1944

Summer is beautiful here in the Upper Valley. This year as we pass Memorial Field each day, we see it piled high with dirt and huge machinery as it is prepared for the coming season. This brings thoughts to mind of fall and Dartmouth's football past.

Football was getting into high gear in the forties when the class of 1944 freshman gridiron squad was forming. Who would guess that this would turn out to be one of the most capable teams in years? Harry Hood was captain of the team and William Marion and David Templeton were found to be outstanding players. The squad was showing great promise for the future. George Slusser, Richard Revenaugh, Joe McDevitt and Bob McLaughry and Roger Clark. Tom Douglas, Russ Isner and Bill McCloskey added to the Big Greens scoring power.

Their season opened with an impressive victory over Holy Cross. They went on to triumph over Browns best football eleven in many years. They saved the best for last. In a dazzling display of scoring plus brilliant defensive play by Charles Clucas they beat Harvard 19-13.

Before the next season, all the members of the 1944 class departed for military duty. Had WWII not intervened and these men had been able to move up to the varsity, Dartmouth might have had some of the best records in their football history.

In doing the research for this column, we went from looking for information at the alumni office to the archives of the Rauner Library and finally to Bob McLaughry's little green book called Dartmouth Football 1941.

Kudos to Greg Rabassa. His If This Be Treason:Translation and Its Dyscontents received the Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir.

We regret to report the deaths of Burgess Harmon Griffin, Henry Cleves Hyde, Carl Frederick Koenig and Joseph McDyer McDevitt. We send out condolences to the families and friends of these classmates.

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