June 6: Louisville, Ky.
June 6th, 2008
A Funny Thing Happened After the Ballgame
VIEW PICTURES FROM THIS EVENT
More than 200 AU alumni reside in the greater Louisville area, making it a natural choice for the next alumni gathering. So, we headed south for this Friday evening gathering at the Louisville Bats baseball game.
Beforehand, though, the Davises met up with Paul Mumaw and his family at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, where Paul serves as one of the pastors. SECC is a megachurch unlike any I’ve ever seen before, and I marveled at their campus facilities as well as the programming that Paul described. This might make a great location for a future Louisville alumni gathering.
That evening we headed to the game at Louisville Slugger Field, which is a very nice, newer, family-friendly baseball stadium that sits right on the banks of the Ohio River. We had reserved a meeting space in the concourse where our group could gather and reconnect prior to the game. Friends started arriving around 5:30 p.m. and we spent the next hour or so sharing stories and catching up with each other.
Attendees ranged from Bernard (’59) and Annalee Mendenhall (’54) to current AU junior Caleb Cunningham and his family, and lots in between. Several kids tagged along too – some members of the AU Class of 2025 were already busy discussing roommate preferences. Overall we had almost 60 in attendance. Great turnout for this first-time event! Below is a list of who came. (see group photo)
Unlike the monsoon conditions at the Dayton alumni gathering a few days earlier, we had nothing but sunny skies in Louisville; too sunny, perhaps – as the record-tying temperatures hovered in the mid-90s. So, we all loaded up on sodas and lemon ices as we headed for our seats on the Patio Deck in right field. The ballgame became a backdrop for lots of fun conversation and family frolicking. When all was said and done, we left as a more connected group. (And the Bats won, 8-2.)
But the reunion wasn’t over! After the post-game fireworks show, my four-year-old daughter, Jillian, and I walked back to the hotel ready to crash for the night (Marlo and our baby, Lauren, had left the game in the fifth inning or so). As we waited for the lobby elevator, another family of five approached. The dad saw the logo on my shirt and hat and asked if AU stood for Anderson University. Assured that it did, he smiled and revealed that he, too, was an alum from out of town – but he wasn’t in Louisville for the ball game. It turns out that Brian Yost (BA ’86) from Sarasota, Fla. and his family were passing through Louisville earlier that day and had a run-in with another vehicle on I-65, necessitating this unplanned pit stop while the car was being repaired.
Brian revealed that he ran around in conspicuous circles during his AU days, including with now-V.P. of Student Life, Dr. Brent Baker. In a few encounters during the rest of our brief stay (at breakfast on Saturday morning, poolside with the kids, etc.) Brian and I talked about AU days and played the “degrees of separation” game. This chance meeting-turned-new-friendship was a poignant reminder of how powerful and special our alumni network really is. Good luck on the rest of your journey, Yost family!
The Davis family had plenty of drama of our own as we headed home on Saturday. After leaving Louisville around 1 p.m., we cruised north toward Anderson and covered about 40 miles until traffic on I-65 came to a standstill – for more than an hour and a half. We figured it was construction or a bad accident of some kind. It wasn’t until we finally reached the Seymour exit that we found out the interstate was closed due to flooding.
Along with the caravan in front of us, we were redirected onto back roads, and finally onto a state highway … which was also closed due to flooding. Using a road atlas and a GPS navigator, we spent the next several hours trying to find a way home, to no use. There were simply no roads from the southern Indiana heading north, that were fully passable (at least if you weren’t driving a Hummer). So, after finding out that there were also no vacancies at hotels in the area, we retraced our steps back to Louisville, then up through Cincinnati to Dayton where we arrived near midnight and spent the night at the in-laws (and where I am currently writing this blog). Maybe we’ll make it back to Anderson someday …
Ben, Marlo, Jillian and Lauren Davis
Angela (Cox), Michael and Braedon Reynolds
Paul, Jenny, Joel and Luke Mumaw
Ann Taylor
Ken Cordle
Margaret Harlow
Vanessa and Corey Giancola
Angela (Leichty), Chris and Burke Thomas
Dan Skinner
Mary and Stephanie George
Bobby Dobson
Pete and Rhonda (Dalton) Compise
Shandra (Mitchell), Jeff, Samantha and John Holbrook
April (Fair), Helier and Amelia Rodriguez
Sarah (Williams), Ben Hardman and family
Betty Baylor
Elnora Leim Kuehler
Bernard, Analee and David Mendenhall
Chelsea (Melnik), Jeremy, Maddie and Carter Graham
Dwight and Dottie Hargett
Caleb, Erin and Steve Cunningham
Chris, Leasa and Cameron Ball
Amy (Jacobus), Shawn, Julianna and Saylor Sizemore
Carl and Mary (Kagin) Kramer
