A Football Victory Hanover Will Never Forget

HAPPINESS is soundly whipping Princeton, winning the Ivy League football title, and remaining undefeated. And Hanover was certainly the happiest town in the U.S.A. on Saturday, November 20.

A gauntlet of undergraduates, stretching for two long Main Street blocks, had cheered the Indian gridders off to the fray Thursday evening; and an even larger crowd, estimated at upwards of 2000, cheered them upon their return three days later.

Some 785 undergraduate supporters put their names to a 22-foot-long telegram, costing about $147, which was delivered to the team before the game. Many Hanoverians journeyed to Princeton and 2100 others, predominantly students and their dates, filled the Hopkins Center's Spaulding Auditorium, Center Theatre, and Alumni Hall to view the contest on closed-circuit television made possible by the lines and equipment used by NBC to telecast the Cornell encounter the week before.

"This is better than the stadium!" one enthusiast was heard to shout while pandemonium prevailed about him. Natural leaders spontaneously arose to lead the multitude in cheers; viewers leaped to their feet as a particularly good Dartmouth play unfolded; and at one point in the game when quarterback Mickey Beard asked the Palmer Stadium crowd for silence, the tumult in Hopkins Center was abruptly stilled.

After the game they spilled out on the campus in joyous abandon. The chapel bells were quickly put to tolling the victory proclamation. The bells were to continue ringing for the next 26 hours until the return of the team, as the class of '69 supplied the manpower hour after hour. Thayer Hall, with the cooperation of exuberant WDCR announcers, "in the spirit of celebration" invited all students on campus to come on over for a free steak dinner. And the hungry celebrants did just that, devouring close to 3,000 steaks.

Despite the snow coming down, a bonfire was organized that evening and numerous copies of national magazines that had shown a pre-game preference for Princeton were happily added to the pyre before the undergraduates scattered to victory parties in dormitories and fraternities. At 11:15 p.m., however, it was game time again, and students gathered about all available TV sets to watch the action until 2 a.m. Sponsored by the Hanover Chamber of Commerce, the TV rebroadcast was beamed from the summit of Mt. Washington to the entire north country.

At 5 p.m. on Sunday a huge throng of students and people from all over the Upper Valley gathered before Hopkins Center to welcome the team home. The Indians were an hour late in arriving, but that didn't matter. A full-scale snowball battle helped pass the time quickly.

Finally the team buses arrived. Coach Blackman and his stalwarts were cheered up to the balcony of the Center and introduced individually. Another bonfire was ignited. Players beamed. Blackman kept saying to no one in particular, "Amazing, amazing."

One of the most unusual tributes to the champions was published in The Dartmouth, a letter signed by eight classicists as follows: "The Department of Classics presumes to know what constitutes arete. Accordingly, we, the undersigned, acknowledge with pride and admiration the truly epic success of the Dartmouth football team this past Saturday and deem its exploits equal in glory to those of the greatest Homeric heroes."

Almost the entire College was out to give the team a rousing welcome home.

Behind the sign "Welcome Ivy League Champs" Coach Bob Blackman, on thebalcony of Hopkins Center, presented each player to a cheering throng.