1951

A recent issue of Yankee Magazine featured an admiring profile of Brooks Dodge and included one particularly interesting anecdote from his days on die American world championship team in Austria in 1954: "The prevailing style in ski pants was stout four-pleat gabardine, and it seemed obvious that the loose fabric created drag. Brookie knew a tailor named Klaus Ebster in St. Anton, Austria, so they went to his shop and asked if he had any material with some stretch in it. By the end of the second evening they'd invented racing tights and changed the look of sports forever. They debuted their new tights in the downhill race at Oppdal, Norway. (Americans) Buddy Werner won the race, Ralph Miller was sixth, and Brookie finished 14th, which left the Europeans dumbfounded. The Austrians asked the Americans where they had gotten their remarkable new outfits. It was a world turned upside down; it was Cal Ripken asking a high school kid how to handle a top-spin grounder."

Heartening news from Al LeClair in Boca Grande, Fla.: "After two years of surgery wrist, shoulder, and back and rehab therapy, '97 was a great year for me! Back to golf, without pain, and a handicap within one of Joyce's 12, a memorable 50th prep school reunion, and lots of family. Joyce continues her winning ways, capturing both the handicap and scratch championships at Lemon Bay here in Florida last spring. We took a trip in August with four other Dartmouth couples to play golf in Nova Scotia. Highlights were the rugged beauty of Cape Breton, the Highlands Golf Course, the Keltic Lodge, and the camaraderie of friends."

Last December 31 Woody Klein finally got out of journalism, retiring from the editorship of the Westport (Conn.) News. But they know a good man when they see one in that venerable town, so the local historical society has commissioned him to spend the next two years writing a comprehensive history of Westport, tracing back to the arrival of early settlers in the seventeenth century. We all know Jack Sutton isn't really retired, because he does a superb job directing the '51 Alumni Fund effort. Let's get behind him once again. He writes: "I sold my business in 1996. Betty and I now have five grandchildren. Happily two of our children live here in Winston-Salem and our younger son only an hour and a half away in Charlotte. Betty is still teaching, and I am playing as much golf as possible. The only event of recent note is two broken ribs from riding a bicycle at our place in Wild Dunes, S.C. my first bike ride since high school and also my last. I recendy bought a skateboard, which my children say would be much safer."

Finally, sad news: Fred Brown died of cancer January 31 in Princeton, N.J. JackJacobey attended his memorial service. Obituary to follow.

Loye Miller, 1672D Beekman Place NW, Washington, DC 20009; (202) 462-6216;

Brooks Dodge invented racing ti&lits— and changed the look of sports forever. LOYE MILLER ' 5 I