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HARVARD VARSITY CLUB NEWS & VIEWS of Harvard Athletics www.harvardvarsityclub.org Volume 57, Issue No. 5 March 12, 2015 SOBHY IT. by Zach Reynolds Ivy League foe Penn, competing at the top position. Showing Athletic Communications Assistant what she was capable of, she quickly dispatched of the third- ranked Quakers’ Nabilla Ariffin, 3-0, outscoring her opponent Amanda Sobhy was in an unusual situation. 33-6. Each match after played out with a similar storyline; Not because she was competing in a match for the national Harvard won the team battle against every opponent during championship—she was the three-time reigning champion, the 2011-12 schedule, and Sobhy proceeded to sweep each after all—but rather because she was trailing. adversary she faced. The season culminated with Harvard Before Sobhy stepped onto earning a national championship and Sobhy raising the the court for what would be Ramsey Cup above her head. her final collegiate match, she On February 6, 2013, Sobhy held a career record of 61-0. would face El Defrawy for the She had lost only one game in first time. A sophomore at the her career, sweeping the other time, Sobhy entered the contest 60 contests, 3-0. The only with a perfect 4-0 record, but opponent to ever take a game fell behind and dropped the from Sobhy was Trinity’s first game 11-6. The Crimson’s Kanzy El Defrawy, and as top player would bounce back fate would have it, for Sobhy and handily win the next three to win her fourth-straight sets, though it foreshadowed national championship she the start of a rivalry that would have to topple the one would extend throughout the opponent who had ever put remainder of Sobhy’s tenure at a point on the scoreboard Harvard. against her. Hameed Ahmed Assistant Coach, Amanda Sobhy ’15 with trophies, and Luke Hammond Assistant Coach. Sobhy took on El Defrawy Sobhy arrived at Harvard twice more in 2013 in a pair of in 2011 with an already impressive resume. The Sea Cliff, high-stakes matchups. With a chance to help Harvard win its New York, native won the 2010 Junior World National second national title in a row, Sobhy earned a three-set sweep Championship, becoming the first American player to to give Harvard a 5-4 victory. Two weeks later, the two student- capture the tournament. She was a four-time junior national athletes met in the Ramsey Cup finale, with Sobhy triumphing champion, and arrived in Cambridge as the top-ranked for her second individual championship. player in the country for her age. It was safe to say that she During her junior year, Sobhy took on her foe from Trinity had the potential to do great things as a student-athlete for three times, winning each without concern. Facing off in the the Crimson. Ramsey Cup for the second time, Sobhy earned her third As a freshman, Sobhy appeared in her first match against national championship, continuing to rewrite the Harvard Sobhy article continued on page 2... HUSTLE AND HEART SETS STEMBERG APART We are all familiar with the Staples story—Stemberg’s by Bob Glatz ’88 Executive Director, Harvard Varsity Club other passion—but you may not be aware of the Harvard Basketball ties to America’s most successful superstore. Bob Scalise described it as a love affair. Stemberg (formerly of Star Markets and First Nation Stores) Tom Stemberg ’71, arguably Harvard Basketball’s biggest teamed up with former supermarket competitor and Harvard fan, has been supporting the Crimson since first stepping basketball minor H recipient, Leo Kahn ’38 (Purity Supreme foot into Holworthy in the fall of 1967. “Tom was a big fan of founder), to form Staples. Kahn acted as an informal mentor our freshmen sports, especially football, hockey and baseball, to Stemberg and their friendship blossomed along with their and was a regular at most basketball games, just as he is to new superstore. As fate would have it, the duo selected 1660 this day,” reported longtime friend Larry Cetrulo ’71. Soldiers Field Road as the site of their first store, a property Stemberg logged many hours with the Harvard Band, was publisher for the Harvard Independent, and a manager of Harvard Student Agencies as an undergraduate, but always appreciated the athleticism and concentration required in looking at ease performing at a high level on the hardcourt. Basketball requires great coordination, speed, and grace… attributes which Cetrulo says Tom admires and which are evident when Tom dominates the squash court. Pressed further, Cetrulo offered “let’s just say that in 1967, Tom was the same irrepressible, energetic, enthusiastic, optimistic, competitive, sports-loving guy he is today…and rumor has it he was an all-star guard at his high school in Vienna. I would expect nothing less from a Jersey guy.” Coupled with seemingly endless coaching strategies and limitless game scenarios, the combination of preparation, agility, and mental Photo Credit: Gil Talbot gymnastics required to produce a successful basketball team Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana, John D. Nichols ’53 Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise, Harvard President Drew Faust, The Thomas G. Stemberg ’71 fueled Stemberg’s addiction for the sport; living in Harvard Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men’s Basketball Tommy Amaker, Tom Stemberg Yard cemented his love for all things Harvard, including ’71, wife Katherine Chapman, and Dean of Faculty and Staff Mike Smith. basketball. Stemberg article continued on page 2... Sobhy article continued... Stemberg article continued... record book. owned by another Harvard Basketball alumnus, Phil Haughey Entering the 2014-15 season, El Defrawy held a 29-8 career ’57. “I was delighted that they chose one of our properties; the record for the Bantams, but was 0-6 against the Crimson’s growth and success of Staples made for great banter over many No. 1. The Cairo, Egypt, native wound up with three chances future Harvard Basketball games after that.” The rest, as they to take down Sobhy, and on Feb. 4, at a time when Trinity say, is history. was the top-ranked team in the country, she got her first Success has followed Tom Stemberg throughout his career; chance. anyone serving alongside him on Boards at Lululemon, The duo played a pair of close frames to begin the match, Petsmart, or the Friends of Harvard Basketball, to name a with Sobhy coming out on top 11-9 and 11-8. Putting the few, would all concur that you may not always agree with exclamation mark on Harvard’s upset of the Bantams, Sobhy Tom, but you can never doubt his passion or principle. When scored 11 of the final 12 points to continue her perfect career. Stemberg takes an interest in something, great things tend The Crimson met Trinity in the Howe Cup final for the to happen. John D. Nichols ’53 Family Director of Athletics, Bob third-straight year, pitting the top two players in the country Scalise, couldn’t agree more, stating “I am thrilled to announce against each other for the eighth time. Continuing her reign that Tom Stemberg and his family have endowed our men’s as the most dominant player in the game, Sobhy quashed El basketball head coaching position.” Defrawy in straight sets, moving to 57-0 in her career, and Prior to tip-off at the February 21st Princeton game, Scalise, pushed Harvard to its third national title in four years. and the Faculty Standing Committee on Athletics, surprised Breezing through the bracket in her final collegiate Stemberg with an honorary Major H. Stemberg became the tournament, Sobhy reached the final of the Ramsey Cup to be 63rd person in 125 years to receive such an honor, along with the first woman to win four-consecutive national titles since the distinctive letterman sweater the Varsity Club provides to the trophy’s namesake, Gail Ramsey. Only one opponent all its first-time major H recipients. At halftime, while Coach Amaker was piecing together a magical second-half game plan, Harvard President Drew Faust, Scalise, and a handful of dignitaries joined Stemberg, his wife Katherine, and their son Michael on the free throw line in front of the sold out crowd for the announcement of the Thomas G. Stemberg ’71 Family Endowed Coach for Harvard Men’s Basketball. The fact that this was happening in front of a full house was not lost on a teary-eyed Stemberg, who reflected on leaner years when he, Ray Lavietes, and Warren Smith might be the only non-team/family members at some home basketball games. Quite a contrast to the scene of a bevy of friends, family, and dozens of alumni gathered at mid court to celebrate the announcement of Harvard’s 19th head coaching endowment. Tommy Amaker, the first coach to don the new title, concurred “Tom’s leadership throughout the years has been vital to the program that we have built, and I could not be more stood in her way, appearing in an all-too-familiar shape. thrilled and proud to be the Stemberg Family Head Coach for On a brisk afternoon in Princeton, New Jersey, Sobhy Men’s Basketball. This gift is a testament to his commitment to met with El Defrawy for the final time, and competed in the the continued success of our basketball program and the young most difficult match of her career. For only the second time men in it, now and forever.” wearing Crimson, Sobhy dropped a game, falling behind to And now, unlike so many love stories, this one never has to the Trinity star, 1-0.