Sports of the Crime

Harvard undergraduates are notoriously unemotional as far as intercollegiate sports are concerned. Dartmouth football games have been known to arouse occasional animal instincts and hockey fans sometimes make noise to keep warm but for the most part it's considered rather gauche to express any passionate interest in Harvard sports.

There is one athletic area, however, which inspires students to great heights of eloquence. In most of the jock rooms of the College whenever one mentions Floyd Wilson or the basketball team, at least one person will deliver a ringing denunciation.

Yesterday the wail of protest reached an unprecedented crescendo. Reeling from Saturday night's massacre in New York--sixth-ranked Columbia more than doubled the Crimson's meager offense, 115-56--the players and their fans dragged through the day in disbelief. As usual most of the student abuse was directed at Coach Wilson.

The statistics provide ample explanation for Wilson's unfortunate position. In 13 previous seasons his Harvard teams won 135 games and lost 169. He has never had a winning record in an Ivy League campaign; two 7-7 years a decade ago were the best a Wilson team managed.

And despite his optimistic pre-season assertion that this was his best team ever, Harvard has won only one League game so far and prospects for another win are dimming rapidly.

Wilson is not, however, to be condemned out of hand on the basis of the statistics. First, Harvard does not have the personnel man-for-man to match Columbia or Princeton. Second, while this may be Wilson's best team, the Ivy League in general is better than ever and more balanced than most other Leagues in the country. Columbia and Princeton are national powers; last weekend, for example, Penn beat first place Yale and then last place Brown beat Penn.

Moreover the Coach has been beset by injuries. Barth Royer, a high-scoring forward and leader came back from summer vacation with a bad back, hurt his knee over Christmas and then developed mononucleosis. He's played only one game at full strength during the Ivy campaign, sparking the Crimson's sole victory over Brown. A defensive standout as a freshman, Ernie Hardy practiced for a week at the beginning of the season and then had to quit until this week for scholastic reasons. Last year's starting guard Jeff Grate played very little during the summer and then got back at the beginning of practice.

Wilson has even had problems with his healthy players. Chris Gallagher just hasn't been able to regain the form he flashed as a sophomore. In two games against Columbia, Gallagher could muster only eight points and the Harvard offense fell apart. With Royer out and the "Rabbit" Gallagher below par, the third member of the junior front line--6-4 Bob Kanuth--has been pitted against the likes of Columbia's 7-0 Newmark. He's rugged but he hasn't been able to do much against men three to eight inches bigger.

Mr. Wilson, obviously, has not had the breaks this Winter. But, after 14 years of losing teams, one gets the impression that this year wouldn't have been much different. Harvard lost to Northeastern and Boston University, neither of which boasts strong teams. Harvard lost to Williams--Big Three schools shouldn't lose to Little Three schools.

Yet Mr. Wilson has been at Harvard for many years. He must offer something. He does. There is no greater gentleman in the Harvard Department of Athletics than Floyd Wilson. He is sincere and straight-forward. His ball-players respect him even in defeat. Few men--let alone coaches--would have the restraint to talk to someone who had in effect publicly called for their resignation. Yet when I asked him to do me a favor this afternoon, he answered affirmatively, unhesitatingly.

This is my problem. Harvard's basketball players are being exposed to an excellent human being, a nice man. What the Director of Athletics must decide is whether it would be worth risking hiring a coach with some new ideas and a more aggressive recruiting style who has a less desirable character. It may come down to this: Do you hire a Ned Harkness-type who could produce a winner but whose brazenly crude tactics would force the Administration to turn away with shame? Or do you stick with Floyd Wilson and produce losing team after losing team. It is possible to find a middle solution, perhaps.

In the long run, of course, it's the old vicious cycle. As long as Mr. Wilson coaches basketball at Harvard, he and his teams will have the loser image. Good basketball players won't come here; they'll go to Princeton and Columbia. And the players who do come--lured by Harvard's prestigious position--will fall victim to the negative enthusiasm of Harvard basketball fans. It seems to me that Harvard will not produce a winner while Floyd Wilson is coach. Whether victory should be sacrificed to the development of young men's characters is a hugely complex and difficult question. But it is one which must be confronted.