Ask Cruz: Volume XX

LEXINGTON, Ky. — I fancy myself the Indiana Jones of debate, particularly as mine my way through some old files in the office of the University of Kentucky Debate Team in Funkhouser Hall. I anticipate finding materials that will help me “fill in the blanks” with early editions of the TOC.

Right now, however, I’m taking a break from my archaeological dig, however, to answer a few older questions submitted to me for Ask Cruz. I’ll be playing catch-up for quite a bit, I realize. But with so many good questions posed to me, I’m not worried.

I’ll be answering new questions, as well, of course. So, then, as in the past, keep the questions coming; post them here, or shoot me an e-mail.

Sam Duby asks, “Is Lindsay Dolan the only person to break three times at TOC?”

Attending the TOC three times is a very rare achievement; advancing into the elimination rounds at the TOC three times, then, is almost unheard of. Lindsay Dolan is, so far, the only debater in the twenty-first century to do this. Four other debaters who have achieved this feat are Jason Baldwin of Vestavia Hills, Hetal Doshi of Vestavia Hills, Tom Zimpleman of Valley, and Tom Pryor of Hopkins.

Lindsay twice advanced to the octafinals and ended her career in the quarterfinals of the TOC. (Her teammate, Joan Gass, coached over her.) Tom twice debated in the octafinals and won the TOC his senior year. Jason cleared to the quarterfinals as a sophomore, debated the final round as a junior, and won the TOC as a senior.

Michael Mangus asks, “Who is the worst speaker to win the TOC? In other words, who won but did not get a speaker award or, if no such people exist, who got the lowest speaker award among those who won?”

Jenn Larson was the champion and the first seed at the Tournament of Champions in 2002, but she was not one of the top ten speakers. This does not mean, of course, that she was not a wonderful speaker in general.

Several people have been both the winner of the Walter Alan Ulrich Award and the winner of the TOC.

They are Bronx Science’s Jonathan Koppell, Regis’s David Kennedy, Miami Palmetto’s Jeff Marcus, Vestavia Hills’s Jason Baldwin, Vestavia Hills’s Hetal Doshi, Valley’s Tom Zimpleman, Hopkins’s Tom Pryor, Greenhill’s David Wolfish, and Lynbrook’s Patrick Diehl.

Rob Parker asks, “What is the best a Nevadan has ever done at the TOC in LD?”

Two years ago, Mike Spirtos of Meadows cleared at the TOC, dropping to the eventual champion, Patrick Diehl of Lynbrook, in the octafinals. Max Stevens of Green Valley cleared at the TOC in 2004, dropping to Eric Palmer of Howland in the octafinal round on a 2-1 decision.

Brad Noethe asks, “What is the furthest elimination round a sophomore or freshman has gone in the TOC?”

Of the three freshmen to attend the TOC — Justin Osofsky of Isidore Newman, Craig Gilbert of Hendrick Hudson and Horace Mann, and Catherine Tarsney of St. Louis Park — only one cleared: Justin Osofsky. He was eliminated in the octafinal round.

Vestavia’s Jason Baldwin and Monte Vista’s Will Leiter both advanced to the quarterfinal rounds during their sophomore seasons.

An anonymous reader asks, “Who, if anybody, has had significant, widespread success in recent years without ever attending a debate camp?”

I’d say that the most recent person I can think of who had the most “significant, widespread success” without ever attending a debate camp was David Lebowitz of Scarsdale High School.

David won both the Yale Invitational and the Malcolm A. Bump Memorial Tournament at Hendrick Hudson High School — two very competitive quarterfinals bid tournaments — in addition to debating in the semifinal round of the Harvard National Invitational and the quarterfinal round of the Glenbrooks. He competed at the MBA Round Robin. And he cleared at the TOC.

Phelan O’Neill asks, “How many TOC outround participants since 2000 have gone on to participate in outrounds at either the CEDA or NDT?”

I assume you mean Lincoln-Douglas debate outround participants; if so, to my knowledge, the answer to that question is: none.

The most recent TOC outround participant who attended the NDT is Michael Mangus, who asked one of the questions answered above. Now a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh, Michael qualified to the NDT as a freshman.

There have been former Lincoln-Douglas debaters who did not clear at the TOC — some of who did not even attend the TOC — who went on to have great success at the NDT.

An anonymous reader comments, “Nice article Jon, good piece of writing. Enjoyed the historical perspective and tributes to competitors & coaches past and present. Thanks for bringing that to us. And thank you for all the tireless reporting, coaching and encouragement you bring as positive contributions to the speech and debate community all year long!”

Why thank you!

The same anonymous reader asks, “Now here’s an historical challenge/trivia item… If we consider the TOC, NFL Nationals and NCFL as the end of year national championships of LD, when was the last time the same city was represented in all three finals??”

This is a great question. (And congratulations to Strake Jesuit’s Todd Liipfert, Kinkaid’s Becca Traber, and Bellaire’s Muthu Alagappan for debating finals at Nationals, the TOC, and the NCFL, respectively.) In 1996, the greater Minneapolis area was represented in the final rounds of all three tournaments. David Singh of Apple Valley debated finals at the TOC, Dan Vukelich of Benilde-St. Margaret’s won Nationals, and Jessica Rosenberg of Benilde-St. Margaret’s won the NCFL. For the record, Apple Valley and St. Louis Park (the location of Benilde-St. Margaret’s) are suburbs, so I am not sure if this meets the test you ask in your question.

If it doesn’t meet the test, then I am almost positive that no other city than Houston has ever been represented in the final rounds of all three tournaments. It is conceivable that this could have happened in 1989, when David Kennedy won both the TOC and the NCFL, had an error in the tabulation room not prevented him from advancing all the way to finals. But we’ll never know.

Incidentally, it appears that only Benilde-St. Margaret’s and Celebration (in Florida) have won the NCFL and Nationals the same year. Celebration’s Tara Tedrow won both tournaments in 2005.

Adam Torson knowingly asks, “What would Jon Cruz’s name have been had he been born in Spain?”

My parents planned to name me “Bruno” had I been born in Spain. I’m not joking.

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Jon Cruz will answer Adam Torson’s briefcase question in due time.

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