Fitness and Athletics Center Dedicated During Weekend Festivities

Paul Cronin, Jennifer Crispen inducted into Hall of Fame

JENNIFER McMANAMAY
Staff writer

The Real Geniuses perform. Photo by Aaron Mahler.

An immutable din of happy voices filled Upchurch Field House on the night of Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. They — Sweet Briar students, alumnae, faculty, staff and guests — had come for a party in this room where just a few hours earlier Jo Ellen Johnson Parker was officially sworn in as the College’s 10th president.

Maybe it was the excitement of the day or the long anticipation of being in this room in this building, Sweet Briar’s Fitness and Athletics Center, which is so brand new that crews would be back to work on it Monday. For most, the events of this Inauguration/Homecoming Weekend offered their first look inside the center.

Revelers basked in the green glow cast by the wall paint and the lighting set up for the occasion. The room had been transformed from earlier in the day, when 1,100 or so chairs had filled much of the floor. Now, more than 100 tables were elegantly set and food stations around the perimeter offered Latin, Mediterranean, Asian and Virginian tapas-style cuisine.

On this night, the College was celebrating the inauguration of a new president, the dedication of the long-awaited building, and the induction of two cherished members of the Sweet Briar teaching community into its Athletics Hall of Fame, Paul D. Cronin and the late Jennifer Leigh Crispen.

It was “undoubtedly one of the most phenomenal days in the history of Sweet Briar,” said Kathy Upchurch Takvorian ’72, one of several speakers during the formal dedication of the fitness center, which opened the gala. The field house is named for Ann Samford Upchurch ’48, mother of Takvorian and board of directors chair Virginia Upchurch Collier ’72.

All three were student athletes during their time at Sweet Briar and continued to support the College through philanthropy and service on numerous committees and the board. Takvorian chaired the fundraising committee for the fitness center.

After a ceremonial ribbon cutting, the stage was turned over to The Real Geniuses, who would go on to rock the house into the early hours of the morning. Between the band’s first and second sets, however, the Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held to honor Cronin, director of the riding program for 34 years until he retired in 2002, and Crispen, who coached several sports and taught at Sweet Briar for 30 years.

Cronin was inducted by Vivian Yamaguchi Cohn ’77, a former student. Acknowledging Cronin’s many accomplishments and awards as a coach and horseman, Cohn said he is a teacher first and used his tenure to integrate the College’s educational mission into its riding program. Most importantly, she said, he is an exceptional human being.

Katie Hearn ’85 inducted Crispen, who died in November 2008 after a courageous battle against cancer. With Crispen’s mother also in attendance, her sister, Whitney Crispen Hagins, accepted the honor. Hagins thanked the people she knew Crispen would deflect credit to, and brought some to tears and laughter with reminiscences of her sister’s always-ready-to-try-anything spirit.

With the induction concluded, the band, which had been chosen for the event by a student vote, took the stage again. Before long, the tables were mostly empty, the dance floor was packed and the all-out party was on.