Student of the Game
When Sue Lasko came to Dartmouth four falls ago, she didn't know the difference between a halfback and a tight end. But today she could even tell you about a "five-Sally-lead," the razzle-dazzle play that produced an Ivy League championship-clinching touchdown against Princeton two years ago. The senior from North Branford, Connecticut, is head manager of the Big Green football team, a position she also held last fall. Lasko is the first woman to be a head manager at the College and the first woman to earn a letter in varsity football at Dartmouth. She concedes she wears her 1978 Ivy League championship ring "very proudly." Joe Yukica's assessment: "In a single word, she is indispensable."
Being manager of the team consumes eight hours a day, seven days a week during the regular season and even more time during the double training sessions of August. "I do everything from tying shoes to arranging meals," Lasko said as she prepared for the team's arrival last month. Lasko is in charge of setting up the dummies and shields on practice fields each day. She keeps the time schedule during practice, helps the trainers during break periods, cleans up the field and returns the equipment and footballs to the sheds after practice. "I even turn out the lights on the field after practice in November," she added. Lasko sets up the travel schedule and itineraries for away games and is in charge of bus and plane transportation, meals and lodging for a traveling party of 65 persons that swells to 100 persons in the season finale "wild card game." She schedules training meals, makes sure equipment is packed for away games, checks everyone off when the bus is loaded and takes care of post-season parties, banquets, and awards. She makes out trip reports, selects movies for Friday nights of away games, and is in charge of special dinners, "skit night," and the one-day spring practice. "It's pretty much a year- round job," Lasko admitted. "And there are a lot of little things that come up now and then." How does she keep up with all of these chores and still retain a better than B average in ner studies? "It's not easy," the psychology major said with a laugh.
In high school Lasko managed the girls' track team for two years. "I probably went to a total of two football games. I was never really interested in football. I knew that a touchdown was six points and I knew the down system, but that's about all." She selected Dartmouth because it was an Ivy League college out of the city. She hadn't considered working with football until she received a letter from Bob Weiss, a former freshman coach. "It was something I had never thought of doing but it sounded like a great opportunity," she remembers. As a freshman, she was a "gofer" for the freshman football team and as a sophomore she was assistant to head manager Don Castle '79 and was in charge of all jayvee arrangements "I usually ended up working the chain crew and being the ball boy." Lasko was the men's track manager during her first two years and is now also the head manager of the men's lacrosse team.
Being the lone female in an all-male sport has had its occasional antic moments: "Oh, there are those little jokes they try to play, but actually the players end up being like big brothers." Then there was the incident at Cornell, where there were no facilities for women in the football complex. She was allowed to change in a back equipment room. On her way out she ran into Cornell coach Bob Blackman wearing nothing but a bar of soap as he got out of the shower. "He started shouting about a girl being back there," she said with a grin.
She has become a student of the game by being associated with the Dartmouth program. "One thing I've learned is that there's no such thing as a dumb football player at Dartmouth College," she observed. "I have nothing but respect for them. They have so much to learn. Some of the players' playbooks are almost as thick as the coaches' books."
Lasko would like to become a road secretary for a professional football team after she graduates and figures that her managing would also help in an eventual business career. She is looking forward to the 1980 season but not to the end of the season. "I'll miss it terribly," she said. Yukica will also miss her. "She has a tremendous amount of responsibility," he said. "She, like her predecessor Don Castle, is conscientious, capable, and very qualified. It's an area I don't worry about. The next manager is going to have to be very good to continue the legacy of the two I've had so far."
Sue Lasko does practically everything but design formations and play tight end.
