1948

By the time you read this, the class's February mini-reunion in Hanover, led by the indomitable Bud Gedney and our president, Earl Chambers, will have come and gone. Based on conditions in early January they should have had plenty of snow and good weather on the slopes in and around Hanover.

And while we're on '48 in Hanover, let us note the great time that a relatively large group of our classmates had, with plenty of old-time spirit, conviviality, and fun at Reg and Nancy Pierce's place in Etna over the Saturday night of last fall's Yale weekend. Those of us who weren't there really missed out. Remember this when next fall s mini-reunion opportunity comes around.

If the reader will permit, the following may take you back. One of the fun aspects of undergrad life in Hanover during '48 days on campus immediately after World War II was crowd participation in intercollegiate athletic events. This applied particularly to the little basketball court in Alumni Gym where the seats sloped steeply down to the edge of the court and in the tight, deafening confines of old Davis Rink where the slanting girders to the roof permitted spectators to have a bird's eye perch literally out over the ice. Both game arenas provided great opportunities for Dartmouth crowd participation as the sixth or seventh man in the fray, opportunities we so often utilized with great glee and sometimes marked effect! Remember?

The foregoing brings us to a later game between our warriors and Yale in our same gym in the sixties. It took place long after we were gone, during the era when Dartmouth was the doormat of the Ivy League in basketball. Yale was good this particular year and was led by a perhaps somewhat arrogant athlete named Nadherny who was also a stalwart on Old Eli's gridiron squad and general BMOC around New Haven. Nadherny, big and clearly the leader, had Yale's five out front early and running like a well-oiled machine over the hapless Green. Dartmouth was going absolutely nowhere until our sixth man almost accidentally got into the contest. At a moment when the disconsolate crowd was almost silent as Eli started back up the floor after a steal, someone in the stands suddenly emitted a loud "GO-NAAD! GO-NAAD!" heard over the entire arena. The result was electric among the crowd. Peals of laughter and a rising chorus of more "GO-NAAD! GO-NAAD!" were aimed at the Yale team. The result was electric on the floor, too. Mr. Nadherney heard the rising tide of cheers combined with derisive laughter and suddenly lost his cool. He became, we are told, so upset by the hail of noise he somehow felt directed at himself personally that he turned over the ball a.couple of times, threw a wild airball at the basket, errantly passed to one of Eleazar's men, and had to leave the game to attempt to recover his composure. What a turnaround! The Green suddenly caught fire, cheered mightily by the crowd which was now in the fray in full force. Eleazar's charges went on to win one of their few victories that year. Hanover has been looking for a new opponent named Nadherney ever since.

We hope that Thompson Arena promotes Dartmouth crowd participation as the old Davis Rink did and Alumni Gym does. Are hockey fans still close enough to the sideboards to lean into the rink to hammer from the inside, intensifying the noise? (Bobby Merriam, do you remember?)

Probably the most striking item in '48 member Don Ryan's report of last November's 151st meeting of the Alumni Council was that urgent consideration is being given in Hanover to transfer of the Mary Hitchcock hospital complex. All Hanover and all Eleazar family members will watch this one with great hope and trepidation.

Congratulations to the Rev. Dick Ruggles, featured on the front page of TheDaily News Record of Harrisonburg, Va. In September Dick became president of Sunnyside Presbyterian Home in this Shenandoah Valley community, the latest step in his life of service since his graduation from Union Theological Seminary. Dick has served as minister and professional administrator for his church in many communities of the South, and this latest accomplishment merits a salute from his '48 classmates.

In closing, salutes also to Wid Washburn, whose comments on international strategic, military, and political affairs are being columned in many of the nation's more prominent newspapers. Read Wid if you wish insightful analysis combined with a breath of fresh air. And congratulations, too, to Bob Douglas and DaveMiller, who last summer got together in Portland, Ore., along with wives, at Dave's home, the first time these old campus buddies had seen each other in 30 years.

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