Graduation Day

It is Dartmouth graduation day and it appears the weather will cooperate. It's gray out right now but the hourly forecast and radar both suggest it won't rain on the proceedings.

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Sad news out of Virginia that Harry Wilson '77 died this week. That from a story about his son Russell, the starting quarterback and a star baseball player at North Carolina State. From the Times Dispatch:

One day after experiencing a great moment in his life, being drafted in the fourth round by the Colorado Rockies, Russell Wilson experienced a low moment in his life.
His father, Harrison Benjamin Wilson III, a 55-year-old Richmond attorney, died Wednesday after a lengthy illness. Russell Wilson, a graduate of The Collegiate School, also is the starting quarterback for N.C. State.

Harrison Wilson III was an outstanding wide receiver at Dartmouth College and had a tryout with the San Diego Chargers.

For a 2008 ESPN.com story about Russell and the Wilson family, click here.

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The Daily Dartmouth graduation issue has a Big Green sports year in review. Of football it had this to say:

The Dartmouth football team (2-8, 2-5 Ivy) managed to improve on last year’s season and broke a 17-game losing streak with a 28-6 victory over Columbia in the Homecoming game and a 20-17 double overtime thriller over Cornell two weeks later. Nick Schwieger ’12 broke the then-school record by running for 242 yards in the win against the Lions, but his record was soon eclipsed by Greg Patton ’13, who rushed for 243 yards against the Big Red.

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Ivy Leaguers performed well at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. In addition to Brown's Craig Kinsley winning the javelin, Princeton's Ashley Higginson finished third in the steeplechase and the Tigers Donn Cabral finished second in the men's steeplechase and sixth in the 5,000. Yale's Kate Grace was seventh in the 800 and Columbia's Kyle Merber 10th in the 1,500. Find the complete results here.

Sweeping the men's 800 and 1,500 was Oregon senior Andrew Wheating, who grew up across the river from Dartmouth in Norwich, Vt. His head coach at Oregon and the architect of the rebirth of Track Town USA is Vin Lananna, former Dartmouth track and cross country coach.

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Back on the subject of football, I watched what I could of yesterday's World Cup futbol game between the United States and England. You would think ABC could figure out a way to filter out the annoying buzz of what I've learned are vuvuzela horns. I can't imagine sitting in the stands with those things being blown all game long.

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Yesterday was senior prom night for Hanover High and baccalaureate is being held at Rollins Chapel on the Dartmouth campus this afternoon. Graduation is Friday. Until a couple of years ago it was held at the Bema, a nice reflection of the town-gown relationship. But with a new football field at the high school and a large class, the ceremony was moved to the school several years ago and will be held there again this year.