Early in September, 1961, an intercom announcement at Rockhurst advertised a meeting in Mr. Marchlewski’s classroom in the basement for students interested in speech and debate. I attended, along with quite a few guys in my homeroom, including John Williams, the guy who sat behind me.

The faculty representatives were Michael Marchlewski and Arnold Rothermich. Both were Jesuit scholastics from St. Louis.¹ They explained that the team competed throughout the state in many types of events. I was mostly interested in debating, but I was willing to try just about anything.

I am not sure whether any upperclassmen talked with us that day. I do remember two seniors who debated, Doug Kingsbury and Al Riederer.² As I recall, Kingsbury won all the academic awards at Rockhurst that year. I have only a few vague recollections of any guys in the classes of 1964 and 1965.

Initially I was paired with Pat Dobel. Our first debate was against two novices from Bishop Lillis High. I am not sure that we even had a practice round before this. One day after school (or maybe on a Saturday) a bus brought a bunch of guys on the speech team over to Lillis. Pat and I were on the negative against two girls from Lillis. I was first negative. I had brought a few quotations that I had cut out of the J. Weston Walch handbook and taped onto index cards. I probably brought a pad of some sort on which to take notes. I don’t remember the resolution, and when I looked up the national topic recently, it did not seem even vaguely familiar. I seem to recall that a priest was the judge.

I have one very vivid memory of this debate. I was giving my constructive speech when I heard an unusual sound coming from below my waist. I stopped speaking for a couple of seconds to identified the noise. I had lost control of my knees, and they were knocking together.

My performance was abysmal, but Pat must have been pretty good. At least the judge voted for us. Unfortunately for me, that was the last time that I got to debate with Pat.

After that victory I lost FOURTEEN debates in a row. This may be a record of some sort. Certainly, ten or so losses in a row would be enough evidence for most people to realize that they should try something else. I wonder what my parents thought. The thing was that I really liked going to the tournaments. The humiliation of all those defeats was mitigated if not outweighed by the fun of being with a bunch of friends on a road trip.

I could not blame my partners. I debated with Tom Mulhern and Rick Collins, who were in the class of 1966, but not in my homeroom. They were both very good speakers. I was certainly the weak link in both of these partnerships. I got over the extreme nervousness soon enough, but I was immature, and I was so ignorant that I had no idea of how ignorant I was.

Two examples should suffice. The first happened when I was debating with Tom. The other team quoted from Hugh Hefner, the Playboy magnate. I thought that we should make an issue of the fact that they had based their case on such an immoral and unqualified person. I mean: anyone who had even mentioned the name Hugh Hefner at Queen of the Holy Rosary School, which I attended just six months earlier, would have been marched into Sr. Dominica’s office. What would happen after that is speculative, but it would not be pretty.

Fortunately Tom did not bite. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it did not work. When we got the results, I was stunned to see that the judge voted for our unashamedly immoral opponents.

Rick was my partner for the other truly embarrassing anecdote. For some reason the two of us were chosen to represent Rockhurst at an important six-round varsity tournament at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, MO. It was an 83-mile drive. The format was 8-3-4, which means that after each eight-minute constructive speech, one of the opponents was allotted three minutes to ask questions.

Well, we dropped our first five debates. None was memorable. The last round was “reverse power-matched”, which meant that the teams with the best records faced the ones with the worst. Why they did this I cannot imagine. I have attended hundreds of tournaments over the course of fifteen and a half years of involvement in competitive debate, and never once did another tournament use this technique.

So, in the sixth round we were scheduled against a pair from William Chrisman High in Independence, MO, who were among the very best teams in the state. I gave the first negative constructive. The round was over after the after one of the affirmatives cross-examined me. I got so flustered that I said that Rick would explain what I meant in his speech. When I sat down, Rick was justifiably furious at me. He asked me what he was supposed to say. I admitted that I did not know. Needless to say, we lost.

Mr. Marchlewski did not work with any of us much. After one of these bleak outings, I asked Mr. Rothermich what I could do to improve. He said that maybe I needed a new suit.

I did not quit even after the fourteenth loss, and we did get a little better. We won a few rounds before the end of the year. I kept signing up for trips. I often did extemporaneous speaking. I think I tried original oratory, although I cannot remember the topic. I read “The Death of the Hired Man” in the poetry reading event.

Rick and I even did a scene from Inherit the Wind in duet acting. I played the William Jennings Bryan character. Before my senior year I was mediocre at best in all of these events, and my results reflected it. Nevertheless, I still loved going to tournaments.

I enjoyed working with and performing with both Tom and Rick. Tom sometimes brought his guitar with him on overnight trips, and I was very impressed by his ability to play it. I knew how to play the saxophone, but (1) it was not nearly as cool, and (2) for a period after my last lip operation it was uncomfortable to play, and I got out of practice.

Rick was a real card. He started every morning by growling at the mirror and then intoning “Oh, Rick, you handsome dog, you!”

The team attended several tournaments in southern and central Missouri. Things are different there. From other Rockhurst debaters I heard some incredible stories about the debate team from Webb City, which is near Joplin, MO. One male debater was shocked to hear that Rockhurst had no female students. “What do y’all do for beaver?” he asked.

A Webb City novice team’s affirmative plan allegedly gave 2 percent of the weapons from the fifty largest countries to an international organization. They claimed that the organization would thus have control over 100 percent of the world’s weapons, but each country would maintain its own deterrent.

I remember that we stayed at an old hotel on the main street in, I think, Monett, MO. I have not read the town’s building code, but I cannot believed that this hotel passed. My room was on the second floor. There was no fire escape. Instead, a very long rope that was at least an inch thick was tied to the radiator, which was located near a window. The rope was knotted ever foot or so. There was no instruction manual. Apparently in case of emergency occupants were expected to throw the rope out the window and climb down. I wonder how the hotel adapted to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

We had a few practice debates, but I never received anything that I would characterize as coaching. Mr. Rothermich did help me a little with my poem. Mostly I learned from osmosis by listening to others.

There were a few dramatic moments. If I was only participating in individual events like poetry reading or extemp, there would be times when debates were occurring, and I was not busy. I would often walk around and listen to portions of debates by standing in the hallway near the door. At one tournament the coach of one of the teams that I had listened to complained to Mr. Rothermich about my behavior and demanded that I hand over all of my notes, of which I had none. He was really incensed about it, but Mr. Rothermich told me not to worry about it.

Junior year ended with something of a surprise. The four-man team of Pat Dobel, John Immele, John Williams, and Bill Locke—all from our junior class—won the state debate tournament. They received some public recognition for this, but probably not as much as they deserved. I did not feel envious; these guys were all my friends, and I was happy for and proud of them.

The problem for me was that I was now clearly a fifth wheel as far as debate was concerned. There would be little or no chance for me to debate at the varsity level as a senior, and I was too experienced to compete at any other level. It would be necessary for me to adjust my goals.

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1. Fr. Marchlewski recently celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination.
 
 
Mr. Rothermich did not become a priest. He died in 2020. His obituary is here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2. Al Riederer died in 2012. His obituary is here.