Sometimes greatness lurks in the most obvious places, but still goes unrecognized and unheralded. You'd think that after winning 58 matches in a row--the longest winning streak in Harvard sports history--someone, somewhere would ask the Harvard squash team how it managed.

Some better known (and far less successful) Harvard sports teams might want to know the secret of the racquetmens' success.

But thus far, members of the Harvard squash team have labored in winning obscurity at Hemenway Gymnasium. They don't get the publicity of football or hockey players. They don't receive the same kind of fan support. They just do their jobs better and with more consistency than any other athletes at Harvard.

Simply put, they win. All the time.

"It feels great going out as part of an undefeated class," senior Joe Dowling said. "I'm very happy that I was part of a team that fought for everything that it achieved."

The Crimson has not lost a match since February 6, 1982, when Princeton slipped past Harvard, 5-4, in Cambridge. The racquetmen's 58-game winning streak represents the fourth-longest streak in college history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) and Bill Walton led UCLA to 88 straight victories between 1971-'74, and that record still stands.

But the racquetmen have their eyes on it. Sort of.

"Winning streaks tend to get more interesting to talk about," Harvard Coach Dave Fish said. "It also tends to take away from the accomplishments by the team. It's more important that the players learn what hard work can produce."

Although every player--from the first seed to the ninth--has contributed to the current Crimson streak, one individual stands out as a catalyst. Kenton Jernigan, who graduated in January, was one of Harvard's greatest squash players and posted an incredible 40-0 record in dual matches, while leading the Crimson to four straight Ivy League and national team championships.

Going into the 1986-'87 campaign, the big question was "Is there life after Kenton?" The racquetmen proceeded to show that they could live (and win) without the The Sultan of Streaks by capturing their fifth straight Ivy League and national team titles.

"We didn't think about [the streak] much," Greg Lee said. "All us seniors sort of thought about it. We didn't want to be the class that blew it. We joke about it, but we didn't dwell on it."

During its current streak, the Crimson has won 491 individual matches, while surrendering only 32. In their 64 year history, the racquetmen have won 4109 individual matches and lost a piddling 1145. When this year's Crimson edition snagged its 50th straight win--a 9-0 blanking of Army in January--it broke the winning streak of its predecessor of 1971-'74.

More amazing, perhaps, than the team's 58 wins is the fact that 40 of those came by shutout.

"I think [the streakis great," senior Will Iselin said. "But nobody looks at it as one of our goals. Our goal is to finish as strong as we can. We haven't always had the best overall team. But we worked the hardest."

Besides its 58-match winning streak, the Crimson boasts a 60-game non-Ivy winning streak, and 30-home match, 29-road-match and 23-Ivy League match winning streaks.