College Years

From Adelphi to College

Adelphi Academy years gave me many fond memories, but soon came the decision for college.  When the discussion of whatt he next step in my education would be, Dad said “Yale.”  We were at odds there as my comment was “no way.”  In my opinion, and after a visit, it was too much of a city school than a University.  So, the questions was if not Yale, then what would be the best choice for me?

Living in Brooklyn, our next door neighbor, Dr. Ted Minor, and Dr. Elliot Bishop, who lived down the block from us, had both attended Dartmouth College.  Dr. Minor had graduated in the late 1870′s, while Dr. Bishop had graduated in the early 1880′s.   Close family friends, they both said “we’ll get you into Dartmouth,” and they did!

Dartmouth College Class of 1941

I entered Dartmouth as a Freshman, never having had the chance to visit the campus.  It was a small boys college,  with only 2,500 students, in the New Hampshire “hill country.”
The College was (as it is today) located in the center of Hanover, New Hampshire, where the Connecticut River serves as the dividing line withVermont.

Dartmouth was started by an old Congregational minister, Eleazer Wheelock, in 1769, with an 80,000 acre land grant, that included Mt. Washington, given by the Earl of Dartmouth from England.   Originally, the college first educated the native Indian children.  There’s a Dartmouth song I remember,  ”Eleazer Wheelock was a very pious man.  He went into the wilderness to teach the In-di-an.  With a gradus ad parnassun, a bible and a drum, and five hundred gallons of New England rum.”  There are other phrases to the song I don’t remember now, but I’m very proud of the Dartmouth-Indian relationship, to this day.

I roomed for three years in 208 Toliff Hall neare the gym and stadium. Over the three years at Dartmouth, I had three different roomates.  I was also a member of the Beta Theta Phi fraturnity and lived in the house there.  My senior class roomates were Lee Cone, Norm Jones and Bill Galbraith – three terrific men and good friends.

Tradition ran strong at Dartmouth and I still have, and use my freshman wool cap and one of my letter football sweaters.

I took the regular B.A. degree curriculum while at Dartmouth, and tried out for the football team.  I started in the regular “Freshman Football” team, then made it to the full team shortly thereafter.  I recall playing against Army, at West Point, during that time.  What an experience!

I made the Varsity team in my Sophomore year at school and played under Coach Earl Blaik (USMA) as right tackle.  Our Line Coach was Harry Ellinger, also a great guy and USMA graduate.

In our Sophomore year, we were eligible to join a fraternity.  Norm Jones (my dorm roommate, from Burlington, Iowa), and I received bids from each of the 23 fraternities on campus.  Close friends,  we both decided on, and accepted, a “low key” fraternity (at the time)  Beta Theta Phi.

The Beta Theta Phi membership said that they didn’t know our class and asked us to choose others from the Beta ’41 group.  (By the way, my Dartmouth Class was that of (1941).

I played football for all three years, against such rivals as Stanford University in Palo Alto,  Army at West Point (as already mentioned), and others at the Polo Grounds in New York City – all Ivy Leagues.

Other Sports (among the academic classes)

As previously mentioned, my dorm was Toliff Hall on campus.  Two members of our National Championship ski team, also lived on our floor and were kind enough to teach me how to ski.   The skis back them were a lot different than they are today – heavy wood (as were the golf clubs of those days too – I still have my old college woods).

I loved skiing! I’d go out early every Sunday morning  in winter and ski cross country.  Our dorm-mates, and “instructors”  took a few of us to a Vermont slope and put me on a ski jump.  I did 40 feet . . . NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Back to Academics

As mentioned before, I stuck to the general B.A. degree curriculum and took four years of English, which included drama, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.  I figured that, with the turmoil erupting in the world, and prospective workloads ahead, I’d never have the time to read, discuss, and enjoy the classics.  Many of the books from my college years, are still in our home library, and I’m finally finding time to enjoy them all over again!  What a treat.

Dartmouth and the town of Hanover

Dartmouth was a small school at the time and the town resembled the small school atmosphere as well.  In town, there were only a few stores,  Tlanzi Brothers Grocery, the Dartmouth Co-Op Bookstore, one store (located in a cellar) that sold condoms, a small movie house, and the beautiful Hanover Inn.   It was like a lot of small towns of the time, where everyone knew everyone and what was going on in town too.

One year, early before football season started I borrowed the only police motorcycle for a long trip around town.  Thankfully, I wasn’t penalized!  But it was fun.

Classes were another thing, unlike what many colleges are able tp offer today, they were small, personal and informal.  I recall one class – Western History – that was otherwise called “Cowboys and Indians.”  Dogs were allowed in all our classrooms and anywhere they roamed in town.  We had one town dog that would always come into sleep in Professor Heb West’s class.

My major in school was that of English, with an emphasis on literature.  The reasoning behind my selection was that I thought I’d never have time to read the classics after graduating and going into business.  While at Dartmouth I read and thoroughly enjoyed fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama.  Believe it or not, I still have my college books and have been reading through them again.  What a treat to do so too!