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March 4, 2005 > Sports > A senior moment

A senior moment

By Jonathan Yardley | Thresher Editorial Staff

I did not shed tears when the men’s basketball team’s four seniors were honored before their final home game Sunday at Autry Court, but I sure wanted to.

Since men’s basketball was the first varsity sport I covered my freshman year, I came in with these guys. When Brock Gillespie, Michael Harris and Jason McKrieth stepped on the court for their first varsity game, I was courtside for the first time, dressed up and feeling important. Since then, I’ve enjoyed many proud moments in Rice sports history with those three and the other seniors set to finish their careers this year.

While watching and documenting the soccer team’s 10 seniors’ on-field progress from struggling sophomores to NCAA tournament participants was rewarding, I am more likely to remember them on non-game days — laughing during interviews, sporting wild costumes and signs to cheer on other Rice teams, supporting each other without prejudice and, of course, throwing wild off-season parties.

The soccer players helped me remain involved in a sport I had already fallen in love with, but I discovered another gem when I started watching volleyball this year. I will remember Rebeca Pazo as the most dominant player in any sport, Lindsey Carter and Rebecca Kainz as familiar faces who thanked my roommate and me for road-tripping to a match at UH and Catherine DuPont for her lefty windup. I had the opportunity to broadcast their first-ever NCAA tournament match, and I appreciated it more because I knew how long the road to that match was for the four seniors.

I appreciate the seniors on the women’s basketball team only because my roommate convinced me to start going to games sophomore year, and now I rarely miss those too-sparsely attended Thursday and Saturday nights when Annie Peck, Eshombi Singleton and Michelle Woods compete. I will remember Annie hiking up her shorts while lining up for a free throw, Michelle lofting hundreds of jumpers from the baseline, and Eshombi wowing the crowd at Halloween Hoops with her striped socks. Perhaps most of all I will miss the small intimacy of the crowd, because the regular attendees have become familiar faces after those long, hot nights at Autry Court.

But I have spent the longest nights with the baseball team, having broadcasted their games on the radio for the last four years. Most of the baseball class I matriculated with — the greatest recruiting class in Rice history — has moved on to the professional ranks. Reserves Matt Moake and Jon Gillespie are the only two remaining players with whom I share my tenure. I will never forget the sight of Wade Townsend (Brown ‘05) jumping and clapping before greeting Moake after Matty’s first career home run in 2003. And the other Jon has always been a steady presence, from watching “Baseball Tonight” in our suite at Lovett College during the 2002 postseason to his RBI single in his only career at-bat.

Baseball may be my first love, but Brock, Michael and Jason are still the ones that got me started. Sunday reminded me of a spectrum of moments, from shyly asking questions at our first postgame press conference to watching them compete with the defending national champion at the Hartford Civic Center in December.

I clapped for Brock, champion of the left-handed pump fake and wild three-pointer. I shouted for Walt Chancellor, the transfer who lived across from me and has become the team’s emotional leader. I applauded for Mike, the all-time Rice leader in points and rebounds after an amazing performance Sunday. Then I struggled for a way to pay tribute to J-Mac.

McKrieth has always been my favorite, as much for his unassuming off-court demeanor as for his steady on-court play. I was instantly drawn to him as a fellow Northeasterner, and his ability to play at both ends of the court was overshadowed by his class and fortitude in dealing with the death of his mother during our freshman year.

So when he was announced Sunday, I yelled and clapped my hardest, but I also fought back tears, not just for him, but for all the seniors I have watched on the court, at the field or in the pool, and all those seniors who have watched with me. We came in together, and our stories mean more because we experienced them together.

Jonathan Yardley is a Will Rice College senior, former sports editor and co-editor in chief.

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