RUSS GIBSON ’81: I remember practicing in the waning hours of the day, walking back to Cleve, usually cold, showering and heading off to the Dining Hall and being just a little achy the following day. The games were all played with fun and sportsmanship and despite the posturing before the game, when it was over – regardless of who won – you shook hands and congratulated each other on a game well played. Matsui: The problem with youth, as they say, is that it is wasted on the young: Those leafy fall days do not come back, and I miss the smell of the newly mowed grass and the promise of those years ahead.
Pushing Your Limits BRECK SPEED ’75: When I first arrived at Lawrenceville in the fall of 1973, I was woefully unprepared and struggled academically. Playing on Davis House, 1899
the Kennedy House football team and having some modest success as a “fearsome” 160-pound lineman helped me gain confidence that I could do better elsewhere at school. My Fourth Form year, I was even made captain of the Kennedy team and was named Honorable Mention All-House! Gibson: Not being athletic at all, I was really nervous about being required to play House Football for Cleve, but what I appreciate many years later are the lessons it taught me about fair play, teamwork, dealing with losing, and winning graciously. Getting out of my comfort zone and playing House Football was an invaluable experience I am so grateful for. Schiel: I think coaching at the House level, we’re invested in making sure it’s a good experience for every kid, and I think it turns out that way in a vast majority of cases. They end up having fun, and they also find out that they can do something that they didn’t think, going in, that they were capable of doing.
MORT FULLER ’60: One big reason I came to Lawrenceville was to play organized sports in
general, and football in particular. I played in the backfield for Cromwell House in Lower School in ’56. It was my introduction to the “real” game, and I loved it. My Second Form English teacher was Ken Keuffel, the varsity football coach. He noticed I made All-House, and I was invited to try out for the School team.
EDWARD MURRAY ’62: During a Davidson Lower House football practice, I was dumbfounded to find myself paired off against a Second Former twice my size in a tackle drill. Somehow in a burst of terrified energy, I jumped the “go” whistle and flattened the guy. It was my sports “high point” in five years at Lawrenceville.
LARRY JONES ’67: On my first day as a Third Former, Mr. Hunt was the coach, and he had coached my brother, Jonathan ’64, a far better athlete than I, on the Cleve team. I was expecting to endure another year as center. Mr. Hunt learned who I was and immediately put me in as halfback. I loved that position! I could always get three yards, although the long runs usually eluded me. But Mr. Hunt’s belief that I could be something my brother was just made the next two years of House Football for me.
DANA WEST ’69: I played in Lower School and in Hamill House. I loved it, and at least in this area of life, I was living the dream.
JOHN TASSIE ’62: I arrived at Lawrenceville as a 14-year-old Second Former, and at 5-foot-5 and 145 pounds, I was athletic and competitive, but too small to play with the big boys. I went on to Dickinson College, where I made the varsity football team as a freshman.
ANDREA GOREN ’85: Coming from Italy, I was curious to try something new. My favorite was when the line opened a nice space for me to run through. Now and again, I would break free and there was only field ahead – such a great feeling.
ROB DANZIG ’83: At Hamill, our coaches – Graham Cole in 1980 and Chuck Weeden in 1981 – showed us how to practice, work together, and depend upon one another to compete effectively against our rivals. ANAND SUDHAKAR ’01: I chose to join the Griswold team largely because I hated gym class. As a small, scrawny kid, I was ill-suited for the gridiron,
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