When I first set eyes on him, well, I guess he looked like a university president. He was basketball tall — a little gangly maybe — with a stiff, starched dress shirt and creased khaki slacks. And he stood out among all the other people in line at the Uncommon Ground coffee shop in Albany. That was 16 months ago.

I walked up to him — all 5-foot-6 of me — and he looked down on the top of my shiny bald head.

I had recently launched my college athletics Web site, and I was there to interview President Hall — he insisted that I call him Kermit — about Division I athletics from a president’s perspective.

It was my first in-person interview, and the first time I had met a university president. And I was nervous.

Kermit immediately put me at ease and prompted me to the right questions and the right topics.

Shortly after we met, Kermit was mentioned in an article on constitutional law on the front page of The New York Times. I was thrilled for him — and thrilled that I actually knew somebody whose name was on the front page of the Times. I
e-mailed the article to the other dozen members of my advisory panel. When Kermit found out what I did, he e-mailed me his gratitude. I don’t remember his exact words, but it came across as "Gosh, thanks. You didn’t have to do that."

Typical Kermit. Dignified. Learned. Humble.

Kermit left us way too early. But his contributions were great while he was with us.

I’ll never forget my first president.