Al MacCracken `54: A career serving Hawken

When Hawken alums reflect on teachers who made a difference, Al MacCracken`s name comes up frequently. MacCracken, himself a member of the Class of 1954, joined the Lower School faculty in 1963. Though he left Hawken in 1970 to earn graduate degrees in educational administration and French, followed by a teaching stint at Walsh University in Canton, MacCracken returned to Gates Mills in 1978 and has been in the classroom and on the playing fields ever since. As a graduate, faculty member, and parent of son Trip MacCracken `92, it`s safe to say MacCracken has a 360+â-+ perspective of Hawken. He also confirms that inhabiting those roles simultaneously presented unique challenges. "I had Trip in ninth Grade French II honors," he recalls, "and I had to maintain a true +óGé¼-£fair play` approach in making sure I graded him honestly without overstepping in terms of providing extra help." MacCracken laughingly acknowledges that having dad on the faculty presented Trip with challenges, too. "I taught in a classroom that faced the parking lot. When Trip started to drive, my students didn`t realize it, but sometimes I was looking out the window thinking +óGé¼-£Why is he late?`" Athletics have always been a part MacCracken`s expansive career at Hawken. While teaching at Lyndhurst he was the assistant coach of the wrestling team; at Gates Mills he acted as assistant coach for the JV baseball team and is also the long-time announcer and statistician for varsity football games. While MacCracken simply says that "I`ve always loved sports," son Trip, a contract negotiator for the Cleveland Browns, cites being exposed by his dad to the inner-workings of athletic teams as a major influence. In addition to seeing several generations of Hawks on the playing fields, MacCracken has witnessed some of the most significant milestones in Hawken history. Hawken provided education through the ninth grade when he was a student, while grades 10-12 had been integrated when he joined the faculty in 1963, and when he returned in 1978 the school was fully co-educational. In each case, MacCracken reflects, "It was like coming to a new school, and we`ve continued to grow considerably since the 1970s. Not into an enormous school, but to include a more diverse student body and curriculum, and that`s a really good thing.