Following the Big Green Teams
GREEN TRACK TEAM UPSET BY HARVARD; CREW WINS TWO RACES;BASEBALL TEAM LEADS LEAGUE WITH SIX STRAIGHT WINS
AS THE masseur said to the fat lady on the rubbing table, "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we will." And I can't help thinking how true this seems in relation to the Dartmouth-Harvard track meet held at Cambridge on May 15.
Certainly it seemed from many different angles that Coach Harry Hillman and his men were destined to win the first dual meet over the Crimson since 1911; but after the stunning 70-65 upset administered to the forces of the Dartmouth track and field team numerous examples of the hand of fate can be recalled to light.
First it should be known that neither Coach Hillman nor his men expected a Dartmouth rout over Harvard as most of the newspaper experts predicted for the amusement of their readers. Every Indian knew that it would be close and said soonly few would leave the victory bandwagon long enough to listen.
However, as we hinted before, if (to coin a new word) one or two things had broken right for Dartmouth a long-standing desire to pin a rose on the Harvards could have been realized.
One of the first bad breaks that came to Coach Hillman was the loss of his only outstanding hammer-thrower, senior Wayne Ballantyne, who was forced out of competition by an appendectomy a month before the meet. Had Ballantyne competed it is safe to say that Dartmouth would have rescued five points from the hammer throw rather than have witnessed a complete Harvard sweep in this event.
The second misfortune that crippled the Indians during the meet was the sudden sickness of Pat Gorman following his victory in the mile during the early part of the meet. Gorman was scheduled to run both the mile and the half, and would have done so with credit to himself in both, had the usual expectations been followed.
And finally, rain the night before the meet hampered Dartmouth even more than Harvard, I believe. Not during the actual running of the meet, to be sure, but from the very nature of the personnel of the Indian team. The strength of the Big Green existed in the necessity of several of the runners to double-up in events and it was discovered after men like Johnny Hoffstetter had run their specialties through the slow and muddy track, that they had very little strength left with which to double-up with success.
All of which does not detract in the least from the Harvard win, or at least it is not meant to do so, for Harvard showed real determination all down the line.
Congratulations are in order for Captain Tony Geniawicz, who won the shot and placed second in the discus; to Jack Donovan, who won both the high and low hurdles; to Johnny Hoffstetter, who came through as expected to win the 440; to Pat Gorman, who won the mile; to Hart Beardsley, who upset all advance prognostications with his win in the two-mile run; to Warren King for his first place in the broad jump; to Ulysses Wharton, who tried to turn the tables at the last minute with a tie for first in the pole vault; and to all others who did their utmost to bring about a win over Harvard.
Perhaps next year will be different as we used to say before the first Yale defeat by Dartmouth two seasons ago. One thing did come from the defeat that is worthy of statement, and that is, Dartmouth's track forces have been thoroughly aroused now, and it can't be very long before the proverbial worm turns.
As a matter of fact, all the Dartmouth teams are now saying, "You can't do this to our comrades" and paean to make Harvard pay for their plucky exhibition. The first team that intends to wipe out the memory of the track team's defeat is Jeff Tesreau's high flying baseball nine.
And the ballsters appear to be just the team that can do it; for if they aren't the classiest diamond aggregation ever seen on Memorial Field, then they are mighty close to it. So far in their romp through the Eastern Intercollegiate League, the Indians have had everything. At the present moment they lead the League with six wins against no defeats, they lead the League in team batting by a large margin, and they lead the League in team fielding, also by a comfortable margin.
Perm's entry in the league race was the first to feel the power, speed, and defensive ability of the Big Green this season, with Penn coming out on the short end of a well-played contest, 5-3.
For the Dartmouth nine it was only the beginning, however. The next team to face the Indians was Princeton's expectedly strong team that had previously held Holy Cross to a 5-5 tie. But either the Tigers were decidedly off, or Dartmouth was exceptionally hot as the 12-0 and 16-8 scores in favor of Dartmouth would indicate.
Ted Bruce went to the mound for Coach Tesreau to win his second League victory. Bruce held the Tigers completely at his mercy throughout, for the best game he has pitched in three years.
Carl "Mutt" Ray attempted to win the second game, but soon gave way in the fourth to Ben Lane. Neither Ray nor Lane needed to be especially effective with their mates batting out 20 hits and 16 runs.
Dartmouth's annual tripping spot at Baker Field, New York, was next successfully navigated. Bruce again won on the mound for the Indians, 6-5, and Lane exploded the myth that Dartmouth had but one twirler, by setting the Lions down, 9-3.
But the best game of the year and, according to the bystanders who have seen many years of Dartmouth baseball the best ever played in Hanover from a defensive standpoint, came with the Yale encounter here on May 12.
For Bruce it was something of an off day despite the fact that he yielded but three hits in nine trips to the mound. Nevertheless, had it not been for some truly wonderful fielding plays by Captain Ray Ratajczak at short stop, Brad Jenkins at third base, Buddy McLaughlin at second, Charlie Tesreau at first, Joe Urban behind the plate, George Hanna in left field, and Howie Longley in right field, the final outcome would have been quite different.
It will be noticed that the listing of the defensive stars of the Eli game includes everyone except centerfielder Eddie Casey, who didn't have a single fielder's chance.
Three fast double plays, Jenkins to McLaughlin to Tesreau, Ratajczak to McLaughlin to Tesreau, and Longley to Urban, featured the fields with Longley's long throw to Urban and Ratajczak's sensational fielding on several plays actually cutting runs off at the plate.
Yale coach Smoky Joe Wood stated after the game that the Dartmouth defensive exhibition was the best he'd ever seen in college baseball and Jeff Tesreau was more than willing to shake hishead in agreement.
There are times when too many nice words concerning a team acts as a jinx to future battles, but it still seems difficult to foresee anything but another Dartmouth pennant for 1937. It may be that the Indians will drop one, or even two games, from this point on, since the very enjoyment of baseball is the factor of "anything can happen in any one game"; but over the stretch of six more league games there is no team that even compares with Dartmouth offensively and defensively.
And once again the masterminding of Coach Tesreau appears to account for over 50 per cent of the Dartmouth success. He placed his son Charlie on first when others doubted the wisdom of the move, and Charlie has developed into one of the best all-around first basemen Dartmouth has had in the four years that I have been watching games in Hanover.
Then too, Jeff placed his faith in Hanna when others commented that George was too small to be hitter enough to hold the job. So far, Hanna not only has hit well enough to hold his post, but leads the entire league at the plate. Likewise, the old double-steal still functions to the joy of Dartmouth followers and to the dismay of the opposition. In all other-departments of the game, the Indians have looked and acted smarter than their opponents and sometimes to such an extent that it calls for excusable gloating by local ball fans. The best way I know to describe the Dartmouth nine is to say that the team has class with a capital C.
Dartmouth's newly organized rowing club also brought great joy to the hearts of the lovers of rowing during the month when the first Dartmouth shell ever to row on the Connecticut river opened the new era of Dartmouth rowing by soundly beating the Williams varsity eight.
The second crew race, again on the Connecticut, was even more exciting to watch as the Boston University eight offered stern opposition to the Dartmouth shell up until the last too yards.
The Green crew was not on the winning side at Derby, Conn., in the first trip away from home, but rowing has proved to be most popular with the Dartmouth undergraduates and Hanover townsfolk, and if a look into the future is of any worth whatever, it shows that Dartmouth is in rowing once more, and this time to stay. Whether Dartmouth will ever be in the big-time rowing circles is something else again, but even on a small scale the return of shells proudly floating the Green flag of Dartmouth is a welcome addition to the sporting scene.
GREEN CREW WHICH DEFEATED WILLIAMS AND BOSTON U. Left to right: Oliver Butterworth '37, stroke; Dana Prescott '37, No. 7; Frank Magel '37,No. 6; Pete Talbot '38, No. 5; Fred Mayne '38, No. 4; Louis Van Dike '38, No. 3; ErnestStephens '36, No. 2; Gilbert Tanis '38, bow. In front: Tom Duff '37, coxswain.
LEADER OF GREEN NINE AND TWO SOPHOMORE LUMINARIES Ray Ralajczak '37 (center), captain and shortstop of the league-leading baseball team, flanked by Buddy McLaughlin '39 (left), who iscapably handling the second base job, and Joe Urban '39, who is starring as first-string catcher.
