When I think of Cornell Professor Walter Lafeber these days I also think of legendary basketball player Michael Jordan. Itâs not that Lafeber was a global icon (although he should be) or that he had superhuman leaping abilities (although Lafeber was a star basketball player in high school in Indiana in the 1950s). Itâs because to watch Lafeber perform his craft â university teaching and scholarship â left you in awe of his talent. His lecturing skills were leaps and bounds above his mere mortal colleagues on the Cornell faculty. His soaring oratory mesmerized students and drew standing room only crowds to even his early Saturday morning lectures.