I had the good fortune to visit with a bunch of the members of the 1963 Dartmouth Ivy League Championship team last night. The football program has been having reunions for all the chamionship teams over the years, attempting to reinvigorate support for a program that has temporarily lost its way. A little mojo must have been passed on since the Big Green won in convincing fashion, snapping a long winless streak.
The individuals on the team were a great bunch of guys and I enjoyed meeting them all. I’d heard stories over the years involving most of those guys and it was a nice opportunity to put faces with the names. At the dinner, they swapped stories about various adventures, and misadventures, and the evening even included some poetry. I doubt too many football gatherings end on notes like that. (If the gentleman who created that piece should happen to find his way here some day, send me a copy- I’d love to post it here.)
The guys came from all walks of life: from Nebraska, Indiana, California, Washington, Pennsylvania and others. “Around the girdled Earth they roam” indeed. Some were professors, some were lawyers, some were doctors. Some were mostly retired, some fully retired. Many had artificial parts to serve as testimony to their playing days. Some were starters and others were “You Guys.”
But they all had that fall in 1963 in common; bound forever by time served together many years ago at a school whose spell on them remains.