Hail, noble ’72s, far and wide!


Frost has arrived, the first flakes of snow have fallen, the football team is winning and the bonfire is being built as I write this. It doesn’t get much better than Hanover in autumn! We’ve much news to share, so let’s get on with it.


The University of North Carolina Press has announced it will be publishing Blackness in the White Nation: Afro-Uruguay, 1830-2010, by our classmate George Reid Andrews. George is the Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also author of Afro-Latin America, 1800-2010. 


On October 8-9 the Dartmouth rugby football club celebrated its 60th anniversary. I am deeply grateful to our friend and field reporter Joe Davis for what follows. “Kirk Andrus, Peter Heed, Charlie Nearburg, Joe Davis, Sheldon Prentice, Marty Cain, Wade Judge, Jack Manning, Wayne Young and Norm Zeitcheck attended. It was a good turnout for the class. Stalwart members Lawrie Lieberman, Dave Engle, Scott Snyder and Chuck Leer were unable to attend but sent their regrets and, of course, our late senior captain Dave Wright was sorely missed. We watched Wade’s son Clark help demolish Brown 107-5 and Jack’s daughter Molly scored a try as the women’s team beat Yale 36-5. At the gala dinner following the matches new athletic director Harry Sheehy gave an enthusiastic confirmation of the club’s traditions, but the high point of the evening was the announcement that a new award, for the MVP of the team, had been created and named the Wayne Young Award, in recognition of Wayne’s long-term commitment to the club.” Wonderful and well-deserved news, Wayne! 


Bill Schur tells me that earlier this month, while he was visiting a client in Atlanta, he was able to spend an hour with Jesse Spikes, who sends his regards. Jesse continues to practice law, following an unsuccessful mayoral bid. They compared notes about the law, old Dartmouth friends and their common passion for barbecuing. Jesse owned a barbeque restaurant for a time in the Atlanta area, and he explained his techniques and recipes to Bill. Bill shared with him his own recipe for kosher southern barbeque. A kosher brisket with a secret blend of spices and sauces cooked slowly over smoking coals does the trick. Sounds really good, Bill!


Bill also received a referral from Dave Stephenson, who is a patent and trademark attorney in Boulder, Colorado. He is well and sends his regards.


Bill, Gary Dicovitsky and John Burke met in Hanover during Class Officers Weekend to chat about class business and our next reunion, which will be here before we know it! Much more about this topic to follow in subsequent columns and newsletters, I am sure!


And related to Class Officers Weekend, your humble scribe has just been named Class Secretary of the Year. I’m hardly worthy of such an accolade but deeply grateful nonetheless. Now I need your continued news and views to live up to the expectation! 


Yours always in green.


—Lauren “Duff” Cummings, P.O. Box 580, Hanover, NH 03755-0580; lauren.cummings@ dartmouth.edu