A second influence was Robert Maynard Hutchins who withdrew Chicago from intermural football. That happened at about the same time that the sport was being given its modern form at Notre Dame. Hutchins may have foreseen the danger of football excesses.
But by the early �60s, when I attended, Chicago had developed an outstanding, though unusual, athletic program. It was low-keyed and I was encouraged to mix in, even though I wasn�t gifted athletically.
So I tried various sports. One was a judo class, conducted by a Dr. Harper. He was the most jovial of instructors, but couldn�t overcome my innate lack of ability in that particular sport.
The death of Dr. Paul Harper, at eighty-nine, was recently reported in the University of Chicago Magazine. That Dr. Paul Harper was the grandson of Chicago�s first president. I don�t recall the first name of the Dr. Harper who conducted the judo classes; but I imagine it was, in fact, the same Dr. Paul Harper who recently passed away. He would have been about fifty when I was an undergraduate--and that fits with what I remember.
I had somewhat better luck with the wrestling team.
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