With Big Green Teams

WE met with Coach Bob Blackman after his 75-man squad had been through exactly eight days of workouts. It was almost dinner time. Coach Blackman was lying on a training room table taking heat treatments for a slipped spinal disc which doctors had discovered in August. Other Dartmouth players were also receiving heat treatments for a variety of ailments, while on the other side of the room players were in whirlpool baths or soaking bruised legs in tubs of steaming water. There were the usual training-room smells - sweat, steam, liniment - while from the next room came sounds of tape ripping and someone singing loudly off key.

Blackman was the first casualty of the 1957 season. In late August he spent a week at Dick's House while doctors checked over his hack and discovered the slipped disc. He was advised to take it as easy as possible. A special chair was built so he could sit during the long practice sessions, directing play by means of a megaphone. But doctors warned that tension was harmful, that an operation at a later date might be necessary.

"But I'm feeling fine now," Blackman reported. "These heat treatments seem to be helping, and it feels better each day. It's getting so I don't need the chair so much, and I think I should be okay right through the season."

He paused a minute to ask a lanky halfback about a pulled muscle, then looked at a lineman's badly bruised nose, remarking, "the bruises and bumps always show up during the second week of practice. I'm just glad that none of my players has a slipped disc."

We queried Bob about the general physical condition of his 1957 squad.

"They all came back in excellent shape," he reported. "Not one man that I know overweight, and perhaps even more importantly, I have never seen a team in greater spirits. Usually, in this second week when the twice-a-day workouts begin to tell, a squad gets a bit down, but not this team."

One of the major reasons for the fine physical and mental condition of the Dartmouth squad was the weekly bulletins which went out from the Big Green coaching staff throughout the summer. Included in these bulletins were prescribed conditioning exercises, techniques and plays for study and information and commentary on Dartmouth football.

We asked about early injuries. Oddly enough, there had been three of a fairly serious nature - all to left halfbacks. Veteran Jim Mueller had torn a ligament, which would sideline him for a few weeks, and Dave Bell, another letter-winning halfback, had sustained a bad knee injury which could sideline him for the season. And one of the best sophomore prospects at left halfback, Jim Gallagher, broke a small bone in his leg and will be in a cast for some seven weeks. This has created unexpected replacement problems at left half.

Many sports writers picked Dartmouth to finish second behind Princeton in the Ivy League this fall. We asked Bob if he agreed. He agreed that Princeton should win the League, but felt that possibly Dartmouth was over-rated in second place.

"We had a good strong finish last year, winning three in a row, including the Princeton game," Blackman remarked, "but we've lost virtually our entire first team, and on top of that Penn and Brown will field veteran teams and are rated much stronger this fall."

Last year. Dartmouth had a strong, allveteran first team, but not much in depth. Was the situation the same this year?

"Basically no," was the reply. This fall the Indians will have some veterans in first-team positions and not too much depth behind them. In other posts, there's a wide-open battle with second- and thirdteam players from last year competing with some promising sophomores for starting berths.

Blackman's appraisal by positions at this early stage went about like this: At quarterback Dave Bradley, Doug Fusonie, and John Baldwin played last year behind Mike Brown and have some experience. Bradley looks like the starter at the moment. Sophomore Bill Grundy, who directed the freshmen last year, is still showing his inexperience, but may help later in the season. None of the quarterbacks is an outstanding passer; all are good at directing the team and are adequate ball-handlers.

The halfback posts are well manned on the whole. There's speed here, and the Blackman coaching staff is introducing some new offensive maneuvers designed to make use of this speed along with deception. Injuries to Mueller, Bell and Gallagher at left halfback create a real problem. Letterman Joe Graham and sophomore John Crouthamel, who has been running extremely well in practice, will help, but some right halfbacks may be moved over. At right halfback veteran Don Klages, who spent the 1956. season on the bench with a leg injury, should be the starter. However, Klages has just reinjured his leg, and although it is not serious at the moment, there is some doubt as to how long it will hold up. Jim Burke, another letterman, has looked very good to date and will probably get the starting post if Klages can't make it. Letterman Jim Henander is back, and so is Bill Morton who saw action last year and seems greatly improved this fall.

The fullback slot, primarily a blocking post under Blackmail's V-system, is another major problem. Dave Pratt, who played behind Captain Bob Rex last year, looks like the starter, but Brian Hepburn has been moved over from halfback to help out and a sophomore end, Jim Foch, is being given a try along with Mike Cronin, a reserve.

Dartmouth's forward line has more problems than answers at the present writing. Both end posts are up for grabs. At left end there's a five-way battle among lettermen Steve Toth and Dave Moss, reserve Earl Glazier, and two promising sophomores, John Baird and Bill Hibbs. At right end Scott Palmer, a junior who saw action last year, rates the nod over sophomore Roger Hanlon, who has been coming fast, and two seniors, Dick Portland and Pete Pullen.

Tackle has been and could be a major problem this fall. Bernie McAdams, a reserve center for the past two seasons, has been moved to left tackle where he will probably start. Behind him is Art Duggan, a 185-pound junior, while Sam Bowlby, a six-foot, 225-pound sophomore, has perhaps the best potential of any tackle on the squad but some way to go before he'll make a starting berth. Over at right tackle it looks like Bill Pettway, a 205-pound veteran, as the starter, with sophomore Lee Horschman and seniors Dave Bathrick and John Murphy pushing him hard.

The guard posts are well manned on a first-team basis, with Captain Joe Palermo at left guard and veteran Al Krutsch on the right. Blackman claims he wouldn't trade these two for any pair of guards in the league and they should be the solid core of Dartmouth's forward wall. Letterman Jim Riffle will back up both men, with sophomore Joe LaVigna available for left guard and sophomores Eldon Houston and Jim Graham for right.

Center is a question mark also. Walt Fogarty, who backed up Adelizzi last year, has the edge at the moment, but Bill Colehower, a junior, and two sophomores, Duncan Lanum and Bob Virostek, are ready to take over if Fogarty should falter.

Bob Blackman and his staff are naturally concerned with the lack of experienced personnel, particularly at end and tackle. The lack of a talented passing quarterback may also hurt, although speed at halfback will compensate.

Last fall Dartmouth's football team won five games, lost three and tied one. At season's end they triumphed over Columbia, Cornell and Princeton. It now seems difficult to duplicate this record. Blackman and his staff are optimistic, pointing to great team spirit, some top lettermen and some excellent sophomore prospects. However, they're also realistic enough to recognize that there are no soft spots in the nine-game schedule.

Just as we were through taking a look at the Dartmouth personnel, one of the DCAC heelers stopped by the table to show Coach Blackman the mimeographed schedule for the next day's activities.

"The players will like this," he told Blackman, "when they see that practice ends at 4 p.m. instead of 5:30."

"That's only for tomorrow," Blackman advised. "The varsity coaching staff is meeting with all freshman football candidates at 4 tomorrow."

We glanced over the daily schedule, a schedule mimeographed each day and distributed to squad members. It is a two-age document, spelling out almost minute by minute what is going to be done. The schedule began at 8 a.m. with the team reporting to locker rooms for "suiting up." It ended at 7:30 p.m. when the squad was to report for a "squad meeting" which presumably went on until about 9. A typical listing read: "10:55-11:00 a.m. - Run Green Out, GD 22 Turnback or Right Half Roll out Draw against an 'odd' defense." Frequently the team was divided by positions. For twenty minutes in the afternoon the backs, ends and centers worked on pass plays; the tackles, guards and other centers had "blocking drill on the big bags," while some of the other tackles, guards and centers were practicing "pass protection vs. looping defense."

Dartmouth awaits the opening whistle of the 1957 season with a team in excellent physical condition, with spirit high, and determined that 1957 will be as good if not better than 1956.

Traditionally coaches are silent on predictions for any season. There are too many variable factors involved which almost overnight can change a good year into a dismal one. This writer, however, will again go out on the limb to pick the Big Green to win over New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Columbia and probably Harvard. The Brown and Holy Cross contests look like toss-ups, while Yale, Cornell and Princeton all must be given a slight edge over the Indians. Now, blow that whistle and let's get down to the field!

Lettermen Who Hold The Season's Answer

Coach Bob Blackman, in the special chair rigged up for him because of a back ailment, is backed up also by six aides: (l to r) Coaches Doggie Julian, Wilbur Volz, Elmer Lampe, Larry Fowler, Jack Musick and Earl Hamilton.

Capt. Joe Palermo, guard

Al Krutsch, guard

Bill Pettway, tackle

Bernie McAdams, tackle

Walt Fogarty, center

Steve Toth, end

Dave Moss, end

Dave Bradley, quarterback

Doug Fusonie, quarterback

Jim Mueller, halfback

Jim Henander, halfback

Jim Burke, halfback

Joe Graham, halfback

Jim Riffle, guard

Dave Pratt, fullback

Brian Hepburn, fullback