Crimson Ruggers Open '53 Season Against Strong M.I.T. Saturday

Fifteen varsity ruggers, ten of them from the graduate schools, will open the Crimson's home schedule against a powerful M.I.T. team 3 p.m. Saturday on the House football field.

The starting team opposing the Engineers is not the Crimson's best. Player-coach Tom Calhoun's main purpose is to give the squad members who didn't compete in Bermuda during Easter vacation a chance to show their abilities. Nine of the team's starters go to the Business School; Dave McGiffert being the lone Law School representative. Graduate school players have usually been lighter and faster than undergraduate ruggers.

Only three of the 15 competed at Bermuda: Lenn Wright, one of the two men at wing-forward, Art Ticknor at forward, and Howie Finney at wing three-quarter. Except for Wright, all 20 ruggers who went to Bermuda were undergraduates. Although most of them were inexperienced, the team still managed to tie Dartmouth, 6 to 6, after dropping a game to a team of British aviators. The Crimson plays Dartmouth again on April 25.

Nichols Won't Start

Sitting in the sidelines during the M.I.T. contest will be five players who performed outstandingly on the island. The five include football captain Johnny Nichols, swimmer John McNamara, Maury Noble, Bo Backstrum, and Jim Callahan, who was acting captain during the Bermuda trip. Nichols, McNamara, and Callahan did the team's entire scoring during both Bermuda games.

Last year M.I.T. gave the Crimson the only loss in its 5-1 record. Varsity ruggers beat the Engineers later in the season, however. Thus, this Saturday's contest is rated a toss-up.

One of the Crimson's outstanding players who will see action against M.I.T. is Dwight Hyde, who plays forward at 190 pounds. Hyde won the Burr Award on the varsity football team four years ago. Last year he scored two "tries," goals worth three points each, as the Crimson rolled over a British Navy team, 22 to 0, the biggest score a Harvard rugby team has ever run up.

Pat Parker, team fullback does all the kicking and conversions for the Crimson. An outstanding kicker, Parker will play a vital role throughout the season.

The season's most important contests after M.I.T. will both come in May, the first game against the same Yale team that trounced Dartmouth, 12 to 0, in Bermuda and the second against a powerful Princeton squad that last year topped the Elis, 6 to 0.