Big Green Teams

Participation is the name of the game in Ivy League athletics but it's still nice to win more than you lose.

During the past year, and for the fourth straight year, Dartmouth's varsity teams did compile an overall winning record. But more impressive than the record itself is the number of undergraduates involved in the College's complete athletic program. More than 1100 men and women were active in varsity and freshman intercollegiate teams. Another 2600 participated in intramural athletics, and another 1000 were active in the broad range of physical education programs.

These figures provide a measure of the sports activity for Dartmouth's undergraduate community. They don't begin to touch on the vast number of people of all ages who have access to the College's athletic facilities.

For example, the Dartmouth Swim Club had nearly 1550 members in 1972-73. It's virtually impossible to tell exactly how many people used Alumni Gym, Leverone Field House, Davis Rink, the Chase Field complex, Hanover Country Club, the assorted ski facilities, and the Connecticut River for individual recreational activity.

"We have one of the nation's most complete athletic programs," said Seaver Peters, Dartmouth's director of athletics. "It's a program that the College can look upon with pride. I think it demonstrates the vital role that athletics play in the Dartmouth community.

"In the area of intercollegiate athletics alone, Dartmouth offers competition for men and women in 22 sports," said Peters.

"The only college in the United States that has as many intercollegiate teams is M.I.T."

While participation is fundamental to Dartmouth's athletic philosophy, the won- lost record, particularly on the inter- collegiate level, is what most people use to measure the strength of the total program.

During 1972-73, Dartmouth had a varsity intercollegiate won-lost record of 120 wins, 109 losses and five ties against all opponents. That record ranked the Green teams fifth among the eight Ivy League colleges.

In head-to-head competition with Ivy rivals, Dartmouth didn't fare nearly so well. The Green competes in nine sports and had a record of 31-47-3, the worst record among the eight. Dartmouth had winning records in only two leagues - football and swimming.

By comparison, Pennsylvania's overall record in 1972-73 was 160-62-3, and Harvard was close behind at 166-67-3. Penn and Harvard were far ahead of the pack in league competition as well.

Against Harvard in 1972-73, Dartmouth had a record of 0-15-2 while Penn held a 9-3 advantage over the Green in varsity competition.

"Our intercollegiate teams are reasonably healthy and I feel we're working conscientiously to keep the total program in a perspective that is completely compatible with the Ivy League philosophy on athletics," said Peters.

"To illustrate, among the men and women who graduated in June, 55 who competed in intercollegiate athletics received degrees with distinction (including six who were granted degrees summa cum laude). Still, I'd like to think that we can maintain the posture of academic excellence and remove the word 'reasonably' from the earlier description of the program."

A record of 93 wins in 130 contests for Dartmouth's freshman teams in 1972-73 is one step in the right direction.