Growing Forward: Traditions Old and New

Celebrating a year of change and honoring the past that made it possible

by Candice Lee

Dear Commodore Nation,

Growing up in Alabama, opening our presents at midnight on Christmas Eve was one of my favorite family holiday traditions. After weeks of sizing up the carefully wrapped and brightly colored packages, my brother and I could barely contain ourselves. The added thrill of staying up late lent the night extra energy. I’m not sure we could have been any more excited even if eight reindeer had landed on the roof.

When my husband, Sean, and I began hosting our own Christmas, let’s just say that he wasn’t as enthused about fighting off sleep until the wee hours of the morning. Still, some of my love for this time of year is rooted in memories of those nights by the tree. Whether we continue traditions unchanged or adapt them to the world around us, the past is always a part of who we are.

That idea has been on my mind as this calendar year ends. It was a year of change for Vanderbilt Athletics—remarkable change. We welcomed two rising stars to Commodore Nation in women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph and cross country and track and field director Althea Thomas. We watched Clark Lea lead the football team for the first time. And with Vandy United, an unprecedented $300 million commitment to providing the best student-athlete experience, we reimagined the future and acted boldly to bring that vision to life.

In so many ways, this year was about where we go next—about helping our student-athletes reach their full potential and about building an even stronger fan experience in Nashville. And yet, this year also reinforced how much everything we do is possible because of the passion for this university that people have shared for nearly 150 years.

Vandy United required extensive planning long before the public announcement in March. We knew by January that to have the necessary space to upgrade the north end zone of Vanderbilt Stadium and build an adjoining basketball operations center, we likely needed to remove Parmer Field House.

Originally constructed in conjunction with Dudley Field in 1922 and named for benefactor Walter O. Parmer, the field house provided locker rooms for the Commodores and visiting teams for half a century and found later use as a concessions headquarters. The old stone building served the university well, but its work was done.

That led me to Walter R. Parmer, a proud Vanderbilt alumnus and a descendent of the building’s namesake. The current Mr. Parmer couldn’t have been kinder in telling me that the family understood why we needed the space to serve future generations of student-athletes. But in our correspondence, I learned more about the original Mr. Parmer’s story—about his passion for Nashville, Vanderbilt Athletics and higher education in general through the Parmer Scholars program.

Even as Parmer Field House comes down after a farewell event early in the new year, it’s important that we commemorate the contributions that helped shaped our campus.

Unfortunately for our entire community, the passing of John R. Hall brought another moment of reflection at the end of the year. A longtime member of the Board of Trust who remained devoted to the university as a trustee emeritus, John was one of the best friends Vanderbilt Athletics ever had. From his days as a Commodore team captain and our first Academic All-American in the 1950s through his continued involvement in the early decades of a new century, he championed our cause with kindness and empathy. We will miss him dearly and continue to keep his beloved wife, Donna, and his entire family in our thoughts and prayers.

We are better because of the people who cared so much about this university and Vanderbilt Athletics. And we are better when we remember them.

Nor should change mean discarding our traditions. Even as we reimagine the future, I want to preserve what is unique—big and small. I’m excited we have an opportunity to do that with the Rebounders, the passionate group of former men’s basketball student-athletes, coaches, trainers and managers who used to congregate in a room inside Memorial where they could swap stories and eat popcorn before home games. The problem was that as we kept growing, we eventually needed even that small space for logistics.

I’m pleased to say that as we prepare to break ground on a new basketball operations center, launching a new era for our men’s and women’s programs, we are honoring existing tradition by making a game day suite available to the Rebounders.

Vandy United’s vision for the future isn’t possible without the strong foundation of our past.

I also believe that what our coaches and student-athletes do right now will create traditions every bit as enduring as the construction projects on the horizon. We only need to look at the VandyBoys’ trip to Omaha this year to see how that happens.

I am proud of who we are—and who we are in the process of becoming.

I’m proud that when the NCAA recently released its Graduation Success Rate, Vanderbilt remained among the nation’s elite. Eugene Henderson, assistant athletic director for student services, and his team are working tirelessly through the challenges of the pandemic to provide our student-athletes with the tools to excel off the field.

I’m proud of our student-athletes and teams in recently concluded fall seasons. It was great to see the cross country program’s energy under Althea Thomas and to watch Darren Ambrose’s young soccer team find its footing and finish second in the SEC East. The recent football banquet was a really cool experience too. It was an awesome celebration of Team 1 laying a foundation—a future that includes one of the highest-ranked recruiting classes in program history.

Strong cultures lead to strong programs. And that leads to wins. It only happens in that order. Not with shortcuts, but with hard work.

I am excited about the future of Vanderbilt Athletics and what is possible with Vandy United.

Allow me to wish you safe and restful holidays, however you celebrate the season (and at whatever time you open any associated gifts). I hope you savor all that we accomplished together in 2021 and return rested and ready in the new year. After all, we are never done.

Anchor Down! 

Candice Lee Signature

Candice Lee
Vice Chancellor of Athletics and University Affairs and Athletic Director