Racquetmen: 58 and Counting

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.

The Crimson's current winning streak is not the only big one the squad has enjoyed. The 1961-'65 squad won 47 straight matches before losing a 5-4 decision to (you guessed it) Princeton.

"While those old streaks were certainly achievements, it wasn't nearly as tough as it is to have a big winning streak today," said Dinny Adams, the Crimson captain for the 1965-'66 season.

"A lot of the teams we beat pretty easily," said Peter Brooks, a member of the squash team from 1962-'66. "There wasn't much doubt that we were going to win."

"A big streak involves a little luck," former men's Coach John Barnaby '32 said. "During our streak [in the 1960s] everything broke our way. We had three or four matches decided by one match. Part of a big winning streak is winning the close ones."

In 1971, the Crimson started another streak, rolling off 49 straight victories before falling to (who else?) Princeton, 5-4.

"We never thought about the streak," said Glen Whitman, the captain of the 1973-'74 squad. "We were out to play as well as we could.

On February 22, 1947, Yale recorded a 9-0 triumph over the Crimson, which represented the only time in Harvard squash history that the Crimson was shut out by a collegiate opponent. And the Elis' runaway victory may be explained, in part, by the fact that Harvard suspended its athletic program during World War II whereas Yale kept on playing.

"It was pitiful," Barnaby said. "We were 600 percent behind Yale [in terms of conditioning] during World War II. We improved 300 percent right after the war, but they still beat us 9-0 without taking off their sweaters."

Like their teams, the Harvard squash coaches have been consistent. In 63 years, there have been only three coaches: Harry Cowles (1922-'37), Barnaby (1937-'76) and Fish (1976-present). The three men, who also coached the men's tennis team, have combined for a 1171-368 record in both squash and tennis.

During Cowles' tenure, the Crimson dominated intercollegiate play, posting a 100-27 mark during those 14 years, only falling to club squads.

"Harry Cowles was the greatest coach in racquet history," Barnaby said. "He analyzed every facet of the game. He was just as remarkable as [basketball coach] John Wooden and [football coach] Knute Rockne. We won more championships in a minute than they did in a week."

When Cowles retired in 1937, Barnaby (who played under Cowles on both the squash and tennis teams) picked up where his mentor left off, recording a 355-95 mark during his remarkable 36-year career. Barnaby led the racquetmen to 21 Ivy League titles, 20 national intercollegiate titles, 16 national singles championships, 16 intercollegiate singles titles and 10 six-man championships. Needless to say, this kind of showing is unequalled in the annals of squash.

"Jack Barnaby was an incredible coach," Adams said. "It was unbelievable working under him. Jack would tell us if we played one point at a time we wouldn't have to worry about the match. He was right."

"Jack Barnaby was the best teacher I had at Harvard," Brooks said. "He really knew his students. He knew how to bring out the potential in all of his players."

Fish followed the same path as his mentor, Barnaby. After playing on both the squash and tennis teams for Barnaby and working under Barnaby as assistant coach for five years, Fish took over the team when Barnaby retired in 1976.

"When I started, my standard joke was that I'd try to destroy the program first," Fish said. "Then if I wasn't fired, any success after that would be based on my efforts."

After his first three years as coach, Fish led the Crimson to a 25-5 record, remarkable by ordinary standards. But following in the considerable footsteps of Cowles and Barnaby, Fish's 83 percent winning percentage was just not up to par.

But in the eight years since, the racquetmen have produced a 77-2 record, including six Ivy, national and six-man titles.

"Dave Fish is a wonderful coach," Barnaby said.

"I realized that I was living under the myth of infallibility with regard to Jack [Barnaby] and Henry Cowles," Fish said. "I had ideas of my own, especially about conditioning, training, and body movement--things Jack never worried too much about."

Those ideas, however they differ from the thinking of the pair of previous coaches, are seeing their fruition today. Just think, 58 games without a loss. Imagine a baseball team winning that much. Or a football team--58 wins translate into three Super Bowls in a row. Such a string surely would get noticed.

But the raquetmen can live without the publicity. They simply can't live with a loss.

"I don't happen to think it is the end of the world if the streak is broken," Adams said. "It's okay to lose once every four or five years."

But lose more than that and people might start paying attention.