Francis' Fantastic Comeback Gives Squashmen 5-4 Win Over Princeton

By 3:25 Saturday afternoon, everyone in Hemenway Gym know that the Harvard squash team had finally been beaten.

At that moment, Princeton's Keith Jennings wound up a 15-12, 15-5, 19-7 win ever reliable Johnny Thorndike in the number six match. It was the fourth win of the day for the Tigers and at number eight, John Francis was trailing Princeton's Cuffy Train, two games to one. On the front court, the number four match, with Harvard's erratic Bill Morris facing John Frazier, was just getting under way.

A win by either Train or Frazier would win the match for Princeton, and as the Train-Francis contest moved on, the win seemed certain. The Crimson senior took the fourth game 15-7, but slowly, inexorably, Train drew ahead in the fifth.

Train Plays Precisely

Train was playing precise squash, not letting up for a minute. He grabbed the load at 5-3 and hold it: the score went to 7-6, 10-6, 13-10, and suddenly, as Francis whacked a shot into the tin, Train led 14-10. He had four match points, four chances to end the Crimson's unbeaten season and 28-match winning streak.

"I heard them cheering when it get to 14-10," Francis said later, "and I just thought, 'Don't count your chickens.'"

The holding senior began his move. A forehand whipped past Train; it was 14-11. A short shot left the Tiger player flatfooted.

The crowd that jammed the tiny side-court gallery realized that Francis was hot. Packing the seats, leaning over the railings, hanging from steam pipes, and peering from underneath the seats, they had kept up a steady din rarely heard at a squash match. Now they became silent.

Some of them no doubt remembered a day two years ago when sophomore John Francis, behind 12-6 in the fifth game, came rearing from behind to give Harvard a 5-4 win over a Yale team that hadn't lost in three years. It didn't seem possible that it could happen again.

Train Cautious

But Train, eager to be the player who beat Harvard, became cautious. He left a forehand hanging in mid-court, and Francis put it away, 14-13.

Francis' serve pinned Train to the wall. The return was weak. Francis was in control of the point and his down-the-wall shot tied it.

Train called for "set three," a three-out-of-five playoff for the match. He was going all out now, but it was too late: Francis had the hot hand. Two of Train's shots hit the tin, a serve died in the corner, and John Francis had done the impossible once again.

The match was tied at 4-4, and when the news of Francis' victory reached the front courts Morris had taken the first two games and was leading 12-10 in the third. Billy didn't waste time; he whacked two forehands past Frazier and Harvard had won.

There was more than one hero for the Crimson; there was Morris, there was Terry Robinson, who fought back after losing the third and fourth games to beat Princeton's captain Toby Symington, 15-7, 15-9, 17-12, 15-2, 15-10. There was Dinny Adams, a noised sophomore who mopped up Princeton's Walt Smedley, 15-7, 15-12, 15-5.

Niederhoffer Blitzes

And of course there was Vic Niederhoffer, unbeaten in college matches all year, who blitzed Peter Svastich 15-6, 15-9, 15-5. Vic had been known to loaf after getting ahead of an opponent, but there was no relaxing this time.

There were heroes for Princeton, too. Frank Satterthwaite withstood some torrid shotmaking by Johnny, Vinton and won in four games. In one of the day's biggest surprises, sophomore Bert Gay whipped Alan Terrell, 15-11, 15-10, 15-11 at number five. And Jim Lemons blanked Peter Brooks in the ninth match, 15-11, 15-12, 15-11. The Tigers played superb squash all day long, in every position. Harvard just had a bit of luck, a bit of good playing, and John Francis