New York Military Academy - Shrapnel Yearbook (Cornwall on Hudson, NY)

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Jones, who had always been a leading figure in arranging and producing the cadet shows. The only production staged by Sword and Plume in its first year was Booth Tarkington's The Trysting Place , presented of the Midwinter Hop. Albert Lefever, jr., '25, C. Salmon III, '27, were the individual stars formance. Lewis P. Metesser, '25, was acting the play and handled all the technical details. at the time and Arthur of the per- manager of Despite the fact that all four fraternities on the campus flourished almost from their beginning, there was occa- sional dissension among them concerning rushing and other activities. In order to eliminate these rough spots and to establish a standard code of rules for all to obey, the cadets formed an interfraternity council known as Sigma Phi. This organization immediately set up rules which were accepted by all the fraternities. Most important was that which forbade the pledging of any cadet until he had attended the Academy for a full year, unless he entered in the graduating class. In the latter case a boy might be pledged after completing one term. Members of the original council were Luis Fuertes, '25, and William Laidlaw, Jr., '25, Alpha Chi Sigma, Emil Balzerini, '25, and William Morris, '25, Chi Sigma Chig Frank Sakser, '25, and Fred Dudley, '25, Pi Phi, and Arthur Gallucci, '25, and Lewis Metesser, '25, Delta Sigma Nu. The late fall of 1925 witnessed a staggering shock to the foot soldiers of the corps. A competitive infantry drill among the companies was called for Thanksgiving Day and won by-bold your hats-Troop D, the cavalry unit! The troopers left their hay-burners in the stable, undressed to the extent of removing their beloved spurs, and out- maneuvered their deadly rivals in the infantry companies at their own game. One result of the drill was elevation of Cadet Captain Louis Grimm, '26, to the post of Senior Captain of the Bat- talion. Another was that every one of the thirty-six troop- ers became impossible to live with for the remainder of the school year. The grim haunt of all school officials-an epidemic- descended upon the Academy in the early weeks of 1926. Scarlet fever stalked the campus, filling all hospital fa- cilities to overflowing and placing the entire plant under quarantine. The basketball season was cut off in its prime, with less than half of the schedule completed. The Midwinter Hop, annual high spot of the social season, was postponed twice and finally cancelled. There was a similar curtailment of most of the other cadet activities, as Dr. George Dempsey and an augmented corps of nurses battled to stem the tide of the disease and cure those already afflicted. How well the medical staff succeeded in its task is dem- onstrated by the fact that the track team was undefeated for its second straight season, an impossible accomplish- ment if the boys had not been in perfect physical condi- tion again. The team won five dual meets and William Keish, '27, set a new record in the javelin throw, tossing the spear 155 feet 2 inches. Despite difiiculties arising from the scarlet fever epi- demic, the year also saw the introduction of The Cadet, student literary publication. Two issues of the magazine were published in the first year with Bill Laidlaw serving as editor-in-chief. The Alumni Association, under the leadership of its president, George Porges, '14, became active in the spring of 1926 and climaxed its program with a dinner at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York. The affair was attended by more than 150 alumni, who were entertained by the Academy glee club and orchestra. This activity was re- fiected the following fall when The Ramble published a page of alumni news in each issue. Colonel Harry M. Scar- borough assembled and edited this page for the cadets. Colonel Scarborough was especially fitted for this task because, although not a graduate of the Academy, he was the senior member of the faculty in years of service. Scar- borough came to N.Y.M.A. in the fall of 1906, after hav- ing attended Dickinson Preparatory School and Dickinson College, from which latter he was graduated with the de- gree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He served as instructor in science until 1925. In 1912 he was appointed headmaster also, and in 1918 his title was changed to executive ofiicer. The latter post was abolished in 1937 and he is now head- master again. Colonel Scarborough served as a captain in the Chem- ical Warfare Service during the World War, was appointed a lieutenant colonel in 1923 and received a Certificate of Capacity for Colonel in 1950. From 1918 to 1937, while Colonel Scarborough was Executive Ofiicer, Mr. Herbert Alvah Hinman was Head- master. A graduate of Middlebury College, Mr. Hinman was Superintendent of Schools in New Haven, Vermont, and Ashtabula, Ohio. He was instructor in science and headmaster of the junior School at N.Y.M.A., and had been connected with the Academy for twenty-five years until his death in 1937. A major addition to the facilities at the Academy was the new swimming pool which was opened in February, 1927. There was no formal swimming team until the fol- lowing year but the sport was made compulsory for all cadets and remains so to the present time. The pool is seventy-five feet long and twenty-five feet wide, and con- tains the most modern equipment for all sorts of aquatic activity. Page Tbirly-two

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L f DECORATING BARRACKS FOR MAJOR FOOTBALL GAME-1917 Fire once again threatened to take a costly toll of the school in 1924. The blaze in the cavalry stables was dis- covered quickly, however, and members of the troop braved the flames to rescue every one of the horses quar- tered in the long building. Work on new and more modern stables was begun at once. This was a fine year in most departments of N.Y.M.A. athletics. The football team, captained by Charles Beck- with, '24, won six out of seven games and scored 196 points to 25 for its opponents. Basketball had been returned to the status of a varsity sport some time previously and the 1925-24 team ran up a total of 556 points fan average of 40 per gamej, losing only to the undefeated Navy Plebes. The fencing team, undefeated through the season, num- bered West Point varsity among its victims. It was the Navy Plebes who upset the N.Y.M.A. bas- ketball squad again the following year. Trailing by fifteen points at the end of the first half, the Plebes staged a sen- sational rally to win by two points and hand the quintet of Captain Jimmy Baldwin, '25, its only defeat during the regular season. Both the fencing and track teams were undefeated, however, the former for the second successive season. The swordsmen won eight dual meets against stiff opposition and Raymond Sieminsky, '26, Luis Fuertes, '25, and Francis Dohs, '25, placed 1-2-3 in the national interscholastic fenc- ing championship. In recognition of this sensational show- ing, team members were given major letters for the first time in the history of the sport at Cornwall. The track team was captained by the brilliant Freddie Robbins, '25, who set his mates a fine example by making three new individual records and assisting in establishing a fourth. Robbins ran 100 yards in 9.9 seconds, put the shot 44 feet, ZVZ inches, and pole vaulted to a new high of 10 feet, 9 inches. He also ran on the mile relay team which set a mark of 3 minutes 41.3 seconds. The team was coached by Edmund M. Wisner, professor of languages, who developed many fine athletes at the Academy. Two new organizations made their appearance during the 1924-25 term. They were the Glee Club and Sword and Plume, a dramatic group. The Glee Club was coached by Frank Mead, '91, a resident of Cornwall who had al- ways kept up his interest in the school. The club's first session was featured by a concert for wounded war vet- erans at the Chelsea Hospital. Although dramatics held a high place among scholastic activities from 1894 to 1921, there was a lapse of three years in this branch following the death of Superintendent Page Thirty-one

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X. rf- . 15 ,, TOM JENKINS CONDUCTS BOXING CLASS Major sports at the Academy reached a peak during the school year of 1926-27. Irish O'Hara, '27, led the 1926 football team through a great season, during which the only break in a steady string of victories was a scoreless tie with Roxbury School. The basketball team won four- teen out of fifteen games during the regular season, losing only to Newtown High School by the narrow margin of a single point. But it was on the baseball field that the cadets really went to town in 1927. Coach Lynn Grow uncovered a sensational sophomore pitcher in the person of Ernest Carpenter, '50. With Carpenter's invaluable assistance on the mound, the team went through the season undefeated, winning nine games against strong opposition. Carpenter set up a great record, pitching a no-hit,no-run game against McKenzie School and shut-outs against Monticello High School and Seton Hall Freshmen. A pair of pre-academic cadets-Wade Allen, '28, and joseph Magruder, '27-qenlivened the otherwise dull rou- tine of the daily schedule with unusual manifestations. Allen turned out for a field problem with a beautiful white scarf arranged kepi-fashion around his hat and earned the sobriquet of Beau Geste for the rest of his scholastic life. Magruder, over-zealous in his efforts to burnish all his equipment to the nlh degree, knocked himself cold from the fumes of cleaning fluid, and had to be revived by a volunteer rescue squad. The fall of 1927 was signalized by the famous Silver Raid which reduced the entire corps to eating with its fm- gers one fateful morning at the first mess. Subsequent in- vestigation developed the fact that a group of night raid- ers had descended upon the mess hall under cover of dark- ness and made off with every fork, knife and spoon on the premises. It was not until a member of the swimming team struck a peculiar mass on the bottom of the pool that the whereabouts of the booty, done up in a large sack, was discovered. Recovery of the treasure put an end to further investi- gation, but Dave Schulman, '29, was generally believed to have been the master mind who engineered this startling coup-de-dining hall. The school year of 1927-28 was a lean one for sports at the Academy, the only bright spot being the record established by the swimming team. Swimming was a first- year sport but the team, captained by Ray Spanjer, '28, of Morristown, N. J., won three out of four meets. Horace Mann, Peekskill Military Academy and Jamaica High School were the victims. The lone N.Y.M.A. defeat was administered by Manual Training High School. The custom of inviting fathers of the cadets also to Page Thirty-three