Following the Big Green Tearns

BASKETBALL TEAM LEADS EASTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE LEAGUE;PUCKMEN TURNBACK YALE; SKIERS SWEEP TWO MEETS

IT WAS with some interest that we read in last month's ALUMNI MAGAZINE the short letter to Editor Sid Hayward concerning Wm. F. Rice's dislike for the title "Big Green" as used by Dartmouth men concerning their own athletic teams.

It was of interest to me particularly because I have used this title so many times in the last four years without ever having considered it an expression of immodest proportions, that it would seem that a few words on the subject would not be entirely out of place in way of explanation.

Early this fall I personally became very interested in the nickname "Big Green" and by the best available channels tracked down the first origin of this title for Dartmouth teams. Although there is still some room for doubt on the question, to the best of my knowledge the term "Big Green" was first used in connection with Dartmouth's first really outstanding football eleven, the 1903 gridiron squad.

This title was then used more or less frequently up to the 1925 football season when the undefeated eleven of that season made such an impressive record that the "Big" before the "Green" came into its full popularity.