A REPORT TO THE ALUMNI

I

The alumni of no other institution possess so great a measure of actual and potential control over organized athletics as do the alumni of Dartmouth; for they elect directly three of the nine members of the Council, and the Constitution reads "the faculty members shall be appointed by the faculty, subject to the approval of the alumni at their annual meeting". The undergraduate managers of football, baseball and track make up the total of nine.

Thus the general policy of alumni participation in the affairs of the College, so strikingly manifest in the organization of the Trustees and the Council of the Alumni, is again demonstrated.

Therefore the Athletic Council, though of course to be regarded as the servant of Dartmouth College as a whole, is primarily responsible to the alumni; and, as authority always carries, or should carry, corresponding obligations, it is important that the alumni should have accurate information of the work of the Council, and an intelligent understanding of its policies, in order that their control may be wisely exercised. Accordingly, this article is in the nature of a report by the Council to the Alumni, and it has been read by all the members of the Council; but it is desired to point out that no written report can fill the bill; what is needed is a greater measure of day-to-day and month-to-month intercourse between the Council and the alumni, which involves some effort on the part of the alumni; and it ought to be distinctly understood that the Council is always ready, through its members or its Graduate Manager, to supply the information or receive suggestions; either through attendance at alumni meetings, by correspondence, or by personal interview.

II

Growth is the outstanding phenomenon of the work of the Council. To go back no further than 1915-1916; in that year the total financial business of the Council was $35,000.00. This year it will exceed $110,000.00. Five years ago the total net profit from all out-of-town football games was only $10,000.00 and only a handful of tickets were sold in Hanover; this year the game with Cornell in New York attracted 35,000 people, Dartmouth's share of the receipts was $28,000.00, and thousands of tickets were sold from Hanover.

Five years ago home games were of slight importance; this year 6500 people saw the Syracuse game; and with the completion of the Memorial Field with adequate stands and other facilities for scheduling contests with major opponents this feature of the Council's business is destined to have a still greater expansion.

Five years ago the Council had under its jurisdiction nine branches of sport; today there are twenty-two*, and more to come. Of course all this means that the actual work of the members of the Council and of the Graduate Manager's office has greatly increased. The infinite detail of dealing with coaches, trainers, managers, budgets, schedules, matters of equipment, grounds, trips, tickets, publicity, and the like, cannot be appreciated by one who has not himself been a part of the machinery, and questions which require discussion and determination by the Council are constantly arising.

The local members of the Council meet regularly once each week during the college year; and the average length of such meetings is nearly two hours.

An idea of the kind and volume of business transacted at such meetings may be gained from this summary of the records of a recent typical meeting when after discussion the following matters were acted upon : authorization of western trip for the basketball team and approval of its entire schedule and budget; establishment of requirements for insignia in cross country; approval of fencing schedule and budget; awarding of class baseball numerals to 1922 team.; appointment of cheer leader; release of manager from duty for non-performance of his duties; and amendment of the By-Laws concerning freshman eligibility for varsity teams in certain minor sports. All such items as the approval of trips, schedules, and budgets and amendments of By-Laws are passed at the local meetings subject to ratification by the alumni members of the Council. When matters of major importance arise, full meetings of the Council are held; there have already been five such meetings this year.

In addition, the faculty members of the Council serve as chairmen of "advisory committees" in each branch of sport. Such committees consist in each case of a faculty member (appointed by the President of the Council), the Graduate Manager, the undergraduate manager, and the captain. The duties of such committees are to decide minor questions which do not require Council action; to consider matters on which there may exist a difference of opinion, as for example, between a coach and a manager; to take preliminary action on schedules; to make recommendations to and act as committees of reference from the Council; and so forth. The chairman of each such committee is also required to approve in advance absence lists for men leaving town on trips.

Anyone who thinks that the position of a Council member is a flowery bed of ease is invited to reflect on the above, and to remember that in addition to the work which may be called routine, there are large responsibilities involved, which no member of the Council (at least as at present constituted) takes lightly.

11l

During the past five years the position of the College in its inter-collegiate relationships has been greatly strengthened. Today Dartmouth is recognized as a contender, and an honorable one, in the front rank of almost every inter-collegiate sport. The voice of her representatives is listened to with respect in inter-collegiate meetings, and, aside from the limitations imposed by her location, of which more later, she has no difficulty in filling her schedules with desirable opponents. This is cause for gratification, though not for boasting. Several factors have entered into it, and each one of them demands attention, if our present rating is to be maintained and further progress to be made.

Among them are (1) the insistence upon high standards of athletic and scholastic eligibility. Dartmouth enforces with absolute strictness such rules as the "degree rule", the "one-year residence rule", and the "three-year rule"; and her scholastic requirements are high, and they are lived, up to. Likewise, her position on professionalism admits of no doubt. Not only is this good policy from the standpoint of our friendships with other institutions, but there can be no question that it conduces to the success of Dartmouth teams. It pays. And it may be said here that it is a part of the policy of the Council to establish permanent relationships in various branches of sport only with such other institutions as practice substantially the same code.

(2) The maintenance of a continuous policy in every branch of sport, so far as possible. Let us take the consistent development of track under the able direction of Harry Hillman as an example; and the recent joyful rehabilitation of basketball under Coach Zahn as another instance. Further illustrations are the engagement of Sidney C. Hazelton '09 as permanent coach of freshman football; and the still more recent employment of John F. Watson, one of the most successful men in the country in his line, as trainer and conditioner of all teams, except track. Such pdlicies, persisted in, will ensure to Dartmouth her fair proportion of success, and the respect which accompanies it, all along the line.

(3) The unremitting, intelligent and successful work in this field of Graduate Manager Pender, which may not be described in this article, but which alone has more than justified the Council of 1915 in reorganizing the office of Graduate Manager on a basis of expected longtime tenure.

IV

The necessary emphasis placed on matters of intercollegiate relationships, coupled with the ever-increasing volume of business in the office, has resulted in what may be called an under-development of the Council on the very important side of its contacts with the alumni. Until last month, the office of the Graduate Manager has been conducted on the same man-power scale as in 1915, to wit; one graduate manager, compensated on the basis of his giving part of his time to private affairs, and one part-time student stenographer. This has become absurdly inadequate, and as a result, some admitted inefficiencies have developed. For example, it is unquestionably true that during a busy football season, communications from alumni have gone too long unacknowledged and unanswered. This is written not in criticism of the Graduate Manager, but in extenuation; for certain letters to the writer have had the same unworthy fate.

The Council has just effected a comprehensive internal reorganization, whereby the compensation of the Graduate Manager has been increased, and he has been placed upon a full-time basis; and appropriation has been made for the employment of an assistant in his office, and Max A. Norton '19 has been secured in that capacity; and the employment of a permanent stenographer has also been authorized.

One very definite purpose of this change is to enable the Council and the alumni to keep more closely in touch with each other than has been possible in the past, and it will be a disappointment if this result is' not reached. But again it is fair to remind those who read this that the most valuable sort of criticism and suggestion is that which comes direct, and the Council would like to adopt a somewhat hackneyed motto as its own: "If we please you., tell others; if not, tell us".

V

Football remains, as it was in Dr. Tucker's time, "the one really great and distinctive academic game", although it has been developing regrettable tendencies toward professionalism. The Council is doing all that it can to keep Dartmouth football free from any such connection; and all future contracts with coaches will contain a clause barring participation in professional contests.

No single question presents more difficulties to the Council than the making of a football schedule. For at least one month, we are engaged in untangling a web 'of crossing and conflicting interests in which (to change the figure) one move on the part of one or two institutions is more likely than not to involve half-a-dozen others, until the whole task becomes as intricate as a Chinese puzzle. The Council is in the position of endeavoring to please everybody; in other words to make an ideal schedule. The usual result is apparently to please nobody, at least to a point of articulate enthusiasm ; and probably an ideal schedule will never be made.

But in its endeavors, the Council always tries to keep certain major ends in view.

1. To make a schedule which will be a financial success.

This mercenary consideration is put first because it has to come first. Dean Briggs of Harvard stated frankly the other day that Harvard athletics were supported by football. If that is true of Harvard, how much more is it true of Dartmouth ?

During the four years from 1915 to 1919, the Council did business at a net loss of $24,000.00. This was partly due, of course, to war-time conditions. In the war years it was the judgment of the Council that, in the interest of student health and morals, the normal athletic program should be maintained as far as possible, even at a money loss. Only the prudence of the Council which had laid away a part of the returns from former years, made it possible to carry on without calling on the alumni. During the last two seasons, there has been a substantial profit, which has enabled the Council to make some of the improvements which have been touched upon above. This is due to the fact that we have had winning teams and to the metropolitan popularity of our games with Cornell and Pennsylvania. But the Council would be derelict in its duty if it did not continue to pay close attention to this consideration.

2. To have at least one game of major importance in Hanover.

The football team, after all is primarily the property of the undergraduates ; and any schedule which ignores them is a poor one. Here we are.handicapped by our location; for ordinary weather conditions in Hanover do not permit scheduling a home contest later than the first Saturday in November.

3. To satisfy the alumni who want to see the team in action.

Of course this can best be done by arranging games in Boston and New York. For the first time in many years, there will be no game this fall in Boston. The Council regrets this, but the situation was one from which there was no practicable escape.

4. To create permanent relationships and rivalries with institutions of recognized first-rate standing and high athletic standards.

In this respect, the policy of the Council is frankly to cement our agreements with Cornell, Pennsylvania, and Columbia, in all branches of sport.

5. To give the wishes of the head coach reasonable consideration, and also

6. To take on a considerable number of stiff opponents during a season, so as to avoid the just criticism of a "soft" schedule.

It is no slight matter to reconcile the last two points alone, and when it comes to juggling all of them into a desirable and orderly arrangement of actual games, the difficulties of the Council are likely to exceed those of Mark Twain's object of pity who was afflicted at once with inflammatory rheumatism and St. Vitus's dance.

Perhaps the already inordinate length of this article may best be terminated by answering a few questions frequently asked about our current schedule.

1. Why are we not playing Brown this year?

Brown had only one suggestion for this game; November 19 in Boston. That is the day Harvard plays Yale in the Stadium. The Council thought such an arrangement so undesirable as to be impossible. Brown was offered a game in Hanover on October 22, as the first of a series of home-and-home games. She declined it. The Council also offered to play Brown on November 5 (an open date for both colleges). This was done in order to avoid an interruption in the series if possible, although Dartmouth plays Cornell in Ithaca on October 29, and Pennsylvania in New York on November 12, and an easier game would be preferrable as the meat in that sandwich. But Brown plays Yale on October 29 and Harvard on November 12, and her authorities felt that they must decline our proposition. The Council will endeavor to bring about a home-and-home arrangement with Brown beginning in 1922, and it is quite likely that Brown's "home" for such purpose would be Boston.

2. Why are we playing Syracuse in New York, November 19?

We are playing Syracuse because in order to get them to come to Hanover in 1920 (and Syracuse was the only college which could be secured for a major game in Hanover last fall), we were obliged to make a two-year agreement with them, the second game to be played on neutral grounds. We are playing in New York because such a game is a far better financial proposition there than anywhere else.

We are playing them November 19 because the coaches felt that the Syracuse contest was distinctly unfortunate mid-season assignment.

3. Why have we scheduled a game with the University of Georgia at Atlanta on November 26?

Because of the desire to carry the name (and we hope the fame) of the College into a part of the country where it is little known and thus assist the efforts of a small but very active group of Southern alumni.

Because the addition of this game to the schedule will not make it unduly long or hard, and will not entail more than two days' absence from college work.

Because the University of Georgia is a representative Southern institution, with fine traditions, high standards, and worthy ambitions, and because Dartmouth was their first choice among the Eastern Colleges for such an invitation.

And because this game should net a substantial sum for the Council's treasury. This argument is especially appealing this year, for there are only two other games on the schedule (those with Pennsylvania and Syracuse in New York) which can be counted on as large revenue producers, although a small profit may be realized from the Cornell game at Ithaca, and the Columbia game at Hanover.

VI

The next great advance in Dartmouth athletics will come when the Memorial Field, becomes a reality. Few alumni realize how hopeless are the present conditions, but to illustrate them, it may be pointed out that this spring's track team, with perhaps the best chance in history to win the inter-collegiates, will have no track to practice on except the one in the gymnasium. The completion of this project is an essential both to organized athletics, and as an insurance of the corpus sanum which is vital to the wellbeing of the College.

And the climax of this report may well be to urge the alumni to give generous and prompt support to this undertaking, which is so full of both utility and beauty, and which will be so fine a manifestation of the Dartmouth spirit.

*Football Freshmen Football Baseball Freshmen Baseball Cross Country Freshmen Cross County Swimming Track Freshmen Track Hockey Freshmen Hockey Soccer Golf Fencing Gym Team Basketball Freshmen Basketball Tennis Freshmen Tennis Gun Team Rifle Team Wrestling

JAMES P. RICHARDSON, Secretary to the Athletic Council