1922

Dartmouth oldtimers are always elated when they walk out through the tunnels of the Yale Bowl after a Big Green football victory. They have enjoyed that felicity 21 times in the Bowl, but rarely more enthusiastically than after the 1953 game when the scoreboard showed Dartmouth 32, Yale 0. It was a spectacular upset against a Yale team previously undefeated that season. As we were coming out, two of the Yale coaching staff were nearby and one said to the other, "They did it by passing all over us." The other replied, "Yes, that McLaughlin boy of Dartmouth certainly has very good hands." Dave McLaughlin '54 really had a superb day, catching many passes and scoring two touchdowns. And now as '22 congratulates and pledges fealty to David T. McLaughlin as the forthcoming 14th president of Dartmouth, it is indeed assuring to know that the College will be in his "very good hands."

Even though Dave caught 41 passes for 592 yards in 1953, that, of course, is not a prerequisite for a college president, but it should not be held against a man, especially when he also caught a Phi Beta Kappa key. And his devotion to Dartmouth, together with his leadership, is widely acknowledged. As undergraduates, Twoters also had a former businessman as president of the College, the unforgettable Ernest Martin Hopkins, than whom to us there was none other.

Naturally, not many Twoters know Dave McLaughlin personally, but we have excellent references to know him better. Eleven '22 sons are in the class of 1954. Our '22 progenies are Thomas E. Booth, George E. Brooks Jr., Wilbur W. Bullen Jr., Peter H. Dwight, Peter M. Kenyon, Seaver Peters, J. Scott Rambach, William E. Rex, Stewart P. Stearns Jr., Charles E. Tayntor, and Peter M. Townsend. Apparently, '22 made quite a significant contribution to Dave McLaughlin's class.

At this point, before memory fades, it may be timely to recount some additional facts about Don Tobin. For instance, do all classmates know that Don's successful business career really began when he was a Dartmouth freshman? With admirable initiative as a young entrepreneur, he bought desks, chairs, lamps, and other paraphernalia from graduating seniors eager to sell. Ozzy Siegfried and some other Twoters well remember the old barn in back of the Phi Sigma Kappa house. Well, Don rented that barn for $200 a year, stored the furniture there till each autumn when the incoming freshmen were glad to buy in a more competitive market. So, besides goaltending on soccer and hockey, Don's "business" enabled him to graduate with a profit of $5,000, a princely sum in those tax-free days, more than enough to see him through Tuck School. No wonder his later career was so successful. And how he loved to come back to Hanover. At least once a year he returned for a football game, a mini-reunion, or any chance to renew friendships. On these visits he always played tennis with Ort Hicks, and the only time he ever boasted about anything was when he beat Ort. Dartmouth indeed will always remember smiling Don Tobin.

Robert Armstrong and Truman Redfield have left us in sadness. It's getting so your scribe hates to open the daily mail.

Note September 19 for this year's Princeton game in Hanover. Our '22 pre-game luncheon will not be in the Drake Room, but in Room 112, Hanover Inn. We'll gather there about 11 a.m.

To give Dave McLaughlin a vote of confidence, every Twoter, of course, will participate realistically in the 1981 Alumni Fund.

11 Brockway Road Hanover, N.H. 03755