As most of you are already aware, Longwood University recently provided the baseball stadium with its proper name, Charles Buddy Bolding Stadium, on Saturday, October 3. In fact, during the dedication ceremony, I sat next to the University’s Rector, Dr. Helen Warriner-Burke. Dr. Warriner-Burke leaned over to me several times to comment, somewhat surprised, on the high quality of Coach Bolding’s acceptance speech; however, for all of those who know Coach Bolding well expected nothing less. His trademark wit, candid assessments, and deep philosophical insight were expressed in a manner befitting an English teacher. Coach Bolding’s speech was so thoughtful and well-written that I wanted to share it with all Lancer fans.
Acceptance Speech
By Buddy Bolding, Coach of Baseball
Longwood University Lancers
October 3, 2009
4:00 PM
Farmville, Virginia
“…As time is the greatest of all gifts one human being can give to another, and as it is the one least-promised treasure of our brief earthly existence, to all of you who have traveled here today from places far and near to honor us in this brief moment in time, Andrea and I humbly thank you for the precious gift of your presence. We hope your journey to this little gem on earth has been a safe one, and we pray that safety will abide with you on your return home.
Is this not a beautiful day? The countless molecules of nitrogen-rich rain that have fallen from the heavens upon this emerald green diamond, and now, the brilliant rays of sun are to me emblematical of the countless nourishing bounties of love, affection and loyal support each of you here have showered upon Mama and me throughout the years; and I want you all to know how deeply we are touched by it all.
Baseball has been one of the great pillar-stones of America. And while it has of late suffered itself to irregularity, consumptions folly, and general malaise, I believe in its eternal redemptive spirit and I believe in America’s redemptive spirit. Like some of our most interesting life forms, they, too, possess the capacity of regeneration. Longwood and baseball have a common connection, as both of them were established in 1839. And some of our most revered Americans loved the game. In 1846, Walt Whitman, author of the timeless literary piece, “Leaves of Grass” said this of baseball: “I see great things in base ball. It’s our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us. Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms…the game of ball is glorious.”
In 1941, after the ambitious Japanese attacked our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, President Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged professional baseball to continue, saying, “I really believe it would be best for baseball to not suspend itself, even in war.”
More recently, the noted historian and epic film-maker, Ken Burns, asserted that, in a far and distant future time, when our culture will have been examined for its original content that three quintessential and immutable unique ideas or artifacts will have emerged from the sifted debris:
The United States Constitution
Jazz Music
And The Game of Baseball
Throughout our odyssey in baseball here at Longwood, Andrea and I have been afforded fundamental choices that I like to think we all are offered, both as individuals and as nations: To joyously build upon our present hut or merely occupy it in self-pity. To boldly actuate newness or serve the agonizing emptiness of the status quo. To set a hopeful course amidst an uncertain stormy sea or curse the tossing waves. And finally, to happily blaze a trail that others may by chance or choice follow or angrily trample aimlessly through the shadows…I believe we all have these choices.
Longwood University is and has been on the move: Just look about this gorgeous campus…the depth of our vision is all around us: The handsome restoration of our Rotunda and our University’s High Street Front Door, our top-shelf Business School, Dorrill Dining Hall, Greenwood Library, State of the Art Heating Plant, Hull Education Building, Chitchester Science Center, Longwood Recreation Center, sundry other brick and mortar initiatives, and, of course, our numerous fine athletic fields, they all display the sweet swing and beauty of the Longwood Bat…But, perhaps most impressive of all is Brock Commons, the universal cement that has finally so exquisitely bonded them all into one very impressive academic village. I think that Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, and Branch Rickey would all approve what we do here.
We here at Longwood thus far have and shall continue to improve our hut, scorn the status quo and set new hopeful courses for the future, and in so doing, we will without fail, blaze trails anxious to receive the hopeful footsteps of inquisitive and aspiring young men and women who choose Longwood well into the future.
Finally, I want you all to know how very much having my name conjoined with this wonderful University means to me. I like to think it forever bonds me to you all, and especially to every young man who has come my way here, and equally therefore, forever bonds them to Longwood. It is my hope that these remarkable young men who have entered the portals of this place of learning, growing, and becoming have obtained from us useful tools for living a life of passion and purpose, and that they may carry forward the best hopes and dreams that Andrea and I have had for each one of them throughout their lives.
Therefore, for this honor, our children thank you, my wonderful wife thanks you, and I thank you!”
