With Big Green Teams

This is a hard one to write. It's September 10 and the 75 candidates for the Big Green football team have been back for practice exactly four days. During that time they've had their physical exams, gone through a few drills, been photographed and had one real workout. Beyond the fact that there are some pretty husky fellows on the squad, including a couple of good ball handlers and that everyone seems in fair shape at least, there's not much you can tell from observation.

In the next three weeks while this article is going through the presses and mail, these 75 men will have been whipped into some sort of shape by twice-a-day workouts, the team will have formed up, and the opening game with Fordham on September 29 will be a matter of record.

There are, however, certain basic facts which give a fair indication of what lies ahead this fall for the Dartmouth eleven. The nine-game schedule printed elsewhere in this section is tough. Tuss McLaughry, a coach not prone to exaggeration, rates it as the toughest that Dartmouth has ever had. Fordham and Army are teams that the Big Green has never met before and despite the mass migrations from West Point the consensus is that former Dartmouth coach Earl Blaik still has plenty of talented operators at the Hudson River arsenal. Penn, Cornell and Princeton rate tops in the Ivy League, while Harvard is rebuilding and Herman Hickman's Yale Bulldogs will have a mean bite this fall. Syracuse is reputed to have its strongest team in recent years, and Lou Little at Columbia can be counted upon to field the usual tricky, fast-moving team. Such an array of opponents means that the Big Green will have to play each game to the hilt, for any let-up will spell almost certain defeat.

Also to be reckoned with in any appraisal of the Big Green for 1951 are the losses from the 1950 squad. They are heavy. Seventeen seniors—the bulk of the first team—graduated last June, while two other players have been called into the armed services. This group takes in the entire starting backfield, all but one man of the starting offensive line, and two players from the starting defensive line.

Players such as the Indian's great quarterback and aerial wizard, Johnny Clayton, pile-driving fullback Bill Roberts, halfbacks Bob Tyler and Ed Isbey, tackles Red Bailey, Ted Eberle and Bill Monahan, Paul Staley at center, Joe Morelli, Craig Murphy and Pete Bogardus at guard, and ends Vince Marriott, Ed Larigan, Dick Bacon and John Patten leave a lot of gaps and spell a lot of experimentation in replacement for the coaching staff.

On top of this, leading fullback candidate John Anderson suffered a brain concussion this summer, while a speedy sophomore scatback, Dave Gleason, broke his leg. Both will be out of action this fall.

Tuss McLaughry sums it up very neatly. Says Tuss, "We have some good running backs and a fine center squad, but the ends are weak, the rest of the line only fair and the quarterback situation very bad."

Depth is a big problem for McLaughry this fall, and a glance at the depth chart printed in this section will show why. There just aren't enough experienced players around, which means a major rebuilding project for coaches McLaughry, Dell Isola, Piepul and Lampe. If the Big Green can come up with some hidden talent and if some of the sophomore prospects develop, then the Indians could have a ball club. Tuss claims that "the success of Dartmouth this fall will depend largely on the development of individual players in positions that are now apparently weak."

At this writing the prospects do not seem bright. Here and there are signs of promise, but overall the squad seems mediocre and lacks that seasoning which can come only with game competition. The 1950 results of three wins, five losses and one tie were not outstanding by any means, but it is difficult to see how the 1951 standing can be much better. However, predictions at this time are fruitless, so let's take a look at what is available this fall for the Big Green and hope that from these candidates can come the drive and spirit to confound the "experts," who almost unanimously relegate the 1951 Dartmouth team to a spot somewhere near the bottom of the Ivy League.

BIG GREEN TRIUMVIRATE: At the football helm for Dartmouth this fall are (I to r) Coach Tuss McLaughry, Captain Bill Vesprini '52 and Manager George Hibben '52, shown on opening day.