The parking stories are true to this extent. Thames hated the fact that he couldn't park directly at the PS building. Consequently, he would call his secretary on his way to work and have a grad student or employee (paid by the federal government) meet him when he pulled up around back and take his car to whereever and park it. At the end of the day the employee (paid for by the federal government) would go get it for him. In some instances, he would get to the PS building and no one would be out there, in which case he did park in the handicap spot until an employee (paid for by the federal goverment) took the car away. In general, it was clear that he felt entitled to a parking space by the door of the PS building. Whether he has since been granted one, I don't know. I hope not. It is also clear, might I suggest to those who are into have some fun, that some sort of sit-in at his current parking space by the Dome (if the president still has the one I am thinking of) would irk him to no end and be extremely entertaining.
quote: Originally posted by: oldtimer "I think you're referring to the fact that his common practice was to "temporarily" park in the handicap space behind the Polymer Science Building, saving him the "long" walk from a faculty parking space, and then send one of his graduate students to move his car to an appropriate location. Funny how he never got ticketed. Once again, this is an apocryphal story, but one heard from multiple persons."
As a former employee of Thames, I have firsthand experience in parking his vehicle. He would call his office when he got near the building and one of his employees would scuttle down to the parking lot and wait for him to show up. Said person would then park his car (usually at the coliseum) and return. It also meant that same person had to be around to retrieve the vehicle at lunch time and before he left for the day.
One story I heard was that Thames had a "distinguished visitor" in his vehicle one day and to impress him he parked in sight of the building's rear door and called on the cell phone. He and the visitor watched as one of his minions scurried down to await his arrival.
Pretty galling to be used as a valet. Even more so to be used in such a manner to impress some schmuck. I wonder if I was the minion in question that day.
As a former employee of Thames, I have firsthand experience in parking his vehicle. He would call his office when he got near the building and one of his employees would scuttle down to the parking lot and wait for him to show up. Said person would then park his car (usually at the coliseum) and return. It also meant that same person had to be around to retrieve the vehicle at lunch time and before he left for the day.
One story I heard was that Thames had a "distinguished visitor" in his vehicle one day and to impress him he parked in sight of the building's rear door and called on the cell phone. He and the visitor watched as one of his minions scurried down to await his arrival.
Pretty galling to be used as a valet. Even more so to be used in such a manner to impress some schmuck. I wonder if I was the minion in question that day."
I don't think there's any doubt that the plan to get Shelboo in as president was well orchestrated long before the search. Perhaps, as someone above said, he's wanted to be president ever since 1975, when Lucas got the job. But in any case, it was publicized in the HA months before the presidential search that Shelboo and his sons had given $600K to the athletic department. This was described as though it were a cash gift, but it was really in the form of some real estate which would allegedly be turned over to the university for athletic purposes at some point in the future. In other words, he got credit for the contribution without shelling out a thin dime. Whether the university will ever realize anything from this "gift" I don't know, but I have my doubts. In any case, this was an outward and visible sign of the deal he had struck (or was trying to strike) with the athletic supporters who were, by that time, thoroughly down on Fleming and wanted someone in the dome they could "work with."
He was in bed with Carl Nicholson, too. In one of the earliest interviews on WDAM, in those days immediately after he was picked as president, Shelboo mentioned that he and his "friend Carl Nicholson" had been working on several business deals for a number of months. This was something like a Freudian slip, and I was surprised at the time that none of the news media picked up on it because it clearly showed that he and Nicholson had been in cahoots long before the presidential search even formally began and called the integrity of the search into serious question.