In the last year or so, the Varsity squash racquets team has been pushed into the background--a fate especially undeserved for a sport which enjoys such tremendous popularity among students and which has produced so many Crimson National Champions in past years. There are 71 squash courts scattered over the campus which are filled almost every hour of the day by a vast army of racquet enthusiasts. And even in loan years Harvard teams have not failed to be up near the top in Intercollegiate circles.
Tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 o'clock five of the brightest of past Crimson stars, all of them National Champions at one time or another, will match shots with this year's Barnaby Varsity edition on the Hemenway Gymnasium courts. The team, composed of Germaine, Gildden, Palmer Dixon, Seekman and Larry Pool, and Herb Rawlins, which faces Coach Jack Barnaby's Varsity tomorrow is by all odds the most brilliant array of squash talent ever assembled together.
Five Court Greats
Glidden, three times National Champion, combines incredible speed of foot with a superb soft game. The Pools, Larry and Beckman, won their way to the top with two radically different types of play. Beekman has become almost a legond an the hardest hitting titlist in the history of the game, while Larry's claim to fame lies in amazing accuracy and endurance. Dixon and Rawlins are flawless stylists; the former was one of the earliest of Crimson squash luminaries produced by Harry Cowics.
Prospects for an individual victory or two, far less an upset team victory for the Varsity, seem slight against this starry aggregation, but Coach Branaby accords his five a better chance than expected. Graduation robbed him of four of his top six performers of a year ago, but the ranking players are developing so rapidly that he gives them a chance. to extend their favored rivals tomorrow. The Barhabymen started slowly in the tough league competition but in their last two starts have registered 4 to 1 wins over the Newton Y. M. C. A. and the Newton Tennis and Racquets Club.
Harvard VarsityCaptain Kim Canavarro in the number one position is a threat to any player out of four matches to date and is greatly improved. But Canavarro gets plenty of competition right on the squad from Jim Rousmaniere, who is rapidly rounding into shape despite a late start. Rousmaniers devoted a lot of time to soccer this fall, and it has taken him a longer time than usual to whip into form.
Number three man John Palfrey had never touched a squash racquet before coming to college, and his progress has been astonishing. The hard-working lefthander may soon be as well known for his squash as his tennis. Bill Wood at number four has great potentialities. He has more natural sapped and power than anyone on the squad and is picking up the knack of controlling this power, Don Marvin, at number five, is a newcomer to the top group, but he has natural ability which should soon place him on a par with the best of the racquet wielders.
The matches in the Homenway Gym will provide a brilliant sample of the best the game has to offer. An unusual number of great squash players will be under the same roof at the same time, competing in one of the outstanding team matches in years. Jack Barnaby is carrying on the Harry Cowles tradition of the squash at Harvard in on admirable fashion. He has a young team which will give a good and on entertaining account of itself tomorrow afternoon
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