Ask Cruz: Volume XIX — Joan Gass vs. Todd Liipfert Special Edition

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — “Ask Cruz” — a column in which I seek answers to questions of debate trivia submitted to me by members of the debate community — returns today with a set of questions related to tomorrow’s final round. I’d like to take this moment to congratulate Joan Gass and Todd Liipfert, on this incredible achievement. I have had the pleasure of seeing both debaters compete for quite some time now and they are most definitely two of the very best debaters in the country.

You can post further questions right here on VBD, and I’ll select a few to answer in my next installment.

I’ve been asked — in person, by e-mail, over AIM, by text message — a number of questions today in regards to tomorrow’s round. I generally answer specific questions, but instead, I’ll just write some observations.

I’d be happy to answer specific questions that you post or comment on other observations that you note.

FIRST, I SHOULD NOTE

Wesley Craven was on the bottom of a 4-1 decision in Round 15. He also was on the bottom of a 6-1 decision in the final round of the TOC this year. He also squirreled in the final round of the TOC last year.

Just thought I’d point that out. But I’ll stop, lest Wes kill me. (Wes Craven? Get it? Get it?)

Okay. Back to the real stuff.

PRECEDENTS FOR THIS YEAR’S FINAL ROUND

Again, I think it is appropriate to congratulate Todd and Joan on this amazing achievement. This is clearly a stellar finish for two very strong careers. I am looking forward to working with both of you on the staff of the Victory Briefs Institute this summer.

I’d also like to congratulate their coaches: Stacy Thomas and Tom Evnen for their hard work with Joan and with Hockaday, and Jerry Crist and Gary Johnson for their hard work with Todd and with Strake Jesuit.

Texas is the leader in terms of winning the national title in Lincoln-Douglas debate: tomorrow, a seventh Texan will be crowned the National Champion.

Alabama, California, and Minnesota are tied for second with three National Champions each. North Carolina and New York have each had two National Champions; a New Mexico school — St. Michael’s High School — closed out the final round in 1986, producing two champions for that state as well. Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee have also each produced a National Champion.

Currently, Vestavia Hills High School is the only school to boast two National Champions in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Claire Carman won in 1994; Allison Pickett won in 1998.

So, of course, Marilee Dukes — the coach of Vestavia at the time — coached two National Champions. So to did Aaron Timmons; he coached Shalini Ramanathan of Newman Smith High School in 1990 and Marc Wallenstein of the Greenhill School in 1997.

Incidentally, I recently interviewed Ramanathan in an installment of “The Early Champions: Where Are They Now?”

Should Joan emerge victorious from tomorrow’s round, she would give Hockaday its second national title, and Stacy Thomas and Tom Evnen would join Dukes and Timmons as the only coaches with two National Champions. Hockaday would be the first school to have two back-to-back champions.

Should Strake Jesuit win, this would not only be their first national title, but an incredible testament to the rapid growth of this “new dynasty.” (That moniker is often applied to Hockaday as well under the direction of Stacy Thomas.)

Both Strake Jesuit and Hockaday cleared all of their Lincoln-Douglas debaters who competed at Nationals this year: three and two, respectively.

Strake Jesuit is one of very few schools to have ever cleared three Lincoln-Douglas debaters at Nationals in the same year. Grapevine — under the direction of Jane Boyd — did so in 1999. This year, Northland Christian — coached by Kevin Roberts and Sam Duby — did so as well. Notice a trend? All three schools are from Texas.

No one has ever won both Nationals and the Tournament of Champions. This year’s TOC champion, Chris Theis, did not compete in Lincoln-Douglas debate at this year’s Nationals.

Todd was an octafinalist at this year’s TOC; Joan was a semifinalist. Last year’s National Champion, Taarini Vohra, was an octafinalist. The previous year’s National Champion, Douglas Jeffers of Dulles High School, was a semifinalist.

Adam Chilton of Arizona’s Mountain View High School — who won in 2003 — was the last National Champion to not clear at the TOC. Edina’s Jed Glickstein (2004) and Celebration’s Tara Tedrow (2005) were, like Vohra, octafinalists.

By the way, this will make three consecutive years in which a Texan has won Nationals, since this year’s final round is a Texas close-out. In 2006, a Houston debater claimed the title; in 2007, a Dallas debater won. This year’s final round features both a Houston debater and a Dallas debater.

This also marks the fourth consecutive final round to feature both a male debater and a female debater.

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Each year, I provide the same commentary, because it promotes some interesting debate. Here it is again.

In the 1980s, two states were unquestionably the centers of LD: New York and Florida. The Bronx High School of Science (coached by Richard B. Sodikow) and Regis High School (coached by Eric Di Michele), both located in New York City, fielded multiple National Champions, TOC champions, Emory champions, Wake Forest champions, and UPenn champions. In addition to winning Nationals in 1984, Bronx Science won the first TOC in Lincoln-Douglas and, as already mentioned, remains the only school ever to close out the TOC in that event. Regis also claimed an NFL title and a TOC title, had an additional debater in the final round of the TOC, and won the top speaker award at the TOC twice.

Twin Lakes High School in Florida was the original program of Dale McCall, considered by many to be the “Queen of LD.” She coached multiple Emory champions — eventually, the LD exhibition round of the Barkley Forum was named in her honor — two close-outs at Bronx Science, and multiple wins at UPenn. While the NFL title eluded her students at Twin Lakes and, later, at Wellington, she did coach a student (Scott Tucker) to the second-ever TOC LD title in 1987. Also a major player in these early years of LD were North Miami Beach and Miami Palmetto. Merle Ulery was the coach at North Miami Beach at the time, and Fran Berger and Hal Brooks coached the debaters at Miami Palmetto.

Interestingly, despite major dominance of national circuit tournaments throughout the 1980s and well into the 1990s, Florida did not have a National Champion until last Tara Tedrow claimed the title in 2005.

The 1990s saw the rise of several powerhouse programs, including Alabama’s Vestavia Hills High School (coached by Marilee Dukes), Iowa’s Valley High School (coached by Nick Nelsen and, later, Bryce Pashler), and Minnesota’s Apple Valley High School (coached by Pam Cady Wycoff). Over the decade, these programs racked up simply incredible records nationally.

Vestavia alone produced two St. Mark’s champions, three Emory champions, and five Wake Forest champions. It remains the only school to win Nationals more than once. Vestavia also had six debaters in the final round of the TOC over the span of seven years and took the title twice and the top speaker award three times. Valley won three out of its four final round appearances, and Apple Valley had students in finals three times. Valley and Apple Valley both racked up major titles as well — the latter appeared in finals of Bronx Science’s New York City Invitational five times and won it three times, for example.

What other programs would you pick as powerhouses from the 1980s and 1990s?

Of course, Nationals is not a tournament exclusive to those schools that compete at the TOC. Many National Champions have come from powerhouse programs that focus more on local and regional circuits and tournaments. One of the great and unique things about the tournament is that its representation is truly national, with competitors drawn from the fifty states and several overseas territories. Ultimately, to be crowned National Champion, one must appeal to critics from these diverse constituencies.

Apple Valley, Bronx Science, Miami Palmetto, Regis, Twin Lakes, Valley, Vestavia Hills, and Wellington were clearly among the most dominant LD powerhouses of the last two decades, true “dynasties” in the sense of producing long strings of champions of major national titles.

By the end of this decade, what programs do you think will be considered the “dynasties” or “powerhouses”?

I’d argue that both Strake Jesuit and Hockaday should be included on any list.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Ask Cruz, Nationals 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.