"I'm sorry, this is a charter," the student driver said as he slammed the Harvard shuttle bus door in the face of a couple of wet, Quad-bound students last week. Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, could only smile faintly to his precious bus cargo, a group of influential Harvard alumni known as the University Resources Committee.

I couldn't help but think that Epps looked like a worried camp counselor underneath his cool veneer. For two hours, he was to be in charge of these Big Guns, a select group of men and women Harvard asks to go out and beat some equally select bushes for the University's upcoming capital fund drive.

Athletic Director Jack Reardon met the bus in front of Blodgett Pool to begin a tour of the Soldiers Field facilities. We had just come from Agassiz Theater in Radcliffe Yard, where the committee had heard a group of student actors sing selections from a Gilbert & Sullivan show. The need for increased funding for the arts (i.e., the "pitch") preceded the entertainment.

As Jack Reardon began his own spiel on the majesty of Blodgett Pool and its King, Olympic medalist Bobby Hackett, my mind began to drift back to freshman year. It seemed hard to believe it had been four years since the Class of '79 first invaded Cambridge. We have changed and grown, but so have Harvard athletics, the question concerning both is--has that change been for the better?

A look around Blodgett symbolized the physical changes. My memory clicked back to the big Princeton-Harvard swim meet in the antiquated IAB pool, and how it signalled the competitive end of a facility steeped in history. In stark contrast, Blodgett is almost too modern and impersonal.

The Indoor Track and Tennis Building (ITT) was next on the agenda and equally impressive. I hoped that the committee would meet track mentor Bill McCurdy and imagined how he would jolt them with one of his always refreshing comments. "Hey, I'm Irish, so just keep the green flowing in my direction," he might have said.

Section 18 Gone

As we moved onto rennovated Watson Rink, I couldn't help but mourn the loss of Section 18. Watson looks absolutely sensational today; every one of the 2800 seats is a good one: reconstruction has eliminated the old blind spots. Committee member Andrew Heiskell, publisher of Time Magazine, kept muttering about how impressive it all was as construction workers tried to look busy. There was talk of being able to use the rink for events (like graduation) forced indoors by inclement weather, and I wondered why it couldn't be made into a mini-Boston Garden, with portable ice and a basketball floor.

Even Watson's new press facility is sparkling, although it will miss the special aroma of Bill Scheft's cigars and the lived-in quality of his tobacco juice excretions. But somehow Section 18 just won't be the same: it has lost the special character and flavor. It looks too sterile, and I can't imagine some future John Arnold or Fritz McLoughlin unwrapping an ugly, ten-pound fish and hurling it onto the back of some unsuspecting Dartmouth goaltender.

Reardon mentioned the addition of women's locker facilities in the new rink: and I thought back to freshman year, when "Title IX" was the reading assignment for the ninth week of a course. But today federal legislation has dramatically altered the manner in which Harvard constructs its facilities. Reardon has tried to run his office as a model of compliance, and the nickname "Cliffie" isn't heard too often around 60 Boylston St. I wish I had a nickel for every freshman in the fall of '75 who would have snickered at even the mention of a women's ice hockey Beanpot or an Ivy championship women's soccer team.

Exeter?

Committee member Peter Brooke asked Reardon about Harvard's basketball facilities as he surveyed Watson Rink (complete with an elevator and special seating section for handicapped people, another legislative initiative of the '70s). After all, Brooke said, Exeter has a beautiful, four-court arena which is bigger than the IAB.

Here Reardon finally mentioned a coach--Frank McLaughlin--"an aggressive guy we brought in from Notre Dame." He discussed the basketball banquet at Quincy Market, where Reardon announced that about $1 million of the projected $2.5 million needed for a new 3500-seat facility was already in the coffers. He even talked about how former Marquette coach (now NBC commentator) Al McGuire had publicly berated him (on behalf of friend McLaughlin) for the small number of seats, and how President Bok had put a napkin in front of his face at the remark.

Despite all this, Reardon exhorted the committee to seek the funds for a hoop facility that could be built in what is now a parking lot adjacent to Blodgett Pool. Mention of the 200-plus intramural basketball teams at the College, Business, and Law Schools was enough to drive home the point that Harvard's biggest athletic need for the '80s will be in the roundball sport.

Condemned