ATHLETICS AT DARTMOUTH
The following article is an attempt by the writer, with the assistance of his colleagues on the Faculty Committee, to comply with a request of the editor of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE to present to the alumni matters concerning the various departments of athletics, deserving special attention and showing the attitude of the Council toward problems of general interest. It seems best to arrange the matter under departmental heading, with here and there statements of general application.
FOOTBALL
Affairs of this department have received so much attention from the public press and college publications that the general situation is familiar to all followers of Dartmouth athletics. Whatever may have been lost or gained by a change in relations, so radical that future athletic historians may see fit to date a new era from it, the reputation for clean sportsmanship and efficient teams fairly won, the prestige and confidence resulting from a decade of competition requiring the (concerted, continuous, and strenuous efforts of all concerned, remain as a permanent asset as we face the new conditions. The willingness of our new opponents to meet us more than half way in the forced rearrangement of our schedule proves the truth of this statement. During the period above mentioned, a large and everincreasing group of our alumni have entered with zeal and often self-sacrifice into the self-imposed task of putting the Dartmouth athletic standard where it belongs. Working together on a difficult problem, their trust and confidence . in each other have increased until today, realizing the responsibility they have created, they know no better mode of expressing their loyalty to the college than to see to it that no backward step is taken. Our great safeguard against retrogression lies in the fact that this group of men is large, and that the Athletic Council can depend upon them for constructive criticism and unselfish assistance.
During this period of growth certain broad principles of policy have been in operation. We have recognized our obligation to set our own standards and to adhere to them regardless of what other institutions may do. Having set these standards, we have taken the ground that is is our business' to see that our own athletes live up to them. Taking this ground, to he consistent, we must concede to the governing boards of our opponents the right to make and administer their own rules, and must meet the teams they send against us without criticism of the personnel of the team or any protest whatever. Our eligibility rules have been made by the Council and administered to the best of our judgment regardless of the effect on efficiency of teams. The scholarship requirements for athletes have been made by the faculty and administered by the Faculty Committee on Athletics. So thoroughly do our athletes respect these rules that they devote, their energy to living up to them rather than to devising means to evade them. To their credit be it said that during the football season we were not deprived of the services of a single candidate for the college team who was eligible to compete at the beginning of the season on scholarship grounds. This statement, with the single exception of one .baseball substitute, holds for all our major sports.
In regard the scholarship of freshmen, the following figures will be of interest. At the end of the first semester the freshman class numbered 393 of whom 41 were separated from college on account of poor scholarship, 10.43 per cent. The freshman football squad numbered 77, of whom 8 were separated, 10.39 per cent. The practical identity of these ratios shows clearly that athletes and non-athletes receive the same treatment both in the operation of the entrance requirement system, and in their classroom work after entering college. Since it cannot be assumed that athletes are better scholars than their fellows or that they have better preparation for college, it is also evident from these figures that playing football does not interfere with the freshman's work, at least under the system of scholarship control used by the Dartmouth faculty.
BASEBALL
In the department of baseball, the hard work done by Coach Woods during the past two seasons has been producing results. Coach Woods is a sportsman of the highest type, who, during his long experience, has played nearly every position, and can therefore coach each player from personal knowledge of his duties. He makes a personal friend of each man under his charge, and is to him an example of a clean, sportsmanlike athlete. He is the sort of man under whose influence alumni would be eager to place their sons.
At the opening of spring, the team started off with. six victories out of the first seven games played. A combination of bad luck, rainy weather, and a midseason slump robbed the players of the form which the earlier games had seemed to promise. The team then came back with the fighting spirit which has made Dartmouth alumni proud of their Alma Mater. Tufts was defeated by a tenth inning rally; in the Cornell game, eight runs and the victory were hammered out in one inning; Vermont was taken into camp in a twelve inning contest; and the commencement game with Amherst was won by savage hitting.
During the past season an unusually large number of games were played on the home field. This was brought about in order to give the coach an opportunity to try out substitutes, to make it possible for students to see more games, and to prevent the players from being absent from the classroom so much. The cost of the season was thereby increased, as gate receipts are, naturally, not large in Hanover.
One important departure has been a reform in the matter of free admission to games. Under the former lack of system, the list of complimentary admissions had become disproportionately large. Some passes were issued to persons who had a legitimate claim to them — that is, a claim based upon services rendered to the athletic interests of the college. A large number, however, were held by members of the college and others whose claims were shadowy. The old free list was wiped out arid a short new one was made, which conforms to the service-rendered basis. All others were forced to pay at the gate. The result has been a larger gate receipt, and the wholesome feeling has gone about the college that the only self-respecting way to get into a game is to earn or pay admission. This reform will be extended to other departments, notably basketball, where it is sorely needed, and without doubt, will be received favorably by all concerned.
The greatest need of the baseball department is a well-drained diamond. The present field is all but a marsh in the spring, due to the fact that the drainage system installed when the field was built has long since ceased to perform its duties.
The advisory committee of this department has under consideration many plans suggested by the experience of this season for improving the work of the team next year.
TRACK
The general improvement prize of the year goes to the track team without contest. A dual meet alone shows the efficiency of a track team. This spring, for the first time in the history of the college, the track team of the University of Pennsylvania were our guests. Two splendid teams met that day, and except for weather conditions which were more favorable for hockey, their contest would serve as a model for all like events. The starter was the only paid official. Messrs. Brown of Dartmouth, Bigelow of Harvard, and Coeand Harpham of Michigan, volunteered their services, and the other officials were local men. Although Dartmouth won a decisive victory, the competition was sharp. After the meet the Dartmouth team were hosts at a dinner at the training table, during which the opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted was fully utilized by members of both teams. Distribution of prizes and singing of songs of both colleges made the early hours of the evening pass pleasantly. Our relations with Pennsylvania have certainly opened most auspiciously.
Our track Coach Harry Hillman, is a man upon whose shoulders the burden of proof rests lightly. He does not worry over his problems; he works at their solution. He does not complain of conditions, but does his part toward remedying them. Where it is the business of the track coach to be, he is in command; elsewhere he is little in evidence. Where there is an excuse for defeat somebody else points it out. He has never asked for anything unreasonable, and has never been disgruntled when his reasonable requests could not be met.
Mr. Hillman believes there should be more interest in cross-country running at Dartmouth. With the cooperation of everybody concerned, therefore, we start on a cross-country campaign this fall. An appeal for candidates will be made1 and answered. More prizes will be needed, and they will be forthcoming There is no better place to make athletes than Hanover, and many of the best we have had have been discovered after matriculation. When this cross-country movement is in full swing, and working with the indoor meet idea, which is already in successful operation, the track team finally chosen to represent the College will have survived competition with the majority of the able-bodied men enrolled. No man can fail to accord loyal support to a team for a place on which he has competed and will continue to compete. This is ideal college athletics. Mr. Hillman and his men deserve active assistance and they will get it.
BASKETBALL
We do not propose to offer excuses for the self-evident fact that the basketball team, that was a close second in the league race a year ago, failed to come up to expectations this year, beyond mentioning the fact that the team was obliged to play without the services of its captain during the major part of the Season. Where team work counts for so much, the man who is chosen by his team mates to lead them, bears a heavy responsibility, and the loss of his services places the coach and team under a tremendous disadvantage. John Mullen coached both teams. He devoted himself loyally to the task, sacrificed much of his personal business to be on the ground, worked in harmony with all in responsibility with him, won the confidence of his men, and gave them the full benefit of the thorough knowledge of the which he possesses. The results of his work will prove of value to his successor.
The Council has chosen Mr. Carl A. Reid as coach of the basketball team for the coming season. His record as a player and official will' bear the closest scrutiny. We believe he has the personality of a popular leader, with the ideals of sportsmanship required of every coach who is to enter into the close relationship of a coach to college men under his charge. He asks only the opportunity to prove that these things are true.
HOCKEY
In the hockey department, a large degree of success resulted this year in the face of unusually adverse circumstances. The winter was so mild that a skating surface could be frozen only at rare intervals, and remained in good condition for but a short time. This was a great handicap, when most of the teams played had opportunity to practice on artificial ice, regardless of nature's vagaries. The only games lost, however, were those against Harvard and Princeton, both hotly and closely contested, and played early in the season when the Dartmouth team was under the greatest handicap. It seems likely that the hockey interests will be obliged to continue to work under unsatisfactory circumstances until the distant time when a rink can be constructed with apparatus for artificially freezing a skating surface.
TENNIS
Last year the Council decided to appoint an assistant manager for the tennis team. Dartmouth is a member of The Intercollegiate Tennis Association and the department is on a par with the other minor sports. Tennis is fast becoming the pastime of an increasingly large number of students. With baseball and. to a far lesser extent with golf, it provides healthful outdoor exercise for a large number of men, who never expect to compete for a position on the college'teams. This is gratifying because tennis is a game a man can play practically all his life. From the standpoint of clean sportsmanship tennis cannot be improved upon. In intercollegiate competition members of the tennis organizations involved often act as officials. In other games it is usual for the competitors to act as their own officials. A tradition has grown up around the game which makes cheating impossible.
It is clearly incumbent upon a board governing college sports to encourage such a game, and to this end the Council has placed at the disposal of the students a block of six courts at the small charge of ten cents per hour per man. These courts are overworked, but owing to the short season at Hanover, and the necessity of keeping the courts in shape during the summer, they run at a loss. It is to be hoped that some method of administration can be devised which will make the continuance of the courts possible without increasing the cost to the users.
In fact it is the imperative call of the major soorts alone which prevents the Council from doing many things for this as well as for other minor sports which it deems almost necessary.
