A Touch of Garlic A Page Concerned With Harvard

Palmer Page, Penn's number-one squash player, is an emotional person. Harvard fans learned that last spring when Page, and his team, lost to the Crimson in Cambridge. During his match with Larry Terrell, Page repeatedly smashed his fist against the wall, displaying a broad vocabulary, threw his recquet at the front wall once, and growled over and over again, "nice shot, Larry."

Page lost again to Terrell in the intercollegiate championships on Princeton's Jadwin courts, and once more he displayed his temper with shouts, stalling, and numerous disputed let calls. But after being soundly thrashed in three, straight games, here was Page standing with a sinister smile under his mustache. Only Lamont Cranston knew exactly what evil thoughts lurked in Palmer's mind.

Harvard's Last Hurrah?

The agony of defeat was over. Harvard had beaten Page, but with that victory the Crimson would leave the collegiate ranks. When Terrell, John Ince and Fernando Gonzalez picked up their awards, it was their bon voyage ceremony. Page and seven of his teammates would be back. So Palmer stood in the audience accepting the congratulations of the spectators and enjoying the feeling of being number one, while Harvard packed its trophies.

Page is always confident and cocky before a match. He has a habit of taking the first game of a match lightly, warming up as though he was bored and making sure he has a few behind the back shots on the opening points. Page criticized Terrell last year because he "has a habit of running a weak player into the ground." Page has his own habit of teasing his opponent with a one-arm-tied-behind-my-back approach.

But Page was overly confident after the intercollegiate final, and his smile publicly broadcasted it. "Fast Eddie' Harvard's number one next year?" he smiled. "No, I really won't do too much thinking about that." Page was enjoying his new-found attention. "I played Eddie once in the junior championships." Page searched for an adjective. "He was the nicest guy I had ever met. I felt so guilty beating him," he said with a laugh.

"I think Peter Briggs might be number one. He was a pretty good player when I beat him in the junior championships." Page wanted to rub it in.

That was last spring. Penn has had only one match this winter, and that was a close 6-3 decision over Navy. But Page has been collecting his individual laurels, Palmer beat Briggs in the quarterfinals of the University Club Tournament last month and then beat teammate Elliot Berry for the championship. Last weekend Page finished second in the White Tournament at the Merion Cricket Club, beaten in the finals by Sam Howe, the nation's number-two amateur.

But the script isn't reading exactly as Page expected. This was supposed to be the first year of a Penn dynasty, a team that would, for years, dominate collegiate squash. While Penn may still be the strongest team on paper. Harvard has stolen the Quakers' glory with four impressive victories over Amherst, Army, Navy, and Williams.

Page must be brooding now. He may not have liked Terrell's style, but he still enjoys humiliating his opponent, and Harvard will definitely not be humiliated this winter. In fact, with the Crimson's strength at the bottom positions and the undefeated records of Briggs and Dave Fish at the top two positions, Harvard is no longer the underdog.

Page may still be smiling just as much and he may be as cocky as ever, but there's good reason to believe that there are scuff marks on his bedroom wall.