John Harvard's Journal

These things are the opposite of pro- ed. I’ve been able to characterize myself as And if nothing else, I’ve been persuaded found and surprising. They are normal, a statistic, and to compare that statistic to get a Red Sox cap. which has made them invisible, un- with other statistics in the city, so that my thought-about. But against the varied life feels less like an isolated singularity, Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellow backdrops of the city, different features and more like one life out of many inter- Katherine Xue ’13 has rediscovered her deep, abid- stand out in relief. One of the greatest connected ones. I think that getting out of ing love for maps. gains from this course has been context Cambridge has made my world just a tiny For more on the “Reimagining the City-Univer- and contrast, a highlighting and re-evalu- bit bigger and richer, and added a little sity Connection” conference, see www.harvardmag. ation of norms and things taken for grant- more complexity and ambiguity. com/harvard-and-boston.

sports jury, Harvard partisans were relieved to find that their team had another talented passer in reserve. Winters pulled a hamstring muscle Scoring Spree when he ran for a two-point conversion late in the opening game, a 30-22 loss at Holy Cross. Colton Chapple, a junior from The football team won the Ivy trophy, and records fell. Alpharetta, Georgia, got the starting as- signment against Brown a week later. A third-stringer when the 2010 season began, N THEIR WISDOM, the football gods mouth in a blizzard. With a fast-paced no- Chapple had started three games, but had decreed that the quest for the 2011 huddle offense that featured a two-tight- completed just 30 percent of his passes. Ivy League football championship end set, the Crimson bedeviled opposing His work on a rain-soaked night at the should not go down to the wire. defenses. Stadium showed great improvement. He IA week before the season ended, Har- Head coach Tim Murphy described the ran the offense with assurance, and in the vard eliminated its last remaining rival for squad as “mentally tough, relentless, re- final quarter, with rain falling in sheets, the Ivy title by drubbing Pennsylvania, 37- silient, selfless. The chemistry was excep- he unloaded a 56-yard touchdown pass to 20, at the Stadium. Brown, the only other tional. They loved playing together.” receiver Adam Chrissis ’12, giving Harvard contender, had just lost to Dartmouth. Resilient indeed. When three offensive a decisive 14-point lead in a 24-7 win over With two league losses apiece, Penn and linemen were lost before the season, un- one of the Ivy League’s strongest teams. Brown were out of contention. For Har- tested underclassmen—including a fresh- Chapple played for only two periods in vard, still unbeaten in Ivy play, the cham- man tackle—stepped up. By midseason, a 31-3 walkaway at Lafayette the following pionship was guaranteed. the O-line was widely regarded as the Ivy weekend. He’d connected on 14 of 18 pass- Harvard teams had previously won League’s best. Though opposing teams es for 121 yards and a touchdown when a or shared 13 Ivy trophies, but none had scored first in five of the last seven games, hard hit put him out of the game with back clinched an outright title before the last the Crimson offense was quick to strike tightness. He was weekend of the season. That feat was back. When veteran quarterback Collier mobile enough a topped off by a 45-7 blowout at Yale Bowl, Winters missed four games with an in- week later to en- Harvard’s tenth victory in the last 11 meet- ings with the Blue. The team was a powerhouse, averaging 37 points per game and establishing a Har- vard scoring record of 374 points for the season. The modern record of 339 points had been set by the undefeated 2004 team. Like that one—once described by the Boston Globe’s John Powers ’70 as “an all- terrain, all-weather scoring machine”— the 2011 team could score points whatever the conditions. Harvard beat Brown in a drenching rainstorm, and routed Dart-

Quarterback Collier Winters dove for Harvard’s third touchdown in a 37-20 defeat of Penn, and later watched from the sideline as the defense scored a bonus touchdown on an interception return. The Penn victory clinched an Ivy championship for the Crimson.

66 January - February 2012 joy a career day at Cornell’s Schoellkopf reached the 40-point level in Field, where Harvard outscored the Big four consecutive matches. Har- Red, 41-31. The two teams struggled vard was now the only Ivy team mightily for three periods, with the lead without a league loss, a game changing hands five times, but Harvard ahead of Brown, Penn, and Yale finally pulled away, scoring 21 points in a in the standings. Brown had seven-minute stretch. Chapple completed dealt Penn its first league defeat, 23 of 38 pass attempts for 414 yards—the 6-0, on that snow-swept week- second-highest single-game yardage in end, ending an 18-game Ivy win- Crimson annals—and four touchdowns. ning streak. Penn had beaten Back at the Stadium, he outdid himself Yale a week earlier. in a 42-3 rout of Bucknell. He threw five At Manhattan’s Wien Stadium the With a 32-yard interception return in the scoring passes, matching a 58-year-old next weekend, a hard-charging Colum- fourth quarter, captain and linebacker Alex Gedeon scored Harvard’s final touch- Harvard record set by Carroll Lowenstein bia defense sacked Winters five times, down of The Game. ’52 (’54), and becoming the first Harvard but the versatile quarterback had another passer to throw for four touchdowns or outstanding day in a 35-21 defeat of a win- tackles, two quarterback sacks, and his more in consecutive games. All five scor- less but spirited Lion squad. He complet- pivotal fumble recovery. The Quaker run- ing passes came in the game’s first 35 min- ed 20 of 30 passes for 323 yards and three ning attack was held to 24 yards rushing. utes. Chapple watched most of the second touchdowns, scoring another touchdown half from the bench while the reserves afoot. With the ivy title in hand, Harvard mopped up. Next came Penn, the defending Ivy traveled to Yale Bowl to put a finishing Chapple had now thrown for a league- champion for two seasons running. The touch on an epic season. After a Yale scoring leading 12 touchdowns, and had the Ivies’ Quakers and the Crimson had jousted for drive in the opening period, a shape-shifting top passing-efficiency rating. But when Ivy supremacy for the past decade, and had Crimson defense kept the Blue in check for Princeton came to the Stadium, it was Win- split, 5-5, in their last 10 meetings. Penn the rest of the game, breaking Yale drives ters who started at quarterback. None the had won handily in the last two contests, with a forced fumble, a blocked field-goal worse for his four-week layoff, he put on a knocking Harvard out of title contention. try, and three interceptions. Yale was out- spectacular show, completing 34 of 42 pass- But now it was Harvard’s turn. played on both sides of the ball. Harvard got es for 403 yards and, yes, five touchdowns, Penn took a 7-0 lead late in the first three first-half touchdowns and struck for adding another touchdown on foot. quarter, but the Crimson defense got a three more in the final quarter. Harvard needed all the offense it could game-changing takeaway on the Quak- The first-half scores came on a four- muster that day. Ahead 42-16 in the third ers’ next series, when tackle Josue Ortiz yard dive by Winters; a 20-yard pass from quarter, the team had to fight off a furious ’11 (’12) forced a fumble and recovered the Winters to senior receiver Alex Sarkisian; Tiger rally that cut the lead to three points ball at the Penn 24-yard line. On Harvard’s a fake field goal that had the kicker, David in a 10-minute span. But two late-game first play from scrimmage, Winters found Mothander, slanting into the end zone touchdowns gave Harvard a 56-39 victory, tight end Cameron Brate ’14 on a crossing from seven yards out; and an authentic 21- its fourteenth in the last 16 meetings with route in the end zone. That started a run yard field goal by Mothander as time ex- Princeton. of 37 consecutive points that put Harvard pired in the half. in front, 37-7, midway through the final After a scoreless third period, Harvard After record pass- period. The points erupted again with an 11-yard rushing ing displays in a three- A Championship Season came on a 14-yard touchdown by Zach Boden, a swing pass game stretch, the at Holy Cross L 22-30 run by Zach Boden, from Winters to tight end Kyle Jusczcyk Crimson unlimbered Brown W 24-7 a 35-yard field goal ’13 that Jusczcyk turned into a 60-yard its rushing attack in at Lafayette W 31-3 by David Mothander touchdown, and a 32-yard interception a snowy night game at Cornell W 41-31 ’14, a four-yard run by return by linebacker and captain Alex against Dartmouth. As Bucknell W 42-3 Winters, a two-yard Gedeon. Harvard’s 45-7 victory was the a late-October storm Princeton W 56-39 run by Treavor Scales, most lopsided in the Harvard-Yale series blanketed the Sta- Dartmouth W 41-10 and—just 20 seconds since 1982, when the Crimson won at the dium turf, three backs at Columbia W 35-21 later—a 34-yard in- Stadium by the same score. ran for more than a Penn W 37-20 terception return by “It was one of those days when we hit hundred yards each in at Yale W 45-7 linebacker Alexander on all cylinders,” said coach Murphy, who a 41-10 wipeout. Tail- Norman ’13. is now 13-5 against Yale. “It all came to- back Treavor Scales ’13 rushed for a sea- After Penn’s early scoring drive, Har- gether. It was our day.” Said Yale coach Tom son-best 139 yards. His alternate, freshman vard’s defense kept the Quakers out of Williams, “We got beat by a better team, Zach Boden, ran for 117, while quarterback Crimson territory until late in the game, the best in the league. Harvard was bigger, Winters scrambled for a career-high 126 when Penn took advantage of two fumbles stronger, faster. They’d looked good on vid- yards. Each back scored two touchdowns. to score twice in the final minutes of play. eo, and they looked even better in person.” Not since 1890 had a Crimson team Ortiz led the Crimson defenders with 10 The normally ebullient Yale Bowl crowd

Photographs by Gil Talbot/Harvard Athletic Department www.gocrimson.com John Harvard's Journal was quieted by an announcement at half- time that a serious accident had occurred eight goals and 24 points. Co-captain in a Bowl parking area. Three women were Sports in Brief Lindsey Kowal ’12 and Peyton Johnson injured, one fatally, when a U-Haul truck ’14 (next season’s co-captain with Cath- rented by a Yale fraternity and driven by an Soccer erine Coppinger ’13) also garnered First undergraduate plowed through a tailgating The women’s team (12-5-1, 6-0-1 Ivy) Team All-Ivy honors. group before hitting two parked U-Hauls. had a banner campaign, winning the Ivy The men’s team (2-12-3, 0-6-1 Ivy) The trucks were loaded with beer kegs and League championship outright to cap- had a dismal fall, finishing last in the Ivies. other supplies. (Harvard no longer allows ture Harvard’s third title in the past All their losses, save two non-conference trucks or kegs in Stadium parking areas.) four years. Among Ivy rivals this fall, only games, came by a single goal. The Yale game was the valedictory ap- Cornell, which fought to a 2-2 tie after pearance for Collier Winters. The fifth- double overtime in Ithaca, was able even Crew year senior from Claremore, Oklahoma, to tie the Crimson. In the first round of The men’s heavyweight crew won the completed 27 of 42 passes for 355 yards and the NCAA tournament, Harvard lost to Championship Eights event, the biggest two touchdowns, and was also the game’s Boston University, 3-0. prize at the Head of the Charles regatta leading rusher, picking up 62 yards on 11 Senior co-captain Melanie Baskind was in October. They finished well ahead of carries. Though injuries forced him to sit unanimously named Ivy League Player of both the USRowing national team and out the equivalent of two seasons, Win- the Year; she led Harvard’s attack with Washington, national college champions. ters finished his Harvard career with 4,347 passing yards and 33 passing touchdowns. He was at his best against Yale. In the 2009 for 386 yards and seven touchdowns. The defensive end and a regular on the kickoff game he threw two long touchdown pass- top wide receivers were seniors Chris Lor- team, was credited with 20 tackles, two es that gave Harvard a 14-10 victory in the ditch (35-545-2), Alex Sarkisian (33-435-6), quarterback sacks, and a forced fumble. final minutes of play, and in 2010 he passed and Adam Chrissis (16-201-2). Hard to budge: With fifth-year senior for what proved to be the game-winning Triple threat: Seitu Smith III, a fleet Josue Ortiz and juniors John Lyon, Nnam- touchdown in a 28-24 win. freshman from Florida, led the Ivy League di Obukwelu, and Grant Sickle as the and set a new Harvard record with a starting front four, Harvard had the Ivies’ Tidbits: Since the start of formal Ivy kickoff-return average of 29.9 yards per top rushing defense, allowing an average League play in 1956, Harvard leads Yale, game. A 91-yard runback in the Bucknell of 89.7 yards per game. 31-24-1, and hasn’t lost at Yale Bowl since game made him the first Crimson fresh- Upper reaches: The 95 combined points 1999.…With a won-lost record of 120-59 in man to return a kickoff for a touchdown. in the 56-39 Princeton game were the most 18 seasons at Harvard, Tim Murphy now Smith also saw spot duty as a receiver and in any Harvard game since 1891, when the has the most wins of any Crimson coach. running back. In the Princeton game he Crimson subdued Wesleyan, 124-0. The former record of 117 was set by his picked up 220 all-purpose yards: 122 on five Dark and stormy: Home openers have predecessor, Joe Restic, who coached from kickoff returns, 54 on six pass receptions, been played at night since 2007, when a 1971 to 1993. 42 on a punt return, and two rushing. $5-million rehab lit up the Stadium, but not Pass masters: Quarterbacks Winters, Fresh talent: Smith was one of four first- until 2011 had Harvard played two home Chapple, and Michael Pruneau ’14 com- year players who made their presence felt games under lights. Despite drenching rain, bined for 26 touchdown passes, a Harvard throughout the season. Zach Boden, alter- the Brown opener drew an announced at- record. The previous high of 21 was set in nating at tailback, was Harvard’s second- tendance of 18,565. Some 6,000 loyalists 2003. Winters had 13 scoring passes, Chap- leading rusher, carrying 79 times for 484 braved a late-October snowstorm to watch ple 12, and Pruneau one.…With 403 passing yards and six touchdowns. Will Whitman, the Dartmouth game.…Harvard’s record in yards against Princeton, Winters became a six-foot-six, 280-pound tackle who was Stadium night games now stands at 6-0. the third Harvard quarterback to break onfield for every snap, was the first fresh- Postseason honors: Tackle Josue Ortiz the 400 mark. The first was Neil Rose ’03, man offensive lineman to win a starting received the Crocker Award as the team’s who passed for 412 yards at Brown in 2000 assignment in coach Murphy’s 18 seasons most valuable player, and was a unani- and for 443 at Dartmouth in 2002. Just two at Harvard. Zach Hodges, an alternate at mous choice for the all-Ivy first team (see weeks earlier in the season, Chapple “How to Wreak Havoc,” September- had thrown for 414 in the Cornell Final Ivy League Standings October, page 106). Captain and game.…Winters’s single-season com- Ivy and overall records Points for/against linebacker Alex Gedeon and senior pletion rate of .686 set another Har- cornerback Matt Hanson were also vard record, and his career percentage Harvard 7-0 9-1 374 171 named to the defensive first team, of .617 is second only to Rose’s .624. Brown 4-3 7-3 236 186 while senior tackle Kevin Murphy Prime targets: Kyle Jusczcyk and Penn 4-3 5-5 249 252 and junior tight end Kyle Juszczyk Cam Brate were the prongs of Har- Yale 4-3 5-5 239 262 made the offensive first team. Ortiz vard’s two-tight-end attack. Jusczcyk Dartmouth 4-3 5-5 220 219 led the league in quarterback sacks, caught 37 passes for 512 yards and sev- Cornell 3-4 5-5 313 287 with 10; Gedeon ranked second in en touchdowns, while Brate caught 25 Princeton 1-6 1-9 174 325 tackles, with 92; and Hanson led in Columbia 1-6 1-9 211 328 68 January - February 2012 pass breakups, with 10. Twelve other team seven outright Ivy championships and Westward ho: The 2012 season will com- members received second-team or honor- has shared the title seven times. The last mence with a Stadium game against a new able-mention citations…Bobby Schneider, outright championship came in 2007, opponent, the University of San Diego. A of Grapevine, Texas, and Dunster House, when the Crimson finished 10-0. Harvard return engagement in San Diego is sched- will captain the 2012 squad. An economics and Brown shared the Ivy title the fol- uled for 2013. The Toreros (9-2 last season) concentrator, he was one of the team’s top lowing year.…Crimson teams have posted have faced only one Ivy team in the past, five tacklers. at least seven wins in each of the past 11 drawing with Yale, 2-2, in an intermittent Lucky sevens: Harvard has now won seasons, an Ivy record. series from 1999 to 2006. v“Cleat”

Alumni The Father Paul O’Brien’s toughFather ministry in Lawrence, Massachusetts

ot long ago, while reading late in the St. Patrick parish rectory, Father Paul O’Brien ’86 heard gunshots and smelled Nsmoke—not for the first time on the south side of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Once the golden model of an American O’Brien makes a industrial city, Lawrence is now among the strong impression at St. Patrick’s poorest places in the nation: average per racial and ethnic tensions. “At first Church, whether capita income is $16,000; one-third of fami- I was the enemy of a lot of people greeting young lies live below the poverty line. Unemploy- because I was going to open up the parishioners or ment is high, school test scores are low, and floodgates to the actual people, preaching about what matters in crime flourishes. “Only one of every three mostly Hispanics, who live in the their daily lives. kids here is born to a mother who is mar- neighborhood,” says O’Brien, who ried,” O’Brien reports. “In many cases, we speaks Spanish and liturgical Vietnamese. combats the reality of urban hunger by serv- are dealing with kids, sometimes as young “But a lot has changed since then. Everyone ing breakfast and dinner 365 days a year, as seven and eight, banding together in now knows that we’re trying to connect thanks to hundreds of volunteers. Many groups and basically raising themselves. people with God, so whatever the practical- children rely on it for their daily meals. They decide if they are going to school that ities are, that is number one. We are all here He also consolidated and reorganized day. And they figure out together where to live and share the love of Jesus Christ.” two parochial schools to create the Law- they are getting their clothing, their food, In 11 years, O’Brien’s unequivocal, evan- rence Catholic Academy (grades K-8), pencils, and books. That’s the culture from gelical mission has helped unify and now filled to capacity with 510 students which urban gangs are developing.” expand a trilingual congregation in a and run by both secular and religious lead- Yet functional families of all races and community rife with entrenched socio- ers. “If we can get kids as young as possible ethnicities also live around the church, economic problems. In that same time, the and give them an all-embracing education, where about 5,000 people come to wor- number of operating Catholic churches we can get them into the very best schools ship at one or more of the 17 weekly mass- in Lawrence has fallen by two-thirds, to around here for whatever gifts they have— es. Many are Hispanic or Vietnamese by three, yet St. Patrick’s programs are full academic, technical, vocational skills,” he origin (there is a Sunday mass in Vietnam- and it consistently operates in the black says. “What makes Catholic-school educa- ese); others are Irish Americans, whose with an annual budget of $1 million, pri- tion so powerful is the God part. The best ancestors were among the first immigrants marily raised through congregant dona- public-school teachers can tell kids to do to work in the mills. (The original St. Pat- tions. O’Brien’s success depends on his their math, read, and not to join a gang. But rick’s was built in 1869 to meet the latter personality—a blunt, respectful honesty in the Catholic schools, it’s ‘God made you group’s spiritual needs.) peppered with sardonic humor—and a re- and cares about you and God has a plan for Older parishioners have lived through warding mix of services. you, so you’re responsible for doing math dramatic demographic changes. Ever since He led the effort to build a new, beauti- and reading so you can go out into the O’Brien arrived at the parish in 2001, he has fully designed $2-million “food shelter,” Cor world and use your gifts.’” The proof is not pointedly addressed decades of resulting Unum (“one heart”), that opened in 2006. It only in higher test scores. “In a community

Photographs by Fred Field www.alumni.harvard.com