January Jammin…….

Posted on January 20, 2025 by Thebeerchaser

Welcome to Thebeerchaser. If you’re seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title above to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #1)

Happy New Year (and) Birthday!

Now I’m not trying to start the year off on a negative tone, but I thought this observation from my file collection reeked with wisdom:

“Denny’s has a slogan, ‘If it’s your birthday, the meal is on us.’ If you’re in Denny’s and it’s your birthday, the chances are excellent that your life sucks!”

Bar Profitability (#2)

I recently read a short article by a guy (probably an Economics major at an SEC school) that stated, “After pouring one shot of liquor, the income from the rest of the bottle is pure profit….” He should try telling that to one of the hundreds (or thousands) of bar owners who have gone out of business since the pandemic.

To lend credence in refuting this idiot’s assertion, I came across the following which itemizes the actual cost of a martini in five cities. https://vinepair.com/articles/martini-cost-breakdown/ For context, I mentioned martinis in my last post about the great bar – The Holy Ghost in Portland, Oregon – where we had martinis which cost $14 each.

The article gives the price for the patron at classy bars in five US cities – New York City $20, Charleston $14, Los Angeles $16, Phoenix $15 and Chicago $16. (#3)

More overhead than just the gin and olive!

It then gives an overhead calculation for each city. To illustrate, let’s just take the operating costs for the Chicago martini at the classy Club Lucky with the price of $16.

Ingredients: $3.23
Labor: $4.64
Mortgage: $0.86
Food: $4.16
Supplies: $0.49
Miscellaneous costs: $0.93
Total Cost: $14.31
Profit: $1.69 (#4)

So, for the guys who slowly nurse their drinks over conversation about the plight of the Chicago Bears, it takes a lot of customers to keep this establishment afloat.

A poignant quote about economists is from John Kenneth Galbraith:

“Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.” (#5)

But if you want to know about economic viability, I advise that listening to a financial expert rather than some guy who probably played linebacker at the University of Alabama is wise.

College Memories and the King of Cool

Followers of this blog may remember a number of posts where I’ve related fond memories of my SAE fraternity days at Oregon State University. The bonds established during those four years have continued over more than fifty years (gads, am I that old…?).

Whether it was learning how to study (which I largely ignored in high school) by having mandatory study tables from 7 to 10 each night as a freshman (unless achieving over a 3.0 GPA), we learned about accountability as a “rook” by getting up each morning at 6:30 AM with members of our class when we cleaned the heads or helped cook breakfast.

We learned to adapt by slumbering in one of four twenty-five bed sleeping porches. The lessons ingrained were not imparted in classes in Western Civ or Intro to Sociology.

And there were lasting memories such as football games including the incredible upset over the #1 rated USC Trojans led by OJ Simpson in 1967 – the year of the OSU Giant Killers.

We can’t forget concerts by entertainers such as Three-Dog Night, Petula Clark and Lou Rawls, house dances with pre-functions, the Inter-fraternity Sing, intramural championships and the Civil War game. Comraderie with my fellow NROTC midshipmen and even second-term Calculus (not!) are part of the recollection. (#6 – #7)

I even learned from my room-head when I was a freshman that it was cool to blow your nose in a dirty undershirt (he maintained that no-one would ever know) – a practice I sustained for years until the first time I tried it after getting married. Janet informed me that if I ever did that again, I would do all the family’s laundry forever.

And these friendships have been sustained throughout the years including some great Beerchasing events, attending football games in Corvallis and sadly, memorial services including the last two years for SAE Brothers Duane “Thumper” Barton and Charlie “Buck” Adams where we serenaded the departed bros with the SAE song.

Now, some might say, “Dirt (that was my college nickname), you are living in the past;” however, I would remind them of Helen Keller’s statement:

“So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.”

Now as an example, take my fraternity brother, Craig (The Dude) Hanneman (a former Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter, who I first met when he came to the SAE house as a freshman on a football scholarship in 1967. He was involved in football and I in NROTC and with the normal college schedules, we didn’t get to know each other well until winter term of 1968.

Each class slept on sleeping porches with bunks – and we also had four-person study rooms with a desk and closet for each guy. There was a bench-couch and table at the end under a window where we put the hi-fi so we could play vinyl tunes.

We were assigned these rooms each term by the House Manager and Hanneman was the youngster in the room and I was one class ahead as a sophomore. I knew he was a guy (with a rural background) from Turner which I originally thought was a truck-stop somewhere in Eastern Oregon or Idaho.

My 33LPs were of popular groups like the Four Seasons, the Mamas and Papas and The Temptations. I assumed Craig would favor country-western icons like George Jones or Merle Haggard, but on the first days I came back from class, he was playing Dean Martin.

When I questioned him, he pointed out that Dino was known as “The King of Cool” and maintained that I too would learn to love him. Well, that didn’t prove to be the case, except for one song, which I played over and over while we both sang along – Thirty More Miles to San Diego…(#8)

The King of Cool

I subsequently learned that the song was track 10 on the album “Happiness is Dean Martin” – a title that didn’t comport with my perceptions. That said, I also liked the song “Open Up the Door – Let the Good Times In” which we adopted as our motto in Room 2 although it had a negative impact on our GPAs.

I also pointed out to Craig that thirty miles north of San Diego – besides being the location of Legoland – was a drive of 16 hours or 989 miles from Corvallis, so the likelihood of us having a beer there rather than Price’s Tavern in downtown Corvallis was minimal.

While his taste in music was questionable, I immediately learned that the Hanneman’s sense of humor was robust. As I mentioned above, freshman (rooks) at the house could garner demerits from the House Manager for missing or showing up to morning work or study tables late.

Upper classmen told us that these demerits would be recorded on our college transcripts and could keep us from getting a job or into grad school and eventually heaven.

I still have in my files, the most cherished demerit from those years that was authored by Craig Hanneman during an all-house work party to get the house in shape for homecoming weekend. It speaks for itself.

Joel McDonald, the House Manager, was a wonderful guy and after college became a minister. We were glad to know that this demerit didn’t keep him for gaining admission to seminary…..

None of us knew at that time that Dude would go on to become an All-American defensive tackle and then play for the NFL – first with the Pittsburgh Steeler’s including the playoff game with the Immaculate Reception – which has a Craig Hanneman element in itself https://www.steelers.com/news/a-mistake-that-turned-out-to-be-immaculate

Or upon retirement from the NFL because of injury, own and manage a 200-acre farm and forest operation for seven years before being elected County Commissioner of Polk County, Oregon in 1985.

He followed with a career as a corporate executive at Willamette Industries, Weyerhaeuser and at the Oregon Foresty Industry Council for a combined twenty-two years. Now, I will probably be admonished for the preceding by my old friend because he’s very modest and tries to avoid accolades, but he was also a great family man.

And while his career achievements are admirable, what endears him to his friends is his sense of adventure and expanding his horizons – that and his loyalty to friends. Dude and his football teammates ran with the bulls in Pamplona (picture below) has ridden his Harley thousands of miles on road trips on multiple continents and rafted serious rivers.

Oh yeah, there was also his summit of Mount Everest in 2012 – one of the Seven Summits which he completed in 2019. In fact, he is one of the few members of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame to be inducted for two sports – football and mountain climbing.

I stay in touch with Dude and we have periodic Beerchasings – with the SAEs including the one below from the Gemini pub in Lake Oswego.

And, of course, Dino and our favorite song comes up. For example, this e-mail after I congratulated him on the Mount Everest climb:

“Okay, I’ll admit it, all those late-night sessions playing “flinchies” (that’s another story…..) really hardened me up to climb Everest! And to prove some things never change, you’ll be pleased to know I had plenty of Dean Martin tunes on my iPod Nano to help drown out the noisy wind at night.”

Flash Forward

On the afternoon of October 31, 2024, I was trying to figure out how to surreptitiously transfer to my desk drawer, some of the Snickers candy bars we had for youngsters coming to our house on Halloween.

While I was in my office trying to keep Janet from seeing my clandestine depletion of what I thought was detrimental to youngsters’ dental health, a text popped up on my phone with the following two photos:

I was aware from an e-mail two days before from Dude telling me that he was departing on an adventure that would take him through Southern California and stating:

“Dirt, I’m driving through San Diego tomorrow night….and leaving tugged a tad at my heart thinking of the good memories of our time in Room 2 listening to Dean Martin and only thirty miles to go. If I see a road sign that says SD thirty miles, trust me, I’m taking a picture.”

Well, the picture on the above left is not of a road sign, but of Craig’s GPS, which caused him to bring up the golden oldie on the right. Go figure!

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sjrVIU1u1LU

With my elevated mood, I was much more generous with the candy that night than usual.

Cheers and Happy New Year (#9)

External Photo Attribution

#1. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birthday_cake.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Fir0002.

#2.Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bright-Field_Lighting.jpg) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Author: Kyle May – 17 November 2007.

#3. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dry_Martini-2.jpg) This work has been released into the public domain by its author. This applies worldwide. Author: Dry_Martini.jpg: Original uploader was Hayford Peirce at en.wikipedia. 8 September 2009.

#4. USARestuarants.info (https://cdn.usarestaurants.info/assets/uploads/c9924fee793df3d25760cdeea8a7102c_-united-states-illinois-cook-county-chicago-691299-club-luckyhtm.jpg)

#5. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dollar_sign_capitalism_logo.svg) This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Author: OwcaGierka – 13 November 2022.

#6. Albany Democrat Herald (https://democratherald.com/news/local/anniversary-of-the-giant-killers-famed-osu-team-beat-usc/article_b8be0757-0fcb-5091-a984-72075eb7d5ca.html)

#7. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Memorial_Union_at_Oregon_State_University.jpg) I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. Author: user:Owen – May 2005.

#8. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dean_Martin_-_publicity.JPG) This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1930 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. Source: Original studio publicity photo of Dean Martin for the film Bells Are Ringing (1960).

#9. Image courtesy of Pam Williams.

BOTQ – Who are Those “Guys”?

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Thebeerchaser

Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter (BOTQ) Update

Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title above to see all of the photos and the video at the end of the post and so the narrative isn’t clipped or shortened. (External photo attribution at the end of the post #)

Followers of Thebeerchaser blog know that I periodically do a post about an individual or group that may or may not have anything to do with bars or beers but has an interesting story and made contributions to society.

Admittedly, I have not related these stories with the frequency I’d have liked in the last two years but hope to remedy that in 2024. I’ve known the majority of the individual “honorees” personally.

The lineup includes war heroes, athletes, media personalities, authors, academicians, civic activists and of course, lawyers. Some are pictured below, and their stories are related in the link over their name – and they are impressive.

Clockwise: The 1967 Oregon State Giant Killer Football Team; former NFL defensive tackle, mountaineer and executive, Craig Hanneman; Portland attorney and television personality, Jack Faust; writer and media personality, Amy Faust; the late author Brian Doyle;

Professional oboist (and my oboe instructor) Kelly Gronli; the late Princeton Professor Emeritus and author, Harry Frankfurt; Jan and Jack McGowan – founders of SOLV; developer and civic activist, Mark Edlen; the late Terry “Spike McKinsey, USMC-retired; Jud Blakely USMC. (#1 – #5)

To see a list of the thirty-five “honorees” from 2011 to 2020, check out the following link:https://thebeerchaser.com/2020/12/13/beerchasers-of-the-quarter-who-what-why/

And Then There’s Jay Waldron

One BOTQ – a colleague of mine for twenty-five years when I worked as the COO at the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt law firm – is Jay Waldron. As stated in the original 2016 blog post featuring him as Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter, he graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law – one of the Nations’s top five at twenty-nine.

The older than average age was partly because he first completed a master’s degree at the school – but also because of his extracurricular activities which included boxing, playing rugby, teaching 7th-grade English in Appalachia and coaching basketball. (#6 – #8)

Counselor Waldron has contributed his time and served in leadership capacities in many civic and charitable activities, in addition to having a thriving Environmental and Natural Resources law practice.

At age thirty-seven he argued a case at the US Supreme Court and he’s also appeared at the Oregon Supreme Court and the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

His legal work has earned him recognition multiple times in the “Best Lawyers in America” and as an Oregon Super Lawyer and by the Oregon State Bar for pro bono service.

And he just received another accolade from his peers with the Oregon State Bar’s Environmental and Natural Resources Section 2024 Award. It recognizes an Oregon lawyer for leadership, service and outstanding contributions to environmental and natural resources law.

Carson Bowler, who was Jay’s partner for many years eloquently summed up why Jay was selected:

“For more than 40 years, Jay has been in the middle of some of the most important and consequential environmental matters and cases in Oregon and the Northwest. His superpower has always been to identify the core of a complicated case, and then to communicate that core to whatever audience was listening, be they legislators, judges or clients.

His career resume is astonishing; he’s been (aptly) called a grandfather of environmental law in Oregon, a title that finally befits his life season. But I think his lasting legacy will be the quiet influence he’s had on so many young lawyers who over the years have had the privilege of learning their craft from him.”

In his acceptance speech, Jay spent most of his time thanking his partners, his wife, Karen (see below) and others. Emphasizing the importance of being a well-rounded person, he stated:

“I’m probably the only environmental lawyer in Oregon who wrote a master’s thesis on “The Poetry of Emily Dickinson.”

(His favorite poem is “Because I Could Not Stop For Death.” – a poem that explores the themes of death, time and eternity.) (#9)

Black-white_photograph_of_Emily_Dickinson2

One of Jay’s attributes emphasized at the reception was his dedication to mentoring. And to further elaborate on Jay’s contribution to his own firm, take a look at this summary from his partner, Brien Flanagan, Chair of Schwabe’s Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group:

“Jay was a guide and an advocate for young lawyers. A genius on developing the theme to win a case or the politics that wins approval from bureaucratic regulators. And Jay was always happy to tell a tale while sharing a brew.” (#10)

Thebeerchaser joins Bowler and Flanagan on his birthday for a brewski

Brien’s reference to Jay’s story telling fits into this narrative quite well, because Jay has a vast storehouse of tales – and a preponderance of them, upon further research, appear to be true.

He is a frequent commenter on the bars and breweries I feature in my blog posts including the Ship Tavern, Jake’s Place, Jake’s Famous Crawfish bar, the Horse Brass Pub and most recently Malachy’s Irish Pub in downtown New York City.

I wrote about Malachy’s in my most recent post “Don’t Jump When You Can Dive – Part III”. Jay’s comment was:

“Was Malachy’s named after Malachy McCourt? He was a full-of-shit Irishman who played rugby and drank with me in NYC in the late 60’s and I also had a pint with his more famous author/brother Frank in McSorleys ,my then favorite NYC bar. Jay”

After researching, my response was:

“You never disappoint me, Counselor. Malachy’s in New York City, was in fact, opened by Malachy McCourt, who was indeed, a rugby player. See this video interview on the 50th anniversary of Fairfield Rugby Club. (#11 – #12)

Since the Topic of Rugby Arose….

I’ll start winding down this post by further exploring Jay’s athletic and related “activities” – chief among these being rugby. In 2017, he was admitted to the US Rugby Hall of Fame.

A 2017 article in the Providence College News (his undergrad alma mater) stated:

“(His contributions span) nearly five decades as a player, coach, TV broadcaster, and ambassador of the sport. He began his rugby career in 1968 as a University of Virginia graduate student, where he received his master’s degree, worked on his Ph.D., and then received his juris doctorate while serving as a player, president, and captain. Waldron played on numerous rugby representative teams and won the university boxing championship.”

Fortunately, when Jay was in the office, he chewed gum instead of glass, but his rugby gigs also included coaching the Portland Pig’s Rugby Club for five years. He announced rugby matches aired on Fox and ESPN in a four-year stint. (13 – #14)

You will have to check out the original blog post for the details, but Jay’s other pursuits give credence to Emily Dickinson’s theme of death:

River Rafting – three trips down the Colorado River and in 1996, he became the first Caucasian to row a “cataraft” through all the rapids of the Great Bend of the Yangtze River in China. Other trips included South America and Canada.

Motorcycle Trips and Racing – Twenty-one different road trips throughout the US have been supplemented by a journey around both South Africa and New Zealand and a trek from Chile to the southern tip of South America. He was also once clocked at 155 mph on his Ducati.

Wild Horse Riding – After a long and serious discussion at a bar with two rugby buddies, they decided to compete in the wild-horse ride competition at the Pendleton Roundup. (#15 – #17)

Death Wish?

Could Jay’s instincts and perhaps latent death wish be tamed? The answer to that question is in the affirmative. In 1966, Jay met his now wife of fifty-five years, Karen, while he was serving as a bouncer at a bar at Horseback Beach in Westport, Mass on the Atlantic Ocean.

“It was a Sunday night and she was not 21, but with that blonde hair and tan, there was no way, I wasn’t going to let her in.” (#18 – #19)

The Next Generation

Karen is also an athlete – both she and Jay have won Multnomah Athletic Club Decathlons in their age groups. And their son, Shane inherited their athletic talent and interest. He played college football at Tufts University as a tight end and long snapper from 1999 through 2002.

Starting as an operations intern in 2002 for the New England Patriots under Coach Bill Belichick, he then began what has become a very impressive coaching resume in college football – Notre Dame and UMass – eventually followed by the NFL including the Patriots, Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Rams and as Offensive Coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks from 2021 to 2023.

Early in 2024, he was named Offensive Coordinator for the Chicago Bears and as stated in an article on ESPN.com: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39368486/what-hiring-oc-shane-waldron-mean-bears

“The Chicago Bears know who will be calling offensive plays in 2024, and now they have to figure out which quarterback will be executing them.”

Chicago, with the first draft pick in 2024, is expected to draft former USC quarterback, Caleb Williams and Waldron will be a key figure in deciding whether he or current starter, Justin Fields will be calling signals when the season starts.

Based on the comments of sports commentators and media, don’t be surprised to see the younger Waldron as an NFL head coach in his next job.

Regardless, Karen and Jay Waldron will be making a lot of trips back to Chicago with good tickets at Soldier Field in addition to seeing their two grandchildren.

Odds are that Jay also knows some good Windy City bars which ruggers frequent and they can share stories – many of which will be in accordance with reality. (#20 – #22)

Karen told me that Jay doesn’t like small talk with strangers so I would tell him “Ask if they have a connection with rugby, rafting or motorcycles and the conversation always explodes.”

Well, that will not be necessary on his Chicago visits because one of his best long-term rugby buddies happens to be one Donald H. Haider – another member of the US Rugby Hall of Fame. (And looking at both of these guys made me wonder if the term Renaissance Man and Rugger is really a contradiction in terms.)

Haider, was on the rugby team during undergraduate school at Stanford. He played and coached rugby throughout his adulthood and earned his MA and PhD at Columbia University. He is now a business professor at Northwestern University‘s Kellogg School of Management. The professor has had an amazing career in government, business and academia. (#23)

And does he have ties to the Windy City! According to Wikipedia:

“Haider had worked as an advisor to Richard J. Daley during his mayoralty. Haider also worked as the Chicago city budget director (chief financial officer for the City of Chicago) under Jane Byrne from 1979 until 1980.[1][4][6][10]

In 1987, Haider won the Republican mayoral primary…During the campaign, in a desperate bid for press, Haider rode an elephant (an animal often used to symbolize the Republican Party) down State Street.”

The Weather Mark Tavern is a great rugby sports bar within walking distance of Soldier Field. I can see Waldron and Haider pre-function and post-function at this watering hole and telling tales of past scrums. (Fans cannot leave the Stadium during halftime…..)

Go Bears!

External Photo Attribution

#1 – #2. Oregon State University Athletic Department (https://osubeavers.com/news/2017/11/27/football-giant-killers-the-legend-50-years-later)

#3. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jack_faust.jpg) I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. Author: Timlyman.

#4. University of Portland Magazine (https://sites.up.edu/portlandmagazine/brian-doyle/).

#5. Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Frankfurt_at_2017_ACLS_Annual_Meeting.jpg ) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Author: American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) 29 October 2018.

#6 – #8. Courtesy Jay Waldron

#9. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (Black-white photograph of Emily Dickinson2 – Emily Dickinson – Wikipedia) By Unknown author – https://s3.amazonaws.com/amherst-wsg/ED-dag-case-720dpi_big.jpg, This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer. (1846-47).

#10. Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt (https://www.schwabe.com/professional/brien-flanagan/).

#11 – #12. Malachy Irish Pub Website Photo Gallery (https://www.malachysirishpub.com/gallery).

#13. Portland Rugby Club (https://www.portlandrugby.org/about).

#14 – #18. Jay Waldron

#19 – #22. Karen Waldron Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/karen.waldron.12).

#23. Kellog School of Management (Donald Haider – Faculty – Kellogg School of Management (northwestern.edu).

#24. Weather Mark Tavern Facebook Page ()https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=510230207773421&set=a.510230187773423).

#25. Wikimedia Commons (Soldier_Field_S.jpg (4000×2250) (wikimedia.org) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Sea Cow – 2 July 2022.

2020 Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter Update

Posted on September 12, 2020 by Thebeerchaser

(Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. If you are seeing this through an e-mail, please visit the blog to see all of the photos and read the story by clicking on the title above so the post is not clipped or shortened.)

Well Beerchasers, I’m still waiting to get back to reviewing bars and breweries, but since that is on hold, I’m trying to provide some other insights. My next post will be on a number of Montana watering holes that I visited last summer. Due to the number visited (49) on a 15-day road trip, I’ve only written up several so far. So stay tuned for some good history on Montana bars.

Beerchasers-of-the-Quarter – Update

The Dude on his Mount Everest summit climb in 2012

Two of the past Beerchasers-of-the-Quarter, Craig-the Dude- Hanneman and Steve Lawrence should be recognized again for recent achievements and accolades.

Steve Lawrence

While that may be hard to understand given their past exploits, it’s true.

Jan and Jack at their home in Sisters, Oregon

So far, there are three BOQ’s in 2020, including a married couple – Jack and Jan McGowan who were co-recipients in February, for their outstanding and long-term commitment to SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism) from the ’90’s until their retirement in 2008.

Former Oregon State Beaver football wingback and receiver Billy Main, a member of the legendary 1967 Giant Killers Team, was named in May.

It took Thebeerchaser two posts to fully cover his football and Navy ROTC stories while in college and then his successful hospitality industry career.

And the most recent BOQ label was for a group – Lawyers. That’s right – I relate my observations after working with them for forty years in three different organizations – the last twenty-five at a great law firm of 140 lawyers – Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt – where I retired in 2011.

I respect the members of this profession and enjoyed the interaction with this talented and competitive group. In future posts, I’ll continue this narrative as I have a great number of stories that I find very entertaining and think you might also.

https://thebeerchaser.com/2020/08/31/beerchasers-of-the-quarter-lawyers-part-1/

Update on Previous BOQ “Honorees”

Craig “The Dude” Hanneman

Transitioned from fullback to defensive tackle

My SAE fraternity brother at Oregon State who graduated in 1971, was a Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter in 2012. This former high school fullback who transitioned to defensive tackle at OSU, was voted captain and MVP of the Beaver team his senior year and named a Second-Team All-American and First-Team Pac-8 Team.

He then played for four seasons in the NFL including two years for the Pittsburgh Steelers and two for the Patriots, when a catastrophic leg injury ended his NFL career.

After a successful career in the timber industry and local politics, Craig is now retired but when he was about 50, he either ignored or confirmed the assertion of singer, David Lee Roth:

“I guarantee you will find no reasonable man on top of big mountains.”

Fellow Everest climbers, Mike and Heidi with Craig

He started mountain climbing in the late ’90’s, and in 2012, became the first former NFL or NBA player to successfully summit Mt. Everest. Kerry Eggers, who has been named Oregon Sportswriter of the Year six times, wrote two wonderful articles on Crag’s story in the Portland Tribune in 2019. https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/12-sports/446236-359995-mountaineer-craig-hanneman-takes-on-als

The next year (2013) Dude and four of his friends Ran with the Bulls in Pamplona (Below left to right Hanneman, Scott Freeburn, Mark Dippel, Jim Sherbert and Bob Jossis.)

Pamplona in 2013

But his sense of adventure was not stifled and even with significant injuries sustained when he fell into a crevasse and was buried in the snow for forty-five minutes before rescue on Mt. Jefferson in 2013, climbing continued. In 2019 at age 70, he became one of only about 500 people in the world and probably the oldest of those, to have completed The Seven Summits – the highest mountain on each continent.

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame – To the surprise of no one who has followed athletics in Oregon, he was named to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in August this year. He will be formally inducted into the Multi-Sports category i.e. Football and Mountain Climbing. This supplements his prior admission to the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.

Besides Price’s Tavern in Corvallis during college days, Craig and our SAE brothers have been on many Beerchasing expeditions together in recent years including several at the Gemini Pub in Lake Oswego.

The Dude and I did a toast recently to retired Professor Dr. Edward G. McGrath, who died in March 2019 at the age of 101 in California.

In 1970, Dr. McGrath had an upper-division political science seminar in which Craig and teammate, Mark Dippel, a starting guard on the OSU Football Team and I, joined about seven other students.

Cheers to Ed!

The Dude, “Dip” and I sat in the first of two short rows and to the good professor’s astonishment, those two would chew tobacco while he lectured.

Professor McGrath, who was my advisor, always glared at me (rather than the two big lineman) because I walked into class with the “chewers” and they were about twice as big as he was.

At least he appreciated the fact that they used a pot-pie tin for the residue……..We laughed that he reached that ripe old age before passing – I was always convinced that he was going to have a heart attack during those classes.

Congratulations to Craig Hanneman. He is without question one of the most outstanding human beings Thebeerchaser has had the privilege of meeting even with his somewhat morbid fascination with the word “ubiquitous” and Dean Martin tunes which I had to endure in college. He is a man of great character, family values and humility.

Steve Lawrence – Lawyer, Mayor and Author

This 2014 Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter has also had several careers. After college, he distinguished himself for his service as an Army officer in Viet Nam where he commanded an infantry platoon.

The Bronze Star with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster and the Silver Star

He was subsequently awarded two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star in 1968 and 1969 for heroism during enemy action. (To see the wording on the citations, click on the link above.)

After graduating from law school and passing the Oregon State Bar exam in 1978, he had a long career as a successful lawyer in private practice before retiring to his home town – The Dalles on the Columbia River.

Lt. Lawrence at ease

Steve graduated from high school in the ’60’s and married his high school sweetheart, Donna — but not until 2008! It’s an interesting story set forth in Thebeerchaser post you can see through the link above.

His next “career” was one of notable public service and little compensation. Steve served as Mayor of The Dalles for two terms from 2012 to 2018. The picture below is when Jud Blakely – another former Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter and also a Bronze Star winner for action in Viet Nam (along with receiving two Purple Hearts) and I joined him to visit some watering holes in The Dalles while Steve was successfully running a mayoral re-election campaign in 2015.

Blakely on the right, points to the incumbent….

Steve’s insight and actions promoting economic development in The Dalles were notable. He also served for twenty-five years on the Board of United Cerebral Palsy of Oregon and SW Washington including three terms as President.

But this man of many talents demonstrated those again. He added “novelist” to the list in 2013 with the publication of his first book – First Light – A Novel of Close Combat in Viet Nam – that was forty-four years after he returned from Vietnam.

“Based on my own experience and notes kept in a journal, it literally took 44 years for me to know what I wanted to write. Over the years, I would write about singular events, put the writing into its own folder and stack it with others in my file cabinet. When I retired at age 62, determined to write, I gathered all those folders and finished the book.”

Steve was not done writing, however, and early this summer, he published a sequel entitled Amotan Field, which is now available at Amazon.

As Steve stated, in part:

“After First Light, I wanted to write a novel about a skeleton that was unearthed in The Dalles, Oregon by a sewer construction crew. Considering many possible stories, it occurred to me this was an opportunity to answer the question asked; what happened after First Light…..

The story is intended to be a story of redemption. Redemption for a returning soldier dealing with the aftermath of combat. Redemption for a WWII soldier who was denied a medal because the truth of his bravery was buried by a terrible accident. He was killed by friendly fire. He was a member of the Celilo/Wyam tribe.

The backstory of Amotan Field is the history of the Indian community, which had lived and thrived along the Columbia River for thousands of years, shoved aside in the 1850’s by pioneers, missionaries and the military, promises made and broken and complicit racism which has continued.”

Will be ready to raise a mug….

So check out both of the Mayor’s books and if you get up to The Dalles, invite him to have a beer. He knows some good establishments in his city and had a role in getting many of them up and running. (He might even buy your pint for coming to his city!)

The Next Honoree…

Followers of this blog will enjoy the story of my next Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter.

Fr. Martin

In 2017, I told the story of Fr. Martin Grassel. He’s a monk at the Mount Angel Abbey who also happens to be the Head Brewer at the wonderful Benedictine Brewery – one of three in the US owned and operated by Benedictine Monks.

And I will soon share the fascinating journey of another man of the cloth.

I have only known Fr. Chuck Wood for about eighteen months since I have had the pleasure of serving on the Abbey Foundation of Oregon Board with him

Fr. Chuck Wood

After studying at Mount Angel Seminary, Fr. Chuck went on to get his Master’s at the University of Notre Dame. He is now the Pastor at St. Wencelaus Parish in Scapoose, Oregon and has a wonderful sense of humor and warm personality. His story will captivate you. Stay tuned.

Cheers!

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