The many loyalties of John F. Anderson '34
John F. Anderson '34 is a man of many loyal- ties. His allegiances include Dartmouth, as well as strenuous efforts for a number of other causes dear to his heart.
Loyalty to the Big Green first set in during Anderson's freshman year in Hanover. When Mayor Curley of Boston tried to shift the al- ready-scheduled date for the Dartmouth-Stan- ford football game at Fenway Park, Anderson rushed over to the D.C.A.C. He proposed that the game be played on the original date in the new 80,000-seat Cleveland stadium, in his hometown. Negotiations proceeded so far as to bring forth headlines in Cleveland papers: "DARTMOUTH TO PLAY STANFORD HERE." But Mayor Curley swiftly backed down, and the game was played in Boston on the date and in the place originally planned. Anderson's loyalty to Dartmouth has continued since, with membership since graduation in the Dartmouth Club of Cleveland and service help- ing to interview football prospects.
He has also found his loyalties encompassing other educational institutions with which he has been affiliated. In 1970, when his father's aima mater, Case Institute of Technology, fed- erated with Western Reserve University, the two colleges' 80-year-old athletic rivalry had to be buried. John had attended Case briefly be- fore deciding he didn't want to be an engineer and transferring to Dartmouth. Rallying to the cause, Anderson wrote a new fight song for Case Western Reserve "Fight On, Case Re- serve! now the official marching song of C.W R.U. The words came easily, but he picked out the tune one-fingered on the piano. Later, he also contributed words and music for his prep school, University. School of Cleve- land, when it dedicated its stadium on a new 59-million campus. Anderson's loyalty to the University School again found focus seven years ago, when he founded the school's Tower Soci- ety. After working in the ranks of class agents for years, he speculated that if a graduate could give the usual SlOO donation a year, it should be possible to convince alumni to give S 1,000 or more annually for the privilege of belonging to a prestigious group. The school's headmas- ter. Rowland P. McKinleyJr. , an early skeptic of the plan, seven years later confessed in an article. I ve been watching John Anderson's smoke ever since, with accelerating humility aru" L :-'wing astonishment. For his Tower Soci- ety v, as a smash from the start, and has become the central ingredient in the quiet transforma- tion that has come over the school in that time. The tangible record speaks for itself. The soci- ety has provided some $1.3 million in support of the school's activities, and over 59 per cent of the annual fund!" University School now ranks first in the nation, by far, among country day schools in average gift per alumnus $B6 per graduate as against a national average of 534.
His loyalty to University School has resulted in Anderson's election to the presidency of its alumni association, service on its board of trus- tees, and 15 years as president of the University School tennis club, a 200-member, 12-court affiliate of the school.
There have been several ties between his Cleveland-based loyalties and his one to Han- over. Anderson has written about Case football greats for Cleveland's newspapers. One article in The Plain Dealer covered the days when "Lit- tle Joe" Wentworth coached Case to three con- secutive Ohio football championships, regular- ly defeating Ohio State among other rivals. Anderson proudly told Clevelanders that Wentworth was Dartmouth 'OO and had cap- tained the Big Green as quarterback before signing on as coach at Case, where he racked up a 34-5-1 record in his six years at the helm.
Anderson's business career, in real estate, is another effort to which he has turned his sub- stantial energies.
In 1945, after a stint as director and leading salesman for Cleveland's largest real estate bro- kerage, Anderson founded his own firm. He credits his training at the Tuck School for much of his success in starting a business that has a reputation as a small but leading firm specializ- ing in the sale of luxury suburban homes. He has also served as a trustee of the Cleveland Area Board of Realtors and has written for local and national real estate periodicals, including a se- ries of articles in the National Real Estate andBuilding Journal. In addition, for three years he wrote a humorous column, "Make Me An Of- fer," for the daily Cleveland News. The topic was based on his experience showing and selling homes, and the humorous slant may have been nurtured during his term on the directorate of the Jack-o-Lantern. Also, Anderson's house ads often incorporate Dartmouth references, such as using a Big Green cheer as a headline.
Anderson also has strong loyalties to his local Christian Science church, which he has served as board chairman, first reader conducting all services for three years, and Sunday school superintendent. He's also had several articles published in the Christian Science Journal andSentinel.
Anderson has had his face as well as his words in the public press when he was included by the editors of Cleveland magazine on the cover of their 1978 annual issue as one of the"Most Interesting People in Cleveland."
Anderson's first and foremost loyalty, how- ever, is to his family his wife of 46 years, Mary, and their three grown children.
Now that their offspring are on their own, Anderson is keeping busy with his many loyal- ties serving as president-elect for next year of the Case Reserve Athletic Club, as an honorary lifetime member of the University School board of trustees, and in his second three-year term as chairman of the board of his church.
In his spare time he plays tennis every day and continues free-lance writing. He recently sold a humorous piece featuring Dartmouth to the Plain Dealer's Sunday magazine, and he wrote an article, for the December issue of TheWestern Reserve Magazine, which was a combina- tion of history and nostalgia about the early days of old East Cleveland, his boyhood home, to which he remains . . . very loyal.
