Big Green Teams
Writing in mid-April for mid-May publication, particularly when it involves athletics, has its drawbacks. It's one thing to write around a football season where drama unfolds each weekend, and it's quite another to write at this time of year when the most exciting event in Hanover is to watch the snow depart - and 1974 will be remembered as one of those occasional years when spring was a most reluctant lady.
So here we are, nonetheless, watching the snow go, listening for the final heaves of frost, and wondering if the results of spring vacation trips and a single weekend of regular season competition will provide anything approaching an accurate measure of what will transpire during the next seven weeks.
Perhaps the most exciting activity at the moment is the transmission of admissions notices to members of the Class of 1978 at the eight Ivy colleges. Not your usual spectator sport, it nevertheless is being watched oh so closely by coaches around the league. It brings to mind the series of articles published in mid-March by The New YorkTimes which related tales of crisis facing the world of intercollegiate athletics based on recruiting excesses and high-pressure tactics.
To say that the Ivy League doesn't recruit student-athletes is hypocritical. Of course it does. In the process, however, it is equally fair to state that the league is working within a framework outlined in the Presidents' Agreement of 1954, a statement that was reaffirmed during the past year in the Common Statement of Ivy Group Institutions.
That statement includes the following: "The Ivy Group institutions encourage able persons to attend including those persons who have proven themselves as athletes. However, all the institutions 1) admit men and women whether or not they are athletes on the basis of their potential as students; 2) provide financial aid only on the basis of need; 3) never require that a student continue in athletic competiton as a condition for continuation of financial aid. In the total life of the campus, emphasis upon intercollegiate competition must be kept in harmony with the essential educational purposes of the institution."
To illustrate how carefully the system of controls is now working within the Ivy League, consider the timetable involved in the admissions notification process in the Ivy League this spring: The notices of admission and financial aid were transmitted from each college to candidates for the Class of 1978 on Saturday, April 13. It was not until three days later - Tuesday, April 16 - that coaches learned of acceptances and began the contact work with candidates.
There are two fundamental points which present the greatest challenge to Ivy League coaches, particularly in competition for student-athletes who are considering Ivy and non-Ivy League education. The first, which faces every coach, is the "need" concept of financial aid. The second, which has impact on the "team sports" - football, basketball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, baseball and rowing - is freshman eligibility. These two factors are most conspicuous in basketball since it is in this sport that the Ivy League is involved to a greater degree than in any other with intersectional and non-league competition (although hockey is not far behind).
Ivy League football teams play seven of nine games within the league, and the non-league games are against teams of comparable strength. In hockey, half of the schedule for Ivy teams is intra-league and about 90 per cent of non-league games are against Eastern teams (which, in fact, appear likely to gain a gradual advantage over Ivy teams since they have the "advantage" of freshman eligibility).
In basketball, there are 14 league games in a 26-game schedule. Of the remaining 12, as many as half are played during Christmas holiday trips. To show the impact, the eight Ivy League colleges had an overall record of 29 wins and 63 losses against non-league teams in 1973-74 (Dartmouth was 2-10). Pennsylvania was the only team with a winning record in non-league games (Brown broke even) and the disparity is likely to continue.
This review is not intended as a pitch for freshman eligibility or athletic scholarships in the Ivy League. Rather, it is offered simply as evidence of the Ivy League position on the ladder of competitive strength across the nation. In an opinion published in the Times, Fred Shabel, the director of athletics at Penn, said, "... the grant-in-aid (i.e., athletic scholarship) is hard to justify in today's society. The need system is much more viable. But we are never going to have change [nationally] until the college presidents address themselves to NCAA legislation.
"... there can be some kind of an equitable need system whereby scholarships are granted to athletes and non-athletes alike on the basis, maybe. of I.R.S. tax returns. That would make a tremendous difference in the spirit within college communities."
Be it at UCLA, Ohio State, Alabama or any one of the Ivy League institutions there is the fundamental interest to win The pressure to win varies but it is present at all levels. There is at the same time a growing trend toward expansion of recreational and participation sports below the intercollegiate level, and in this area the Ivy League is clearly in the national forefront.
Yes, the Ivy League does recruit and there seems no reason that it should not But the league - including Dartmouth - is working within a freamework that is healthy and keeps the position of intercollegiate athletics in proper perspective.
Without meaning to sound holier than thou toward the rest of the nation, it does seem that the Ivy League is headed in the proper direction and that perhaps the "win at all costs" and underlying elements of professionalism in some college athletics can perhaps be overcome - if the power chooses to look beyond the dollar.
Meanwhile, back in the spring season, here's a brief review of the limited action to date:
Baseball returned from a 3-6 southern trip to two weeks of indoor work in Leverone Field House (prompted by nearly a foot of new snow on April 9) but proceeded to launch the Eastern League season on a solid note. After losing at Penn, the Green swept a doubleheader at Columbia. As Coach Tony Lupien has said many times, "Any time we can win two of three league games on the road, I'm satisfied."
Sophomores Jim Beattie and Dave Dobson and juniors Scott Cleary and Kevin Kelley have established themselves as the starting rotation on the mound (and all have shown signs of proficiency), and junior second baseman Mark Ditmar and pitcher-turned-outfielder Mike Draznik have been the top men at the plate. Ditmar launched the league season by getting seven hits during the three games. He reached base ten times in 14 at bats and continued his play in the field that makes him the league's best at his position. Draz-nik, who was 0-3 as a pitcher on the southern trip and now is a fixture in left field, had two home runs and drove in eight runs against Columbia while Bob Whelan, the captain and centerfielder, had two home runs during the three-game weekend.
Dartmouth's sailing team gained one of its finest victories in defeating ten crews from across the country to win the John F. Kennedy Memorial Trophy, emblematic of the North American intercollegiate yawl championship. The races were held on Chesapeake Bay in April. The 44-foot Dartmouth boat (borrowed from Navy) was skippered by Sandy Tierney of Marblehead.
In lacrosse, senior Bruce Williamson scored five goals but Dartmouth lost its regular season opener at Williams, 8-7. The Green stickers faced the same problem as baseball (no outdoor practice) after returning from the South with four scrimmage wins and a loss to nationally ranked Navy.
The loss of Captain Jim Myers with a severe ankle sprain has cut into the tennis picture. The Green had a solid 5-5 record in the South but fell to Penn and Columbia, the best in the Eastern League this spring, during the first weekend of the regular season. Sophomore Rob Tesar along with junior Andy Oldenburg and senior Rick Woolworth have been the mainstays.
In golf, Dartmouth had sharp performances during spring vacation tourneys in Florida. Jay Leonard and Jerry Daly were the individual leaders for Dartmouth as the Green finished sixth in -the Fairways Tournament and tenth in the Miami Invitational.
Dartmouth's track team had an assortment of winning performances (Curt Starr was a double winner in the hammer and discus) during the Florida State Relays. In crew, Dartmouth made its sixth visit to Alabama for training but did not row in competition.
On the women's scene, the tennis team opened its season with a 4-3 win over Yale.
