A Manager and His Merry Men

(This is the concluding article in a four-part series on Harvard's athletic managers.)

A Harvard athletic manager has to be all things to all people. He has to balance off the conflicting interests of athletes, coaches, hotel managers, and others-all for long hours and no pay. Somehow, he has to find a way to make everybody happy.

Why then does one take on such a difficult job where he is confronted with the complex problem of soothing conflicting interests while assuming the full responsibility for the well-being of some 30 players? This is a question that new recruits always ask veterans. This year with a definite shortage of managers in most sports the answer is perhaps more important than ever if sports at Harvard will continue to be managed by unpaid volunteers.

All of the managers agree that the personal relationships their jobs allow them to have with players and coaches are the main reasons behind their involvement. "Some of the great things about managing are the personalities you deal with, like some of the coaches and people in the med room are really funny and great to get to know," baseball's Hollis McLoughlin said.

However, most of the treasured friendships and good times for the managers come with the players. "I don't think anybody would be managing their sport if they didn't like the players on the team," McLoughlin says. "If I didn't like the players I'd quit in a minute."

"I've never seen players from another school treat managers like they do at Harvard, and I mean that as a compliment." soccer manager Walt Tomford said. "I think that Harvard players in general treat their managers very well. A few guys on the soccer team made me mad a few times but for the most part I'd do just about anything for them."

Many of the good times between managers and players occur on trips where a true sense of camaraderie can develop.

However, being on the road can also truly test the friendship between manager and player. Last year after a track meet at Cornell. Keith Colburn was unintentionally left behind in the restroom as the bus left Ithaca. "We got as far as Syracuse before we realized he was missing," manager Ed Lincoln recalled. "We turned around and finally found him hitchhiking about 20 miles outside Cornell. It wouldn't have been so bad if he was a regular player but you know he was the captain."

"That's one of the many times when a manager feels about one centimeter high," Tomford chimed in.

"It's sort of like the feeling I get just before an away game when I've given out my last extra jock and a guy comes up and softly says 'I forgot my jock.' So I just smile and nod my head and say I'm sorry. I know something has to be done but what can I do?" manager Dan Pagnano asked. "At a time like this I must think of something......"

Caught up in the emotion, one pictures Pagnano affectionately knitting one for his boy.

".... Not giving in. I did the only thing I could under these circumstances. I went out and located what I hoped would be an adequate substitute-a pair of extra small jockey shorts."