Like many, I have particular dates which through the years have had significance, for better or worse, in my life.  Most of those dates relate to anniversaries of some sort for family members and friends.  May 4 is a bit different.
 
As an eighth grader at St. Joseph's Elementary School in Alliance, Ohio I was attending a Stark County parochial school all-star band practice on May 4, 1970 when I heard some of the band members talking about students being shot at nearby Kent State.  This was early evening and the shootings had taken place just after noon on that day but in those days of no social media and limited television coverage, what would have taken me minutes to learn about on my twitter took over six hours.
 
On that campus which was located just 30 minutes from my home, four students were shot to death and nine others were injured when Ohio National Guardsmen fired amidst a demonstration about the Viet Nam War.  Two of the students who were killed were not even taking part in the protest.  In fact, one of them was 385 yards away from the guardsmen, the classic "wrong place at the wrong time" scenario.
 
I was 13 years old at the time but that event significantly affected me, to the point that I cut out newspaper articles about the tragedy and read them over and over.  I have always been able to recite the names of the four students who died that day.  I remember, as the son of an educator who probably had to "walk the line" more than most other students, thinking that sad as it was, the Kent State students should not have questioned authority, or "the establishment" as they called it in those days.
 
For the past 37 years, my career has involved working with college students -- young people just like those on the Kent State campus on that day in 1970.  It is interesting how my Kent State perspective, as I have interacted with college students and especially student-athletes through the years, has changed. 
 
On one hand, I do not condone students throwing rocks and cans of tear gas at National Guardsman because I also respect and have an appreciation for the difficult job they had on that sad day.  On the other hand, while I did not know Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer, or William Schroeder, I feel as if I easily could have because over the course of my career I have formed close and in many cases, lifelong relationships with students and especially at NSU, where I have worked for over a quarter of a century.  I think about bright, young people that I know whose lives could have been snuffed out.  I think about the parents – and I have been friends with many a parent through the years, as well – and their grief.  It just really seems to hit home with me.
 
In 1970, students across the country were questioning why the U.S. was involved in a war which seemed to have no purpose and were enraged as their friends and classmates were dying fighting for such an unclear cause.  During that time, however, it was not copacetic to ask "why."
 
Today, students are encouraged to have open dialogue with professors, coaches, and administrators on a college campus.  Every Division I athletic program has a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee composed of two student-athletes from each sport and one of the purposes of that group during its regular meetings is to express concerns to administrators.  We've come a long way for sure.
 
I will always be sad on May 4 -- sad for those whose lives were affected on that day on the Kent State campus in 1970.  At the same time, I will feel fortunate that my career has enabled me to work with young people at a time when they are encouraged to express their ideas and their emotions.  Most importantly, I will feel blessed for the countless relationships with students, and especially athletes, which have endured through the years and for the chance to make a difference in the lives of so many who will have an opportunity that four students at Kent State lost forever.
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