Class Notes

1966

July/August 2006 Larry Geiger
Class Notes
1966
July/August 2006 Larry Geiger

Springtime is reunion time in Hanover, but it was only fitting that members of the improbably successful 1963-64 Dartmouth hockey team chose the last Saturday in January to return to the chilly campus to celebrate, as winger and reunion correspondent Richard Larson terms it, "our unlikely championship."

You may recall standing on the five high wooden bleachers that ringed old Davis Rink (now only a fond memory, replaced decades ago by sleek, and heated, Leede Arena). Colder than the meat locker in Rocky, a couple of thousand of us, wrapped in our stoutest foul-weather gear, stood huddled together, hoping our collective body heat and constant cheering would keep the blood circulating. And anyone crazy enough to take a blind date to a game knew that, if the coed lasted three periods, she could be a real keeper. It was in jam-packed Davis Rink that the unheralded hockey team pulled off its biggest victory, a 7-1 pounding of Harvard over Winter Carnival Weekend. They went on to win the Ivy League title.

Assembling in Hanover to relive those glory days and give special thanks to Coach Abner Oakes '56, were the hustling group of '66 letter winners, then sophomores, who formed the nucleus of the young team—Budge Gere, Bill Jevne, Richard Larson, Dean Matthews, Jack Stebe and Charlie Stuart. Also on hand were teammates Karl Andrews and Chuck Vernon.

The reunion, which coincided with a broader, celebration of 100 years of Dartmouth hockey, also attracted '65s Jim Cooper, Terry Guiney, Chip Hayes Jay Wholley and team manager Norman Leach, plus '64s John Carpenter and John Fiske. Many team members had not communicated in 40 years, but animated conversations flowed at brunch and into the night at '65 Sven Karlen's Hanover home.

Mike Masin spent a dozen memorable years near the top of the corporate world at big-time players—Verizon, where he ended up as vice chairman and president, and Citigroup, where he was vice chairman and chief operating officer. Mike has now returned to O'Melveny & Myers and is "delighted to be back with the firm and the practice of law." He and Joanne split their time between Greenwich and Longboat Key, with frequent visits to their daughter in Atlanta.

Things have not gone well for Pete Dorsen, either professionally or personally. As Pete says "I lost my wife.. .I went through treatment for marijuana dependence...l lost my (doctor's) license last March for being naughty. I prescribed things badly.. .I also went through bankruptcy." But Pete, a prolific author and irrepressible spirit, has been clean for more than a year, is studying to be a chemical dependency counselor and is emotionally supported by his grown daughters. He's open to dialogue at pjdorrsenproud@gmail.com.

93 Greenridge Ave., White Plains, NY10605; (914) 761-2709; lgeiger@aol.com