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That Voice
by Ed Hatchett '73
We all have them. The idols of our youth. Thomas Spragens was one of mine. And I didn’t have many, so his passing affects me keenly. He was one of a handful of accomplished individuals who, by example and counsel, led me to public service. As I came to learn the highlights of his life and career—U.K., Syracuse, the Ford Foundation, Stephens, Centre—my own lifetime purposes sharpened in focus. I am proud to admit it. I wanted to be Tom Spragens. I practiced, vainly, to achieve his voice.
A student role on campus allowed me to watch in awe as Tom Spragens managed and reconciled the diverse interests that presented themselves to him as a college president. He was masterful. He brought us all along, but most important, he marshaled and coordinated our resources for his plan for Centre. Thomas Spragens excelled in that rarest and most compelling of skills: using his position and authority to successfully focus divergent attentions on a worthy, strategic vision.
Every Centre initiative during the Spragens years was imbued with courage, grace, and dignity. Thomas and Catharine Spragens were an extraordinary team, adroitly guiding the College through the difficult issues of their time, opening their home and their hearts to all. Their complete leadership mollified adversaries and dampened conflict, ever fostering advancement.
Thomas Spragens was the paradigm against whom I have measured all the other college and university presidents I have had occasion to know and observe through the years. To my everlasting benefit, his friendship and mentoring directly influenced me long after I had graduated from Centre. When I became a candidate for public office the first time in 1995, Thomas Spragens introduced me at the campaign’s kick-off announcement. His mere presence made more impact on the electorate than my own months of campaigning. His remarks were unscripted, unrehearsed, and energizing. His sonorous tones were, as usual, mesmerizing. The baritone that had enabled Thomas Spragens to establish moral authority throughout a lifetime of higher education leadership lent credibility to my campaign.
Today, that extraordinary voice reverberates across the picturesque campus made possible by his careful stewardship. It resounds throughout the halls of the buildings that bear his imprint. It rings in the ears—and moves the hearts—of all of us who benefited from the “new” curriculum and faculty, who love Centre, and who pay respectful tribute to Thomas Spragens. Ed Hatchett ’73 is managing partner of Blue Spring Creek and former Kentucky auditor
of public accounts.
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Centre College
600 West Walnut St.
Danville, KY 40422
Phone: (859) 238-5717
Fax: (859) 238-5723
E-mail: alumnews@centre.edu
or johnsond@centre.edu