'Tis the time of year when air is in the football, and when, on the College intramural level, Dunster House starts to take over.

The Funsters, selfish yet rightful holders of the J. Dudley Clark Trophy, have gone undefeated in the last three years of inter-House tackle football competition. Today on Soldiers Field the '60 season officially begins, as Winthrop gets the first shot at the seemingly unbeatable eleven. In other games today it's Quincy vs. Adams, Lowell vs. Kirkland, and Leverett vs. Eliot.

Although Dunster will field a formidable club this year, it will definitely miss a few key men who have graduated or left for other reasons, and probably will not go undefeated. Most difficult to replace will be 200 pound fullback Stan Greenspan, the team's leading ground gainer and scorer last year, who is now playing for the Crimson varsity.

House bookies have chosen Eliot as the pre-season favorite for the title. Almost all of the players on last year's second place team, which had only 14 points scored against it (by Dunster in the first game of the season), are returning. Led by quarterback Rog Skemp, a high school all-stater from Superior, Wis., the Elephants will have, in addition to a very adept backfield, the heaviest if not the toughest line in the league. At one of the tackle positions Eliot will play Bill King, a 290 pound tackle who played football for Marine teams while stationed in Quantico, Va., the past three years.

Deacons Head for Second

Expected to sneak in front of Dunster for second place honors is Kirkland, the only single wing club of the nine. In addition to good size, the Deacons have that inextinguishable House spirit which has given them the Straus Trophy the last four years, and is now clamoring for the dusty mantelpiece in Dunster's dining hall. (The Straus Trophy is awarded each year to the House with the best over-all record in inter-House athletic competition.)

Lowell's Bellboys, who looked strong in a scrimmage with Quincy last week, should finish fourth, followed closely by Winthrop. Quincy's cinder-block busters, located at the nadir in last year's standings, have some diagrammed plays this year and look greatly improved--enough to rise to sixth place. After that it will be Leverett, Adams, and Dudley, in that order.

Record Number Participate

Equipment handlers in Briggs Cage and intramural organisers have indicated that the number of students participating in House football this fall is reaching a record high. Which means, of course, more blood and less forfeits.

In other House athletics this fall, Eliot and Winthrop will be defending the soccer and touch football crowns. The annual cross country run, won last year by John D. Evans III '61, will be held on Nov. 8.

In addition to the individual title winners, observers will be watching the over-all point totals to see where the Straus Trophy will go this June. In the 23-year history of the Trophy, Kirkland has won it 12 times, Dunster four, Lowell three, Eliot and Leverett two times each. Winthrop, the so-called jock House of the campus, has never won the trophy.