“WCHC”
Thanks for the article in the winter ’03 issue on WCHC; it brought back
many fond memories of time spent there in the mid-’60s. My most vivid memory
is the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 when the station altered its music
format and devoted as much airtime as possible to the unfolding events. We had
a United Press ticker and a hookup with the Mutual Broadcasting System so we
offered live feeds of press conferences and other major events. Heady stuff for
a bunch of college kids and one reason some of us went on to careers in journalism.
Keep up the good work!
Fred McGehan ’63
Boulder, Colo.
Great article about WCHC ( I did the oldies show for a
few years and really enjoyed it). But I see no mention
of Tony Guida ’63 who was (I think) station manager
in the mid-’60s. He became a major on-air media talent
on the major networks and was seen regularly on nationwide
TV. I will forgive the oversight if it is somehow corrected
in your next issue. Us Bronx boys gotta stick together!
Peter Stubenvoll ’68
Boca Raton, Fla.
I was happy to see an article in the winter edition of Holy
Cross Magazine on WCHC. I personally did not do any
DJ work at the radio station, but I have fond memories
of waking up early to listen to my friends’ shows
at 7 a.m. I was disappointed to see that recently, WCHC
has dropped its alternative music to play top 100 music.
I think this is a very sad move. I would never have been
exposed to alternative music if it weren’t for WCHC.
College radio stations have traditionally played cutting
edge music. The “alternative” music that they
were playing while I was at the school, eventually became “mainstream.” Aren’t
there enough commercial radio stations playing “Top
100”? The current station manager, Mr. Chmura, says
that due to the change, “our listenership hasn’t
decreased.” But, has it increased? I find it very
sad that the only source of alternative music that I
know happens to come from Australia ... Triple J. Too
bad I don’t live there.
Michelle Tourigny ’92
New York, N.Y.
The article about WCHC in the winter issue was a pleasant
diversion from the increasingly worrisome events of these
difficult days. It also held a special surprise for me.
The picture on Page 15—captioned, “The Paks perform
live on WCHC”—brought back some very pleasant
memories of music and friendship. However, the caption
is not quite right. That picture was taken sometime in
1959-61. At that time, the Paks were a small singing group
(a dozen or so voices), which was part of the Holy Cross
Glee Club, under the direction of Dr. Fred Mirliani. The
picture is of a folk music quartet, originally known as
the O’Kane Four, whose members were Stan Chojnacki,
Toni Lang, Tom Whalen and Bill Berlinghoff, all of the
class of 1961.
Bill Berlinghoff ’61
Farmington, Maine
I was pleased to discover myself in the photo on Page
15 of the winter issue of HCM. However, there is
one bit of misinformation that should be clarified. The
group pictured is not The Paks—that’s short for
Pakachoagians, which at that time was the Holy Cross Glee
Club’s featured group of 12. An interesting aside:
in this photo, three of us were in fact members of the
Paks, and I was director of that group in my senior year.
However, pictured here “performing live on WCHC” is
the 1960 version of the “Crosschords,” made up
of (from right to left): Bill Berlinghoff ’61 on guitar,
Tom Whalen ’61, yours truly Anton (Toni) Lang ’61
on banjo and the late Ron Boruch ’63.
The “Crosschords” was organized by Bill Berlinghoff
in our freshman year (winter of ’58) to represent
our dorm (O’Kane IV) in the campus variety show. We
took first prize in that competition and ended up singing
together for most of our college years in the local college
circuit and a few commercial venues. This was the time
when folk singing was just entering the popular mainstream,
led by such well known groups as The Kingston Trio; Peter,
Paul, & Mary; the Highwaymen; the Limelighters and
the like. In fact, the “Crosschords” were singing
our own version of “Tom Dooley” years before
the Kingston Trio’s version hit the top pop charts.
In our junior year we were tempted to get an agent and
go commercial, but our responsible Jesuit backgrounds and
our majors (one BS math, one BS physics, and two AB prelaw)
led us to go our separate ways (Washington D.C., New York,
Vermont, Milwaukee) after graduation, and pursue “real” professions.
One often wonders where this “show biz” path
could have taken us. At that time, with the popularity
of that type of singing, we might have ridden a few years
of unprecedented fame and fortune! (Ha!) For me personally
it led to a lifetime of a music avocation that has been
a great sanity saver in the high tech, software engineering
career path I pursued. Even today in my retirement, besides
singing in community choruses and church choirs, I have
a small group that actively performs here in the Denver
area with a repertoire similar to the “Crosschords” of
Holy Cross days. What comes around …
Speaking of music: Doc (Frederick) Mirliani ’32 was
a very inspirational director of the Holy Cross music department
during my years at the Cross. When he passed away, I was
surprised and disappointed that a feature article was not
published in the magazine.
Thanks for the memories. Keep up the good work with the Holy Cross Magazine.
Anton (Toni) Lang ’61
Littleton, Colo.
“Remembering Phil”
Thanks to David O’Brien for “Remembering Phil” in the winter
issue. The prophet is always without honor in his own country. The phrases
that come to mind when I remember Phil Berrigan are Old Testament prophet,
confronting the principalities and powers, intransigent fixation on making
peace, steely resolve, and focus like a dog with a bone. He was easy to criticize
and impossible to ignore. A member of “the greatest generation,” his
four years in European combat in World War II earned him the moral stripes,
so to speak, that made his peace witness especially compelling.
Phil Berrigan was the fifth most influential person in
my life, right behind the Lord, my wife and my parents.
And Phil was responsible for my meeting my wife in Baltimore
in 1967. For that, I’m ever grateful. There we confronted
the sleazy underbelly of slumlord injustice and worked
with Phil and many others to try to make peace with marching,
educating and demonstrating. I never went the last mile
with him to “cleanse” the draft records or bang
the nosecones into plowshares. My aversion to jail is on
a par with my allergy to hospitals, insurance agents and
car salesmen. But I grew in commitment to aid the powerless
and the victims of war and injustice.
As for Holy Cross as the “cradle of the Catholic
Left,” as Time magazine would have it, I’m
sure the broadest smiles are coming from Phil himself.
One could get testy, and recite the long line of distinguished
graduates from Clarence Thomas on down through countless
judges, doctors, lawyers, teachers, corporate execs and
others who are about as far from the “Catholic Left” as
the next galaxy! But let it pass. There is deep peace beyond
the grave and many mansions in Our Father’s house.
Enjoy yours, Phil.
Richard Kane ’59
Stewartsville, N.J.
The Purple Patcher of 1950 describes Phil Berrigan
as “the iron man of gentleness and good humor.” That
phrase brings to mind Carl Sandburg’s description
of Lincoln as a man of steel and a man of velvet.
Phil was a man of steel when it came to defending peace
and justice and a man of velvet when it came to his compassion
for the poor and the destitute. Ten years after my graduation,
I went to see Phil in the early ’60s when he was speaking
at a Catholic college in Buffalo. I was director of students
at the Passionists Seminary in Dunkirk, N.Y., and a graduate
student at Canisius College. Phil motivated me that evening
to the causes of peace and justice.
Over the next 40 years, Phil was a leader for many of
us along with his brother, Dan. They inspired us to march
through the streets of Washington, New York and Cantonsville.
They led us in prayer at vigils and services. They forced
us to examine the moral dilemmas of our times.
The Vietnam War was a tragedy and Phil Berrigan’s
dedication was to avoid war at all costs. He gave years
of his life to remind us of the evil of war. In 1980, when
our family “adopted” five Vietnamese young adults
who had been rescued in the South China Sea by a ship captained
by a Holy Cross graduate, our lives were changed. They
lived with our family of six and have been part of us for
over two decades.
I am reading, again, the special issue of The Holy
Cross Quarterly dedicated to the Berrigans. It makes
me proud of Holy Cross and great people like Phil Berrigan.
Phil, rest in peace.
Jack Martin ’52
Freehold, N.J.
“Berrigan and Thomas”
Your recent issue was both interesting and informative. It provided an interesting
contrast between the late Fr. Philip Berrigan, a man of outstanding moral
courage (although I think that the forms of his protests were a waste of
his resources) and Clarence Thomas. No matter what efforts are made to excuse
him, he is quite simply a disgrace as well as a psychiatrist’s challenge.
There could not be a more ironic choice to succeed the noble Thurgood Marshall
than a man whose judicial philosophy includes what seems to me to be the
principle that all victims are guilty. I maintain that the two greatest moral
insights of our age are: Walt Kelly’s “We have met the enemy, and
he is us!” and Sean O’Casey’s “There is nothing as passionate
as a vested interest disguised as an intellectual conviction.” More
and more, Americans are shut off from debate, and the results are so stifling
in politics, public life and culture in general that we are indeed appearing
to be naked hypocrites to anyone in the world capable of any level of intelligent
discernment. So, here’s to more good issues.
Gordon A. Cronin ’55
Northampton, Mass.
“The Fall Issue”
Many thanks for a rich, thought-provoking and, personally, very touching issue
of Holy Cross Magazine. The roundtable on the sex abuse scandal in
the Church set a sound foundation for seeking justice and reform in this
troubling time. The address by Fr. Kuzniewski on teaching—his own, the
College’s, and the Jesuits’—was as humane and sensible a reflection
on “what we teachers do and why we do it” as I have read in some
time. It also stirred fond memories of the fruitful time I spent not only
in “Father K’s” class, but in those of his colleagues in the
history department—Professors Green, Powers, Flynn, Beales and McBride.
Most of all, however, I was happy to read about the ongoing practice of retreats
at Holy Cross, especially the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius. I entered
twice into the silence of the five-day Exercises, and the lessons, perspectives
and experiences I had on those two retreats have done much to form who I
am and how I approach life to this day.
The magazine arrived within days of the sad and untimely
news of Dean Joe Maguire’s death, so the lessons of
the Spiritual Exercises were much on my mind as I attended
his funeral Mass. Holy Cross and many of its sons and daughters
have lost a great friend, but his spirit and prayers will
no doubt continue to benefit us all.
Richard Canedo ’83
Providence, R.I.
