DATE: Friday, October 24, 1997              TAG: 9710230682

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Education 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   57 lines

HOW DID THEY DO THAT COSBY COUP FOR ODU TOOK HARD WORK, LUCK

Getting Bill Cosby to speak at Old Dominion University's 1998 graduation next spring was as easy as asking him - and crossing many, many fingers.

``They told us he typically gets 25 to 50 invitations to speak at college commencements,'' said John R. Broderick, ODU's vice president for institutional advancement. Your odds are not great. . . . We felt it was a bit of a long shot.''

Representatives for the popular entertainer said he receives, every day, 20 to 30 speaking requests of all kinds, and addresses six to 10 college graduating classes each year. That puts him in a cap and gown virtually every weekend of the college graduation season.

ODU started early on its quest - more than a year ago, for the 1997 commencement, after a committee of students, faculty and administrators suggested the popular comedian, actor and writer. Cosby replied that he had a conflict - his daughter was graduating that day - but to keep him in mind.

ODU officials prepared. They wrote Cosby's representatives to learn how and when it was best to approach him. They called counterparts at two schools Cosby addressed last year - George Washington University and the University of California - for tips on asking, plus on how to handle tickets, security and the media.

Thus prepared, President James V. Koch wrote a one-page letter in January formally inviting Cosby to speak 16 months later, on May 9, 1998. Koch provided some background on ODU, estimated the number of graduates and attendees - 2,000 and 15,000-plus - mentioned some past speakers, and noted that a Rhodes scholar and a patent-winner had been among recent graduates. The president also pointed out that a goddaughter of Cosby's, Nicole Bellinghausen, was an ODU sophomore who played on its national runner-up women's basketball team.

The letter worked. Cosby accepted. He also agreed to do his stand-up comedy show on campus the night before graduation. Now ODU is looking forward to some air time on CNN and other national news programs that frequently show snippets of big-name college commencement speakers.

A publicist for Cosby said asking is usually all it takes. Cosby, an outspoken champion of education who regularly gives gifts to schools, goes to many campuses, all at his own expense.

``Basically, when he finds that an institution, large or small, is doing the job of a quality institution of higher education, he doesn't look at it in terms of where the school is or what the school is,'' said David Brokaw of The Brokaw Co. in Los Angeles.

ODU's Broderick said calls have been pouring in since the September announcement, and this year's juniors are clamoring to know who, with the commencement-speaker bar now raised, the school will get for their graduation in 1999.

``Maybe now that we're batting a thousand with Cosby,'' Broderick said, ``we'll go after the president next year.'' ILLUSTRATION: Bill Cosby...

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