The People's Choice
No one is quite sure why they call him "King." Perhaps it is because he is pinned to the campus Queen at the University of North Carolina that would seem reason enough. The young lady (we didn't get her name) was disturbed recently when Dave's suitcase was stolen in New York as he was preparing for a weekend at her family home in Rye. Dave was as unruffled as he had been in the enemy secondary all season. He borrowed a shirt or two, had a fine visit in Rye and then at the end of the weekend when he returned to the C and G House, he found the suitcase waiting for him. A classmate had caught the thief on the run and recovered the royal luggage. It is probably just as well for the thief that Dave (6'1", 190 pounds) didn't have to persuade him to return the suitcase.
Dave speaks freely about everything but.Dave McLaughlin and the Queen at Chapel Hill. Although he did mention her when we asked directly, but not her title. (That bit we gathered from a secret informant who says that she well deserves her honor.) Dave will state facts such as his age (21); that he was born in Grand Rapids and attended East Grand Rapids High; that his father is a residential architect; that his brother, 23, graduated from Annapolis and that he has a sister, 19, at Dennison University;
But ask him what he did in high school? Did he play football? Answer: "Yes." Was he in the Student Government? Answer: "Yes." Later you find that he was an all-state end and the President of the Student Government.
When the last elections for the presidency of the Dartmouth Undergraduate Council took place, Dave was nominated. Several other men were put up also but, one by one, they withdrew. No one would run against him. It was the first time in the history of the Undergraduate Council that such a tribute had been given.
In his work on the Council Dave has a reputation for plugging for what he thinks is right regardless of the consequences, which sometimes involve friends. This severe honesty has gained him wide respect. It is a form of courage that is a part of his daily life.
Tuss McLaughry speaks of another kind of courage: "It takes guts to keep going into the air when you know you'll be hit hard just as soon as you touch the ball." Tuss was thinking of Dave's play at end this past football season when he was a prime target for every opponent. When he left his feet to leap for a pass (which he did so beautifully) he was an easy mark for vicious tackles from the two or three men covering him. Such tackling had to make up for their frustration in not being able to keep him from catching that ball. In all, he caught 31 passes for 59² yards and 6 touchdowns to become the top pass receiver in the Ivy League and in the Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association and Number 5 man in the nation.
He has also made a fine academic record at Dartmouth (Phi Beta Kappa) through what friends regard as a "fantastic" power of concentration. Because of his extra-curricular interests he has to make the most of his study time and when digging into a subject (he has been known to study for ten hours at a stretch) he is completely oblivious to distraction. The first year at Tuck School is not easy, but at the close of the football season Dave was up to date with his work and, in many instances, better prepared for class discussions than were some of his fellow students who spent only an occasional Saturday in the grandstand.
He has decided to finish the two-year course at Tuck and his singlemindedness comes into play when he considers pro football offers or someone suggests that he might try for a Rhodes.Scholarship before completing his business administration course. Those things might come, but in their own time and according to plan.
The suitcase snatcher was lucky! We're sure of it. If Dave had seen him we're willing to wager a Gladstone bag, complete with combination lock, that even if it had meant chasing all the way to the end of Manhattan and swimming the river, the thief would eventually have succumbed to the persistent Mr. McLaughlin.
DAVID T. MCLAUGHLIN '54
