Rotogram

November 5, 2007

LOCAL WILDLIFE TREASURE
    Our own Larry Box, assistant district governor and past club president, will brief us on “The Noxubee Refuge and Its Friends.”

STATE ELECTIONS REVIEW
     Dr. Marty Wiseman, Director of MSU’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government, will analyze this year’s state elections next week.
     Remember to exercise your right to vote at the polls tomorrow.

LAST WEEK AT ROTARY

Invocation and Pledge: Bob Daniels

Attendance: There were 133 members present (35 exempt, 3 honorary), and 67 (22 exempt, 7 honorary) absent.

Guests and Visitors: Guests and hosts included Ann Moulds of Nina Welch, Melanie Crain of Melanie Mitchell, Mike Nosser of Donna Reese, Prentiss M. Gordon, Jr. of his dad Prentiss Gordon, Stephen Middleton of Maridith Geuder, and Zach Rowland of Trey Breckenridge. Club guests included Danny Smith with the Commercial Dispatch, Travis Downey with the Starkville Daily News, and Rotary Youth Exchange students Maryna Melnik and Negrita Caicedo. Guest Rotarians were Bill Overstreet from Pascagoula, MS and Earline Middleton from Raleigh, NC.

Rotary Minute: Bill Simmons informed the Club’s Paul Harris Fellows that they each could claim the distinction of being “one-in-a-million” since the 60-year-old program now has more than a million members.

Meeting Notes: Brad Mauck, Christmas parade float chairman, met with new members who serve as the parade committee. If you have joined Rotary since the first of December last year and missed the committee meeting, you need to contact Brad for your assignment. This year’s parade is on December 1.

NOVEMBER IS FOUNDATION MONTH

From Robert Scott, Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair ...
“In 2004, The Rotary Foundation embarked on a new venture to boost its ability to do good in the world. The goal was to encourage every Rotarian to support Foundation programs by giving at least US$100 to the Annual Programs Fund every year.
“We’ve come a long way since the Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY) effort began. Contributions to the Annual Programs Fund have nearly doubled – from $55.8 million in 2002-03 to a record $102.5 million in 2006-07.”

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Last year, the Rotary Club of Starkville became the only club in District 6820 to reach 100 percent participation. Let’s not lose our distinctive position as we move toward hosting the 2008 District Conference.

MSU AIMS FOR TOP HOOPS SEASON

     Mississippi State’s men’s basketball team has been picked to finish second in the Southeastern Conference Western Division. The Bulldogs are the defending division co-champions.
     Rotarian Dave Boles, MSU associate athletic director for academic advising, noted that only Kentucky and Florida have won more titles in the past 9 years. He highlighted the fact that, in the same period, there have been 27 SEC All-Academic basketball players on MSU teams.
     Introducing Coach Rick Stansbury, Boles underlined a key statistic — the Dogs’ record against Ole Miss in the past decade stands at 14-5.
     Stansbury, soon to be MSU’s all-time winningest basketball coach, previewed his tenth season at the Bulldog helm. The team is young with only one senior and one junior starting.
     Junior all-America candidate Jamont Gordon was named preseason first-team all-SEC, including receiving two votes for the SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Year honor. Senior forward Charles Rhodes, a two-time, second-team all-SEC performer for State, is a preseason second-team all-league selection.
     Seven lettermen are returning from last year’s 21-14 club that advanced to the MasterCard NIT Semifinals. The Bulldogs received 148 points in the preseason voting, including 10 first-place votes and a pair of votes as overall SEC Champion.
     Stansbury said to watch for freshman Riley Benock, the “second best basketball player to come out of Battletown, Kentucky, the coach’s alma mater. Benock not only brings a strong three-point shot, he also boasts a 4.0 academic record and a 31 ACT.
     Season tickets for the 2007-08 schedule are sold out. This marks the fourth straight pre-season sellout.
     In nearly a decade as MSU’s hoops mentor Stansbury (185-104) is just seven victories shy of surpassing former head coach Richard Williams (191-163; 1987-98) as the school’s all-time winningest basketball coach.

A Smile from the Past

     While introducing Stansbury, Boles noted that former Bulldog star forward Dontae’ Jones now is a basketball celebrity in Korea. That note set the coach on a train of thought away from the topic at hand as he recounted working with Jones as an assistant coach.
     Stansbury said that Jones was smart, but lazy about going to class. One of his coaching duties was to see that the soon-to-be SEC and regional MVP got to class. To reinforce the importance of academic activity, he would have the player run sprints for any infractions.
     On one particular occasion when a professor reported Jones’ absence, Stansbury confronted him with the question, “Dontae’, did you miss class today.”
     Stansbury said that, without a pause or moment’s thought, Jones replied, “Coach, I didn’t miss it at all.”