Crossroads: Dedication of the W. Richard Stephens Fieldhouse and the Robert “Ish" Smith Museum
Published: October 19, 2024
Author: Rick Stephens
Where to begin so that I can end in 12 minutes? Maybe, why am I doing double duty today? You see, the Stephens and Smiths are “shirt-tail” relatives. Dad’s younger brother, Charles, married Ish’s sister, Javene. So I’m part of both families–literally with shared DNA, as well as the GC/GU family. This might lead some of you here to think “inbred,” but we’ll deal with that later.
Yes, we are here to dedicate some very fine facilities. But we are mostly here to remember. You see, “Coming Home is really the essence of Homecoming.” John Strahl once said regarding his work with GC/GU alumni that no one ever asked about how Burritt Hall or the Ruby Dare Library were doing? Actually his quote was about Hogue Hall–but we won’t go there. Instead, alumni asked about faculty, classmates, and staff who meant so much to them while they were here. So, it’s you, all gathered here, that are and should be the focus of this dedication. And it is what has and continues to happen here on behalf of students that matters so much.
I titled these brief remarks “Crossroads.” As such, crossroads mark a point of departure, of change, and of a decision. All of us who have had the privilege of being a part of the GC/GU family have had crossroad moments. Dad and Ish had theirs as well, and I hope just a bit of their story might mean something both fitting for the dedication of these facilities, as well as significant for those moments of decision we all confront.
The common theme is athletics, and it is the playing field or court, etc. where the test eventually comes. For Dad it was confrontation with an upbringing and a subculture of segregation–his hometown of 100 was what was then known as a sundown town–and he would tear up recounting what for him was a mind-bending and transformative experience. You see, basketball, and Howard Krober, put him on the court, for the first time in competition with an equally talented African American guard. A scramble for a loose ball resulted in a jump ball call. On the way to the circle Dad’s counterpart gave him a slap on the behind and a “Nice hustle White Boy” compliment. In many ways it was as if a fever broke, and the world was never the same. With the rest of the GC/GU experience pouring into him from faculty and classmates alike Dad began to find ways to both join and build a much bigger tent, to be so much more inclusive.
While clearly different in many ways, the product of Ish Smith’s life in athletics is a tent global in size. As I recall the story, John Strahl went to Central College to recruit–Central was a two year school back then. Ish was eager and John encouraged him to come to GC when it was time to transfer. But when he arrived Big John assigned Ish as team manager for several sports–not as a player. The accounts differ but Big John saw Ish as too scrawny for athletics, but he had potential for organization. Who could have ever predicted that such an insight would lead to multiple world stages, including Presidency of the International Baseball Association, membership in both US and International Olympic Committees, and leading the delegation that marched into the Barcelona Olympics. I still recall seeing his image on the TV. You see, Ish had his own crossroads, and his own difficult choices. But in the end, I think we all agree and marvel at the result. It’s not just that baseball is global, but in being so, barriers have been broken and the tent has expanded to include so many more. And, when common ground is found, then the significant debates of life begin with mutual respect, and leading to uncommon results.
Together, Dad and Ish partnered in a unique way that led GC to GU. They shared beginning their professional lives as faculty coaches, and concluded with time in the college’s president's chair, leading the institution through thick and thin. But they were not remote administrators. If Dad and Ish were here today, wandering among those gathered here, I’m positive that they could walk up to almost all of us here, call us by name, ask a question specific to us–not just how are you doing–and even mention something they had noticed about us and our post Greenville lives.
You see, we honor Dad and Ish today because they always honored us. They actually saw each of us, and found ways, in this case via athletics, to know us. In leadership of Greenville College they always sought to create learning opportunities for us, in the classroom as well as the playing field. And they brought us together in common cause, demonstrating that “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) May this Homecoming be a true coming home for us all, and may the crossroads of our lives take us both away and back to each other.
There’s one more significant contribution to note. There would be no Stephens’ Fieldhouse or Smith Museum had there not been an Arlene or Joanna. Their contributions, though so often behind the scenes, were crucial to the work of Dad and Ish. Case in point, every GC athlete ate Arlene’s lasagna, served in her home at Joy House. You see, in order for there to be a home, there must first be a family. Ish and Joanna, Dad and Mom, made sure that GC fostered family. May such commitments ever be a part of this community.
