WITH THE BIG GREEN TEAMS

THERE were many stars on the Dartmouth lacrosse team which tied with Princeton for the Ivy League championship.

But the unsung hero was a 5 foot, 8 inch substitute goaltender who spent every game doing bench duty. He was sophomore Gary Rubus of Banning, Calif., and his job was keeping the team statistics.

Now this may sound simple in a game which resembles ice hockey as far as scoring goes. But under Coach Alden (Whitey) Burnham it isn't. Burnham keeps ... and demands ... figures like an I.B.M. computer. As the substitute goaltender and statistician Rubus developed a classic case of writer's cramp.

Figures that Whitey wanted and Gary got included such items as how many loose balls Dartmouth grabbed in comparison with the opposition (over the first nine games Dartmouth got 427 out of 773 or 55.2 percent), how much of the game was played with Dartmouth in possession of the ball (over the same span we had the ball for 3 hours, 52 min., 18 sec., or 42.9 percent of the time), how many times Dartmouth played with a man advantage compared to the opposition and what happened in these, situations (both sides scored 12 goals in a man-up situation but the opposition had 78.5 minutes of this premium time compared with Dartmouth's 48.5 minutes).

"It's really not too hard to do," said Burnham, lovingly fingering his stats. "Rubus knows that he'll be playing the next couple of years (All-Ivy goaltender Brian Walsh of Winchester, Mass., will be graduated this June) and someone else will be sitting on the bench keeping figures for him. And he has Ronnie Albrecht (sophomore attackman from Tow-son, Md.) as his stopwatch man, giving him the possession time and so forth at the end of each period. I check up on my statistician at the beginning of each season. For instance, I discovered that Rubus wasn't counting the opening faceoff in his face-off stats. But generally our figures are very reliable."

Burnham, who never had coached a single lacrosse game before taking over at Dartmouth in 1961, is one of the few Ivy coaches to utilize statistics so heavily. He takes the figures that Rubus provides and weaves them into meaningful percentages, posts them on the wall for his squad, concentrates practice sessions on the weaknesses exposed.

The scientific approach has paid off for Burnham ... and Dartmouth. Last year the Indians posted their best overall record (8-3) since 1950 and got a piece of the league championship for the first time. This season after dropping two southern trip matches to Virginia and Baltimore the stickmen ran off six straight and went into the league finale at Princeton unbeaten, only to lose a 4-3 squeaker.

"I felt right up to the final gun that we'd win that game. Sure, I know that Princeton has dominated the lacrosse picture for eight years. And we had a couple of guys playing below par, our guys were tense, we got hit with plenty of penalties. But I still was confident we'd win it. We had possession of the ball for seven minutes of the final 15-minute period ... I mean we had the ball in oursticks for seven minutes ... and I thought it was just a question of time. As it turned out, it was. Time ran out with Princeton still leading 4-3," said Burnham.

Burnham proved to the league this season that Dartmouth's sudden emergence in the lacrosse picture is no fluke. Even though Dartmouth had shared the Ivy crown with Harvard and Princeton in '64, the Indians were overlooked in preseason predictions. The team got off slowly. Even goaltender Walsh, who acts like the coxswain in a crew by directing the defense from the nets, was below par down south.

"The turning point," reflected Burnham, "was our game at Penn on April 28. That was the clutch game. Penn was undefeated in three Ivy League games, had already played nine games and was regarded as the team to beat. We had had a three-week layoff after our southern trip and were playing on the road.

"Penn took a 5-4 lead at halftime but we came back to win decisively, 10-6. In that game we gained a lot of confidence, learned a lot about each other, and showed the rest of the league that they couldn't declare us out of the race."

Lacrosse team manager Ed Kuriansky '66 of Stamford, Conn., was so moved by the team's comeback that on the trip home he wrote an article for The Dartmouth about it. Here is how he described the halftime locker-room scene:

"Captain John Case Was the first man in the locker room. 'Don't let them eat any oranges,' he told the manager. 'You can't run if you eat.' And nobody ate; nobody wanted to. They were all crowded around in a nervous circle at the far end of the room when someone shouted, 'Listen to Wah!' Brian Walsh is a senior and last season's All-Ivy goalie. He commands respect. He spoke calmly and everyone listened. ...

"By the time the four-minute warning came, effervescent Chuck Vernon had transformed Walsh's quiet earnestness into radical optimism: '... and when we do get ahead of them, we can't let down at all. Because these guys are good.'

"One was reminded of the chalk talk the evening before when Lee Mercer had tried to explain that the Penn men might be very good but were not supermen. And, too, one recalled Jimmy Cooper's closing remark that after what had happened last Wednesday night, this game ought to have a very special significance for each of them.

"That was all he had said, but no one mistook his meaning. Mike Herriott, 1964 captain, all-time, all-everything, All-America Dartmouth lacrosse player, had died last Wednesday night in a tragic and futile airplane crash. A year before, Herriott had led the Indians to an 11-1 romp over Pennsylvania and the memory of him as a player and person was still vivid to anyone who had ever known him. At Thursday's practice when Coach Burnham delivered the horrible news to his dumbstruck team, he had said that Mike of all people, wherever he might be at that moment, would want them to forget him and get to the business of beating Penn."

It should be known, also, that in the midst of their grief over their son's death Cynthia and Roger Herriott in Baltimore sent a thoughtful, consoling pregame telegram to the Dartmouth lacrosse squad that day, a message that never will be forgotten by members of this Big Green team.

So the Penn victory was the turning point. After that the Green roared through its next four Ivy matches with dispatch. Cornell went down 10-7. A 10-1 lead was mounted in three periods against Yale, a 10-2 margin over Harvard, a 6-1 lead over Brown although final scores were much closer as Burnham cleared the bench in the late moments.

"There were several factors in our progress," reports Burnham. "Take Lee Mercer, our senior All-Ivy attackman. Besides being a fine athlete Lee exudes confidence. I appointed him sort of an associate captain and put him in charge of our offense in the attacking zone. Same thing with Captain John Case on defense. All the seniors pitched in to help, fellows like Wah-Wah Walsh in goal, Murph Cohon on attack, Jimmy Cooper and Rick Monahon in the midfield. So this was an easy squad to motivate.

"Then there was the knotty problem of filling the injured Tom Clarke's position at crease defense. We finally wound up with Bob MacLeod Jr. (son of Bob MacLeod '39) who had been playing midfield. And he did a fantastic job for us, the only sophomore in the starting lineup and a real standout.

"At one time or another every player on defense, Walsh, Case and Chuck Vernon, came up and told me what a pleasure it was to be in a game with MacLeod. He's not only an outstanding athlete with speed and balance but he has that perfect mental approach to competition. He has a cool head. I've never seen him panic in a lacrosse game. He also has a sense of humor under fire. Take our Yale game. They had a big attackman named 'Black Jack' Pershing. Well, Mac covered him like a blanket. Then late in the game Yale had the ball out of bounds in our end and Vernon yelled to MacLeod, 'Cover Pershing, cover Pershing.' Mac turned around and, grinning, asked, 'Who's Pershing'?' That was the final blow to Yale."

Another attribute of the Dartmouth lacrosse squad was depth. "I had the pleasant problem of finding the best combinations from among 18 midfielders," admits Burnham. "My first couple years here I had trouble scrounging up nine guys for three midfields."

The size of lacrosse turnouts has increased steadily. Burnham now gets 45-50 boys on first call, never cuts a man. One reason, of course, for the larger numbers is the success of his teams. By late May this year's edition was headed for a New England championship game with Williams.

"Yet I think the prime reason for increased enthusiasm is the sport itself. It is an attractive sport for Dartmouth athletes who like contact. And I don't know of any other sport in which it's so much fun to practice. Our kids really get a kick out of the running, throwing, scooping the ball. In most sports you have to get into a game situation to enjoy practice. But not lacrosse. Heck, they're even coming out in the fall now for some informal practice with the captain. That is a tribute to the captain and the game itself. I'm sure it will continue to improve and grow here at Dartmouth," said Coach Whitey Burnham, the man who molds statistics and spirit into success.

TENNIS is drawing good crowds in Hanover again. The reason is a little lefthanded sophomore with a big serve. Charlie Hoeveler, a bespectacled, meeklooking youngster from Southport, Conn., can twist a serve which bounces as high as he is. Opponents hate it but Dartmouth fans love it. By mid-May Hoeveler, despite filling the number one position as a rookie, was playing at a winning 12-6 clip and to capacity audiences.

"Charlie," says Coach Wayne Van Voorhees, "is a born competitor. He needs much improvement on his ground strokes but he has that serve, a very accurate overhead, and that tenacious attitude."

Hoeveler came to Dartmouth because of Jim Biggs, 1962 tennis captain and a Connecticut neighbor of Charlie's. "In the summer back home Jimmie would take time early in the morning before leaving for his job to work on my game. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere in tennis. And, also, he interested me in Dartmouth," says Hoeveler.

Charlie was not unknown in the tennis world although he has hit Hanover like an overnight sensation. He was number one for four years and captain for two at Salisbury School, was New England's ranking junior in 1963. Last year he was undefeated in freshman singles at Dartmouth.

Besides sparking the Green to a winning record in his first varsity campaign, Hoeveler went to the finals of the New England intercollegiate championships. To do it, he had to upset a previous conqueror, Harvard's Chauncy Steele, on the latter's home courts. Charlie did this with straight-set efficiency but then lost his second three-set match of the season in the finals to Yale's Jack Waltz. In both defeats (and also in a later three-set loss to Princeton ace Keith Jennings) Hoeveler won the opening set but then was outsteadied by his older opponent.

"Hoeveler may play in Europe this summer with his classmate and our number two man Bill Kirkpatrick of Kalamazoo, Mich.," commented Van Voorhees. "That could be just the seasoning he needs to improve his ground strokes. If so, next year there won't be many beating Charlie in three sets ... or even extending him that far."

The draft to most college students means the military variety. But not to Dick Horton, captain and catcher of the Dartmouth baseball team.

Horton, a 6-3, 210-pound All-Eastern League star, is concerned with the first draft of college players ever to be held by professional baseball. It will take place in early June and Horton, along with senior pitcher Ted Friel, will be grabbed by one of the major league teams.

"As I understand it," said the tall, reddish-haired Horton from Reading, Mass., "each club will draft in reverse order of last year's standings. There will be no territorial rights. No, a player has no choice about which club drafts him although we have been contacted about whether we're interested in playing pro baseball. If you don't come to terms with the team that picks you, your only recourse is to wait for a second draft which will come six months later."

Seven big league teams have shown an interest in Horton, who has led Dartmouth in hitting for three seasons and been averaging between .350 and .400 this campaign.

"Sure, I'd like to play pro baseball. I love the game as I found out especially while playing six and seven times a week in the Cape Cod League last summer. Eventually I'd like to go to business school and maybe get into the administrative side of baseball," says Dick.

He believes his hitting would improve if he played a position other than catcher but he'd hate to leave that spot. "You're always in the game, calling pitches, directing the team. It gets tiring. I notice it in late innings or in a double header. But it's worth a few points in the batting average to be such an integral part of the team."

This Dartmouth nine became one of the best in recent Green history. Lupien called his three top pitchers, Ted Friel '65 of Pittsfield, Mass., Pete Barber '66 of Williamsville, N. Y., and lefthander Jim Shaw '67 of Penacook, N. H., the best trio he'd had. The infield settled down remarkably when sophomore Frank Ota of Torrance, Calif, (although standing only 5' 9") took over at first base. And another sophomore, Bruce Smith of Louisville, who didn't get a hit in five games as a first baseman, jumped into a six-game hitting streak when moved to right field.

Starting with the Harvard game of April 28, Dartmouth ran off a seven-game winning slate. Included was a two-hit 2-0 shutout by Friel over league-leading Princeton to put the Green on top of the Eastern set. But then Navy came in on Green Key weekend and won a 2-1 pitching duel in which both teams totalled six hits to dampen Dartmouth's title hopes.

However, the Big Green stayed alive in the league race as Friel pitched one of the finest games in Hanover history to beat Army, 2-0, on May 22. Ted gave up only two singles, did not allow a runner past first base, faced only 28 batters and struck out nine. If Navy beats Army in their June 5 finale, Dartmouth will share the Eastern crown with both service teams and Princeton.

BIG GREEN BITS: The Dartmouth Rugby Club improved steadily to finish with an undefeated season and the Eastern Rugby Union championship. High points after taking the Nassau Cup in Bermuda included a 19-0 victory over previously undefeated Yale in the Hartford Cup, a 15-3 verdict over Harvard in the first Manchester Cup match at Manchester, N. H., and a 6-0 triumph over last year's champions from Amherst.

Dartmouth heavyweight oarsmen have added another race to their schedule. They'll race M.I.T. in Hanover on Saturday, June 12, the day before Commencement, as a tune-up for the I.R.A. finale at Syracuse the following week.

... Both varsity and freshman crews should be better at the longer I.R.A. distances than in earlier races.

Much hammering and sawing noise filled Alumni Gym during May as a new floor was laid in the top level of the building. ... Visitor to Hanover on the day after the pro basketball championship ended in Boston was Los Angeles Lakers' forward Rudy LaRusso '59. ... "I want to find a quiet place where I can forget about those Celtics," said Rudy. ... Eddie Jeremiah's freshman baseball team won 10 of its first 11 games.... Top batter? ... Right, shortstop Gene Ryzewicz of Springfield, Mass., who was hitting .466 at that point. ... He's the same fellow who sparked the freshman football team at quarterback and averaged 40 points in intramural basketball. ... Freshman baseball captain was centerfielder Bob Thomas of Mifflinburg, Pa., a fine varsity prospect in baseball and football (as a halfback) also. ... Junior golfer Dave Goldstein of West Hartford, Conn., was the Big Green's best in the Eastern championships at Yale. ... He missed medalist honors by only one stroke, then carried former champion and Yale captain Dan Hogan to the 18th hole in the first round.

The Ivy football coaches and sports information directors had their annual spring meeting at Princeton. ... Results of the publicity men's poll on next fall's finish: Dartmouth and Harvard first with 44 points each but the Green with four first-place votes to three for Harvard. ... Then came Princeton, Cornell, Yale, Penn, Brown, and Columbia.

Murph Cohon '65 of West Hartford, Conn., one of the year's leading scorers forthe lacrosse team, makes the score 3-1 in the 6-5 victory over Brown on May 12.

Dick Meyer '66 (16) looks for a teammate to pass to in play near the Brown goal.

Sophomore Charlie Hoeveler, Dartmouth's top tennis player, reached thefinals in the New England intercollegiates.

Captain Dick Horton '65, hard-hittingcatcher, hopes for a major league career and has the scouts watching him.

Dartmouth's golf team at the start of its Green Key match: Standing (l to r) DavePotthoff '66, Jim Everett '66, Jack Garamella '66, Coach Tommy Keane, DaveGoldstein '66, Don Kurson '65; front, Captain Herb Carlson '65, Jack Ferraro '67,Neal Zimmerman '66, Warren Cass '64, John Van Dyke '67.