Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Read All About It

Jack DeGange, the former Dartmouth director of sports information and unofficial historian of the Big Green athletic program, is offering Green Alert readers a good deal on the book he co-wrote with David Shribman, Dartmouth College Football: Green Fields of Autumn. He's offering the 128-page pictorial history of the program for $17, including shipping and handling. It originally sold for $19.99. Here's how the book was promoted when it was released in 2004:
Notre Dame and Nebraska may have their claims, but Dartmouth's football tradition is special, perhaps unrivaled. Football, above all, is an emotional game, and nowhere is that spirit more vibrant, more enduring, more a part of the collegiate experience than in Hanover, New Hampshire. Since 1881, Dartmouth has established its place in the annals of college football, rising to national-championship heights and, during the past half-century, ranking as the Ivy League's most successful program. Dartmouth College Football: Green Fields of Autumn captures the colorful tradition of Dartmouth football. On a campus that President Dwight D. Eisenhower described as "what a college ought to look like," football is at the center of an autumn rite that has left its mark on the game. Dartmouth teams have played in stadiums across the continent, produced Hall of Fame performers, and sent players to the NFL and to the nation's CEO ranks. It is a legacy that continues with each crisp New Hampshire autumn.

Author Bio: Pulitzer Prize-winning editor David Shribman saw his first Dartmouth football game at age eight and began writing about Big Green football as student assistant to Jack DeGange, former Dartmouth sports information director and an observer of Ivy League football for more than four decades.

Jack is also offering Dartmouth College Hockey: Northern Ice, published in 2005, for $17, again including shipping and handling. The book was promoted this way:
In 1905, facing capricious weather on a primitive outdoor rink, Dartmouth's first hockey team took to the ice. In 1974, two years after coeducation came to the Hanover campus, Dartmouth women—fired with more competitive spirit than actual hockey experience commandeered the used equipment of their male counterparts and intramural skaters and became one of the college's most successful athletic teams. Dartmouth College Hockey: Northern Ice portrays two programs that have followed parallel paths to distinction in intercollegiate hockey. Rupert Thompson Arena, one of the nation's premier collegiate ice facilities, is home to the men and women of Dartmouth who have won numerous championships and earned All-American and Olympic acclaim, contributing to Dartmouth's rich tradition of athletic achievement.
Make checks payable to Jack DeGange (no credit cards) and mail to:

Jack DeGange
52 Farr Road
Lebanon, NH 03766

For more information, contact jack(dot)degange(at)valley(dot)net

Today's Daily Dartmouth has more details on the college's budget plan, which will result in a $47 million reduction. The article says, "varsity athletics will also not see any major cuts," and confirms that varsity teams will not be cut.

From the story:
(College president Jim) Wright ... said he did not believe cutting a team should be a budget-driven process, citing the controversy following the 2002 decision to cut the swim team, which was later reinstated.

“You’re saying to some subset of students that the work you do for your team is not as useful as other teams,” Wright said.
The Daily D reported that the college "will make 30 to 35 fewer courses available each year by not offering classes normally taught by professors currently on sabbatical." Also, Cafe North will close, the Courtyard Cafe in Hopkins Center will not be open in the summer and, perhaps most surprisingly, "food operations at the Skiway will be discontinued."

Finally, another in a list of early decision recruits for Dartmouth teams drawn from media reports. (Remember, this is early decision only.)

Baseball
  • Zach Bellenger, INF, Grapevine, Texas (Carroll)
  • Ennis Coble, INF, Atlanta (Chamblee)
  • Kyle Hunter, LHP, Palm City, Fla. (South Fork)
  • Michael Johnson, LHP, Georgetown, Mass. (Brooks School)
  • Chris O'Dowd, C, Cherry Hills Village, Colo. (Regis Jesuit)
  • Matt Peterson, INF, Berkeley, Calif. (The College Peparatory School)
  • Chad Piersma, C, Sioux City, Iowa (Sioux City North)
  • Spencer Venegas, RHP, Costa Mesa, Calif. (Mate Dei)