[NU Sports] NU SPORTS NIGHT IN NY EVENT

[NEONRye at aol.com]

Fellow "Listers":
 
Just wanted to give a brief report on the annual "NU Sports Night In NY"  
Event, which was held last night at the Williams Club in Manhattan.  I have  
attended many of these gatherings in the nearly three decades that they  have been 
held, and this one was truly unique.
 
For the first time ever we (a) had a Female Guest Speaker and (b)  hosted a 
National Championship Team--in fact, a "repeat" National Championship  Team.
 
Our Honored Guest was none other than Kelly Amonte Hiller, the  
amazingly-articulate and gifted Head Coach of our fantastic Womens' Lacrosse  Squad.    I 
had the opportunity to meet and talk with Kelly, and  then to listen to her 
recount her initial decision to come to NU to coach a  then-"Club" Womens' 
Lacrosse Team, and the process by which ultimately, over a  5-year span, she led her 
players to two NCAA Division I  Championships.   She was a riveting, yet 
self-effacing speaker, with  supreme confidence, but not a hint of arrogance.  And 
the videos which she  showed (one of our championship run this year and the 
other a video made by two  of the players who are in the Communications School) 
were quite a treat.  
 
What really made the event so special was that many of the players were  
present, and mingled freely with all of the alums.  They are each very  special 
women, who truly represent everything we want NU and "Purple Pride" to  stand 
for--class, sportsmanship, academic excellence and success on the  field.  I had 
never met a National Champion in anything before, so I was  thrilled to meet 
each of them, and told them so.
 
Kudos to the Co-Chairs, Sandy Sacks, who has run these programs for all of  
the nearly 30 years they have been, and Chris Combe, who is an NU Trustee and  
who individually and with his family has given so much (literally and  
figuratively) to Northwestern for many, many years.
 
A sidebar that I should mention:  Anucha Brown Sanders, ex-NU hoops  star and 
ex-Madison Square Garden employee and current Plaintiff against Isaiah  
Thomas and MSG in her sexual discrimination (harassment) lawsuit, was in  
attendance.  I was able to meet her and relate to her that I (and two of my  law 
partners) have represented many plaintiffs in discrimination suits and that  I knew 
how hard it must be to be trashed in the press by such a powerful  
organization.  She was very soft-spoken and seemed to be a very genuine  person, 
especially when we talked about our respective teenaged  children.     Having met her, 
I think that Mr. Thomas  and Mr. Dolan (of Cablevision and MSG) may be in for 
some surprises if they  think they can just roll over her.  I am still amazed 
that Dolan (a) axed  Larry Brown and (b) made Thomas the Coach, given the 
allegations against  him.  But having watched the Knicks descend into the 
sub-basement of the  NBA during Dolan's "reign", nothing surprises me anymore with 
that team.
 
Finally, our own List Member, Willie Weinbaum, was also in attendance, as  he 
always is at these events.  
 
Paul Levinson