Class Note 1965
Fifty years ago we returned to Hanover to begin our senior year as the Bond classic Goldfinger premiered in London, Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway and the Warren Commission released its report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating President John Kennedy.
On Thursday, September 17, 1964, Freshman Week got under way and many of us returned to Hanover before the start of classes to assist in the orientation process. We conducted the first Interdormitory Council (IDC) meetings in the dorms, led by IDC president Steve Farrow and judiciary committee chairman Joel Eiserman. Dick Durrance’s Green Key representatives were heavily involved in orientation activities all week long. Student organizations, from the Aegis, with editor-in-chief Heinz Kluetmeier, to WDCR, led by station manager Rob Hartford, staged open houses to recruit freshmen.
At Convocation President Dickey called upon our class to lead the College in “the prelude to its third century.” Undergraduate Council president Dave Weber urged us to seek to be “whole—and happier—men” because of a new commitment to ideals and values of tolerance.
Our year got off to a good start on several fronts. Some 455 students pledged fraternities, concluding a successful rush season monitored by the Interfraternity Council, led by president Rich Bloch. Then on Saturday Bruce Gottschall, in his first start at quarterback, passed for two touchdowns and ran for another in a shutout of University of New Hampshire. Jaan Lumi, Bobby O’Brian and Jack McLean all contributed to the season opener. The team then beat Boston University before losing to Cosmo Iacavazzi and Princeton. The first half of the season finished strong with victories over Brown and Harvard (48-0). At the end of October we ranked third nationally in total offense, behind Notre Dame and Tulsa, and seventh in scoring. In this age of political correctness, who can forget Andy Gundlach in greasepaint as the Indian cheerleader at the games.
On September 30 Col. William Donaldson, commander of the Army ROTC unit, tabbed several members of our class as distinguished military scholars. Among the honorees were Dick Avery, Birger Benson, Charles Cumming, Jeff Davis, Dick Fite, Weaver Gaines, Dick Harris, David Hazelton, Mike McKelvy, Jack McLean, Tom Miller, Ted Plume, Ralston Robertson, Ed Thomas, Dan Walden and Marshall Wallach.
Larry Hanah, chairman of Palaeopitus, went to Washington, D.C., to participate in a meeting with student leaders from around the nation called by President Johnson. National Geographic began to publicize the great canoe trip undertaken by nine students from the College, including Dick Durrance, Chris Knight and Mike Lewis. They had paddled the entire 1,600-mile length of the Danube River to the Black Sea. The story was to become the magazine’s cover story in July 1965.
In October Phi Beta Kappa announced selection of our classmates, including Richard Jones, James Carey, Peter Bush, Ronald Tegtmeier, Mark Brodkey, Irwin Zarembok, David Wilson, Paul Schunke, Donald Burland, Peter Rosemarin, Phillips Bryan, Robert Becker, Gordon Megibow, Alan Munro and Peter Baumbusch.
Please send me a note about what you have been doing and about your recollections of our senior year.
—Tom Long, 1056 Leigh Mill Road, Great Falls, VA 22066; (703) 759-4255; tomlong@gwu.edu
