Page 4 - CROSSROADS - January 1973
Focus
MR. JOHN HANAHAN JR.
For close to a score of years,
hundreds of Abbey students havd
discovered how to distinguish
granite from limestone and shalh
from feldspar, learned th^
properties of igneous rocks;
made excursions in to quarries
and along rugged mountain
slopes in quest of fossils, and
discussed tne formation of the
Blue Ridge moimtains of North
Carolina. For all of this they are
indebted to the able tutelage of
“Friendly Jack” Hanahan,
chairman of the Geoscience
Department of Belmont Abbey
College.
Jack has been intrigued by
minerals ever since he was a boy
skimming smooth flat stones
across the marshy backwaters of
the Cooper river, which lapped
against the sandy banks oi his
ancestral home in Charleston,]
S.C. Over the years he has
painstakingly assembled a finq
collection of minerals and semi
precious stones from all over the
Southeast. Students and visitors
are fortunate to have access to
such a treasury of specimens,
many of which are on display in
the science building. Jack has
also donated to the Abbey library
a fine collection of books valued
at over $1,100.00.
Born in the Palmetto state,Jack
spent his early years in private
schools in Charleston (sur
prisingly, he has lost all traces of
its distinctive accent), and
thence was sent to prep school at
St. Andrews in Middletown, Del.
Strongly drawn by his southern
origins, he returned for un
dergraduate work to the
University of Tennessee. While
at Knoxville he majored in
business administration,
became active in the Pi Kappa
Alpha social fraternity and, it
seems, got addicted to Volunteer
football, to which he retains a
fierce loyalty. Upon completion
of his bachelors degree, he
enrolled in the graduate school of
education and earned a master’s
degree. It was also during this
time that he fell in love with
Spanish culture and language (to
the eventual chagrin of a
generation of Abbey students
who did not fully share his en
thusiasm for irregular verbs).
After leaving the university he
had worked for some time as
curator of the natural science
museum in Charleston when he
heard about an opening in the
language department of Belmont
Abbey College. He joined the
faculty in the fall of 1952 as an
instructor in Spanish and
geography. The following year
he introduced a course in
geology and so it happened that
the geo-sciences became an
established feature of the
curriculum. Through the years
he has been involved in a variety
of activities on campus: he was
the first Interfraternity Council
moderator, he has coached
varsity teams m tennis and golf,
he has served on a number of
faculty committees; but most
significantly to Jack, he has been
a close friend and advisor to
students, with whom after their
graduation, he remains in
frequent contact.
Jack was interested in ecology
and the preservation of our
environment long before it
became a popular cause. As
director of the grounds he
has been one of the principal
agents responsible for the im
provement of the college land
scaping. It was the allure of
flora and fauna which drew him
to the Black Mountains near
Burnsville and Spruce Pine.
After careful exploration for a
retreat where he could absorb
the tranquillity of nature, he
acquired a modest farm house on
a piece of land across which
rushed a stream of cool fresh
water. The site was in close
proximity to both Mt. Celo and a
swimming hole amidst the rocks
and white water of the South Toe
river. Despite many subsequent
improvments, the house con
serves much of its rustic quality,
as evidenced by one of the most
elaborate outdoor
“privies” in all of western
Carolina! While painting the
roofing eaves he suffered a fall
and seriously injured his leg.
Still, he managed to complete his
courses while presiding from a
bed in Mercy hospital in
Charlotte.
Two summers ago Jack un
dertook a trip to Mexico to
refresh his command of Spanish.
He ventured into the Yucatan
peninsula to the ruins of
Chichenitza in search of Mayan
artifacts, but returned home
wiser and duly chastened, his
only acquisition a case of
amoebic dysentary.
Among faculty colleagues and
student friends who drop by his
Belmont apartment, he enjoys
the reputation of an aspiring
gourmet cook. A recent
memorable event was a
delightful soiree during which 27
kinds of cheeses and 19 different
wines were served to guests.
Most of the college community
(See FOCUS, Page 7)
‘Phys-Ed’ Among The First Americans
American Indian history has had attention in recent books and
films; something is now generally know of the price the Indians paid
for white settlement. Few of us, however, know much about the
Indian culture disrupted by the white invasion. The Indian tribes
had, for instance, their own well developed system of physical
education; and these had a long history. Athletics has also made at
least one significant contribution to the Indian cause in modern
times.
During the period of white settlement and expansion, Indians were
driven to the poorest land, deprived of livelihood, and compelled to
new ways of life. The once strong and proud race was forced into
poverty, disease, and subjection. The Indian form of family life was
discouraged and in many cases broken-up. Young Indian men were
forced to live in inadequate boarding schools away from the
reservations. Usually, the school’s staff was inferior, the food poor,
and the young men overworked. After a few years the students were
returned to the reservations ill prepared for the life there.
Higher education was almost non-existent. However, in 1879
Captain R. H. Pratt founded the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania. Indians of high school age were taken from their
reservations and sent there to study from four to eight years. The
idea was to change their tribal habits and prepare them
vocationally to fit into white civilization.
In the early 1900’s Carlisle grew famous as an athletic power, due
primarily to the physical prowess of Jim Thorpe. In 1912, Thorpe
won both the Pentathlon and the Decathlon events in the Stockholm,
Sweden, Olympic games, scoring 8,412 points out of a possible 10,000
in the decathlon, which is still considered the severest of all athletic
contests. As a result of his i accomplishments, Thorpe was
recognized as the greatest all-round athlete in the world.
His chances for immortality as an Olympic champion were th
warted when the Amateur Athletic Union was informed that he had
played professional baseball in North Carolina during the summer
months of 1909 and 1910. Thorpe was stripped of all his trophies and
medals and debarred as an amateur by the A.A.U. His name was
stricken from the record books. The fact of his athletic achievement
could not, however, be stricken from the world’s memory.
For the next fourteen years he played professional baseball and
football. According to leading sports writers, the end of his career
was the end of a dynasty. One wrote that “All history, ancient and
modern, never produced his athletic equal. He was an all-round
performer who could compete with the champions in any game
without a long period of specializing.” Through athletics, Thorpe
won more respect for his Indian heritage than had been gained by
any other single influence in modern times. The achievement was
appropriate; American Indians had a long tradition of enthusiasm
by Michael P. Reidy
for athletics.
Although the history of physical education among the Indians had
begun in the Stone Age, when the spear was used for hunting and
defense, almost the only formal instruction for Indian youths took
place in small groups led by elders who acquainted their students
with tribal taboos and secrets. Otherwise, children were usually
educated by their parents in their own homes.
Since the family was thus the primary center of education in many
tribes, the man of the Indian household might be considered
American’s first physical educator. Tribes in the South, such as the
Hatches, had a master of gymnastics to look after the physical
development of their youth. Some of the skills he taught were run
ning, throwing, wrestling, boxing, rowing, swimming, fishing,
hunting, and hurling the spear. The best runners of a tribe were
useful in both peace and war as couriers and advance scouts. Races
of various distances were even part of certain tribal rites. In some
tribes in which racing was very popular, an oval running track was
maintained outside the village.
Much of the training of the Indian boy from his earliest years was
geared u- a future warrior. Feats of strength and endurance were
held in high esteem by the Indians, whose appreciation of physical
powers and a strong body likens them to the ancient Greeks. An
Indian boy’s first lesson in life was endurance, which was learned
while strapped to a cradle-board made less uncomfortable by soft
buckskin. Once a day the baby was allowed to play freely upon a
blanket.
The difference in treatment between the sexes was marked. A boy
had his training and a girl her duties. As soon as she was able, she
would carry wood, water, and often an infant on her back. Her
responsibilities increased as she matured, and she was taught never
to complain.
Boys, on the other hand, were allowed to run freely and were
rarely punished for disobedience or insurbordination. It was thought
unwise to inflict pain as punishment on an individual who might in
later years be a mighty warrior; consequently, the usual
chastisement was a dunking in the river.
An activity esteemed by the Indians more than any other and
related to physical education, was the dance. Dancing held a special
place in primitive society as a very serious and sacred action. The
fact that dancing has survived the years when other forms of