Big Green Teams

Dartmouth Opens 1942 Football Season with Considerable Backfield Strength, but with Doubtful Line Prospects

By the time this article appears, Dartmouth fans will know infinitely more than the writer about the strength of the Big Green football team this fall because by that time the Indian eleven will have failed or passed its first major test against Holy Cross.

In a pre-season statement Coach Tuss McLaughry characterized his 1942 squad thusly: "The Dartmouth 1942 football squad will be young, green and inexperienced as a whole. However, they will be striving valiantly to bring about the record that was anticipated for that large group who left for bigger game. I think our backfield will be good enough. The line is the question mark."

For those who watched the Dartmouth coaches build their first team for the Holy Cross opener the line was a question mark. As the days before the Crusader encounter became fewer, sophomore Norm Brown from Maiden, Mass., appeared to be the choice for center and another sophomore, Johnny Burroughs, the player for the crucial blocking back position. Coach Mc- Laughry had a letterman available for every other position on the first eleven, but a third sophomore, John Monahan from West Haven, Conn., has the makings of one of the best Dartmouth ends in recent years, and worked out with the first-string- ers from the start of fall practice.

With Brown at center, the coaching staff put Maurice Dampier and Roger Antaya at the guards, Nick Daukas and Lee An- derson at the tackles, and Joe Crowley and Monahan at the ends. The unexpected re- turn of Captain Bud Kast boosted the stock in the backfield, by far the strongest department on die squad. Kast immedi- ately paired with his old running mate at half, Ray Wolfe, while junior Tommy Douglas and Burroughs were at fullback and quarterback respectively. Outsiders with the best chances of breaking into the starting lineup against Holy Cross were Meryll Frost at one of the halfback spots, and Steve Holmes at guard, but the coach- ing staff could not afford to experiment with many of the unknown reserves since time was short.

Of the seventy men who reported early in September, over forty were freshmen and from these yearlings it was clear that the backs were relatively stronger than the linesman. Three freshman backs, Jack Sayers, Larry Bartnick and Keith DeCourcy worked out in the second string backfield with Art Carey, who incidentally is a threat to Burroughs as the Green's blocking back. One freshman linesman, Hal Bowman, dis- tinguished himself in the pre-season drills as a capable line backer, and a player who might outrank his upperclass rival, War- ren Leopold.

Behind its first line, Dartmouth has few reserves with experience. End Roger Ar- nold and guard Steve Holmes both won letters last season, while a number of men like ends Hal Cannon, Win Turner, Bill Welch, and guards Spencer Baird and Mickey Smith are either juniors or seniors who worked out with the squad last year. These men will probably have to provide most of the reserve strength, as only a few freshman linemen notably "Red" Schuster at end and Carl McKinnon at guard, have shown great promise.

The second-string line before the Holy Cross game found Bowman at center flanked by Spence Baird and Steve Holmes at the guards, A 1 Myers and Hal Lewis at the tackles, and Rog Arnold and Bill Welch at the ends.

For those men who do not make the first three teams, a jayvee squad will be formed which will mimic opponent's attacks. The jayvees have a game with the Brown jayvees on Oct. 31, and a freshman "B" squad will play Kimball Union on October 9 and Vermont Academy on October 24.

For the first time since 1937 the Big Green opens its football season against a major opponent and, unfortunately for an inexperienced team, against one of the strongest, if not the strongest, team Dart- mouth will face this fall. The home season opens against Miami of Ohio, the alma mater of former head coach Earl Blaik, and for the second year in a row Andy Kerr brings his Red Raiders to Hanover on the second Saturday in October. Whether or not Dartmouth will be the underdog depends upon its performance at Worcester.

Of the Ivy League opponents, Columbia is rated very strong, and all were in fact rated above Dartmouth before the season started. Harvard has lost most of the players who made the Crimson the class in the Ivy League last fall. Howie Odell is trying to rebuild the Yale football team and there is no reason to believe that Princeton and Cornell cannot provide plenty of trouble for the Green.

Dartmouth remembers well a group of southern Indians who came to Hanover on a very rainy day last fall. On the basis of reports from Williamsburg and a look at a schedule which includes such opponents as Navy, Harvard, Oklahoma, as well as the Big Green, the William and Mary game will be of first-rate importance.

Whether or not the Big Green avenges the 1937 defeat by getting Holy Cross's scalp, there is no need to be as pessimistic as most of the pre-season metropolitan dopesters. On the other hand, Dartmouth fans must realize that an above-average season depends entirely on how fast the line comes along and on the absence of injuries.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Elmer G. Stevens Jr. '43,who takes over as sports editor of the MAGA- ZINE this month, is Editorial Chairman of The Dartmouth and Hanover correspond-ent for several metropolitan newspapers.He is head of the Press Club, a history ma-jor, and a former Exeter student. His homeis in Exeter, N. H.