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Have you got 10 minutes or so? Let's take a look back - 40 years back - to how and when and where our Club got started.
Let's begin in 1957.
In Sarasota there was an Ivy League Club; it was very active, very popular. The weekly meetings were well attended - and for good reason - there were excellent speakers and programs.
Within the Club, there was keen rivalry between the two leading groups, Harvard and Yale. Both were determined to be the one with the most members, the one that
put on the best programs.
In '57 Harvard scored a coup by presenting a superb color film entitled The Age That Is Waiting - about Harvard's remarkable past and its vision for the future. It was part of the University's campaign to raise a whopping $82 million. There was no way Yale could compete; one up for Harvard.
In 1958 and '59, Harvard members talked of breaking away from Ivy League and starting a club of their own.
In '59, they asked the Harvard Alumni office in Cambridge to assist them. The Alumni experts did help them, but only after advising them not
to start a new club. The advice was ignored.
December 1959.
The Dow Jones was at 664. Pat Boone was #1 on the teenage charts, ahead of both Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Charlie Chaplin and Oona O'Neill were celebrating the birth of their seventh child. And on December 3, the Harvard Club of Sarasota was born. The occasion was a luncheon at the Columbi Restaurant, which was located on St. Armand's Circle, where Café l'Europe now stands. Gordon Palmer, AB '36, grandson of the famous Mrs. Potter Palmer, was the first President.
Which brings us to 1960.
On January 31, there was a dinner meeting at the Holiday Yacht Club. The speaker was Zbigniew Brzezinski, a brilliant, young Harvard professor who went on to become Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor.
The first year (1960) the Club had 57 members.
The annual dues were $5.00.
The second speaker was a professor at Manatee Community College.
The third program featured a film - highlights of the football season. These get-togethers were strictly Harvard. For men only. The Club's first Ladies Night was a dinner dance at a restaurant called Azure Tides.
When did the Harvard Club become co-ed? We ask Joan Bennet Kayser, the Club's first (and still only) woman president (1982-83): "Well, it was well ahead of the
competition; when I came here in the mid 70's, it was very much a Harvard-Radcliffe club. And when I became president, they teased me - I could be president of the Harvard Club, but I couldn't
qualify to be a member of the Ivy League Club!"
Next, we pay Dr. Preston Clement a visit (in his to-die-for waterfront home) and ask him what he remembers about the early days.
"We used to meet at the Café Columbi - in the back room. We also met at the Field Club. A group of young guys had split away from the Sarasota Yacht Club,
because they wanted a more family-oriented club; they acquired the Stanley Field residence.
"In '60 and '61 David Gray was our First Vice President.
He was Eleanor Roosevelt's uncle, and she came often to visit in the 50's and 60's. David was very old - Class of 1892 - so they brought me in as 2nd Vice President to back him up.
"At that time, the Ivy League was where most of the action was. We had only 3 or 4 meetings a year, which was great for me because I was very busy with my
pediatric practice.
Things really didn't get into high gear until Frank Knowlton came to town. As Treasurer, then as Vice President, then as President, he started monthly meetings; he built up the membership.
"Frank built the Harvard Club.
"I'm very pleased with what recent presidents have been doing; they've expanded activities into a lot more than luncheons. I'm enthusiastic about the Club's
vitality."
The time has come for a long lunch with Frank Knowlton. At Patrick's. Very crowded, very noisy. The onion soup is excellent.
"The Knowltons arrived at Pelican Cove in '81.
Joan Bennett was President of the Club, a very good President. Yes, I was the one who started Crimson Waves. I didn't like the name, but I couldn't come up with anything better. I urged members to send in suggestions, but no one ever did.
"One thing I did as President, to get a lot of new members and get them involved, was to have a very big head table: 18 or 20 at every luncheon.
A couple of times I outsmarted myself: when I got up to introduce them all, I had to pass over a couple of people because I didn't have any idea who the hell they were.
"We had luncheons at the Crown Restaurant.
And the Meadows. Eventually at the top of the Penner Building. And, of course, upstairs at Charlie's Crab. It was wonderful, except that the booths were too small. After a big meal, you were wedged in—couldn't get out of the booth.
"At our luncheons, we used to have fun with the speakers. After their speech, we gave them two presents.
First, I gave an outrageous joke present from the local joke store; the speaker was flustered, didn't know what to make of it. Then we quickly gave the real present, usually a very nice book."
We ask Frank: "Looking back over all the years, what was best?"
"Well the best speaker we ever had was Dallas Townsend, the newsman.
And the most surprising speaker was Geraldo Rivera. We were apprehensive, expecting something sensational. Instead, he made a thoughtful, timely, really brilliant speech.
"One luncheon I particularly remember: Gunther Gebel-Williams, the world-famous lion tamer with the circus, was due to come and speak - only he had just been bitten
by one of his lions. So Tim Holst, who became General Manager of the circus, came in his place. A very dynamic speaker."
We ask other presidents of the Club the same question: Look back and remember - what was best?
Mike Hartenstine: "The best thing that happened to the Club was the arrival of Frank Knowlton and his enthusiasm. He tripled our membership. And he
brought us much closer to Cambridge. What was our most memorable event? There were two, both fairly recent. The two Harvard Comes to Sarasota Days - they were spectacular."
Jim Keeney: "The best party we ever had was the one we did for Leonard Goldenson on his 90th birthday. He had just given $70 million to the Medical
School, and we pulled out all the stops."
Jake Dwinell: "The best speaker we ever had - by far - was Reverend Peter J. Gomes of Memorial Church at Harvard. What a remarkable man!"
Bob Thurrell: "It was the day Rudenstine came to town - Harvard Comes to Sarasota Day - and I was lucky enough to be president!"
Bert Kneeland: "For me the best thing was getting the Harvard-Yale football game party back on track. That and the Lobster Party are the events I like best."
Michael Levine: "Our best? Our best is the ability of this enthusiastic group to rally round. In my time, we increased membership and scholarship
giving and built up the treasury - all possible because whenever I asked for help, I got it. And more.
Once a job was accepted, I never had to follow up. I even got a project report one night - phoned in from the Emergency Room at the Sarasota Hospital!"
We ask President Don Farrar, What about the next 40 years?
"I'm optimistic that we'll continue to grow and prosper.
Today we have greater diversity and more younger members. And tremendous energy. And Sarasota, as a place to live and work and play - and raise a family - and grow old - has more and more to offer. We're sitting pretty!"
The last word goes (as it should) to Mr. Harvard Club, Frank Knowlton.
Question: "Frank, after all your years of working for Harvard, how does Harvard 2000 impress you?"
Answer: "Harvard in my opinion gets better and better. I stand in awe of Harvard today."
That is my report. Happy 40th Anniversary!
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