Social time included discussions around Michigan football and the need for the band to perform at half-time, with or without an audience!
At 12:28 p.m., Lori Walters shared guidelines for Zoom etiquette and encouraged everyone to put questions for our speaker today on chat.
President Joanne Pierson range the bell to start the meeting at 12:30 p.m.
Sara Maddock provided the inspiration by sharing her challenging relationship with athletics as a child, but how inspiring Michigan athletics has been to her as an adult. She concluded with a poem on personal achievement that brings poetry and sports together, “dream your dream and sing your song.”
President Joanne shared a 1943 live video recording of We’ll Meet Again sung by Vera Lynn. She thanked the individuals who helped bring the program together today, and announced this week’s birthdays.
President Joanne then introduced Rob Shiff to present the Distinguished Service Award, our highest award recognizing leadership and commitment to Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. Rob had technical problems and was unable to make the presentation, but sent his presentation for inclusion here:
It is my distinct honor and privilege to introduce our club’s next recipient of The Distinguished Service Award. The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor awarded by the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. It recognizes exceptional commitment, leadership and contributions to Rotary as well as the Ann Arbor community. It is the Hall of Fame for the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor.
One of the great philosophers of the 20th Century, Groucho Marx, said that “any club that would have me as a member I wouldn’t want to join.” In my 12 years as a member, I have truly been in awe and been humbled to be in the presence of so many high achieving people who have done astonishing things, whether that be personally, professionally or in our community. Another wise man, who happens to have been a personal friend, would regularly say that every list has a top and a bottom. What is at issue is the quality of the list. As it relates to today’s recipient, he has put himself at the top of a very high-quality list.
Our recipient grew up on the East Coast and while attending Lehigh University, showed early signs of community service by starting the school’s first Environmental Club. He also made the type of wise life choice many of us make at that age …… he earned a degree in Accounting with no intention of becoming an Accountant. After school, he moved to Boulder, Colorado to write the next great American novel, but when that didn’t pan out he settled into reading books rather than writing. With his career in financial counseling on the rise, he helped open a TIAA office in Denver and then transferred to Detroit in 1997 where he counseled faculty and staff at the University of Michigan while getting his MBA at night. He launched their Wealth Management Service in 2005 before joining Retirement Income Solutions in 2009 with our very own Larry Hastie and Griff McDonald. He is now a Managing Partner and has been named by Barron’s as one of the Top 1200 financial advisors in the country.
Having a busy, productive and successful career, our recipient still allowed time to be a community leader. His draw to service started in 2004 when he served on the University of Michigan Hospital Credit Union Board. It is no coincidence that he and Margaret, who also is a very active member of our community, were married that same year. He has served as a Trustee of Cleary University, has been the board chair of Arbor Hospice and currently serves as board secretary for SafeHouse Center. He joined Rotary in 2008 and exhibited his call to leadership by becoming the chair of the food drive committee in 2010 and continues to serve in that capacity. His leadership of this committee has yielded average food and cash donations of 45,000 meals per year and with a recent addition of a matching grant from the community, our Rotary Food Drive has provided over 80,000 meals per year to those in our community who need it most. Our nominee served on the Rotary Board of Directors from 2012 – 2014 and currently sits on the Endowment Committee. He not only lives our motto of Service Above Self, he sets an example for the next generation as he and his daughter Sophie have made it an annual tradition to ring the bell at the Holidays for The Salvation Army for the past 8 years. Ladies and Gentlemen, please help me welcome and congratulate today’s recipient of the Ann Arbor Rotary’s Distinguished Service Award, Todd Kephart.
Todd was given the award by his wife and daughter, and then thanked everyone from Rotary, in particular those with whom he works directly. He shared that the November issue of Rotary International magazine will feature an article on food drives that will feature our club’s efforts.
Bob Holmes remembered Harvey Grotrian who passed away last week. Harv had a Long career in student financial aid, including 20 years at UM where he worked with Bob. This is challenging and rewarding work, and Harv was committed to helping disadvantaged and underrepresented students attend college. He worked to relieve food insecurities and was a great fundraiser. He help shaped financial aid policies and took many trips to Washington in that role. He led a humanitarian project to provide fresh water to a community in India. He will be missed.
President Pierson gave her report.
- Article and calendar submissions for the website/Harpoon must be sent through forms on our website now. Just click the “Events/News” menu button and then click “Submit an Article” or “Submit a Calendar Event“
- Auction items for our Online Auction are needed. Contact Kathy Waugh, auction chair. Think about services as well as items. This is to help us replace funds usually raised by the golf outing.
- The Ann Arbor Observer will begin including memorials and seeks six local families to submit tributes to loved ones who have recently passed to launch this feature.
- Sign up for trash pickup on Saturday, September 26th starting at 9:00 a.m. on Rotary’s stretch of I94 between State Street and Platt. You’ll walk about 1 mile, box lunch provided afterward. Contact Tom Millard to sign up.
Greg Stejskal introduced today’s speaker, Warde Manuel, UM Director of Athletics, who is speaking on “Intercollegiate Athletics in the Time of COVID-19.”
After graduating from UM as a two-sport letterman, Warde served as an athletic director in Connecticut and New York, created his own business that employs more than 400 individuals, and is now back with UM. He is excited at today’s news that Big 10 will be playing football starting in October.
UM Athletics has been out of the office since March 18th. Student athletes have been practicing while using appropriate protocols for the pandemic, which means only essential staff and limited number of students on site at any given time. Student athletes want to play, they’re doing the right thing with masks and distancing. There have been a few outbreaks of COVID, but the “super majority” have remained healthy and are testing negative. Financial impact is a concern, but he promises the decision to play is not driven by financial concerns. Keeping everyone safe is the primary concern.
Other fall sports – volleyball, field hockey, cross country, etc., will be moved to the spring. The championships will occur in February/March as determined by the NCAA. He paused to take questions.
Why were decisions left to be determined conference-by-conference instead of NCAA? Conferences have always had decision-making ability as do the institutions within the conferences. The landscape keeps changing as more is learned and experienced with COVID, so it remains fluid. He credits NCAA and medical task force for the work they’ve done to make the determination for the Big 10 season to take place in the fall.
What are the plans for spectators? For now, no competition will have fans beyond family members of the teams, staff and coaches which is limited to 2 per team member/staff. Right now, basketball would fall under this guideline.
What about video streaming of games? UM will continue to work with their television partners and will steam as much as they can. Right now, close to 100% of their events are telecast.
What are the plans in place that could interrupt the season? A spike in COVID positive – 5% or more of the student athletes. A positive test will halt a student’s or coach’s participation in practices/games for 7 days as recommended by their medical experts. Outbreak with multiple teams could halt or postpone competitions.
What is the length of time to return to game if they test positive? 12-14 days of isolation and quarantine in accordance to the health department guidelines.
What is the number currently impacted? 1.19%
Pay Per View considered to produce revenue? No, good partnership with Fox, et. al.
Details on sports resumption at UM: October 23 or 24 for football. NCAA still working on other sports start and events dates. (Ed. The schedule has been released. click here.)
Can you talk about the cardiac registry? He was on the medical task force with medical professionals and they looked carefully on the impact of COVID on the heart. Protocols and timelines are in place to be used on a case-by-case basis to monitor for heart problems as a result of the virus. This issue is not limited to COVID, but can occur for many reasons, and they take it very seriously. Those diagnosed will not participate in athletics unless cleared by their doctors.
Consequences for athletes for breaking the rules and protocols for the pandemic? Yes, they can be dismissed from the athletic program. The university may also take disciplinary action against them as students. We take this very seriously. So far there has been no one who has blatantly disregarded the rules and guidelines.
How are you handling the downtime for exams that may not happen this year due to the adjusted competition schedule? There are often competitions scheduled during exams, even if they try to avoid it, and even without these changes. We try to minimize, but expect more than usual conflicts this year.
What was the tone of the conversation with competitors when discussing whether or not to resume sports for the fall? Big Ten has a tremendous staff and everyone has worked together to get to this point. It has been “extremely cooperative” even through disagreements. A great group of people to work with.
Who are we playing in the first game? It’s not been decided yet, but it will be a Big Ten institution.
Ward shared stories about his father, whose photo was on display behind him on the video call, and the positive influence he had on his life. It hangs next to a painting of Bo, who was also a strong influence on his career.
President Joanne thanked Warde for being with us today. Next week’s speaker will be John Drake, the Rob Northrup Rotary Humanitarian Awardee. She closed the meeting with the quote from Jack Dempsey, World Heavyweight Champion: “Champions are those who get up when they can’t.”
The bell to close the meeting was rung at 1:30 p.m.
