The team mobs Jack Boyle ’20 after he hit the game-winning shot to send the Sagehens to the Sweet 16.

FIRST CAME THE SHOT: Jack Boyle’s spectacular three-pointer from the corner as time expired on March 7 sent Pomona-Pitzer to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament for the first time in program history.

“It felt like it hung in the air for almost an eternity,” says Boyle PI ’20, before the ball splashed through the net for a 71-70 victory over 10th-ranked Emory and the Sagehens ended up in a celebratory pile near midcourt.

Next came the shock: Sitting on a plane five days later on March 12 as they pulled away from the gate at Ontario International Airport to fly to their next game near Chicago, players’ and coaches’ phones started to ding.

“We were 100 yards from the terminal and we all looked up at once and saw that the NCAA tournament had been canceled at all levels,” says Charlie Katsiaficas, men’s basketball coach and professor of physical education. “A flight attendant was standing right beside me, going through the normal routine that they do when you’re pulling back in terms of the air mask and the seat belt and all that. So I said, ‘Excuse me, ma’am, the game we’re flying to has just been canceled. Is there any way you can take us back to the terminal so we can get off the plane?’

“She goes running up the aisle and I’m thinking to myself, there is no way they’re going to allow us to get off this plane. She comes back 30, 45 seconds later and says, ‘Yep, we’re going to pull back in and let you guys get off.’”

So unfurled one of the most emotional turnarounds in the history of Pomona-Pitzer Athletics. The only way a season usually ends on a buzzer-beating victory is when a team wins a championship, unless a team’s not good enough to make the postseason at all. Instead, it ended by getting off a plane.

The shot was one shining moment, now forever in suspended animation.

“You realize that your sports career is over, for many of us,” James Kelbert ’20 says from his home in San Jose as classes moved online and events across the country were suspended or canceled because of the global coronavirus pandemic. “You have people crying; you have people just very upset. It’s a weird feeling, because you’re done, but you hadn’t lost. You go through a whirlwind of feelings and emotions, just trying to navigate all of those.

“But at the end of the day, you’ve got to keep it in perspective, at least from my point of view. This is a serious pandemic going on. This is probably the best thing for all of us.”

The play will live on in Sagehen lore.

Down two points with 2.2 seconds to go in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Pomona-Pitzer had the ball out of bounds near the Sagehens’ bench.

The strong-armed Kelbert, also the goalie for the Pomona-Pitzer water polo team, stood on the sideline to inbound the ball. Alex Preston ’21 set a screen in the lane to free Boyle. And Kelbert led Boyle with a pass like a quarterback leading a receiver, hitting him with a two-handed, diagonal cross-court pass as he arrived in the far corner.

“Preston set a great screen, so I was I was able to get pretty wide open,” Boyle says. “Kelbert made an absolutely phenomenal pass.”

A defender rushed in to try to block the shot, but Boyle threw a fake.

“I saw the guy fly by me, and then I had a clean look at the basket. I felt confident in the moment that I could get a good shot off, and so I just let it fly,” Boyle says.

And so it ended.

After their third-round game against Elmhurst College in Illinois was canceled, the team deplaned and returned to campus, where students were packing to leave for the semester. For seniors Boyle, Kelbert, Micah Elan PI ’20, Adam Rees ’20 and Matthew Paik ’20, it was the end of the line.

“That’s the tough thing, just trying to squeeze in that emotional journey,” Kelbert says. “I think there was a four-day turnaround between being on that plane ready to take off and then me leaving campus for the last time as a senior. People were trying to sell as many things as they possibly can, especially seniors who were like, ‘What am I going to do with my fridge now?’”

Realizing there would be no exit meetings, no banquet, no closure, Katsiaficas and his staff called a meeting for the next day, and the team played some loose, somewhat socially distanced pickup ball, then had Domino’s pizza for dinner amid informal awards and recognition.

“We all just kind of got to enjoy each other’s company and play the game we love,” Boyle says.

The son of University of Colorado Coach Tad Boyle and older brother of high school senior Pete Boyle, who plans to attend Pomona and play for the Sagehens next season, Boyle is back home near Boulder, studying online and plotting his future. After interning last summer for the San Antonio Spurs, coached by former Pomona-Pitzer coach Gregg Popovich, he plans to pursue coaching for at least a while, maybe get an MBA.

Kelbert ultimately plans to pursue medicine.

“This just makes me want to become a doctor a whole lot more,” he says. “Just because you see the bravery and you see the selflessness that they go through, because a lot of people are treating tons of victims without any personal protective equipment, knowing very well they could get infected and die from this.

“It’s really tough to see them go through these plights but it’s definitely strengthened my own convictions.”

The Division III NCAA championship game would have been April 5 in Atlanta, sharing the weekend stage with the NCAA Division I Men’s Final Four. Who is to say where Pomona-Pitzer’s run might have ended?

“I think guys were like, we want more, we want to see where we can take this thing,” Katsiaficas says. “But we also know there are a bunch of other teams that are dealing with similar situations. Division II was in the middle of their national tournament and Division I was just heading into a lot of their conference tournaments. So you had teams all over the country that were chasing their dream of winning a national championship. Spring sports are having their whole season canceled.  So there are plenty of disappointments throughout the country.  But as we get further away from it, you realize this had to be done.  It’s something that makes sense for the country.”

The pain and frustration, over time, subside.

“It’s great to go out, I guess, on a high like that,” Boyle says. “To have your last college athletics experience be that moment.”

Hazel Raja

IN THE FALL of 2001, Hazel Raja, now associate dean and senior director of Pomona’s Career Development Center, was living in New York when the unthinkable happened—the terrorist attacks of 9/11. “I’d taken out a large loan to go to New York University. It had always been my dream,” she explains. “I remember feeling overwhelmed and lost; I was emotionally drained by all of the loss, trauma and upheaval. I struggled to focus on a job search right away. What’s happening now feels very familiar.”

The global pandemic has created skyrocketing unemployment just as many of Pomona’s new graduates are job-hunting. “Students will need to continue to practice patience and focus on what they can control. They need to understand that their Plan B is just as important, right now, as their Plan A,” says Raja. “The pandemic has impacted hiring. There have been delays and fewer jobs posted. Students and our new graduates have to be realistic,” she says. “But there are things that they can do. And that’s how the CDO can be helpful.”

PCM: What services are available through the CDO?

Raja: The CDO is operating all of our services remotely. We’re offering close to 30 remote career advising appointments a day, as well as online info sessions and other resources through Handshake, plus alumni networking opportunities through our virtual programming and resources like Sagehen Connect and SagePost47.

Hiring has gone entirely online; recruiters are conducting all of their interviews via phone and/or videoconferencing. If students don’t feel 100% comfortable with using those platforms to interview, they should connect with us to get trained. We can do mock interviews with them and will share tips to ensure that they are successful in presenting themselves competitively and authentically in this job market.

PCM: Who is hiring in this environment?

Raja: There are industries that have increased their hiring as a result of the pandemic. For example, many companies are relying on their communication channels to share messaging, so they are hiring communications professionals who focus on social media and public relations. Companies that make remote work easier like Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams­, Skype, etc., are hiring. Obviously, the health care sector and pharmaceuticals are booming. Additionally, the public sector: governments, county offices, the schools are actively recruiting. They’re looking for people to help quickly launch projects to support communities. Other areas that are actively hiring include accounting, logistics and delivery.

Start-ups are a great option right now for students and graduates who are enterprising and nimble. There are a lot of start-ups that are looking for new graduates because of the skills they bring, their ability to be creative and innovative thinkers and their ability to quickly pivot.

In contrast, there are industries that are actively cutting jobs. If somebody said to me, “I want to get a job in the airline industry,” I would say, “Well, there are very few to no jobs being posted in aviation right now.” Additionally, leisure and entertainment have been hit hard. It’s important to recognize that there are some fields, and some jobs, that may just evaporate for the time being or disappear altogether. If a student is struggling because of the lack of opportunities in their chosen career path, I hope they will feel comfortable leaning on the CDO for support and advice.

PCM: How can students job-hunt under safer-at-home orders?

Raja: Seventy-five percent of jobs are found through networking; therefore, 75 percent of a student’s job search or internship search should focus on networking.

In a situation like this where your options to physically network are extremely limited, you need to have a really strong online brand—that’s really important now because opportunities to woo potential firms in person are not an option.

Students have to “practice their pitch,” and they just have to keep applying for jobs. To be quite frank, I don’t think students apply for enough opportunities. In this type of environment, it’s even more important that they are actively applying and that they apply for even more opportunities than they would have normally.

It’s worth noting—if you need to take a pause because the industry you want to go into is not making decisions, ask yourself: What can I do between now and when it reopens to show how actively engaged I have been, and how can I improve my candidacy for when things reopen?

PCM: What advice do you have for students on summer plans?

Raja: Summer is a time for building skills through experiences. That expectation hasn’t changed but the source of how you gain those skills may have to be adjusted. It’s worth noting that now that companies and organizations are reopening, there is going to be great need for them to ramp up quickly. They’re likely going to be looking for short-term manpower to help pick things back up again. And that is something that I think college students are the perfect candidate for, because short-term work is exactly what they’re looking for in the summer months.

Additionally, the Pomona College Internship Program (PCIP) and RAISE program are supporting hundreds of students in developing their knowledge and employability skills though internships and independent projects. While those programs are closed for this summer, students can also develop great skills through remote campus employment. Available jobs are posted on Handshake.

Additionally, students could take advantage of online learning, online teaching or tutoring opportunities, or working for summer programs for kids (if they enjoy doing that kind of thing).

If students have lost their internships or plans for the summer or are not getting any responses, they need to reflect on what they can do to stay relevant. How can they stay on the radar of the person who hired them or would have been interested in their candidacy under other circumstances? What can they do to help support the employer or that organization remotely, if they’re willing to let them do that?

PCM: How can alumni help?

Raja: Alumni and parents can be a great resource to students right now. We are working with the Alumni Office and Parent Relations to explore a number of avenues to connect our students to Sa­gehens and Sagehen-supporters out in the workforce. Our #HelpingHens campaign, which launched in April, signposts mentorship options and the promotion of jobs and internships.

PCM: What should students do to cope as they search for work?

Raja: Students need to take time to process what’s happening and take care of themselves by prioritizing their well-being. You are a better job-searcher if you feel good about yourself. And you will feel good about yourself if you are sleeping well, eating well and taking care of yourself.

This can be a very isolating experience. Students should really be thinking about their emotional health and schedule time to connect with their roommates, friends and mentors. Mental health is also not something that can be neglected. If students had therapy appointments lined up, they should keep doing them virtually, because job-searching can lead to increased anxiety, regardless of the environment. It’s really easy to be down on yourself and take things really personally if you’re not taking care of your well-being.

EMERGENCY ROOM PHYSICIAN Jonathan Gelber ’10 is on the front lines battling the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. Jennifer Doudna ’85, internationally famous for the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique, is establishing a high-capacity coronavirus testing lab on the University of California at Berkeley campus. And Victoria Paterno ’75 P ’07, an assistant clinical professor in pediatrics at UCLA Medical Center who had retired from private practice, volunteered to return for COVID-19 duty. Those are just a few of the many Sagehens across the country who are responding to the pandemic. Here are a few of their stories in their own voices.

Jonathan Gelber ’10
Emergency Room Physician, Oakland, CA

“We do care predominately for vulnerable patients, people of unstable housing or frankly, homeless,” Gelber told CNN on March 30. “When we work to plan discharges, when we tell people things like ‘shelter in place,’ [we’ve learned] to make sure people have a shelter to ‘shelter in place’ in. We think it’s a lot easier to tell somebody like me to go hang out at home for two weeks and get food delivered. It’s a little harder when the patient is a 55-year-old gentleman who lives in a tent encampment under the 45th Street bypass, and with 15 other people. So we’ve learned how to plan for that and see our problems ahead of time before they arise. That’s saying, hey, how do we keep the curve flat, how do we keep patients like this from infecting other patients at shelters, at homeless encampments, as well as the general patient population? And how do we keep the people in the emergency room safe from infecting each other in the lobby?”

Zack Haberman ’10

Zack Haberman ’10
Emergency Room Physician, Stockton, CA

“My ER serves a diverse community, including a large elderly and socioeconomically underserved population. I am seeing the number of COVID patients continue to grow. While I can draw on what I’ve learned from basic science at Pomona, medical school and residency, the scariest part of the virus is how much is unknown. In many ways, I am used to that—my job is to see patients with an unknown illness or problem and make life-or-death decisions based on incomplete information. However, the more I see and read about the virus, it doesn’t seem to respond in the same way that other serious heart and lung emergencies do. Because of that, we still don’t know the best way to treat patients—especially the sickest ones. And unlike most emergencies, it is putting myself, my co-workers and our families at risk. I’ve already had to take care of my colleagues who have fallen ill from COVID, and I get a pit in my stomach knowing that there will be more to come.”

Vian Zada ’16

Vian Zada ’16
Fourth-year Medical Student, Georgetown University

“Medical students across the country are helping out with the response in virtual ways. For me, I am part of the MedStar Telehealth Response Team and, with other students, am calling thousands of patients with their test results. I am also a coach with our school’s disaster preparedness exercise, and leading Zoom sessions for first-year medical students. I also have an Instagram page @studentsagainstcovid, which I am managing with some health professionals in the San Diego area, where I grew up. We are hoping to target younger audiences with information on social distancing and disease prevention.”

David Siew ’98

David Siew ’98
Internal Medicine Physician, Kirkland, WA

“Our hospital identified the first large-scale outbreak of COVID-19 disease in the United States after noting an influx of patients with unexplained respiratory disease from a local care facility. Up until that point, COVID-19 still felt a world away and none of these patients had the primary risk factor: international travel. We were shocked to discover ourselves at the initial national epicenter of the pandemic. I am amazed and humbled by the mobilization of our hospital and the multidisciplinary effort of every member of our organization to care for the community. My group continues to treat many hospitalized patients with the disease and has compiled the lessons we are learning for other health care providers. … The growing and evolving body of knowledge regarding COVID-19 requires providers to assimilate new information on a daily basis. Since there are many uncertainties, we have to collaborate with others and form our own critical conclusions on which to base our testing and treatment strategies.”

Daniel Low ’11

Daniel Low ’11
Famiy Medicine Physician, Seattle, WA

“I think it is critically important to highlight the disproportionate effect that COVID-19 has on marginalized communities. Certainly, COVID-19 has touched virtually everyone, but the manifestations are exacerbating existing socioeconomic and racial inequities in our country. Community health centers are being hit particularly hard and are having particular difficulty in serving the most disenfranchised individuals in our communities. Without a critical lens focusing on the most vulnerable, things as seemingly utilitarian as the ethical rationing of limited ventilators will ultimately worsen healthcare disparities because criteria for respirators often focus on the absence of chronic conditions, and yet we know that structural violence and systemic racism have resulted in communities of color and economically disadvantaged people having higher rates of chronic conditions at baseline. I’m trying to push an agenda that focuses on and responds to the most underserved during this crisis, as we already have emerging data demonstrating that these communities are the most hard-hit.”

Kate Dzurilla ’11

Kate Dzurilla ’11
Nurse Practitioner, Brooklyn, NY

“I live on the Upper West Side, and look forward to 7 p.m. every night when we open our windows to hear cheers, applause, trumpets, bells, dogs barking, etc. Each night over the past week the cheers are growing louder. I cheer for my colleagues working in medicine, but also for the other essential personnel that are making this time in our lives easier, like those working in grocery stores, hardware stores, and bodegas, and delivering food and driving public transportation that helps me get to work. It reminds me that we’re all in it together, and that despite how unbelievable and painful this time is, we still feel hope and optimism.”

Vicki Chia ’08

Vicki Chia ’08
Chief Resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Boston, MA

“I have borne witness to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the birth experiences of patients whose communities have historically experienced denials of reproductive freedom. Restricting the presence of a patient’s labor support person(s), disclosing their diagnosis of COVID-19, and making the recommendation of separation from their baby feels like an emotional assault on a new parent, especially one who has limited resources in terms of housing and childcare. Additionally, my fellow health care providers and I are experiencing the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) through hospital policies that ration or require reuse of PPE, and limitations in testing capacity have resulted in late diagnosis and delayed identification of health care worker exposures.”

Shennan Weiss ’00

Shennan Weiss ’00
Neurologist, East Brooklyn, NY

“As a neurologist I was consulted for cases of stroke, seizure and confusion. We saw an increase in the number of our consultations as the COVID-19 pandemic grew. We saw at least five cases of catastrophic large blood vessel strokes in patients under 60 who were infected with COVID-19. On at least one occasion, we intervened with a thrombectomy revealing a larger than normal blood clot. Not all of these patients survived as a result of related respiratory complications. Those who did survive were discharged to nursing facilities often still suffering from debilitating hemiparesis and aphasia.”

Johanna Glaser ’10

Johanna Glaser ’10
Fourth-year Medical Student, UC San Francisco School of Medicine

“I just finished a rotation in a skilled nursing facility at the local VA [Veterans Affairs] hospital. All of my patients during this time, men over 70 years old with comorbidities, were among the highest risk for serious illness and death if exposed to SARS-CoV-2. It’s been devastating to see the fatality rate of this pandemic among the elderly, especially those residing communally, with about a fifth of all deaths in the U.S. due to COVID-19 being linked to nursing facilities. Luckily, not a single occupant of the facility where I was on rotation had any worrisome symptoms nor had tested positive for the virus. This, however, came at the cost of extreme isolation for this otherwise highly sociable group of men. …

“I hope that we can take this moment to reexamine how we deliver health and essential services in our country, with a new focus on marginalized populations and health equity. … In the medical context and more broadly, let us take this unprecedented event as an opportunity to avoid unnecessary suffering and inequality in the future.”

Richard Elderkin

Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Environmental Analysis

Richard Elderkin, professor emeritus of mathematics and environmental analysis, died of Alzheimer’s disease on March 9, 2020. He was 74. Elderkin was a member of the Pomona faculty from 1974 until his retirement in 2013.

One former student noted that Elderkin was “extremely generous with his time in helping me with research … he is very good at helping students put together difficult topics.” Another former student recalled Elderkin’s Classic Environmental Readings discussion-based course and said, “He always kept things interesting by guiding the discussion with provocative questions.”

A recipient of various Mellon Foundation grants for his research, Elderkin was an expert in mathematical population ecology with a research focus in mathematical modeling. Offering their collective reflections on his impact on the College’s Math Department, Professors Jo Hardin, Ami Radunskaya and Shahriar Shahriari noted that it was Elderkin, together with Emeritus Professor of Mathematics Kenneth Cook, who first gave Pomona a national presence in mathematical modeling, leading several teams to first place in the national Mathematical Contest in Modeling. “While at Pomona, he worked closely with students doing research on interdisciplinary problems and dynamical systems, generating excitement for how broadly mathematics can be used. Several of us are grateful to Rick for bringing us to Pomona College,” they wrote.

Professor Char Miller, director of the 5C Environmental Analysis Program (EA), remembers his colleague Elderkin as “a remarkably generous soul, gifted teacher and dedicated collaborator.”

Rick Hazlett, emeritus professor and past coordinator of the EA Program, says Elderkin, who helped launch and guide Pomona’s EA Program 20 years ago, was a community-minded mathematician. “He had a great laugh, an ever approachable, attentive, good natured personality, and absolute devotion to the importance not only of teaching mathematics to his young students, but doing so in a meaningful way,” Hazlett remembers.

A native of Butte, Montana, he received his bachelor’s degree from Whitman College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Robert Mezey

Professor Emeritus of English and Poet-in-Residence

Professor Emeritus of English and Poet-in-Residence Robert Mezey died at the age of 85. Mezey taught at Pomona for more than 20 years, and his work was published widely in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, New York Review of Books and Paris Review, among others.

He once said he chose to teach poetry to stay close to the language he loved. “Getting paid to talk about poetry” is how he described his job. His courses always included reciting poetry and memorizing passages—“have them in their hearts,” he said.

Poet and memoirist Garrett Hongo, ’73 shares one of his memories. “When my second book came out, I gave a reading at the Huntley Bookstore. Bob came, sat quietly in the back row through the whole thing, then spoke to me. He said, ‘Well, I don’t know if it’s poetry, but it sure is powerful, emotionally speaking.’”

“The man swung from love to reproach, meeting to meeting, yet tenderness to others and devotion to art were his dominant traits. He lit up when the topic was the love of poetry and he shared it,” says Hongo.

Emeritus Professor of English Tom Pinney remembers Bob as a lover of good poetry. “If Bob liked a poem, he had to read it only twice and he had it memorized.”

His collections of poetry included The Lovemaker (1961), winner of the Lamont Poetry Prize; White Blossoms (1965); The Door Standing Open: New and Selected Poems, 1954–1969 (1970); Small Song (1979); Evening Wind (1987); Natural Selection (1995); and Collected Poems 1952–1999, which won the Poets’ Prize. He edited numerous works, including Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems (1998), The Poetry of E.A. Robinson (1999), and, with Donald Justice, The Collected Poems of Henri Coulette (1990).

He devoted a decade of his poetic energy to translating other people’s poetry, much of it from Spanish to English. His translations included works by César Vallejo and, with Richard Barnes, all the poetry of Jorge Luis Borges.

He received several prestigious honors such as a Robert Frost Prize, a prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a PEN Prize. In addition, he received fellowships from the Ingram Merrill Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

He received his B.A. from the University of Iowa and completed graduate studies at Stanford University. In addition to Pomona, Mezey taught at various institutions, including Case Western Reserve University; Franklin & Marshall College; California State University, Fresno; the University of Utah and Claremont Graduate University.

Catalin Mitescu

Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy

Catalin Mitescu, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy, passed away Saturday morning. He was 81. A professor at Pomona for 47 years, much of it as the Seeley W. Mudd Professor of Physics, Mitescu was known for his roaming intellect, his ability to lecture on complex topics in physics without notes and his complete dedication to his students.

“Probably the smartest man alive,” one of his students once wrote. “He not only taught me a great deal of course content but shaped the way I think about science. He took a course overload to teach a class with me and only one other student in it.” Another student wrote simply: “With an incredible mind and a lot of patience, this man can do the impossible—make physics understandable.”A third student, looking back on the occasion of Mitescu’s retirement, wrote: “The scientific depth and rigor Prof. Mitescu brought to teaching were always balanced by a holistic approach to science and its philosophical underpinnings. Rarely a day goes by in my own professional life that these standards and this wisdom do not somehow echo in my mind and ask me to aim higher.”

One of Mitescu’s former colleagues, Physics Professor David Tanenbaum, remembers: “Prior to his arrival at Pomona, he had a strong bond with the rich traditions of Richard Feynman and major players in the physics community. He brought these to Pomona and developed new ones both here in the U.S. and in France at the École Normale Supérieure, where he was a frequent collaborator.

Most faculty will remember Catalin for his role as parliamentarian at faculty meetings, but he also led the Cabinet for many years and served for many years as head of the Goldwater selection committee and the advisor for the 3-2 Engineering Program.”

Mitescu was also a man of deep faith. Committed to the Orthodox Christian Church, he served as a deacon for many years at Holy Trinity Church in Los Angeles, then as an ordained priest there and administrator of the church’s St. John the Evangelist Mission in Claremont. Beginning in 1993, he served at Saint Anne Orthodox Church in Pomona, becoming archpriest in 2007. He was also engaged with the Southern California Orthodox Clergy Council, serving as secretary and president, and the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America, serving as president of the Spiritual Consistory and chair of the Department of Missions. He retired from the active priesthood in 2015.

A native of Bucharest, Romania, Mitescu immigrated to Canada as a child, graduating from McGill University in Montreal before coming to California to earn his Ph.D. at Caltech.

Mike Riskas

Professor Emeritus of Physical Education

Mike Riskas, professor emeritus of physical education and former head coach of baseball, passed away on April 1, 2020. He was 85 years old.

Riskas retired from Pomona in 2003 after 42 years serving in a wide variety of roles—from coach to facilities coordinator. As an emeritus professor, he stayed connected with many of his students, following their lives and careers through correspondence. He was a special friend and aide to all his colleagues and served the Department of Athletics and Physical Education at Pomona and Pitzer Colleges to the utmost.

“Coach Riskas set the bar and gold standard in terms of what it meant to be a coach, an educator and a professional. He was a cherished and valuable mentor for so many of us through the years. But most significant, he was a dear friend,” writes Professor of Physical Education and Men’s Basketball Coach Charles Katsiaficas.

Riskas first arrived in 1961, serving as assistant football coach for 24 years and head baseball coach for 25. He was named NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year in 1986, as well as the Quarter Century Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Riskas was known as a team player, supervising schedules, maintaining athletic facilities, arranging for transportation, meals, strength-training and other needs for all the athletic teams and directing the intramural program. He also served as chair of the Pomona-Pitzer Hall of Fame Selection Committee, administered all NCAA compliance paperwork and taught such classes as tennis, weight training, volleyball, cardio conditioning, handball, racquetball, swimming and wrestling.

Emerita Professor of Physical Education Lisa Beckett says, “There is good reason why Coach Riskas was given the nickname ‘Iron Mike.’ The strength of his character was unsurpassed. Honest, fair, generous, kind, loyal, genuine and resilient… that was Mike. Coach Riskas made a positive impact on anyone lucky enough to be around him.”

In 2001, Riskas took a three-year sabbatical from Pomona, and Major League Baseball (MLB) sent him to Greece as a coach-in-residence to develop their grassroots baseball. He helped coach the Greek national team to a 2003 silver medal in the Senior Europe Tournament, and the team qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

He was inducted into the UCLA Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996 and into the Pomona-Pitzer Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2017, Riskas was honored with the SCIAC Distinguished Service Award for his meritorious service to intercollegiate athletics. Caltech.