Many of us have pivotal years in our lives.  I have many of those moments, but in terms of my education and professional life, I must go back to the spring of 1973.  Upon high school graduation, I completed work at a broadcasting trade school and set out to fulfill my dreams of becoming a radio broadcaster.

I had the opportunity to do a number of challenging tasks in that business, including play-by-play for high school and college sports.  I programmed 2 radio stations.  But there was still something missing.

So, in the summer of 1973, I enrolled at IUPUI while working part-time in radio.  I quickly adapted to academic life and enjoyed it.  It was my beginning speech class that intrigued me the most.  After working behind a microphone all those years and never looking those listening in the eye, I had to look out and relate to the audience before me.

IUPUI had started a tradition of Speech Night.  Every class elected one person to be in the semi-final, and the semifinal winners went to the Speech Night event.

On Speech Night of 1973, I was the last of six speakers.  Looking out over the full crowd in the largest lecture hall at IUPUI at that time, it was unnerving,  But, they were not there to listen to my speech on the Electoral College.  All beginning speech students were required to attend in order to pass the class.

Winning Speech Night 1973 gave me the confidence to later pursue a civil service career where public speaking was a way to advance.

I thought my 1973 Speech Night win was lost in the dust bin of IUPUI history,
Then, out of the blue, I received a contact from the speech department asking for a video about the 1973 Speech Night experience.

If you watch the video linked below, note that all past winners profiled have video clips of their speeches except myself, because my speech goes back so far no one could find video recording.

I am honored that IUPUI asked me to be a part of the 100th Speech Night.  Kudos to all the speakers making the finals this semester.

You can view the documentary video at the link below. (Editor’s note:  It appears IUPUI has deleted the video, I am not sure why)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zycPbkZacgo&t=4720s