10/19/11 Playing a game that he loves has taken 1982 Plymouth grad Phil Wendel a long way – halfway around the world to be exact.
A starting guard and Trester Award winner on the Pilgrims 1982 state championship basketball team, Wendel now calls Beirut, Lebanon his home doing something else he loves – teaching.
“It was getting to the point in my life where I either had to do it or give up and just stop talking about it,” said Wendel. “I think I always had a real desire to see different places and experience different cultures. There is no doubt that without basketball I never would have gotten here. It’s always amazing to me to realize how everything is linked together. I would never have been able to travel abroad if I hadn’t played basketball.”
After his outstanding career at Plymouth Wendel used basketball to get a scholarship to DePauw University where he played on several nationally ranked teams and never lost a home game in his four year career. He pursued a degree in education and his first stop was at Jasper High School in Indiana where he was a teacher and assistant basketball coach.
He moved on to Atlanta’s Galloway School – a private, independent school – and had found “home” for 20 years. For 10 of those years he was varsity basketball coach, and cross country coach for 15 years. He was also principal of the school’s junior high.
During that time at Galloway he had the opportunity to take his basketball teams on overseas trips to Spain, Austria, the Czech Republic and Cambodia. He developed a strong desire for something more.
“I was there for 20 years (Galloway) and it was really a great place to be, but traveling abroad let me know that I really wanted to experience living in a different culture,” he said. “The year before last it just seemed like the time was right to do that.”
But what culture? And what job? Teaching seemed the obvious fit and Wendel had no shortage of offers. They came in from Thailand, Moscow and Germany, but it was an American School in Beirut that he decided on.
“It’s really very similar to Atlanta – it’s a very cosmopolitan city that’s more European than Middle Eastern,” said Wendel. “When you mention Beirut to most Americans they have visions of the civil war that was fought here. There is still a lot of aftermath from that but it’s been 15 years since the war ended.”
“Everybody has a story from the war. Some of them are very horrible and sad, and because it was only 15 years ago things are still a little more disorganized than in America. Nobody follows any traffic rules – for example – so driving can be very interesting.”
The school that Wendel teaches at has also undergone a dramatic change.
“During the war the school was really organized for American Embassy kids, United Nations workers, expats living in Beirut – almost all American,” said Wendel. “Now I would guess that 70 percent of my students are Lebanese. They speak English and Arabic.”
Wendel says that the acceptance of Americans is great by the Lebanese but the level of friendliness differs from place to place.
“I live in a section of the city where it’s mostly intellectuals and very highly educated people, many of whom were educated in America,” he said. “I volunteer at several Hezebollah refugee camps on the weekends and sometimes there when they find out you are an American they will be a little more guarded in how they speak in front of you, maybe a little more reserved.
“Generally speaking people here like Americans they just don’t like some of our policies.”
“Traveling and now living abroad has really been an eye opening experience. I mean you grow up thinking we’re (Americans) the best and why don’t people like us, but you realize there are a lot of different ways to live and just because it’s different than us doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
“You also get a great view of just how all prevailing American culture is. There is American music, American clothes, American movies, American television literally everywhere. I have to tell you the first time you see someone from Lebanon walking down the street in Beirut wearing an Atlanta Braves jersey it really hits you just how far reaching our culture is.”
It all somehow comes back to home.
“Growing up in a small town made me curious. I always knew I wanted to go to college, I wanted to see different places, I wanted to live in a city,” said Wendel. “But growing up in a small town also grounded me. It gave me a solid foundation as a person and I think that’s very important. You have to be very comfortable with who you are and have a good sense of self and Plymouth gave me that early in my life.”
“I would have to encourage everybody to follow your interests no matter what they are. Be passionate about them and pursue them and don’t quit. That’s what is going to make you happy.”
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Rusty Nixon Correspondent
