A Fitting Tribute

The first Ward's Warriors Golf Tournament will be held on July 10 at Vermont's Woodstock Country Club in honor of Steve Ward, the longtime Dartmouth football equipment manager, and will benefit junior golf in the Upper Valley. From a press release:

Ward’s Warriors is a nonprofit organization founded in Memory of the late great Steven F. Ward

from Piermont, NH.  Steve (was) a proud member of the United States Marine Corp, Dartmouth Football Equipment Manager for 21 years, accomplished golfer, and high school basketball referee.

Steve served his country in military for 26 years. Steve did his boot camp at Camp Lejeune, and he retired from the USMC at the highest warrant officer rank of CW05.  He was a representative for the Marine Corps Avionics in the development and successful fielding of the MV-22 Osprey Tiltrotor Aircraft.

Steve was a passionate and competitive guy in everything he did. He won the National Marine Corps Golf Open multiple times. He loved spending time with his friends on the golf course. He also loved to be around his grandson Tanner, watching him play golf and learning the game that Steve loved so very much. Steve had a long battle with kidney cancer, and spent the last couple of months doing whatever he could to be there to support and watch Tanner learn the game he loved so much.

Steve Ward passed away on October 3, 2022. This tournament is a celebration of his life, and love for the game of golf. The goal of the tournament is to help junior golf programs in the Upper Valley that need financial support for their programs. All the donations and profits from this tournament will go directly to Junior Golf.

The tournament will be a "4-person, 18-hole Scramble Shotgun start. No Mulligans. Each hole will have a junior golfer who will putt with each team."

For more information on signing up for the tournament or to learn how to make a donation in Steve's honor, CLICK HERE. That will address an email to the organizer with the subject line WardsWarriors.

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The Dartmouth has a brief story about Sammy McCorkle being named the Big Green's acting head football coach for the 2023 season. (LINK)

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HERO Sports has a column headlined FCS: Top 25 Returning Quarterbacks In 2023. (LINK)

Dartmouth will face two of the QBs on the list. Coming in at No. 25 is Princeton's Blake Stenstrom. New Hampshire's Max Brosmer is at No. 9.

Green Alert Take: Don't be surprised, should HERO decide to revisit its list after the season, if there isn't another Ivy League QB or two added to the list. This is from a BGA Premium story this spring:

Given the talent returning around the Ancient Eight, the 2023 Ivy League season might just be the Year of the Quarterback. 

 

Ivy League offensive player of the year Nolan Grooms of Yale will be back taking snaps. All-Ivy second team QB Blake Stenstrom of Princeton, and honorable-mention picks Aidan Sayin of Penn and Jameson Wang of Cornell return as well. So does 2021 Ivy League rookie of the year Joe Green of Columbia and Caden Bell, who stepped in and was impressive for the Lions when Green went down.

Dartmouth also has a decorated starting quarterback returning in fifth-year senior Nick Howard, a member of the All-Ivy League first team in 2021. But that’s not all. The Big Green also brings back Dylan Cadwallader, who actually led the team in passing yards last year, as well as Jackson Proctor, who impressed coming off the bench in the finale at Princeton. 

Green Alert Take II: One quarterback on the list Dartmouth won't face, and like a lot of fans wish they would, is No. 5. Matthew Sluka, who runs the offense at longtime Big Green rival Holy Cross.

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Rick Bender, who does a terrific job running the sports communications office (what was once simply sports information) has spent 15 of his 25 years in the field at Dartmouth. A Q&A recognizing his 25 years in the business explains how he evolved from pro baseball player to college sports communications specialist. Find the piece HERE. 

Green Alert Take: When Rick arrived at Dartmouth just a couple of years or so after BGA started he could have slammed the door on it, but he trusted that I would do what I do in a professional manner and for that I'll always be grateful. Dartmouth is fortunate to have him and I feel lucky to call him a friend.

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EXTRA POINT
After getting a kick out of a recent Jeopardy spoonerisms category, I thought to give ChatGPT an assignment to write a spoonerism about Dartmouth football playing in The Woods. To be brutally honest, the results stunk. Literally. I mean, Fartmouth Dootball?

And so I punted. I asked instead for a poem about the Big Green playing in The Woods. Here's part of what ChatGPT came up with:

In the heart of The Woods, where nature sings,

Dartmouth football spreads its wings.

Amidst the trees, where echoes resound,

Their prowess in the wild renowned. 

 

For in these Woods, where legends are born,

Dartmouth's mettle, like a wild storm, is sworn.

A team of warriors, both fierce and true,

Playing their games where nature's magic grew.

So let's celebrate Dartmouth's green brigade,

For their games in The Woods, a spectacle made.

In nature's embrace, they triumph and shine,

Dartmouth and football, forever intertwined. 

It took the AI poet roughly 10 seconds to come up with that. A little corny but a lot scary, huh?