Membership

Roy Easley retiring from Cal Poly Pomona

A member for 33 years and counting, “Hoodoo” reflects on his NIRSA family

Roy Easley points out a detail of the quilt he made and auctioned at the 2006 Annual Conference to benefit the NIRSA Foundation.

Life Member Roy Easley, also known as “Hoodoo Fudgearound,” has announced his full retirement from Cal Poly Pomona, where he has been teaching for the past 33 years. Not coincidentally, he has been a NIRSA Member for the same amount of time. He was kind enough to answer a few questions while packing up his office.

Your title is Professor Emeritus. What were you a professor of?

Kinesiology Health Promotion, which is a fancy name for Physical Education.

How did the nickname Hoodoo Fudgearound come about?

It’s the name I use for my music. Hoodoo and Fudgearound are both place names in Coffee County, Tennessee, which is below Nashville. I was there with my five brothers in the early ‘90s recording my country music, which is one of my passions. They kept insisting I needed a new name, and we came across those and put them together.

How long have you been teaching?

Forty-five years, with the last 33 of them at Cal Poly Pomona. My training was in coaching football and wrestling. I taught middle school, high school, private college, and state universities. I got into intramurals because I had a philosophical problem I needed to solve. I was the athletic director at Cal State, Dominguez Hills. I believed and taught that the physical education philosophy was strong, like the design of a pyramid. The bottom third or base was physical education, the middle third was intramurals, and the upper part was the truly gifted athletes. While teaching this philosophy, I realized that I felt like a hypocrite since I had done nothing to promote the middle of the pyramid. The opportunity arose to come to Cal Poly Pomona and direct the intramural/recreational sports program, so I left athletics for intramurals and ended my feelings of hypocrisy. That was 1973.

The year you joined NIRSA?

Yes. I was looking for a professional organization that would that would better prepare me for my new career in intramural/recreational sports. When I went to my first conference, everyone was so warm and friendly to me and made me feel so welcome, I knew I had to keep coming back. I became a Life Member of NIRSA, not because I am the sharpest knife in the drawer and realized how much money I would save, but because it eliminated the chore of sending in a check every year.

What aspects of NIRSA have you been involved in?

I’ve been on at least 10 or 15 committees, given a few presentations, and had some articles published. My favorite presentation and published article was around 1977, which outlined my rules for “Indoor Two-ball Soccer.” And I created two T-shirt quilts for NIRSA. One was for Region VI [that quilt hangs in the NIRSA National Center], and the other was auctioned at the 2006 Conference.

What’s next for you?

My bride [Donna Sue] and I bought a house in Eden, Utah 12 years ago, and that is our permanent home now. I will keep an office and email account at Cal Poly Pomona and will return there occasionally to do some research. I have some more quilting projects I want to do as fundraisers. So far I’ve raised $10,000 for organizations through quilting, with about a third of that going to NIRSA. My goal is to raise $50,000 quilting. I am still trying to win the game in the fourth quarter of my life. My game plan includes my country western music, some inventions that have been on the back burner for about 10 years, and much more quilting. I’ve been lucky to reach the fourth quarter with about two minutes remaining, no timeouts used, and the flag handy in my back pocket.

Where were you born?

I was born in Arkansas, number 10 of 11 children. My father died when I was two years of age, and at age four my family moved to Los Angeles in the back of a 1932 International flatbed truck. Have you ever seen “The Grapes of Wrath”? That was us.

Any reflections on recreational sports or NIRSA?

Recreational sports encompasses a much wider spectrum than it did when I first joined. In 1973, membership was heavily weighted with intramural sports programs. I am a very strong believer and supporter of NIRSA. As our membership grows, we need to stay in touch at the ground level, and remember that we’re only as important as the work that we do today. My basic goal at every conference is to spend time with the young people, and make them feel accepted and wanted so they will come back again and again. I hope they will feel like I did after my first conference.

What’s your fondest NIRSA memory?

Getting together with the Mountaineers and the Canucks at the conferences. We would play guitars, sing, socialize, and just have ourselves a good time. I am the very first, original Honorary West Virginia Mountaineer and Honorary Canuck.

Will you still come to the Conference?

I plan on it, as long as my health will allow me to make the arduous trips, and one of my favorite roommates shows to bunk with me. That would be, in order, my bride or Lloyd Hisaka. And don’t count me out yet, I may throw my hat in the ring for President some day!