Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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oughly the Tech songs and cheers. Infractions were penalized by total immersion in the baptismal waters of Institute Pond. In the class elections held at the termination of the sophomore year, Rick Ferrari was elected to take the gavel as Class President. Re¬ maining executive offices were again filled by the incumbents: Howard, Andersen, and MacPherson. Considerable emphasis and effort in our junior year was spent in the preparation for and execution of the Junior Prom, the first “Coronation Ball”. Queen for a day was Miss Joanne Rebert, es¬ corted by Bob Baldwin. Chair¬ men for the regal event were Gos- selin, MacPherson, Allen, Freeland, Bassett, Anderson, Howell, Horton, Esten, and C. Johnson. Music was provided by Enoch Light and orchestra. As Juniors, many in our class became increasingly active in extra-curricular fields. Owen Ott became president of the Masque, which in our tenure has produced Ten Little Indians, Command De¬ cision, See How They Run, and John Loves Maty, Gerry Atkinson was Editor-in-Chief of the Tech News and president of the Tech Council, Art Fischer was elected president of the Glee Club. Walter Dennen headed the Peddler staff. Bill Dewey skippered the Nautical Association and Bob Allen direct¬ ed the activities of the Student Christian Association. President of the Newman Club was Bill Mu- fatti. The following members of ’51 were presidents of the various honor and professional societies: Bob Busch, Tail Beta Pi; George Saltus and Roger Wye, Eta Kappa Nu; Walt Dennen and Don Lewis, Pi Delta Epsilon; Harvey Howell, ASME; Carl Johannson, AIChE; Karl Kalbfleisch, AIEE; and Don Kolodne, ASCE. At Skull’s Spring tapping cere¬ mony ten from the Class of 1951 were chosen for the Institute’s highest honor: Gerry Atkinson, Lee Bassett, Bob Busch, Rick Fer¬ rari, Andy Freeland, Pete Groop, Harvey Howell, Don Kolodne, Jim Rich, and Roger Wye. Tapped the following Fall were John George, Bob Fulmer, and Walt Kolodne. Tau Beta Pi, whose ideal is “to mark in a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary char¬ acter . . .” pledged Gerry Atkinson, Lee Bassett, Bob Busch, Rick Fer¬ rari, Andy Freeland, Jim Grenier, Halsey Griswold, Harvey Howell, Donald Kolodne, Leo Lemere, Nick Nakikian, and Roger Wye. Later added to the society were Charles Bouchard, Dick Coffey, Pete Groop, Rod Lancey, Ed Lewis, Don Lewis, John McKeogh, Tony Stefanov, Rog Swanson, and Henry Taylor. Pi Delta Epsilon, the national journalism fraternity pinned white carnation and lead type on Andy Andersen, Gerry Atkinson, Dick Coffey, Bill Cunneen, Walt Den¬ nen, Frank Flood, Tom Hodgett, Bill Horney, Charles Lorenz, Paul O’Neil, and Paul Radasch. Eta Kappa Nu, Gamma Delta chapter, an honor society in the field of electrical engineering, was founded on the Worcester campus in the Spring of ’50. A roll of the charter members includes Andy Andersen, Gerry Atkinson, Charles Bouchard, Andy Freeland, Jim Grenier, Leon Hoogasian, John Marley, George Saltus, Don Stock- well, Roger Swanson, Joe Thomas, and Roger Wye. Initiated in their senior year were Dick Brow, Dex¬ ter Cate, Irv Orrell, and Jack Writer. In the senior year, Sigma Xi, a society which has as its objective the promotion of research work in scientific fields, selected as asso¬ ciate members Gerry Atkinson, Charles Bouchard, Bob Busch, Bob Cochran, Andy Freeland, Jim Grenier, Don Kolodne, Bill Linder, John McKeogh, Nick Nahikian, Don Sands, John Simonds, and Joe Thomas. It has been our privilege as a class to play a significant part in the upward trend of Worcester Tech sports. Those of us present in Springfield on that November evening in 1948 when Tech de¬ feated A.I.C. for its first grid vic¬ tory since 1944 will long remember it. I’m sure. The succeeding rec¬ ords of Worcester’s football teams, while playing essentially the same schedule, is an indication of their improvement. In ’47 Tech had a 0-6 record; in ’48 1-4-1; in ’49 3-3; and in ’50 4-3, a winning season. Advancement and improved cali¬ ber of play has been commensurate in other varsity sports. It will be a long time before the glory that surrounds the ex¬ ploits of two great Tech athletes will tarnish; that pair being, of course, Rick Ferrari and Richie Howard. As Coach McNulty phrased it at one of the Sports Banquets, the pleasure in knowing sportsmen o f their stamp is that they are men first and athletes second. And Mac was applying this not only to the two named above but to many others in many sports who have played their final game for Tech. Rick and Alan Hansen were co¬ captains of the football team in ’49; Don and Walt Kolodne ran the team in ’50. Other members of ’51 who wore the crimson and grey in the Fall were Andy Free¬ land, Stan Miller, Dewey Lund, Ralph Auerbach, Ralph Gabarro, and Jim Rich. The basketball roster is headed by Richie Howard, who captained the squad as a Junior and paired with Andy Freeland to co-captain Tech as a Senior. Richie played four years of brilliant ball and is Tech’s most well-known and re¬ spected player in the Worcester

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On September 22, 1947, 203 of us gathered in Alden for our aca¬ demic overture; we knew nothing, we hoped for much. On Com¬ mencement Day, 122 of the origi¬ nal group, representing 60.1% of the class, will receive their diplo¬ mas. It is interesting to conjecture what has become of the other 81. Chronologically our class history would read something like this: The Class of 1951 won the Goat’s Head twice and never lost a Rope Full or Paddle Rush. In our fresh¬ man year, our football team, sparked by youngsters Stan Miller and Andy Freeland, shut out the Class of ’50, i2-o. The following year we were not so fortunate; ’52 shaded us 13-12. Our record in soccer is 0-1-1; our first year we were blanked 2-0 by the experi¬ enced Sophs, our second we were held to a 2-2 deadlock in a game which extended into two overtimes and near darkness. Outstanding for the ’51 hooters were Bob Ful¬ mer, Sam Winther, and Ken Mayo. Tom Hodgett coached the team in the second year. Despite the fact that ’51 has more than its share of characters and beer-hall Barrymores, we were never solid hox-office when it came to Tech Carnivals. Our two pro¬ ductions, Hellzapoppin’ written by Bob Wolff and Owen Ott, and Pall Bearers, They Satisfy scripted by Bob Allen and Bill Baker, nevertheless were outstanding dra¬ matic efforts. Andy Freeland was the recipient of the Skull Freshman Award, pre¬ sented annually by the senior soci¬ ety to the outstanding member of the new class. Rick Ferrari was runner-up for the trophy. Certainly one of the outstanding class achievements was our con¬ sistently fine showing in the Inter- Class Basketball competition. De¬ feated in the finals the first year, the courtiers of ’51 swept through to the championship in the next three years. Prominent in a tri¬ umphant cause were Richie How¬ ard, Andy Freeland, Don and Walt Kolodne, John George, Jack Dil¬ lon, Pete Groop, and Halsey Griswold. I11 our freshman year, 120 of our number were pledged and initiated into the nine national fraternities represented on campus. The Class of 1951 has heen char¬ acterized by strong and active leadership and exceptionally close class spirit through its years at the Institute. Our first leader was Jim Macy, who as Class Chairman be¬ gan our organization and com¬ pleted the writing and acceptance of our constitution. Our first com¬ plete slate of officers was headed by Andy Freeland as President, assisted by Richie Howard, Vice- President; Andy Andersen, Secre¬ tary; Frank MacPherson, Treas¬ urer; and Gerry Atkinson, His¬ torian. Our Tech Council dele¬ gates have been Pete Groop and Carl Johannson. An old and respected Tech tra¬ dition was reborn when ’51 re¬ instated the Freshman Hazing pro¬ gram. Previous classes had taken a single look at the size and pug¬ nacity of the incoming men and had decided to forego any hazing tactics. A hazing committee, head¬ ed by Phil O’Connor, drew up a code of behaviour, containing, among others, the stipulations that the Freshmen should wear beanies and bow ties, carry Tech Bibles at all times, and know quite thor-

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area. Playing beside Richie and Andy, was hard-working pivot man Walt Kolodne. On the baseball diamond, in Tech ' s third major sport onr class was represented by captain John George, Don Stewart, and Andy Freeland in the infield, Rick Fer¬ rari in the outer pasture, and Ken Wright and George Messenger on the mound. Also adding to Tech’s prestige in the Fall is the soccer team, and men of ’51 were largely responsible for the team’s successes over the past four years. Outstanding for the hooters was halfback Bob Ful¬ mer, who captained the squad in his senior year. Packing the scor¬ ing punch up front were Manny Ozbas, Walt Bretthauer, and Olie Lunde, while Tom Ffodgett and Kirk Leonard at fullback and Joe Sisson in the nets strengthened the the defense. Over a four year span the team’s record has been 0-7, 1-5, 2-5, and 3-2-1. In Worcester’s minor sports ’5iers were prominent: in Track, Harv Howell, Hugh Lovell, Don Sasek, Herb Hayes, Bob Fulmer, Jack Dillon, Jack Reid, Stillman Mackay, Bob Rodier, A 1 Anderson, Kirk Leonard, and Halsey Gris¬ wold; in Swimming, Marshall Brown, Rod Lancey, Herb Hayes, Ev Johnson, and Tom Hodgett. Ed Nahikian captained the tennis squad, teaming with Gerry Atkin¬ son, Sam Winther, and Manny Pappas. Bob Baldwin captained the Golf team. Phil O’Connor led the exuberant cheerleaders, in chorus with Bill Baker, Art Fischer, and Owen Ott. A unique form of athletic en¬ deavour was the Boynton Hill Lacrosse Club, organized, trained, and inspired by Jim Rich, which without official sanction turned in an unequalled winning perform¬ ance with a 15-3-1 performance. Backing up Rich are Auerbach, Don Knowlton, Walt Bretthauer, Ken Mayo, Paul Radasch, Carl Luz, and Dick Foltz. And so here we are. We have smiled through Sanford Riley cook¬ ing and dawn bull-sessions, fra¬ ternity initiations. Goat’s Head soirees, informal chapel services at Tim Bowlers’, the good Doctor Masius and two interminable years of physics, innumerable beer bouts and stag parties, “that Junior year”, and the suspense which comes as a prelude to Commence¬ ment. We have seen the passing of the Saturday class, the production of a highly entertaining and effective film eulogizing the virtues of Tech by the Alumni Office, the passing of the era of the veteran and the return to normalcy, and the im¬ minence of another national emer¬ gency and a heavy draft demand. We came early in the morning and toiled long in the vineyard.