McCurdy Will Use Gloved Relay Runners

Track coach Bill McCurdy has added cotton gloves to his team's equipment. The gloves enable his relay men to spot their receivers more easily and to keep a better grip on the baton, the mentor feels.

The idea first occured to McCurdy at a Yale football practice session. "The pigskin was wet, but the fellows kept a surprisingly firm grip on the ball. They were wearing white gloves." McCurdy, however, has the Crimson's gloves dyed crimson to make the receiver's hand easy to spot.

Used in competition for the first time last Saturday, the relay team clinched Harvard's victory over Dartmouth. On the basis of these results, McCurdy will stick with his latest idea.

Trainer Jim Farrell, whose brother was a former Crimson track coach, worked on the new scheme with McCurdy. He said that the gloves "could be of real value." But, he added, "they could be just another fad. I've seen these things come and go for almost 30 years. The boys like to wear something different or colorful. It gives them a lift and seems to build their morale."

Although no other eastern team is using gloves, McCurdy said that the idea has bees tried before. "Several coaches attempted to use rubber surgeon's gloves but found that they were too tight and slippery. So we tried cotton gloves and they seem to have worked out quite well."

Both McCurdy and Farrell feel that it is too early to predict that cotton gloves will become standard college track equipment. "It would be interesting to see the Dartmouth team wearing green gloves at the upcoming Knights of Columbus meet," said McCurdy. "Indeed, a gloved track meet, with Harvard wearing crimson, Yale blue, and Princeton orange, would be a most colorful sight," Farrell added.