A Bull's-Eye
DARTMOUTH RIFLEMEN TAKE CROWN IN EASTERN INTERCOLLEGIATE LEAGUE
IT WAS WAY BACK in 1929, the year that most of the men on this year's squad were born, that Dartmouth College first had a rifle team. The team that year and those few that followed ended with a nonetoo-enviable record, and Dartmouth has not returned to the sport until this year. Fortunately, the team of 1947-48 did not suffer the fate of its predecessors. At the beginning of the season the men lacked confidence, but under the able and patient coaching of Gunnery Sergeant David Dickson, USMC, they came to realize their potentialities, and ended the season in a burst of glory, defeating the U. S. Coast Guard Academy for the Eastern Intercollegiate League crown.
The complete story of their highly successful first year is a long and exciting one. They gained several victories by narrow margins, defeating their non-league opponent Cornell, and their NECRL opponent, the Coast Guard Academy, by a single point. The majority of theirvicto came more easily, however, and in some instances the Dartmouth team piled up scores sixty to seventy points higher than those of its opponents. All the contests were postal matches fired on the Hanover range, after which the scores were immediately sent to all opposing teams for that particular week. In the event of an especially close match either team could request that the targets be sent to a neutral agency for judging. This occurred only once during the entire season. Because of a recent change in league rules, next year's team will do considerable traveling, it being required that a team shoot at least one shoulder-to-shoulder match with each of its opponents.
This year's sharpshooters fired a total of sixteen matches, gaining, among others, well-earned victories over Connecticut, Harvard, Princeton, Vermont, Columbia, MIT, Brown, and University of Massachusetts. Instrumental in this long list of triumphs were, surprisingly enough, two upperclassmen and six freshmen. The league ruling that the Indians should be allowed to use the braves of '51 on their newly-formed team was what saved the day. Without this material from the versatile freshman class the team would undoubtedly have ended far from the top.
Sparking the outfit in its initial matches was Captain John Abramson '48, who graduated in February. The remaining members of the team, whom Sgt. Dickson originally described as "the most unlikely bunch of guys I ever saw," carried on from there, and almost before realizing it had knocked off the league championship and all the laurels that accompany it. Among the men who shot consistently well were Bill Robie '50, Bob Koski '51, Langdon Palmer '51, Bill DeVaux '51, Giles Hamlin '51, and lastly Jerry Staton '51, who was the high scorer among the Green shooters, finishing the season with a league average of 280.83, and missing third place in individual high scoring by a narrow margin.
Purposely excluded from the above list of shooters in order to give him more attention was Hal Stahmer '51, a fine shot who sparked his Brooklyn Tech high school team for several years, and who has recently been elected to captain next year's team. Hal shows great promise, not only as a shooter, but also as a manager and organizer, and next year's team should do well under his guidance.
The marksmen have enjoyed some of the fruits of victory (an enjoyable evening of song, beer and fellowship at Oak Hill Cabin) and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the others (team trophy and individual medals). Neither has the College yet awarded the shooters their rifle team emblems, which substitute at the present time for varsity letters. Aside from all of these material rewards, they are awaiting with even greater enthusiasm the arrival of next season and the chance—who knows—for a national title.
