St. Louis

On January 9, Coach Bob Blackman came to St. Louis for a visit. He spoke at an alumni luncheon, and discussed principally the 1964 football season and the forthcoming 1965 season. We perceived from his talk, and from the accompanying film, that while it is very nice to have championship teams as in 1962 and 1963, a necessary result of such good luck is that a subsequent 6-3 season (as in 1964) requires some amiable explanation to such people as alumni groups. The fortunes of the game, he says, are to a large extent downright inexplicable. In fact, it is somewhat comparable in this respect to that exasperating game called golf. Nevertheless, Dartmouth still maintains its record as the only Ivy League team that has not finished out of the upper division of that league since its formal establishment nine years ago.

Coach Blackmail touched upon the academic scene at Hanover during the luncheon talk, but he greatly expanded on this aspect of the College at an evening meeting with candidates for admission who are interested in football. He certainly is an eloquent spokesman on the intrinsic merits of Dartmouth. He obviously believes that the most effective argument in persuading intelligent athletes to come to Hanover is to expound upon the over-all advantages of the College. And, as he mentioned at the luncheon, the athletic enrollment program has produced many outstanding Dartmouth undergraduates who do not participate at all in college varsity athletics. It is apparent that Bob Blackman is an exceptionally able representative of the College in addition to being an outstanding coach. We hope that he will return here soon.

We regretfully have lost the services of our club president, Bob Woodruff '37, who has been transferred to the New York office of Monsanto Company. Thus the Big Town has claimed another stalwart St. Louisan. He follows such fine fellows as Howie Mullin '27, Frank Cornwell '35, and - taking an item from the sport page - Johnny Keane of the New York Yanks. There ought to be a law against enticing away such great talent. Nevertheless we are consoled by having the club president's job fall upon FrankCurtis '36, who is eminently qualified for the position. We continue to do business as usual.

Secretary, RR #2, Box 129, Chesterfield, Mo. 63017