Pres. is bread-baking, tennis-playing, regular kind of guy

Administrators at the University who surround President Sheldon Hackney on a daily basis agree that, in and out of his College Hall office, the president is a down-to-earth, regular guy, most noted for his dry sense of humor. This regular 59-year-old prepares his own meals, although he and his wife, Lucy, have two housekeepers who "run" their Walnut Street house, Eisenlohr. He has even been known to bake his own bread. Hackney and his wife, the parents of three grown children, arrived at the University with a dog, Mischief, but the president said the dog died five or six years later. They haven't gotten a new one yet. So now, instead of walking his dog, Hackney plays golf for recreation, but he does not belong to a private country club. Instead, as his fraternity brother neighbors will attest, he prefers to practice putting in his backyard. For exercise, the president also jogs and plays tennis. Hackney has a portable rowing machine in his study -- his favorite room in Eisenlohr -- but said he has trouble motivating himself to use it, especially in the morning. By his own admission, he is not a morning person. During the summers he can be seen driving around Martha's Vineyard in his Ford Taurus stationwagon, though when he is on official business, Hackney is chauffeured by the University's personal driver -- Clarence DeShields. Linda Hyatt, assistant to the president who acted as executive director of his office this academic year, has worked under Hackney's leadership for six years and said she considers him both a boss and a friend. "He's the most thoughtful and considerate [person to work for]," Hyatt said. Hyatt says Hackney's schedule resembles that of a busy dentist, with one appointment after the other. But, she said, he has taken the time to write "thousands of handwritten notes to people" with words of consolation, congratulations on births and tenures. That, in itself, she said, is "really quite remarkable." Hackney looks the part of the Ivy League president with his lanky, distinguished looks and his preppy wardrobe, but Assistant to the President Nicholas Constan insists that Hackney is an informal president. "He is not the audience type [and] is never behind the desk," Constan said earlier this semester. "[I] know he's a regular guy." In fact, the president frequently eats lunch at home or at campus dining halls with students. Hyatt said he is "very down to earth [and] personable," and Constan called him "at ease," "gracious" and "friendly." Hyatt and Constan both said the Birmingham, Ala., native is a very funny man. "He has a fabulous sense of humor [and] is very witty," Hyatt said. Hyatt said she considers it a "real privilege to know" the president and said his friendship is "a real gift." She said Hackney showed what an involved and caring administrator he has been during a staff meeting one morning after he had returned from a New York meeting where Fred Rogers had been the keynote speaker. In the course of the meeting, Hackney went over the highlights of Mr. Rogers' speech. When the meeting was over, Hyatt said, Hackney leaned into the table and looked from one staffer to another, emotionally telling each, "and I love you and you and you and you." "For a minute everyone just froze and then everyone burst out laughing," she said. "He did a fabulous imitation of Mr. Rogers."

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