Class Note 2011
Issue
January-February 2024
Please welcome a guest column by Matt Oh.
Vox clamantis in deserto: Challenges test your faith and develop your perseverance and endurance. The modern world imposes the idea that following your passion and growing an empire on a screen, alone, is more valuable than compassion. But to me, “compassion” means community with passion—a core value of mine. It takes me back to where I was when my career paths took off, as I write to you from the Twin Cities, where I lived exactly 10 years ago.
After graduating from a fifth-year football season, I bounced around professional football teams in pursuit of my dream to play at the highest level: the NFL, which really stands for “not for long” a.k.a. “really never happened.” Roger Erickson, former Super Bowl champion coach, helped me learn how to become flexible. I always prided myself on being strong on my own and only recently realized what true strength really means: healthy together for the longevity of the greater team.
My first wakeup call was when I was cut from my first professional football team, the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats. Coach Buddy Teevens ’79 phoned in a favor to Brendan Mahoney ’91, and I was hired at the Capital Croup Cos. in Irvine, California. At the time my good friend P.J. Nestler worked nearby as the head of performance at Velocity Sports. He saw me change from my suit and tie into my athletic clothes at 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and attempt to deadlift the house with a white-knuckle grip on my dream of becoming the first Korean American linebacker in the NFL. I received a call to play for the Montreal Alouettes with coach Dan Hawkins. While working in the corporate sphere I saved up my vacation time to ensure that if any teams called, I had enough paid time off to give them my best. I am so blessed to have iron-strong coaches, brothers, and mentors who sharpen me.
I turned 35 on October 15, a birthday I share with my Minnesotan second mom, and recalled Buddy Teevens’ mantras: “Next play” and “Count on me.” I feel like I finally understand what it means to be a “wearer of the green.” As mentioned, I recognize with immense gratitude that my mentors played a crucial role in my cross-career success. Coach Dan Hawkins of the CFL Montreal Alouettes called me when I was in Japan playing football for the Panasonic Impulse to share the news that I had been invited to play for Team USA. We won the gold medal, qualifying me to be inducted into the Dartmouth Hall of Fame. My family and I had the joy of traveling back to Dartmouth last Homecoming for this award and recognition. It served as another reminder to see past the fame, money, and other motivating factors this world preaches; to focus on what is in the garden we stand on, to ask what seeds we are planting for the next generation rather than chasing a single carrot. As my mentor Anthony Acheson said, “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul.”
My spidey senses are tingling: Now is the time to step up, be a champion, and pay it forward to the role models who have shaped me. It is time to “find a way!” (Shoutout to Dartmouth football’s new head coach, Sammy McCorkle.) We must put down our devices, remember to embrace the waves, and marvel at the vastness of the ocean, because our true north will never mislead. Champions, thank you, let’s pay it forward.
—Hillary S. Cheng, 26611 La Roda, Mission Viejo, CA 92691; (603) 546-8452; hillary.s.cheng@dartmouth.edu
Vox clamantis in deserto: Challenges test your faith and develop your perseverance and endurance. The modern world imposes the idea that following your passion and growing an empire on a screen, alone, is more valuable than compassion. But to me, “compassion” means community with passion—a core value of mine. It takes me back to where I was when my career paths took off, as I write to you from the Twin Cities, where I lived exactly 10 years ago.
After graduating from a fifth-year football season, I bounced around professional football teams in pursuit of my dream to play at the highest level: the NFL, which really stands for “not for long” a.k.a. “really never happened.” Roger Erickson, former Super Bowl champion coach, helped me learn how to become flexible. I always prided myself on being strong on my own and only recently realized what true strength really means: healthy together for the longevity of the greater team.
My first wakeup call was when I was cut from my first professional football team, the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger Cats. Coach Buddy Teevens ’79 phoned in a favor to Brendan Mahoney ’91, and I was hired at the Capital Croup Cos. in Irvine, California. At the time my good friend P.J. Nestler worked nearby as the head of performance at Velocity Sports. He saw me change from my suit and tie into my athletic clothes at 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and attempt to deadlift the house with a white-knuckle grip on my dream of becoming the first Korean American linebacker in the NFL. I received a call to play for the Montreal Alouettes with coach Dan Hawkins. While working in the corporate sphere I saved up my vacation time to ensure that if any teams called, I had enough paid time off to give them my best. I am so blessed to have iron-strong coaches, brothers, and mentors who sharpen me.
I turned 35 on October 15, a birthday I share with my Minnesotan second mom, and recalled Buddy Teevens’ mantras: “Next play” and “Count on me.” I feel like I finally understand what it means to be a “wearer of the green.” As mentioned, I recognize with immense gratitude that my mentors played a crucial role in my cross-career success. Coach Dan Hawkins of the CFL Montreal Alouettes called me when I was in Japan playing football for the Panasonic Impulse to share the news that I had been invited to play for Team USA. We won the gold medal, qualifying me to be inducted into the Dartmouth Hall of Fame. My family and I had the joy of traveling back to Dartmouth last Homecoming for this award and recognition. It served as another reminder to see past the fame, money, and other motivating factors this world preaches; to focus on what is in the garden we stand on, to ask what seeds we are planting for the next generation rather than chasing a single carrot. As my mentor Anthony Acheson said, “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul.”
My spidey senses are tingling: Now is the time to step up, be a champion, and pay it forward to the role models who have shaped me. It is time to “find a way!” (Shoutout to Dartmouth football’s new head coach, Sammy McCorkle.) We must put down our devices, remember to embrace the waves, and marvel at the vastness of the ocean, because our true north will never mislead. Champions, thank you, let’s pay it forward.
—Hillary S. Cheng, 26611 La Roda, Mission Viejo, CA 92691; (603) 546-8452; hillary.s.cheng@dartmouth.edu