Friday night, I played hold ’em at Canterbury. I’d never played there, so Tom and Kyle were at my table to make things interesting by intentionally “donking it up;” in other words, they were being extremely loose and aggressive.

The game was rife with temerity. Wild stuff happened, like Kyle going runner-runner to make a straight flush on the river, which left the guy who made his ace-high flush on the turn rather annoyed. That was crazy, but it didn’t compare to what happened next.

The table eventually discovered that the three of us knew each other. A guy to my left asked how that could be. My reply, “College,” prompted another question: “Which college?”

At that point, I went into my normal I’m-from-this-little-college-that-you’ve-never-heard-of routine. “A small college in Indiana,” was my response. Immediately, he dug deeper: “Which one?” “Rose-Hulman.”

Silence.

“Seriously?” he asked. Well, of course I was serious. If I were going to lie, why would I pick an obscure institution in the middle of nowhere? He continued, “I graduated from Rose twenty years ago.” It was my turn to be stunned silent.

It turns out that the man to my left was Alan Carty, an ME who now owns a company called Automation Resources, Inc. He also runs a recruiting services company called Automationtechies, which is related to a second coincidence: Alan had communicated with Kyle in the past in an effort to find a Rose undergrad to fill a position, but the two had never met face-to-face.

We chatted for a while about the usual Rose things. He was particularly interested in the search for a new president; perhaps it was the recruiter in him shining through. We touched on the stereotypical Rose grad; he didn’t think he fit that mold. He talked about time flying by and having his own daughter in high school; that amused the guy to my right, who had just turned 18 an hour earlier. Good stuff.

It’s funny how chance led to that meeting. Certain cards fell for a certain player that caused him to leave the table at a certain time. I happened to join at just the right time due to my following Tom and Kyle to the table that happened to have three open seats. Alan just happened to be playing well enough to be at the table when I arrived. The conversation just happened to turn to college. It all worked out.

That was the first time I’ve met a Rose alumnus at random, but I’m sure it won’t be the last.