LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

FAMOUS SHURTLEFFIANS

Dear Sir:

In the interesting "Twenty-Five Years or So Ago" series by Brother Hinman, 1910, it would be appropriate to include something about the then famous Shurtleff House.

In the spring of 1906 Dean Emerson told Howard Cowee 'OB, and some other one of us, that the old home of Professor Shurtleff (of the 1820's), which stood flush to the sidewalk just north of the old Tuck School building, would, because of crowded conditions, be made into a dormitory for the following fall, and that we could submit the names of fourteen men for it.

The list of roommates, approved, was: Balanced Bill Knight, Rockford, 111., now an attorney there, and Big Ten football official, with witty (Biology shark) "Wink" Fisk, of a Boston suburb, now an eminent surgeon in Pittsburgh.

Solid Art Lewis, Laconia, N. H., who has prospered manufacturing piling machinery in Boston, with pleasant Howard Cowee, Worcester, Mass., now an attorney there.

Full-back Ivan Greenwood, Cleveland, now a real estate operator there, with like- able Gus Riley, Omaha, from Georgetown University, who died a year or two ago at Portland, Ore.

Story-teller Jack Corcoran, Boston, with genial Tom Morrissey, of Springfield, Mass. I don't know their present addresses and business connections.

Steady Mason Lewis, Colorado Springs, now a leading attorney in Denver, with nervous Stanford Tappen, Boston suburb, whose present location I don't know.

"Bub" Art Shaw, Joliet, Ill., world champion hurdler, now a physician at Longview, Wash., with "Dolly" Howard Hilton, Chicago suburb, now with the Chicago Title and Trust Company, and the father of four girls.

Jim Talcott, Joliet, Ill., from Lake Forest College, who soon left to be a teller in a Joliet bank, with Bill "Runt" Martin, Springfield, Ohio, first sub on the Tuck School football team when there were twelve in the School, now with Munsing- wear, Minneapolis.

All were '08 except Martin and Greenwood '07, the latter having started with '06. Five fraternities were represented in the group.

Fisk and Knight had the downstairs front room with the fire-place, which we combined to dress up and show as "ours" when visitors came from home. Upstairs in Tappen's and Lewis' room became established the College headquarters for a permanent card game at any and all hours. With its convenient location the house became a visiting place for 'most all bullsessionists and the card players of the College. Several were good enough to hold their own with Culbertson and Work, and I think that Hilton, Lewis, and visiting player, Jimmy Brown '07, still so rate.

The house became notorious around the campus; but there was really little wrong done there, except more gambling at times than we could alford. Having no freshman, we did earn a call-down from Paleopitus for getting the money for a Delta Alpha banquet from other dormitories. We played College Hall at baseball for the dinners, only to learn too late that the managers, Wink Fisk for Shurtleff and Harold Foreman for College Hall, misunderstood that the money we put up was for dinners only for the managers. We discovered them finnshing luscious steaks in the College Grill.

We had our yell, to wit: Shurtleff! Shurtleff! Is Our Cry! V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!

Munsingwear Corp.Minneapolis, Minn.February 9, 1933.

WAS HE-OR WAS HE NOT?

Dear Sir: Reading with interest the article in the February issue about Archie Ranney's gold watch, I note the statement that such an honor has only been conferred once since.

If my memory serves me rightly, a similar collection was taken in 1912 and a watch presented to Marc Wright '13 in honor of his record breaking pole vault at the Olympic tryouts in the Harvard Stadium. Possibly there are other factors of which I do not know—possibly I was the only contributor!

34 Brookside AvenueNewtonville, Mass.February 5, 1933.

Football Figures Compiled

No Undefeated Tearns and Dartmouth Holds Her Own inEastern Group

Dear Sir: In a recent communication to the ALUMNI MAGAZINE I made the statement that Dartmouth had been as comparatively successful in winning football games as other large eastern colleges and universities had been over a period of ten years or during any three years of that period. I must admit that my statement was based upon observation rather than upon any Statistics.

My opinion in this matter having been questioned by several alumni, I have been led. to compile some statistics which I believe will be of general interest to Dartmouth men even though they do not effectively prove my point.

The table enclosed represents a study of the major games played by eight eastern college teams during the last six years. I have not had available the scores back of 1927 but hope at some future time to complete the study over ten years. No attempt has been made to manipulate the gures in order to place the Dartmouth record in a favorable light. On the contrary, my original study did not include the season just ended and showed only two colleges, Yale and Pennsylvania, to have won a greater percentage of games than did Dartmouth. I therefore revised the figures to include 1932.

Many interesting deductions can be drawn from this table. Without going too deeply into analysis it is interesting to note the following points:

1. In the 48 individual records shown, no team has even been undefeated. Only 16 times has any team won more than half of its major games. Twelve teams have records no better than the record of the Dartmouth team in 1932.

2. In 1929 and in 1930 no team had a better record than the Dartmouth team.

3. In the last five-year period only two colleges have won over fifty per cent of their major games.

4- In three single seasons Dartmouth has won more than fifty per cent of her games, a record equaled only by Pennsylvania which won more than fifty per cent four times.

5. The figures in the last column indicate the number of games, in six years, played by each college, in which their team scored only one touchdown (less than 12 points). This item is given in answer to those alumni who have offered the Dartmouth record in this particular as conclusive evidence that our offense has not been "worthy of the name."

6. Not shown by this table, but also interesting, has been the number of games which each college has won or lost by the margin of seven points or less. This margin of one touchdown might not represent definite superiority. Dartmouth has won six and lost seven such close games. Only Princeton has an unbalanced record, having lost seven and won one such game.

It seems apparent from a study of these figures that for an eastern college team developed under conditions which prevail at these eight institutions, playing through a schedule largely filled with games against equals, normal expectancy must be to lose 50 per cent of its major games. Some seasons may be better, others may return less than normal success, but over a series of years to sustain an average better than 50 per cent will be very unusual.

Compared to this standard, the Dartmouth record cannot reasonably be considered to be unsatisfactory.

Every college alumnus is privileged to "hope" for an undefeated team or for a team that will lose only one game. The odds are certainly 1 to 50 in the first instance and 1 to 7 in the second instance that such hopes will be satisfied. He is privileged to express his disappointment. But is he justified in demanding that "something be done about it"? Are Dartmouth teams and Dartmouth coaches to be condemned because hopeful, enthusiastic, Dartmouth men are unreasonable in their interpretation of success?

Dartmouth College Athletic Council.

STATISTICS—MAJOR FOOTBALL GAMES WON—BY EASTERN TEAMS Gc1932imes V1931'om jJ.930ames1929Played1928in1927Pe2 Yrs.Cent G8 Yrs.ames W 4 Yrs.on in L5 Yrs.ast6 Yrs.TieGamesScoringLessThan 2Touch-downs Dartmouth 1/5 2/6 3/5 4/6 2/6 3/4 .27 .44 .454 .42 .46 2 17 Harvard 2/5 3/4 1/5 2/5 3/6 3/7 .55 .42 .42 .44 .43 2 21 Yale 2/6 3/6 2/6 4/6 3/6 5/6 .41 .38 .458 .43 .52 5 19 Princeton 0/5 0/6 0/6 1/6 3/5 3/4 .00 .00 .04 .14 .21 5 23 Cornell >1/4 3/4 2/4 2/4 0/4 0/4 .50 .50 .50 .40 .33 3 15 Pennsylvania 3/5 4/7 3/7 4/6 5/6 4/8 .58 .52 .56 .61 .58 0 17 Brown 4/5 2/5 3/6 2/6 3/4 0/5 .60 .56 .50 .53 .45 2 20 Columbia 3/5 2/4 2/6 1/6 1/5 2/5 .55 .46 .38 .34 .35 25