Wayne Pirmann: Problem Solver

Throughout Dartmouth's pre-season football practice, Coach Bob Blackman made no bones about the predicament he was in to find someone who would be as reliable as graduated placekicker Pete Donovan, the man who broke every Dartmouth record for scoring with his toe.

Placekicking was a problem. So was punting. "We didn't have a man on the team when practice started who had ever kicked or punted in a varsity game," said Blackman. "It was vital to find answers to both situations if we had any hope for a good season."

A couple of letters and some longdistance phone calls resolved the punting situation, as Jay Bennett, a senior from Edina, Minn., who had been an outstanding prospect as a sophomore before a kidney injury halted his career, returned to the squad as a specialist in that department.

That left the placekicking question unanswered. This time Blackman didn't have to go quite as far as Edina. While football practice continued at the north end of Chase Field, soccer was in progress at the south end.

It didn't take long for word of Blackman's search to filter across the fields. It reached the ears of Wayne Pirmann, a junior from Southampton, Pa., who also happens to be a starting forward for Dartmouth's reviving soccer team.

"I had never put on pads in my life," said Pirmann, "but it seemed I might be able to help and decided to give it a try."

Blackman couldn't be happier. Pirmann has been able to fit his newfound kicking duties around his soccer schedule to the satisfaction of Blackman and soccer coach George Beim.

It has taken some fast finagling but Blackman has been able to use Pirmann throughout the early stages of the season. It's been well worth it. Through four games, he was second to halfback John Short in scoring, with 18 of 20 successful conversions and a pair of field goals for 24 points.

There was a time early in the season when Pirmann was leading both soccer and football teams in scoring.

The logistics involved in keeping Pirmann in action on two fronts are something to behold. While Dartmouth was getting ready to play football at Holy Cross, the Indian booters were playing a Saturday morning game at Amherst. Blackman arranged with Andy Mayer '37, who lives in Agawam, Mass., and pilots his own plane, to fly Pirmann from nearby Northampton to an airport outside of Worcester. The flight plus rides in police cruisers at either end of the 90-mile trip had Pirmann on hand in time to kick the point after Dartmouth's second touchdown at Holy Cross.

It was a day full of heroics for Pirmann—he also booted the only goal in a 1-0 win against Amherst.

Before he's through, Pirmann is likely to become the first man to win his "D" in football and soccer—in the same season.

And they were saying that Pete Donovan would be a hard act to follow!

Wayne Pirmann (football version).