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The Punter
Bruce MacIntyre, Harvard halfback from Scarsdale N.Y., has been battling one form of adversity or another throughout his college career. The 6 ft, 195-lb. Senior must be wondering if things will ever go his way.
Arriving at Harvard after compiling a brilliant prep football record at Lawrenceville, MacIntyre came down with the mononucleosis and spent the first 14 days of the school year in bed. Freshman football was out of the question.
MacIntyre was back in shape the following year, and made the Crimson squad without difficulty. Then came two frustrating years of playing behind Harvard's all-Everything halfback, Chet Boulris. By somequirk of fate, Boulris dominated precisely the same offensive departments that MacIntyre specialized in-punting and power running.
Still, it seemed that MacIntyre would get his chance for a slice of football immorality in 1959. MacIntyre split the Crimson's punting duties with Boulris that fall, and with two games to play, his 40.4-yard average on 17 attempts gave him a clear shot at the Harvard season record.
Three more sticks would qualify him for the record, and the way he was booting the ball left no doubt, that he would reach Dick Clasby's mark of 41.0 yards per punt. But disaster struck again. In practice before the Brown game, MacIntyre sustained a sprained ankle that ended his kicking activities for the year.
In preparation for his senior campaign, MacIntyre worked out on weight machines last spring. "I didn't gain much weight, but the work made a little stronger," he says.
Early in the second quarter of the the Harvard UMass football game; Crimson quarterback Charlie Ravenel leading the interference on an unsuccessful running play. The little field general was hemmed in on the left when someone smashed into his extended right leg twisting it severely.
"I felt the leg go," Ravenel said the Sunday after from his bed in Stillman Infirmary. "I knew it was had--real bad." And it was--doctors said Ravenel's sprained knee ligaments would take a full month to heal.
"I didn't know when I was hit whether I would be able to walk off the field or not, but I did," Ravenel related, a bit proudly. "The doctors had ice and a compression bandage on the leg in five minutes, and by the end of the game I was in the hospital with my leg in a cast."
Gloom was thick in the Harvard camp when the extent of the loss was announced, and even the 27-12 shellacking administered by the University of Massachusetts became secondary. Ever since Ravenel took over the quarterback spot in the first game of his Sophomore year, the 5 ft 9 in, 160 lb. Sentor has been the key to the resurgence in Harvard football.
Since his injury, several quarterbacks -- Terry Bartolet, Grady Watts, and Ted Halaby--have tried to take over, but it hasn't been the same. The Crimson lost to Cornell, 12 to 0, two weeks ago, and barely edged an unimpressive Columbia eleven, 8 to 7, last Saturday.
Ravenel didn't think much of the doctors' four-week estimate. "The ice pack stopped the swelling right away," he said the day after his injury. "I feel like I'm going to be back. If they told me two weeks, I would have said one, but the leg didn't hurt the night after the game of the next day. Besides, I can raise and lower the whole leg, cast and all, and it's heavy as hell."
With team doctor Thomas Quigley and trainer Jack Fadden, who kept Ted Williams in playing condition for several years, helping him, Ravenel hoped to cut the announced estimate in half. "I can't help being optimistic," he said. "I want to be back, and that's the most important thing."
But evidently it will take more than desire. Two games have passed as of today, and the Crimson, quarterback is still limping badly. His prospects for seeing action in next week's Penn contest are not bright.
Even in its first hours, the injury was a frustrating experience for Ravenel. He listened to the end of Saturday's game on a radio in the infirmary. "I was heartsick, really broken up," he said. "I wanted to go back in, but it wouldn't have made any difference -- hell, they scored 20 points while I was in there."
Despite his small stature, Ravenel has never before missed a full game. The same knee was injured near the end of last fall's Yale game, putting Ravenel on crutches for 10 days, but he never officially reported the damage. "I've always thought, 'it's always the other guy, it'll never happen to me,'" he reflected. "I guess that's why it's been such a shock."
Ravenel has had a colorful career. At Bishop England High School in At Harvard, he has earned the title of Charlie the Gambler. "They call it a gamble," he said of his courageous fourth-down calls, "but anything's a gamble that's less than 100 per cent certain." He admitted, however, "Maybe my evaluation of risk is different from other people's." Ravenel's statistics have never been very impressive; his passing record looks unexciting beside that of a quarterback like Stanford's Dick Norman. Harvard's ace said he notices this, too. "I read at the end of the season how so-and-so has completed so many passes for so many yards, and then I look at my own statistics, and they're not so good. It bothers me not a whit. As dence in me. I don't want to be an All-American--I'm not that silly." National magazines have spot-lighted Ravenel as the key man on the Harvard team. "There is a tremendous amount of pressure," Ravenel conceded. "I feel personally responsible when we lose. Coach Yovicson feels I'm the best man to make the team win. If we don't win, it's my fault." During his convalescence, Ravenel has become a combination manager - coach - cheerleader. He has handled the field telephones during games and even picked up equipment to keep himself busy. His agonies during the game are reportedly epic, and his impatience is said to be monumental and growing. There is no question that he will be back as soon as the risk can be reasonably taken, and all Cambridge is waiting for the day.
At Harvard, he has earned the title of Charlie the Gambler. "They call it a gamble," he said of his courageous fourth-down calls, "but anything's a gamble that's less than 100 per cent certain." He admitted, however, "Maybe my evaluation of risk is different from other people's."
Ravenel's statistics have never been very impressive; his passing record looks unexciting beside that of a quarterback like Stanford's Dick Norman. Harvard's ace said he notices this, too. "I read at the end of the season how so-and-so has completed so many passes for so many yards, and then I look at my own statistics, and they're not so good. It bothers me not a whit. As dence in me. I don't want to be an All-American--I'm not that silly."
National magazines have spot-lighted Ravenel as the key man on the Harvard team. "There is a tremendous amount of pressure," Ravenel conceded. "I feel personally responsible when we lose. Coach Yovicson feels I'm the best man to make the team win. If we don't win, it's my fault."
During his convalescence, Ravenel has become a combination manager - coach - cheerleader. He has handled the field telephones during games and even picked up equipment to keep himself busy. His agonies during the game are reportedly epic, and his impatience is said to be monumental and growing. There is no question that he will be back as soon as the risk can be reasonably taken, and all Cambridge is waiting for the day.
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