Happy Hour on the Hill: The Psychology Behind Professional Sports

Come. Drink. Nosh. Network.

Celebrate Chanukah and join the Vilna for our signature Happy Hour on the Hill networking event featuring a panel discussion on “Sporting Success: Before, During and After.” How do organized sports help unite and focus children? What does success in sports, beyond simply winning and being the best, mean? What happens when the glory is over? Three amazing and accomplished athletes and organizers join us to discuss these questions and so much more.

Dan Schlesinger began running as a teenager and competed at Yale College, where he broke Frank Shorter’s 6-mile record, a record that still stands. Dan rose to prominence as a world-class runner by placing third in the New York Marathon in 1982. Later, while represented by Nike, he ran his fastest marathon in 2:11.36. Dan also competed in the 10K, with a running time of 28:36 while preparing for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Dan qualified for two Olympic Trials at the marathon distance but could not compete in either race due to injury.

Robert Lewis Jr. is a nationally recognized thought leader, public speaker and passionate advocate for urban youth. Known as a bridge-builder and catalyst for collaboration between diverse business, civic and public sectors, Robert has deep experience with grassroots, community-based organizations throughout Greater Boston and government entities, colleges, sports franchises and philanthropic foundations throughout the country. A 2015 Boston Magazine cover story listed Robert among the city’s 50 Most Powerful Leaders, calling him “a tireless advocate for inner-city kids.” In 2013, Robert left his high-profile position at The Boston Foundation to pursue a lifelong dream to launch The BASE. The BASE is a model and methodology that changes the paradigm for urban youth by providing student-athletes with the opportunity, knowledge, skills and confidence needed to develop a winning game plan for success both on and off the field.  The BASE embodies everything Robert learned as the founder of the Boston Astros, a youth baseball team he launched in 1978. Legendary baseball writer Peter Gammons has called The Astros, “Hands-down the best urban baseball program in the country,” and Triple Crown Sports awarded the Astros the 2012 “Team of the Year” award from a field of 40,000.

Jack Fultz is a retired American long-distance runner who came to prominence in the 1970s after winning the 1976 Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest and most established marathon race. Fultz not only finished the Boston Marathon in first place in 1976; in 1995 he added the distinction of finishing in last place as well: Each year, BAA race director Dave McGillivray runs the Boston Marathon course after all the other entrants have started, and nearly all have finished. In 1995 Fultz accompanied him on the run and, as the two companions crossed the finish line, Fultz slowed down a step, thus making him the actual last official finisher of the day. Fultz qualified for three consecutive U.S. Olympic Trials marathons in 1972, 1976 and 1980. Because President Jimmy Carter called for a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, Fultz did not run in the 1980 Olympic Trials. In 1996, Fultz was inducted into the Georgetown University Hall of Fame and on that occasion was invited to the White House to run with then-President Bill Clinton. Also in 1996, Fultz was inducted into the D.C. Road Runners Hall of Fame.