Maine Alumnus, Volume 55, Number 2, Fall 1973
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine University of Maine Alumni Magazines University of Maine Publications Fall 1973 Maine Alumnus, Volume 55, Number 2, Fall 1973 General Alumni Association, University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/alumni_magazines Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the History Commons Recommended Citation General Alumni Association, University of Maine, "Maine Alumnus, Volume 55, Number 2, Fall 1973" (1973). University of Maine Alumni Magazines. 292. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/alumni_magazines/292 This publication is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Maine Alumni Magazines by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The first big fall weekend was Parent’s Weekend held on Sept. 28-29. This young lady took part in the Pie Eating Contest at the Organizational Fair. The fair was a major highlight of the weekend that drew nearly 2,000 parents and friends to the Orono campus to take part in the weekend fun. Maine rallied it’s forces to win a resounding clash on the football field against the Univer sity of Rhode Island 20-7. On Sunday parents and students feasted on a now traditional lobster and clam shore dinner. The Maine Alumnus vol. 55 no. 2 Page 2 The Marching Band Over 100 students at UMO take Me O 11, Marching Band, a rigorous course in dedication, drive and spirit, not to mention music. - • Page 4 Environmental education is for everyone The Oceanographic program at Darling Center in Walpole is the scene of some very timely marine environmental education prog rams. ; ’• Page 6 Peter Gavett: Student star becomes coach The third highest basketball scorer in UMO history has joined the varsity basketball coaching ranks. Page 8 Das war das Oktoberfest Photographs tell the story of the German flavored Homecoming Weekend on October 12-13. Former President Winthrop C. Libby receives a clock as the reci pient of the 1973 Alumni Career Award at a banquet held in his honor on Page 11 Going over the books at the U of M The Maine Friday, October 12 of Oktoberfest, Homecoming Weekend. (See story on Management Cost Survey Commission recommends sixty-six page 8) cost-cutting proposals for the University of Maine system. editor Mrs. Clara (Peabody ’27) Hersum Margaret Rode Zubik ’71 George P. Hitchings ’37 Timothy J. Keating ’74 13 Campus Capsules publisher Dr. Waldo M. Libbey ’44 Mrs. Sarah (Weeks ’50) Paine 15 Department Reviews Lester J. Nadeau ’59 Albert M. Parker ’28 Mrs. Alice Ann (Donovan ’40) 17 Alumni News photo credits Poeppelmeier Jack Walas David E. Svendsen ’65 19 Sports Al Pelletier Carl R. Toothaker ’39 Margaret Zubik ’71 Mrs. Pauline (Jellison ’40) Weatherbee Steve Bicknell ’74 Whitney L. Wheeler ’29 John F. Wilson ’33 Cover: Glenn L. Correll, a junior education major from Pittsfield Terrilynn Barden ’77 Kenneth F. Woodbury ’24 plays the French-Horn in the Marching Band formations during Mrs. Eleanor (West ’33) Yerxa football season (see story on page 2). Photo by Jack Walas, alumni association officers university photographer. President annual alumni fund committee Ralph L. Hodgkins, Jr. ’59 National Chairman First Vice President John F. Wilson ’33 Mrs. Fern (Allen ’34) Turbyne Vice Chairmen Treasurer Thomas J. Desmond ’33 Herbert A. Leonard ’39 George P. Hitchings ’37 Clerk Mrs. Helen (Wormwood ’41) Pierce Mrs. Priscilla (Thomas ’49) Rines Leonard N. Plavin ’48 Eugene F. Sturgeon ’65 alumni council David E. Svendsen ’65 John W. Ballou ’49 Fund Coordinator William E. Bodwell ’50 Donald M. Stewart ’35 The Maine Alumnus, published five times a year in September-October, Howard L. Bowen ’24 November-December, January-February, April-May and June-July by the General Stephen A. Briggs ’65 alumni representatives to Alumni Association, Alumni Center, University of Maine, Orono/Orono, Maine 04473. The General Alumni Association, Ralph L. Hodgkins, president, is an Leland F. Carter ’42 the intercollegiate athletic unincorporated association, classified as an educational and charitable organiza Raymond R. Couture ’51 advisory council tion as described in section 509(a) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code. Total number J Edward DeCourcy ’34 of copies printed per year, 110,000. Average per issue, 22,200. Send changes of Dr. James F. Donovan ’45 Roger C. Castle ’21 address to the business office six weeks prior to the next issue. The Maine Alumnus Willard C. Farnham ’60 is sent to those who contribute to the Annual Alumni Fund. Second class postage Terry A. Dorr ’74 paid at Orono, Maine 04473. John R. Dyer ’41 Vernon W. Tozer ’51 t edication rive itiZLrU^ tb’JJlft etermi nation The Marching Band Many people may not know about the twelve-hour, one-' credit course in dedication that UMO offers. Going by the call letters MCO 11, the University’s Marching Band is comprised of 112 devoted, dedicated and driven students. Pride and spirit are also part of the course requirements but are more often the by-products for these students who feel four, approximately nine minute football half-time shows makes it all worthwhile. They also perform pre-game and post-game shows. Band practice starts before classes begin in September. In fact, this year, the band spent six gruelling hours on the field, and V/i hours in the classroom for each of the three days before classes began. At the head of this dedicated marching group stands an even more dedicated and driven director, Gregg Magnuson. Magnu son, in his fourth year at UMO as Band Director, has the direc torship of the marching band down to a science, the science that it has to be. Magnuson received his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Music from the University of Michigan in 1966, 1967. At Michigan he was a graduate teaching fellow in trombone and euphonium. He was also in the marching band, symphony band and trombone ensemble. Before coming to Maine he taught three years at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. Besides his work with the Marching 100, he is responsible for the Concert Band, Varsity Band, Trombone Ensemble, Brass Quintet, Brass Class, Percussion Class, Applied Brass, Applied Percussion and Ad vanced Conducting. The football season is mapped out from the beginning in terms of field practice in the delightfully bug-ridden Maine Fall, play rehearsals inside, individual unit practices and practicing by the individual on his own time. And there always is that one predictably unpredictable factor—Maine weather—to contend with. “LA to W insert, CR 6 yds to pos., RF.” is not the code for Walt Abbott’s Black Bears to form a “counter hand-off to the wingback to the 4-hole”, but rather the field manuevers for a rank of nine trombones to position themselves as the band forms the shape of a radio. This is the language of the Marching 100 as they work out precision movements necessary to make a simple circle look round. A video tape of each half-time performance enables Mag nuson to hold a critique by Tuesday evening. Much like a team working on their defense, “coach” Magnuson can spot any flaws, a swinging gloved-hand or a low-stepping clarinetist. j 2 Who are these students that comprise the Marching Band? Surprisingly, only 25 per cent are music majors, the remainder span the academic scene. The majority of students are from Maine and never marched in high school, giving the director an added challenge when he prepares the first show in two weeks with a crop of green freshmen. The band is a close group having together shared many hours striving for perfection. The band sorority, Tau Beta Sigma, and fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, are active groups who provide a work force for the band, give a reception for freshmen members and visiting bands and even publish a newspaper before each game called the “PSD Gamely” (Pride, Spitit and Drive). The “Gamely”, a mimeo-sheet, is complete with a message fom the conductor’s desk, “in” band jokes and dedication anecdotes. The 1973 marching season provided some very unusual field performances. At Homecoming there was an X-rated movie theme with the formation of a movie projector with rotating wheels. Early in the season they performed an innovative preci sion parody of President Nixon and Watergate complete with a tape recorder and a “SAM”. On Parent’s Weekend the band did a review of rock ’n roll, a real audience pleaser, with bopping bobby-soxers, a hound dog and a precision dance routine to the Pink Panther. The author of these intriguing marching concepts is Director Magnuson. He borrows some ideas from other schools but as a rule tries to keep things contemporary, such as the Nixon show. He often brainstorms with students to develop the theme and formations. The Band has come a long way in the four years with l- ¥ Magnuson. When he came, the half-time shows they did were ■ equivalent to the pre-game shows they do now. And alumni from the late fifties can remember that there used to be one practice on Wednesday evenings in the dusty field house to prepare for a show on Saturday! At the end of this year, several seniors will be leaving who have marched and played under Gregg Magnuson for his four years. (Continued on page 14) Top right: Director Gregg Magnuson giving his “all” during a music rehearsal of the Marching Band. Behind him hangs his famous motto, Not Again . Better. Right: The Marching Band forms a favorite shape, a Maine Stein, at a halftime football show.