As if academic achievement, social action and good looks weren't enough, last week brought another stroke of luck to the Class of 2004. Virginia alumnus and New York Giants running back Tiki Barber will speak at our Valediction Exercises this May.
While most of my sports-obsessed colleagues and I are terribly excited, I have heard some rumblings of discontent. Is a professional football player the kind of person that we want representing us during Graduation weekend? Why not someone more "serious" -- a head of state, a serious academic or someone who has made headlines by improving the state of humankind? They would certainly be more appropriate to recognize our hard-earned academic degrees from the University.
Certainly not! Tiki Barber is the ideal valediction speaker -- a true role model for those of us heading out the "real" post-graduation world. He is a man in Jefferson's ideal mold: Intelligent, athletic, involved and considerate. We are indeed lucky to have him.
Barber graduated from the University in 1997, with a degree from the Commerce School and a concentration in Management Information Systems. Any way you slice it, a Comm School degree is one of the more challenging degrees at this school, and Tiki took it on with success.
He was an academic All-American and ACC Player of the Year in 1996, and set a school all-time career rushing record that only a T.J. -- Thomas Jones -- could break. Tiki was twice named to the All-ACC and ACC academic teams. Such a combination of scholastic dedication and athletic excellence is tragically rare in Division I football, but Tiki did it with class.
Admittedly, as a sportswriter, I am completely and totally biased. Yes, when I pick up the Washington Post I am more likely to read about Tiki's stats in the sports section than, say, Katie Couric's new hairdo in Style. That's just my predisposition -- but it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm wrong.
Find something you don't like about this guy. I dare you. The worst story I've heard about him in years of following his college and pro career is his propensity to blow spit bubbles and catch them on his tongue. Apparently this is how he first caught his wife's attention -- attention, not affection -- and he has been spotted in action on the sidelines during a game. Spit bubbles are the worst thing on this guy's record? Please. He probably likes children and puppies too.
Chosen in the second round of the NFL draft by the Giants in 1997, Barber quickly became a leader on and off the field. He was one of the marquee players in the Giant's 2001 NFC Championship and Super Bowl XXXV appearance. He was voted his team's offensive MVP in 1999 and 2001, and the team's outright MVP in 2000.
Barber's football resume is impressive, but his other pursuits might be of more interest to those who doubt the relevance of a "jock" at Valediction.
Since he graduated from U.Va. and was drafted into the NFL, Tiki has acted in an off-Broadway play called "Seeing Double." He works as a morning sports anchor for WCBS-TV in New York during the off-season, and he has co-hosted an evening sports show on WFAN radio.
Last semester, Simon & Schuster books announced that Tiki and his identical twin brother Ronde (who earned the family's only Super Bowl ring with Tampa Bay) would be writing an autobiographical children's book, "By My Brother's Side," to be published in fall 2004. Personally, I'd put the Barbers' children's book ahead of Madonna's in the recommended elementary school section.
Tiki displays the kind of moral character that Virginia grads should exhibit. He lives in New York with his wife Ginny and son, A.J., a family man in a league where the players are better known for their child support payments than their child-care plans. From New York, he works with the local D.A.R.E. program, the Starlight Children's Foundation, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and is a member of the New York board of the Boy Scouts of America. This is the man I want to speak at my Valediction. The Class of 2004 couldn't ask for more.
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