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2002 | |
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| Profile of Herb McCormick '78 | |
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| November 6, 2002 | |
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| Herb McCormick '78, Editor of Cruising World Magazine and former NY Times' Sailing Correspondent, "Cruising Through Life Thanks to Williams College"
by Dick Quinn, Sports Information Director
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| Herb McCormick (left) with Head Coach Bob Odell |
"Please hold for Neil Amdur, Sports Editor of the New York Times."
"Dick, Neil Amdur of the Times. Hey, I'm going to be sending up Herb McCormick a Williams graduate to cover the [2001] Amherst game."
"THE Herb McCormick?"
"You've heard of him?'
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's in our record book."
"Really?"
"Yeah, here he is....."
Herb McCormick is in the Eph football record book that begins with the birth of NESCAC. McCormick is tied with Charlie Carrier '77, Matt Student '01 and Ryan Friend '03 for most catches in one game: 10.
"I would have to say that Dave Parker '76 is the reason I went to Williams," said McCormick. "Dave was a three-sport standout at Middletown [RI] HS and a year ahead of me. He could have gone anywhere, but he chose Williams." Parker is sixth on the Eph receiving list (since 1971) with 65 catches and he is tied with Todd
Ducharme, Matt Sigrist, and Matt Student with seven TD catches in one season.
After graduating from Middletown HS, McCormick opted to pursue a postgraduate year at Milford Academy in Connecticut. "That was a good decision on my part," said McCormick. "I got straight A's and boosted my SATs to where I could be a candidate at Williams." A Winter Study visit to campus sold McCormick on Williams. "Dave Parker and his roommate, NFL prospect Scott Perry, showed me around," said McCormick. "They were the coolest guys I'd ever met. They took me over to Skidmore and I was hooked. I really wanted to go to Williams."
The Williams football memory that McCormick has held onto the firmest is not the day he jumped into the Eph record book, but the Amherst game his senior year. McCormick logged his record tying 10 catches vs. Tufts in Medford, MA on October 23, 1976 but the Ephs lost the game so he does not consider it a highlight. "I had a lot of friends up from Rhode Island," said McCormick. "I had a big individual game, but losing 21-7 didn't make it seem like such a big accomplishment, so I've kind of pushed it out of my mind."
The 1977 Ephs were 3-3 heading into Little Three play. "We all thought that our team was a lot better than 3-3, but as Bill Parcells always said, ‘you are what you are,’" said McCormick. "We were pretty pumped up though to end our season with a bang. Wesleyan was a very good team that year and they had already beaten Amherst so they were fired up to win their first Little Three title in a long time, but we surprised them down there. We used a two-tight-end set with a full-house backfield on offense and they could not handle it." Williams downed the Cardinals 13-7. The Ephs returned home to play Amherst with a chance to win the Little Three title and finish 5-3.
"There is no better way to end your football career than beating Amherst at home," said McCormick. "Amherst was good, but that day we were just better. The hitting and intensity of the game was fierce throughout but with our two-tight-end set and the full-house backfield we got 'em 21-13. Scott Harrington and Kid Collins ran wild for us and I caught a few passes on what was a BEAUTIFUL day on Weston Field. Amherst had a defensive end who later played for the Dolphins and it was my job to contain him. I guess I did okay because Bob Odell gave me the game ball. I still have the ball and always will."
Almost 24 years to the day after receiving that game ball, McCormick was back on Weston Field to cover "The Biggest Little Game in America" for The New York Times in 2001.
"Dick Farley is just the same as he was when I played here, except for maybe a few more gray hairs," said McCormick. "I was a little nervous to be assigned to the game because it was my first football story, but the game took care of everything. What an emotional contest that was for two undefeated teams to have to go to overtime to settle the outcome--Little Three champions and undefeated season. The good guys won [23-20 in OT], of course, and those Ephs will never forget that day."
McCormick would not let himself get distracted when he arrived to cover the 2001 game even though he had to weave his way through several classmates who were on hand to tailgate and enjoy the day. "I can't remember how many people I told I would see them later, but it was a lot," said McCormick. "At one point I went down on the sideline to get even more of a feel for the game. Nostalgia was flowing over me in waves while I was standing there among the Eph players and coaches. It was really cool to be able to stand there and feel and smell the intensity of the Amherst game again. I was down there when Dick's son Scott got dinged on the shoulder and was being assessed by the trainer. Dick shouted over to Scott, 'What's the matter with you?' and I could see in both of their eyes that Scott was going to go back out on the field and be a factor. What a second half Scott played."
Being on the sideline during the 2001 Amherst game made McCormick realize something else about his football days at Williams. "I played on some pretty good teams at Williams, but these kids today are bigger, faster, hit harder and play with even more intensity than we did--it was wonderful to see and experience."
Dick Farley has some praise for McCormick’s own level of play: "Herb McCormick would be an undersized tight end right now, but he was an outstanding blocker with great hands, He's as tough a kid as we have had at tight end since I've been here."
"For me the greatest thing about Williams was how the school opened my eyes to books, thoughts, and words and put me in the position to do what I do now," said McCormick. "I was very, very fortunate to have gone to Williams."
McCormick is currently editor of Cruising World magazine, the source for cruising sailors around the world, regardless boat size. He also wrote a weekly sailing feature for the New York Times the past three years and filled in where needed on other sports stories until August of 2002 when a new sports editor eliminated 'contract writers" in the department. Last winter he covered the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament for the NY Times.
After graduating in 1978 McCormick traveled for a while before returning to Newport, RI where he became the receptionist at Cruising World. His sailing experience at that time could only be classified as limited. "Ironically, having grown up in Newport, I sailed very little," said McCormick. "I was just too busy working summers and playing other sports when I was a kid. But right before my junior year at Williams a buddy's dad bought a racing boat and he needed a bit of mindless muscle for crew, so clearly I was the obvious choice. That summer is when I really started sailing, but it was still pretty casual. Once I got to Cruising World, though, I started getting a lot of opportunities and really got into it."
A little over three years ago when McCormick was posting daily reports on the Around Alone Singlehanded Round-the-World Race's official web site he did not know that Susan Adams, a sports editor, at the New York Times was reading every word. "One day I got a phone call from Susan Adams asking me if I wanted to replace their longtime sailing correspondent Barbara Lloyd," said McCormick. "I was flattered to be considered as a replacement for the legend Barbara Lloyd and delighted to have an opportunity to write for the Times so I very quickly said yes."
"In 1994-95, I took a year off and went around the world as the media manager
for the Around Alone event," said McCormick. "It was in Sydney where I met my wife Carole, who in her youth was the #1-ranked gymnast in Australia and is the real athlete in the family." Herb and Carole have a 4-year-old daughter named Maggie.
"At this point I've sailed about 25,000 offshore miles, including a trans-Atlantic trip on an engineless catamaran (dumb) and from Australia to Antarctica and back dodging icebergs across the Southern Ocean (and dumber). In all seriousness, though, I feel very fortunate to do something I really enjoy, and I know a big reason for that is the time I spent at Williams."