Punter's Luck

Rick Bayless is becoming a jack-of-alltrades for the Dartmouth football team. As a sophomore last year, he was the master of the Big Green's punting department and was an all-Ivy selection. Bayless averaged 39-3 yards per punt over the course of the season and averaged more than 40 yards per punt during league competition. He also played defensive back and was the second-string player behind all-Ivy selection Charles Williams. Joe Yukica is going to try Bayless out at quarterback this year and will also test his ability as a place-kicker. Tim Geibel's graduation left the team without a field goal or conversion specialist for the first time in several years.

Bayless came to Dartmouth from Cleveland High School in Portland, Oregon, where he was a quarterback, punter, and occasional place-kicker. "I won the quarterback job as a sophomore and started there for three years," said Bayless, who conceded that none of those football campaigns was particularly outstanding. "Toward my senior year I was hoping to hear from some schools, but no one came breaking down the door. The more I looked into Dartmouth, the more it sounded like the sort of school I wanted to go to." Bayless went out for the football team during his freshman year but never played in a game. He practiced with the team for a couple of weeks as a defensive back. "But I wore myself out before the first game and came down with mono," he said. Bay less went out for the team again as a sophomore and was the Big Green's leading punter until he came down with the flu prior to the opening game against Princeton. It wasn't until the third game of the season that he became the first-string punter. He dismissed his league-leading punting statistics. "Just a few lucky bounces," the rightfooted kicker quipped.

While working out in the weight room one day this summer, Bayless saw someone booming punts in the outfield on Red Rolfe Field. "I hope he doesn't come here," Bayless told himself. He later learned that the punter was Dave Jennings of the New York Giants, who has been summering across the river in Norwich for years. Bayless went out to the stadium one evening and introduced himself to Jennings. "I got about four or five workouts with him," said Bayless. "The main thing was to see the difference in ability between us. I was keeping up with him on distance, but he had incredible hang-time and his consistency was better. Of course, he'd shank one once in a while, too. But it was a good experience. Some days it really feels as though I've improved."

Bayless lifts weights year round and starts concentrating on football workouts about the middle of July. He works out about an hour a day six days a week, picking up his running pace as training camp nears.

He played basketball and baseball in high school and was a member of the junior-varsity baseball team as a Dartmouth freshman. He has limited his outside activities to football now. "It gives me more free time to enjoy some of the other aspects of college and more study time," Bayless said. He is an economics major and carries close to a B average. He is thinking about modifying the major with some government courses. "That would add some spice to it," he said. "Economics gets a little dry."

A highlight of his college career occurred in last year's Yale game, which was televised regionally. "We had the ball on fourth down inside the one and Rich Diana was back to receive the punt. I was a little nervous at the time but got off a real nice punt of 54 or 55 yards," Bayless said. But normally the lonely job of being a punter doesn't bother him. "Once you get out there it's easy to block everything else out."

Rick Bayless has several strings to his bow.