The Man Who Became A Hurricane

It is said that hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin starts on June 1st and ends on November 30th. But for one man, hurricane season was every waking day of his life.

I knew the man from a distance and I called him “The Professor.” He worked at the library at the University of Miami daily for hours and hours on end. This was, of course, before The Professor became a hurricane.

Circulation

Otto G. Richter Library, University of Miami Archives

I first noticed The Professor around the fall of 1995 when I was a freshman. An older man in his 60s, The Professor always wore the same frayed brown suit, the trouser hems threadbare. Yet despite the apparent haphazardness, he held the air of a stoic. Plus, he sported a crown of white tousled, stand-up hair and a matching mustache that uncannily reminded everyone of a certain other great scientist.

I wondered about his situation and I wasn’t the only student who did. We knew he was someone…but who?

The Professor showed up to the university library every morning between 7 and 8 a.m., day in and day out and he worked until everyone else had gone. He’d sit quietly as he pored over newspapers, his pale wrinkled hands moving a…