Read Pat Conroy’s 2001 commencement address ‘I wear the ring’

Editor’s note: As the beloved S.C. author Pat Conroy was laid to rest Tuesday, he had the foresight to invite The Citadel’s class of 2001 to his funeral. Conroy delivered the class’ commencement speech that year, as he was always fond of his alma mater. Read Conroy’s speech to the graduating class.

Because of various aspects of my character and fates, I did not get to address the Corps of Cadets in the last century. There were many years when I thought that Saddam Hussein or Jane Fonda had a better chance of addressing this class than I did.

In 1979, the year most of ya’ll were born, I was finishing up The Lords of Discipline and I tried to think of a line or words that would sum up better than anything how I felt and how other people feel about this college. I wanted it to be something ringing and affirmative, something true, something to be true for every person who has ever gone through the long gray line. I came up with this line, "I wear the ring."

I think it is the best line I have ever written and the best English sentence I am capable of writing. I love that phrase. I love that sentence. Thirty-four years ago I sat in this field house. My mother and father, my six brothers and sisters, sitting in the audience as your parents are sitting now. My parents—it was their proudest day. My mother wept when I came off [the stage] that day. She wept so hard, and I said, "Mom, what’s wrong?" And she said, "Son, you are the first person in my family who has ever graduated from college, and you did it at The Citadel." And she said, "the best college in America."

Read Conroy’s full commencement speech here: http://www.citadel.edu/root/conroy.

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Read Pat Conroy’s 2001 commencement address ‘I wear the ring’."