Football

A glance at the 1954 varsity football schedule and the realization that this is the same schedule faced by the Indians in 1953 when they won two games and lost seven may be some measure of Dartmouth's chances next fall. However, two of last year's losses - Columbia and Cornell - were by the slimmest of margins and, in addition, this fall Dartmouth's first opponent - Holy Cross - will be without the benefit of spring practice, while the Indians meet Navy on home territory which may help somewhat.

On the over-all picture, Coach Tuss McLaughry and his varsity assistants have decided to invite a total of 68 men back to the pre-season training camp opening in Hanover on September 2. Only 13 lettermen - six less than last year - are in this group, while there are more sophomores included than usual.

The entire Dartmouth line which started the Princeton game has been wiped out from end to end by graduation, with the two weakest spots at center, where only one candidate of any experience is back, and in the fullback post, where, at this writing, there is no one reporting back who played there last year.

On the encouraging side is the fact that the two Dartmouth quarterbacks from last year - Bill Beagle and Leo McKenna - are both returning, as are most of the Big Green halfbacks and an end squad which premises to be strong even with the graduation of players like Dave McLaughlin, Dave Thielscher and Clark Murphy. Also encouraging is the fact that last year's freshman team was one of the best in recent years and that the development of there sophomores as the season goes along can be expected to bolster the Big Green considerably.

Here are the players to watch next fall: Captain Lou Turner, a halfback who was Dartmouth's leading ground-gainer last fall with 400 yards and 2 TD's in 83 attenpts and was one of the best defensive backs on the team; Bill Beagle, a long pasing quarterback who completed 39 out of 77 passes last year as a sophomore for 661 yards and 10 TD's; Leo McKenna, ancther quarterback with an almost identical record (41 out of 79 passes for 649 yards and 4 TD's) and a generally better defensive back than Beagle; Frank Krol, one of the best Dartmouth halfback prospects seen for sometime but who was hampered by injuries last fall as a sophomore and did not get a real chance to display his ability; and end Dick Flagg who was overshadowed last year by McLaughlin and Thielscher, but who should come into his own this year as a fine, all-around end.

These are the players we know are good. Hopefully, some of the varsity players last year and some of the sophomores will develop this fall and may even prove more outstanding than the men mentioned abcve.

A run-down of the returning squad by positions shows a pretty well-balanced sqrad but some holes to plug in the line and at fullback. Dick Flagg, Tim Anderson Don Gray, Berk Roth and Roy Brown along with sophomores Don Pascoe and Bob Charman should provide the nucleus of a. good end squad. Jerry Samuelson, George Krosnowski and Jack Krumpe are the veteran tackles, with Randy Hayes, Ton Bechler, John Koehring and sophomores George Bixby, Malcolm Brown and Eric Eichler helping out. The Klapper twins - Stan and Stu - along with Bob Bagdasarian are the only letter-winning guards, with Tex Levy and Pete Conroy also experienced. Sophomores Don Cogliarese, Wayne Kakela, Larry Karacki and Join Donnelly will help but depth is a rea problem at this position as it is at center where Frank Simms is the only veteran and not much help is expected fron any of the sophomores.

The backfield situation is better. Quarterlacks Bill Beagle and Leo McKenna along with John Dell Isola, Len Clark, Ton Hamilton and the sophomore quarterlack Mike Brown assure both adequate talon and depth. The halfback situation is also pretty good although the coaches benoan the lack of weight in these posts. Captain Lou Turner, Frank Krol and Bernie Fulton are the only lettermen, but halfbacks like Tony Bruscino, Bob Spencer, Tom Harper and Ed Winters have already demonstrated their ability and some real help is expected from sophomores like Lou Rovero, Tom Trainor, Don Miller, Lee Beattie, Bob Rex, Frank Sarnie and Ed Nelson.

Fullback, of course, is the real problem at this time. Tom Holdorf, a junior who played there slightly last year, is returning and the coaches have decided to try Jack Nicolette, another junior who played well at halfback last fall, as a fullback. Beyond these men there seems to be nothing, but without doubt a lot of other backfield candidates will be given a shot at fullback before the opener with Holy Cross.

That's about how the squad shapes up before pre-season training camp opens. By the time the ALUMNI MAGAZINE resumes publication with the October issue, I expect that the situation will have changed considerably, but whether for better or worse, only time can tell.