A Big Gap This Fall

Another soccer season is underway, but this fall something is missing. For the first time in three and half decades a familiar Scottish "burr" is not heard from the bench.

The College's fun-loving Scotsman, veteran coach Thomas Johnstone Dent, has stepped down after 36 years at the soccer helm and after 34 years as lacrosse coach, ending an outstanding record in both sports. Last June, a year before his actual retirement was due, bursitis forced him to call a halt to coaching activities. As Dent said, "It was a tough decision to make."

Looking back over his years on the Hanover Plain, "Tommy" recalls that first day in 1923 when he arrived on the campus for a "short visit." A native of Stirling, Scotland, he had come to the United States in search of a dry climate in order to recuperate from a World War I gassing attack. He had served with the British Army's 52nd (Black Watch) Highland Regiment in France and Mesopotamia.

While on his "short visit" to Hanover, Dent became fast friends with the late Harry Hillman, fhe College's Olympic track coach. It was as a result of this friendship that he joined the College as head soccer coach in 1924. He was a natural for the soccer assignment, for since his early school days in Scotland he had been playing the game. While at Birmingham University he played two years of varsity soccer and this was followed by experience with the professional Aston Villa team in England. He was considered a standout at center-half.

As Big Green soccer coach, Dent saw his teams put together a record of 144 wins, 102 losses and 23 ties. At one stage in the early 'sos his hooters had a winning streak of eighteen games, including an undefeated 1954 season. Tommy himself served on three U. S. Olympic Soccer Committees, held various offices in New England and national organizations, and in 1952 conducted a clinic for G.l.'s in Germany.

Lacrosse, however, was a different story. In 1926 when the College decided to take up the old Indian game, it turned to Dent for its head coach. This was a game he had never played, but he started to study and observe. Eight years later Dent had his first undefeated lacrosse team.

Through the 1940s the Indians were considered "a power" as they rolled up nine New England championships in eleven years. This was coupled with forty victories and only nine losses between 1947 and 1950. Dent's overall lacrosse record for 34 years is 192 wins, 126 losses and three ties. His 1933 and 1936 teams were undefeated.

In recognition of his lacrosse coaching ability, Dent. has served as head coach of the North squad in the. annual North-South All Star Lacrosse Game. He has also been president of the New England Lacrosse Coaches Association and has served on several national and regional groups.

Tommy and his wife, Ellen, have moved to Fairlee, Vt., to be near their daughter, Mrs. Robert N. Ward. There he can devote full time to what in the past has been a part-time pleasure, hunting and fishing. Dent loves the out-doors and for many years served as chairman of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission. In 1946 he was awarded the New England Out-door Writers' Award for conservation.

In his 36 years of coaching, the greatest source of pleasure for Tommy has been his friendships with Dartmouth students and alumni. When it was announced in June that he was stepping down as coach, he was swamped with mail from all over the nation. "I wish I could thank everyone," Tommy said, "but the stack of mail is so great." This abundance of good wishes is just one more evidence of the affection Dartmouth men have for their beloved Scotsman.

Coach Tom Dent