"NCSA unveils 2005 NCSA Collegiate Power Rankings" with guest Williams College Athletic Director, Harry Sheehy/Profiles of Success with Arne Duncan, CEO Chicago Public Schools
John:
Welcome to the only radio show talking about high school sports and the business of college recruiting, Collegiate Athlete Today, broadcasting live from Chicago Illinois. We are streaming live across the US and the globe thanks to the World Wide Web. I'm John Kerr, sitting along side me is the pride and joy of North Chicago, Illinois and former Vanderbilt Commodore and founder of the National Collegiate Scouting Association, Chris Krause. Whats happening today Chris?
Chris:
Big day today JK. Huge day. The NCSA Collegiate Power Rankings just got released and the phones are ringing off the hook. We have athletic directors calling up, awfully proud are some of them, but some of them are pretty concerned because they dropped down the list.
John:
And that's why we are going to get right to it. But first we want to thank Voice America for streaming Collegiate Athlete Today and helping to steer this broadcast from the mother ship in Phoenix Arizona. Let's give out some contact info. The phone number 888-333-6846 and the email is CAToday@ncsasports.org. But everyone has a story so email your questions, comments and concerns to us at any point during the show. This is your show because everyone knows of someone who has gone through the recruiting process so let us know. Football season is fast approaching and everywhere you go now you can't avoid seeing or hearing talk about pre-season rankings. That's what makes football so great, all the discussion that surrounds it this time of year because everyone thinks that their team has a shot. Everyone listening today, I think it's fair to say, has heard of the US News & World Report rankings which is based on academic performance. But in this ranking crazed society, the National Collegiate Scouting Association came up with a ranking system of their own to educate families on how great a school really is. So today we are going to debut the 2005 edition of the NCSA Collegiate Power Rankings. Chris explain to everybody out there what these rankings are.
Chris:
Ok, when people look at good schools they are usually very unrealistic about where their child has a chance to play. So when we decided to put something together to educate families we wanted to get objective. What is a good school? So we started putting the numbers together just like US News & World Report puts things together based on GPA, SAT, ACT scores, endowments, graduation rate etc. So what we wanted to do was to creating a system that addressed both the academic and the athletic sides of a good school so that we can provide the best fit for student-athletes. We want to avoid sending kids to schools that don't fit them and give them what the need so that they have a better chance of graduating.
John:
So to follow along with what we are talking about, go to www.ncsasports.org and on the front page there will be a box that says Power Rankings, click on that and take a look at what we are describing here. Chris, one thing if anyone was looking at this for the first time, you're thinking well of course Notre Dame, Stanford, Harvard but if you really peel the onion back there is a pretty diverse list of schools and some of these may surprise you. Right Chris?
Chris:
Well that's the beauty of the Power Rankings because when you look at the schools for what they are worth, if you think about what a family is investing to send their child to a school for a year, sometimes 20,000 per year for their child's education. The reason that a parent would invest that much in a college education is because of what it would bring their child in the end, that's the investment. It means a chance for empowerment and when start stacking the schools up side by side as far as who is getting the job done, it's not always the school that has the biggest enrollment, that has the biggest fraternity culture or who is going to the most bowl games. But when you put them all together in terms of who is graduating their athletes and who is getting the job done academically. And the Division III stack up head to head as far as getting the job done and are coming out better as long as educational opportunities than a lot of Division II programs.
John:
CK just read off the list before we hit this break here. Let's go through our Top 20, let's just read them off in a row here. These are our Top 20 Power Rankings and we are going to read them off right in a row here.
Chris:
Well first we have to congratulate Williams College out of Massachusetts, they have really gotten the job done in the 9 of the last ten years both academically and athletically. Both in the Directors' Cup rankings and the US News & World Report and this is the first time since 2003 when we started putting this list together that they have actually been #1. And they stepped up their athletic graduation rate to claim that title. Amherst College, number two, they have gone from #24 last year to #2 this year, so they have really made a big increase on the academic side as well. Duke has made a nice increase from #8 last year to #3 this year and then we have another Division III school, Middlebury College out in Vermont. I don't know what's in the water out there, JK, but those schools in the Northeast are getting it done. And rounding out the Top 5 you have Stanford University in California so 3 of the top five are actually colleges and universities that probably wouldn't be a student-athletes list if they wanted to play athletics. They don't fall in that Name Game category because you don't see them playing on every Saturday but when it comes to graduating athletes and getting the job done academically, those kids will get the best educations at those little schools.
John:
And quickly before we hit this break, the last five schools, you have got Washington University in St. Louis Missouri, we've got Boidin College at #7, they are a Division III school and no surprise here, a couple of Ivy schools, Princeton, Harvard and rounding out the top 10 is the University of Notre Dame. So like we said before, a pretty diverse list of schools and out of the first 10, Chris, five of those schools are Division III programs.
Chris:
Absolutely. Five Division III and two more that are Ivy League, so you're really looking at three schools that are Division I-A full scholarship athletic programs.
John:
And the good thing too, Chris, is that we are going to have the guy who is responsible or at least in charge of the Athletic Department of the school with the #1 ranking, Williams College. And we are going to talk to him on the other side of the break. And Chris, really quick, tell the audience here about what we want to hear from Harry and what we are going to be talking to Harry about.
Chris:
Well are going to be asking him some questions about how life is on a Division III campus. And what it's like to play at the next level. This is so that families can really hear around athletics at the Division III level, the culture, the programs and what makes them so successful. How come those kids are so driven to graduate at such a high rate.
John:
And we are going to hear from Harry Sheehy at the other side of the break. And I want to hear more from you about what the deal is with the purple cow. So when we come back we are going to talk to the Williams' College Athletic Director, #1 in our Collegiate Power Rankings in 2005. Stick around, you are listening to Collegiate Athlete Today with Chris and John. More after the break.
(13:55)
John:
Welcome back to Collegiate Athlete Today, I'm John Kerr along side Chris Krause. The email address if you have a question, comment or suggestion is CAToday@ncsasports.org Today we are debuting the 2005 Collegiate Power Rankings and at the top of the overall standings is Williams College, the Ephs, beating out some well known schools such as Duke, Notre Dame and Stanford. Welcome Williams' Athletic Director and member of that New England Basketball Hall of Fame, Harry Sheehy to the program. Harry welcome to Collegiate Athlete Today. How ya doing?
Harry:
It's good to be with you guys.
Chris:
We are very excited to have you on, Harry. We want to congratulate you for your accomplishments. Nine out of ten years topping the US News & World Report rankings as well as the Directors' Cup, how do you guys manage to do it year after year?
Harry:
Well I think that there are always different ingredients that go into this but we have an excellent school and we have a history of students getting great educations here, we are a small community, kids who come here really respond to the small community atmosphere and it's a high powered academic place. So when you put those things together some of the very best athletes will be attracted to that. As they will to other schools in our league as well as the Ivy League and we feel very fortunate. We don't have a good college because of the athletic program, we have a good athletic program because of the college.
Chris:
Right. Fantastic. I had a chance to do a little homework as far as the culture and the tradition there, you guys are in a lot of different sports there. You have, I think, 31 different sports there?
Harry:
Yes, we actually have 32 sports now with women's golf coming on board this year. So we have a very broad based program, it's participation based and we want our kids involved and we try to maintain whatever possible, a no cut policy but obviously that's not possible all the time because of facility limitations. But there is definitely a culture here, and athletics is definitely part of it.
(16:20)
Chris:
What is the chance of kids playing multiple sports at Williams? Because I know that at many schools that's not possible. How do you guys look at the over at Williams?
Harry:
Well we've got almost 200 two sport kids and another 40 or 50 three sport kids and that's very important here because we don't get enough kids to run these teams to have 32 teams if kids didn't play multiple sports. And we have had a couple of players in the NFL and some of our kids have gone on to play some basketball and ran track & field but basically our kids are thinking about getting their MBA over being in the NBA so kids can do more than one thing here and our coaching staff is very in tune with that.
Chris:
Fantastic, I had the chance to look at the facilities and one thing I learned about playing football at Vanderbilt is that a lot of kids really get caught up in the Name Game with colleges, how do you guys deal with that? How do you address that when you go after some high quality kids as far as competing with the Ivy Leagues, Notre Dame, Duke, how do you compete with them? How do you sell Williams to those kids?
Harry:
There are a lot of challenges at the high end academic places but the thing that I think is really interesting as I look through the rankings is how many really terrific schools are listed in the top. And that tells me that something is going on where kids are making choices for the right reasons. But I think in terms of our challenge, we have a lot of really good programs that finished in the Top 5,10, 8 places in the country and I think that one of our biggest selling points is the dual athlete kid. And I think that sometimes the Ivy League pays lip service to it but that really does thrive here because if you look at the Ivy League rosters, there aren't a whole lot of three sport athletes there. So I think that's one thing we have. And the second thing is just the education and the placement. Kids find out what happens to the kids who go to Williams, we have an immense impact with our kids as far as medical school, law school and the type of leadership roles that Williams has that is far greater than it's size. So if you interview a family and they are really interested in the quality of education that their child gets than I really believe that we are going to have a chance to recruit them.
(19:20)
John:
Speaking of educating families, your nickname, a very unique nickname, the Ephs, now on your website there is actually a picture of a purple cow, give the listeners a little insight as to whats with the name.
Harry:
Ephs, came from the way that the founder of the school said the letter "F" because he said it like "eef" and the purple cow comes from an old poem that goes, "never saw a purple cow, never hope to see one, but if I saw a purple cow, I'd rather see than be one." And that was in a literary magazine from the 1920's and the student grabbed onto that and decided that the purple cow was going to be our mascot. And that just goes to show you that we don't take athletics too seriously.
John:
Oh yeah, I bet that purple cow strikes fear in the eyes of opponents right?
Harry:
Yeah, fear the cow.
Chris:
It's funny because I had a chance to see the purple cow while going through the website and one thing that fascinates me is that when people talk about a school like Vanderbilt or a school like Williams, is that unless you have been to these schools you don't really understand what a wonderful place these schools are to get an education. And when I look at you guys, I mean you have the tradition of "the walk" maybe you could tell us a little about that. The Rights of Autumn, and I know that you guys are going to be featured on ESPN coming up too.
Harry:
Yes. Our football game against Amherst has been televised for the last 10 or 15 years but we have a lot of great traditions and one is that any team that beats Amherst can go up into the old Goodrich Hall and ring the bell. And teams have often taken us up on that one. But we also have this thing called "the walk" which Sports Illustrated called the Best Post Game Tradition in the Country and that is because our Field House is a great distance from our Football field so for Homecoming, if the kids win the game they walk up Spring Street, which is the street with the stores on it, and the whole team just walks up Spring Street and then stops at St. Pierre's Barber Shop and have sodas and back in the day and probably some cigars, but I don't think that's happening anymore. But it has become a tradition and it's a wonderful thing because people line the streets and kids walk along with the team and the fans and that Homecoming game is usually somewhere between 5,000 and 15,000 people and it's just a great site. A wonderful tradition.
(21:45)
Chris:
It makes you think about when the fans run onto the field, I mean the biggest game is going on that Saturday, and no one on your campus is worrying about anything else.
Harry:
I mean that's just it, the kids on the field are your friends. They are in classes with you, they go to parties with you, they do social things with you, they go to lectures with you. So all of a sudden it's not just a guy with a helmet and a uniform number, it's your friend or classmate. And I think that adds a really nice dimension to that way that our kids are supported here.
John:
Yeah, we 40% of the student body is participating in sports, 34% at the varsity level and 31 varsity sports, you can see why student athletes identify with the campus through athletics. When we come back on the other side of the break, we are going to talk more with Harry Sheehy, the athletic director at Williams College, debuting at #1 in the 2005 Collegiate Power Rankings. More with Chris and John right after the break. Stick around.
(26:50)
John:
Welcome back, I'm John Kerr, along side Chris Krause, you are listening to Collegiate Athlete Today on the VoiceAmerica network. We are talking with Harry Sheehy, the athletic director at Williams College, debuting at #1 in the 2005 Collegiate Power Rankings. He's a 2-time basketball All-American at Williams and the all-time leading in points and rebounds of athletes in action. I gotta ask you about this, Harry.
Harry:
Yeah that was a great experience. I left here and I had an opportunity to tryout for the Philadelphia 76ers after leaving Williams in 75. And I wasn't a math major but I counted up the no-cut contracts and it added up to nothing good for me. So I signed up with Athletes in Action and I played with them for 8 years and what an unbelievably great experience it was for me. We got to play all the top collegiate teams, the USSR national team before Russia became a puzzle, all the national teams from Europe and the World, it was just a great great experience for me.
John:
And then you became the coach of Williams.
Harry:
Yes, I was the coach for Williams for 17 years and I retired after the 2000 season. I woke up one morning and got smart. I got out of coaching and into administration and I've been doing this for five years.
John:
Ok, before we talk any further, we have a caller on the phone right now. We have Lynn O'Linski calling in from Chicago who has a question for Harry and Chris. Lynn are you there?
Lynn:
Yes I am
Chris:
How are you doing Lynn?
Lynn:
Very good, thank you, how are you?
John:
Lynn, what's your questions.
Lynn:
I'm a local Chicago coach, and if you don't mind, I would like to ask your advice on two questions that I constantly receive from parents regarding high school players. First of all, I would like to start by saying that there are misconceptions so im hoping that you can help me out with this, my first misconception is that Division III colleges are not very competitive and everyone can play at their level and the second is that Division III colleges don't offer athletic scholarships and are very expensive.
Harry:
Yeah, those are great questions. Well first of all, I would say this, I have a t-shirt hanging up in my office and it says, "because there is no Division IV" and anyone that thinks that Division III is not competitive needs to educate themselves. Because I would say that everyone looks at their kid and says he's going to Duke or Michigan St. and the bottom line is that 1 out of 300 kids is going to get a scholarship. And when you put all your eggs in that basket, and often times it's the parent and not the kid, you are really setting yourself up for disappointment. So you're seeing the problem for what it is. There is a lot of education that needs to go on. Whats the second part of the question?
Lynn:
The parents are suggesting that Division III don't offer athletic scholarships and we understand that they are usually quite expensive and they just don't feel like they can afford it so they just don't look at quality Division III colleges.
Harry:
Yeah, that's a great question as well and I'll tell you that's a grave error. I have always told kids to keep some Division III schools in the mix because if you look, for example, at a school like Williams, we are considered a "need blind" college so we are going to accept kids regardless of their financial situation so we will meet the demonstrated financial need. And we will meet the demonstrated financial need of a student-athlete or a student, but in particularly a student. But now not all Division III schools are in that position, but many are. And there is scholarship money out there and I would challenge parents to really look at this process in a broad based way to look at every option. Because in the end, Division III is a quality education and his financially accessible. So parents and students end up missing the boat on this.
John:
Hey Lynn, great questions. Hey Harry, can you send Lynn one of those t-shirts?
Harry:
Absolutely.
Chris:
Harry that leads me back as far as the follow up. I have been doing this a long time and so I can understand that dynamics of it all. And we see a lot of kids that are going to the University of Chicago's and Williams College's of the world and they are getting a chance to go there a lot of times for cheaper than it would cost them to go to a state school. And best of all, they are getting the chance to play.
Harry:
Absolutely. When you are looking at the Power Rankings, I think that one of the great things is that many of the top schools look at the athletic experience as co-curricular not extra-curricular. Sports is in fact part of the education. Now I think that athletics is important but its no more important than theatre and dance because these are all ways that we can stretch kids that cannot be replicated in a classroom. And that is how we look at this co-curricular experience, it's an educational experience. When I look back on my 17 year coaching career for the most part I don't look back on the games, I look back on the way that my kids grew as people and the lessons that they learned. It was all part of their college experience. And the thing that I love about your rankings is that when I look at the schools on the top of the list I think that is whats happening at those schools. Because those schools are looking at athletics as co-curricular, as part of the learning experience.
Chris:
I love that term, co-curricular. Because when you look at it, you're looking at the leaders of tomorrow and they are learning about time management and people management and all those important things through 4 years as a collegiate varsity athlete.
Harry:
Sometimes I look at some of the things that students are doing, one might be in an singing group, playing basketball and in theatre and I used to worry about those kids. But those kids are the types that need to be stretched. I even had a few kids on my teams who were pre-med and I would have been scared to death on their operating tables for a number of reasons. But we want kids who are stretched and do a lot of things and can accomplish a lot of things. Because in the end there is plenty of mediocrity in the world, we don't need people to just go in and fit in. What we need are kids who understand the role of athletics as a way to excellence through stretching them in different ways.
Chris:
And as far as achievement goes, they are coming in and operating at a high level and some of them are even overachievers. I wanted to ask you about the kid who maybe has a 3.5 and maybe a 1100 on their SAT and he's playing three sports and doing all the extracurriculars, what are the odds of getting him in? And does all of that make an impact on admissions?
Harry:
Well one thing that we have been able to do here is to look at every kid as an individual. Every kid brings luggage and a story with them. And the one thing that I like about Williams, is that one of my biggest frustrations is that we don't have enough spots for all the great kids. But what I try to tell kids is that we aren't the only great place, there are many other schools out there that would fit them. And it's really about matching yourself with the right place. But what I want to see Williams do is to take the unique kid who didn't get that jump start on life and maybe had some unfortunate things happen, but it's so hard to take those individual stories and find them out of a student body of 2000.
John:
If you think you have what it takes to become a purple cow, go to Williams.edu. And we would like to thank our guest Harry Sheehy, the athletic director for Williams college.
Harry:
Thanks for having me guys. I want to tell you guys that this is a great service and I hope parents avail themselves to this because it's really messed up out there in many ways in terms of how kids are recruited and what they look at and all that. If these rankings can help kids and parents think in more sane ways and realistic ways, well I think that you have done a great service.
John:
Alright Profiles Of Success up next. You are listening to Collegiate Athlete Today on VoiceAmerica.
(40:15)
John:
Welcome back to Collegiate Athlete Today, I'm John Kerr along with Chris Krause. You also just heard the debut of the 2005 NCSA Collegiate Power Rankings and Chris, we couldn't have had a better guest than Harry Sheehy because I think a lot of people now know about Williams College if they didn't before.
Chris:
I'll tell you, when you look at some of the culture that is going on at some of these class institutions you think that too many people are looking to go to the wrong schools for the wrong reasons. So the purpose of these power rankings, and Harry summed it up best, is because these kids are going out for the sheer love of the game and they are getting it done both academically and athletically. And at these smaller Division III schools the people at these games are cheering for their friends because at these bigger schools you don't know the players. And in these power rankings, 60% of the schools are at the Division III level and the more that parents look at these types of schools the better off the kids will be and they'll be more likely to get a degree.
John:
And we hope to educate the students and families listening right now that the perception sometimes of what a good school is and the true definition of a good school is for your child are sometimes two different things. And we hope that today's show helped to educate people a little bit on the possibilities. And avoid the Name Game. Now, the final segment that we do every week, our Profiles of Success segment with former Notre Dame and NFL offensive lineman, Tom Thayer, member of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears and now an analyst on the Bear's radio network. But each week Tom talks with a former athlete or current athlete with a very unique story. This week, current CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, Arnie Duncan.
Tom:
Good afternoon everybody and welcome again to another series of the segment Profiles Of Success. And we do have a true success story here, Arnie Duncan, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools System. Arnie welcome, and thank you for joining us.
Arnie:
Thanks so much for having me, I really appreciate the opportunity.
Tom:
It really is an impressive resume, you're a graduate from Harvard, magna cum laude, class of 1987, co-captain of the basketball team, academic All-American, played professional basketball in Australia. How did you find the time for all that when you are trying to complete and accomplish an education at Harvard?
Arnie:
Well I had a lot of advantages that unfortunately a lot of kids don't have. I had great family support. Both of my parents are educators and obviously I totally understood the priorities there. I grew up loving basketball and my goal was to always go pro. But I was realistic enough through support and coaches that while it was a good goal to have, I still had to go out and get the best education possible. And so I think I had my priorities formed very early on. So through my parents and some great mentors, I understood that my education had to come first.
Tom:
When I read about you and your family. It's kind of strange because when you think about families today, you guys didn't have a tv, you were a part of a family that read together and read out loud. How important is that to your educational background?
Arnie:
Well I don't know if I liked that at the time but in hindsight it was actually pretty great. We were from a middle class integrated neighborhood in Chicago, Hyde Park, but since before I was born my mother ran an inner city tutoring program. So literally since the day we were born we went with our mother every day to this tutoring program with our mother and that was a huge formative experience for me. And that inspired my brother, sister and I to try to help out as much as we can. And then we would come home after that, eat dinner and then one of my parents would read to us, so we really didn't have time for tv. But I remember sneaking over to a friends house but as a kid reading the classics with my family was a lucky thing to have.
Tom:
The family support system is so important and that's the same in my family. And again, I mentioned that you were an All-American at Harvard, what do you think you learned throughout your college experience that helped you to continue to dream of becoming a professional basketball player after being cut by the Boston Celtics?
Arnie:
Well that has obviously always been my dream and I have always been sort of a long shot. I went to a good academic high school but it was not a basketball power house so it was really a stretch for me to try to play Division I but I loved the game so much that I wanted to keep improving and I was lucky to have grown a foot in high school. And then I grew another 3 inches in college so I have always been a sort of late bloomer and luckily I had a good work ethic and kept working hard. And then I was fortunate to have the opportunity to play overseas. And that was a dream come true, the Celtics was the real dream, but playing in Australia was an unforgettable experience too. I eventually met my wife there and brought her back here.
Tom:
You know I think sports molded both you and I. Me being a football player, you being a basketball player and I think that your supporting cast is such an important part of your success. It seems that when you recruit your work force, you use the words Extraordinary Commitment To Kids, how do you get the kids to understand their role and their own commitment to themselves?
(47:00)
Arnie:
That's a great question and something that we work on every single day. And I try to do as much as I can and as personally as I can but we have over 400,000 kids in the school system so I can reach them all. But just yesterday I had lunch with a bunch of teenagers and talking with them about their dreams and aspirations. And as you know, so many kids especially in the inner city don't have any type of parental support that you and I had and that is why it is so important to get to them early and really give them a reason to dream. There are so many smart kids who really don't think that college is for them. The don't have a family member who has been to college and unfortunately many of them don't even have a family member who has graduated from high school. So it's getting them on college campuses and letting them know that they can be successful. That exposure is incredibly important and getting them in touch with positive role models and mentors who can be with them through both the good times and bad. We are teaching great classes and getting more kids involved, we have advanced placement but it's getting adults in kid's lives over the long haul is absolutely invaluable.
Tom:
When you deal with kids at the grade school level and then you meet with a kid at the high school level do they dream the same? Do grade school kids dream the same as high school kids? Or are the high school kids a little more reality based?
Arnie:
I think that there is a misconception when people think about inner city kids from poor neighborhoods from the south and west side. These kids have the same dreams as the kids on the north side or the suburbs. They want to be successful and they want to do the right thing too, they just simply have not had the opportunity or the guidance or the support. And so our job is really to create that set of opportunities for them. 85% of our students live below the poverty line so we try to make sure that those kids who are doing a great job academically we want to start guaranteeing them jobs in the summer. We want them to see some real tangible benefits to working hard in school. We use rewards and incentives for good behavior. I mean there are so many stories of kids overcoming some amazing things in their lives to become successful. And there are so many kids trying to do the right thing and I don't think the outside world realizes that enough.
Tom:
And I think that one of the important messages is that every responsible adult should encourage every kid that they meet throughout their life in a positive direction. In reading about you, you have been described with smart, talented and work ethic, but isn't it hard to have smarts and talent without work ethic?
Arnie:
That is by far the most important thing. All my life I had been competing with people who were smarter or more talented and I just tried to outwork them. But as we all know, you could be the smartest guy out there or the best athlete out there but if you're not putting in the work. If you aren't being unselfish, if you don't put your all into it, than all that natural ability isn't going to cut it. So I think that work ethic is so important and something that we are constantly preaching to our kids. Go after it every single day. In the classroom, on the court or on the field and things will happen. That is probably the most important value that we try to share with these kids.
Tom:
Ok, with someone like yourself, is your most important mentor an educator or an athlete?
Arnie:
My parents have always been huge influences on my life. I have a great friend, John Rogers who is a very successful businessman who was also the captain of the Princeton basketball team and was 6 years older than I. He has been an extraordinary role model for me and has really helped to shape me. And he has really been a huge influence for me. Bill Bradley too, his books about the game have helped me. But I think that most of all the people that I have been attracted to as role models were not only successful athletically but in life too. My work that I do now means so much to me, because throughout my life and with my mentors I always knew that there was far more important things than trying to put a ball in a basket and I am just fortunate to have people around me to inspire me to help out, especially in my home town of Chicago.
Tom:
We both grew up in the area, you in Chicago and me in Joliet, and I can't tell you how much it means that you took time out of your busy day to talk to us. Again, Arnie Duncan, CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Let me be the first of many to thank you for all the work you have done with the school system so far. And thank you for taking time for us today.
John:
We want to thank Tom Thayer and Arnie Duncan the CEO of Chicago Public Schools for that segment of Profiles Of Success.
Chris:
Yeah, Arnie Duncan with the chance to go to college and playing sports and then going over seas to play professionally. Now he is back in Chicago and in charge of the world's largest public school system. With his leadership we have seen some really great things that he has done and we can see how sports helped him to get his focus and gave him other great opportunities later in life. And now he is going to be able to affect the lives of thousands of kids.
John:
And we are looking forward to several more segments with Tom, Profiles Of Success.