Essay

My Parents’ Legacy, My Library, and the Mel Rosen Biography

Craig Darch

September 17, 2014

Earlier this week, Craig Darch wrote about how he became interested in writing the Mel Rosen biography. He is the author of From Brooklyn to the Olympics: The Hall of Fame Career of Auburn University Track Coach Mel Rosen and has been blogging here all week for Jewish Book Council’s Visiting Scribe series.

I graduated from high school in 1967 and got a gift from my mother and father for the accomplishment. It was Zalman Shazar’s book, Morning Stars, published by the Jewish Publication Society. Shazer, born in the Belorussian town of Mir in 1889, was eventually elected Israel’s third President. I didn’t read Morning Stars, however. I just put it with my other books. I think back then my personal library had maybe twenty or thirty 30 books, mostly sports and Jewish books.

In 1982 I completed a doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon. My wife Gabi, our son Eric, and I drove across the country to my parents’ house in Wisconsin. Once there I picked up some of my belongings to bring to our rented house in Auburn, Alabama, including books that I stored in their basement. Among those books was the still unread Morning Stars. Once I got to Auburn for my first university teaching position, I put my books neatly on my bookshelf. And there they sat.

One night I happened to pick up Zalman’s book of reminiscences about his childhood in Steibtz and began reading them. It had been 15 years since my parents had given me the book as a high school graduation gift. All the stories were good, but one stood out: “Father’s Library.” In this story Shazar lovingly tells of his father’s books and how each spring he would help him take the books and put them in the yard for a dusting off and an airing. It is a wonderful story about how books played such an important role in his life.

When I was writing From Brooklyn to the Olympics: The Hall of Fame Career of Auburn University Track Coach Mel Rosen I started my research by reading books from my personal library. I have a two thousand Jewish book collection. It is always a treat to use my library for research. I have often thought of Shazar’s story about his father’s library, and each time I use my library Shazar’s story comes to mind, and I think of how I developed a love for books and reading.

Like Shazar, my interest in books came from watching my father and mother reading Jewish books. I remember my father reading Harold Ribalow’s The Jew in American Sports. In fact, it is my father’s copy that sits on a shelf in my library. The famous Jewish boxer Barney Ross wrote the preface to the book. Another of my father’s books that can be found in my library is Robert Slater’s comprehensive volume, Great Jews in Sports. This book was a great help to me writing the Rosen biography as well and continues to sit on a shelf in my library. The forward to this volume was written by former Boston Celtics basketball coach Red Auerbach. Both of these classics are must-reading for anyone interested in Jews and sports.

I also remember seeing both my mother and father reading Irving Howe’s book, World of Our Fathers. They shared the volume. One night it would be my father with the volume, and the next night the book would be in the hands of my mother. The image of them sharing the book has never faded from my usually porous memory. Their book also sits on a shelf in my library. When I took it from its place to use as a resource for writing the Rosen biography, I opened the cover of the book and immediately noticed an inscription I had not seen before. In my mother’s beautiful handwriting the simple inscription read: “Dorothy and Will.” Yes that is how I always think of them, their love of books and the love they shared; Dorothy and Will.

Craig Darch is the Humana-Sherman-Germany Distinguished Professor of Special Education at Auburn University.

Related Content: