Following the Big Green Teams
DARTMOUTH BASEBALL CLUB SPLITS TWIN BILL WITH PRINCETON;OUTLOOK BRIGHT FOR LACROSSE AND GOLF TEAMS
THIS HAS been one of those months of famine on the athletic front, for with the exception of spring training trips by the baseball and lacrosse teams the Indian athletes have been preparing for their more important encounters with traditional enemies.
Coach Jeff Tesreau's nine failed to startle its followers in its Easter vacation encounters with defeats by Navy, North Carolina, Duke and a victory over the weak Hampden-Sydney team summing up the Green accomplishments.
Obviously that's exactly what is expected of a team that has done most of it fielding and batting drill indoors in the gymnasium cage. However the value of the vacation travel was evident on April 16 when the Green diamondeers met Princeton in a double header attraction—the initial Eastern Intercollegiate League contest for both.
That Dartmouth was able to split even with the Bengals, losing the opening game, 5-4 and running away with the second game 14-3, offered encouragement to those who hold high hopes for the Jeffmen in the League's championship race.
Three newcomers to the Dartmouth pitching staff, Hal Wonson, Johnny Litchfield and Bill Maxson divided the mound duties, with Wonson as relief twirler in the first game and winning twirler in the second. Catcher Joe Urban was the batting star for the Indians with six hits in the 14 inning double header.
Once more it looks as if the ball team is going to suffer several defeats in nonLeague encounters because of the lack of "depth" on the pitching staff, but the discovering of Wonson and Litchfield as dependable prospects against the more important League foes brightens the outlook of the team even for those who have seen, no hope for a contending Big Green title team this year.
Personally we have been optimistic all along while laying great stress on the factor that Coach Tesreau can always get the last ounce of ability out of his material.
In order to do this, Tesreau has made several moves in his lineup to insure a heavy hitting Dartmouth team that should score enough runs to win a share of the League games under ordinary circumstances.
Charlie Tesreau on first has been hitting well this spring, and Oscar Linden, now on second after a season in right field and a trial at reserve first baseman, is a proven sticker. Buddy McLaughlin at short will hit well as the campaign progresses as will Captain Brad Jenkins on third.
Outfielders George Hanna, Johnny Johnson and Ned Hein, in left, center and right field respectively, will give the Green one of the fastest outfields in the League defensively and the hitting of this trio should be up to League average. Only sophomore Hein is a power hitter, but Hanna and Johnson will be the speed twins on the base paths.
Hanover ball fans will have their first look at the 1938 nine on April 30 after this goes to press when the defending League champs from New Haven open the home season.
There is this also to be said concerning the League race. From the happenings of early season games, there will be more good teams in the League than there have been for several seasons, and with more than half of the entrants conceded a chance at the pennant, a lost game here and there will not decide the championship as it has been doing. Cornell has made an auspicious start. Yale is a leading contender again. Harvard will be strong as usual, and Dartmouth, Princeton, and Columbia are not out of this class by any means.
Two of the other Dartmouth varsity teams that will be seen in action this spring are given a better chance at a League cup than the baseball team, for Coach Tommy Dent has a high flying lacrosse aggregation under way, and Coach Tommy Keane is overseeing a flossy band of Indian golfers on the local golf course. Just how potent these two much talked of teams will be when they face the top competition of their New England and Eastern Intercollegiate Leagues is something else again. However on paper they stand a very good chance of being the tops themselves with a break in fortune here and there during the schedule.
New coach Red Hoehn has had his varsity and freshman tennis candidates out on the courts since mid-April. Hoehn greeted several veteran netmen in Phil Harty, Bill Thomas, Bud Foster, Ferris Campbell, Bill Harty and others. It has also been immediately apparent that Coach Hoehn knows more than a little something about the sport he will coach, and it would surprise no one if he succeeds in not only developing his veterans but in unearthing several other men who will be helpful under expert instruction. Hoehn is already well-liked by Hanover sports fans, and if this year the Indians fail to beat such teams as Princeton, Yale and Harvard, it may not be forever that these headliners in this sport keep the upper hand over the Big Green.
Dartmouth's crew, still working on its own but gaining stature on the campus and in rowing circles generally, will again offer that "something different" aspect to the spring sports season. Most of the regulars of last year's successful boat have been graduated. A long winter season indoors in a dry shell and a month on the Connecticut have brought the many newcomers along fast, however.
Prospects for a strong dual varsity track team are also good, with Harry Hillman facing his old bugaboo of this yearlack of weight men. On the cinders the Indian runners will more than hold their own against Harvard and Holy Cross.
Captain Jack Donovan, Bill Watson, Robin Hartmann and DeWitt Jones in the hurdle events, Warren King in the dash, Stew Whitman and Fred Upton in the mile and half mile, Dick Hawkes in the two mile, George Wharton and Ace Bailey in the pole vault, and runners-up to these leaders in their events offer a wellbalanced array.
On Chase field much has been happening that has filled in for the sports fans between seasons. We refer, of course, to spring football practice and the 1938 Dartmouth eleven that is being molded in this off-season period.
Attendance day after day has been at a new high for spring football, a point that is very important to the outlook for next fall. With the exception of three letterMen the Chase field workouts have had a veteran air about them that has been encouraging.
A great deal of the work has been spent on finding regulars who can replace right end Merrill Davis, right tackle Francis (Pop) Schildgen, left guard Roy Duckworth and left halfback Fred Hollingworth. Right now only Bill Hutchinson has had any definite grip on these open berths, with the former fullback taking over the left halfback post in a backfield that includes captain Bob MacLeod at right halfback, Colby Howe at fullback and Howie Nopper at quarterback.
Duckworth's place in the line is still open and an interesting and hard fought contest is being waged every day of practice for a leading shot at this position by several candidates. Senior Fellow Lou Highmark gets the call during signal drills, but his worries are by no means over, as former jayvee of last fall John (Red) Klein is on his toes continually, and if and when the right tackle squad becomes more definite there may be others who will get into this guard contest.
Jim Feeley, last year the regular left guard until his injury in the Harvard game, is currently giving his full attention to the right tackle berth in Harry Ellinger's hunt for an experienced lineman who can take over where Schildgen left off in the Columbia game. Phil (Place Kick) Dostal, Schildgen's substitute last year is also a leading contender for this vacancy and Californian Joe Armanini is also coming up fast in a bid for the job.
Ex-captain Merrill Davis' old stand is being fought for by letterman Jim Parks and veteran Ed Wakelin, with honors about even at this writing.
Signal drills have seen the first team line up pretty consistently as follows: le, Whit Miller; It, Larry Dilkes; lg, Lou Highmark; c, Bob Gibson; rg, Gus Zitrides; rt, Jim Feeley; re, Jim Parks; qb, Howie Nopper; rh, Bob MacLeod; lh, Bill Hutchinson; fb, Colby Howe.
Some of the spring season color notes have been supplied by center Otis Mudge, who is waging a fight for the center post; by former jayvee back Jim Weaver, who since he was transferred to an end at the outset of the practice sessions has made an amazingrisein prominence; by veteran back Hank White, who has shown more speed than at any other time since his freshman year; and by the entire squad that has shown day after day that the Big Green gridsters mean to go places if hard work and determination will help. The gridsters know too much about the strength of the different teams they will meet next year to lapse into any self-complacency about their own strength, and the mere fact that they are being hailed as great stuff has only added to their desire to be a good team and no eleven that the opponents will be able to crow over in defeat. There are 62 candidates out for the team this spring, and 62 pair of feet are firmly planted on hard ground, where they will stay, come what may.
As for the freshmen, they as a group are finding out what every freshman squad soon discovers: That there is a big difference between yearling football and varsity football and that the veterans have the jump with their experience and knowledge of the game.
But the newcomers do deserve this word of praise. They are all trying their darndest, know without anyone telling them that they have much to learn and that varsity football players are not made overnight or even in a year's time.
The fact that there are veterans at all positions, and veterans behind most of the regulars points to the fact that the freshmen will play far from a major role in the 1938 campaign.
Which brings us down to the weather, not because it is always a passable subject of conversation, but because it may play a big part in the different teams successes this spring and next fall. This year for the first spring in many years, the spring squads have been able to practice on good, solid, dry land before trying their strength against teams that have ordinarily had the jump on them in condition and practice experience.
So a varsity "D" on a white sweater to the weather man and a place at the banquet table for him when those teams winning their League titles this spring gather to rehash their seasons.
"WHITEY" FULLER '37.
intramural Newsletter
During the past month the most important event as far as the Department itself was concerned was the intramural banquet and subsequent election of the new assistant managers. The banquet was held on Tuesday, March 29, and in addition to the members of the department two guests were in attendance, Bob Bigley and Harry Sampson. The affair was held in the Ski Hut and a fine two hours were enjoyed at the last get-together of the full group.
The elections of the new assistant managers climaxed a year of exceptionally fine heeling by the sophomore group and it was only by a small margin that the select four could be chosen. They included H. Dwight Meader of Rochester, N. H., who was chosen head assistant manager and as such is the department's new Green Key representative. Ted Lewitt of Chelsea, Mass., Clint Clad of Scarsdale, N. Y., and Larry Falls of Maplewood, N. J„ were the other men selected. They will serve for a year under the senior managers, Bob Haslam, Earle Stevenson, and Herb Hirschland. Haslam was elected from the senior managers to the new post of chairman of the Department, replacing the graduating Gene Waggaman.
At present writing the Dekes are in the lead for the intramural championship cup with 156 points, 12 ahead of their nearest competitor, Sigma Chi, defending champion. The Dekes' latest conquests were scored in the annual swimming meet held in the middle of March. Paced by Larry Hull, they walked off with the meet rolling up 24 points for a comfortable margin of victory. In addition they have just won the fraternity ping pong tournament, trimming the Phi Gams 3-0.
The latest innovation in intramural circles was the highly successful bridge tournament that was held just before the spring vacation. Under the direction of "Big Jim" Richardson and Prof. Burled of Tuck School the tournament was run off in Thayer Hall with the Theta Chi four man team winning top honors, closely followed by S. A. E. Later on this spring the Department is planning to hold a sailing tournament and a horseshoe-pitching tourney, both new activities for intra, mural athletics at Dartmouth.
Just before the vacation started Paul Dickerman of Streeter Hall won the college open foul-shooting contest tossing in 34 out of a possible 45 baskets. Other dorm sports are in the process of starting up now and are not far enough advanced to make any predictions concerning the outstanding teams or players. .
DIAMOND DIRECTOR Jeff Tesreau, wily as ever, shown as hestarted his 20th season as coach of the Dartmouth varsity baseball team.
SQUASH COURTS ARE INCREASINGLY POPULAR Henry R. Reeve '38 of Bayside, N. Y., and William I. Kent '39 of Merion, Pa., membersof the varsity team.
