Bob Blackman's
From all indications, the 1964 Ivy League football season could be a repeat of last year's close race in which the championship wasn't decided until the final Saturday, and almost every game was a very close, hard-fought contest. Yale, Princeton, and Harvard are the pre-season favorites; but Brown, Cornell, and Columbia all have strong squads returning and are definite contenders for the title.
Dartmouth will have the fewest returning experienced players of any team in the league. It is, of course, to be expected that some players will graduate each year. Our losses this year, however, are unusually severe both in quantity and in quality. The twenty graduating seniors played in but five losing games in their four years at Dartmouth. (I hope we may eventually have another such group who will make the coaching staff look as good.)
In the backfield we must attempt to replace our first two fullbacks, our first two quarterbacks (including Dana Kelly who led the league last year in yards gained passing), and three, three-year lettermen halfbacks (including two-year All-Ivy Tom Spangenberg). In the line we lose our three best ends (including All-Ivy Scott Creelman), our first three tackles, three of our best gaurds (including All-Ivy Bill Curran), and two of our top three centers.
In spite of the severity of our losses, I feel the the Big Green will again have a strong backfield provided someone develops rapidly enough at quarterback to become a real team leader. At present it appears that Bruce Gottschall or Tim Taylor are the best bets to take over the vital signal-calling chore, although sophomores Mickey Beard or Bill Robb could surprise. Our only first-string back returning will be Jack McLean at right half. Jack has to fight to try to keep his weight above the 160 mark, but he is a real scrapper who is outstanding on defense and who has the knack of making the "big play" when it is most needed. We anticipate that Bob O'Brien, Mike Urbanic, and Dave Perinchief will also develop into fine halfbacks this fall, and there are three sophomore halfbacks who have good potential - Paul Klungness, Andy Danver, and Tom Thompson. Joel Feldman should inherit the fullback position that has been so aptly filled by Parkinson and Benzian the past two seasons, although he will be faced with strong competition from Dick Horton (moved from quarterback) and sophomore Pete Walton.
It is the line that is giving our coaching staff the most worry. There is very little depth and we can not expect much help from last year's freshman team where it is most needed - in the interior line from tackle to tackle. Last year's starting guards, for example, will not be out for varsity football. One of them has a back ailment that will prevent his playing; the other has lost considerable weight and has decided to give up football.
Even without Creelman, Greer, and Pierce, we feel our end positions will be relatively well manned since Tom Clarke, Steve Bryan, and Jaan Lumi all received some experience last year, and Bill Calhoun and Bob MacLeod are excellent prospects coming up from the freshmen. If they can stay healthy, Pete Frederick and Gerry LaMontagne should make a fine pair of starting tackles, but depth at this position is a major concern. Left guard is probably our strongest position in the line with the return of Ed Keible, a strong offensive blocker, and Ted Bracken, a rugged defensive linebacker. At right guard, a great deal depends on whether Pete Sapione has recovered sufficiently from a knee operation to play. If Pete is out it means we will have lost all six right guards from last year's varsity squad. Although he has had but one quarter of junior varsity experience, Jon Colby could be our starting right guard. We feel Bob Komives will be an outstanding center, but some other men will have to develop at this position to provide him with relief.
This year, perhaps more so than ever before, depth will be a vital factor to the success of any team. The new substitution rule was so liberalized that it almost amounts to unlimited substitution. Some teams such as Princeton and Cornell are already planning on having a 22-man first team with eleven men playing nothing but defense and eleven others playing entirely on offense. Since we are going to have difficulty finding eleven players with much previous experience, we feel our starting eleven must be able to play on both offense and defense. Since inexperienced players must be used whenever the starting unit is out of the game, we will probably use the so-called "three platoon" system with an offensive and defensive unit backing up the two-way team.
Although we are faced with many problems as we look forward to the 1964 season, we have two very big things going for us: first, the always tremendous "Dartmouth spirit"; and second, a winning attitude among our players. The members of the team are proud of the fact that the Big Green has never finished lower than third in the official Ivy League standings. We hope that the combination of pride and spirit will again enable Dartmouth to make a real bid to retain the Ivy League championship.
