1955

In keeping with this issue's theme of celebrating athletics at Dartmouth, this month's column will celebrate the heroic achievements of the class of 1955 during our four years in Hanover. In a subsequent column I hope to celebrate the athletic achievements of classmates and their spouses and progeny since leaving Dartmouth; so, do please send me items for a post-graduate reprise. To begin at the top, we start with the members of the class who are "Wearers of the Green," those who have distinguished themselves as hall of famers, national champions, All-Americans, and Olympic team members. Leading the list is our only hall of famer, WilliamH. "Pep" Perry Jr., who on two continents as athlete, coach, and administrator from undergraduate days to the present day, has made an outstanding lifelong contribution to the sport of rowing and to the fellowship and good sportsmanship that characterize it. Next, for sure, is our internationally recognized triplethreat skier Ralph E. Miller, a national champion, All-American, and Olympic team member, who along the way also set and held for a time the world speed record on skis! On the same level of high performance was the late JohnC. Glover, all All-American who seemed to set a record almost every time he stepped into a pool, and who surely was headed for an Olympic berth when his life was so tragically cut short. Also adding athletic lustre to our class were our two great All-Americans in lacrosse, RaymondE. Lenhard Jr. and Jon T. "Tim" Anderson.

Finally, among national champions, were the heavyweight crews of 1954 and 1955, winners of the Dad Vail Regatta in both years, and including, on the oars, Alan D.Graham, Peter J. Knoke, and the late William G. Delana, and in the coxswain's seat, Leon C. Martel Jr.

Also among our All-Americans, Ken Lundstrum very thoughtfully reminds me, was Thomas W. Connor. Ken writes that Tom was a two-time All-American who led the '53-'54 rifle team that also included Eliot Hersey and Ken. That team was 40-0 in dual meets and was both New England College Rifle League and Ivy champs, though regretfully a national title eluded them.

Along with the championships, there were equally memorable individual efforts by class of 1955 athletes:

Doug Melville writes of catching the final out, along the right field foul line, of Bob Feltman's no-hitter against Army at West Point in May 1955, the first in 17 years in the ECAC.

And who can forget Lou Turner's diving end-zone catch with no time left on the clock to tie a heavily-favored Holy Cross on national TV in the fall of 1954? Seconds later, the victory was sealed with the extra point of Leo McKenna '56.

Basketball also provided notable thrills during the '54-'55 season: Dick Fairley's running one-hand push shot from halfcourt, with two seconds left, to beat undefeated UCONN; and Larry Freier's long jump shot from deep in the right-hand corner of the court, as the final buzzer sounded, to stun the favored Penn Quakers 54-52.

Finally, forever etched in my own memory, is our come-from-behind-win by a margin of less than two inches in the 1955 Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia. So close was the race that the results were announced only after a 20-minute deliberation by the judges, a period during which we feared most for our anxious and apoplectic coach, Thad Seymour Jr.

I'm sure there is more, much more; but to write about it, I have to know it first. So, please do send me more, of achievements past, later and present!

600 West 111th St., New York, NY 10025; (212) 980-7014 (fax);

Hart Perry '55 strokes the boat, p. 44