Eleven times during his induction to the UA Sports Hall of Fame last week, Robert Cheseret said "thank you."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said at one point. He couldn't stop smiling.
Cheseret looked into the stands at McKale Center and saw his brother, Bernard Lagat, America's greatest distance runner. They were born and raised in Kenya, two of 10 children from a rural family that worked a 26-acre farm. At Friday's ceremony, Lagat held his 3-year-old daughter, Gianna, in his arms.
"I am so grateful," said Robert Cheseret. At that, his brother stood and applauded. So did little Gianna.
During his days as an Arizona Wildcat, Robert Cheseret won the NCAA championship at 5,000 meters and at 10,000 meters. He remains the only person ever named the Pac-10 Track Athlete of the Year three times. Like his brother, he is now a U.S. citizen. He is part of the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program, training for the 2012 London Olympics.
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Thank you, indeed.
On Friday, Cheseret was embraced by three-time Olympic distance runner Abdi Abdirahman, UA Sports Hall of Fame Class of '04. Abdirahman is from Somalia. He has lived in Tucson for almost 20 years.
"This is my school," Abdirahman said before the ceremony. "This is my place."
And when Cheseret completed his remarks, he looked into the audience and thanked his coach, James Li, the man who helped bring Bernard Lagat to America and still coaches him today, 15 years later. James Li, the UA cross country coach, grew up in Chengdu, China.
To get a true sense of UA athletics, its scope and its substance, you must go beyond the football games at Arizona Stadium and the wildly popular basketball that is played at McKale Center.
The UA's Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2011 reflects how far the school has come from the small-school, limited-reach days of Pop McKale, and how college athletics in Tucson have become a global operation. The opportunities are limitless.
On Friday afternoon, two-time Olympic swimmer Simon Burnett, who grew up in Oxford of the United Kingdom, said "this university absolutely changed my life." He paused to chuckle and, in his delightful English accent said "it was either fate, God's will or blind luck that I am in Tucson."
Burnett won NCAA championships in 2003 and 2005. But he might've done his best work later, in his post-grad days, when he met and married his wife, Whitney Myers, another former NCAA champion who in 2007 became the NCAA Woman of the Year.
Whitney Myers Burnett, who continues to train for the 2012 Olympics, is from Cincinnati.
Such is the reach of the UA athletic department.
Friday's ceremony included the induction of Kim Glass, from Lancaster, Pa., who is part of the USA Volleyball Olympic team, and a veteran of the 2008 Bejing Olympics.
During her UA days, Glass was the NCAA Freshman of the Year, 2002, and has become the most high-profile women's volleyball player in America. She is a model. She has dated Orlando Magic all-star Dwight Howard. She hopes to have a career as a fashion designer.
"I truly believe God wanted me here, at the UA," she said. "I feel at home, like this is my second family."
The UA Sports Hall of Fame ceremony included 2004 Athens Olympics gold medal swimmer Lyndon Ferns, a South African, who recently retired from swimming. Ferns moved home whereupon he married a model, the runner-up in the Miss South Africa pageant. Ferns is using his UA finance degree to work in the high-end real estate business.
He wrote on his Twitter account how sad he was he couldn't return to Tucson for Friday's ceremony. He concluded with "Go Cats" all the way from Groblersdal, South Africa.
Before the Hall of Fame ceremony concluded Friday, 2005 NCAA swimming champion Marshi Smith fought through tears while describing her days on Frank Busch's powerhouse swimming teams.
Smith grew up in Virginia and moved to Nevada, where Busch discovered and successfully recruited the backstroker. Her senior year was scuttled by a serious shoulder injury, but it didn't diminish her spirit or her legacy to Arizona athletics.
"I was the team captain my senior year," she remembered. "I felt it was my duty and privilege to give back even more to my school and my teammates."
Smith, who earned her degree, now works in the medical industry, selling implant devices to surgeons. She became more than just a part of the UA's global family; she is part of one of the most notable sports families in UA history.
Her brother, Jordan Smith, was a five-time All-America swimmer for the Wildcats, and her sister, Andrea Smith, is a manager of the UA women's swimming team.
On Friday afternoon, Smith alternately sobbed and sniffed during her Hall of Fame induction ceremony. But like so many other UA athletes, those from all parts of the map who made an impact here, they were tears of joy.
