At the First Tee 9 Core Values lunch, I sat with a covey of UT McCombs School of Business graduate students who have formed groups to promote early volunteerism and philanthropy. My first responses were 1) awe, 2) pride and 3) the urge to help. I can do so by conducting media relations workshops with their groups and setting them up with movers and shakers their age, such as Alex Winkelman of Citizen Generation.
Dawn Moore and Kerry Tate
The host charity promotes character through golf and values training. Each year for the past five, the group has honored local leaders who embody those values. But first, former Longhorn and NFL All-Pro Johnnie Johnson made a neat comparisons between dropped balls in sports and in life during a cool but overlong inspirational speech.
Former UT President and Chancellor Bill Cunningham won the First Tee leadership award. In a stroke of good timing, Patsy Woods Martin took the confidence award right after big Amplify Austin take. Personal hero Art Acevedo copped the honesty award: “Willingness to tell the truth no matter how others react.”
Pastor Joseph C. Martin was not there to pick up his integrity award. He’s recovering from a heart transplant! (Heal quickly.) Power broker Pete Winstead walked away with First Tee judgement award. Don’t really know LBJ School lecturer Michele Deitch, who won the respect award. Would love to know her better.
Friend and almost neighbor Kerry Tate picked up the responsibility award. Much laureled former Rep. Wilhelmina Delco was honored again, this time by First Tee for sportsmanship.
And now for the tears: The next winner was recently deceased friend Mary Margaret Farabee. Former Sen. Ray Farabee spoke 17 plain, heartfelt words of thanks to First Tee for Mary Margaret’s courtesy award.
David Kazen and Maricruz Luna
I think Bill Powers gets better and better as university prez. He might go down as one of the best in UT history. This judgment drifted through my consciousness during the short, crisp, dignified President’s Citations honors later that day, also at the AT&T Center.
Jane Arledge, Ruth Buskirk, Michael Scott, Wendy Domjan and Patrick Davis took President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Awards.
David Stone nabbed the Arno Nowotny Medal for transforming registration, admissions, standards & records at UT. The Civitatis Award was conferred on Sue Alexander Greninger for UT faculty governance.
Really big guns won the Presidential Citations, UT’s top honors: JJoe Jamail, Peter O’Donnell, Pam Willeford and Judith Zaffirini.
Can you believe Jamail has won more than $13 billion for his legal clients? Or that O’Donnell has given more than half a billion dollars to UT?
“A real warrior!” One backer said of Sen. Zaffirini. Like O’Donnell, a bane of UT haters.