The Purest Sport

Don't lose faith, Crimson sports fans. Competition in its purest sense still exists at Harvard.

Forget about Joe Bernal's high-priced swimming bonus babies, who reside in plush suites on the top floor of Eliot House. Don't even consider Joe Restic's masters of the Multiflex.

On any Tuesday or Thursday afternoon in the fall, look instead to the action behind the Stadium. There, in the shadows of that aging, hulking monolith, as the days grow shorter and the nights colder, is real sport.

It's not, as you may have guessed, women's soccer. It's not even rugby, though that comes close.

It is called House Football.

There are no pep pills in this game, although more often than not, there is beer. No one uses steroids, and the men who battle mightily against the encroaching twilight do not get athletic scholarships. There is only sport.

The 1980 season, which begins next Tuesday, promises to be the most hotly-contested slate in recent memory. The ring of Kirklandian domination was finally broken last year with the surprise victory of invaders from the South, and this year another Quad teams joins the race, as Currier fields its first team ever.

Quincy House, whose juggernaut ground to a halt when it met SoHo for last year's championship, has most of its starters returning, as does Kirkland, which won last year's Straus Cup but lost the only title that really matters.

A combined crew from Winthrop/Leverett, and a mixed contingent from Dunster/Mather, should at least stay in all their games, and will win a few. A pre-season darkhorse, Eliot House could surprise some sneering opponents, and Lowell House is hoping to use those bells for something besides annoying the rest of the College on Sunday afternoons.

Adams doesn't have a team.

In short, this year's race promises to be well balanced, with every team entered in the House Football lottery having a shot at winning. Some, of course, have better aim than others.

The Houses:

As the overwhelming preseason favorite, Quincy House is the squad everyone else is looking to beat. It won't be easy. Back is the explosive running attack of Jim Rosenfeld and Steve Nicholas. Also returning is Lon "Cannon" Hatamiya, who will find a potent deep threat in flanker Art O'Keefe--probably the only person at Harvard with the initials AOK.

And back is The Toe--kicker John Scheft.

But don't think that the season is over already. South House and Kirkland will be in the thick of things. Sure, the defending champions lost some kev players, including almost the entire backfield, but they gained some former varsity talent with the addition of linemen Andy Golub and John Rockwood. The Joe Auteri-to-John Cheney touchdown connection, which pulled out two games for SoHo in the final minute last year, is back and throwing.

K-House will build its offense around a strong line, consisting entirely of returning starters. Mike Ryan and Len Bush will share the quarterbacking chores, and will direct a run-oriented attack. "Hey," coach Haywood Miller says, "If we can run on guys, we'll just run all day."

One team that won't just be running is Winthrop/Leverett. They've got a live arm in the person of sophomore Q.B. Charlie Slack, and he'll heave to running back Wayne McZuffy and a gang of talented receivers.

Currier House is "a little inexperienced" with only one player having played House ball before. What they have, according to quarterback John Ealy, is "a random shipment of 23 freshman football players," thanks to the spring draft.

The best of the worst may just turn out to be Mather/Dunster, which promises an exciting brand of passing football. Keith Dowds will pitch and hand off to standout running back Mark Rosen, but depth will be a problem.

It's just a hunch, but Eliot may develop into a decent squad. If so, the defense must do it all, and coach Rich Iorio has confidence, saying, "no team will score more than six points on us this year." Wait and see.

And then there's Lowell. Don't bet on the Bellboys.

So that's it. Real sport. If you want to see it, just amble down behind the Stadium Tuesday afternoon. There, in the twilight, the stars of Harvard athletics really come out.