LACROSSE PERKS UP
From fair to excellent to good, we arrive at Tommy Dent's lacrosse prospects with the last adjective his hopes in a nutshell. Tommy was none too chipper when he departed for the south with his stickmen. However signs of improvement during each contest against the ever powerful southern teams changed Coach Dent's opinion and he now feels that normal progress aided and abetted by (we've said this before) the chance to mold the offense and defense into a unit outdoors, will give him a lineup that must not be regarded lightly in its fourth bid for New England League honors. One of the most heartening discoveries of the training jaunt was Ted Lapres, hockey goalie, who demonstrated to Tommy that he can also be counted upon to fill his nets quite satisfactorily. Lapres played some lacrosse as a sophomore last spring and now seems ready to bloom into as fine a defender as he is on the ice, where he is Green captain-elect and the East's tops.
Crew has returned to the experienced guidance of Jim Smith after a lapse of one year, and Jim will undoubtedly return the Green eight to a pa'r with its 1939 showing when the Indians were at a peak. This still doesn't rate the Dartmouth crew to staggering heights, but it does mean that the Indians will not appear at a disadvantage against the likes of Boston University, and two home races after last year's completely away schedule will rekindle interest in the still struggling Dartmouth oarsmen. For once the Connecticut river in April is as quiet and docile as a lake, and the season's opener against American International College will find the Indian boat a month ahead of previous years in condition and finesse.
Perhaps the most surprised coach of them all in relation to the practice conditions has been tennis coach Red Hoehn. Resigned to the fact that he would never be able to train his tennis teams on the local courts until early May, Hoehn is beside himself with the present good fortune. Boasting some talented intercollegiate prospects and always capable of turning out hard-to-beat, late-spring teams, Hoehn this year may surprise the circuit with his varsity. Not yet ready to challenge the Harvards and the Princetons, who never stop tennis practices winter or summer, Hoehn's group, captained by Stacy Hill, will compile a noteworthy record this year or all the tennis team's followers will be rudely disappointed.
Having thus covered the varsity sports teams in season for a surprising change, we would like to report on the Dartmouth basketball team's showing at Madison in the NCAA tournament. If it seems that we are too proud of a team that lost its firstround match to the eventual champions, Wisconsin, we have the backing of the many alumni who attended, who we think will attest to the truth that the Big Green five stole the entire show even though the Badgers picked up all the silverware. First of all, the Indians were defeated by one point, 51-50. The great Big Ten champs. Wisconsin, were given a scare they will not forget for a long while. Secondly the Indians outplayed the home team, 44-34. on field points, losing the contest through a wide variance in foul shots. Wisconsin took so fouls, completed 17. Dartmouth had ten opportunities on the free throw line, converted six into points. Seldom will you see or read about a basketball game decided so emphatically on presentation shots. Furthermore it was Dartmouth, paced by the even-greater-than-ever Gus Broberg and his sophomore forward mate George Munroe, that stunned the crowd of 14,000 with its shooting genius. Broberg was called by one famous sports writer in attendance, "one of the three greatest basketball players I have ever seen." Had Dartmouth not lost center Jim Olsen and guard Stubby Pearson on fouls with ten minutes left in the tilt, there is no telling what the outcome might have been; for the Indians led the Badgers by six points when the two biggest members of Coach Ossie Cowles' quintet were shuttled to the sidelines. And none of this says that Wisconsin was not a truly tremendous five. In fact Wisconsin was so good and Dartmouth by many comparisons even better, that those Dartmouth men like myself who had the privilege of seeing the game were thrilled at the impression the Dartmouth team left in the mid-west.
In the consolation round Dartmouth defeated North Carolina, Southern Conference title holders, 60-59 a game that was even more exhausting to watch than the first night's set-to, if such a thing could be possible. Broberg and Munroe once more set the crowd on fire with their uncanny shooting, and the Green was playing no soft touch in the Tarheels as proven by the 32 points made by their near-sighted wizard, George Glamack. The total points scored created a new Field House Record and the fast-scoring pace set by Broberg and company for the second consecutive night more than convinced the rabid fans that Dartmouth was some ball club with a Capital B and C. For defeating North Carolina the Indians left for home with a rather handsome third place trophy, and, if an award had been given for what Dartmouth gained in prestige and glory out of the tournament, the boys would have had a gold cup the size of a bath tub to ship back to Hanover. And once more I feel I have the backing of the alumni who were there when I say that it was surprising how terrific the Indians played, especially in the minds of those who attended out of loyalty—without expecting the Indians to be in a class with the Big Ten's best despite the reputation of four Ivy League crowns in four years—and stayed to see their undergraduates become the talk of the basketball-crazy and basketballwise midwest. Which leads us to the point that many of Dartmouth's alumni sports fans have missed seeing one of the most brilliant of all Green athletic teams in action if they never took the time or had the opportunity of watching Gus Broberg and his mates in action at least once during the last three years.
We have said before and say again, that basketball isn't what it used to be before Coach Cowles started his masterminding five years back, and if the loss of Broberg can be partially covered by the return of four of the starting five and one tried and proven reserve, then next winter will again see Dartmouth playing basketball that is as good as played anywhere, as the NCAA results more than justify claiming. And as a final word on the tournament, it now goes down in our little book along with such things as the first victory over Yale, the Cornell game of last fall, and Glenn Cun- ningham's 4.04.4 mile, as one of the highlights of Dartmouth athletics over the last eight years.
And now for a brief whirl at spring football to date as requested from several fans and then to go out to feel some of the sun we've been harping on.
Sixty-six candidates, a new high of recent springs, reported to Tuss McLaughry and his staff to start the last-lap drive of football's groundwork season. Without ever having watched McLaughry coach football we said at the time of his appointment that we felt he was going to prove to be a great coach of the Dartmouth type of gridster. We never hazarded a guess on anything that was closer to being the truth. Tuss will get every ounce of effort out of the Indians, and his young assistants have made an immediate hit with the players. How many games will be won and how many lost next fall we wouldn't begin to know, but we do know right now that Dartmouth next autumn will be one of the most colorful teams in the East from the standpoint of spirit and dash, and you can lay bets on this score with anybody who wants to take the other side of the wager.
It has not been an easy spring workout for either coaches or players. It has been necessary for the players to learn a new offensive system and many different methods of stance, charge, and so on. Because Tuss' attack depends a great deal on clever ball handling and split-second timing, it has been a spring workout that has progressed slowly and carefully point by point. However, the enthusiasm that the players have put into each assignment has been meeting each obstacle in stride and when things begin to click the results will all unfold at one sitting.
Among the old faces playing leading roles in the drill are Captain Stub Pearson, tackle; Gerber, end; John Kearney, tackle; Doug Stowell, guard; Red Krumm, end; Joe Crowley, end; Ray Wolfe, back; Ted Arico, back; Dale Bartholomew, back; Chic Camp, tackle; Bob Liming, center; Walt and Lee Anderson, back and guard respectively; and Bud Kast, back. The freshmen, who when they gain some experience and a little more poise are going to be pressing the holdovers at several positions, still retain the old fire and ginger that made them favorites with the grid fans even as yearling players. The players from the first-year class who have pushed themselves to the front this spring have been; end Joe McDevitt; tackles Charles Clucas and Ave Clark; guards Bill Marion, Dave Templeton and Johnny Peacock; centers Russ Isner and Bill McCloskey; and backs Harry Hood, Tommy Douglas, Bud Troxell,Meryll Frost, Bob McLaughry and Vaughn Dargie.
And if you want to see for yourself, we recommend the final scrimmage of the spring to take place under game conditions on Friday, May 9. It will be the freshman versus the upperclassmen and if they don't kill one another off, some of the answers as to what we may expect next fall will be forthcoming.
WEARING BROADEST SMILES OF ALL Captain Stacy Hill, senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Coach "Red" Hoehn were amongthe most joyous greeters of Hanover's unusually early spring.
COACH DENT GIVES A LACROSSE LECTUREHis listeners, left to right, are Richard M. Lansburgh '43, Baltimore, Md.; Robert Z.Klein '42, Newton Center, Mass.; Captain Robert H. Baker '41, Jamaica, N. Y.; GeorgeJ. Seel '41, Maplewood, N. J.; Wallace E. Sigler '42, Scarsdale, N. Y.; Richard C.Nehring '42, Bronxville, N. YTheodore E. Lapres Jr. '42, Margate City, N. J.; AndreF. Mosenthal '43, Montclair, N. J.; W. Douglas Riley Jr. '42, Rider-wood, Md.; CoachDent; Walter S. DeLany Jr. '43, Sinking Springs, Pa.
