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February 2005
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ALUMNI NEWS |
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| Cassell Hall of Fame Inductees Honored
Members of the AU Athletics community immortalized three unique former student-athletes and formally kicked off its $7.5 million portion of the AnewAU campaign earlier this month at the 2005 Stafford H. Cassell Hall of Fame dinner. Honoring the achievements of Arthur Beatty Jr., CAS/BA '69, Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, SPA/BA '83, and David Nakhid, SIS/BA '87, the university gathered some 100 alumni, friends, faculty, and staff at the Washington, D.C., Marriot Wardman Park Hotel. Clyde Beatty tearfully accepted the Hall of Fame honor on behalf of his brother Arthur Beatty Jr., who passed away last summer. While the 7’ 1” Beatty made his name on the court as a prolific scorer and fierce rebounder, the evening’s remembrances focused equally on his off-the-court accomplishments in the arts. Beatty’s induction was followed by the announcement that a portrait gallery in the Dr. Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center would bear his name. Said Beatty’s mother, Hazel, who was on hand for the celebration, “He would have been so thrilled to see that [the Katzen Arts Center] because the arts were really his lifeline.” Frazier-Lyde and Nakhid, shared fond AU memories as well. Frazier-Lyde, who became the university’s first female basketball player to score 1,000 points before following in the footsteps of her father, “Smokin’” Joe Frazier, to become a boxing champion, called her days at AU “the time of [her] life.” Asking former athletic director Barbara Reiman to stand, she publicly thanked her for fostering the creative and competitive spirit that drove both her professional success as a criminal lawyer and her winning ways in the ring. “I want my children to see you,” she told Reiman from the podium, “because I want them to know that in life your family goes beyond just your blood family.” Nakhid, a Trinidad and Tobago native who led AU’s 1985 soccer team to the NCAA championship game, thanked AU for giving him a second home. “Here I was in a strange new land, encountering the cold and snow for the first time,” he recalled, “and you made a home for me in Washington, D.C.” AU President Benjamin Ladner and former standout AU swimmer Charlie Lydecker, SPA/BA '85, unveiled the university's plans to raise $7.5 million to enhance athletics through AnewAU. Noting such recent achievements as AU's top 20 spot in the Fall Sports Director’s Cup rankings, Ladner praised AU’s on-the-field improvements since joining the Patriot League in 2001. “What’s happened in athletics in the last few years really is a rejuvenating spirit that’s an example for the whole university,” he said. With upgrades to Reeves Field, Bender Arena, the Greenberg Track, and other facilities and programs, the AnewAU campaign promises to build on this success and the history of greatness embodied by the night’s inductees. Already $2 million toward its goal, Lydecker announced, the campaign recently received an additional $500,000 commitment from Jack Cassell, SOC/BA '77, a former AU soccer player and the son of legendary AU athlete, coach, and athletic director, Stafford H. “Pop” Cassell. -Matt Getty, originally published in American Weekly | |||
