Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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wrong with. We just had bad breaks in ' 48, that ' s all. You ' re right, Doug, I said, You know the game I remember most was the Carnegie game when they brought their kiltie band to Lehigh. That was a real show to see them march around the field. ' Course there was the pep rally before the Lafayette game. That ' s always good for laughs, remarked Sam. I was here last night and saw the freshmen skits and pajama parade across town to Moravian. It ' s just like it was when we were here. I thought about my last year at Lehigh and remembered some of the things that took place. I wondered if the students still did the same old things that we did, and I suppose that basically there wasn ' t much difference between the students of my time and those of today. Mustard and Cheese still would be putting on plays and certainly the Red Feather drive would be going on. The Student Concert-Lecture Committee would still be spon- soring programs like the Don Cossack Chorus and Dr. Polgar, the hypnotist. And I ' ll bet they even have a campus magazine to replace The Goblet I glanced at my watch, and it was after eight o ' clock. I knew the wife would be mad because I was already late, but I didn ' t want to leave. Swapping memories and spending the evening around a pitcher of beer with the boys was something I hadn ' t done in years. I studied the faces of the other three as they were drinking and talking, and I remem- bered how they looked when we graduated. Sam was the baby of the crowd, he never saw war serv- ice. I remembered how he changed while we were in school. When we graduated he wasn ' t too worldly wise, but he was much surer of him- self than when he first entered Lehigh. Chick was the married veteran, and I guess finishing school was a real strain for him. I never saw him except in class, he was always working. But for all his efforts there ' s no doubt about it, his diploma meant more to him than to any of us. Dick and I had had it rather easy with very little to worry about. The C.I. Bill took care of the finances where otherwise it would have been difficult to make ends meet. Still, school meant much to us too. We were wiser because of our war service and attacked school work with inten- sity and a purpose. Men, it s get- ting late. I ' m afraid I have to shove off, said Sam. That ' s right, it ' s passed eight, I said. Here, there ' s enough I filled all the glasses. .... . , 6 With the ex- beer in the pitcher for one for the road, and ception of a chance meeting at a class reunion, we probably never would be together in a group like that again. We all realized it as we lingered over our beers. Old memories had been relived again as each of us had ambled on about our student days at Lehigh. It was difficult to break up and start for home, it was even harder to say good-by. Sam was driving to Philadelphia, and Doug had a long trip to Pittsburgh that night. Chick had a plane ride to Chicago in the morning, and I had the journey to Connecticut before me. ' Bye, men, I said and shook their hands. Be seeing you at the next reunion. As I left Joe ' s 1 thought how strange is was that memo- ries could mean so much, and it occurred to me that those days at Lehigh were some of the best of my life. Junior and Al Coeppert in a familiar scene at Alex ' s 21

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The Radio Workshop works out Where once the table top was clean plywood, Bethlehem soot and years of haze and tobacco smoke had mellowed the wood a deep brown. The writing was hard to read and I had to look a long time before I found my name. I soon reached the booth again where the boys were talking about football. Sam was saying, We sure beat Lafayette today. Remember how we lost that game back in ' 48? It got talked about by a lot of people. The New York and Phi I ly columnists said it was a rotten call by the referee that gave Lafayette the game, and I agree with them We took a nasty defeat, said Chick. Maybe so. Just the same, we had a good football team for my money, ' Doug said. Take Gabriel and Doyne. They were two backs that no school could go Disseminating pep before the pre-game rally 20

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MARTIN D WHITAKER PRESIDENT OF LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 22