WITH THE BIG GREEN TEAMS

IT would have been hard to get anyone to admit this along about 5 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, October 10. Especially those Old Greens from the last twenty graduating classes who were allotted general admission tickets for the Princeton game and got there two hours early on that cold, raw afternoon to assure a seat.

But the thought persists and grows that that 37-7 trouncing by Princeton was a beneficial thing for this Dartmouth football team.

Admittedly it smashed any stray hopes that this squad was headed for greatness and an undefeated season. And it proved that Coach Bob Blackman was human, that he could be embarrassed in a game for which he probably prepared more carefully than any other in his decade at Dartmouth.

Yet it also made this comparatively young team mad at itself and it threw up a smoke screen of vulnerability to other Ivy League opponents which could be a great advantage down the season stretch run.

The hard fact is that Dartmouth was not as bad as that Princeton score claimed. Furthermore the team is infinitely better as a result. The trouncing was more valuable to the youngsters than, say, a 14-13 defeat. After the game the players sat on the locker-room benches and thought about it. They took time to answer questions to which they ordinarily toss off airy, casual answers. Said center Bob Komives of St. Paul, "They weren't really any better defensively than us but when the big play came up we didn't make it and Princeton did."

Blackman, who was confident of victory even while trailing 10-0 at halftime, was badly shaken as mistake piled on mistake and the score mounted.

He had to follow Princeton coach Dick Colman, who was being carried on his players' shoulders, almost to the field gate but he caught him and shook hands. He also shook hands with Cosmo Iacavazzi, the Tigers' great captain who had been the goat of the previous year's 22-21 defeat at Princeton. Then Blackman went into the Dartmouth dressing room and called his bewildered players together.

"This was a nightmare I'll never forget. Frankly I don't think Princeton has as good a team as it had last season. But it's over and let's think about the future. I think you all realize we beat ourselves with our mistakes. Let's stop making them and we can still win the Ivy title. I don't think any team is going through the league season undefeated and I really believe we can win it if we buckle down and play the football we're capable of."

The next week Blackman made a short speech in another defeated team's locker room. But this time it was Brown's. Dartmouth had bounced back from that Princeton fiasco and bounced back from a halftime deficit of 10-14 to win it, 24-14. Blackman had been so impressed by Brown's play, however, that he went into their dressing room and told them flatly that he felt they had an excellent chance of beating Princeton on October 31 at Providence.

Beyond the game details on the sports pages there have been several developments on this Dartmouth squad in the first five weeks of the season. It is now apparent that the team is not deep enough to afford any more serious injuries such as the broken leg of outstanding tackle Gerry LaMontagne. The loss of linebacker Ted Bracken for the Princeton and Brown games with a knee injury was costly.

It also is obvious that the team is stronger offensively than defensively. The major reason probably has been the development of the Tomahawks, a prettymuch-sophomore team which plays on offense behind the first unit in Blackman's three-team system. It was mentioned in this space in October that this squad had a split personality. On the one hand were a bunch of quiet, sober seniors and on the other a rambunctious group of rookies. Well, gradually the youngsters are infecting the squad with their drive.

Take Mickey Beard, the 18-year-old quarterback of the Tomahawks. In the Brown game he completed seven of seven passes, threw one touchdown pass, and recovered a fumble to set up the winning scoring drive. But most indicative of his buoyant, gambling spirit so reminiscent of Billy King (who incidentally came up from Virginia Law School for the Princeton game) was a play he called late in the game.

The play Mickey called in the huddle and what it looked like to Brown was a routine fullback plunge over right guard. But as the Dartmouth team broke the huddle, Beard whispered to sophomore fullback Pete Walton, "I'm just going to fake the ball to you. Actually I'm going to bootleg with the ball myself around right end." As it turned out, with everyone else on the squad blocking for an apparent fullback plunge, Brown went for the fake and Beard romped for nine yards around end.

Commenting during the Sunday night film review, Coach Blackman said, "Mickey, that's a great call ... if it works. And for your sake, it better always work."

Then he turned to sophomore right halfback Paul Klungness. "Paul, of all the other players on the team you were the only one who blocked in. You did a great job of keeping the Brown left end in and giving Mickey running room. But if the play was a secret between Pete and Mickey, how in the world did you know enough to block in?"

Klungness, who has great football potential but is a rather shy tow-head from the little town of Thief River Falls in northern Minnesota, blushed. "I listened in when Mickey whispered to Pete," he said.

Two other players did outstanding blocking jobs in that and recent games. They are tackle Norm Christiansen who, at 6-8 and 270 pounds, is the biggest player in the Ivy League, and end Ivars Janieks, another large lad at 6-4 and 212. Both are seniors who came to Dartmouth fairly young and awkward but matured rapidly this season.

A note should be made too of young Bob MacLeod Jr., probably the most improved player on the team. As mentioned last month, he is the son of Dartmouth's great halfback of the late '30s. Admissions director Ed Chamberlain who was then on Coach Red Blaik's staff never tires of telling this story of MacLeod Sr. as a sophomore.

"It was obvious that MacLeod had great potential as a sophomore and of course he went on to become what Blaik considered his finest football player. But one day early in his first varsity season MacLeod came down to practice to find his name listed on the second team instead of the first. He didn't say much but after practice as we coaches were sitting around in our quarters upstairs in Davis Field House there was a knock on the door. Blaik said, 'Come in.' It was MacLeod, still in his football uniform. 'What can I do for you?' asked Blaik. 'I'd like to speak with you,' said MacLeod. 'Shoot,' said Blaik. "What does it take to make this football team?' asked MacLeod. 'Well, Bob, you have to play some defense,' said Blaik. 'That's all I want to know,' said MacLeod and he turned on his heel, slammed the door and was gone. Well, for the next couple of days young MacLeod made life plain hell for any back who was carrying the ball and he was back on that first team and he stayed there for three seasons."

MacLeod Jr.'s arrival hasn't been as dramatic as his father's but he's had to go a longer way. At Deerfield Academy he was a tackle who stood 6-3 and weighed 170 and, as one of his teammates recalls, "You'd put your elbow into his chest and that was the end of him."

Today MacLeod Jr. stands 6-4 and weighs 196 and is one of the finest end prospects in Dartmouth history. He was switched from tackle during his freshman season because of his speed. He also has a knack for catching the football and, like his old man, when he gets it, he really takes off. Although he'd played sparingly in the first four games, Bob was leading the squad in yards gained passing with 155. "And the thing that impresses me most," said end coach Joe Yukica, "is that he's worked so hard and improved so much on his blocking and defense. He wants to be a complete football player and he will be."

Those are some of the individuals associated with this '64 football team. As this is written, the club as a rugged schedule ahead including back-to-back road games at Harvard and Yale. But the morale is high. They're getting a lift from the young bloods among them and for a week or so anyway they should find the opposition underrating them. If that injury jinx stays away, this Dartmouth football team may find itself, late in November, barely remembering that awful Princeton visit on October 10.

Indian halfback Bob O'Brien (32) breaks through the line but encounters an assemblage of Tiger defenders in the Hanover game won by Princeton, 37 to 7.

Part of the sellout crowd of 15,000 that witnessed the Dartmouth-Princeton game in Hanover on October 10.

Paul Klungness taking Mickey Beard's bullseye pass on the 10 in the play thatproduced Dartmouth's first touchdown against Brown. Janieks (89) at right.

Weak pass defense against Princeton was remedied before Brown. Here the wholeGreen backfield - quarterback Gottschall (17), fullback Burkholder (14), and halfbacks McLean (36) and Perinchief (25) break up a Bruin pass intended for Hall (12).