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Now granted, the confines of the College’s Schuckman Court are
considerably smaller and less imposing than those found at your usual
Super Bowl — although they seemed no less intimidating to Hanelius
the first time P.A. announcer David Knight handed her the microphone.
“It was exciting, definitely,” Hanelius
said, “mostly because it was so spur of the moment. But,
I just decided to go for it.”
For Director of Sports Information
Jon Mires, the sequence of events that put Hanelius center
stage as well as center court was like a nightmare with a happy
ending.
“We normally play (the anthem)
off a CD player,” Mires explained, “no vocals,
just the music. We’d already had some problems that day
with schedules and other things and, anyway, when we pushed
the button nothing happened.”
As those at attention in the bleachers
waited through a couple of more attempts with the balky CD
player, Mires said it started to look as though the game would
have to start without the anthem.
“And then,” recalled
Mires, “one of the [players] said, ‘Wait, Ani can
sing.”
Excuse me?! Understandably, that’s
the reaction most of us would likely have in the same situation; “It’s
sure something I would never try,” confessed Director
of Athletics Frank Carr.
But for Hanelius, a junior scholar-athlete
from Dripping Springs, Texas, the suggestion appeared as just
another exciting step on her journey back from basketball “retirement.” (Picked
for a spot on the women's roster as a first-year student, Hanelius
said she left the squad at mid-season. Involvement in off-campus
study during 2002-03, meanwhile, kept the Human Development
and Social Relations major from trying out for last year’s
team.)
Plus, Hanelius said, “I sort
of grew up singing. I was in lots of choirs, and in school
I was in all of the musicals and plays.”
That interest in choral performance
continues for Hanelius at Earlham, a member of the College’s
170-voice Gospel Revelations troupe. As part of the “Revs,” Hanelius
said she did have some experience performing as a soloist,
but not on such short notice and never in her basketball uniform
and sneakers.
“Some people who’d
seen me with Revs talked to me about it a few times, asking
me if I ever wanted to sing the anthem sometime. I never expected,
though, that when the CD player broke down they’d ask
me to do it cold. It was a little shaky. I wasn’t sure
I could remember the words.”
“Obviously, she was pretty
nervous that first time,” Mires said, “but from
then on I think she’s been pretty down with it. I think
she enjoys it.”
“I love performing for my
family and friends,” confirms Hanelius, whose parents
visited recently to see their daughter sing and then score
a career-high 12 points in the Quakers’ 82-64 victory
over Wooster. “They think it’s great.”
So, too, do the other fans that
have had an opportunity to hear Hanelius.
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