The Lacrosse Foundation's 10th Induction Dinner took place Saturday night with few no-shows. Unfortunately, one who didn't make it was inductee Christopher Kane, whose flight from Florida was canceled because of snow. However, I heard he was able to make his acceptance via a portable phone.
Most of the 230 people donned black ties and snowshoes for the dinner at the Radisson Lord Baltimore Hotel. It was also the snowy, cold weather that reminded inductee James F. Burke of the reasons why he lives in San Rafael, Calif., now.
Kane and Burke were joined in the Hall of Fame by inductees Jay D. Connor Jr., Frederick H. Eisenbrandt Jr., Caroline Haussermann, Michael A. Messere, Jane Oswald, Gretchen Schuyler, Betty Shellenberger and Virginia Allen, posthumously, whose family members attended.
Others at the dinner were Faith and Frank Riggs, he's president of the Lacrosse Foundation; Lena and Gene Corrigan, he's the ACC commissioner who was recently named president of the NCAA; Guri and Tony Seaman, he's the Johns Hopkins lacrosse coach; Don Zimmerman, UMBC coach; and Hall of famers Buzzy Budnitz and his wife, Denise; and Charley Clark and his wife, Becky, and Jim Adams.
Since 1957, 223 people have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. I must say I was surprised and delighted to learn that women have been among the inductees for three years.
I heard that Carol Channing, after taking her opening night curtain calls of "Hello, Dolly!" very graciously asked the company manager and former Baltimorean, Brig Berney, to come out and take a bow. He was thrilled and so were his surprised parents, Ethel and Robert Berney, who were in the audience. (His dad, semi-retired from Berney Travel, is a member of the family which once owned Hamburgers clothing store.) The Berneys will be back to see the show tomorrow night, with Brig's older brother, Dr. Bert Berney and his wife, Teddy.
Brig (don't you love the name, which is short for Brigham) was raised in the Owings Mills area and graduated from the Gilman School before heading for New York City to study communication at New York University. At that stage of his life, he wanted to be an actor and began writing letters for intern positions with well-known directors, which paid off -- he got to work with people such as Mike Nichols, Jerry Zaks and Tommy Tune.
He was working at Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre when he heard about the possibility of "Hello, Dolly!" going on the road again and put in his bid for a job. He says it is a job he'd dreamed about since seeing Channing in "Dolly!" at the Mechanic in 1978, where he worked in its subscription department. In case you're wondering, a company manager handles most of the business end of the show and answers directly to the producer.
The good news is the show has been out since last July and is booked solid through next July, after which the company will play D.C. for a month before heading to Broadway, hopefully. "Hello, Dolly!" is at the Lyric through Sunday night.
The Catholic High School cheerleaders were thrilled to receive an invitation from the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Tomas Mac Eiolia, to march in this year's St. Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin on March 17.
Imagine performing before 750,000 people, the number of people said to watch the Dublin parade. These cheerleaders are used to attention, having won the Catholic League Cheerleading Championships for the last six years, thanks to the coaching of Kathy Jo Harris. Their most recent honor was winning a first place for a non-musical group in the Baltimore Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Since all good things seem to cost money, the girls have been baking cakes, washing cars and holding dances, trying to raise $25,000 to help with the expense of the trip. If you'd like to help, send checks to the Catholic High School, 2800 Edison Highway, Baltimore, 21213, ATT: Cheerleading Ireland Fund. The cheerleaders leave March 15 for a week filled with parades, competitions and wonderful memories.
Ted Koppel will broadcast a "Nightline" town meeting from Stephens Hall at Towson State University next Friday night. TSU was probably selected because Stephens, located at 8000 York Road, seats nearly 600 people and has ample parking.
If you're interested in teen-age sex -- the topic of the show -- or if you'd like to be part of a live audience, just show up and be seated before the cameras begin rolling at 11:30 p.m. It's late, but free.