Big Green Teams

Dartmouth's 1972 football team should be very, very good. It's hard to find many people who think otherwise — except, maybe, at Columbia and Harvard.

SHOULD be.

Take a look at the preseason picture. Certainly there have been voices extolling the merits of Frank Navarro's Columbia team, which is the lone culprit in the Dartmouth success story of the past two seasons.

And there's Harvard, where Joe Restic is proclaiming the arrival of the most imaginative and versatile offense in Ivy League history (Dartmouth's multiple approach to the game predates Restic by more than a decade and still appears more effective).

Indeed, there are pretenders to the throne. For the complete look at how the Ivy quest shapes up, we refer you to the special Ivy League football supplement spanning the center of this month's magazine.

From Sports Illustrated to Playboy, with lesser oracles bound between, the word is that Dartmouth '72 should be an awesome aggregation. It's a feeling that flows through the soul of the greenest Big Greener and catches the imagination of even the most casual observer.

If any class at Dartmouth has become more steeped in the tradition of winning football than the current crop of seniors it can only be the Class of '26 which followed a 5-1-1 frosh campaign with 23 wins, a loss and a tie during its three varsity seasons.

This fall, the Green is dominated by a gang of seniors — 28 in all — who have tasted defeat but one time. That was the Columbia event in New York last fall.

In 1969, as an Ivy co-championship season was ending on a sour note at Princeton (remember 35-7?), linebacker Doug Jaeger captained the frosh to a 7-0 performance.

As sophomores in 1970, the Class of '73 contributed effectively to the undefeated Ivy championship-Lambert Trophy parade.

Last fall, this gang had its armor dented by Columbia alone and the impact of that 31-29 loss was laid upon Cornell and Princeton in the final two weeks as Dartmouth surged with vengeance to become co-winner of the Ivy crown, its third straight.

"It's so much like my high school situation," Gregg Brown told a visiting newsman one day during preseason practice.

"In my freshman year in high school, we didn't lose a game," said the 6-4, 225-pound tight end from Claremont, Calif. "We lost one my sophomore year and one when we were juniors. We didn't lose when I was a senior.

"It's exactly the same tight-knit group here. We don't have super stars. What we have is 22 football players who want to play football. That's where the pride is.

"I think we have a chance to be one of the best teams fundamentally I've played on. I compare our team with the 1970 team. This year we have the size they didn't have. I can't see where we're hurting."

Brown is probably the most outspoken player when it comes to extolling the strength of this team. He'll probably be the first target of the overconfldence argument when (and if) this team is beaten.

That may sound like an extreme statement — "if this team is beaten." Considering the caliber of competition around the Ivy this fall, it could happen. In fact, Dartmouth could lose as many as four or five times when you consider how close the league was last year (11 of 28 games were decided by five points or less, six by two points or less).

Think about the seer who hedged in 1971 with the comment, "Dartmouth could be 9-0 or 6-3, but if they're 6-3 it's hard to figure who'll beat them." The same holds true this time around,

All the elements for continued success are at hand. Even Jake Crouthamel, who usually walks around with a look of perpetual pain, has been seen with a fleeting glimmer of a smile on his normally chiseled countenance. And why not? He has a good team.

Typically, he skirts questions about how good it can be. He came close one day when asked to compare this squad with the 1970 group.

"Physically, this team is probably as good as 1970," he conceded. "What we lack at this point (early in preseason) is the finesse and flair of the '70 team."

The "flair" in 1970 was Murry Bowden, the Ail-American rover. There's no one around this fall with Bowden's pizzazz, although his successor at the rover spot, senior Bob Bialas from Chicopee, Mass., is probably a better all-round athlete.

Steve Stetson, the quarterback from Laconia, N. H., who came into his own against Cornell and Princeton last year, won't strike you as having the grace and effortless style of Jim Chasey, but in the course of the campaign he may prove to be a better man at his position than Chasey, a two-time All-Ivy choice.

Stetson was good but sporadic until he got a starting shot against Cornell and stole the spotlight from Ed Marinaro, the All-America tailback at Ithaca. Just how good he is probably won't be known unless he's injured. Then the load will be shifted to sophomores Tom Snickenberger, Joe Cummiskey and George Whitley — and this trio, while promising, are a long way from being ready to assume command of Dartmouth's attack.

Stetson is typical of many men on this team. Based on raw talent, he may not be the equal of Columbia's Don Jackson or Mark Allen at Cornell. The same is true for many of the others but look back at Gregg Brown's comment, " . . . one of the best teams fundamentally I've played on."

There's the key. Columbia has Jackson and Paul Kaliades, the linebacker. Yale has Dick Jauron, probably the league's best runner. Cornell has Allen and linebacker Bob Lally. Penn has a great split end in Don Clune and some new-found backfield speed. Harvard has its traditional horde of talent and is probably most like Dartmouth in this analysis.

You can't call Jaeger an All-Ivy candidate at linebacker without putting John Leibert and Bob Soltess into the same classification. Jaeger thrives on contact. So does Soltess. They're both quick and strong. Leibert was an all-state swimmer at Shaw High in Cleveland (as well as an all-state football player). "Gregg Brown is one of our best blockers," said Rick Taylor, the linebacker coach, "but when John gets planted, he'll handle any block. He showed that against Brown."

Throw Bialas into that alignment along with a couple of juniors, Rick Gerardi and Simon Etzel, and you have one of the strongest segments in the Dartmouth defense.

"We have good first-unit strength just about everywhere," said Crouthamel, "and there are a couple of areas where we have good depth."

Linebacker is one; another is split end where two seniors, Tyrone Byrd and Sam Watkins, have starting experience, and sophomore Mark McAleenan could press them both.

Running backs are another abundant commodity — at the moment. Only one man seems secure in his position. That's Rick Klupchak, the spritely speedster who paced the runners as a sophomore and has a firm grip on the left halfback slot.

"Rick has the characteristic that made Ed Marinaro so effective," noted Crouthamel. "He finds the holes. He'll change speed and give an opening the chance to develop. Most important, he knows where people are and never lets anyone get a solid shot at him."

Klupchak's talents were worth six yards every time he handled the ball in 1971.

At the right side, competition breeds quality. Chuck Thomas is the senior who was hurt during the week before the 1971 opener at Massachusetts and lost his job to Klupchak. Now he's in a dogfight with Doug Lind, the junior who is a story by himself.

Lind was fifth string in a four-string depth picture last year. He lost his freshman action due to an opening game knee injury. When the 1971 season ended, he was the fourth leading rusher with a 5.7-yard average and it's not easy to forget his 68-yard touchdown run and clutch reception in the closing seconds that helped upend Harvard.

He strained the same knee during the opening week of practice this fall and has been chasing Thomas. At 190 pounds, he's the biggest halfback in town — and maybe the best breakaway threat, too.

There's quantity and quality at full-back where everyone wondered what would happen when Stu Simms departed. Simms started 27 games from 1969 to 1971 and ranked as a superb blocker.

His replacements (there are two, perhaps three) are studies in different styles. Steve Webster, the senior, is tall (6-1) and hard to stop in the open field (where he frequently finds himself). Ellis Rowe, the junior, has the style and build that made Joe Bellino a Heisman Trophy winner at Navy in 1960. Rowe, from Miami, Fla., is 5-8 and 200 pounds; Bellino was 5-9 and 180. He's quick and has the frustrating low center of gravity that absorbs blows without slowing his progress.

Rowe gained seven yards per carry as a freshman, more than six as a sophomore. Webster is heir apparent to Simms' position but Rowe hasn't got the message. Neither can relent because a sophomore, Jeff Barndt, is cut in Webster's style and coming quickly.

If there's a weakness, it's depth across the offensive line (inside the ends). The first group — tackles Dan Bierwagen and Jim Johnston, guards Bob Norton and Herb Hopkins, and center Bob Funk — is experienced and most capable. Behind them it's a building process.

Defensively, things seem virtually as solid as in the past two years when the Green ranked among the national statistical leaders in most departments.

If there's a depth problem it's up front where Fred Radke, All-Ivy Tom Csatari, and Kevin O'Shea are standout ends and at the tackles where Tom Tarazevits, Josh Holloway and Kim Wehrenberg hold the fort.

That's three experienced men spread over two positions in both instances. Beyond them, the sophomores had best come along in a rush.

The secondary has respectable two-man depth all around with Weymoth Crowell, Dale Pope and Wesley Pugh heading the list. They all have experience against the pass and any questions of ability against the run can't be answered until the opposition gets past the front four and those voracious linebackers.

There's one sad note as the season begins. "I'd like to have six men like him," was the way Crouthamel described Jan Brink, the sophomore at defensive end whose brother Barry was an All-East defender for the Green in 1970 and now coaches at Columbia.

Two days after contact began in early September, Jan's right knee was torn asunder in a breakdown drill. He is now recovering from surgery and has bid adieu to a future in football gear.

That's the way things stand at this writing midway through the preseason period.

The flesh is willing and the spirit is anything but weak. The tradition is engrained. The test of combat is at hand.

Head Coach Jake Crouthamel with Co-Captains Bob Norton (68), offensive guardfrom Danbury, Conn., and Fred Radke (82), defensive end from Orono, Maine.

Four senior linebackers head a strong defensive unit this fall. With linebacker coachRick Taylor are, from left, Bob Soltess, Muskegon, Mich.; Doug Jaeger, Mapleton, Minn.; John Liebert, Cleveland Heights, O.; and Bob Bialas, Chicopee, Mass.