Club Business
President Dick O’Donnell convened our meeting at Burlington Beer Works. Pete Beck offered a prayer and led us in the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Dick introduced prospective member, Michael Brown, with the Acorn Inn in Elon.
Announcements
- Dick announced that our club will begin meeting live and in person on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month. These meetings will also have a Zoom component for those unable to attend in person. Alternate meetings will be entirely in the Zoom format or as otherwise indicated. We will use Zoom next Tuesday and meet on September 22 in person at BBW.
- Brooke Carpenter is overseeing the construction of a ramp for a wheelchair bound citizen. Currently he is gathering pricing and design information. Once he has that we can decide how to go forward.
- Dick said he would like for us to do another Packathon with Feed the Hunger. Micah indicated that all we need to do is set it up for Holly Hill Mall.
- Richard Atkins is still assessing how we might partner with Sustainable Alamance to help revitalize the neighborhood around the facility being used by that ministry. Micah asked who owns the project. Richard said that is one of the things being hammered out right now. Rotary will not be the owner, just a participant.
Rotary Minute
Rick Moore, a former District 5390 Governor, took a few minutes to make us aware that it was the Rotary Clubs of Alberta and Montana that
proposed, in 1931, uniting Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta and Glacier National Park in Montana as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the first such park in the world. It was intended not just to promote peace and goodwill between nations, but also to underscore the international nature of wilderness and the co-operation required in its protection. Rick said Rotarians meet each year to shake hands across the border as a pledge to work toward maintaining peace between our nations.
Member Spotlight
Brooke Carpenter was born in Petersburg, VA. His parents were in the military and met at William and Mary. He and his two younger brothers and Mom eventually settled in the Union Ridge – Lake Cammack area. Brooke graduated from Western High School in 1985, after which he received an appointment to West Point. The highlight of his seven-year military career was serving in Desert Storm as a Lieutenant and later in Egypt as a Company Commander. His first career was as a Civil Engineer. Brooke made a career change to being a financial advisor; although, he still moonlights as an engineer. He told us that he enjoys working with people. Brooke has been in our club since March , 2019. He serves as the chairman of our Youth Services committee and is the president-elect. He is married to Nancy and works for Betty Andrews Investment Management.
Program: Jane Albright – Retired Division I Basketball Coach
Jane Gibson Albright is a Graham, NC native who graduated from Graham High School, after which she attended Appalachian State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in health and PE. She also played basketball and volleyball. Her first coaching job was at Spartanburg High School in SC from 1977 to 1981. Her record there improved from 3-18 to 20-7 in 1980-81, when she took the team to the playoffs.
Her next stop was a graduate assistant to Coach Pat Summit at Tennessee from 1981-83, which she said opened a lot of doors for her. She later became an assistant coach at Cincinnati for one season before accepting the head coach position at Northern Illinois from 1984-94, where she had a record of 188-110 with the Lady Huskies. She took them to the NCAA tournament four times in five years.
Jane’s next stop was Wisconsin from 1994-2003 where she compiled a record of 161-107, which included five NCAA and two WNIT appearances. Her teams were the WNIT runner up in 1999 and champions in 2000. Wisconsin was ranked in the top ten for the first time ever in both the AP and Coaches’ polls in 2001-02.
After a losing season, Albright resigned and move to Wichita State, where she coached from 2003-2008, during which time she only had one winning season. Then she moved on to to become head coach of the Nevada Wolf Pack from 2008-17, where she amassed a record of 115-165, including two WNIT appearances and Nevada’s first twenty win season. Jane retired in 2017.
Albright served as the assistant coach for the team representing the United States at the World University Games held in Buffalo, New York in July 1993. The USA team defeated teams from Israel, Taiwan, the Ukraine, and Russia. They were defeated by Cuba 88–80 and by China 75–73. The USA team defeated Lithuania 83–73 to earn the bronze medal. In 1996, Albright was head coach of a U.S. squad of players chosen after the Olympic team that won the gold medal in the William Jones Cup.
Jane spent quite a bit of time sharing how much Title 9 changed women’s sports for the better, saying that before it became law only 1 in 27 girls played sports, compared to 1 in 2 boys. Now that number is 1 in 3. Jane told us that team sports teach us how to get along with people and the necessity of working hard to get better instead of complaining and making excuses.
Jane told us that she did not really know what she was doing when she first started, but that the coaching scene then did not scrutinize people so closely as today. Coaches could grow in their knowledge and skills without seeing tweets about their incompetence. She said that she learned from lots of people, including Lou Holtz when he was at Notre Dame. One thing she said she learned is that Jimmys and Joes beat Xs and Os. Teams can only thrive with quality people, no matter how good the coach.
Sadly, Jane’s time with us soon expired. Perhaps the following quote from an article by John Trent in Nevada Today is the best way to end.
“People,” Albright said, “have poured into my life for 40 years to help me in this great profession.”
She’s expected her players to pour themselves into their sport, their studies and their community during her nine years at Nevada. The results have been tremendous.
Like the times when Albright and her players would travel together, and volunteer at local schools, or homeless shelters, sharing the educational dream with those who had never had the benefit of feeling the inspiring groundwater that can happen when one person’s dream and determination and encouragement can melt into the life of another.
“Investing in young people is the future of everything,” Albright said.
During her press conference on Wednesday, the native of Graham, N.C., said she had very few regrets.
The only one, interestingly, involved love.
“My regrets are about the kids I didn’t love enough,” Albright said. “I can’t stand it. It keeps me up at night.”
If loving someone, then wondering if that love was enough, is a regret, then Jane Albright, by any account and by any measure, has had a career that has always been about winning a much bigger game than the one played on school yards, gymnasiums, auditoriums and arenas throughout this country.
It’s a game she’s won often, and always when it mattered most.
Jane now lives in Graham and owns the Things Above Book Store and Coffee Shop on Court Square.
Conclusion
Dick reminded us to invite new members and concluded by leading us in reciting the Four Way Test.