What a Racquet!
QUOTH/UNQUOTE "A stewardship of all humanity should be the real heart of Dartmouth, as we ail can contribute in so many ways throughout our entire lifetimes to the alleviation of the suffering of billions on this planet." —PROFESSOR AND PHYSICIAN LEE WITTERS AT THE COLLEGE'S TSUNAMI RELIEF FUND LAUNCH JANUARY 6
EVERY MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND Friday the old men gather to do battle, stepping away from the earned comfort of their longtime campus offices and moving slowly toward the Berry Center squash courts, racquets in hand, drawn together like characters in a Sam Peckinpah movie. You can even imagine their screen names: Doc. Mystery. Swede. Classic. Bwana Jim. The Kid. The Champ. And, simply, Norm.
"It's an informal ritual," says George Demko, professor emeritus of geography and unofficial spokesman for the group. "I'm 72. We're all in our late 60s and 70s. Except for John Tansey. He's the youngest—soish, I think. But he's a former student so we let him in."
The game they play is Softball squash singles, a fast, four-walled racquet sport that tests reflexes, stamina, knees and elbows—elements not always in good working order in the 70-year-old human body.
"We're in the phase of our lives where we live with the knowledge that 'if it works, it hurts,'" says WeyLundquist '52, a former Tuck and environmental studies adjunct professor and now a senior fellow at the Dickey Center. "Just to prove this to myself, my regimen in the three days a week I play with the graying gladiators is to lift weights for an hour before I start my squash play. This makes it a little fairer for them and gives me an excuse none of them has chosen to mimic."
Those "graying gladiators" are an eclectic group that includes former dean of the Medical School faculty Jim "Doc" Strickler '50, DMS'SI; Jim "Bwana Jim" Hornig, former chair and founder of the Africa Foreign Studies Program; Ken "The Champ" Cucuel, retired director of student loans and 2004 Over-70 Softball National Squash Racquets Champion; Bill "Classic" Scott, former head of the classics department; and Norm Miller, ad- junct professor of environmental science. Rounding out the regulars are Lundquist ("Swede"); Tansey,A'95 ("The Kid"), who directs the Colleges off-campus programs; and Demko ("Mystery"), whose quirky "The Geography of Mystery Fiction" seminar includes Janet Evanovich and Walter Mosley in its syllabus.
"We think there's a close correlation between our active physical life and our active work life," says Demko. "All of us are involved in projects, books, lectures, at cetera. We've all 'adjusted our games' in order to keep playing. After I had abdominal surgery a couple of years ago, Strickler re-bandaged me so I could keep playing. It kept the bleeding to a minimum and allowed me to stay on the court and beat him."
"Demko?" responds his old friend Strickler. "I can't remember the last time he won a game from me."
"I only lose," retorts Demko, "when one of them cheats or when I am badly disabled but gamely playing anyway."
On that point, Strickler yields. "You know the only time any one of us loses is when he's disabled by something—a sprain, bursitis, an upper respiratory infection. Aging has nothing to do with it."
Off the Wall Squash regulars (from left)Strickler, Cucuel and Demko take to thecourts three times a week.
