Big Green Teams
Winter Season Finds Basketball, Hockey, and Ski Teams Defending Titles
MR. WILLIAM (the ex-blond beauty of Boston) CUNNINGHAM has already written the summary of the 1938 football season into the historical files of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, and what is to be added on the Stanford game can be said in very few wordsfive to be exact. They were too damn BIG!
And the best thing that can be said of sports at any time is that the program is so full and busy that there is never very much time to look back in the rush to cover something that is going to happen.
Briefly the 1939 football prospects are not rosy, and yet we can not help feeling that the gridsters who will return are in a more fortunate position than were the men who made up the eleven of this fall.
Only an imbecile will fail to realize that whatever the eleven of Captain-elect Whit Miller accomplishes next fall will be the result of hard work, for they as a group start with little and whatever they produce will be accepted with praise. Contrast this to the gridsters of Captain Bob MacLeod's eleven; for these men, no matter how much they were praised for the deeds they furnished with far from exceptional material, were expected to win by those who never realized the actual situation on Memorial field. One has only to recall the razzberries that were handed out to anyone who stated that the ig§B Dartmouth eleven was no invincible powerhouse at any time during the season, to realize that Mac and his mates were up against it from the very start, and today few credit them with having inscribed into the books one of the best records of any Dartmouth eleven of the last 13 years. It will take the seasons when Dartmouth would give anything to boast three wins over Harvard, Yale and Princeton to cement this season's glories in many minds. Against teams that were of their weight and class, the 1938 eleven furnished more brilliancy than was even expected. When pitted against two teams that outweighed them outlandishly, they had only to fight a losing cause with their chins high and their spirits unbreakable, and, at that, they went down twice only by the margin of one touchdown in each game. Which is plenty to be proud of.
For their efforts during the campaign 23 of the players received their varsity letters. Thirteen of these footballers were seniors. Led by All-American Bob MacLeod, who certainly deserves all the recognition that has come to him, Dartmouth next fall will be minus the courageous Bob Gibson, the colorful and plucky Gus Zitrides, the fine end and great team man Jim Parks, the fighting Irishman Jim Feeley, the hard running Colby Howe, the clever Larry Dilkes, and these others—Ed Wakelin, Howie Nopper, Otis Mudge, Lou Highmark, Hank Mills, and Joe Cottone of whom it can be said that they gave their very best at all times, some with outstanding success, others with less success, but all with the same 100 per cent effort for Dartmouth.
Next fall there will be ten lettermen available. To be very frank, we would say that in this group of ten are three men who would rank as of top "Ivy League" ability. They are: left end Miller, left guard Lou Young, and left halfback Bill Hutchinson. Every other man on the entire squad must prove his stuff before the outlook will be anything but dark. We do know, however, that the prospects are better than the mere mention of individuals and ability, for the boys who are returning and the new men who will join them realize to a man that they must buckle their belts to the last notch, face the fact that the road ahead is a rocky one, and that the possible reward will be the fun of upsetting a favorite here and there on the 1939 schedule if they want to pay the price of enjoying one of the real thrills of intercollegiate sport.
THREE TEAMS DEFENDING TITLES
While all this lies in the distance, there are more immediate sports that will presently be red hot. Three of Dartmouth's winter sports teams enter the season as defending champions of their Leagues. As we mentioned in the opening paragraph of our September essay, Dartmouth had a great year in sports for 1937-38, and will have to pay for this all through 1938-39. Already this has proven to be true. It hasn't seen the last of its usefulness as a prophecy. The Big Green must be very outstanding in skiing, basketball and hockey this winter to repeat the victories of a year ago. There will be no opponent who won't play over its head to knock the Indians down a peg, for uneasy lies the head that wears the crown in sports as well as in politics.
Already the basketball quintet has had its face changed before the League season gets underway, just as the football picture was changed before that season was introduced. For the pre-Christmas contests and for the vacation trip to Stanford, Coach Ossie Cowles has been forced to use three newcomers on a court five that was expected to be a veteran team of four men with but one position open. Cowles has lost MacLeod to the East-West Shriners game, and although Mac will hustle back to join his team for the opening of the League contests, a valuable month has been lost. Cottone has found it necessary to give all his time to study, and as a result he will not join the quintet until after vacation—if at all.
Thus Dartmouth defends its championship honors with handicaps right and left. Not that the Big Green will not be in the midst of the pennant struggle all the way, but we doubt very much if the title returns to Hanover for another year, merely because it has been disconcerting to see that everything has not started as expected.
Prospects are great for a good hockey sextet under Coach Eddie Jeremiah, and so far the material has lined up as expected without the usual developments that have come to be looked for this year. However, Jerry's team is not past first semester grades yet, so hold your breath.
In the Spaulding pool, Coach Sid Hazelton is trying his darndest to keep smiling with very little to smile about. He has on tap five competitors of League standards. How many of these men will be left for him after the marks come out, he doesn't know. His whole squad is filled with "if's" and "maybe's." One thing that can be reported falls in the category of team spirit. This year the swimmers have joined hands in huddle and come out with fire in their eyes and the pledge that even if they get licked in every meet, Dartmouth will have reason to be proud of their effort.
For those of you who like to follow the Dartmouth teams closely, here are the names you should be familiar with this winter:
Basketball: Captain Roger (Moose) Dudis, Center. A short lad of six foot six and one-half inches. This is Moose's third season and already it looks as if it will be his best.
Joe Batchelder, guard. Joe's a senior and has been a regular for two years. Joe has had plenty of experience in basketball and will be an outstanding guard as soon as MacLeod returns to work with him. Joe and Mac have played together since their freshman year and both need one another to be at their individual best.
Gus (Swede) Broberg, sophomore. You will remember Gus as the young fellow who made history as a freshman courtman last year. So far he's doing all right as a varsity player, too. His first night performance was 22 points, 12 of them on foul shots in" 12 free throws. Of course he needs to play against many topnotch defensive players before he will know all the tricks that Ossie Cowles can teach him, but he certainly is the type of raw material one likes to see wearing the Green.
ELSE A PROMISING FORWARD
Vince Else, sophomore. Vinny looked pretty scared in his debut at forward against Springfield, but give him time to gain confidence, and Coach Cowles may show you a thing or two late in the winter and for the next two years as well. Cowles especially likes his ambition to be a basketball player, which gives you a head start on sizing up the type of kid Else is.
Hockey: Captain Jim Feeley, defense; Wes Goding, goalie; Mai Cross, defense; Art Larkin, defense; Earl Seeley, goalie; and forwards Bud Foster, Harpo Walsh, Junie Merriam, and Danny Sullivan need no introduction to alumni hockey fans. They're all lettermen back from last year's squad. Sophomores with whom you won't be quite so familiar are forwards John Kelley, who was a reserve end in football; Fred MaJoon, who centered the first frosh line last winter; Charlie Stanley, who was at right wing on the freshman six last year; and Clem Costello, brother of Jack '37, all of whom Coach Jeremiah must count on if the squad is to be on a par with last year. Kelley is being used at right wing on the Foster line, while Maloon is centering his own line with Merriam at left wing and Sullivan at right wing. A sophomore defenseman, Bob Campbell, has been stationed with Feeley, Larkin, and Cross in the quartet of rugged point men.
The five natators who we hope will all be available for Sid's team are Captain Bob Cushman, 100 and 400-yard relay; Art Ostrander, 220 and 440; Irving Stein, 50 and backstroke; Wayne Schrodes, 50 and 100; and Julian Armstrong, 50 and 100. Ostrander is the College record-holder in the 220 and 440; Stein is the College record-holder in the backstroke; and Armstrong was sensational as a freshman in the 50 and 100 last year. If every one of the Indians are on deck, it will help plenty. But as Sid says, "This heroic handful is not sufficient to win meets against well-rounded competition," and such is certainly the case. And when one considers that "these five" may wind up as "these two," look only for the fighting qualities of the men who will be trying hard with the best that is in them.
The skiing squad lines up with Co-Captain Dick Durrance, Co-Captain Howie Chivers, Steve Bradley, John Litchfield, Ed Wells, Amos Little, Percy Rideout, Whit Miller and Bob Skinner as the likely "A" team. There is no longer the onetwo-three scoring punch that there was last year and the year before, but it still looks formidable enough to keep Coach Walter Prager's team out front for at least one more winter.
If it proves to be otherwise, the world has come to an end as far as the Dartmouth students are concerned.
A quick glance at the Christmas activities of the ski team should prove interesting. This year the team will be divided into three units: one going to Quebec, one to Lake Placid, and one to Sun Valley. The varsity team consisting of Cos Howard Chivers, Percy Rideout, Bob Skinner, Dick Johnson, Eddie Wells and Charlie McLane will go to Quebec where they will participate at a fourevent meet on December 27, 28, 29 at Lac Beauport, which is just outside of Quebec. The teams they will compete against are McGill, Montreal, and New Hampshire, and probably several other Canadian college teams. McGill and New Hampshire being traditional rivals of the Big Green should make the meet quite an exciting ski event.
The Dartmouth team will be the guests of the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec.
The' B team will go to Lake Placid where they will compete for the President Harding Trophy at the annual College Week meet on New Year's week-end. Those making the trip are Bud Little, who will act as captain, Don Worden, Jim Page, Charlie Wilde, Jack Lockwood and Roger Simpter. The meet will include five events and a special relay race, with representatives of many Eastern colleges making up the competition.
In the National Intercollegiate Individual Championships at Sun Valley, Idaho, from December 28 to January 1, Dartmouth will be well represented by Dick Durrance, Steve Bradley, Joe Dunford, Hod Mecklem, and Bob Fletcher. There will be four events, but the team will ski as individuals rather than as a Dartmouth unit. Western collegiate competition will Be strong with the skiers from the University of Washington doing their best as well as men from several other universities.
IT'S JUST A POSEUnless he gets completely balled up, Joe Batchelder (left), veteran guard of the courtteam, is not likely to duplicate this scene and balk the shooting of Gus Broberg, sensational sophomore forward who has broken into Coach Ossie Cowles' regular line-up.
GRIDIRON TO ICE Captain Jim Feeley, 190-pound defenseman on the Indian sextet, made a quickchange from football to hockey when hereturned to Hanover from the Stanfordtrip.
A SIX-FOOT-SIX SHOOTERRoger (Moose) Dudis, captain and centerof the Big Green basketball team, can dropthem in the basket without much stretching of his 6' 6" frame.
HELL'S HIGHWAY The "Mountain Campus," at Moosilauke,viewed through an unfinished window ofthe new Ravine Camp. (Osmun Skinner'28, right, is one of the viewers.)
January SportsBASKETBALL Jan. 7 Boston University 10 Colgate 14 Pennsylvania at Philadelphia 18 Harvard at Cambridge 21 Pennsylvania HOCKEY Jan. 4 Boston University 7 Queens 9 Toronto 14 Yale 20 Boston Olympics at Boston 21 Williams at Williamstown SWIMMING Jan. 14 Brown at Providence 21 Pennsylvania at Philadelphia SQUASH Jan. 14 Harvard
