Father Hesburgh was true man for all seasons

Don Wycliff, in a noteworthy tribute to the late Father Ted Hesburgh, president Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, wrote the following:

"Does anyone look anymore to college and university presidents for intellectual and moral leadership? There was a time when we did, when leaders of America's great academic institutions were thought of not just as fundraisers and managers of large bureaucracies but also as scholars, thinkers and, yes, moral leaders. The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, who died Feb. 27 at age 97, was one of that breed - quite possibly the last."

The world-renowned Father Hesburgh, was truly a man for all seasons. Not mentioned in Wycliff's and other tributes was his work on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, where he served with the late William Friday, emeritus president of the University of North Carolina, as the founding co-chairs of the commission that first met in 1989 after a series of scandals in college sports.

In 2003, Fr. Hesburgh not only wrote the foreword to my 2003 brief, "Reclaiming Academic Primacy in Higher Education," but also put me in touch with Friday and Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University. Consequently, both Bok and Friday contributed commentaries on the brief.

Hesburgh was an avid musky fisherman to boot. The University of Notre Dame's research facility in Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin, is not only well known for the historical decisions made there under his leadership, but also for the splendid fishing lakes thereabouts. Working and meeting with Fr. Hesburgh, combined with talk of trophy - musky hunting, has proved to be one of my life's richest rewards.

Frank G. Splitt

Mount Prospect