) and some very successful FBers are but a few of the missing names.
Certainly, no one is obligated to send money to Columbia, for any reason. But, I wonder if the non-contributors were contacted individually, not only for their dollars but to obtain their support for their alma mater's athletic programs, for current and future athletes to see.
The issue of who contributes what is a complex one. Perhaps former Lion athletes contribute to the Columbia College Fund, for example, or to the new one for the Manhattanville Project, rather than specifically to athletics.
In any case, it's clear that under Dianne Murphy's leadership Columbia Athletics in general has become much more professional, in fundraising as in so many other ways. Especially in this new atmosphere, attempts at fingerpointing at one's former teammates accomplish nothing. Those who want to will in fact donate, either on a team basis or as individuals. And they will donate to various aspects of the Columbia "experience" for reasons of their own.
It might, however, be interesting to have some genuine data from Dr. Murphy as to a profile of who, exactly, gives. By sport, certainly. By chronological distance from graduation. Even by gender. Some claims - that, for example, crew breeds especially loyal giving patterns - I've always wanted to see backed up with facts.
And I agree with anonymous's suggestion re personal contact as a means of at least reviving financial support for CU athletics in general. There was, for many years back in the "dark" 70's and 80's for Lions football, someone listed as a very generous donator in every game program, named D. Keith Mano. He's a writer whose novels I've always admired very much, and it somehow made me feel even better about my admiration for him to note his support of Lion football. But (and I could be mistaken) he seems long gone from the list of financial supporters. I've always thought that getting someone like Mano back is kind of the real task at hand, people who were there during the worst times and quite possibly ceased their financial support out of sheer exhaustion. So I'd hope the Athletic Department has contacted him on a personal level, and so many others like him.
RS
Keith Mano was a fixture at games in those years; a fervent and passionate fan, always present in the stands year in and year out. Keith, wherever you are, come back!
Keith Mano....click and scroll down
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/may00/may00_classnotes6.html
oops
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/may00/may00_classnotes6.html
this is the end of the link
_classnotes6.html
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