Ernie's Insights – The End of Era
July 10, 2020
 
Stay somewhere long enough, and people will often reference that time as an era.  This is especially true in athletics.
 
In Baltimore, there are people who grew up in the Unitas Era, the Robinson Era or the Ripken Era.
 
There is no defined amount of time for an era.  Some are pretty long while others can be pretty short.  Truth be told, if an athlete or coach was somewhere for a very brief period of time and their stay is referred to as an era, it's often not a good thing (see the Kyle Boller Era in Baltimore).
 
I've often defined the history of Johns Hopkins athletics by two eras, the one prior to 1955 and the one after 1955.
 
Why 1955?  Simple.  That's the year Bob Scott arrived at JHU as the men's lacrosse coach.  He would serve in that capacity for 20 seasons before staying on for another 21 as the director of athletics – all of this after graduating from Hopkins in 1952.  Seems hard to believe the Scott Era ended 25 years ago.
 
By no means are those two eras official in any way.  The defining of our history into those two eras is purely my thought; I have three kids, so I know all too well that my thoughts generally don't carry much weight.
 
The Bob Scott Era officially ended on June 30, 1995 when he completed his final day as AD.  When the calendar flipped to July 1 that year, few knew that another era that would last just as long as Scott's did in the AD role had begun.
 
Tom Calder, who had arrived at Johns Hopkins on August 1, 1988 as the associate AD, took over for Scott on that July day in 1995 and held that role until 2016.  He then transitioned to a position in alumni relations for the last four years, but he remained a visible and vocal supporter of the athletics program.
 
Even though he no longer had any direct involvement in the day-to-day operations in athletics, you could still feel his presence; he was just a quick walk to the San Martin Center away.  And now, he's not.
 
The Calder Era at Johns Hopkins quietly came to an end on July 1.  After 32 years serving the university in three different roles, Tom (or TC, or Mr. Calder) has called it a career.  Seems hard to believe.
 
For the most part, employees at Johns Hopkins have been working remotely since the middle of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I'm finding it hard to believe I haven't been in my office since March 16.  I'm finding it harder to believe that when they give me the green light to return, Tom won't be there.
 
There were a number of stories written when Tom transitioned out of athletics in 2016, but it didn't really feel like he was truly gone.  In my mind, he just had a new office in another building.
 
No, I didn't see him nearly as often over the last four years as I had in the previous 19, but he was still a regular at many of our games and functions.  He helped us all navigate through the passing of Mr. Scott in the fall of 2016, former women's basketball coach Nancy Funk early in 2018 and head football coach Jim Margraff less than a year later.
 
The passing of those three Hopkins legends brought a lot of demands, requests and media inquiries; at a time when I had my own emotions to deal with, I also had a job to do and a responsibility to the families and friends of Scott, Funk and Margraff to ensure everything asked was done appropriately.
 
I can't remember how many times while working through those situations that I felt like I needed a break and couldn't do it; I know by the end it was too many to count.  I also can't remember how many times I talked to Tom during those periods, but I know that each time he'd ask me how I was doing – he knew I was struggling and he cared.
 
As AD, the Calder Era is one of legend.  Under his guidance, Blue Jay teams won five national championships and 133 conference titles.  Johns Hopkins finished in the top 10 in the Directors' Cup standings in five of his last six years and 112 student-athletes earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
 
Calder enjoyed watching lacrosse and football games from the sidelines at Homewood Field, soccer and field hockey from the press box, baseball from the stands just a hair to the third-base side of home plate and basketball from the "end zone" of Goldfarb Gym as we refer to it; if there was a wrestling match – he was there.  Regardless of how close he was to the action, coaches – to a person – never felt like he was micromanaging, even from close proximity.
 
When he left his role as AD, Funk stated that ""Tom Calder has been a "coaches' AD" in giving his coaches the autonomy to manage and develop their own programs."  I never asked Tom how he hoped his coaches viewed him, but I'd guess that being considered a "coaches' AD" would bring a smile to his face.
 
The door to Tom's office was always open, both in athletics and later in alumni relations.  He was there to support you professionally, but he also wanted to know about your family and where you were going on vacation and what sports your kids were playing.  He wanted to know and he cared.
 
I never worked a day for Mr. Scott as his 1995 retirement came two years before my arrival.  Still, I got to know him very well as he was a frequent visitor to the office and attended many Blue Jay games, especially during my first 15 years or so at Johns Hopkins.
 
Similarly, I know the humble and universally well-liked Calder will still be a regular at Homewood Field.  I'm sure his wife, Sue, has a long list of things for him to do now that he'll have more time on his hands than he'll know what to do with.  I'm also sure that Tom will sneak away on a few Saturdays in the fall and spring to get his Blue Jay fix.
 
Still, it won't be quite the same at Johns Hopkins without him.  He served the university with great pride for those 32 years; that's a long time to stay somewhere and a lot of great things happened on his watch.  Thirty-two years seems long enough to be referred to as an era.
 
The Calder Era.  Seems hard to believe it's over.
   
Ernie Larossa is in his 23rd year as the Director of Athletic Communications at Johns Hopkins.  In short, he has the greatest job in the world; he gets paid to watch Johns Hopkins athletes compete and chronicle their achievements.  In September, 2017, he decided it was time to periodically pen a column about something related to Blue Jay athletics.