Go Utes!

It was a magic moment. There I sat one of 45,000 in Rice-Eccles Stadium. It was the last second of the Utah Oregon State football game. The score was tied and Utah had one last play. In the eternity it took for the ball to be snapped, placed, and leave the magic toe of Louie Sakota the stadium fell breathlessly silent.

It was in that instant, among all those Utes, now united in a single purpose, I realized that I belonged exactly where I was. I am a Ute. I spent many happy childhood days at the U with my uncle and cousin. I went to my first football game when I was 10 years old. Later I became a student, a member of the marching band, a studentbody officer, an alumni, an administrator, and now a student again.

It was on this campus that the hope I had for my future became opportunity. Here I made lifelong friends, learned to appreciate beauty, and how to recognize and embrace truth. I met Susan here and we watched our children graduate.

Descended from Welsh coal miners, I was the first in my family to savor a university education. All the good things that have become mine began here. I belong here, I am a Ute.

The ball clears the goal and the stadium is electrified. I can't tell you when it happened, describe the process, or even define what it means but this I know. I have a place here. I am a Ute.