Big Green Teams
Unparalleled Assault on Indoor Track Records Ends Winter Season Featured by Third Straight Basketball Title
THIS MONTH IN Dartmouth athletics offers so many possible leads that some of the sporting highlights that must be relegated to second and lower positions will seem out of place; but no newspaper man, or even a sports writer, could overlook the fact that the Third Annual Dartmouth Indoor Invitation Meet is first-paragraph material.
Consider that in the three years that Coach Harry Hillman has staged the special invitation meet those of us who have attended have had the privilage of seeing two of the fastest footraces ever run over two distances—the mile and the half mileand when you say ever, you have taken in a lot of time and territory. Putting aside for the moment the indoor records that have been established on our track, the fact that Glenn Cunningham in 1938 bettered all previous records for both indoor and outdoor meets with his 4.04.4 mile, and that John Woodruff this year did likewise in the 880-yards and 800-meters with his 1.47.7 half mile, the importance and magnitude of what has taken place in the little town of Hanover looms so big in the track world that it grows as the hours, days and weeks pass and the mind has had a chance to think the accomplishments over.
There has also been the immediate thrill for those present that surpasses most anything any of us have experienced in sports. Naturally all of us know that the gymnasium is far from ideal in so far as the spectators are concerned, but despite the drawback of being able to see only half of each lap, the sensation of witnessing track history in the making is so exciting that it defies description.
Will the Dartmouth track be ruled out and its records with it because it is bigger and faster than the ordinary board oval? Secretary-Treasurer Dan Ferris came out with the statement the day after the races this year that he would recommend that the eight records made be separated from the other indoor marks and set apart in a special record department. There are those who hold the opinion that the AAU has done some pretty ridiculous things in the past, but personally we feel that the AAU would be hard put to justify any discrimination against the Dartmouth track and records made on it for two reasons: (1) To carry the logic of Ferris and other opponents of the Dartmouth track to its conclusion, times made on every track in the country would ipso facto have to be segregated into separate records, because there is no such thing as a standard track as Ferris indicates. Many are the same size, that is true, but none are alike in speed, etc. (2) The records of Cunningham and Woodruff broke both indoor and outdoor times, and unless we have missed count along the line some place, the outdoor records were made on four-lap tracks. Would Ferris say that the size of the Dartmouth track was wholly responsible, then, for the mile and half mile times?
Then, too, what would the AAU do about the records already accepted? Would they say that they were wrong in backing the Dartmouth track meet in 1938 and 1939? Likely not. Men high in the track world, and AAU officials themselves like Johnny McGee, coach of Bowdoin, and Al Lill, outstanding American timer, feel that Ferris is mistaken when he says that the Dartmouth meet will eventually lead to the weakening of indoor track in America. Nor should we forget to mention that some of the indoor records broken on the Dartmouth track bettered times made on tracks just as big. Nobody objected when the 440- yard record that James Herbert smashed here on March 14 was originally made in Buffalo, New York, on a track that compared in size to our own. No one in New York hollered murder when the mile-relay record Fordham shaded last winter and N. Y. U. lowered again this year was established on a six-lap track in their domain.
But words and arguments cannot add to or detract from the Dartmouth meet and its dazzling records, nor can statements made that the Dartmouth track is bumpy, worn, and creaky diminish the opinion of everyone that the track is the fastest in the world and that the competitors, whose opinions really matter, think that the track is near perfect.
John Borican, who in 1938 set indoor records for the 800-meter and 880-yard dash, and who this year set a new ¾ mile record that Chuck Fenske broke a day later in Chicago (I wonder if complaints ill be made about that track) feels that he an next winter run a 4-minute mile on the Dartmouth track. Whether he will or not is questionable, but experts agree that when, and if, the 4-minute mile is ever run, it will be run in Hanover by either Borican, Fenske, or some other great runner.
Finally, we see no reason why there isn't room in indoor track for meets like the Dartmouth affair as well as competitive meets such as take place in Madison Square Garden. The metropolitan promoters may some day realize that instead of being harmful to their business enterprise, the non-commercial, money-losing Dartmouth meet is doing a wonderful thing for track all over America, Europe, and points north and south, for it is lifting track out of its rut, and replacing it near the top of the sports heap where it belongs.
There is a lot more to be said about the Dartmouth Indoor Invitation Meet, but Dartmouth also had a championship basketball five that is to be congratulated here and now. Coach Osborne Cowles can also take a deep bow, for under his skillful direction the Green annexed its third consecutive pennant on the courts, each time winning the title in a more convincing manner. In Ossie's first year the Big Green placed second, so Dartmouth under Cowles has become firmly entrenched as the Eastern Intercollegiate League's most consistently fine entry. There wasn't much of anything that the Green quintet didn't capture along the line while taking first place in the team standings. The Indians broke the 1939 Dartmouth five's high team scoring mark with 557 points; Gus Broberg smashed his own individual scoring record high, wide and handsome with 180 points, his own one-game scoring mark with 29 points, and set a new foul-shooting record at 46 out of 47 tries from the free-throw line, perhaps the most remarkable of all Gus' accomplishments. Foul shooting was also one of the strong points of the entire team, for Dartmouth as a unit set a new free-throw total and successful percentage of shots tried.
Captain Bob White, whose play at guard this winter was a major factor in the team's strength, was rewarded with a-post on the coaches' All-Star five, as was Broberg. Jim Sullivan, third high scorer in the League for Dartmouth players, was placed on the second team, while Stubby Pearson and Bill Parmer were given honorable mention. Most pleasing to the basketball fans was the fact that the team clinched the title on the road—the hard way—in the last two games with Princeton and Cornell. If there was any weakness in the team's record, it came in contests played outside the League premises. Dartmouth lost to Stanford, Rochester, California, Army and Brown in non-League encounters for a record of five defeats in nine games outside the main show. Without trying to alibi in any way, it should be remembered that at Christmas time the Green lads were very much in the formative stage, and the squad, never deep in reserve material, was forced to choose at times between spending its strength for league wins or non-league victories, and the selection naturally fell to the league battles.
Next year the Indians will have the experience and reserve depth to meet both the league competitors and the other foes of the schedule as well. Broberg, Pearson and Parmer all return from the regulars. The entire second team of Johnny Lendo, Henry Pogue, Jack Horner, Bob Fitch and Lloyd Emslie returns. From an undefeated freshman team will come Ray Wolfe, George Munroe, "Shawty" Shaw—6 foot 8 inch center—Stan Skaugh, Remsen Crego, and Jim Olsen, as well as Gordon McKernan, brilliant forward of the 1942 yearling five who left college for a semester due to illness. Sports are always unpredictable, but Dartmouth basketball under Ossie Cowles seems to be headed for even bigger deeds than ever before.
Dartmouth hockey closed up shop for the winter with two Quad League victories in six contests, both of them over Harvard. The Big Green was at a low ebb in hockey material this year, make no mistake about that, and Eddie Jeremiah performed wonders with what he did have as the record from every standpoint would show. Only Yale and Princeton among the American college and club teams was able to defeat the Indians, and although both did it in convincing fashion, the season was far from disastrous. The Dartmouth six defeated Boston College's highly touted sextet twice, tied B. U. 3-3 in an overtime, tied the powerful Boston Junior Olympics in a madhouse game, 7-7, and played a smart brand of defensive hockey against McGill and lost, 3-0, after two periods of scoreless hockey.
Captain Danny Sullivan, All-League wing for three years, Mai Cross, versatile jack-of-all-positions, and Sammy Snow, forward, will be graduated in June. The freshmen send up few men of varsity calibre. Dartmouth hockey will be down again next winter, but far from out. In fact it is impossible to dampen the spirit that Jeremiah imparts to his men. Take for example the Princeton encounter which the Green lost, 6-1. Trailing by five points going into the third period, Dartmouth found itself without a goalie after sophomore Ted Lapres was badly shaken up and bruised in the first two frames.
Did the Indians fold up and go home? Hell, no, if you'll pardon the expression. Jeremiah was willing to call it a day if his players thought the job impossible without a goalie, but Sad Sammy Snow donned the heavy pads for the first time in his life, skated into the Dartmouth nets and played there the entire third period. To make the story really good and in line with the facts, too, Princeton didn't score in 20 minutes. And don't think the Tigers weren't trying to fatten scoring records at Snow's expense.
As Jeremiah explained when the stickmen returned home, Snow was funny to look at all right and the crowd collapsed from laughter, but the men out on the ice skated their hearts out to protect Sammy and he did a marvelous job himself. Jeremiah called it the proudest period of hockey in his coaching career.
In its own track world, Dartmouth placed third behind Harvard and Cornell and ahead of Yale in the annual Quad Track Meet. Larry Ritter, dash man, and Don Blount, high and broad jumper, were the aces of the Green's losing cause. Had not sickness and ineligibility hit the ranks of Dartmouth's track and field representatives at the end of the first semester, Hillman's proteges might have returned to the top this year. As it was, the Green was undermanned and lacking in enough stars to win a meet of this kind.
And last, but not least, more kind words for the job that Karl Michael has done with the Dartmouth swimming team. The Indians closed the season with a mad dash, winning over Columbia at New York, and over Bowdoin and Pennsylvania here. Next year one of the Big Three is going to find that Michael has brought Dartmouth swimming to the position where the Indians can challenge their constant monopoly of the top three places in the E. I. S. L. Yale is still supreme, no doubt, but Harvard and Princeton can be matched stroke for stroke one of these seasons, and next year may be it. Graduation will not be too severe on Karl's squad, and the freshmen will send up a few men who will be capable of strengthening the squad.
The spring sports promise to be no less interesting than the winter months, during which the basketball and ski teams won championship titles and the other aggregations battled it out with their foes to the best of their talents.
Coach Jeff Tesreau will depend oil three sophomores to round out an infield completely undressed by last June's commencement. Second baseman Jack Orr is the one veteran remaining from the 1939 thirdplace nine. For first base Jeff is hoping that he can make an infielder out of basketball guard Parmer, who as a freshman twirled good ball for the yearlings. His shortstop problem he believes will be solved when Bob Dewey gains confidence in himself and finds his way about in league circles. Most promising of all the newcomers is third baseman Jack Zimmer, second baseman on the yearlings last spring. Zimmer looks like a natural and when he develops an overhand throw to replace his habitual side arm toss, should be a dependable defensive standout. The outfield will have veterans Gus Broberg, Ned Hein, Will Pitz, and Tuffy Reeves as the mainstays of the outgarden patrol, with sophomores Dick Burns and Chet Jones anxious to break into the lineup. George Sommers right tackle in football and reserve catcher last year, will do most of the catching, and if he ever begins to hit with the power he has, league fences will suffer.
The pitching staff is both outstanding and deep. Led by Captain Hal (Chief) Wonson, who is starting off in the form that made him a sophomore sensation in the league two springs back, the mound corps has George Sexton, John Lendo, Abe Maxson, Pidge Hughes and Bill McNeary available, and none of these pitchers is being mentioned just to stuff the ballot box. Anyone of them can, and will, do a capable job unless arm trouble develops. If need be, Big Jeff can'use most of his pitchers in other berths if the present lineup does not live up to expectations. Wonson and Sexton can both play a good outfield. Lendo has been used at shortstop before and does an adequate job. But Jeff and the fans do not believe that much further shifting will be necessary, for right now in the cage the team looks like a strong championship contender and will be the titleholder in a tight race if the sophomores make no more than the usual number of mistakes granted to first-year men. Cornell, co-defending champs, will be the team to beat, although Yale with two of the League's pitchers in Wood and Harrison, will be near the front all the way, and Harvard, tied for first in 1939, will have its usual scrappy team.
Coach Tommy Dent has lost most of his New England championship lacrosse material, which did so much to bring the sport to the front the last two seasons, but the cagey Scot will provide plenty of trouble for the rest of the league. Spring can come any day now.
THREE OF AMERICA'S GREAT NEGRO RUNNERS WHO CREATED TRACK HISTORY AT DARTMOUTH ON MARCH 14 ARE, LEFT TO RIGHT, JIM HERBERT OF N. Y. U., JOHN WOODRUFF, FORMER PITTSBURGH STAR, AND JOHN BORICAN OF THE SHORE A. C. HERBERT, WHO ALSO CREATED A NEW INDOOR RECORD OF 48.4 SECONDS FOR THE QUARTER-MILE, IS SHOWN BEATING OUT GILL OF THE BOSTON A. A. IN THE ANCHOR LEG OF THE MILE RELAY IN WHICH N. Y. U. SET A NEW MARK OF 3 MINUTES, 15 SECONDS. WOODRUFF IS SHOWN FINISHING THE FASTEST HALF-MILE EVER RUN, WITH A RECORD TIME OF 1:47.7. BORICAN IS SHOWN BREAKING HIS OWN THREE-QUARTER-MILE MARK IN 3:01.2. TIMERS AT THE LEFT ARE PROFS. LESLIE F. MURCH AND CHARLES A. PROCTOR 'OO.
STUDY OF A CHAMPIONSHIP COACHOssie Cowles, who directed Dartmouth to its third straight basketball title, points out abit of action to Rollie Bevan (left), football and basketball trainer.
NEW END COACH JOINS STAFF Frank E. Moore, former coach at the University oj Oklahoma, shown at work at springpractice in the indoor cage.
