Of baseball, amicus briefs, and a continuing commitment to educational excellence.

• Author: McCormally, Timothy J.

Early October brought two letters to my office. The first came from Saul Kass of the Kansas City Chapter. Saul extended a compliment about the 2004-2005 Membership Roster, but suggested that TEI do more about recognizing its long-time members. Saul speaks from experience. He is a charter member of the Kansas City Chapter, having joined in 1950, when his hometown baseball team was the Athletics and a retired military man from Abilene, Kansas, was considering whether to leave the presidency of Columbia University to run for the presidency of the whole country. Dwight Eisenhower eventually did leave Columbia, doing a stint at NATO in Paris before throwing his hat into the ring in 1952. The extant records of the Institute do not address the national political intrigue of the day, but rather straight-forwardly report that on January 26, 1950, sixteen tax professionals requested a charter for a new chapter in Kansas City.

Saul's letter provokes these Kansas memories, in part because it arrived the same week Major League Baseball announced that the Expos were moving to Washington and because it was in Kansas City's Municipal Stadium that I saw my first major league game--the Yankees playing the A's. Another reason for the trip down memory lane is that, as part of TEI's 60th anniversary observance, we're searching our records and memory banks for items putting a human face on the Institute. Saul's letter does that. It continues:

 One thing is missing [from the Roster] --recognition of long time members. I am currently listed as an associate member of the K.C. Chapter but am still active. I attend all board meetings and most regular chapter meetings.

I am a charter member of the K.C. Chapter having joined in 1950. I am a past president. Four years ago, the then-executive director of TEI honored me in person at our annual Christmas party of which I had been the "perpetual" chairman. I am still active at almost 90 (November). (Run every morning and take no medicine). I'm president or chairman of two companies, treasurer of another, and extremely active in another corporation I hope to take public. This does not take into account my civic activities. Keep up the good work!

Truth be told, I was not yet a glean in my mother's eye when Saul and his 15 colleagues formed the Kansas City Chapter in 1950. (My first trip to a baseball park came in 1958, when I was six.) That fact, however--especially considering that I am the graybeard (literally and...