Probably 50 percent of the coaches wear again some item of clothing they had worn at a winning meet. Typical examples are Hal Ulen and Bill Brooks, who coach the varsity and freshman swimming teams respectively. Ulen restricts himself to repeating a tie, but Brooks will repeat his entire outfit.

Anyone who attended the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming Championships, held here last month, had the opportunity of watching the downfall of a Yale superstition.

For several years Yale backstroke champion Dick Thoman made it his custom to jump into the pool last, before the other swimmers lined up to begin the race. At the start of the 100-yard backstroke on the final day all the swimmers dove in except for Thoman and Don Mulvey, who paced back and forth, neither one looking at the other and neither willing to be the first to go in. Finally Mulvey plunged into the pool, Thoman followed, and the race began. Later in the afternoon the whole procedure was reenacted, with Mulvey outlasting the superstitious Thoman. Mulvey won the moral victory, even though Thoman opened up a big lead and Yale went on to win.

It isn't any superstition that makes Lloyd Jordan avoid black cats. "I don't like cats anyway," he explains. In fact Lloyd Jordan claims to be entirely free of superstitions. "Even if I wanted to wear a rabbit's foot, my dog woudn't let me," notes the football coach.

Jordan doesn't even have a prejudice against the number 13--"as long as the other team has 12." "In fact," says the coach, "any number that comes along. I'll take."

In sharp contrast to an unsuperstitious head coach, line coach Ted Schmitt insists on wearing the same suit to every game. "Sure he does," says Jordan, "it's the only one he has."