All Posts Tagged With: "Legends"

A few days ago the University of Illinois lost one of its greatest leaders and legends, former Chancellor, Dean and Professor John Cribbet.  Generations of Illinois College of Law alumni treasured Professor Cribbet, and Former U of I President Stan Ikenberry said, “John will be remembered as the most beloved Illini of all time.”  There are several accounts online of Professor Cribbet’s life and legacy, including are articles prepared by the College of Law, the News Gazette, and the Chicago Tribune.  and the College of Law will be having a ceremony to celebrate his contributions on Saturday.

Here with his permission, I would like to share the words of my friend and mentor, Dr. Stan Levy, former Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, who worked closely with Chancellor Cribbet when he led our University:

Today’s e-mail brought the news of the passing of   Chancellor Emeritus and Professor Emeritus John Cribbet.  He had been ill for quite some time.

John was a prince of a person, a one of a kind Illinois original.  Distinguished scholar, teacher, college dean and administrator.  community-minded for both the University and Champaign Urbana communities.  Before it was reorganized the Senate Committee

on Student Discipline was totally college deans, and the junior dean was ‘honored’ in serving as its chair.  John received this assignment during some of the most difficult days at UIUC.   When Bill Gerberding elected to leave the Chancellor’s post after only 18 months on the job, John was asked, almost dragooned, into serving first as Acting Chancellor and then as Chancellor at a time when the University was under great stress, athletic issues and significant budget stresses especially.  John distinguished himself in many ways. In the dark days of his tenure, and there were many, he was the ‘cheerleader’ who always saw the silver lining.  He was always upbeat.  His love for the University; his respect for faculty; his gracious way of dealing with his staff; his respect for the young leaders of the community, students, were always present.  His stories – and his speeches – were always insightful and memorable.  His words were always his own; he wrote his own materials.  And then there were his stories:  Ponca City, General Patton, etc., a small array woven into amazing contexts. He was a craftsman of the first rank in his use of language.

He was a terrific leader, a superb boss, a confidant, a good friend, and amazing supporter of what we sought to do in Student Affairs.  He was a gentleman at every turn and time.  His five years as Chancellor helped to change the face of the Campus.  It was a distinct personal pleasure, and constant learning experience to work for John.

May he rest in peace.

A service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in Rowe Auditorium at the College of Law.

So I am driving home from a business trip and listening to some classic country music station on AM skip radio, hoping for some Johnny Cash, when a Paul Harvey segment comes on.  Paul Harvey?  I wasn’t sure he was still around.  Maybe he is not because if he is he must be about 150?  It may have been an old recording for all I know, but his story was really cool and got me to thinking.

He talked about a guy named Jim, who was in the middle of the WW2 Allied beachhead landing in Italy, with the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, during Operation Shingle, at Anzio.

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Today I sent Urbanagora founder Billy Joe Mills a Facebook message and noticed his profile had a link to Pandora, a wonderful free music database that plays streaming music. Billy had a link to music by one of our favorite songwriters, Warren Zevon.

He sung this version of Back in the High Life Again when his body was riddled with cancer. This is easily my favorite version of the song. Zevon passed away a few years back, but he really lived. Some might say he lived his life “Riding the Hellbound Train.” Zevon himself once said “I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did.” Anyway, here’s a link to a tribute video of Zevon over his rendition of “Back in the High Life Again.” I hope you enjoy it.

Today I thought of one of my favorite songwriters, Warren Zevon. I did a quick YouTube search and found a video of Zevon doing Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner. If you’ve heard of Zevon, you’re probably most familiar with either his hit Lawyers, Guns and Money or Werewolves of London. I like those too, but this has always been my favorite:

I’m sure several of you have seen this already, but I thought it might add a touch of holiday spirit to the agora. Here is some background on this recording.