Meg Patrick, Contributing Writer
In the span of 10 minutes interviewing Jack Nance, 15 different students lit up with grins when they saw who was sitting at the check-in. Each student echoed the one before with their greetings: “Hey Jack!” “How’s your day, Jack?” “How are you, Jack?” as they swiped their Sewanee ID cards into the McClurg Dining Hall. This kind of greeting does not stop throughout the day for Jack, for he knows just about every student by name.
Through his good-natured spirit and contagious joy, Jack is a staple of the Sewanee experience. There’s a reason for it.
Jack Nance, also known as Clurg Jack, Mr. Jack, Jackie, or good old Jack was born in Alabama and raised just 25 miles from Sewanee in a little town called Rutley,
“I’m just an old, country boy raised on a farm. Had a good dog, had a good raising, and had 12 other siblings besides me. I was the youngest of 13. I would run around on the trails all day with my dog, the best dog, you know, it was a good life.”
He first came to Sewanee about 50 years ago when he played against the Sewanee Military Academy in high school basketball. This was just the beginning of years filled with work, stories, and friendships for Jack on the Mountain.
His passion for the Domain grew with his years, allowing him to seamlessly find his place in the community, guided by his love for music and a close friend in a band. “When we got in high school, I ran with a guy who played lead guitar in a band and he’d come down here and play at fraternity parties in the ’60s before it was even co-ed,” he said.
Long before current students were born, Jack found a home in the Sewanee community, leading with kindness (and the Sewanee grit we all know and enjoy) for those around him. Jack decided to work at Sewanee in 1995, driven by his dedication to staying local for his family, and his wife’s job at Sewanee, he started driving for the catering trucks.
As he tells us about how he found work at Sewanee, Jack shared that this December marks his 30th year at Sewanee. Reflecting on the years he has spent here, he said, “I was working a job but we never had something locally and I was a family man so I’d come out here to just get out of the house, make a little extra money and then got a job as a catering truck driver, and that’ll be 30 years this December the 4th, that’ll be 30 years I’ve been out here.”
Throughout the interview, Jack passionately spoke about his love for Sewanee, emphasizing the students as a highlight of his time here. Through it all, Jack has a unique perspective of the goings-on surrounding this campus. But, at the center of everything, he reminds us of what this school is about. He said, “It’s been a real learning lesson and y’all really make it what it is here, the student body makes it what it is out here. You got some good teachers too, you know good workers, but if it wasn’t for y’all we wouldn’t have Sewanee.”
Jack goes on to speak about the deeper connections and marks he’s been able to make with students. He’s always there for a chat, a joke, or a simple hello. While he keeps the students’ spirits high, his relationships also run deep and impactful to students across campus.
With his admirable advice and authenticity, Jack has made lasting friendships and connections as a mentor to many: “Hey, y’all make an old man like me feel young, you know, and I had a little bit of college, mine didn’t turn out so well, but it’s been good,” he said. “I like to tell some of the students I’m still in college. And it’s been good to be able to speak into someone’s life, maybe an issue they are having and when I was young I had faced. You know we are put in places in the world we should be to help someone else. And that’s my hope is that I can be of help. I mean there were issues I had at y’all’s age that hopefully none of y’all have.”
Jack’s virtuous character would not be so strong if it wasn’t for the hard experiences and life he has endured. He shared a more personal lens into who he is today while offering a profound perspective. “Of course I’m a believer in God,” he said. “I believe we’re here for a purpose. And he really showed me a lot in my life. I should have been gone from here when I was 20 years old. I had a bad car wreck when I was 20. But I’ll be 73 years old on March the 5th.”
When asked about stories regarding student behavior at McClurg dining hall, Jack looped back to his forgiving and understanding nature, the youthfulness, Jack said, keeps him young and sharp, “You know you’ll always have a student tryna pull one, but that’s youth, that’s just youthfulness, you know it’s like any other job. You ain’t gonna find a job where there’s not some kind of contention you in”
He told stories from some of the more daring Sewanee students. “I remember when I was in catering we would cater to fraternities. There was always crazy stuff happening. I’ve seen ‘em run off with kegs of beer, you know I used to bartend in my younger days down here, and I’ve seen them come up and grab it and go running with it you know. Of course, I always let someone else run after them, if they could run after them. You know they were just doing it to see if they can get away with it.”
With his many talents, Jack also knows the ins and outs of fishing and has a well-known spot for it on the Domain. He lit up as he told a story about the first time he took a student fishing. It is a rare but wonderful connection between a McClurg employee and students to be able to share activities as such. “When we first came into this building in the fall of 2000 there was a student from Mobile, Alabama: Daye Gates. and I took him fishing. He was the first person I believe I took fishing. The next thing I know he’s got his whole fraternity in the creek with me, we’re in the creek and there’s all these guys, maybe not the whole fraternity, but then these girls come up and say, ‘Mr. Nance, we wanna go fishing.’ So I take six girls fishing in a creek down on Sherwood, and that was a ball, you can imagine me: I’m baiting all of the hooks, taking the fish off. But man I had a good time. It was so much fun, you know the youthfulness and seeing the expression on their face when they caught a fish.”
Whether it’s a classic Sewanee passing hello amongst your busy days, a long chat, or a cast in the creek sharing laughs, get to know Jack, and he’ll learn your name as well. He’s a man of the people, and the people know he’s the man.