Class Note 1951
Issue
In the absence of any mail from classmates I will continue on with the buildup to our 60th reunion in June 2011. As a demonstration of how policies or traditions can be ended amid controversy, there was an editorial in The Dartmouth on September 30, 1949. The twin subjects were the closing of the College taproom and ending the freshman-sophomore football rush. As we all remember there weren’t enough undergraduates left of legal drinking age to make the taproom economically feasible. I remember the football rush our sophomore year provided a lot of business for Dick’s House, including Palaeopitus member John Stearns ’49 swallowing his whistle. The Undergraduate Council deemed the football rush to be too violent and replaced it with a tug-of-war. A bit of nostalgia: Campions inserted a three-column-by-10-inch ad for “Evening Dress Accessories” such as shirts, bows, studs, hose, suspenders, scarves and handkerchiefs. Hah—young people today don’t even own sport coats, ties or suits. You don’t believe that? Go to funerals and weddings and see what shows up. You would be surprised.
A lot of e-mail buzzed between ’51 classmates recently over the precise number of us who matriculated. Estimates as high as 700 came in. The matter was settled when the Rauner Special Collections Library produced 1947-48 College directory enrollment statistics that listed 671. On October 25, 1949, it was announced that our class was down to 627. Here is more nostalgia: The 1949 varsity football team couldn’t beat Penn at the beginning of the season or Princeton at the end but it beat eight teams in between, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Colgate and, of course, the big win over Cornell at house parties weekend. Cornell came into Hanover ranked No. 5 but lost to Tuss McLaughrey’s team 16-7. The final against Princeton gave us (Roxy Schmidt and I were in Palmer Stadium that day) a chance to watch Princeton sophomore Dick Kazmaier lead the single wing attack for a 19-13 win over the Indians. Yes, Indians! Send me your recollections of December 1949 and January 1950.
—Peirce McKee, 239 Village Gate, Orinda, CA 94563; peirce.mckee@rbc.com
Nov - Dec 2009
In the absence of any mail from classmates I will continue on with the buildup to our 60th reunion in June 2011. As a demonstration of how policies or traditions can be ended amid controversy, there was an editorial in The Dartmouth on September 30, 1949. The twin subjects were the closing of the College taproom and ending the freshman-sophomore football rush. As we all remember there weren’t enough undergraduates left of legal drinking age to make the taproom economically feasible. I remember the football rush our sophomore year provided a lot of business for Dick’s House, including Palaeopitus member John Stearns ’49 swallowing his whistle. The Undergraduate Council deemed the football rush to be too violent and replaced it with a tug-of-war. A bit of nostalgia: Campions inserted a three-column-by-10-inch ad for “Evening Dress Accessories” such as shirts, bows, studs, hose, suspenders, scarves and handkerchiefs. Hah—young people today don’t even own sport coats, ties or suits. You don’t believe that? Go to funerals and weddings and see what shows up. You would be surprised.
A lot of e-mail buzzed between ’51 classmates recently over the precise number of us who matriculated. Estimates as high as 700 came in. The matter was settled when the Rauner Special Collections Library produced 1947-48 College directory enrollment statistics that listed 671. On October 25, 1949, it was announced that our class was down to 627. Here is more nostalgia: The 1949 varsity football team couldn’t beat Penn at the beginning of the season or Princeton at the end but it beat eight teams in between, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Colgate and, of course, the big win over Cornell at house parties weekend. Cornell came into Hanover ranked No. 5 but lost to Tuss McLaughrey’s team 16-7. The final against Princeton gave us (Roxy Schmidt and I were in Palmer Stadium that day) a chance to watch Princeton sophomore Dick Kazmaier lead the single wing attack for a 19-13 win over the Indians. Yes, Indians! Send me your recollections of December 1949 and January 1950.
—Peirce McKee, 239 Village Gate, Orinda, CA 94563; peirce.mckee@rbc.com