Drake University - Quax Yearbook (Des Moines, IA)

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Fall weather, beckoning students to pleasanter tasks, followed them to class . . . during the past year, lamented the fact that lack of schol- arships had driven many a player to greener pastures, but stoutly maintained that football at Drake exudes an in- tangible aura Quan indefinable something, to quote him exactlyl on the campusg then flatly pronounced that Drake would keep football. This was duly reported in the campus journal. Imme- diately under the banner Drake to Keep Football- Harmon was the headline Stalnaker Assails Intercol- legiate Athletics. ln the latter article, the wise liberal arts dean came out in favor of dropping football, and, for that matter, other campus sports as well. He opined that campus competition was degenerating to an entertainment medium, developing stars with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. In the following issue was printed a story quoting nine Drake ex-football players harshly rapping Coach Warreii Gaer and Drake's athletic policy. The ex-grid- ders claimed Gaer was full of promises but noticeably lacking in results, said that they were having the devil's own time trying to make ends meet on the miserly pit- tance doled out to them, and in general aired their beefs. y - sf 2 1 ::::::::::::::y::::::: rim kwin.. - it . . . and to the library . . . . . while the Administration sought an effective solution to absentee problem 13 1 LL NVAY This was followed in consecutive order by a mistake- studded, grammatically hideous letter from the sports department of local radio station KVVDIVI. This out- spoken group lambasted Drake for not subscribing to open subsidization of its athletes, like other schools, and pointed to Drake's record as the proof of the school's error. This was interpreted by the Delphicfr editors as meaning they fthe editorsl were opposed to Coach Gael' as such and were out for his head. This they refuted in another editorial. hleantime, the rebuffed staff of KWDIVI sought out one Leonard WllgCllbLlSl1, football player, who claimed he was misquoted in the Dellbhic story which told of his criticizing Coach Gaer, and put him on the air with said remark. The Deljwlzir, scarcely idle, loudly hollered mur- der, said it hadn't misquoted anyone, and furthermore, the whole sports staff of KVVDNI was a motley crew of ''takers-out-of-context. Undaunted, the mountain-bnild- ing radio boys sent several of their number out to Drake to investigate the situation, lengthy reports of which were aired nightly to the station's vast radio public Ctwo percent of the Des Nloines listeners according to a recent informal polll. I5

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cording to a Cambridge, Mfass., board of reviewg and the absolute worst according to a local campus columnist. But it was free, and it used up the rest of the morning until the hot dogs could be dipped in warm Water and served and the rest of the afternoon activities could get under way. Elsewhere in campus football circles, a great debate sparked by the valiant Tinuvs-Deiplzic raged with the intensity of a forest fire. Delfvhic Editor lVIax Isaacson struck the match in an editorial on january S, when he correctly intimated that the university should face the facts about football, i. e., either resign itself to being in a minor football league or give up the sport completely and divert the monies to some other activity. The same issue carried a banner story about six foot- ball players who were considering dropping Drake for lack of sufficient scholarships. Immediately following this realistic stand, Drake President Henry Harmon gulped once, took an aspirin, and summoned four representatives of paper and Year- book into his private sanctum for a little chat. After a bit of preliminary banter, H. G. acknowledged the fact that 320,000 had gone down the football drain 4 PHOTOGRAPHS! J. K. BROTVN Parenfs of the year, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Shawhan, were fefed with a 'Foofball game and ligh+ opera: afe coffee and cookies served by Lighf Colonel Armstrong 3 l i l Mrs. Roosevelt of fhe UN and Mr. Bloom of fhe Yearbook ex- changed fhoughfs on campus Communism and the college gen- eration

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One enterprising Deljrhir staffer dug up a tape re- corder, used same to transcribe the nightly dissertations and play them back, giving the journalism department a topic of discussion and laughs for many weeks. By this time, it was nearly February, and the campus was roughly divided into two camps-one, remembering the days of yore when college football was an amateur sport, decided that the present-day variety was little bet- ter than nothing, too expensive, and advocated dropping it. The other, siding with the president, maintained that a campus isn't a campus without a weekend stint at the gridiron, mediocre record or not, and opposed to the death any move to take it away. One bald fact remained: college football is a full- time job. The armchair quarterbacks acted acco1'dingly. ALL PHOTOGRAPHSZ J. K. BROYVX Campus carnival was a success tor a number of reasons County fair atmosphere prevailed as United Cam- paign hucltsters tool: over tieldhouse to raise money for worthy charities. Jeans and plaid shirts were dis- carded a month later, when . . . On February 8, word was received of the forma- tion of a Growlers Club -cynically referred to as the club for homeless athletes. The purported idea of the club was to furnish room and board to musclemen. The odd name stems from its an- nounced aim to put the growl back in the Bull- dog. President Harmon, seemingly relieved to get off the hook, bought the first membership: price 3100. - Tentative goal of the Growler project was set at 540,000 By late February, all but 555,000 had been raised, thanks to the generosity of 350 local citizens. The remaining amount was to be sold in the form of junior memberships to the campus cli- entele: price 50 cents each, but by spring takers were few and the campaign for the collegiate source of revenue was running like a dry creek.