Some time back I was looking online for which NB athletic shoes were still made in the US, and found that they let you customize. So I put together a pair of black and "gold" (OK, they're yellow since they didn't offer gold as an option, but to my eyes they're gold) and ordered pairs for my wife and I to go to the MCB. On the left shoe is embroidered 'Anchor', on the right 'Down'. Our friends at the game were deeply moved. Now, let us move to the present.
Last night in Nashville was Vandy's annual legislative reception. My son in law works for a state rep. I was sitting here in my house in PA, and my phone dinged with an incoming text. It was our son-in-law (the Phew Tee fan who married my daughter and realized he was now in a Vanderbilt family so he'd better make the best of it). He and our daughter were at the reception, and he wrote:
We are currently standing next to James Franklin. He says your shoes sound awesome.
I chuckled and texted back
Well, get me his email address and I’ll send him a link to get his own pair. And please tell him ANCHOR DOWN from an old 'Dore!
About 10 minutes later my cell rings – look on the screen, it’s from the son-in-law. I answer and he says, “Alex, James Franklin wants to say hello”, and hands the phone over, and:
“Alex, this is James Franklin. Man, I love those shoes, your daughter showed me a picture. Thanks for your support this year, and thanks for all of you at the MCB!” [I had 7 at the game, my brother in law 8]
I was pretty much speechless. I stammered a bit, and said, “Coach, I’ve been a Vandy fan longer than I can remember, and an alum for over 30 years, and I have waited my whole life for somebody like you. Thank you so much, more than I can say.” [Yes, I did later feel a bit silly about having inadvertently channeled Simeon there, but it's true...]
He actually sounded a bit touched, and said, “Thank you for that, and Anchor Down!”
Unbelievable!
About an hour later, I’m getting ready to go to bed, and my cell rings again. This time it’s our daughter.
“Dad,” she says, “someone else wants to talk to you…”
“Who is it this time?” I asked her, except I then found that she’d already handed the phone over to…
“Alex, this David Williams. Your family tells me you are all big fans. Thanks for your support! I understand you’ve been a fan your whole life?”
“Yes, Chancellor, I sure have. My dad loved Roy Skinner, and my childhood was spent sitting with him watching replays of home games at 10:30 at night, and when those little commercials would come on that showed the university, he’d always say ‘I sure hope you get to go there’. And when my time came, I got lucky enough to be not only the first member of my family to go to college, but to Vanderbilt at that.”
He asked if I get to many basketball games. “Not really,” I told him, “but do whenever I can. Usually a game every year or two. Otherwise, I have to watch on TV. I miss Memorial gym that’s for sure. I ran a million laps around that old floor.” [In NROTC we ran laps in Memorial in the mornings when the weather was bad.]
“Well,” he said, “next time you can make it to a game be sure to let me know, I’d like for you to be my guest at a game. It’s been great talking to you, and you be sure to let me know, I’m looking forward to meeting you.”
Unbelievable x 2.
It was a pretty good evening, that’s for sure. Classy, classy men, those two. I plan to take him up on the basketball offer, that's for sure.
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