University of Virginia Library

Letters To The Editor

The Bumbling Dismissal Of Blackburn

I cannot help but be appalled by
the ineptitude and lack of courtesy
shown in handling the dismissal of
Coach Blackburn. I do not think
anyone in the University
community, regardless of his
opinion of Blackie's coaching
ability, could possibly acquiesce to
the behavior of Vice President for
Student Affairs D. Alan Williams
and our super Athletic Director to
be, Gene Corrigan in handling the
matter.

There are several things which
disturb me about the whole affair.
First, why was Coach Blackburn
not given an opportunity to resign
gracefully? This common courtesy,
usually offered to coaches in this
situation, was not extended to
Blackie. Instead, he was told of his
dismissal at the same time a
Richmond TV station was
broadcasting an already prepared
release.

This brings me to another point;
why was it necessary to deliver the
news to Richmond? Unless it was
thought the Richmond TV stations
should have an exclusive scoop at
Coach Blackburn's expense, I think
it would have been much more
appropriate to have disseminated
the news here in Charlottesville.

The bumbling manner in which
the affair was handled far surpasses
any ineptitude shown by Coach
Blackburn on the football field.
This whole disgraceful matter could
probably have been prevented if
Mr. Corrigan, who is not yet even
employed by the University, and
Mr. Williams had been able to
control themselves long enough to
let Athletic Director Steve Sebo,
who was away due to family illness,
handle the situation.

Perhaps their sense of
competition is so keen that they
felt it necessary to try and outdo
Virginia Tech in the highhanded
manner in which they fired their
football coach. At least Coach
Clairborne was given the chance to
resign.

Student Kindness

The other day, I had a flat tire
near Alderman Road. I needed a
phone to call the AAA service and
headed toward the nearest
dormitory.

I asked a passing student where I
could find a pay phone. Without
hesitation, he invited me to use the
phone in his suite. I did so and
went back to wait for the truck.

The truck came in about 15
minutes. During that time, a bunch
of cars passed me. Three of them
were driven by UVa students-all of
these stopped and asked if I needed
help. The others were all driven by
"adults." One of this number
stopped—the others went about
their Sunday business (including
sermons on helping their neighbor?)
as quickly as possible.

I also went back to my
business-visiting the same dorm to
do a column on part of the
basketball team. One of the
students whose phone I had used
asked if the truck had come. I said
yes and told him of the several
offers of help, plus his own. His
answer was: "Oh, we're all like
that."

Maybe all students aren't like
that. Nobody is perfect. But I know
that the above incident is just one
of many, many kindnesses that I
have received from UVa students in
the last few years—even when we
have disagreed on certain matters.

If it is "permissive" to think
that the generation gap is only
imagination and that today's
student group is a pleasure to
communicate with than I certainly
have to wear that label—with pride.
Naturally there are many
non-students in this area who have
been of help to me, and I have
recognized this many times.

But to the much-maligned
students who have a very beautiful
"silent majority" (If only Mr.
Nixon and his friends would listen
to it) I want to express thanks here
for many, many kindnesses. At
least in my book, many small
incidents of the above type will be
remembered long after the
destructive actions of an
overpublicized handful are a small
footnote in the pages of history.