Jauron Is Happy to Be at Yale But Eager to Return to Boston

( Special to the CRIMSON)

NEW HAVEN, Nov. 15-Ivy League coaches supposedly do not recruit athletes; undeniably, however, they show varying degrees of interest in certain high school seniors, subtlely intimating the greatness of their respective universities.

When Harvard and Yale take the field this Saturday in Cambridge, two sophomore stars will be making their first start in The Game. Both had their choice of Ivy League schools; ironically, they will oppose each other Saturday.

Rod Foster, Harvard's sophomore quarterback, thought seriously about attending Yale but decided finally that Cambridge had more to offer. Dick Jauron, who will set a record each time he carries the ball for Yale Saturday, chose differently two years ago.

"It was a very personal decision," Jauron said here today. "There are so many intangibles involved; you have to decide where you want to live for four years, and I decided on Yale."

Jauron, an all-state halfback from Swampscott, Mass., was deified as a high school senior and had coaches at Harvard, Yale, Brown and Princeton dreaming about his speed to the outside, his power up the middle, and his sensitive hands. In other words-the classic fullback.

With the Bulldogs holding a 7-1 record, neither Jauron nor Yale has any regrets. With one game to go, Jauron has already broken Clint Frank's single season record of 136 carries and Levi Jackson's mark of 779 yards rushing.

Last Saturday against Princeton, Jauron carried 33 times for 106 yards to up his totals to 885 yards on 169 rushing attempts. He leads Yale with nine touchdowns.

Jauron also managed to cause a wave of cardiac arrests in the fourth quarter against the Tigers when he limped off the field with a knee injury. With quarterback Joe Massey and five other starters in varying states of disrepair, all the Yale fans needed was to lose Jauron for The Game.

The injury did not prove to be serious, though, and Sunday Jauron was looking forward to returning to Boston-the scene of many earlier triumphs.

"The Harvard game is very important to all of us," Jauron said. "They say that the records don't make any difference in this game, and it's true. It makes the season if you win The Game."

Yale will have no problem getting up for Saturday's encounter, despite the Elis disappointing 10-0 loss to Dartmouth three weeks ago. "We were pretty disheartened by the defeat, but it's in the past now and there is nothing we can do about it."

Jauron said that the team's goal now is to play a full game well, which they don't feel they have done this season. "We just want to play up to our potential," he said, "which we don't think we have reached yet."

If anything, the Yale team is a tight-knit group. "We all believe in each other," Jauron explained. "Similarily, coach Cozza believes in us and we believe in him-that is really the definition of a team, isn't it?"

Jauron broke into the Yale lineup just before the season opener against Connecticut, when letterman fullback Billy Primps was injured. Jauron has twice been named to the ECAC weekly backfield and was once named sophomore of the week.

Last year as a freshman, Jauron was the Bulldogs' leading rusher, but the team's 2-4 record was a disappointment for him and the squad. Coming into preseason practice this year, he was not sure how much he would get to play, and he doubted seriously that he would start.

"I didn't really know what to expect this year," he said, "but it has turned out very well. Every player takes a certain amount of pride in the records he holds, but only a fool covets records when his team is losing every game.

"When you're winning, I guess everybody is happy."

The Elis were uncannily lucky withinjuries during the first part of the season, but since the Dartmouth game, their luck has changed. Several starters are hurting, and quarterback Massey; who already holds Yale?s career completion record and is just two yards away from the total yardage mark, may not play Saturday.

"We all know that Joe will give everything he has," Jauron said. "If he can possibly play, he will-that's just the way Joe is."

The week before the Harvard game is always a "work week" in New Haven, and Jauron had just come out of a film session here today. "On film, the Harvard defense is the quickest we have played all season, including Dartmouth," he projected. "I just respect the Harvard defense overall-they have great basic physical ability."

Jauron gets the jitters before every game, and he is expecting a pre-game trauma this weekend like no other he has experienced. "We have been able to eliminate mistakes as we've gone along this year," he said, "but we have to put a full game together this Saturday to win."

"Heck, I just feel fortunate to be able to play in this game. After all, isn't it the biggest rivalry anywhere in football?"