As part of NCAR and UCAR 50th anniversary festivities, university members and affiliates attended a gala dinner on 5 October at the University of Colorado’s Stadium Club.

There was no gold medal, no podium ceremony, and definitely no tears from the losers on 30 July, but there was a new national champion. On that date, NOAA proclaimed that a South Dakota hailstone had surpassed all contenders in both size and weight.

Richard Anthes suspected something was up when the UCAR Board of Trustees, minus himself, trooped to the stage at the institution’s 50th birthday dinner on 5 October. “When they started showing photos of my childhood, I really knew something was coming.”