Higher-ed leader inspired by March cover story

Loving the online format

I am absolutely loving the new format for the online features in UC Magazine. They look fantastic. This new format is just brilliant. The video footage embedded in the feature on the pole vaulter [“International flight”] was so cool — and so seamless.

Among my favorite reads: the cover story “No distance too great” and the piece on Ryan Atkins [“A life repurposed”].

You have completely reinvented this magazine — particularly in its digital delivery. … It still blows me away how beautifully designed these pieces are in their online format. (And, of course, they are as lovely as ever in print, too.)

Jenny Wohlfarth, A&S ’99
Professor-Educator, Journalism
University of Cincinnati

Ambassador for UC

I received UC Magazine for the first time in March. I read it cover to cover. Beautifully written stories on alumni and their work. I am not an alumna of the school, but will be its ambassador. Thank you to the magazine staff on your choice of content and design. Thank you to UC for the outstanding education and programs offered and for the commitment to global engagement and understanding.

Maureen Regan
Fort Wright, Kentucky

Still debating the origins of Down the Drive

I read with interest your piece entitled “Debating the origins of Down the Drive” in the March 2016 issue. I was a member of the UC Band percussion section from 1965 to 1968. The cadence that the current band uses in Down the Drive is actually two-thirds of a three-cadence routine that we called “the Cycle.” It was already in use when I joined the band in the fall of 1965, so it goes back further than that. The “cheer portion” was not then in use.

Gene Breyer, A&S ’69
Cincinnati, Ohio

Melinda Nock was told that UC officials were “hysterical” about the accident — worried that if Hixson died it would surely put an end to the innovative work-study program that Schneider began in 1906.

“‘Doc’ told me at that time [that] medical knowledge of how to effectively treat extensively burned patients was limited,” she adds. “He insisted and made certain the young man had large quantities of calories, which burn patients need to heal. It was his mission to keep this young man alive.”

Hixson did, indeed, survive. According to the (Hamilton, Ohio) Journal News, April 22, 1932, Hixson “has lost his sight, but he still looks into the future with the fire of ambition unquenched.” Doctors removed both his eyes “to prevent grave danger to his health” and avoid infection.

According to an April 22, 1932, Cincinnati Enquirer story, “Hixson was a member of the University cross-country team and one of the best fencers ever developed at the institution. He won the majority of matches in which the University participated during the two years he competed in that sport.”

Though the accident occurred in April — two months before graduation — UC went ahead and awarded him with his degree in engineering that June. According to a piece in the Enquirer, June 2, 1932, “He is now enrolled in the Law School at the University because he was unable to complete his education in his chosen field, mechanical engineering.” However, UC and UC College of Law records do not list him as having graduated from the university.

Hixson did become an attorney. He returned to his hometown of Tiffin, Ohio, and ran for elected office — first city treasurer and then councilman. In the Jan. 4, 1938, edition of the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, it notes, “Robert Hixson, blind attorney, started his first term as [Tiffin] city treasurer.” He lived out his life in Tiffin and died in 1989.

Jean “Doc” Nock was born in Middletown, Ohio, in 1907. He received two degrees from UC’s College of Medicine — a bachelor’s in 1932 and a doctor of medicine degree in 1933. In 1936 he began his medical practice in Franklin, Ohio, and continued it for almost 50 years. Nock served on the Warren County (Ohio) Board of Health for 30 years. He died in 1983.

Memories of Sander Hall 25 years after implosion

I was one of the jocks that refused to leave my dorm room during fire drills. My fondest memory of the repetitive fire drills was taking an illicit substance and not being able to walk, panicking at the thought of walking down 22 flights of stairs. When I heard the fire alarm, I decided to hide in the closet. The fire marshal must have heard me moving around and opened the door to the closet and demanded to know what I was doing in there. Ever the quick wit, I said, “praying.” He looked at me for a long time, smiled, closed the door and went away.

Paul Reeves, att. ‘71, aka Buffarilla (half buffalo, half gorilla), a football nickname

Unfortunately, the first things that come to mind are the midnight fire alarms and the huddled masses in various displays of “evening wear.” But the most important memories are the friends we made during our “suite living” in Sander Hall. Three of my closest friends today all lived together on the eighth floor.

I was just at UC the past two days for my son’s freshman orientation, and though it has been 30 years since I graduated and campus (and the neighborhood) is dramatically different, I know he will make lifelong friends as well in the coming year. That is, if they can find him a room. There are 5,000 incoming freshmen, and all the housing is already taken!

P.S. I was shocked and delighted to see that part of Sander is actually still standing — the delightful Sander “Fine Dining Hall.”

Kevin Wyatt, DAAP ’86
Louisville, Kentucky

Editor’s note: We marked the 25th anniversary of the day Sander Hall was imploded by sharing stories and video on our website from those who lived there and those who witnessed the demolition of the 27-story residence hall on June 23, 1991. Visit magazine.uc.edu/extra to watch the implosion or read the many additional stories about the antics inside the building.