Big Green Teams
This team has the potential to be as good as the Dartmouth teams of 1966 and 1969," Jake Crouthamel told a visiting sportswriter during the middle of preseason practice last month.
Both of those teams had Ivy League co-championships as rewards for 7-2 and 8-1 records but Crouthamel isn't betting that similar honors will fall on his 1973 edition. "Those were good teams and this should be a good team," said the man who has produced a 15-2-1 record in two seasons as the Green's grid leader. "The difference, however, is in the strength of the Ivy League in 1973."
For the first time in three years, the experts (they being all the observers who feel with unqualified certainty that they know more about a football team than the coach) have bypassed Dartmouth as the preseason favorite to win yet another Ivy title. "You can look at the preseason polls and you see it," said Crouthamel. "We haven't been picked No. 1. It's realistic, too, since we did lose 16 starters. We're a young and inexperienced team. The young players hold the key to our season, at just about all the positions. Last year we ran with three offensive tackles. All three were seniors. We ran with five offensive guards, and four of them were seniors. We're not only talking about starters, we're talking about the second team, our depth."
A year ago it came down to the last week of the season with Yale, Penn and Dartmouth still in the running for the title. In its analysis of the Ivy race this fall, Sports Illustrated observed, "In 1972, when it was over, there was Dartmouth again, beating Penn for a fourth straight championship. Cornell meets Penn November 24, and that should establish this year's King of the Last Weekend. That is, unless both teams have already been Greened."
Which only goes to say that so much will really depend on how quickly Dartmouth's kiddie corps progresses.
While baseball coaches talk about "strength up the middle" as the key to success, football coaches reflect on the five "skill positions" as the vital points in a good football team. The men who matter most are the quarterback, the split and tight receivers, plus the safety and rover back on defense - the people who handle the ball most frequently.
Dartmouth's football team has new faces at all of the skill positions. There is also a gang of sophomores, several of whom will probably move into the starting lineup at an early stage, who must come along.
First, a look at the "skill" positions: Tom Snickenberger is the lanky (6'-5") junior who is heir apparent to the quarterback slot vacated by graduated All-Ivy pick Steve Stetson (now an assistant coach with the Green frosh team). "Compare Stetson and Snickenberger at comparable stages," was a question posed to Crouthamel.
"Considering that Tom is only a sophomore by way of experience (he missed much of last season with illness), I'd say he's better than Stetson was as a sophomore," said Crouthamel. "But he's a junior and in that respect he's got a long way to go." Still, he's coming along, as is sophomore Mike Brait from Chicago, the backup QB. Snickenberger's long stride gives him deceiving speed, but his prime liability in the early going is discipline in executing the option play that is so fundamental to Dartmouth's attack.
The receivers are also generally untested. At split end, Dartmouth has a pair of fine athletes — junior Mark McAleenan from Grand Rapids, Mich., and sophomore Tom Fleming from Brookline, Mass. McAleenan is also a hurdler and long jumper in track, while Fleming was the frosh hockey standout and snappy sprinter in track last spring. "Both are excellent athletes with outstanding speed," said Crouthamel. "They just need to learn the positions."
The tight end spot is another doublebarreled battle involving senior Bill Carpenter from Hinsdale, I11., and junior Alex Kandabarow from Vineland, N.J. Both have size and strength.
The rover slot is the position made famous by All-America Murry Bowden in 1970. It belongs to Rick Gerardi, an aggressive senior from South Farmingdale, N.Y., who has played in the shadow of Bowden and Bob Bialas for the past two seasons.
The safety job belongs to Rocky Whitaker, a senior from Paterson, N.J., who succeeds another graduated All-Ivy pick, Wesley Pugh.
The defensive secondary is one of several major rebuilding areas where five of the top six players in 1972 have graduated. Only senior Don Smith from Seattle is back at the left side, while juniors Frank Turner and James Cobb duel for the right side duty. Sophomore Mike Feasel is the backup for Smith.
Where the Green looks deep is in running backs but, again, it's deceiving. The starting group behind Snickenberger is Ail-Ivy halfback Rick Klupchak from Olympia Fields, I11., Dartmouth's best breakaway threat and a virtual cinch to have broken (or be at the brink of breaking) Jake Crouthamel's career rushing record of 1763 yards as you read these words. With him are fullback Ellis Rowe from Miami, Fla., and halfback Doug Lind from Nashua, N.H., the powerful blocker who can also play fullback. Ben Bridges, a senior from Evanston, Ill., should also help, but he spent much of the preseason period nursing a knee sprain suffered on the first day of practice.
The offensive line has some able experience in All-Ivy center Bob Funk from Oxford, Kans., and Co-Captain Herb Hopkins, from Southampton, Pa., at guard. "Funk is one of the best centers in the country," said Crouthamel. "He is an unusually smart center, which offsets his comparative lack of size (6-0, 225). He knows how to block."
Senior Jim Gleason is the other experienced offensive lineman. The tackle from Briarcliff, N.Y., could be challenged by sophomore Tom Parnon from Syosset, N.Y., while junior Dan Skorich from Marble, Minn., seems to have a lock on the left tackle chores.
The right guard spot has become a battle of sophomores, Jud Porter from Wilmette, I11., and Lennie Nichols from Elmsford, N.Y. Again, it's a case of learning fast, but both will help significantly before they're through.
The defensive line is anchored by Co-Captain Tom Csatari, the two-time All-Ivy first teamer from South River, N.J. "His record speaks for his ability," said Crouthamel. The defensive tackles, stubby Kim Wehrenberg from Hinsdale, I11., Brian Wroczynski from Huntington, W. Va., and Mike Cepuran from Madison Heights, Mich., have playing time that won them letters in 1972. The other defensive end job is up for grabs with junior Alan Markman from Faribault, Minn., the frontrunner.
Gerardi at rover and seasoned Pat Stone from Aliquippa, Pa., at the middle linebacker spot provide the hub of the second line of defense. Stone, the frosh captain in 1970, should come into his own this fall. The outside linebacker jobs are the other question areas. Sophomore Reggie Williams, the '72 frosh captain from Flint, Mich., has the potential to be memorable at one of the spots. Jim Conterato, a fine wrestler from Geneva, I11., who was the '71 freshman leader, is scrambling to keep his job from senior Mitch Sadar from Cleveland, Ohio, and sophomore Skip Cummins from Grove City, Pa. Cummins is the gent who set Dartmouth's javelin record last spring.
The kicking game: Ted Perry, old reliable from Weston, Mass., is now in his final season and the odds are better than even that his toe will have a direct bearing on the Green's success.
The punting game: Sophomore Dirk Nelson, removed from regular contact action after suffering a head injury while playing freshman baseball, has the inside track over Snickenberger and Gerardi who have been working at this specialty.
For the first time in several years, Dartmouth will enter more games than not as the underdog. But, as Jake Crouthamel notes, "We're the champion and somebody is going to have to take it away from us."
SOCCER
During the past two seasons, Dartmouth's freshman soccer team has won 17 of 19 games. That's a statistic that should provide definite dimension to Coach George Beim's team this fall: depth.
"We're still a young team (there are only three seniors on the roster), but we lost only one player who was first team last year," said Beim, whose team showed a 4-7-1 mark in 1972.
Still, considering the youth, Beim has taken a more conservative view of his team's chances in the Ivy League (easily the strongest overall collegiate soccer conglomerate in the country). Last year, Beim made sounds of sudden success. The season didn't work out as he expected, but things did turn upward and this trend should continue this fall.
In the front lines, juniors Frank Gallo from St. Louis, Mo., and Keith Mierez from Hartford, Conn., along with senior Mike Brayton from Durham, N.H., are seasoned, and sophomore Bruce Bokor from Tenafly, N.J., will help quickly.
The midfield also has experience in Don Dixon from Kenville, Manitoba, and Andy MacDowell from Del Ray Beach, Fla., while sophomore Steve Shoemaker from Southboro, Mass., and newcomer Arnie Nielsen from Oslo, Norway, are expected to step in effectively.
The fullbacks have an outstanding leader in Jeff Badmington, the captain from New London, N.H., who has played every game for two years and every minute last fall. Mike Caldwell, a junior from Newtown, Pa., and Drew Remignanti, another junior from Westwood, N.J., will battle sophomores Steve Papai from Fayetteville, N.Y., and Jim Tierney from Rock Hill, Mo., for a share of the work.
The goal should belong to Mark Porto, Remignanti's high school teammate, although he'll again be pressed by senior Rex Holsapple from Fort Worth, Texas.
"Our forwards and midfielders have the ability and flexibility to work interchangably," said Beim who feels the same way about his defense.
However, when you consider that Cornell, Harvard, Penn and Brown have all earned berths in the NCAA tournament during the past three years, it's easy to see why the road is still running uphill for Dartmouth's youthful soccer team.
GREEN JOTTINGS
New faces: There are two new assistants on Dartmouth's basketball staff. Ted Paulauskas has succeeded Ed Cottrell as the freshman coach (Cottrell is now an assistant dean at Dartmouth) and Gary Dicovitsky, the 1971-72 captain, has replaced Serge DeBari as assistant coach under Tom O'Connor.
Chris Clark, who has been studying at Penn State for the past year, joins Agnes Bixler as the second woman on the Dartmouth coaching and physical education staff.
Chris Peisch from Burlington, Vt., is the captain and top performer on Dartmouth's cross country team that has produced a 5-3 record for the past two years.
Dartmouth football on radio: For the ninth year, the Beacon Network will carry Big Green football on a 20-station hookup throughout New England. Steve Meterparel '52, is producer and color commen- tator for the broadcasts and the play-by-play will be handled by Tony Adams, one of New England's veteran sportcasters and commentators who has covered Dartmouth teams for nearly 20 years as the sports voice of WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vt. The originating stations for the network are WUNR-AM in Brookline, Mass., and its FM sister, WBOS.
The Ivy League Game-of-the-Week, sponsored by Newsweek, will be carried this fall on WOR in New York City. The selection of games is made on a weekly basis as the Ivy League race develops.
For the tenth straight year, Dartmouth is scheduled for a television appearance. The Dartmouth-Harvard game on October 27 is one of the ABC-TV wild card selections and will probably be viewed only in the New England states.
The 1973-74 Ivy League Record Book, a 176-page volume providing complete information on 17 sports in which the league conducts championship competition, is available at $2 per copy by writing to: Sports Information, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. 03755. Checks payable to "Ivy League Record Book." This is the official publication on athletics covering the Ivy League.
After opening season losses to New Hampshire (10-9) and Holy Cross (10-0),Dartmouth's remaining football hopes ride with this senior quartet of all-Ivy players:halfback Rick Klupchak (left), out for four games after being injured at UNH; cocaptain and defensive end Tom Csatari; center Bob Funk, and kicker Ted Perry.
Rick Taylor, linebacker coach, outlines a point to a pair of the Big Green's seasoneddefensive performers, rover back Rick Gerardi from Farmingdale, N.Y., and linebackerPat Stone from Aliquippa, Pa. Both players are seniors.
