Carl Mitchell Retirement

Today,I photographed the retirement reception for Carl Mitchell. He has worked for several years now as assistant to Dr. Burks. When I was in school back in the 1900s as some of my student workers remind me, 1988 to be exact, Dr. Mitchell came from Peperdine to be Dean of the College of Bible and Religion. I only had him for one class- Christian Counseling. I remember him telling us about being a missionary in Italy when they were expecting one of their children and his wife Frankie waking him up at 2 in the morning craving avocado. He said that as a good husband should he got up and went out looking for a avocado in Italy, he paused and then said " I still admire myself for doing that." When the Mitchell's came to HU Frankie worked as Director of Human Resources. She had a back door to her office that was hard to close so everyday when she left she would slam the door. Philip Tucker worked in our office and he would be in deep concentration editing some copy and that door would slam and he would scream and often his red pen would go flying through the air. He really hated her slamming that door. Dr. Mitchell closed today giving us three pieces of advice he has given to people for years:

1. You can't out give God.

2.From Gods perspective, availability is way more important than ability.

3.If you don't like what your doing, learn to like what you can do.

Matt Hall Jersey Retirement

I have the best job at Harding University and Thursday night was one of those nights that confirmed it again in my mind. The Bisons and Lady Bisons both won great games against SAU. This was the final regular season game so it was senior night. This was a senior night that made history. The Cheerleader then the players and then the Rhodes Rowdies were all honored but I could tell something was different. Coach Morgan said we have one more thing tonight and then Athletic Director, Greg Harnden, walked out with a framed #30 jersey. Tonight we are retiring Matt Hall's Jersey. The only other Bison basketball jersey ever retired belonged to Butch Gardner. Butch was on hand to present Matt with his jersey. The crowd was applauding, the team was proud and there were more than a few misty eyes in Rhodes Field house. Wally Jarrett looked over at me and said this is about to get me and I was thinking the same thing. I am not sure that there is a team on campus that better exemplifies the team idea than mens basketball ( I am not taking anything away from any of the other teams). Everyone of those guys was so proud for Matt as was everyone in the building. Matt Hall is a great guy. His Jersey retirement was well deserved. This feels rambly but I just don't have the words to express the pride I had in being part of the Harding Family on that night. I do have the best job on campus.

So you don't know who Matt Hall is:

Matt Hall is the best player to come to HU in a long time. I don't have all of his stats but he is I believe the second leading scorer in HU history. Second only to Butch Gardner, 3 time All American. Just a couple of games into his Jr Season he tore a ligament in hi ankle and was out for the season-medical red shirt. He worked tirelessly rehabbing it and came back and was better than ever. Thursday night he set the GSC and HU records for Free Throws in a game with 14. Matt Hall is a player but more than that he is a team player.He has fun. Thursday night while lined up for a rebound the player beside him was yelling at his teammate across the lane to switch. Matt looked over with a big smile on his face and said us and pointed to the other Bison player across the lane. It cracked the SAU up. Matt Hall is just a great kid that will truly be missed.