Football

The Dartmouth Indians will find the going rough next fall as they seek to defend their Ivy League title. This is the prognostication of Coach Bob Blackman, his staff members and most of the local observers.

The 1959 schedule is the toughest since Blackman took over the coaching reins in 1955' as Dartmouth meets seven traditional Ivy League opponents plus two of the top pastern independent clubs in Holy Cross and Boston College. And there are four consecutive away-from-home contests, stretching from mid-October to mid-November, which don't make things any easier.

A major rebuilding job is also in order as graduation and other losses have wiped out the entire starting line from last year's championship team, and taken three veteran halfbacks and the only standout full-back.

"I'm not crying the blues," commented Coach Blackman when we talked with him in mid-June, "but I don't like all the sports writers automatically picking us to win again simply because we did well last year. Six of the seven Ivy League teams we face have over half of their starting lineups returning. Of all the teams in the league Dartmouth was by far the hardest hit by graduation and other losses."

Gone from Dartmouth's lineup will be such standouts as All-Ivy end Scott Palmer, veteran tackles Dave Bathrick and Bill Pettway and, of course, Dartmouth's great captain and All-East guard, Al Krutsch. Another All-East guard, Bob Boye, is giving up football to concentrate on his Tuck School studies and this is a serious loss. Starting center Bill Colehower graduates this month and his able replacement, Bob Virostek, is giving up football due to early admission to the Dartmouth Medical School (no overemphasis on football here!). There are four more losses in the backfield, with halfbacks Jim Burke, Bill Morton and Jim Henander gone along with the key blocking back in the V-system, fullback Brian Hepburn.

Dartmouth has some capable replacements moving up, but depth will again be a problem as not much help is expected from a last year's freshman team which was at best only average.

About 75 candidates are expected to report for practice on September i, with the opening game against Holy Cross scheduled for September 36. Sixteen lettermen will be back and at the moment it seems likely that the Dartmouth team which takes the field against Holy Cross will be made up from this group. Roger Hanlon at left end, Sam Bowlby at left tackle, Chuck Chapman at left guard, Ken DeHaven at center, Jim Graham at right guard, Lee Horschman at right tackle, and Seth Strickland at right end are probable starters in the line. The all-veteran backfield should see Bill Gundy at quarterback, Jake Crouthamel at left half, Al Rozycki at right half, and Bill Hibbs, who played left end last year, in the full-back slot.

The other lettermen who will be ready to step in are Art Kola at left tackle, Hank Gerfen at left guard, Connie Persels at right end, Seth Moger at quarter-back, and Dick Marrone at fullback.

John Henry, a reserve, and last year's freshman captain, Dave Usher, are rated as capable end replacements. Bob Naegele, another reserve, and sophomore Dick Lepeska and senior Phil Clark will help at guard, with Mike Mooney, a junior, the only good tackle prospect. Backing up DeHaven at center will be Jim McElhinney and sophomore Carter Strickland.

The Indian backfield is somewhat better off than the line, with Jack Kinderdine, a junior, backing up Gundy and Moger at quarterback. Senior John Appleford and Tom King, probably the best sophomore prospect, are behind Crouthamel at left halfback; with Len DiSavino,

a hard-running reserve, and Justin Zinn, a junior, behind Rozycki at right half. Sophomore Jim Lemen could be a valuable help at fullback behind veterans Bill Hibbs and Dick Marrone, but a shoulder injury sidelined him most of the freshman season and could continue to trouble him this fall.

As was the case last year, there's expected to be a fairly big difference between Dartmouth's first and second teams and an even greater gap between the second and third teams. This will place a premium on the avoidance of injuries.

When we talked with Coach Blackman, he and his assistants were hard at work preparing some 400 sheets of mi mengraphed instructions, training hints and play formations which will go out in weekly bulletins all summer long to the candidates.

"We had this material pretty well worked out last summer," reported Blackman, "but we're making just enough changes in our formations, both offensive and defensive, and in certain techniques to make revisions on almost all of these bulletins necessary."

Blackmail is still sticking to the V-system on offense, but he will run more varied formations, moving out of the V, and plans to install some completely new offensive plays and some new defensive alignments.

"Once you've been scouted for a whole season, Blackman said, "you almost have to work out new strategy, particularly with every team in the league gunning for you."

Blackman feels that Yale may be the team to beat this coming fall, despite an olf-and-on season last year. He also likes Princeton because of their depth and Pennsylvania with the speediest backfield in the league.

On paper we must admit that the road ahead looks rocky for the Indians. However, the spirit and drive which took the Indians to their first league championship last fall are a powerful force again this coming season. This, plus the ability, imagination and leadership which Blackman and his staff bring to the game, provides good reason to predict, even at this early stage, that Dartmouth will be right in the thick of the Ivy League race again next fall.

Lacrosse Coach Tommy Dent with GoalieRandy Malin '59 (left) and Captain BillMorton '59, defenseman, both of whom werenamed to the All-Ivy League Lacrosse Team.