ALUMNI ISSUE MARCH, 1965 SWÄRTHMORECOLLEGE BULLETIN A light-hearted issue celebrates spring What students do for fun a prescription for zipping up U. S. Davis Cup competition an inside look at professional baseball $£ TV and sports & a crossword puzzle ALUMNI ISSUE SWARTHMORE COLLEGE BULLETIN MARCH, 1965 1 What Do They Do for Fun? 8 Is Baseball Here to Stay? An Interview with Leland MacPhail, Jr. ’39 13 Television and the World of Sports An Interview with William MacPhail ’41 18 What's Wrong with the Davis Cup Competition in the U. S.? By Edwin J. Faulkner, Associate Professor of Physical Education for Men 23 The College 26 Class Notes 49 Swarthmoreana, a Crossword Puzzle By Charles M. Bush ’49 Editor Maralyn Orbison Gillespie ’49 Director of the News Office Assistant Editor Kathryn Bassett ’35 Director of Alumni and Fund Offices T he Bulletin, of which this publication is Volume LXI, No. 5, is published monthly except January, June, August, and November by Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. THE COVER “Half the fun of Swarthmore,” says Andy Fleck ’65, pictured on the cover with Joel Jaffe ’65, “is its casual dating, and the most fun are things that happen spontaneously. You meet someone for dinner and you decide to go to Philly, even though it is raining and you are both broke and you don’t have anything special to do. You spend twenty-five cents for a cherry whip, which is like long rope and tastes like a combination of jello and glue. It’s terrible but fun. You play the pinball machines in a penny arcade on Market Street. You talk to a man digging in the street. Perhaps if you do have some money, you start out for a concert and then decide to go to a pro basketball game because you have never seen one.” The seven-page story “What Do They Do for Fun?” begins on the next page. What Do They Do fo r Fun ? t r JL A o w does the present generation of Swarthmore students have a good time? Statistics point out they make higher scores on their College Boards and they earn more Ph.D. degrees, but do they have any time for fun? What do they do when they are not “turking” or sudsing the laundry or sleeping? We put the question to eight students, diverse in their interests and enthusiasms. One was president of Student Council; another was editor of the Phoenix. A sophomore woman headed the Social Committee. There were Honors and course students, seniors, and one freshman who lost his underclass anonymity the night he played a cymbal solo in the Freshman Talent Show. Fun, said the eight students, is often spontaneous, frequently purposeless, often absurd. It can also be organized, creative, serious of purpose, and at times tearful. It is seldom a bash. Chacun à son goût. And yet for all the differences, fun had some common denominators in the group. Walking through the Crum. Bull sessions. Working together for a common purpose. Somerville snack bar after the library closes at ten. Open houses in the dorms. For the common and uncommon in fun at Swarthmore in pictures and text, please turn the page. Depending upon your generation, it was the Charleston, the bunny hug, or the big apple. In 1964 at the Christmas dance fun was the frug, or the watusi, or the swim. 1 IBRI What Do They Do for Fun? j go caving whenever I can. I read books about it in high school and always wanted to go myself but never had the chance until college. I spent twenty-four hours in a cave last year right after exams on an Outing Club trip to West Virginia. We inched through passageways so narrow you couldn’t turn your head. We had to make one drop of 150 feet by ropes and crawl through stream beds twice. We were prepared for one with an extra set of clothes, but we didn’t know about the other crossing. In wet clothes you shivered when you moved in the 50-degree temperature. Potting is loads of fun. It’s something I had always wanted to do and I finally learned how here. I have “The Phoenix takes about sixty hours a week, and most^of this comes an unsatisfied creative urge some­ out of sleep time; but it’s fun and you have a product. times, that is almost like a hunger— Juniors Alex Capron (standing), Dick Greenberg, and a desire to paint, or sew, or make Delia Fortune put an issue of the paper to bed. something. I’m disturbed when I don’t have the time. What’s fun about editing the Phoenix? The people. That’s what makes everything at Swarthmore so interesting. The Phoenix takes about sixty hours a week, and most of this comes out of sleep time, but it’s fun, and you have a product. Twice a week you can reach into the mailbox and pull it out. The fraternity is a big part of my social life. There are parties every week or two, with a band maybe twice a semester, but more importantly the fraternity means a place to go to be with close friends when your work gets you down. There is always someone to play pool or Ping-Pong with or just to talk to. “Potting is loads of fun. It’s something, “There is always someone at the fraternity house to play pool I had always wanted to learn to do.” or Ping-Pong with or just to talk to.” Jan Burgess ’66 works at the potter’s wheel. Steve Penrose ’66 relaxes at the DU pool table. 3 March, 1965 5 J '.. Is . There s Clothier tower to climb (in October and May with permission from the Dean). Climber Liz Probasco is a junior. What Do They Do for Fun? i am not conscious of doing anything for fun. It is just one of those things that happen. It isnt the nature of the activity, for seminars are often fun. It’s fun to cook a meal in the lodges or to make cookies for a special occasion. Evening open houses in the dorms are wonderful. So is Wade House work, although at times it’s so depressing and frustrating that I come back in tears. But my group of junior high girls possesses a lot of joy and energy and enthusiasm and some of it rubs off on me. Then there’s that wonderful swing in the big oak as soon as you come out of the dining room, and the Clothier tower to climb, and Crum to walk in. People complain about too much work, but they manage to find ways to relax. Nobody let’s himself get too martyred. 4 Swarthmore Alumni Issue Steve Nathanson, a senior philosopher in Honors, says it’s easy to shoot an hour and a half with his hanjo. “I used to prefer to play and sing in a group, but now I often enjoy playing instrumentals alone.” J enjoyed being Student Council president. It’s an opportunity to talk to a lot of people and to learn a little about how the College ticks. Council meetings are efficient in getting business done, although we do a surprising amount of joking around. We don’t need a humor magazine; we have the Student Council minutes. For fun I also play the banjo. It’s very easy to shoot an hour and a half that way. March, 1965 5 What Do They Do for Fun? P h o t o g r a p h s b y M a r y E l l e n M a r k JL take long walks in the Crum for relaxation. I spend a lot of time in bull sessions in the dorm talking about politics, and foreign affairs, and various items in the news; or girls and social problems here, or graduate school and career plans. We talk a lot about moral structures. In winter I like to play hockey on the Crum and to watch the little kids skate. In spring and fall I go joy-riding on my motor scooter with a date and discover back roads with names like Possum Hollow. It’s fun to get excited about what you are studying, and once or twice a semester, you see the interrelationships. It’s exhilarating and that’s what keeps people going. Wendy Hyatt ’68 and Greg Ingram ’65 go joy-riding on a motor scooter. Swarthmore Alumni u lljfl „ < — * * | f * 4^; 1 h ■ ' ' ^ 1 iS S u T | | B | flu m I ■ 1. ■ I H H H H H H H H M ItjK ;_ ■ * J ■ ■ ■ ■ M H mI B h J ' ' ' %MÉftfco- Freshmen Fred Montgomery and Kathy Conner and junior Chuck Hunter find relaxation walking through Crum Woods. ^ .’ootball and all sports-they’re fun. Otherwise you wouldn’t be playing them because there is no emphasis on ball here. You don’t have to go out just because you played ball in high school. You play just because you enjoy it. The team as a whole has a lot of fun together. The guys take pride in the way they play and try to perfect it. Then there’s the midnight mile for guys who are not out for a winter sport and who are dying at their desks for exercise. At 11:45 in the evening you dive down to the track, all bundled up—the costumes are outlandish—and you run a regular mile around the track.