The Top Five Senior Athletes

The CRIMSON has chosen the following men as the five outstanding senior athletes at Harvard in the year 1968:

1. JAMES V. BAKER

2. CARTER U. LORD

3. RICHARD S. ZIMMERMAN

4. KENT PARROT

5. D. JEFFREY GRATE

Jim Baker

Baker, First Marshal of the Senior Class, received the Bingham Award as Harvard's most valuable athlete. Captain of the cross country team, he paced the harriers to an undefeated season and Harvard's first Heptagonal championship in a decade. With sophomore Roy Shaw, Baker chased the four minute barrier in the mile throughout the winter and spring, finally lowering the Harvard record to 4:00.2 in the Outdoor IC4A's. A very strong runner, the wiry Englishman had two other particularly outstanding days. Against Princeton he won both the mile and the half mile, setting a University record in the first event and a varsity record in the second. A few weeks later, against Yale, in one of Harvard's greatest athletic feats, Baker took first in the mile in a strategically slow 4:11. Less than an hour later he ran a 1:48.6 half mile, 0.1 seconds behind Shaw and the third best half mile at that time in the country. Then with the meet's outcome hanging in the balance, Baker went out and won the two-mile run, breaking nine minutes. There is a strong possibility that he will try out for the British Olympic Team.

Carter Lord

A gifted athlete, big (6-3, 215) and fast (he has lettered as a sprinter on the track team) Carter Lord teamed with Ric Zimmerman to revolutionize Harvard football. Lord broke all the school's pass catching records (he grabbed nine in his career finale against Yale) and was instrumental in Harvard's Ivy League co-championship in 1966. Also the captain of the baseball team, Lord attracted major league scouts with his wide range as a center fielder and his powerful swing. Although he did not hit as well this spring as in the past, his coaches give him much credit for Harvard's Eastern Championship. Lord will sign with the pro football Dallas Cowboys at the end of the baseball playoffs. Football coach John Yoviscin calls him "as good a football player as there was in the country last year."

Ric Zimmerman

"Ric Zimmerman," Coach Yovicsin has said, "did more for Harvard football than anyone else in my career here." The lefty quarterback from Ohio gave Harvard an offensive balance it had never had before after he broke into the lineup as a junior. Bobby Leo dominated the headlines, but it was Zimmerman who made many of the key calls in the successful 1966 campaign. He passed brilliantly in Harvard's upset victory over Dartmouth--one of the finest games in the University's history. Last fall, he stumbled at times, but won Ivy Player of the Week honors for his exceptional performance in the second half of the Yale game. Zimmerman completed 13 passes that day for 289 yards; that the Crimson lost was not his doing. Yale 31 late in the game with the Zimmerman made one call which justified Yovicsin's praise: it was fourth and one for Harvard on the Elis ahead. The Yale line massed for a rush, but Zimmerman stepped back coolly into the pocket and threw a touchdown strike to Lord beyond the secondary.

Kent Parrot

Kent Parrot got married February 16 and played hockey against St. Lawrence the next night. He didn't score against the Larries, but it was one of the few times in his career that he failed. A 5-10 blond from the Boston area, Parrot was New England Sophomore of the Year in 1965. By tallying four points in his final regular season game (against Yale) and an assist in the first round of the ECAC Tournament, Parrot emerged as the third highest scorer in Harvard history behind Bob Cleary and Gene Kinasewich. After the hockey season, he played his way into the number four singles spot on the tennis team. In the crucial victory over Penn, which assured Harvard a share of the Eastern crown, Parrot won his singles match and then teamed with Jose Gonzalez in the pivotal doubles match of the 5-4 Harvard decision.

Jeff Grate

Like Carter Lord, Jeff Grate was blessed with abundant natural ability. Superbly coordinated and very strong, Grate burst on the Harvard sports scene as a jumping-jack sophomore basketball player. Only 6-1, he could leap with the Ivy centers, had a quick, accurate jump shot and looked like a sure-fire all-time Harvard great. In the spring of that sophomore year, Grate won the starting shortstop position on the varsity baseball team and won the Wendell Bat, awarded the team's most effective offensive player. Then he ran into eligibility problems and just managed to get through the 1967 basketball season before he was sidelined. This winter, eligible again, he ran into personal problems and ill health just before the start of basketball practice and didn't break into the lineup until late in the season. Against Brown he pumped in four 25-foot jump shots to keep Harvard in the game during the first half. In the spring, back at shortstop, Grate made the Greater Boston team and again won the Wendell Bat as Harvard won the Eastern title. There are persistent rumors that Major League scouts have been in contact with the Harvard switchhitter; he has good range and, says assistant coach Loyal Park, "an arm like a cannon."