Lyle Ross Crockett
University Administrator
“Chancellor of the University of Mississippi.”
That those five words – or are there six? --
Would ever append themselves to my name,
(Or is my name the modest appendage
To those words?) – well sir, for a fellow
Who grew up around hogs and cotton fields
It is quite a bit to take in. I am not worthy.
Worthy or not, however, I have a job to do
Nor will I let my deeply-felt humility imply
Any lack of confidence in my preparedness
For the Chancellorship, lest that implication
Appear to devalue the respect and gratitude
I feel for my years at other great universities
As an administrator and in classrooms as well.
Like its sister schools across the South,
The academic mission of Ole Miss exists
Side by side with the school’s military,
Athletic, and social responsibilities in ways
That a Harvard or Yale couldn't understand.
We’re an army, a professional football team,
And a matchmaking service all at once.
To be clear, when I call us an army
I use that word in the broadest sense,
Encompassing our infantry ROTC and
Also our Navy and Air Force ROTC corps;
“Army,” after all, derives from the Latin
“Armata” as in armada, the maritime force
That struck England in 1588, I think it was.
As for football, just as the Tampa Tarpons
Are fertile soil for seedlings of major league
Baseball, our football team is professional
Notwithstanding that our players are paid
Later rather than paid now. Scant matter.
Charley Conerly ’47 is the quarterback
In New York, and look ye at Bruiser Kinard.
Apropos Ole Miss as a matchmaking service --
But is marriage bureau gentler to the ear? --
When sons and daughters of the state’s
Eminent families enroll here there is an
Expectation that they’ll graduate with
More than a sheepskin: a life’s partnership,
That is, to prolong their patrician lineage.
In my capacity as University chancellor,
With that legal and even spiritual identity,
I’ve been honored to join a number of
These young couples in holy matrimony.
Violet Beach became Mrs. Wilson Greenhill
Under my auspices, and Floride Bondurrant
Metamorphosed into Mrs. Reed Polifax.
Yes, Hayes Bondurrant is a Ku Kluxer,
And Old Man Greenhill is a horse’s ass.
But might not the progeny of their progeny
Sustain what has worth in antique traditions
While also gestating a new generation of
Hey, whoop, jamboree, as is our fond hope?
I’ve done my part. You may kiss the bride.
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