A number of years ago, a painfully shy young freshman at Yale found himself lacking in self-confidence in every area except academics and the squash court; he was having a tough time adapting to college life.
As his freshman year went by and he continued to wrestle with fitting in, the inevitable happened: he started to have difficulty playing squash. As his frustration bubbled over, he found himself withdrawing and avoiding even casual conversations.
One afternoon before practice, however, one of the older squash stalwarts who always seemed to be around the courts wouldn’t let the young man escape. He kept asking questions and pursuing the conversation. The freshman knew that this guy was liked and respected by the upperclassmen on the team, but he didn’t really know why. And in that moment, he didn’t really care, for he wanted nothing more than to escape. But he couldn’t seem to get away.
More because he wanted to get away than anything else, the freshman found that he had agreed to have lunch with the man the next day. He was annoyed at himself, but that’s understandable; he didn’t yet know that the next day’s lunch would change his life.
Henry “Sam” Chauncey, the young man’s lunch companion the next day, is a person who seems to specialize in changing lives. And one of the ways he does that is by making people feel that they are part of something larger – that they are part of a community.
A 1957 Yale Graduate, Sam loved interacting with students so much that he stayed at Yale after he graduated. He served for 25 years as dean of students, director of admissions and financial aid, and secretary of the University.
He became secretary of the university during a particularly tumultuous time in Yale’s history. Like many universities in the country at the time, Yale was a place where there was much unrest. New Haven was the site of the Black Panther trial, students were leading protests against the Vietnam war, and battles were being fought over the prospect of co-education. On top of all this, the city of New Haven had become a poster-child for the failure of urban renewal.
Sam took on the challenge of helping to “fix” New Haven, and began a tradition of having the University secretary represent Yale in city planning. In short, he strove to help the Yale community become a part of its larger community.
When Sam retired from Yale in 1981, he became president of Science Park, an enterprise designed to attract biotechnology companies to New Haven. After successfully getting that underway, he went on to became the president of Gaylord Hospital. A fine hospital in its own right, Sam transformed its reputation by realizing a need for a hospital that specialized in rehabilitation. The Central Park Jogger who was attacked by a gang and left for dead in Central Park was one of Gaylord’s most famous residents – and, not surprisingly, counts Sam as one of her closest friends.
Through all this, Sam also became Yale squash’s biggest supporter. Unofficially known as the Squash Team Shrink, Sam has helped countless students get the most out of their squash, but more importantly, get the most out of themselves.
Squash is a solitary sport. Perhaps it is because of its emphasis on one-on-one competition that squash players have a strong desire to be liked, to fit in, to be part of a community. By knowing how to listen and how to find a way to make anyone laugh, Sam has an intuitive ability to make squash players who are associated with Yale squash know that they are part of a community.
A few months ago, the Nicholas Brady Squash Center was inaugurated at Yale. Perhaps the finest squash facility in the world, the Brady center needed funding on an unprecedented level in order to be built. In a brilliant move, the university asked Sam if he would lead the campaign for the rebuilding of the courts.
By having Sam lead the campaign, it allowed the community not only to say thank you to Yale’s squash history, its fine coaching tradition, and the difference the game has made in the lives of many of its graduates, but also to say thank you to Sam.
At the inauguration of the complex, in a spontaneous and heartfelt moment, the crowd rose as one when Sam’s name was mentioned. The hoots and hollers from everyone who was there, including that once-confused freshman, were to thank the man who made everyone feel particularly proud to be a part of the squash community – the Yale squash community, to be sure, but also the community of Sam.
