Football
With spring sports a thing of the past, it is now time to turn our attention to next fall. Just two months remain until preseason football practice starts at Dartmouth on September i. Here's how Dartmouth's 1955 football team shapes up at the moment.
A new coaching staff, a new system of offense and a revised schedule should add up to a very interesting Diamond Jubilee football season for Dartmouth. But in this 75th year of football, no one is expecting or predicting a banner season.
The past few months have shown unmistakable signs that in Coach Bob Blackman and his assistants - line coach Jack Musick, backfield coach Will Volz, end coach Elmer Lampe, and freshman coach Earl Hamilton, with assistants Doggie Julian and Ray Truncellito - Dartmouth has found a remarkably fine staff.
But alumni are advised to expect no miracles next fall. Coach Blackman puts it this way, "I'm not the kind of coach to cry in advance of the season, but I'll tell you frankly I can see only one or two wins next fall. Every team looks tough right now, but I think our team is going to have a really fine spirit and it should be an interesting fall."
Regardless of what he says, Coach Blackman seems determined to do his best to win every game as do the other staff members. The past months have seen them reviewing movies of all Dartmouth's opponents and compiling an analysis covering every play in every game. Each play has been carefully sketched on graph paper Sports Summary
1954-55 Varsity Freshmen Won Lost Won Lost Football 3 6 3 1 Soccer 8 0 1 5 Cross-Country 3 2 2 3 Basketball 18 7 8 2 Hockey 10 11 11 3 Track 2 1 6 3 Swimming 7 3 6 1 Squash 2 6 1 4 Baseball 11 15 7 3 Golf 15 5 8 0 Tennis 11 6 2 2 Lacrosse 7 5 7 1 Rifle 20 4 11 1 Rugby 10 5 Crew 3 1 3 1 - - - - TOTALS 132 79 76 33
Final League Standings
BASEBALL W. L. Pet. Yale 9 0 1.000 Harvard 8 1 .889 Brown 5 4 .556 Princeton 5 4 .556 Army 4 5 .444 Navy 3 5 .375 Pennsylvania 3 5 .375 Dartmouth 3 6 .333 Columbia 2 7 .286 Cornell 2 7 .286 TENNIS Yale 8 0 1.000 Princeton 7 1 .875 Harvard 5 2 .714 Cornell 4 2 .667 Dartmouth 4 4 .500 Navy 24 .333 Army 2 6 .250 Pennsylvania 1 6 .143 Columbia 0 8 .000
to show what every man on both teams did during that play. This helps to analyze the offense and defense of the opposition as well as to spot personnel weaknesses on both teams.
Lack of spring practice, particularly in the first year of a new coaching regime, is a big handicap. To help overcome this and to assure the return of a physically fit squad in September, Coach Blackman and his staff plan to send weekly bulletins and letters to all candidates throughout the summer. This will serve to keep the players thinking about football and provide basic information on plays as well as training hints.
In addition to preparing these weekly mailings, Coach Blackman and his staff will spend the summer months working on plans for the fall games, including offensive and defensive strategy based on earlier studies and previous scouting reports.
A 75-man squad is expected to report to Hanover for three weeks of intensive practice sessions prior to the opener at Colgate on September 24. Once again some innovations will be introduced. Each day squad members will receive a mimeographed schedule showing exactly what is to be done during the practice sessions and the time allotted for each phase of the session.
The new offensive system being introduced at Dartmouth this year is called the "V-system," a label attached by sports writers. Similar to the split-T formation, it sets the fullback in close to the line, usually behind the tackle or end, where he serves as a blocking back. At its best the V-style combines the deception of the T-formation with the power of the single wing. The new system offers great adaptability according to the personnel available, and its many variations provide a more wide open style than Dartmouth teams have used in recent years.
But no matter how good the coaching staff or how varied and effective the type of offense, the results next fall will depend largely on the manpower available. So let's look at the strengths and weaknesses of the 1955 football team.
Twenty-five lettermen are expected back next fall in contrast to the dozen lettermen lost by graduation. However, Dartmouth will miss the services of players like Captain and halfback Lou Turner, ends Dick Flagg and Tim Anderson, tackle Jerry Samuelson, guards Bob Bagdasarian and Tex Levy, and halfback Bernie Fulton. These were all first-team men and their replacement is a major problem.
Generally speaking, the Dartmouth end squad is adequately manned, as are the tackle posts. The guard position is only fair, center a major problem. In the backfield, the quarterback post seems set for another year, the halfback posts offer some hope, and the fullback spot is wide open.
Returning at the end posts, under Coach Lampe, are veterans Monte Pascoe, Don Gray, Ron Fraser and Bud Roth. Pascoe, of course, is the top candidate and should be outstanding. Don Marriott is an experienced senior, while Dick Darby, Walt Fogarty, Dave Moss, Dick Pew and Steve Toth are sophomores battling for jobs.
Five lettermen - Tom Bechler, George Bixby, Wayne Kakela, John Koehring and George Krosnowski - return as tackles, along with junior Charlie Stevens. The top sophomore candidates include Dave Battirick, Walt Busker, Henry Milton, John Murphy and Bob Zovlonsky.
Heading the returning guards are the Klapper twins, Stu and Stan, Pete Conroy and Larry Karacki — all lettermen. John Donnelly, George Roumanis and Abe Tow-bin are experienced upperclassmen, while jeff Flood, Joe Palermo, Jim Riffle, Phil Wood and Paul Wysard are the sophomore candidates. Jim Riffle is the player to watch at this post.
The center post is wide open, with veterans Fritz Simms and Bob Adelizzi sure to get some stiff opposition from a promising sophomore, Brendan McAdams. Other candidates include junior Lud Landgraff and sophomores Joe Malley and Gigi Principi.
Moving into the backfield, we find two lettermen - Captain Leo McKenna and Bill Beagle - returning at quarterback. Beagle, ranked first in the Ivy League and sixth in the nation in passing last fall, would seem favored, but McKenna because of his superior ball-handling and better defensive play probably rates the edge at the moment. Actually, both will see a lot of action depending on the game itself. Both Beagle and McKenna are seniors and Coach Blackman is expected to use junior Mike Brown and sophomores Dave Bradley, Doug Fusonie and Barry Stompe in order to bring them along for the 1956 season.
The halfback posts are at best a problem. Five lettermen - Lee Beattie, Bob Charman, Jack Nicolette, Lou Rovero and Tom Trainor - return, but all are light and there's not much speed among them. Rovero and Nicolette have the edge on experience. The sophomore candidates - Bob Downey, Bill Caley, Jerry Green, Don Klages and Dave Wark along with juniors Ed Nelson, John Patrick and Bob Rex offer some hope, but none is regarded as an outstanding candidate at the moment.
The fullback post has enough lettermen returning, but here again it's a question of talent and experience. Tom Hall, Phil Rollins and Dick Smith divided the fullback duties last fall, while John Patrick moves over from halfback and Dave Pratt steps up from the frosh team.
As far as the schedule goes, the replacement of Navy and Army by Brown and Lafayette will help, although neither of these teams can be taken lightly. Holy Cross and Colgate both will be tough in 1955, while the other Ivy teams, with the possible exception of Columbia, look as good if not better than last fall.
Dartmouth alumni will see four home contests this fall: Holy Cross on October 1, Lafayette on October 15, Harvard on October 22 and Cornell on November 12.
With apologies to Coach Blackman and his staff and the explanation that this is a strictly personal opinion, I'll pick Dartmouth over Brown, Lafayette and Columbia, select Yale, Cornell and Princeton over the Indians, and rate the Colgate, Holy Cross and Harvard games as toss-ups.
DARTMOUTH'S NEW FOOTBALL COACHING STAFF which launches the Big Green's 75th anniversary season with practice on September 1. Front row (l to r): Jack Musick, backfield coach; Earl Hamilton, freshman coach; Will Volz, line coach; Bob Blackman, head coach. Back row; Ray Truncellito '49, freshman assistant; Elmer Lampe, end coach; and Doggie Julian, freshman assistant.
