Flanders Fields

It sounds like something out of Mission Impossible: "Your mission, should you decide to accept it, Mr. Jenkins, is to score 30 points in 80 minutes..." Tony Jenkins, 6 ft. 8 in. basketball forward, needs just that, 30 points, to become the fourth highest scorer in Harvard history.

The senior captain of Tom Sanders's hardcourt heartstoppers owns 1045 points for his three-year career, and trails Bill Dennis (1074), a Crimson player of the early fifties. There are only two games left in Harvard's season, Yale and Brown, so that Jenkins will conclude his college career in enemy territory Saturday in Providence.

It is fitting that Jenkins's quest ends the Crimson season, for he is the prototype of the scholar-athlete rookie coach Sanders is seeking.

A Rhodes scholarship candidate, Jenkins has received a Rockefeller Fellowship. T.J. should also be in the running for first team All-Ivy honors when that last jump shot has been taken. He has been the consistent cog in Sanders's precision offense and defense, leading the Crimson to an 8-4 Ivy record.

Go down the list: Ron Haigler of overpowering Penn, jumping-jack Phil Brown of the school of the same name, Adam Sutton, the Big Green's sophomore sensation...Jenkins ranks with the best in the league.

Statistics become meaningless (Jenkins averages in double figures), because the best big men in the Ivies all sport the same type of press clippings and figures. But check the intangibles: like Jenkins's game-winning technical foul shot in the last second of play against Dartmouth, or the 20-point 12-rebound effort "T.J." produced against Penn at home in a losing cause. And then one must consider handicaps. Playing at a school without a big man, Jenkins has assumed many of the duties that a bona fide 6 ft. 10 in. center is responsible for, such as shot-blocking, rebounding, and the outlet pass.

Compared with a behemoth like Penn's John Engles, a burly 6 ft. 8 in. sophomore, Jenkins seems frail. Yet, he manages to withstand the buffeting, the sharp elbows and frayed tempers which are part of the rebounding chores.

Jenkins is most valuable as a "killer". When the Detroit native has a hot hand there is no one in the Ivy League, including Haigler, who is capable of shutting him off. Jenkins will streak to four or five quick baskets on soft jumpers and lay ups and help the Crimson back into contention.

This is not to say Jenkins doesn't have bad nights: against the University of Connecticut "T.J." shot a horrendous 3-20 from the field. But if you looked at the stat sheet, however, Jenkins pulled down a game high 12 rebounds.

So tonight, against Yale, and Saturday in the new Providence Civic Center, Tony Jenkins will end a three-year career that saw him average 10.1 points as a sophomore and 16.9 as a junior.

When Jenkins was in his second varsity season he copped second he copped second team All-Ivy honors. From here, it looks like it's time for an upward move.