Steve Potysman

On the wall in the living room of Steve Potysman's suite in Quincy House is an enormous moose head. It has a Harvard golf cap on, tin foil in its eye sockets and a telephone receiver dangling from its antlers in the region of its left ear. Is this something that is passed on to this room year after year? "Poty" is asked.

"No," answered Harvard's 105th football captain. "It gets passed around the House from year to year and goes to the best partying room."

"I wouldn't be your All-American boy football type," the 5-ft., 10-in., 175-lb. cornerback says. Yet there is no doubt he is more serious about his football and about being the captain right now than about anything else.

"Steve is one of the most dedicated people I've had in that position while I've been here," says Harvard coach Joe Restic.

His dedication has obviously had an effect on his teammates in both games and practices. Pain in one of his shoulders has been diagnosed as bone chips. The other shoulder has a similar problem, but Potysman has not had it x-rayed. In one game he came off the field in tears from the pain but insisted on staying in. He suffered a concussion against Brown, yet managed to finish the contest.

The senior cornerback characteristically downplays his injuries, saying, "it's just something I gotta play with."

Looking back, Poty had to work his way up in Coach Restic's system the same as all the other players. In his senior year at Glenbrook North High in Northbrook, Illinois, his team was ranked number two in the country, and Potysman was named to all-area and all-State teams as he set a school interception record.

On the Crimson freshman squad he started at cornerback, accounting for 16 tackles and assisting on seven more. In his sophomore year he played back-up to captain Bill Emper, while accounting for eight tackles, mostly on the special teams.

"Sophomore year is the year to pay your dues in the Harvard football system," Poty says, "Then junior year you get your shot to make it or break it."

Hard work and determination made it for Potysman in the '77 season as he became the workhorse of the defensive backfield, putting in 241 minutes, notching three fumble recoveries, three interceptions, and 40 tackles.

Being elected captain at the end of that year hit home nicely. "It was a great honor to be elected by your peers. That's pretty important to me right there," he says. "Also the tradition of being the 105th and knowing that my name will always be there really gives you a good feeling."

As a captain, Potysman is the quintessential leader by example. "I don't think I'm the greatest public speaker or motivator," he said earlier this week. "I think I'm easy-going and guys can talk to me pretty easily. You can't be phony or the players will see right through that."

Poty's formula has worked well for the team. Coaches and players rave (and that's pretty much a consensus view) about this year's attitude. "This is the closest total squad group I've ever had here and a lot of that comes from what we're talking about in Steve," says Restic.

Poty agrees but declines to take all the credit. "This is the closest team I've ever played on in any sport. There's a genuine interest and care for each other," he says.

"Things are really loose, but we work hard. A lot of that looseness comes from Larry Brown on the offense."

Potysman feels the knocks on this year's defense are unfair, though. "We've had a lot of injuries. We're playing hurt and playing with a young unit. Sure, we've given up a lot of yards, but the game is won or lost on the scoreboard, and with 11 more points we would have an undefeated season," he says.

"It seems we haven't gotten what we deserved this year," he continues. "As far as I'm concerned, we're as good as any team we've played."

Preparation for today's Yale game has been more demanding for Potysman than any other game. "It's been an amazing media thing. I don't really get into that type of thing, though. I'm not the socialite."

Poty explains that in addition to today being his last game at Harvard and it being the Yale game, he has an added incentive. "This senior class hasn't beaten Yale yet, and we don't want to leave Harvard without having done that."

After the game, the psychology major can begin to concentrate on applying to business or law school. But first he'll go back to the moose head and over to the Pi Eta to prove that he has earned his antlers.CrimsonJohn DonleySTEVE POTYSMAN