Deceased July 29, 2013

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25th Reunion Book Entry

In Memory

Just after graduation and a stellar career on the mound, Dick embarked on a fantasy life for an Amherst baseball player. As he described it in our 50th reunion book, the dream dissolved rather rapidly. “I found myself in the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Raleigh, N.C., which was to be my home for the remainder of the summer, after signing a contract to play minor league baseball in the brand-new New York Mets organization…, an ‘interesting’ experience going from the enlightened world of a New England liberal arts college … to cheap hotels, uncomfortable bus rides, playing baseball in badly lit run-down ballparks.” Check “Quincy Jets 1962” and find that Dick managed a 6–3 record in 29 games before leaving for what he described as a “real” job.

Initially, Dick’s real world was a career in administrative, sales and marketing management with international firms that took him and his wife, Priscilla, to London in the mid ’70s. With a family of a son and two daughters, the couple then moved to Dallas, where Dick began a rewarding 25-year career in law firm administration. In 1992 he married Ansley, and they eventually settled in her hometown of Atlanta.

Dick retired in 2007 and the couple, with 10 grandchildren, enjoyed life in a condominium complex outside Atlanta. Using his administrative skills, Dick became involved in the condo association and served two terms as president. He was deeply committed to cheering on the Atlanta Falcons, his fall substitute for the hometown Braves.

Several classmates recalled Dick’s rich, deep voice, hearty laugh and hidden sense of humor; he loved to relax listening to Frank Sinatra. Certainly the Amherst baseball fortunes under the watchful eye of irascible Coach Paul Eckley would never have reached Little Three Championship caliber without his overpowering fastball and mound composure. In 1962 the Mets went 40–120 in their initial season; Dick, in typical fashion, smartly chose another avenue for his talents.

Dick Drew ’61

25th Reunion

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In late June of 1961 following graduation, I found myself in a one-room apartment in the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Raleigh, NC, which was to be my home for the remainder of the summer, after signing a contract to play minor-league baseball in the brand new New York Mets organization. It was an "interesting" experience going from the enlightened world of a New England liberal arts college and a life of relative luxury and privilege to cheap hotels, uncomfortable bus rides, playing baseball in badly lit run-down ballparks. My "culture shock" was reinforced daily by a constant exposure to the language and substance of racial prejudice in the still very much segregated South. So what if the newspaper of choice on the bus was the National Enquirer. I was fulfilling a boyhood dream. The following year, after a strong  showing in spring training, the Mets sent me to Quincy, IL, on the  banks of  the Mississippi, where  I wrapped  up my fairly undistinguished  baseball career. In what later turned out to be the most memorable event in my abbreviated baseball career, my first assignment as a starting pitcher was against the Durham Bulls in the same stadium later made famous by Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in the movie Bull Durham. It somehow looked more glamorous in the movie.

It was definitely time for me to get a "real" job. During the 1962 season I married my childhood sweetheart, Priscilla Moss, who many of you got to know on her frequent visits to Amherst during our junior and senior years. No, we did not get married between the games of a doubleheader. I spent the next twenty years or so in administrative, sales, and marketing management positions with major international manufacturers and distributors of professional hair care and cosmetic products, including a stint living and working in London in the mid 70's.  In 1964 my son Jonathan was born followed by his sisters, Jennifer and Jane, in 1967 and 1969. All are married with children of their own, Jon with three boys, Jennifer with two boys and Jane with three girls, including a set of twins.

In 1980, living in Dallas, TX, and bored with the career path I was then on, a headhunter friend of mine encouraged me to interview for a position in law-firm administration. The end result of this interview was a rewarding 25-year career managing business affairs for well-known law firms in Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Atlanta. While in California I met, got to know, and in 1992 married Ansley Spratlin Morris, a transplanted southern lady originally from Atlanta, GA. In the process I acquired another son, David, who is now married with two children. From the beginning of our  relationship  Ansley always let it be known  that she wished to return  to the Atlanta area if the opportunity arose, which it did in 1993. We have been living in Atlanta since then except for a temporary five-year detour to Seattle from 2000 to 2005.

We live in a beautiful 122-acre condominium complex complete with a golf course scarcely 15 minutes from the downtown and midtown business centers of Atlanta. In 2007 I retired from my last law firm assignment. With time on my hands 1 made the mistake of getting involved in the governance of our condominium association, serving two terms as President. And I thought managing lawyers was stressful. Much of our leisure time now is spent visiting our four children and ten grandchildren in Dallas, TX, Raleigh, NC, and Washington, DC. It won't be long before we send our first grandchild off to college. I suspect he will be headed for Duke, where his father went to undergraduate and law school, rather than Amherst.