134825_12_23:features 20-27 4/28/11 4:49 PM Page 19
John Titcomb ’68 “As I recall, club sports were a big deal in these years, at least in theory. Even if one played on a School Varsity or JV team for part of the year, you still had your club to participate with the other parts of the year. Sports were a required activity, and there were very, very few alternatives, such as social service or noncompetition fitness activities. “In coming to Hotchkiss as a prep, I had never previously seen soccer played, and so I thought to try it. But there was never any instruction that I recall, and when I got injured there was no trainer-care, no rehab or follow up. Unfortunately, my knee injury never got better, and I didn’t try any team sports at Hotchkiss after prep year. “I still had the problematic club sports requirement for the winter and spring. The solution was club skiing and then club golf. It turned out a few preps and LMs lobbied the athletic department to begin club skiing that winter. The School’s Indian Mountain ski area was a work in progress at this point, the runs uphill of the ski jump and the rope tows someone’s half-finished dream. Whether newbies could somehow learn to ski, with gear collected from who-knows-where, must have driven some debate higher up, but eventually we did, and was it ever fun! Skiing was my sport for decades, starting right after my first crash and sitzmark part way down the very scary 9th fairway, probably just at the tee box! This on a found pair of definitely not safety-tested bear claw binding skis. We learned immediately how to herringbone back up!” Nels Corey, faculty member ’65 – ’80 “After I became athletic director in 1966, club sports didn’t have the same prominence it had had previously. That’s because we put in thirds teams and a lot of JV teams. But we did maintain a number of single-team clubs, like hockey and basketball, tennis, and golf. “Club hockey was initially a boys’ sport, and then
the girls joined when they became a part of the School. That was a great league, a very vibrant sport at that time. We moved it up to the outdoor Bierwirth Rink. We were allotted a certain amount of time to play, four days a week, and even that we had to fight for. I was a so-called coach. We did very little coaching because we didn’t have much time to do anything except play the games. We’d be two at a time ‘practicing’; 90 percent of that was for the game. I think the faculty probably enjoyed it as much if not more than the players.” Dan Mahoney ’72 “I played club soccer for Taylor for four years. It was a great chance to meet other schoolmates whom you didn’t normally encounter. “Since score was kept, there were standings, and because our coaches also served as refs, things could get competitive – i.e., physical. With lots of yelling and even screaming, even the shyest player managed a good effort. Taylor usually finished near the bottom, but we didn’t care. For my last two years, Jeff Reichel was Taylor’s coach. His nickname was Baron Von Reichel. I think the quote about our team was, ‘Taylor was strictly
PHOTO: ANNE DAY P'09,'11,'13
out on Taylor Field. It was a very spirited competition, with faculty members like Gil Smith and Jack Bodel refereeing. They did a pretty good job, considering they weren’t professionals. “I remember that Steve Bolmer, who coached Taylor, had a ‘T’ formation that was really the best of the four clubs. Taylor was pretty much the perennial champion of the club competition when I played. They had a very good machine, and Coach Bolmer used his players very, very well. I remember a number of games playing against Taylor when I was the center linebacker for Hoyt; you’d try to make a tackle and about five guys were pouring through the line and getting in your way. Their backs usually made long gains.”
a fair-weather team.’ “During one game when I played goalie, I got kicked in the thigh making a save, and, unbeknownst to me, had severely torn my thigh muscle. When it was time for dinner, I was feeling pretty woozy and just about passed out in my food – at the Headmaster’s table. I remember overhearing my table-mates say, ‘Is he going to eat that, or can I have it?’ “During another game, again playing goalie, I saved the ball and hit the post head-on. As I was standing up and shaking it off, one of my teammates ran over, checked the post and announced, ‘The post is fine; it just has a small dent.’” W i n t e r
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