Harvesting the Grapes of Wrath

Harvard and Princeton. In men's collegiate squash there is no one else. The two have combined to win 25 of the 40 national championships awarded since 1942. They've won 13 of the 13 titles since 1970. Competition has fostered excellence to the point that no other school can even keep up.

But despite the cosmetic similarities in their lists of achievements. Harvard and Princeton have pursued radically different paths to success, at least in the last decade.

As in hockey, basketball, football, or any other sport, recruiting has come to dominate college squash. The coach who doesn't bring in the hardware guarantees himself a lifetime of learning experiences; he may be the most erudite man around, but he's not going to have a winning team.

The Harvard squash program recruits, and the Princeton squash program recruits, but the two are worlds apart in both approach and intensity.

Freshman Dave Boyum, currently Harvard's number-one player, came out of high school last year as the most sought-after squash player in the country. He was the second-best junior in North America, the highest ranked junior who planned to enter college. Every program that took itself seriously put on its Sunday best to woo him.

Tender Loving Care

"When I went down to Princeton, "Boyum remembers, "their coach Peter Thompson spent two full days with me. We went out to eat at nice restaurants. I met the team, and must have played 20 hours of squash with them. Technically it's a violation to do that, but it didn't bother them."

Not content to let actions speak louder than words. Thompson also took the opportunity to fill Boyum in on the relative qualities of rival universities. "He told me that every player who went to Harvard. Yale or Princeton would have improved more had they gone to Princeton," says Boyum.

Boyum's treatment when he visited Harvard was noticeably different. Like any prospective freshman, he stayed in the Yard. Spencer Brog, then on the Harvard J.V. hosted him, and they took their meals in the Union. Varsity Coach Dave Fish came up and had a meal with them one afternoon Not once did he play with the team.

You could call it stupid to treat a prospective intercollegiate champion the way you'd treat any other of the 12,000 prospective Harvard students Or you could call it ethical Either way, the approach, to those who know him, reflects the way Fish believes in doing things.

Whose Reflection

Who the Princeton approach reflects on is tough to tell, given that current Coach Bob Callahan is the third in three years Perhaps it's a pervading mind set bigger than one man. But, regardless of who fills the roles, the hard-sell tenet seems to have remained constant.

Crimson Co-Captain Mitch Reese recalls. "Princeton made me feel pretty important when I was looking at colleges. I only played number seven on the team here my freshman year. So I wasn't that good. But ask number seven on our team if he feels important."

He adds: "Recruiting is becoming more and more important, but you don't want to get tacky Dave's approach is slightly different. He runs a squash camp during the summer in Newport. R.I that a lot of top juniors come to. It's not recruiting per se, but he's trying to attract them"

It's the same goal, it's the style that's different. A lot of Harvard players. Reese included, almost went to Princeton. It's nice to know they didn't