I’ll be speaking about my latest book, The Game: Harvard, Yale, and America in 1968, which tells the story of the 1968 Harvard-Yale football game, the legendary 29-29 tie that is on nearly every list of the top ten most exciting games in college gridiron history. Although the book includes a detailed description of the game itself, this is a book about more than football. It’s a book about a watershed year in American history (the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, rioting at the Democratic National Convention, the Tet Offensive, increasing racial tension, not to mention sex, drugs, and rock and roll) as navigated by a group of young men and by the contrasting institutions they attended. (In the course of my research I interviewed 54 of the players who took the field on November 23, 1968.) As Publishers Weekly observed, “By humanizing the players, the accounts of each team’s amazing season and the four-chapter recap of their final, unbelievable game are elevated above entertaining sports reporting to thoughtful, emotional storytelling. This excellent history illustrates sport’s powerful role in American society.” The Wall Street Journal called it “the rare sports book that lives up to the claim of so many entrants in this genre: It is, in its way, the portrait of an era.”
I’ll talk about how I came to write the book, about the process of writing and editing it, and about the unexpected relevance readers have found in it.
Host: Alex Garnett
On November 23, 1968, there was a turbulent and memorable football game: the season-ending clash between Harvard and Yale. The final score was 29-29. To some of the players, it was a triumph; to others a tragedy. And to many, the reasons had as much to do with one side’s miraculous comeback in the game’s final forty-two seconds as it did with the months that preceded it, months that witnessed the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, police brutality at the Democratic National Convention, inner-city riots, campus takeovers, and, looming over everything, the war in Vietnam.
George Howe Colt’s The Game is the story of that iconic American year, as seen through the young men who lived it and were changed by it. One player had recently returned from Vietnam. Two were members of the radical antiwar group SDS. There was one NFL prospect who quit to devote his time to black altruism; another who went on to be Pro-Bowler Calvin Hill. There was a guard named Tommy Lee Jones, and fullback who dated a young Meryl Streep. They played side by side and together forged a moment of startling grace in the midst of the storm.
“Vibrant, energetic, and beautifully structured” (NPR), this magnificent and intimate work of history is the story of ordinary people in an extraordinary time, and of a country facing issues that we continue to wrestle with to this day. “The Game is the rare sports book that lives up to the claim of so many entrants in this genre: It is the portrait of an era” (The Wall Street Journal).
Video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93l0d5gaNMA
Category: Speaker Announcements (Page 19 of 27)
Speaker programs at Wednesday DMA Meetings
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Lino DiCuollo will speak on the U.S. Soccer League operations, competition and player relations. As senior vice president, Competition & Player Relations, he oversees the league’s acquisition and retention of players, including senior and supplemental rosters. Included among his primary responsibilities are overseeing major league soccer (MLS) clubs’ compliance with MLS roster and budget guidelines, managing the league’s centralized role in approving player contracts and leading the league’s efforts in global player recruitment. Lino joined MLS in 2005. Since then, he has liaised with all expansion clubs to manage their rosters on entering MLS, played a key role in assisting senior executives and ownership in formulating player investment strategies, and introduced a technology initiative in the league’s global scouting efforts to assist clubs in their player recruitment strategies. He also oversees the league’s strategic initiatives related to youth player acquisition and retention in the United States and Canada, as well as all player signings from the league’s Allocation List. Lino works with the U.S. Soccer Federation, the Canadian Soccer Federation, CONCACAF and FIFA to ensure that MLS and its clubs are in compliance with regional and global player registration matters. He graduated from Rutgers with a degree in economics and was a four-year starter for the men’s soccer team. He was inducted in the Rutgers University Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. He lives in Darien with his wife, son and twin daughters. Arranged by Kevin Davidson
Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnt8HPv79Bw&t=199s
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Emilie Deutsch will discuss her recent documentary, “Althea & Arthur,” which aired on CBS Sports Network in celebration of Black History Month. The film highlights the legacies of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe as the first African-Americans to cross the color barrier of international tennis and their impact not only on the world of tennis but also in advancing civil rights in America during a time of racism and segregation. Emilie is a veteran sports RV producer, has been vice president of the Original Programming & Features for CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network since 2004, and originated “NCAA March Madness Confidential.” Throughout her career, Emilie has focused on creating impactful programming on women and African-Americans in sports. In 2014, Emilie helped develop and launch the first all-female national sports talk show, “We Need to Talk,” on CBS Sports Network that won the Gracie Award for Women in Media. Emilie is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied international relations and served as the sports editor of the Stanford Daily. Aside from her six Emmy awards and more than 30 nominations, one of her proudest achievements is receiving the Arthur Ashe Leadership Award for her documentation of women and African-Americans in sports. She lives with her husband Dominic Schmitt in New Rochelle and has three children. Arranged by Tom Lom
Video of her presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrrMy7hn4U8
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Leonard Leader will cover the essentials of estate planning techniques in the context of today’s tax climate, with particular focus on recent changes in the federal and state estate tax laws. He will emphasize various lifetime planning techniques that provide asset protection for future generations while minimizing the potential for adverse tax consequences. Len will discuss important planning opportunities and perils that will have application for all levels of wealth. His presentation will highlight the consequences of the failure to plan, including a few minutes covering wealthy celebrity case studies. Len is nationally recognized in his field. Worth magazine has named him one of the Top 100 Trust and Estate Lawyers in the country. Chambers High Net Worth magazine recognized him in 2018. Connecticut Super Lawyers has listed him in the category of Estate and Probate since 2007 as well. Len is a prolific thought leader in his field. He is a contributing writer on estate planning to several law publications and is a frequent speaker on estate and tax planning topics to bar associations, business groups and continuing education programs. He also presents at an annual fiduciary income tax workshop for Professional Education Systems. Len is a member of the Taxation Section, the Generation Skipping Trusts Committee of the Estate Planning and Drafting Group of the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section of the American Bar Association, and the Executive Committee of the Estate and Probate Section of the Connecticut Bar Association. Arranged by Tom Igoe
Video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyx3071wxXw
Mr. Leader’s PowerPoint Presentation
https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/Darien-Mens-Association-PPT-April-10-2019.pdf
Advisory: Non-Tax Reasons for Estate Planning
https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/Advisory-Non-Tax-Reasons-for-Estate-Planning.pdf
Advisory: Domicile and Planning
https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/Advisory-Domicile-and-Planning.pdf
2018 Year End Advisory
https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/2018-End-of-Year-Advisory.pdf
Update to Connecticut Exemption Amounts
https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/Update-to-Connecticut-Exemption-Amounts.pdf
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
John Hamilton will speak on the field of addiction treatment and prevention. He is nationally recognized as an expert in this field. He brings three decades of experience to his role as president and CEO of Liberation Programs and also chairs the Advisory Board for the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and serves on the Governor’s Alcohol and Drug Policy Council. Previously, John was chief clinical outreach officer at Mountainside Treatment Center, a nationally acclaimed drug rehabilitation center with locations in New York and Connecticut. He served as CIO of Recovery Network of Programs, a nonprofit behavioral health agency serving the Greater Bridgeport Community. John is past chair of the Dissemination Committee for the National Institute for Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, past chair of the Community Treatment Providers Caucus, past president of the Southwest Connecticut Mental Health Board, past president of the New England Association of Drug Court Professionals and co-founder of the Greenwich Father’s Forum. In 2013, John was a recipient of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence Nyswander-Dole Award for his contributions to the field of addiction treatment. Arranged by John Bassler
Presentation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCVBOolWjQ0
John’s slides: https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/John-Hamiltons-Slides.pdf
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Art Gottlieb returns to the DMA to talk with us about the history of the USS Intrepid. Launched in 1943, this former aircraft carrier fought in World War II, surviving five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike. The ship later served in the Cold War and then the Vietnam War. Intrepid also served as a NASA recovery vessel in the 1960s. It was decommissioned in 1974 and, today, is berthed on the Hudson River as the centerpiece of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Art has served as a professional curator of naval history and technical director of exhibits at the museum. His presentation will cover the full history of the Intrepid from keel laying through her service history up to the present day. Arranged by Tom Lom
Video of his presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-zyBnwAla8
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Erik Ofgang will share the story of William Gillette and the ways in which the Hartford actor’s life became entangled with the development of literature’s most famous detective. He also will examine how the eccentric Gillette decided to build a castle overlooking the Connecticut River. Erik is an award-winning writer, musician and magician whose work has appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers throughout the country, including the Associated Press, the Hartford Courant and Connecticut Magazine, where he is a senior writer. Erik is the author of “Buzzed: Beers, Booze & Coffee Brews, Where to Enjoy the Best Craft Beverages in New England,” “Gillette Castle: A History” and the forthcoming “The Good Vices.” He teaches writing and journalism at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA writing program and at Mercy College. When he’s not writing, he can be found playing bass with the Celtic roots band MacTalla Mor. He lives in western Connecticut with his wife Corinne. Arranged by Gehr Brown
Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eieyMUzxOEk
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Jim Smith and Robert Patricelli will speak about the Connecticut Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth
(FSEG). Connecticut’s revenues are not keeping pace with spending commitments. Our population has not grown since 1990, and private sector jobs are fewer today than a decade ago due to the high cost of doing business here and unfriendly tax climate, aging infrastructure and transportation issues. The new administration is faced with a $2 billion deficit due to overspending in the past and pension shortfall in state employee and teacher pension funds. What new taxes and belt tightening the committee will eventually recommend will evolve over the next months. Jim is chairman of the Board of Webster Financial Corporation and, until recently, served as vice chairman of the Midsize Banks Coalition of America. He served as a member of the Federal Advisory Council, which advises the deliberations of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He is actively engaged in community service and supports numerous civic organizations. Bob has spent more than 50 years in leadership roles in the health care industry and in public service. His business life began in health care in 1987 at Connecticut General Corporation and its successor Cigna Corporation. In 1997, he left Cigna to begin a 20-year career as an entrepreneur, founding several companies. His public service started fresh out of law school as a White House Fellow, followed by numerous roles in Washington, D.C., and Hartford. Bob most recently served as co-chair of the FSEG, appointed by Gov. Malloy in 2017. He has served on the Board of Directors for five organizations. He grew up in Hartford, attended Wesleyan University and Harvard Law School, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Paris. Arranged by John Schlachtenhaufen
Video of their presentation: https://youtu.be/xosAOE0dDtA
Bob Patricelli’s slides: https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/Patricelli-Lamont-Budget-Comments-Final-030819.pdf
Jim Smith’s slides: https://dariendma.org/wp-content/uploads/PACT-Slides-for-JSmithv1-ch-6-for-03-13-2019-without-notes.pdf
Homework that will help get the most from the speakers:
Lamont’s Budget presentation.
https://dariendma.org//wp-content/uploads/Gov-Lamont-FY20-FY21-Budget-Presentation-2-20-19.pdf
https://ct-n.com/ondemand.asp?ID=16045
Fiscal Stability Commission Report 2.0
Jim Lewis will speak on McDonald’s advertising program and future plans. Jim has been in the McDonald's system since 1986 and an owner/operator since 1993. He currently owns 17 restaurants in Manhattan and Queens, including the famous Times Square and 42nd Street McDonald’s. Jim began his career as an account executive with Michigan Bell Telephone in 1981. After that, he worked as a sales manager for AT&T in Southfield, Mich. He has a B.A. degree in marketing from Michigan State University. He was a member of Sigma Nu and served as the fraternity's first president when it returned to campus in 1978. He served as president of the Inter-fraternity Council for Michigan State University. Jim is married to Kimberly Lewis, and they have three children. The family lives in Darien.
Arranged by Tom Lom
Video of his presentation: https://youtu.be/i0SQ2GFsdpA
Charles Grady will speak on the opioid crisis in Connecticut. In his talk entitled “The FBI in Connecticut: an Overview and the Opioid Crisis in Our State,” he will focus on various programs and initiatives of the FBI and speak to the issues facing Connecticut relative to its opioid crisis. Charles, born in New Haven, became a police officer in 1982. He was the first African-American motorcycle officer in the Hamden Police Department and its first African-American detective. In 2002, he retired after a highly decorated career as a detective and federal task officer assigned to the Connecticut State Police Narcotics Unit, DEA and FBI joint task force, as well as being deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service. The primary focus of his career has been in narcotics violations and narcotics-related homicides. Charles also is a professional musician and an accomplished stage, television and film actor, appearing in shows such as “Guiding Light,” “All My Children” and “Law and Order.” After his retirement, he spent seven years as an internal audit investigator for a Fortune 500 company. In 2009, he returned to government service as the first ever internal investigator for the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s office and, in 2012, helped launch the governor’s anti-gun violence program called “Project Longevity” in New Haven and subsequently in Bridgeport. In 2015, he was chosen as the first FBI Community Outreach specialist for Connecticut, in which capacity he educates community members, law enforcement and judicial members on ways to build a safer and more tolerant community.
Arranged by Sunil Saksena
Video “Chasing the Dragon” https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/newss-chasing-the-dragon-the-life-of-an-opiate-addict/view
Kevin Gutzman will speak about Thomas Jefferson. Although remembered as the third president of the United States and chief author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson also was something more: the most successful constructive statesman in American history. He had radical plans to republicanize America and, working with remarkable success, to implement them. Born into a monarchical society, Jefferson turned his great intellect and energy to making it highly egalitarian. Much of what we take for granted about America now was originally Jefferson’s idea. It is a fascinating story. Kevin is The New York Times bestselling author of five books. He is professor and former chairman of the Department of History at Western Connecticut State University and a faculty member at LibertyClassroom.com. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Southern History, Journal of the Early Republic, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, The Review of Politics and Journal of the Historical Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree, a master of public affairs degree and a law degree from the University of Texas, Austin, as well as an M.A. and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia.
Arranged by Sunil Saksena
“In this lively and clearly written book, Kevin Gutzman makes a compelling case for the broad range and radical ambitions of Thomas Jefferson’s commitment to human equality.” – Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize winning author of American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804
Though remembered chiefly as author of the Declaration of Independence and the president under whom the Louisiana Purchase was effected, Thomas Jefferson was a true revolutionary in the way he thought about the size and reach of government, which Americans who were full citizens and the role of education in the new country. In his new book, Kevin Gutzman gives readers a new view of Jefferson―a revolutionary who effected radical change in a growing country.
Jefferson’s philosophy about the size and power of the federal system almost completely undergirded the Jeffersonian Republican Party. His forceful advocacy of religious freedom was not far behind, as were attempts to incorporate Native Americans into American society. His establishment of the University of Virginia might be one of the most important markers of the man’s abilities and character.
He was not without flaws. While he argued for the assimilation of Native Americans into society, he did not assume the same for Africans being held in slavery while―at the same time―insisting that slavery should cease to exist. Many still accuse Jefferson of hypocrisy on the ground that he both held that “all men are created equal” and held men as slaves. Jefferson’s true character, though, is more complex than that as Kevin Gutzman shows in his new book about Jefferson, a revolutionary whose accomplishments went far beyond the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5HmTKBh8OE&t=123s
Howard Blackiston will speak on the vanishing honey bee. The sweet reward of fresh honey is not, by any means, the only reason folks are attracted to beekeeping. The value of bees as pollinators is immense: One-third of all the food we eat would suffer dire consequences if the honey bee vanished. Howard’s talk will introduce us to the multitude of benefits these creatures bring to our everyday lives, the pleasures of beekeeping and the amazing social structure of a colony of bees. Discover what goes on inside a bee colony and understand why bees are vanishing and what you can do to reverse the situation. Howard is the author of Beekeeping for Dummies. This is the number one bestselling book on the subject and is one of the top titles in the For Dummies series of reference books. He has been a back yard beekeeper for 35 years and has written hundreds of articles and appeared in dozens of TV programs and radio shows, including the Discovery Channel, CNBC, Sirius XM Radio, Cablevision and NPR. His publications have been translated into 16 languages. He is past president of the Connecticut Back Yard Beekeepers Association.
Arranged by Sunil Saksena
Video of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjKCFk64SDg&t=4s