Dartmouth Loses Three Friends

This has been a sad week for the Dartmouth football and athletics family with the loss of three special people.

On Tuesday Dr. Bob Charman '57 died after a long illness. I first met Bob years ago when I worked at the newspaper and I liked him immediately. He helped our family out with a medical issue and even years later never failed to ask how the person in question was doing. Bob had already earned one letter at Dartmouth when Bob Blackman arrived on the scene and he could be counted on to share a good story or two about "Bullet," each time I saw him, usually making fun of his own football career in the telling. Although he was sick, he stopped by practice several times last fall. It was always a pleasure to see him. He was a sweet man and I will miss him.

News arrived this week also of the passing of Don Radasch '35. I got to know Don when I worked at the college and saw him often, always, it seemed, with his wife of 66 years, Margaret. Don was a member of the Dartmouth College Athletic Council and chaired the committee on Athletics. He became the alumni coordinator of the Dartmouth Athletic Sponsor program in 1984. It surprised me not at all to learn that he and his wife enowed an award for the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team. You didn't need to spend much time with him to realize he was one of those men from another era of Dartmouth College who thoroughly embraced the advent of women's athletics at the college.

Also lost this week was Dr. Charles “Potato” Thomas ‘73, who died on Thursday of an aneurysm. Chuck was a running back on three Ivy championship teams (1970, 1971, and 1972), and his 78-yard touchdown run against Holy Cross in 1972 is among the longest in Dartmouth football history. His teammates voted him the Manners Makyth Man Award, given to the Dartmouth football player who has best conducted himself to the advantage of the College. After working in Admissions at Dartmouth, Chuck went to Dartmouth Medical School and spent his career as an emergency room doctor in Chicago.

Wayne Young '72, color commentator for Dartmouth football broadcasts shares this about his former teammate: "Everyone loved the Potato. He was a terrific football player, an even better person, and one of the funniest guys ever. When Chuck was in medical school, his home on Maple Street - the Potato Hilton - was where everyone gathered on football weekends. It is so typical of Chuck that he devoted his life to saving lives in the emergency room. There are a lot of broken hearts today in the Dartmouth football family.”

Condolences to the family and friends of all three.