The Award-Winning Cast:

Four years ago, the prospects of Mark Fusco's ever leading the Harvard men's hockey team to a berth in the national championship series, or of Don Allard's guiding the Crimson football team to an Ivy title seemed quite dim.

Fusco was, from the start, considered a first rate defenseman, destined to etch his mark in College sports history. But the squad he started with as a freshman was so dismal it seemed he would never garner more than individual trophies.

Allard suffered the opposite problem Few doubted in 1979 that Harvard could snag a league championship. They just didn't think that Allard would be the one to lead them.

But now, both have these accomplishments under their respective belts, the two boy wonders have made believers out of just about everyone.

And when the dynamic duo--Eliot House roommates--trade in their helmets and knee pads for Harvard diplomas today, they will leave behind more than just their names in the Crimson record books. They will also leave some of the greatest moments in Harvard sports history.

Few will forget Allard's finest hour--his brilliant dismantling of Yale in the most lopsided Game in history. And fewer still will forget the infamous slapshot from the blue line--the Fusco trademark that in four years brought the men's hockey squad from the depths of despair and into national prominence.

But they are only two heroes of Harvard's best athletic year ever. Departing with Allard and Fusco is perhaps the finest slew of athletes to grace the Harvard fields in recent memory. Graduating today is Adam Dixon, who helped bring a string of Heptagonal trophies to Cambridge for the men's track team. And Howard Sands, who turned the Crimson's men's tennis team into a national powerhouse.

Perhaps the greatest trend for Harvard athletics the past four years has been the emergence of the women's program. And no group has been more responsible for bringing title after title to Harvard than Francesca DenHartog, Maureen Finn, Pat Horne, Kate Martin and Jennifer White.

The Crimson coaching staff will have a tough time filling the shoes of the talented men and women who anchored more Ivy championship teams than any other senior class in history. Here's a brief look at the careers of these outstanding graduating athletes.

Don Allard

"It's not just that we're losing a gifted quarterback," Restic says of his prize senior field general Don Allard. We're also losing a truly remarkable leader and person: and that's something that's hard to replace.

That the Winchester Mass native emerged into such a talented college quarterback, however, surprised everyone. When he arrived four years ago, Allard found himself surrounded with more than 10 aspirants for the job. By junior year he had only worked his way to second string behind classmate Ron Cuccia, and tossed a measly 60 passes the whole season. He began this season with the same status. But the starter got hurt in game two, and Allard went from self proclaimed "All Backyard" to All New England.

"As I look back at what he had to go through," Restic recalls. "I only gain more respect for Donnie. Many other players would have called it quits, but never once did he get down or give up. He just kept trying harder. And harder and harder.

By the time he was done. Allard had eclipsed several Crimson passing records, had led Harvard to its 45-7 thrashing of Yale in The Game and had engineered a remarkable 7-3 season that culminated with the Crimson's first piece of an Ivy championship in six years.

"It was a long road up," the baby faced Allard says. "The hardest part was just waiting for my turn."

But Allard hardly spent all four years waiting his turn on the sidelines. Each year, as fall turned to spring, the 6 ft. 180 lb athlete, who hopes to go into banking, found plenty of playing time on the baseball diamond. Meet Donnie Allard, a gridder by fall, a barman by spring.

For the first three years. Allard fared consistently well in Soldiers Field Park, but the Crimson baseball squad could barely manage a winning percentage that matched Allard's consistent 400 batting average.

This year, however, the talented outfelder emerged as the key ingredient on a banner Crimson club that won its first Eastern crown in three years. Duplicating his efforts from the fall, Allard set another Harvard record, slamming more than 20 home runs, that is sure to keep his name in the books for some time to come.

"Coming out a winner is great," says the champion football and baseball player. "I learned a lot here. I finally realized this year that if you keep working hard, your time will come."

"It's just too bad his time has come so soon," Restic laments.

Mark Fusco

Harvard men's hockey Coach Bill Cleary has been having nightmares recently. "I think about waking up in the middle of the night and realizing number six won't be there anymore. That's really scary."

But those bad dreams probably compare favorably to the ones number six gave to Crimson opponents during the past four years. For over that time, Mark Fusco's blistering slapshot made that numeral the most famous in Cambridge, and the most feared number everywhere else.

From the day he first stepped on the ice of Bright Hockey Center--and became the first person ever to score for Harvard in that arena--Fusco has provided thrill after thrill for Harvard hockey fans.

"It was obvious from the first time he stepped on the ice." Cleary recalls, "that Mark was going to be the man, he had the love and the spirit to go with the talent."

But in those days, not even the love, the spirit, and the talent of Bobby Orr could have helped the Crimson squad. As a freshman, Fusco became the main man on the worst Harvard hockey team in history. And oddly enough, that was one of the key reasons he would eventually lead Harvard to national prominence.

"Back then I got to play all the time," Fusco says. "All that playing time helped me learn more than I could have ever gotten from the bench."

With that experience in hand, Fusco and several extremely talented teammates turned the program around. His sophomore year, he brought the highly coveted Beanpot trophy to Harvard. In the past two years, the defenseman's sterling play has been the main reason the Crimson has won consecutive Ivy League titles, has made two consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament and finally, finished as runners-up in the national tourney this year.

"I'm extremely satisfied with what we've accomplished here," says Fusco, who has set more records than anyone else ever to play the game for Harvard. He's scored more goals and more points in a season and in a career than any player in Crimson history.

"You just don't get players like Mark Fusco very often," Cleary says, "He does it all."

And if you get a few days, sit down with Fusco to discuss all the honors he's won as a Harvard star. If you're short on time, you can skip all the stuff about the three-time. All American honors, the four-time. All Ivy honors and the Ivy and ECAC Rookie of the Year honors. All you really need to know about to appreciate just how good Mark Fusco is, is the final award he received in his collegiate career--the Hobey Baker award.

Hockey's answer to the Heisman Trophy and given annually to the finest college hockey player, the Hobey Baker was given to Fusco at the NCAA championship tournament in March, and proved a fitting ending to his college career. But he vows to continue in the game--he will decide between the Olympic trials and a pro career later this month.

Adam Dixon

It isn't every year that the Harvard track team loses an Adam Dixon to graduation. Three-time All-Americans don't come easy in any sport or at any school, so one can see why Dixon is special.

Truth be told, the Wilton, Conn., native is one of the most exciting and strongest performers ever to grace a Harvard track. He is currently among the top middle-distance runners in the nation and has an outside chance at the 1984 Olympics.

Shortly before retiring a year ago after 30 years of coaching Harvard track teams, Bill McCurdy observed that Dixon had "more athletic ability than anybody I've coached." Current Coach Frank Haggerty agrees: "Adam is one of the greatest performers we've ever had, without question."

Why the accolades? Dixon holds seven Crimson records in middle distance events. Two years ago he set an American record in the 1000 meters at a Harvard-Yale-Princeton meet. He is also the quintessential team performer, often running in three or four races for a given meet. When he set the 1000 meter record, for example, the lanky senior was running in his second race of the day.

Despite his accomplishments, including 1500-meter victories in the IC4A's in 1981 and 1983 and captaining the 1981 cross-country team, Dixon has had a roller coaster career at Harvard. A foot injury incurred during a dual meet with Army sidelined the track star for 14 months. At the time vying to become the top collegiate middle distance runner; after the injury many counted Dixon out of the running.

Then he came back. After taking a year off from college, Dixon was the sole representative of the Harvard men's track team at the Nationals last weekend in Houston. Earlier this season he ran a 3:57.6 over 1600 meters as part of a relay, a performance which translates into a 3:58.9 mile.

The Crimson mile record is the one honor which has eluded Dixon. Fifteen years ago Jim Baker covered the distance in 4:00.2, and no one has topped it since. Because of the metric system, Dixon hasn't had many chances, but few doubt he has the capability to run a sub-four-minute mile. Dixon is likely to have his final chance when he last dons a Crimson uniform for the Cambridge/Oxford meet in England 10 days from now. For Adam Dixon, an athlete who will be sorely missed, the mile record would just be icing on the cake.

Howard Sands

They tell a story around the Harvard tennis courts about the day three years ago when President Bok ventured to watch a Crimson match. According to Harvard men's tennis Coach Dave Fish: "He came down and was extremely taken by Howard Sands. He described Howard as the ultimate Harvard tennis player--not very big, not very strong, but smart as hell."

Bok's early scouting report was accurate. Sands was so good, in fact, that for almost the entire four years he spent at Harvard, he held a firm grasp on the Crimson's number one singles spot--a feat virtually unheard of at most major tennis powers.

Of course, when Sands first took the courts here four years ago, Harvard was no tennis power. But he helped change that.

In his time in Cambridge, the Harvard squad went from being a very mediocre club to one that by this season's end could compete with the nation's finest. And while fellow seniors Adam Beren and Warren Grossman played a key role in the team's climb, the major spark proved to be Sands.

Today, Sands proudly looks back on his days here, knowing that he has achieved his four-year goal. "When we beat Clemson at the end of this year--when Clemson was ranked eighth in the nation--I knew we had achieved the long-term goal; we had finally reached a level of national caliber."

While it took the squad several years to reach such prominence, Sands quickly achieved recognition by knocking off several of the country's top players. And in doing so, the Los Angeles native became the first Harvard All American tennis player since the 1920s. In fact, the giant killer managed the feat three times, becoming Harvard's only triple All American netman.

What Fish says has been Sand's greatest asset has been his desire to win. "He applied himself and dedicated himself more than anyone I've ever coached," Fish says.

"To be good you have to hate losing a lot more than you like winning," says Sands, whose losses here have been few and far between.

Now Sands, who picked up the game at age six will move up the ladder. The Quincy House resident turned professional just last week and will begin touring this summer.