Big Green Teams
1939 Football Season Opens with Second Most Inexperienced Squad of Blaik Regime
FOUR VETERANS, nine lettermen, 44 gridsters in all reported to Coach Earl Blaik on Memorial Field on September 11 to inaugurate the 1939 football season on the local front.
It was not an opening-day picture that encouraged great optimism, nor was it a pessimistic group of coaches, players and onlookers that gathered together after the summer holidays.
Coach Blaik spoke briefly to the squad as a whole before work for the season was undertaken, and among the things he told the Indians was this: "You are the second most inexperienced squad that Dartmouth has had in the last six years. The most inexperienced was my first Dartmouth squad of 1934. These are the facts as we must face them. However we are a long way from throwing in the towel, for I feel that you are one of the most ambitious squads to report to me, and with this characteristic we will work hard and sometime during the season will be rewarded for our efforts."
We have not attempted to quote Mr. Blaik word for word, but the essence of his hopes have been reported. From those undergraduates and alumni with whom we have spoken we have also discovered that the Dartmouth head coach also echoes the sentiment of the real Big Green gridiron fans. We will all be very pleased if at some time during the campaign Dartmouth's young, inexperienced, representative eleven rises up to its full height and smacks down a favored or superior-on paperfoe. If this can happen once during the ensuing months the eleven of 1939 will have satisfied its most ardent enthusiasts. If it can be accomplished against two ma- jor opponents, the current Dartmouth gridsters will have earned the admiration of all who will recognize the tremendous uphill battle that the mates of Captain Whit Miller have made. Perhaps there are those who feel that this is all so much sour grapes, or an overdose of tear-bagging as the present campus lingo would have us say.
Very well, then, we will review the situation factually and each reader can, at the conclusion, form his own opinion which will be fully as intelligent as our own, for we have repeatedly allowed that experting was nothing more than one man's opinion to be taken for what it was worth and nothing more.
Here's how the squad lines up.
Captain Whit Miller at end has been a regular for two previous seasons, has started every contest in these two years and can be called the veteran of the quartet of veterans.
Next to Whit in experience is halfback Bill Hutchinson, who as a sophomore won his letter and played only spasmodically as a substitute back, and who as a junior shared the halfback assignment with Joe Cottone and the fullback berth with Colby Howe.
The other two who may be called veterans are tackle George Sommers, who as a sophomore saw very little service and who as a junior started every major contest after the Harvard encounter; and Lou Young Jr., who broke into the lineup as a sophomore last fall and shared the starting role with Lou Highmark.
Other lettermen on the squad do not rate the title of veterans, even though we usually associate a varsity letter wearer with service in the ranks. Junior end Bob Nissen won his spurs in two contests. Bob Krieger, junior halfback, was called upon sparingly as a sophomore. Substitute Joe Armanini amassed his minutes toward a letter in the Cornell and Stanford games. Quarterback Sandy Courter, regular No. a back until injured in the Princeton tilt, is practically an unknown in so far as his ability is concerned. This sounds rather ridiculous, but we have no record of Courter's ability under heavy fire, and until a gridster has shown his worth against a foe that is something more than a preliminary warm-up test, there is nothing else to do but wait and see what time will prove.
Last of the lettermen in our review, but not the least, is fullback Jack Orr, letterwinner in both football and baseball as a sophomore. Orr's natural ability as an athlete is of a high order, but he is light for the heavy duty of a fullback and this must be taken into consideration in tracing the "on paper" strength of the Green.
Going from the lettermen to the squad lineup, let us point to one situation that gives us an idea of the inexperience of the 44 men.
Twenty members of the squad are sophomores. Eight are juniors who make their first appearance with the varsity. Examples that stand out in this respect are tackle Wes Hadden, on probation as a sopho- more; tackle Bob O'Brien, out of football with an injury in 1938; center Bill Billings, also out of football with an injury as a sophomore; guard Dan Dacey, retired to the sidelines with an injury a year ago; and so on through the group.
Six more are men who have risen from the junior varsity squad of 1938, among them Jim Bauman, who has been given first call at the fullback berth.
Frankly, it is not what you would call a powerhouse squad, but while there is life there is hope.
Some of the things that Dartmouth hopes will happen this fall, to make possible the upset wins we spoke of earlier in this piece, give rise to what optimism does exist.
Coach Blaik mentioned the spirit of this squad, its confidence in itself that may take it a long way. Let us hope that this confidence can be retained, even if the start of the season is on the shaky side, and if we know the Green coaching staff, the squad's confidence will grow rather than diminish as the schedule is carried on.
Then, too, merely because a man is inexperienced does not mean that he will not make progress from game to game and ultimately become a standout player. After all, even the Ail-Americans once started from scratch. Such candidates as tackles Hadden, Camp and O'Brien may prove to be real assets at the end of the campaign when Dartmouth is looking for one of those surprise victories. Others like "Teddy Bear" Arico, sophomore back whose speed is twice his size, may turn out to be stars in the bud. Fullback Bauman, although he was only a scrub last year, may have advanced far beyond this rating by the middle of the season.
So there is this to be said: Perhaps some of the pessimism is due merely to the fact that no one knows what to expect from a squad that is three-fourths new. It will be most difficult for inexperience to cope with experience in the early contests, but none of us should forget that Dartmouth in 1939 will be represented by an eleven that will not have reached its peak the first Saturday but by an eleven that may suffer from growing pains up to the very last minute of the Stanford game.
If by now we have placed you in the same dilemma in which we find ourselves, here are a few more facts to bite into.
First, how much of the strength of the recent squads was not the strength of a few players like Bob MacLeod, Bob Gibson, Gus Zitrides and Colby Howe? Looking backwards over a span of three years, it does not seem that with the exception of these handful of stars the current crop of players is any different from the players of the golden era. The tackle squad appears to be of the same promise as in other years, the guards likewise except for the lack of replacements. But where are the men who will backbone the present eleven in order that it may stand against its foes with a 50-50 chance of victory?
Maybe Bill Hutchinson will prove to be the backfield threat who can lift the team. Again time alone will answer the hope, but it is one of the things that would change the outlook considerably. Whit Miller will prove to be a fine leader, a good end and an outstanding example of the type of manhood that Dartmouth puts into her football uniforms. Can he supply the necessary spark of stardom that every good team seems to need?
We could go on asking questions that have no answer other than speculation to the very end of this article. Have no fear that we will, though, for we have already indicated why it is foolhardy to be optimistic or boringly pessimistic when no one knows exactly why either should be in the mood of the moment.
Briefly we would summarize thus: Don't expect much at the outset and you won't be disappointed. Expect to be disappointed and you may be surprised on some fine Saturday afternoon.
On other fronts Dartmouth football fans noticed with warm and pardonable pride that three of her senior stars of last fall proved that their ability was something more than local sales talk when Bob MacLeod and Bob Gibson played outstanding roles in the games pitting the All-Stars against the New York Giants at New York and the All-Stars against the Redskins at Boston, with Zitrides holding up his end at Philadelphia in another of these early fall football exhibitions.
Coaches Tommy Dent and Harry Hillman expect to have better-than-average teams in soccer and cross country this fall. Coach Dent has a fine sophomore class coming into his varsity ranks, while Hillman is banking on a veteran senior group that was a disappointment last fall but is bound to show a reversal of form in 1939. Hal (Chief) Wonson, baseball captainelect, is rated top hope of the harriers.
Two changes in the Memorial field stadium have been made during the summer months. The old wooden stands, blown to bits by the hurricane last fall, have been replaced by attractive new stands that seat 4,000 spectators. The capacity of the field is now quoted at 15,000. Likewise the old and inadequate press box has been remodeled, much to our delight, and it will now take care of all reasonable demands at our home games.
Coach Jeff Tesreau will have his fall baseball practice under way before this goes to press. Incidentally, Jeff's summer nine, the St. Albans Giants in the Northern League, finished in a tie for second place with Rutland, coached by Jack Barry of Holy Cross fame
There is no news as yet relative to the broadcasting of Dartmouth's home football contests, but should developments arise, notice will be made in this column next issue.
A PERFECT NONCOMMITAL POSEHead Coach Earl Blaik and Captain Whit Miller sit for the annual coach-and-captainpicture, but refuse to let their expressions show what they think of the 1939 chances.
How THE TEAM LINED U P ON OPENING DAY Backfield (above, left to right)— Bob Krieger, right halfback; Bob Lempke, quarterback;Bill Hutchinson, left halfback; Jim Bauman, fullback. Line (below)— John Kelley, rightend; Monty Winship, right tackle; Dan Dacey, right guard; Bill Billings, center; LouYoung, left guard; Wes Hadden, left tackle; Capt. Whit Miller, right end.
ON A BICYCLE BUILT FOR 44 Limbering exercises on the opening day of practice including the familiar pedaling drillfor the entire squad.
