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Great Expectations
November/December 2005
by Carl Bialik ’01

Last November, at age 18, Alexander Righi '09 stunned the audience at Arizona’s 5A high school swim meet by setting a new state record in the 100-yard backstroke: 48 seconds, more than a second off the old mark. But Bil Kopas, Righi’s coach at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, was most struck by what happened next. “Everybody was just in awe of the swim,” Kopas says. “The crowd was going nuts. He just smiled, got out of the pool, and gave a little wave. Next time I turned around, he was cheering for our 4 by 100 freestyle relay.”

Kopas says that Righi’s humility, self-motivation, willingness to learn, and leadership—Kopas stepped back last year and let Righi and his co-captain handle team dynamics—will make him excel at Yale. “He’s everything you would want in a swimmer and a student.”

Righi, an articulate, self-assured 19-year-old settling in happily to Yale life, might prefer to think of himself as a student first and then a swimmer. After being named Swimming World’s top high school male swimmer last year, Righi was offered athletic scholarships by the University of Southern California, the University of Arizona, and Notre Dame. But he had already fallen in love with the Yale campus and the way the residential college system made each student part of something with a separate identity. He was also pleased that the swimming program would allow him the flexibility to spend time on academics and other activities. “Going to a scholarship school—a huge swimming powerhouse—I think swimming would have been my job,” says Righi, who decided on Yale so early that, Kopas says, “I never really had a chance to be surprised.” Frank Keefe, Yale’s long-time coach, says of the athlete who may be his best-credentialed recruit ever, “Alex recruited us.”

Keefe says the men’s swim team this year is “probably the strongest we’ve had at Yale in 25 years.” He should know: he has spent 27 years at Yale—25 of those coaching both the men’s and women’s teams. This is one of Yale’s longest current coaching tenures. (In recognition of Keefe’s work at Yale and with USA Swimming, the national program that directs teams going to major international competitions, the American Swimming Coaches Association recently inducted him into its Hall of Fame.)

Keefe’s men’s teams have posted winning records in 19 of his 27 years as coach, and his women’s teams in 23 of 25 years. Yet the Bulldogs have won just one Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship in Keefe’s tenure. In 2004, Yale finished fourth for the second consecutive year, behind Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. “Coach Keefe has a lot of high hopes for this year,” Righi says, “and I think that’s the biggest pressure right now—to make this a great season and make a name for Yale on a national level.”

As a highly touted rookie, Righi faces special pressure. But lest the buzz grow too deafening, Coach Keefe provides some useful perspective, reeling off NCAA qualifying times from last season that beat Righi’s best. For example, in the 50-meter freestyle, the qualifier was 19.96 seconds, but Righi has never done better than 20.09 seconds. “Being the best high school swimmer in the nation should give you a foot up,” Keefe says. “But it doesn’t mean you’re the best college swimmer in nation.” He adds, “I think a lot of people expect a lot out of him. I just want him to adjust.”

Football: a slow start, a better middle
by Robert David Jaffee '87, '94MPPM

“That it should come to this,” Hamlet lamented. As I entered the University of San Diego stadium to watch Yale’s opening game, I knew how he felt.

On September 17, some 25 years after Yale president Bart Giamatti '60, '64PhD, decried the professionalization of college athletics, the heirs of Walter Camp (Class of 1880) were kicking off the 2005 campaign in a 6,000-seat arena that was more like a high school field than the Yale Bowl. Worse, the Elis' most recent game was last season’s ignominious 35-3 loss to Harvard, a defeat that remained seared in the team’s collective memory.

Later in the season, the Bulldogs would pull themselves together and show signs they may yet exact revenge on the Crimson. But not this day.

The Elis entered the game having lost several top players to summer injuries, including Chandler Henley '06, who led Yale receivers in touchdowns last year, and David Knox '06, one of the team’s strongest running backs. Still, the Bulldogs finished a promising first half led by quarterback Jeff Mroz '06 and capped by a brilliant drive by freshman running back Mike McLeod. But their 14-3 lead at the break was not nearly as comfortable as it could have been. In the second half, USD’s quarterback shredded Yale’s interior passing defense and the Toreros pulled ahead 17-14. Yale got the ball back for one last try, but Mroz threw behind the receiver on the final fourth down.

Subsequent games have been more encouraging. The following Saturday at the Bowl, the Elis crushed Cornell, 37-17. Two weeks later at home, the team shut out Dartmouth, 13-0. Despite losing two squeakers to non-Ivy League rivals Holy Cross and highly ranked Lehigh—the latter a 28-21 overtime thriller—Yale has built up plenty of momentum going into the pivotal month of November. Mroz has been steady, and McLeod looks to be the best young running back Yale has produced since Rich Diana '82, '87MD, and John Pagliaro '78.

Walter Camp’s legacy has not been completely forgotten.

Sports Shorts

The women’s soccer season started with back-to-back losses to perennial powerhouses Duke and the University of North Carolina. But the team rallied, reeling off 11 straight victories. They were ranked 22nd in the nation in late October and were undefeated in the Ivy League, having beaten Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell.

Junior forward Alex Munns, who led the men’s soccer team in scoring last year, was honored as “player of the week “ by both the Ivy League and the Eastern Colllege Athletic Conference. Munns was also named to the Soccer America national “team of the week.” In late October, the Bulldogs, 6-2-3, were ranked 25th in the nation and were tied with Penn, Dartmouth, and Cornell for second place in the Ivies.

Helen Resor, a freshman defensive standout for the women’s hockey team last year, was not wearing Yale blue in early November at the Whale. Last August, Resor was named one of 22 finalists for the 20-member U.S. Olympic squad. On November 1, Team USA faced off against a group of college all-stars at the Yale hockey arena. If Resor makes the final cut, she will become the first Yale woman to play hockey in the Olympics, which start next February in Italy.

“He was great,” said veteran observers about Handsome Dan XVI, who made his debut on September 24 at the Bowl. The English bulldog from Hamden, Connecticut—aka “Mugsy”—lapped up all the attention. The following Saturday, he showed what he could do in defense of Yale’s honor. Hit by a wayward football, Dan sized up his pigskin antagonist and attacked.

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