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Dr. Edwin Fauver, college physician,
offered his own list of Rochester's
football immortals at the 1942
Touchdown Dinner, when he presented
the Gordon Wallace Trophy
to the nimble Jim Secrest. His roster
included the late Carl Paul, 'OS,
Rochester's only All-America candidate,
and Walter (Jack) Forsyth, '14,
who had a son and two nephews on
the 1942 Varsity. Others, whom Doc
saw in action, are Bunny Harris, '19,
whose three second-half touchdowns
against Colgate in 192Q-when the
Raiders were leading 14 to 0 at intermission-is
still regarded as one of
the most brilliant feats in the University's
football history; Johnny
Sullivan, '23; Merce Brugler, '25;
Austin (Pete) Bleyler, '28, first to
win the Raymond G. Phillips Cup;
Punch Oppenheimer, '23, stellar diagnostician
of enemy plays, likeJohnny
Sullivan an alumnus of the fabled
East High Midgets; the three Hummel
brothers, Frank, '18, the Durable
Dave, '23, who threw blocks ahead
of Bunny Harris, and Mickey, who
came to Rochester during the S. A.
T. C. interval in 1918; Jerry Mc­
Guire, '31, who played two years at
center until Tom Davies made him
into one of the Varsity's greatest
fullbacks; Bert Van Horn, '29, who
led the Varsity in its epic defeat of
Hobart and George Barna in 1928;
Barney Smith, '33; Bob Babcock,
Rochester's only Rhodes Scholar; and
Bill Bruckel, '42.
Doc recalled that when the late
Gordie Wallace wanted to go to
Alaska, he went to San Franciso and
got a job as quartermaster on a coastwise
ship. A quartermaster is sup-
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posed to steer his vessel, and Gordie
had never stood a turn at the wheel;
but he went ahead and steered the big
boat anyway, and with no little assistance
from a kindly fortune
brought it safetly to Alaska and
back again.
While Gordie was still in college
the ROCHESTER EVENING JOURNAL,
then struggling to establish itself in
Rochester, offered a prize-a Ford
car-to the best story sent in daily
by amateur reporters. Gordie and
Chet Kirchmaier, '23, tried to manufacture
their own news story by proceeding
to the Four Corners and
offering to sell dollar bills at 50
cents each-with no takers.
When Doc was coaching baseball
he had the job of making a catcher
out of Johnny Sullivan. Johnny was
green but willing. He knew he was
supposed to throwaway some part
of his equipment when going after a
high foul; and Doc will never forget
the time Sully heaved his mitt to the
ground and kept on his mask while
in pursuit of a high-altitude tip from
the batter's club.
Deke Allen, '24, whose efforts led
to the establishment of the Gordon
Wallace trophy, was another catcher
of Doc's manufacture. Because he
couldn't throw a baseball as far as
Gordie Wallace could throw a football,
he had strict orders, according
to Doc Fauver, never to attempt to
peg to a baseman unless he ran at
least half-way to the receiver before
hurling the ball.
In introducing Dud DeGroot at the
Touchdown Dinner, Toastmaster
Neil Wright, '09, said the Rochester
football coach had been likened to
the Moses who led Rochester football
out of the wilderness, and to
David who selw the Goliath of grid
defeat.
"With all the miracles Dud has performed,
I'm surprised that those who
praise him confine themselves to the
Old Testament," the toasmter continued.
"There's one miracle,though,
that I never want to see Dud perform;
I never want to see him take up his
bed and walk-away from Rochester.
Neil Wright was president of the
Associated Alumni during the great
pre-DeGroot twilight, and alumni
officials in those days were obliged
to equip themselves with carefullyprepared
alibis to explain the weary
succession of football defeats. Victory-famished
alumni used to write
angry letters to the alumni office, and
during the autumns of that epoch,
Neil said, "Chuck Dalton, the alumni
secretary, looked like an undertaker
all fall, and Mrs. Valentine
threatened to leave her husband unless
he worked out some scheme of
winning some football games."
--R--
Military Intelligence
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In 1942 five alumni died in the service of
their country, one is listed as missing, and one
has been wounded seriously in the Southwest
Pacific. THE REVIEW sorrowfully records the
alumni casualty list:
Lieutenant Commander Arthur Edward Loeser,
'23, killed in action, November, 1942; a
graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, in 1927,
he was serving as chief engineer aboard aU. S.
battleship in Southwest Pacific.
Ensign Robert Hopkins Zwierschke, '39, killed
in action when the aircraft carrier Lexington
was sunk in the Coral Sea battle, May 8th,
1942.
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Ensigns Donald T. O'Keefe and Franklin Robert
Parske, both of the Class of 1941, killed in an
airplane crash at Pensacola, Fla., on June 22nd,
1942.
Ensign Marvin E. Lee, B.M. in Public School
Music (awarded posthumously, December
12th), killed in an airplane crash near Moultrie,
Ga., November 19th.
Lieutenant (junior grade) Gordon K. Lambert,
'32, M.D., 1935, of the Navy Medical Corps,
reported missing in Manila Bay area, July,
1942.
22 ROCHESTER ALUMNI-ALUMNAE REVIEW