Mike Budenholzer at a press conference. Courtesy of Phoenix Suns.

Mike Budenholzer ’92 grew emotional as he returned to his native Arizona in May and was introduced as the new coach of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns with family members and friends from his hometown of Holbrook on hand.

“My dad, Vince Budenholzer, 94 years old, sitting here in the front row. We call him the original Coach Bud, ’71 state championship with my brother Jim,” Budenholzer said at his first news conference. “I love you, Dad.”

Budenholzer, who won the 2021 NBA title as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks and twice has been chosen NBA Coach of the Year, grew up following the Suns.

“I don’t know what the word is, surreal or wild,” said Budenholzer, who reminisced about past players including Alvan Adams, Walter Davis and Paul Westphal and “my dad taking me in the backyard and teaching me Paul Westphal, reverse pivot into a pump fake into a step-through.”

At Pomona, Budenholzer was a four-year player and senior co-captain of the Sagehens basketball team and also played golf, while majoring in philosophy, politics and economics. Though he didn’t play for former coach Gregg Popovich at Pomona-Pitzer, he spent 19 years working for Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs, first as a video assistant and then for 17 seasons as an assistant coach, helping the Spurs to four NBA titles.

He’ll be trying to get the Suns, led by Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, to the NBA title he helped deny the Suns in the 2021 Finals.

“I can’t wait to get to work,” he said.

Robert E. Tranquada ’51

Robert E. Tranquada ’51

Public Health Advocate and Trustee
1930—2022

Bob Tranquada ’51, former chair of the Pomona College Board of Trustees and former dean of the medical school at USC, died on December 4, 2022, in Pomona. He was 92.

A diabetes researcher turned public health advocate, Tranquada was instrumental in increasing access to health care for underserved communities across Los Angeles County. He was a founding board member and chair of L.A. Care, today the country’s largest publicly operated health plan.

The son of two Pomona alumni and father and grandfather of others, Tranquada was a constant friend of the College. As a Commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary doctorate in 2007, he said, “I have been couched in the arms of Pomona College for a long time. It would be impossible to return more than a fraction of that I have received.” Awarded an Alumni Scholarship as a student, he returned much, both in service and financial support. The student health facility that serves The Claremont Colleges bears his name as the Robert E. Tranquada Student Services Center.

Tranquada’s path to medicine began early. Hospitalized with a broken leg at age 5, he was so impressed with the doctors who treated him he decided to become a physician. After graduating from Pomona College, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, he attended the Stanford University School of Medicine and joined the faculty of the USC medical school in 1959.

Tranquada’s career took a dramatic turn in 1965, when the California Army National Guard medical battalion he commanded was activated during the Watts Uprising to treat casualties of the violent confrontations between L.A. police and residents. Afterward, he was asked by then-USC Medical School Dean Roger Egeberg to head the new Department of Community and Preventative Medicine and to organize a public health clinic in Watts. Tranquada was one of the founders and the first director of the South Central Multipurpose Health Services Center in 1965 (now Watts Healthcare Corp.), one of the country’s first community health centers.

His experience in working to launch the health clinic, which opened its doors in 1967, led to a 40-year career in public health. Two years later, as associate dean of the medical school, Tranquada was appointed medical director of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. After five years as medical director, he became director of the Central Health Services Region of the L.A. County Department of Health Services.

Following other leadership positions, in 1986 Tranquada was recruited to become dean of what is now the Keck School of Medicine at USC with a mandate to develop a new private teaching hospital, today’s Keck Hospital of USC. It was while serving as dean that he was appointed to the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, better known as the Christopher Commission, formed in the wake of the 1991 Rodney King beating. He also headed the Los Angeles County Task Force on Access to Health Care following the 1992 civil unrest, which led to the creation of Community Health Councils, a nonprofit that works to promote health and wellness in under-resourced communities.

After stepping down as USC medical school dean in 1991, Tranquada held an endowed chair in health policy before becoming professor emeritus upon his retirement in 1997. During his long and distinguished career, he was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In addition to his service on the Pomona College Board of Trustees beginning in 1969, Tranquada was chair of the Claremont University Consortium board from 2000 to 2006. He served on numerous boards and was a particularly effective advocate for increasing the number of women and people of color in medicine, serving as a longtime board member of New York-based National Medical Fellowships, a member of the founding board of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and a board member of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital.

Born in Los Angeles, Tranquada was the son of Ernest Tranquada ’27 and Katharine Jacobus Tranquada ’29. He married Janet Martin Tranquada ’51 after meeting at Pomona. In addition to his wife of 71 years, he is survived by children John ’77 (Lisa Sackett Tranquada ’77), Jim (Kristin) and Kate Tranquada; grandchildren Matt ’08, Jessica and Alex Tranquada; and his sister, Carolyn Prestwich ’54.

Speaking broadly, last year’s Class of 2022 was similar to many other Pomona classes: About 71% secured jobs, internships or entered military service after graduation, and 21% were pursuing further education. Another 3% received fellowships, 2% began service opportunities and 3% had other plans.

The Class of 2022 First Destination Report features data gathered through surveys and data mining for the College’s Career Development Office. Top industries included internet and software companies (14%), management consulting (11%), higher education (9%) and investment banking and management (9%).
For the real nitty-gritty about the specific jobs and graduate degrees Pomona’s Class of 2022 headed for, check out the fascinating interactive dashboard at pomona.edu/outcomes-dashboard. Want to see how many went to work for Amazon and how many went to Accenture? It’s all there, along with how many were destined for graduate school in Cambridge (Massachusetts or England) and elsewhere.
For an early look at destinations for some of the Class of 2023 graduates, see the inside back page of this issue.

Ryan Long ’21 Strikes Out Mike Trout

Photo by Paul Stodart, British Baseball Federation/GB Baseball

The situation Ryan Long ’21 found himself in on March 11 was almost unfathomable. The 6-foot-6 former Sagehens pitcher was on the mound for Great Britain against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic in Phoenix when Mike Trout came to the plate. Long, a minor leaguer who was drafted 497th overall by the Baltimore Orioles in 2021, was facing Trout, the three-time American League MVP and 10-time All-Star.

And down went Trout after Long struck him out with a 94-mph fastball.

“It was just a really surreal experience. Something that I’ll definitely hold onto forever,” Long says of playing in the World Baseball Classic.

Long realized he was eligible to play for Great Britain because his mother, Liz, was born in England. He asked Pomona-Pitzer Coach Frank Pericolosi if he had connections to the British Baseball Federation and Pericolosi put him in touch with alumni who did.

Months later, Long was pitching at Chase Field in Great Britain’s opening game against Team USA.

“I think before this the biggest crowd I ever played in front of was about 7,000, maybe 8,000. This was 40,000,” Long says.

His early nerves settled after he went on in relief in the fourth inning.

“Once I got out there and got on the mound, my heartbeat started to slow down a little bit, which was cool,” Long says.

He gave up a home run, “one that I’m not too upset about because it’s a major league All-Star,” he says of the blast by Kyle Schwarber, who led the National League in homers last season.

The next inning, Trout came to the plate.

“First of all, he’s obviously an amazing hitter but their whole lineup was filled with All-Stars and future Hall of Famers,” says Long.

He got Trout to a 3-2 count and decided to stay with his best pitch, his fastball.

“He fouled the first two off,” Long says. “He didn’t seem like he was seeing it as well as he might normally be. I decided to throw it again and it got past him. That was a very, very exhilarating feeling—a lot to take in.”

Long moved up to the Orioles’ High-A team in Aberdeen, Maryland, this season and still has a goal of reaching the majors, but he won’t forget playing for Great Britain.

“I think that will go down as one of the best, if not the best, experiences I’ll ever have in this game.”

Melissa Barlow ’87 Officiates NCAA Tournament Game

In a banner year for women’s college basketball, Melissa Barlow ’87 was in the middle of an NCAA tournament that garnered record ratings.

Decades after she played point guard on Pomona-Pitzer’s standout teams of the 1980s, Barlow still runs the floor as a top NCAA Division I women’s basketball official. She called three games during the 2023 tournament, including the Sweet 16 game in which Iowa star Caitlin Clark scored 31 points in a win over Colorado.

Barlow has officiated in 10 Final Fours and three NCAA championship games, assignments that are earned through round-by-round reviews by officiating supervisors. She also has been yelled at by some of the best in the business—the late Pat Summitt of Tennessee, Geno Auriemma of Connecticut, Kim Mulkey of Louisiana State—and can laugh it off later.

For years, officiating was a sidelight to a highly successful career in the pharmaceutical industry that enabled Barlow, a biology major at Pomona, to retire at 53 from her job as national sales director for the metabolic division of AbbVie.

She encourages other former women’s players to get into officiating, too.

“I try to tell them: You get the best seat in the house, you get a workout and they pay you to watch these great games.”

Pomona College Alumni Award recipients, from left: Ann Rose Davie ’58, Peter Shelton ’73, Linda Alvarado ’73 and Michelle Williams Court ’88.

Congratulations to Our 2023 Alumni Award Winners

A committee of past presidents from the Pomona College Alumni Association Board has selected the 2023 alumni award recipients.

Three alumni received the Blaisdell Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of high achievement in their professions or community service: Linda Alvarado ’73, Michelle Williams Court ’88 and Peter Shelton ’73. These alumni have carried the spirit of the College into the world and embodied the inscription on the College Gates: “They only are loyal to this college who departing bear their added riches in trust for mankind.”

In addition, Ann Rose Davie ’58 was honored with the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in recognition of her selfless commitment and ongoing volunteer service to the College.

To learn more about this year’s award recipients, visit 2023 Pomona College Alumni Awards Announced.

That’s a Wrap: Alumni Weekend and Reunion Celebrations 2023

More than 1,300 Sagehens returned to Pomona April 27-30 to celebrate Alumni Weekend and Reunions on a fully decked-out Marston Quad and other iconic campus spaces. In addition to places across the U.S., alumni and guests traveled from Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Canada and Mexico to reunite and reminisce with classmates, professors, staff members—and of course, Cecil! Class years ending in 3 or 8 celebrated milestone reunions ranging from the fifth through 70th this year as Pomona welcomed back eight decades of alumni, ages 23 to 93.

Alumni Weekend 2023

Alumni Weekend offered more than 160 programs and events, including signature events such as A Taste of Pomona Wine Tasting with alumni vintners, the Friday night All-Class Dinner on the Quad, Reunion Class Dinners across campus, the Party at the Wash and Class Parade through the Gates. Other programs included Blaisdell Alumni Award winners’ talks at Ideas@Pomona and presentations from faculty and the dean of the College. For the first time, several events were also livestreamed this year.

Next year’s Alumni Weekend and Reunion Celebrations will be April 25-28, 2024, and will celebrate reunions of class years ending in 4 or 9. Remember, all alumni are welcome to attend whether in a reunion year or not—so mark your calendars. Chirp!

For more Alumni Weekend photos and to watch the recorded livestreamed events, visit Alumni Weekend and Reunion Celebrations.

There’s still time to make your reunion gift!

Give now at GiveCampus: Pomona College.

A Refresh for Seaver House

Just in time for Alumni Weekend, Pomona’s alumni house, Seaver House, reopened its doors with a warm welcome and a new look. Sagehens were invited to a special open house to meet with Alumni Board members and get a first peek at Seaver’s new alumni photo galleries, items from the new Myrlie Evers-Williams ’68 archival collection and a short documentary on her life, as well as tour the house’s beautifully updated interior. If you find yourself on campus, be sure to stop by for a visit and say hello to the Alumni and Family Engagement team.

Given to the College in 1979 by the Seaver family, Seaver House was built in 1900 and moved from its original location on East Holt Avenue in the nearby city of Pomona to its current site on the Pomona College campus in 1979, where it has since served as the home of the College’s alumni. Read Seaver’s exciting relocation story and see a photo of the move in action at Pomona Timeline: 1979.

Learn more about the Myrlie Evers-Williams ’68 Collection at Pomona College at Myrlie Evers-Williams ’68 Collection at Pomona College.

Alumni Association Board Chirps, Farewells and Welcomes

Cecil sends hearty chirps of gratitude to the Alumni Association Board and regional alumni chapter leaders who were out in full force throughout Alumni Weekend to assist and celebrate with visiting Sagehens! Board members helped with check-in, A Taste of Pomona and reunion class photos and dinners, among many other events throughout the weekend. They also presented the Class of 2023 graduates-to-be with their Commencement stoles on behalf of the Alumni Association and partnered with the Career Development Office at the CDO’s Alumni Weekend Chirp and Chat mixer to talk careers, graduate school and Pomona memories with current students and alumni.

The Alumni Board also met as the weekend wrapped up to ratify new president-elect Andrea Venezia ’91, who will take office for a two-year term beginning July 1, 2024, and to say an in-person thank you to members whose terms end this June 30:
Paula Gonzalez ’95
Megan Kaes Long ’08
Vicki Paterno ’75
Veronica Roman ’95
Dominic Yoong ’88

The board also ratified new members whose three-year terms begin this July 1:
Miguel Delgado ’20
Stuart Friedel ’08
Toran Langford ’21
Te’auna Patterson ’18
Tricia Sipowicz ’85
Jim Sutton ’84

Thank You, Nathan Dean ’10

Forty-seven chirps to Nathan Dean ’10, who closes out his term as our National Chair of Annual Giving on June 30. During his two years as chair, Dean worked closely with the College’s Annual Giving team to support multiple fundraising campaigns and crowdfunding initiatives. Last year, he helped to raise $5.3 million for the Pomona College Annual Fund, which supported student and faculty needs like financial aid, academic programs, research and internship opportunities and more. Huge thanks to Dean for his time and dedication in serving in this crucial volunteer role for Pomona!

Learn more about annual giving impact at Annual Giving Impact Report.

Reminder! Give by June 30 to make your Sagehen impact now.

Give at Pomona College: Give.