A Lively Bit of England
The Dartmouth Rugby Club is on the road again, this time to California for a series of games. A term has intervened since the triumphant trek to England, and letters full of congratulations have all been acknowledged and filed away in the Club scrapbooks. So with spring vacation at hand, the Club is gone again to meet opponents such as Pomona, UCLA and San Diego State. It has been a good while since Dartmouth has played these foes in any sport. Yet our warriors, win or lose, can be depended on for a "good show."
The man working out all the arrangements for this trip - as he did for the one to his home grounds in England — is Richard P. Liesching '59. Dick, the president of the Dartmouth Rugby Club, is the lad with the laugh, the warmth and the accent that captivate every American encountering them. Quite a fellow, they all say. A head full of dreams and enough gumption and get-up-and-go to make these dreams come true. For years the rugby team had thought of England. Their winning ways had put them in the spotlight before. Yet England was a long way off to others - to Dick it is home. Bitten by that Dartmouth spirit a long time ago, Dick wanted to show "his boys" off at home.
In the last few months, Dick has been criticized for "not weighing the risks" involved in the trip to England. There were many sleepless nights before and during the trip for him, but he was confident it would succeed financially. True, the team went to England on a shoestring, but Dick is quick to point out that this was no "lark." It was in the pioneering spirit of Eleazar Wheelock. There was a job of ambassadorship to be done, and the Green ruggers did it well. They taught and were taught, and no college high jinks marred their visit.
Dick is at Dartmouth because of the munificence of Cornelius V. Starr - a man who has made the lives of so many young men. "My being here is all Mr. Starr's doing," says Dick. "He is the finest man I have ever met," and Dick has met some great men in his travels. Mr. Starr did not suggest Dartmouth, but Dick can recall his first contact with the name of Dartmouth College. It was in a newspaper back in 1954. He read that Vince Jones, Class of 1952, Dartmouth College, U.S.A., had won his blue playing rugby at Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar. "Wonderful," says Dick. Then the Green crew went over to the Henley Regatta, and gradually Dick decided it would be Dartmouth for him.
He found rugby already prospering here. He joined the team as a freshman and contributed to it all that he knew. (He had won his and Fifteen Colors (letter) in Rugger at Blundell's School in England.) He has played most positions but mainly sticks to scrum half and fullback. He has brought to the Club the British tradition that it is an honor to play and that one must play only for enjoyment.
Dick's vital statistics include the fact that he was born of British parents in Shanghai in 1936. His home now is Hindhead, Surrey, England, about 45 miles from London. He prepped in England with a short sojourn to Switzerland to brush up on French. Dick's major field is French literature, and he tries to get into his busy schedule as many courses in science as possible. New York City has been his summer headquarters all during college. Each year he has taken courses at Columbia to further broaden himself. In the hobby line, Dick likes skiing and tennis. Yet he favors rugby as his real interest because he can participate in this sport with "fourteen other happy guys."
For real enjoyment and "just for laughs," Dick hopes to get together for Green Key Weekend a team composed of some of the football coaching staff, some students and some rugger alumni. If he fields a XV, it ought to be a memorable event for Hanover folk.
Dick Liesching '59
