ALUMNI NEWS

 

Winter Dinner Meeting

 

The Winter Alumni Dinner Meeting, to be held on January 12, will have Dr. Gilbert Brighouse, professor of psychology at Occidental College, as he will talk on "The Personal Side of Success."

 

Dr. Brighouse is no stranger to Caltech; he lectured in psychology here from 1940 to 1947.  He has also served as consulting psychologist to numerous industrial and business firms in this area for many years.

 

The January 12 dinner will be held at the Rodger Young Auditorium, 936 West Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, at 7 p.m.  Dinners will cost $3.50 (including tax and tip).  Alumni, wives and guests are all invited.

 

Alumni Homecoming

 

WHAT WITH THE Pasadena Fire Department frowning on the notion of a Caltech bonfire, and the memory of last year's rather dismal barbecue prior to the Occidental game still fresh in their minds, the ASCIT Board of Directors were in somewhat of a quandary, wondering how the Alumni Homecoming was to be commemorated, other than by the game itself.  After half a dozen ideas had been examined and voted down, someone suggested that. since this was a Homecoming game Ð why not a Homecoming Queen?

 

Everyone seemed pretty well satisfied with the idea of a queen and, after the various ramifications of selecting one were explored, it was decided to put the ASCIT Rally Commissioner in charge of the entire affair.

 

The day of the game, November 12, dawned cloudily, with a hint of rain in the air.  But, although it looked ominous, the weather held, and promptly at six p.m., a picnic supper was served to men from the student houses, dates, off‑campus students, and a few interested faculty members, at Brookside Park, adjacent to the Rose Bowl.  A few minutes before eight the mass exodus to the Bowl started.

 

The Caltech team looked fairly good during the first half, and spirit was pretty high as the Queen. Miss Sandra Nash, and her two princesses, Georgine Johnson and Mickie Hale, were driven around the track in the traditional top‑down convertible, then crowned by alumni prexy C. Vernon Newton.

 

Despite the fact that Caltech had come out on the short end of a 35‑7 score, people were still happy enough to enjoy a couple of hours of dancing (in stocking feet, of course) in the Scott Brown Gymnasium, the first such event held there.

 

Now that the first annual (we hope) Alumni Homecoming was over with, the results were examined critically.  The first bone of contention among students was that the had had no part in picking the royal court.  Hemming and hawing, the Rally Commissioner reluctantly admitted that he was responsible for selecting the three girls, asked for concrete suggestions for next year Ð and received zero.

 

Secondly, alumni were somewhat disgruntled because there had been nothing planned expressly for or by them, although it was supposed to be their Homecoining which was being celebrated.

 

However, despite these and other complaints, the overall opinion was that a second annual Alumni Homecoming would certainly be in order, and meetings between ASCIT and alumni officers in the spring might prove to be valuable in planning for it.

--Frank Kofsky. ASCIT Rally Commissioner

 

Alumni‑Varsity Water Polo

 

FROM BILL BARMORE '52 comes a belated re­port on the first annual Alumnni‑Varsity water polo game, played on the evening of October 12 in the Alumni Pool.

 

"The whole scheme started out as a good excuse to get to swim ill the Alumni Pool for free. Before w realized it. we were scheduled to actually play the game. After deciding that seven good alumni could whip any seven young upstarts the varsity could produce, we threw ourselves into a rigorous (well, two or three nights a week, anyway) training schedule.  On the night of the game we were confident of out team's ability Ð but then they made us take off our swim fins.

 

"With a tremendous burst of energy, we went into the lead in the first seconds of play with a 50‑foot shot by Dixon.  When the opening whistle blew, Merrick raced for the ball, threw it to Dixon, and then came our moment of glory.  Unfortunately, from there on, things went downhill.

 

The members of the team were:

 

Bill Dixon Õ48 (his arm saved the day)

Brad Houser Õ51 (the brains behind the idea)

Bill Harmon Õ52 (thatÕs longer ago than it sounds)

Bob Mernick '02 (that's what he said, but 1942 sounds better)

Ron Cochrane '55 (a mere youngster)

Al Haire '53 (he was in condition)

Jim Wyman  Õ53 (all the way from San Pedro)

Ed Reinecke '50 (anybody want a good sprinkler system?)

Jay Montgomery '50 (the game was all new to him)

Peter Augusztiny (an import from Canada)

Harry Lawrence (ex-Oxy, now a grad student)

 

"The final score? Varsity 12 Ð Alumni 3."