The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Beckett restores spirit of Yale athletics
NEW HAVEN — Tom Beckett had accepted the job as Yale director of athletics in April 1994, had met with the Connecticut media and returned to Stanford when he found a copy of that month’s GQ Magazine on his office desk.
“There was a note that said, ‘Tom, you need to read this,’ ” Beckett said. “It was an article, ‘The Death of Yale,’ written by a Harvard man John Sedgwick. It talked about how Yale had all these issues associated with its endowments, had gone on this deferred maintenance plan, the Yale Bowl looked like the Roman Coliseum and plaster was peeling off the walls at Payne Whitney Gym. It painted a dire picture.”
The next day his friend in the Stanford athletic department, where Beckett had been the associate director for a decade, asked him if he had read the piece. He had.
“He said, ‘You really don’t want to go there,’ ” Beckett said. “My comment to him was, ‘We had always been taught it’s important that our reach exceed our grasp.’ I was nervous. I was a rookie. But I wanted to find if I could be an athletic director. If the situation at Yale was as dire as this article says, maybe they could use me. Let’s see if I can do the job.”
There is an athletic directors convention in Washington D.C., so Wednesday
would be Tom Beckett’s last day on the job at his office. As he sat there at the Ray Tompkins House not far from a Heisman Trophy honoring Larry Kelley and Clint Frank, and a photograph of Babe Ruth meeting a Yale first baseman named George H.W. Bush, history dripping everywhere, yes, it’s safe to say Tom Beckett could do the job.
“To experience one of the greatest universities in the world, to work with incredible people, with generous and loyal alums, to know remarkable students who have this passion for being as good as they can in both the classroom and field of competition …” Beckett smiled. “Twenty-four years later, those rumors and stories in GQ haven’t gotten to Yale yet.”
Beckett will be remembered as a builder. A builder of relationships and a builder and restorer of venues. When he arrived in 1994, there was one endowed head coaching position. In 2018, there are 23. A total of $20 million in athletic endowments has headed toward $300 million.
As Beckett used the large framed photographs on the wall as a guide, one could document the 20 facilities where he oversaw construction, renovation or restoration. When he arrived in 1994, one of the largest facilities was the basketball court in the president’s driveway. From the multipurpose Lanman Center to the Derby boat house, that would change. By far the biggest project was the $32 million raised to save the crumbing Yale Bowl.
“One of the first calls I got when I was hired in 1994 was from Irving Jensen, Class of ’54,” Beckett said. “He said, ‘Tom are you going to get the Bowl ready for the 100th anniversary?’ I said what’s the date? He said 2014. I had a five-year contract. I thought it might not be my problem.”
It was. And the 15-year project would be a crowning achievement. The centerpiece was the 2014 game against Army. Cadets marching onto the field, a crowd of 34,142, a Rockwellian
afternoon ending with Yale’s stunning 49-43 upset.
“We led once all day: Tyler Varga’s touchdown in overtime,” Beckett said. “It was one of my proudest moments with the school.”
There is a story of generosity with each construction and renovation and Beckett’s stops at former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady.
“Nick made that great squash facility happen,” Beckett said. “He said squash is an international sport and Yale is an international university. He said I’ll support this project if Yale will continue to recruit players from all over the world to study here, work together as teammates and get their degrees before they return to their home countries. He believed passionately, in bringing people together through sport, that can help the world get along.”
Altruism is great. Money is great. So are championships. During Becektt’s time, there have been more than 70 Ivy League titles, more than 40 Olympians. Harvard? Sorry, no trash talk. Beckett is too classy. Only highest regard. Yale-Harvard football, he says, is college football’s great pageant.
There have been 30 national titles, although not all NCAA sports. That’s what makes the 2013 NCAA ice hockey and 2018 NCAA lacrosse championships so gripping. The biggest wins are no longer dusty memories.
“It’s David beating Goliath, how amazing an achievement it is to know Yale can go up against the best in the country, compete and upon occasion win a national championship,” Beckett said. “For those very bright students who are also gifted athletes, it’s a place where they don’t compromise their dream of getting the best education and competing at the high level.”
How’s this for a resume? Ben Reeves had a 3.89 GPA in cellular molecular developmental biology. He won the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s outstanding lacrosse player. Yale won the national title over Duke in May.
“A fairy tale,” Beckett said. “But when you are immersed in that supportive community and you live every day with our students, coaches, faculty, the fairy tale is possible.”
That doesn’t mean there haven’t been disappointments. He is hard on himself for not getting a swimming complex completed. There is another disappointment, involving the late Tim Taylor, that nearly brings Beckett to tears.
“I have great respect for Coach Taylor,” Beckett said. “He did marvelous things for hockey in America. The university felt it was time for a change (in 2006). We hired one of his former students. Keith Allain and Tim had a tremendous relationship. I wish I could have been able to continue mine with one of Yale’s legendary coaches. It didn’t happen. I’m saddened by it.”
Beckett will retain an emeritus position. He said he will be available to assist new athletic director Vicky Chun in any way she needs.
“My advice to Vicky?” Beckett said. “Trust Yale. Yale wants to do the right thing.
“We’re going to stay in Guilford. Our son Alex is autistic, has an intellectual disability. He was a month old when we moved here. All his friends are in Guilford. Everybody says hello. He comes to all our games with my wife Kim. He loves it. For him, Yale is very special. There’s no way I would ever want to take that away from him. Plus, Kim and I love this place.”
After Yale beat Duke for the lacrosse national championship, Richard Broadhead sat down to compose a note to Beckett. Broadhead, an expert in American Literature, graduated from Yale, and later would serve as the Dean of Yale College before becoming president at Duke from 2004 to 2017.
Beckett recited the note from memory: ‘Tom, there have been a lot of wonderful things that happened during your tenure. The restoration of facilities has been remarkable. But I will tell you the most impressive accomplishment has been the restoration of the spirt of Yale athletics.”
Pounding his heart, fighting his emotions, Beckett said, “I will never forget that. I walk out of this door today, feeling pretty good about the place where my buddy in Stanford told me not to go.”