Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories

Tombrello–113
little bit—he had his law degree from Harvard, though he may have had his undergraduate
degree from Louisiana—he switched. Suddenly, the accent was gone and he was pure Harvard
Law. I don’t think he winked at us, but intellectually he winked at us—basically showing us he
could work either side of the street. You wanted Harvard Law? Without the Southern accent?
He could do that. You wanted good ol’ boy who told Cajun stories? He could do that.
Whatever it took.
ASPATURIAN: And Sharp was kind of like this?
TOMBRELLO: Sharp was like that. But Sharp was wise and strategic, incredibly strategic. There
was clearly some competition with Bacher. I remember being told—I think by Barclay Kamb—
that both he and Ron [Ronald Lee] Shreve were students in physics here as undergrads. Sharp
got them away from Bacher as grad students. Shreve did his PhD work [1959] on the Blackhawk
landslide, and Barclay, of course, went into glaciology. It’s very interesting that Sharp really
knew people. He was not the least bit soft, but it didn’t show. People loved Bob Sharp.
ASPATURIAN: And they highly respected Bob Bacher, from what you’re telling me.
TOMBRELLO: Eventually you respected both of them. But Bacher had a very different style.
Effective, but not as sneaky as Sharp. Sharp was brilliant and clearly one of the people I just
adored at Caltech.
ASPATURIAN: It sounds like it.
TOMBRELLO: He was wonderful. We used to go out to lunch. He always ate at the cafeteria
that’s downtown, just off Lake.
ASPATURIAN: Beadle’s?
TOMBRELLO: Beadle’s.
ASPATURIAN: I don’t think it exists anymore.
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