Vena to Return to Lineup, Three Quit Football Team

The Harvard Football team will be healthily for its game against Rutgers this Saturday, but there may be a hole in the defensive line.

Junior Ed Vena, the starting defensive left tackle injured in the Northeastern game, will play Saturday but he may not be at full strength. Tom Mesereau, his sophomore replacement, has at least temporarily quit the team.

Vena has a strained tendon an a bruised leg, and he has been hobbling in practice. "But he's a tough boy," his roommate said. "He never missed a game in high school."

Mesereau has not been playing aggressively. "I'm just not up for it any more. It's not worth the commitment if you're not sure you want to do it,"

Meserean, who was the top rated lineman on the freshman team last year, is not sure why he has lost his enthusiasm. "But," he added, "It has nothing to do with the program. The coaches are excellent."

Coach John Yovicsin said that Mesereau "is just taking some time off," He told Mesereau that he needed "professional help," and the team physician, Thomas Quigley, sent Mesereau to see a counselor at the University Health Services. "It's like any other injury," Yovicsin explained, "It's like a sprained ankle,"

The team lost two other players during the week as well. Senior Scottie Guild, who had been on the squad for two years, felt that his time had come. When Coach Yovicsin finished shuffling around the backfield, it turned out that Guild's time had not come, and Guild decided that three years was too much.

Sophomore Curt Humphries walked onto the field on Wednesday, turned around and walked off. A Coach asked him where he was going.

"Mather House," he said.

"But what are you going to do?" the coach asked.

"I'm going to Mather House," he said, and kept walking.