How Green Is Squaw Valley

A large Dartmouth group, numbering over fifty, will help stage the i960 Olympic Winter Games

IT is coincidental but entirely appropriate that the VIII Olympic Winter Games are being held in this country in the same year that the Dartmouth Outing Club celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. Over the past half century Dartmouth and winter sports have become virtually synonymous, and the Dartmouth Outing Club and its ski teams have always been regarded.as pioneers in U.S. skiing.

The 1960 Winter Games, being held at Squaw Valley, California, from February 18 through February 28, will appropriately have a distinctive Green tinge; nearly fifty Dartmouth alumni and members of the Dartmouth family will be there as officials, coaches and competitors.

Serving as Chairman of the United States Olympic Ski Games Committee is Malcolm McLane '46, former Dartmouth ski captain, who heads a 15-member committee charged with the selection, training and arrangements for all U.S. Olympic ski squads.

Mr. McLane talked with us by telephone in mid-January, just after returning from the West. He reported optimistically:

"Never before have our teams been so well organized and prepared. Our coaches have been working for a year and a half, and our skiing squads have been training together since last July. The Alpine teams are now on their way to Europe for some top training in competition and the results of our European meets should determine how we will "seed" our racers for the Olympic meet. The loss of Bud Werner is serious, but our men's Alpine team has consistent strength, and our women's team is truly outstanding, as is our jumping and Nordic combined squads. The U.S. teams will converge on Squaw Valley about February 10, and from all I have heard during my recent Western trip everything is in excellent shape and the Olympic Winter Games should be a show which will be a real credit to the United States."

His optimism is shared by Amos R. "Bud" Little '39, manager of the U.S. Olympic Alpine Squad, and by David J. Bradley '38, manager of the U.S. Nordic and Jumping Squads. In late December Bud Little wrote us as follows:

"It is gratifying to report that the conditioning and morale of the American Alpine teams have been very high, showing the beneficial effects of a long summer of hard work and the benefits of an early group start. Skiing ability is at an exceptionally high level. The unfortunate accident to Bud Werner, our greatest skier in a long time, if not of all time, has driven the remaining members of the men's team to their maximum efforts. We are currently planning a European training and competitive tour in January to bring the teams to their peak of ability by the time we arrive at Squaw Valley.

''Our men's team should not be discounted because of the loss of Werner. They can come through with some excellent results if they ski at their best level. The girls, with a proven record of international prominence, should win several Gold Medals and have an extremely satisfying group of individual performances."

Bradley is equally optimistic about U.S. chances in the Nordic events. He reports:

"Our chances in the Nordic events - running, jumping and combined - have never been brighter. We have excellence in depth, we have money enough and enthusiasm enough to support a full training program, and we have several stars who with luck are quite capable of crashing the rather exclusive Scandinavian party. I shan't name them, for those who were best last year may not count at Squaw.

"The selection and training of our teams didn't begin with the Christmas Camps and end with the final tryouts at Steamboat Springs and Ishpeming. It began two years ago with the appointments of Malcolm McLane '46 as Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Ski Games Committee, Al Merrill (Dartmouth ski coach) as head of the Nordic Committee, and Walt Bietila as head of the Jumping Committee. Last year many qualifying races and tournaments were held, and coaches appointed, as the basis on which a full year of planning, training and final selection could be made.

"Coaches Sven Wiik, Rick Eliot and Snowball Severud are completely modern in their thinking, style and training methods. Steve Bradley '39 offered his excellent facilities at Winter Park, Colorado, for the Nordic Squad of twenty-four. With a modern jump and fine running terrain (at 9,000 feet) no better training area could have been found. The special jumpers have had the many fine hills of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota to train on.

"Whether we will actually win medals is not of prime importance. What is important is that American skiers have come a long way in ten years and can enter these competitions with spirit and confidence, as equals among some of the finest young athletes in the world."

Head Coach of the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team is former Big Green hockey star Jack Riley '44, who also coaches the West Point team. Jack reports, "Our hockey team can finish anywhere from first to fifth. I saw all the European teams at Prague last spring. The Russians, Canadians, Czechs, Swedes and ourselves seemed the best. The Canadians and Russians will be the favorites at Squaw Valley, but they may be in for a surprise."

The unofficial leader of the Dartmouth delegation at Squaw Valley will be, of course, John A. Rand '38, executive director of the Dartmouth Outing Club. John is Chief of Communications for the Crosscountry and Biathlon events, and some idea of the technical problems involved may be gained from his report:

"Basically this entails dual communication (radio and telephone and their 'bugs') for each of the seven cross-country events. Separate channels have to be allocated to timing, control points, feeding stations, first-aid stations, maintenance crews and weather observatory. With the seven events ranging from five to fifty kilometers in length, a fantastic spiderweb of telephone wire must be spread over the countryside to connect with the finish. Similarly another network must connect the Longine electric timers and official scorers with the IBM electronic brains 18 miles away at Squaw Valley, and the everpresent press with its news dispatching points via teletype, facsimile machines and everything except carrier pigeons."

Al Merrill, Dartmouth ski coach, has been busy for the past two summers laying out the cross-country courses at Squaw Valley in his capacity as Chief of Course. This is his report:

"The holding of Olympic cross-country races at Squaw Valley has been under continual-criticism and attack by the North European countries. Their arguments most generally were: (1) lack of qualified personnel in the area to put on a competition of this size; (2) the elevation is too high for cross-country competition; and (3) lack of personnel to prepare and maintain the courses according to European standards. It was not until after the North American Championships held there in February 1959, when each of the European countries had their best racers there to test the courses and feel the physiological effects of the elevation, that their fears were quieted to any extent. We feel our personnel more than satisfied their qualms relating to (1) and (3) above, though, needless to say, little can be done concerning (2).

"The initial problem encountered in the actual laying out of the courses was lack of suitable terrain. Squaw Valley itself is either too steep or too flat. It became evident early in the planning stages that the terrain was such a limiting factor that the staging of all cross-country events in the valley was definitely prohibitive. It was decided to try and have some of the events, the 3 x 5 Relay, 4 x 10 Relay, and the 15 Km. Special Race, at Squaw and to look further for a suitable site for the remaining five courses. The ideal location was found about seventeen miles from Squaw Valley itself, close to the shores of Lake Tahoe, at an area which we have termed McKinney Creek Race Area. During the months since the early planning was done, due to many changes in personnel, physical changes in terrain due to Olympic construction, and land problems, it has been decided to hold all the cross-country events at the McKinney area. This makes for a much more compact area from an organizational viewpoint, besides having much superior terrain to work with.

"All course work such as clearing, pruning of branches, marking, building of interval timing buildings, installing communication lines to the various parts of the course, etc., was finished in September. The ranges for the Biathlon competition were all finished during the summer of 1959. I have just recently been informed that our stadium area is now complete with timing buildings, press buildings complete with teletype facilities, a darkroom, changing and waxing rooms for the competitors, warming building for the course workers, maintenance building, scoreboard and stands are now all ready. We have, to my mind at least, one of the finest cross-country areas ever built for an international competition.

"There still remains the transportation problem for the athletes, which is an added burden for the Organizing Committee. All race personnel will be housed at nearby Chambers Lodge, located right on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

"Eight competitive courses and one practice course at McKinney Creek now stand ready - except for the snow. A more beautiful spot for these Olympic events could not be found, and we personally feel the courses will be most challenging for all competitors."

Snow conditions are, of course, of extreme importance to the Winter Games, and Percy A. Rideout '38 is in charge of handling the machines and men who will groom the cross-country courses at Squaw Valley. He writes:

"From the experiences of last year at the 'Olympic Preview' races we found that 'too much snow' could be a problem in this area. We are a long way from facing this situation as of this writing, but the snowfall history of the Squaw Valley area is very strongly in favor of excellent conditions for the period of the Olympic events. All the cross-country trails are designed for the use of mechanical equipment for preparation and conditioning, and methods of mechanical preparation were tested successfully last year. Sufficient manpower has also been provided to 'manicure' the trails to a fine degree of perfection."

Charles N. Proctor '28, one of Dartmouth's truly great ski pioneers and a recent selection to the Skiing Hall of Fame, served as a member of the Ski Events Advisory Committee which, among other duties, selected the key officials for the ski meets at the Olympics. He writes from Yosemite National Park:

"The key officials for the ski events at the VIII Winter Olympic Games have been carefully selected. They are all people of experience in their respective fields. They are backed up by experienced assistants. The whole group worked together at the North American Championships in 1959. There should be no major problems. I expect nothing but an outstanding performance."

Two Dartmouth skiing contemporaries are serving as U.S. Olympic ski coaches. William L. Beck '53, a former Olympic skier himself, is guiding the U.S. men's Alpine team, while David J. Lawrence 51 is coach of the U.S. women's Alpine team. Dave's wife, Andrea Mead Lawrence (the only American girl to win a Gold Medal in 1952), is assistant manager of the U.S. women's Alpine team.

Dartmouth is not quite as well represented on the competitive side as it has been in recent past years. Tommy Corcoran '54, who skied in the 1952 games, is the only Dartmouth skier on the U.S. Alpine team, while Richard Taylor '59' captain of last year's Dartmouth ski team, is a member of the U.S. Nordic squad. Chiharu "Chick" Igaya '57, a former Dartmouth ski captain and a Silver Medal winner in the 1952 Olympics, will be skiing for Japan and also helping to coach the Japanese Alpine team. Chick has just gotten back into action during the last month, but has done well in recent Eastern meets and could well capture the coveted Gold Medal in the Olympic slalom.

The daughters of two Dartmouth alumni are both rated very highly as members of the U.S. women's Alpine team. Betsy Snite, the daughter of Albert O. Snite '32, and Joan Hannah, daughter of Selden J. Hannah '35, both come to the games with fine international records. Sel Hannah, as an official course checker, will be on hand to watch his daughter perform.

Dartmouth's colors will be worn by a number of other alumni on the working end at the Olympic games. John H. Caldwell Jr. '50, a former Dartmouth Nordic competitor, will be Chief of Checkers for the cross-country and Biathlon events, while William S. Danforth '41, long-time chief calculator for the Dartmouth Winter Carnival meets, will serve in a similar capacity for the cross-country events in Squaw Valley. Assisting him in the calculations will be Philip D. Robertson '37 and Frederick Hart '58.

Other familiar Dartmouth names will be connected with the Alpine events. Richard H. Durrance '39 and Stephen J. Bradley '39, two other outstanding Dartmouth skiers, team up as Chief of Race and Assistant Chief of Race. Warren H. Chivers '38 will serve as Chief of Interval Timers, while John R. Carson '28 is a member of his interval timing crew. Lawrence A. Jump 36 is listed as an Assistant Starter for the Alpine races, while Walter Prager, former Dartmouth ski coach, has the important task of setting the course for the women's slalom race.

On the press and public relations side of the Olympic games, Judson Bailey, father of John E. Bailey '63, will direct the CBS-TV crews which will bring most of the Olympic events into the living rooms of some 50 million American families. CBS-TV, of which Mr. Bailey is executive director of sports, has exclusive TV coverage of the games.

Clifford L. Jordan '45, executive secretary for the Dartmouth Alumni Fund, has been appointed Assistant Press Chief and will be helping to handle all press arrangements and coverage at the Squaw Valley events. Fred A. Springer-Miller '49 is on the publicity staff.

Those Disney-created ice statues which will grace the entrance to Squaw Valley are being constructed under the direction of two Dartmouth men - Charles Plummer '59 and Frederick Medrick '62, who are supervising a group of Army men in this novel phase of the Olympic Winter Games.

And a last-minute note from Bud Little '39 reminds us that "your list of the Dartmouth family at Squaw Valley should include Sally Neidlinger Hudson (daughter of "Pudge" Neidlinger '23), and her husband who have been chairmen of the Olympic Ski Games Supply and Equipment sub-committee ... and who are operating the ski shop 'Sporthaus' in the Squaw Valley Lodge."

This report, compiled in mid-January, lists only those members of the Dartmouth family known from official lists and other sources to have a part in the 1960 Winter Olympic Gaines. Many other Dartmouth men will undoubtedly be serving in various official and semi-official capacities. And many others will be among the 35,000 spectators who will crowd daily into the Squaw Valley area for a look at one of 1960's top world events — the VIII Winter Olympic Games.

Malcolm McLane '46 is serving as Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Ski Games Committee.

Tom Corcoran '54 will race as a member of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team

Dave Lawrence '51 is coach of the U.S. women's Alpine team, expected to perform well.

Dartmouth ski coach AL Merrill (r) is Chief of Course for cross-country races. Dick Taylor '59 (left) is on the U.S. Nordic squad.

Jack Riley '44, West Point hockey coach, is coach of the U.S. hockey team. The trophy is the one he won as 1957 Coach of the Year.

Dave Bradley '38 is filling the post of Manager of the U.S. Nordic and Jumping squads.

Betsy Snite of Norwich, Vt., daughter of Albert O. Snite '32, rates as one of the topmembers of the U.S. women's ski team.

Another Dartmouth daughter on the women'sski team is Joan Hannah, whose father, SelHannah '35, will be there as an official.

The Olympic Ice Arena at Squaw Valley, seating 8500, will be the scene of the opening andclosing ceremonies at the Games, and also of the hockey and figure-skating events.