Dynamic debating duo
Debating and Illinois have been associated ever since Honest Abe stumped the state with Stephen Douglas in quest of a U.S. Senate seat. A new link in the connection between forensic skills and the Land of Lincoln was forged in early April when two Dartmouth juniors who had been champion debaters in their respective suburban Chicago high schools won the national intercollegiate debating championship.
Leonard Gail of Morton Grove, III., and Mark Koulogeorge of Glenview, III., topped the 62 best debating teams in the country while copping the College's fourth national championship and setting two records in the process. The pair became the first intercollegiate titlists in the history of the national tournament to win all 12 of their debates - eight in the preliminary rounds and four in the elimination rounds. And in gaining their sweep in the preliminary contests, they did so decisively, with the unanimous vote of the different sets of three judges in each of the eight encounters; their 24-0 ballot sheet was another first for the tournament. And in addition to earning first seeding as they entered the elimination rounds, Gail won "top speaker" honors, while Koulogeorge was named the eighth-best speaker of the 124 debaters competing.
All the honors to return to Hanover were not Gail's and Koulogeorge's either. Dartmouth was the only college in the nation to have two teams in this year's tournament, among the 16 invited to participate on the basis of their records in the ten major tournaments around the country. The second team of Meredy McClintock and Karen McGaffney, also both juniors, compiled a record of five wins and three losses in the preliminaries to earn the 16th seeding among the finalists. Unluckily, though, that paired them against the first-seeded Gail-Koulogeorge duo in the opening elimination round, so - in debating tradition - they deferred to their teammates with the better record; they finished ninth overall.
The other ten Dartmouth debaters on the 14-member squad also played a key role in the success, even though only four of their colleagues participated in the four-day national tournament, held this year at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. All of them helped with extensive advance research on this year's topic (the disposal of hazardous wastes) and some even traveled to Knoxville with the two invited teams, the two coaches, and 18 briefcases full of the results of the research.
This strong backup was, Koulogeorge feels, a key reason for Dartmouth's success in Knoxville. He notes that debating is a group effort, likening it to a race car, which has just one driver but a whole crew pit behind it. He also credits the College's support for debating as an important factor, citing the strong coaching staff and a large traveling budget.
The last time Dartmouth won a national debating championship was 1967; the College also won the title in 1960 and 1963. In the years since then, Dartmouth debating teams have almost always been competitive, often making it into the top 16 in the elimination rounds, but until this year the championship had eluded them.
The duo that brought the national trophy back to Hanover served notice of their competitive promise last year, tying for third place in the 1983 intercollegiate title race to give Dartmouth a two-three finish. The top Big Green team that year, which was eliminated only in the finals, included Thomas D. Lyon '83, who returned this year as assistant coach to help his former teammates all the way to the top.
Winning the national championship was a crowning touch to the debating careers of Gail and Koulogeorge. As high school seniors, they had competed against each the other in the finals of the 1981 national high school championship, with Koulogeorge winning the title then and Gail taking second place. Of his interest in debating, Koulogeorge said shortly after the win to the local Valley News: "It takes a certain type of person to be a debater - more curious and more interested in intellectual issues. I've kept with it because I've enjoyed it, and I've gained a whole separate education on weekends."
With the debating season ended, both national champions have taken a break from studies by spending spring term in internship positions. Koulogeorge is working at United Nations headquarters in New York City and Gail in the office of U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).
