Pro Day Recap

Dartmouth free safety Pete Pidermann showed off his feet – as well as his hands and arms – yesterday at the University of New Hampshire pro day in Durham, N.H.. The 6-foot, 190-pound Pidermann was the only non-UNH player to take part in the pro day, joining highly regarded UNH tight end Scott Sicko, tailback Chad Kackert, defensive back Ryan Hinds and linebacker Sean Ware in running drills and being measured.

Pidermann ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash. To put that time in perspective, it was faster than six of the 20 safeties in the 2009 NFL combine – with seven others running 4.54-4.58.

Some of the times reported by big-school safeties in this year's NFL Combine that Pidermann beat:

Justin Woodall, Alabama, 4.59
Lucien Antoine, Oklahoma State, 4.60
Kam Chancellor, Virginia Tech, 4.62
Kyle McCarthy, Notre Dame, 4.63
Harry Coleman, LSU, 4.65
Barry Church, Toledo, 4.68
Myron Rolle, FSU, 4.68
Dennis Rogan, Tennessee, 4.69
Kendrick Lewis, Ole Miss, 4.72

Pidermann's vertical came in at 34.5 inches and his standing long jump at 9 feet, 10 inches. Two of the measurements that won't go unnoticed: 33.5-inch arms and a hand width of 9.25.

The Any Given Saturday message board has a thread going under the headline Dartmouth on the Rise. Find that discussion here.

Dave Casper '78, a three-year letterman at defensive tackle and a former teammate of Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, has been appointed Executive Vice President of Commerical Banking for Harris, part of the Harris Investor Services, Inc. Casper was the winner of the football program's Manners Makyth Man Award as a senior.

The Dartmouth ski team stands in sixth place after two days of the NCAA championships at Steamboat. The standings after two days:

1. Denver 420.5 points
2. Colorado 351
3. New Mexico 319
4. Utah 300.5
5. Vermont 287.5
6. Dartmouth 275
7. Alaska-Anchorage 233
8. Montana State 185
9. UNH 155
10. Middlebury 137.5
11. Nevada 126
12. Northern Michigan 88
13. Alaska-Fairbanks 87
14. Williams 73
15. Colby 66.5
16. Bates 52
17. Wisconsin-Green Bay 35
18. St. Lawrence 32
19. Michigan Tech 23
20. Wellesley 10
21. (Tie) St. Michael's, Gustavus Adolphus 6

When Dartmouth hired Jim Yong Kim as president, a friend suggested the college had gotten itself a "rock star." What he meant, of course, was that the new president had the entire package. Apparently the website IvyGate thinks the same thing. (Kim, by the way, has indeed proven himself to be a rock star, at least on the local stage during the Dartmouth Idol competition. ;-)

The Davidson basketball team certainly missed Stephen Curry this season, but the Wildcats have done a pretty good job of reloading with two different players being named the SoCon Freshman of the Year (one by the coaches and one by the media). Chosen by the media: 6-foot-10 Jake Cohen, brother of former Dartmouth quarterback Josh Cohen.

And finally, for a town with a population of 1,661 (in the 2000 census) Cornish, N.H., has certainly had its share of national headlines and TV satellite trucks stopping by in the past several years. Located perhaps 25 minutes south of Hanover, Cornish was the longtime home of writer JD Salinger, who died this winter.

It was also the home to con man Clark Rockefeller (Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter), the subject of a TV movie that will be broadcast Saturday at 9 p.m. eastern on Lifetime. The program is titled, Who is Clark Rockefeller?

Oh yeah, and for anyone who wonders how compelling a conference tournament can be in a one-bid men's basketball league, tune in to the Boston University at Vermont game on ESPN2 tomorrow at noon. The last 400 tickets to the game were going on sale today for $30 apiece. There will be a Fan Fest starting at 10 a.m. I staffed a conference championship game at UVM one year and trust me, the Ivy League has no idea what it is missing.