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September 05, 2006
The Last Word: 61 Years in the Making
The Pied Piper is back! It has been sixty-one years since I wrote, what I thought was, my final installment of “The Last Word” column for the Oracle.
I have been invited to share a few sports memories of my senior year at Hamline. It was 1945; the last year of World War II. On the spring day of April 12th, I met Dr. Charles N. Pace, our college president, walking through campus. As we greeted each other, he informed me that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died. Roosevelt was our only four time elected president, our wartime leader, and his death resulted in one of the saddest days in our history.
As the war drew to a close, I had the honor of being the first to graduate from Hamline under the G.I. Bill of Rights. This was a law that provided war veterans economic assistance for their education. I later bought my home under the same bill.
Entering Hamline, I quickly joined the Oracle staff and started my column, a take off from my high school column, “Sports Chat.” I always enjoyed writing and I still do. Looking back, I recall two highlights my senior year at Hamline: Reporting about our great basketball team and the undefeated baseball team.
Led by All-American Howie Schultz and Junior Rollie Seltz, Coach Joe Hutton’s basketball squad finished the season as one of the best teams in the school’s long history. Two games that were lost that season were to DePaul, a national power house at that time. George Mikan, who was later named the Best Player of the first fifty years of the 1900s, led DePaul. It was fun to watch Schultz and Mikan battle. They later became teammates on the Minneapolis Lakers Championship teams.
The Red and Gray Pipers played before 18,000 spectators at New York’s Madison Square Garden, 15,000 in Chicago Stadium, 8,000 in the St. Paul Auditorium, and large crowds everywhere else they played. It was truly an exceptional season!
Next, we had the undefeated baseball team, led by juniors Rollie Seltz, Lloyd Peterson, and Dick Ryan (its star pitcher). The members of the team looked forward to playing with Howie Schultz as our first baseman. However, The Brooklyn Dodgers had other plans. They refused to let their star player play on our fields at Hamline. The Dodgers had a large investment in Howie and were not about to take a chance on injury. Instead he became our coach and reported to Dodger Camp following graduation that Spring.
A few personal memories I hold dear include being the Master of Ceremonies at the athletic award ceremonies in 1945, winning the Drew Award for feature writing, playing “Joe The Elevator Boy” in Ann Similey’s production of Junior Miss, manning the baseball teams, and having a really great senior year. Finally, induction into the Hamline Hall of Fame in 1980 brought an end to an interesting educational and fulfilling association with my university. When we leave college, I feel it is important to encourage other students to at least consider Hamline’s programs and its many valuable advantages. Best wishes to the class of 2007. You will be glad you chose Hamline.
Thank you for inviting me back and thanks to all at Hamline who have contributed and continue to contribute to the wonderful life that Hamline can offer. Enjoy!
Here’s to our college, may she always be a winner. But win or lose, Hamline is our college.
This is definitely “The Last Word.”
Posted by dwright at September 5, 2006 09:12 PM
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