Joe Crowley was born and raised in Iowa. He served as faculty member and president at the University of Nevada, Reno (1966--2006), acting president of San Jose State University, and for a two-year term as president of the NCAA. His presidential service covered nearly 25 years. He has written five books and coedited a sixth. Hats off to the Cap: Poems is his first collection of poetry. Crowley lives in Reno.

"This book is a direct report from deep inside life. Joe Crowley takes us into his memory, his musing, and his travels--into the music of the mind. The mood runs from playful, bemused, and meditative, to elegiac, thankful, and affectionate; yet every mood knows the poet's deep joy in words and his love of the arts of language. The salt and savor of reality is in these poems, and they are a gift, a beauty, and a blessing." --Steven Nightingale