I found out this afternoon that Mel Schroeder, one of my college newspaper advisors, passed away the other day. I won't be able to put into words how much of an impact Mel had on my life, so I'm not even going to try. Instead, I'm dedicating today's blog to one of the two men (Tom Joyce is the other) most responsible for my passion for writing.
Our deadline was always Thursday night so that the paper could be delivered around campus first thing Friday morning. As a result, Wednesday and Thursday nights in the Griffin office provided some of my greatest college memories. Those late nights often ended at 2 or 3 in the morning! Sometimes we were actually doing work, but more often than not, we were just down there for the hell of it to hang out with our friends...and Tom and Mel would be down there with us. In fact, I can remember one time Mel invited the staff to his summer house in the country. This place was tucked away from everything. No running water. And we all had a great time! As you can see, he was more than just a faculty advisor. He was a friend.
But there was so much more to Mel Schroeder. He saw our passion for what we were doing. And I could tell that he shared it. I was a communications major, and Mel was an English professor. While I did take one class with him (only because I needed an English class and he was teaching it), we never would've had any real interaction if not for The Griffin. I'm so grateful for that. In fact, it's safe to say that Mel helped mold me into the man I am today.
He recognized my passion and helped me find a way to express it. (It's almost 10 years later and I'm still doing it, albeit it a very different form!) I was a guy who cared about only one thing: sports. At least that's the way it seemed. That made me a perfect sports editor. Part of that job was writing the weekly sports column. That's where I was let loose to write about just about anything (kind of like Joe Brackets). And that's where Mel's guidance was most helpful. My columns went from scattered ramblings in the beginning to pointed commentaries about whatever topic I chose that week. In other words, I became a better writer. Mel and Tom were directly responsible for that. Simply telling them "Thank You" never really seemed like it was enough.
In the final issue before my graduation, I took a different approach with my final column. I wanted to express how much my days at Canisius, and especially my time at The Griffin meant to me. Any good writer has a specific article or two that stays etched in their memory years after they write it. That's one of mine. Included among the 1000 or so words in that column was a sentence about Tom and Mel. I may be paraphrasing myself here, but the basic jist of it was: "I didn't expect to find a surrogate father-figure. I found two." As with anyone during college, that was sometimes exactly what I needed. I was so lucky.
My original plan today was to talk about Mel for a paragraph or two, then segue into sports talk. I know that's what Mel would've wanted, but I can't think of a sports topic that I consider anywhere near as relevant. Thanks for indulging me. Anyone who ever met Mel Schroeder probably feels the same way I do tonight. He was 50 years older than me. He loved books; I don't read. I'm a sports guy; his passion for sports was nonexistent. Yet none of that mattered. We were friends. But he was so much more to me. Goodbye Mel. We love you and we'll miss you.
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