Football at Dartmouth Since the War

Article III A Post-War All-Dartmouth Team

First Eleven Lynch LE Neidlinger LT Diehl LG Cunningham C Youngstrom RG Parker RT Bjorkman RE Cannell (Capt.) QB Marsters LHB Oberlander RHB Leavitt FB

Second Eleven Booma Hardy Phillips Davis Crisp Sonnenberg Cole McPhail Lane Robertson (Capt.) Shelburne

A RECENT magazine article by George Trevor, the well-known writer on sports, picked a post-war Ail-American football team. Starting it eagerly to see how many Dartmouth men were named, I discovered that Dartmouth did not appear on the first line-up at all, and that we had been granted one place on the second team Youngstrom! Like any good Dartmouth fan, I began to be indignant; but this emotion cooled down on discovering that Harvard with Owen and Yale with Lovejoy were just as well thought of as Dartmouth; and that no name from Princeton, Pennsylvania, Cornell or Brown appeared at all! I must not infringe the copyright, so let it only be said in addition that Trevor's first-string backfield is Friedman, Gipp, Grange and Nevers, to which exception can hardly be taken. The selections show how the center of football gravity has shifted toward the west.

The article set me to musing on what might be a post-war all-Dartmouth team; and with no apologies, but with entire and frank admission of total lack of qualification, the results of those musings are set down here. No doubt if they are read at all, they will "start something." No player is considered who has not completed his Dartmouth career.

THE LINE

Let us start with the line, as being, on the whole, the easiest job. At center there are just two men to be seriously considered: "Bill" Cunningham and "Josh" Davis. None of the other men who have held down that position have been natural pivot men, though hard workers. Cunningham is one of the most colorful players ever on a Dartmouth team; reminiscent of McCornack sometimes; a Cyrano of the gridiron. Perhaps not quite so steady as Davis, he was a great inspirer of his line-mates. He "liked 'em rough" and there were few opponents he could not outguess, and none of whom he stood in awe. His "pendulum kick" would help out after touchdowns. He is the choice for the first team with Davis a very, very close second.

Two guards in this period top the list by a fairly wide margin: Youngstrom and Diehl. There will be no dispute about the "Swede" and little about Diehl. The latter started as a heavy-footed, slow-reacting, clumsy player; but in his junior and senior years, he was a terror to opponents, and the best running guard we have had. Second choices would be Phillips, who played a fine game in 1927 and 1928, and "Norm" Crisp, whose relatively small frame was loaded with power, and who knew how to handle himself and opponents to the queen's taste. Aschenbach, captain in 1923, played splendidly that year, and at his best would probably excel either Phillips or Crisp; but he was not so consistent.

I assume that the first and foremost attribute of a good tackle is dependability. Using this yardstick, there is not very much difficulty in selecting our men for these key positions. "Nate" Parker, the captain of the great team of 1925, as fine a type of athlete as ever took a shower, gets first call; and not far behind comes "Pudge" Neidlinger, a player of the same brand, who never had the good fortune to be a member of one of our consistently winning teams. No coach would need to worry about defense with these two men on the job. Intelligent, cool and powerful, they would make a pair of which any team might be proud. My second choice would be the strangely assorted pair of Sonnenberg and "Sykes" Hardy. "Gus" was immensely powerful, and knew no fear. He was not the ideal build for a tackle, and he never became a finished football player at least not at Dartmouth. Hardy was always working, giving everything he had; a good substitute for either of our first-string men, though not quite so quick at diagnosis as they. If "Jim" Robertson had always played at tackle, no player of those mentioned, except perhaps Parker, would have equalled him.

ENDS

Some may question the choice of ends; but I have no hesitation about them; they are Bjorkman, in first place easily, and "Eddie" Lynch. Bjorkman was a born athlete. His "co-ordination" was wonderful. He was an end by instinct, and needed little coaching. He had his own methods of fainting and blocking which no coach could improve upon. He was consistently strong in every department of end play. Lynch more than made up in brains what he lacked in brawn. He forced his way to the top, and stayed there, against candidates who greatly outmatched him in physique. Few yards were ever gained around his end. It is difficult to pick the second-string ends, for there is a group of close rivals, such as Cole, Booma, Hagenbuckle, Sage and Tully. Picken, one of the very best all-around athletes ever to be in Dartmouth, would need serious consideration if he had played football more than one year. Cole and Booma are selected, by virtue of general excellence and dependability. Tully flashed as a great forward-pass receiver in 1925, and attracted nation-wide notice as the receiving end of the Oberlander-Tully Aerial Touchdown Company; but in the other departments of end play he was of only average ability. Sage was a picturesque figure on the field, and a better all-around end than Tully. His small stature was a handicap, but he certainly deserves an "honorable mention."

THE BACKFIELD

Now for the backfield. Cannell for quarterback, beyond a reasonable doubt, despite the claims of three such stars as McPhail, Dooley and Jordan. Those who saw him, almost single-handed, save the 20-19 game against Pennsylvania in 1919, will need no argument. As a general, as a leader, as a brilliant runner in a broken field, a sure catcher of punts, a good punter, and a last-ditch defense man, he left nothing to be desired. The stories of the games of his time, written by nonpartisans, are full of tributes to his ability. A team like ours, with Cannell as quarter-back and captain, would always be "running on high." For his relief, McPhail is selected, due to his two brilliantly successful years in 1925 and 1927. Though not so stellar an individual performer as Dooley, who contributed some of the greatest plays ever seen in Dartmouth football, McPhail was more consistent and a better strategist. It is hard to pass over Jordan, a great natural athlete and a great fighter in a pinch. He could and did play any position in the backfield and played it well.

For our two half-backs, how can either Marsters or Oberlander be placed second to any others, and what coach would not rejoice in having this pair fit and ready? They would team up beautifully, too. Marsters exploits are too recent to need any comment. Though he played quarterback in 1929, he is a natural ballcarrier, and probably would be rated as the greatest of all Dartmouth backs, of any period. Swede Oberlander was one of the rare cases of a good lineman being converted into an even better back. He had tremendous power, and plenty of speed; and his ability with the forward pass was uncanny. He deserved his recognition as "all-American" in 1925. It seems like rank heresy to relegate Robertson to any man's second eleven; but surely neither Marsters nor Oberlander can be displaced. Robertson's career was badly interfered with by injuries, which slowed him up in a good many games. Fine back as he was, I think he would have made an even better tackle, at which position, though patched up physically, he played a glorious game against Georgia in his last appearance for Dartmouth. He was the best punter Dartmouth has had during this period. Why do our coaches have such difficulty in developing really good punters? He well earned the rare honor of a two-year captaincy. Myles Lane, the ever reliable, is Robertson's running mate in our so-called second eleven backfield, which will have plenty of power, as any one can see.

Other half backs have done sterling work during this period, notably "Pat" Holbrook, "Red" Hall, Haws and Breithut; but the chosen four stand out preeminent.

FULL-BACK

As is the case at center, Dartmouth has not been very strong at full back since the war, except during the years when "Larry" Leavitt and Shelburne played the position, and these two are awarded first and second places respectively.

Leavitt was a really great football player. He went unnoticed in many games by the uninitiated; not so by coaches of opposing teams, the best of all judges. Leavitt was hard to hurt, and he was everlastingly on the job any and all jobs. He was like the Moslem hero:

"If you wanted a man to encourage the van, Or to harass the foe in the rear, Or to storm a redoubt, you had only to shout For Abdullah Bulbul Ameer."

But perhaps his greatest forte was on secondary defense, when his uncanny ability at diagnosing opponent's plays and being at the right spot at the right time made him

priceless. Shelburne, with the ball, was perhaps a shade more powerful than Leavitt; but in the other departments of play falls several notches below him.

The backfield of our second team would carry a little heavier artillery than that of the first, and would gain in exchanges of punts; but the first team backfield would be more versatile, speedier, better on defense, and would excel in passing. But both of the quartets are first-class. It seems to be true that in this period, at least, we have been more successful in developing backfield material than with either linemen or ends.

How would this team fare against one composed of the heroes of earlier times? An eleven, to select one offhand, with Cavanaugh and Ralph Glaze at ends, Turner and Lang playing tackle, Gilman or Tobin and Spears guards, Hooper center, Witham quarterback, and Hawley, Ingersoll and Marks in the backfield? I think the old-timers would be a trifle stronger in the line, but that the youngsters have slightly the better of it in the backfield. This may be simply because of the difference in the style of game at the different periods; but maybe even the mention of the names will stir some old and pleasant memories, and perhaps even start another argument!

CANNELL CAPTAIN

LEAVITT

DIEHL

PAKKER

MARSTERS

OBERLANDER, KICKING