Not taking a Victory Lap

There is a fine interview with Gene Fama in the FT today which concludes thus:
“I wonder why he doesn’t simply retire, enjoy all the golf he could ever want, spend more time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, or travel the world with Sallyann, his wife of more than six decades. He has an efficient answer. “I do it because I like it,” Fama says.

He recalls how his mentor Miller’s life changed completely after becoming a Nobel laureate in 1990. “He basically gave up academics and travelled the world until he died. That’s fine, that’s what he wanted to do. Someone told me you can turn your life into a victory lap, or you can go back to work,” he says. “And that’s the truth.”

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I spent a year as a visiting prof at the U of C’s business school in 1999-2000. It wasn’t the Booth School and hadn’t moved into a spiffy building then. Gene would come down to the faculty lounge (such as it was) with a packed lunch and engage in spirited conversation with whoever was around.

Several times a week he’d play tennis at the Quad Club. He was almost 20 years older than I was but I didn’t dare ask him for a game. (I was afraid of embarrassing myself although I had played for my college team in my youth).

I’m sorry to read he can’t play tennis anymore but delighted that nothing else has changed. That the Nobel didn’t turn his life into a victory lap.

https://www.ft.com/content/ec06fe06-6150-4f39-8175-37b9b61a5520