1909

KEEPING TRACK OF TRACK MEN

The spring of 1906 produced a star relay team for Dartmouth and it so happened that the team was composed of a member from each of the four classes then in college: Senior Henry Thrall; Junior Bill Jennings; Sophomore Red Shipley, and Freshman Art Rose, as seen in the accompanying photo.

Bill Jennings '07, the only surviving member of the team, writes: "The '06 relay team won the outdoor American College championship at the Penn games at Franklin Field, and the indoor championship at Madison Square Gardens. It also won a match race with Yale at Worcester Oval. This race was run in connection with the Holy Cross graduation exercises on which occasion President Teddy Roosevelt presented the degrees."

Bill remembered that race against Yale was run in a driving rain, with puddles of mud and water over the ankles of the runners. Dartmouth won by two yards. The only spectators were two officials, Doc Bowler, and a reporter from the Boston Herald.

Those guys were rugged, no doubt about it Bill, always highly regarded, made an outstanding record during his four years at college. He was on the track team for four years, captain, his senior year; on the football team his senior year; president of his class; vice president of the Y.M.C.A.; on the board of directors of the College Club; class marshal at Commencement. He was a member of the Tri Kap, Turtle, Sphinx, and Palaeopitus. And now he has the distinction of being the oldest living graduate of his class. Next September 16 he'll reach the grand old age of 85.

At La Jolla, Calif., where Bill lives, he sees Chic Currier and Cy Perkins '08 occasionally, and he has a weekly lunch with his good friend and classmate, Rocky Hazen. Regarding the other members of this "fearsome foursome," Red Shipley, one of the most popular members of his class, was killed in action during World War I; Henry Thrall departed this earth two years ago; Art Rose transferred to Amherst after freshman year. He died in 1952.

Jim Hitchcock, one of Dartmouth's great harmonizers, as well as lyricist and composer of poetical prose, reports that he had a "truly brilliant inspiration" one morning as he "tossed on a restless bed." "Why not," he asks, "publish a book of excerpts from the Diddings ('09's newsletter)? Over the years, the material must have mounted into huge proportions, and, from time to time, there have been some really excellent contributions, apart from the masterful ones of the editor. That would be a big job, to cull out the choicest bits, to decide how many to use, how to do it, etc., etc. It would be a worthwhile project," in the opinion of Jim, "and would make a good legacy for the saga of Dartmouth, an interesting addition to the Library, and a proof that 1909 had something on the ball, even though not manifested by overwhelming cash contributions. As a title, 'Drippings from 1909 Diddings,' I offer for your consideration."

Thanks, Jim, for the idea. Enough material has been accumulated to fill a book and then some. More than a million words, I estimate, have been typed for Diddings and the '09 class notes in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE, and probably that many more in correspondence. It has been enjoyable work and has put me in touch with Dartmouth guys I never would have contacted, otherwise.

To put together such a compendium would, indeed, be a big job that would take many hours of work and I'm afraid an old guy like me, now approaching 77, could not muster the energy to put it over. If it should come about, as I told Jim, quotes from his verse and prose would certainly appear. A chapter or more would be devoted to recalls from Tubby Besse '05, raconteur extraordinary; to contribs from his classmate, Bill Blatner; to stories from Bob' Jackson '00; to my old friend, Charlie Truman; to reunion activities; to our class leader, Affable Al Newton; to Chief Jack Meyers; to guys like Pop Chesley '08, Guy Carpenter and Jack Richmond '10; to Piano Man John Chipman '19; to Hal Braman '21 whose series on Dartmouth music in the ALUMNI MAGAZINE is so well received. All these and more have paid visits to the Diddings and to the Class Notes and have been responsible for what success the media have accomplished.

Wallie Ross is reminded of a favorite story told by the late Bill Cunningham '19, famous columnist and brilliant public speaker. During a talk Bill made at the Danvers (Mass.) Insane Hospital, one of the inmates shouted, "You're lousy." At the close of the talk the superintendent said, "Mr. Cunningham, you may be interested to know those are the first words that man has spoken in fifteen years."

That is reminiscent of the concert '09's Magic Melody Makers gave for ambulatory patients at Mary Hitchcock Hospital during '09's 50th reunion. In the group were Charlie Truman, singer and story teller, his son, Ralph, on the bass fiddle, Sonny Packard on the three-necked guitar, Glen Wardwell on his singing violin, and me on the banjo. We got the audience to join in for some group singing. At the end of the hour program, the son of one of the patients told me that it was the first time his father had done any singing in over a year.

That was the year Charlie Truman was operated on for cancer of the stomach, although, at the time, he didn't know what his trouble was. Charlie, who had been a mainstay in our entertainment features, had written me that he wouldn't be able to spend much time with us, maybe a few minutes each evening, as he was convalescing from the operation. When I saw him, soon after arriving in town, he was walking with a cane in a stooped position, his lower jaw tending to hang down, the picture of a man who had had serious physical trouble.

Not only did Charlie take part in our entertainment at the hospital, he was with us in the tent both nights, doing his stuff and up until midnight. The second day, Charlie discarded the cane, and the following week when Dutch Schildmiller, my old college roommate, and I stayed over for a few days, he was with us on excursions we took to various spots around Hanover. Charlie survived for more than two years after that, until the cancer took charge and he had to call it a day. The therapy of music, or the stimulation of the spoken word, can accomplish, in some cases, what drugs never can.

This is the start of the Alumni Fund campaign that will extend to July 1. '09's head agent, Ben Dudley and his faithful cohorts will be doing their best to boost '09 prestige. This will be possible if you guys and girls out yonder will do your part by giving realistically.

Hazen Jones '10 has completed 50 years'service to the Schrafft organization.

Class Notes Editor, 141 Pioneer Trail, Aurora, Ohio

Secretary, Sandwich, Mass.

Class Agent, 66 Lilac Dr., Rochester 20, N.Y.