Editor's Note: This is the third installment in a three-part series about Dartmouth's athletic programs.
Nearly three-quarters of the Dartmouth student body is involved in athletics, which has varying influences on social and academic components of the Dartmouth experience. While being a Dartmouth athlete is a large time commitment, it does not define the well-rounded student-athletes at the College, according to athletes interviewed by The Dartmouth.
Athletic Tradition
Many Dartmouth teams have historically achieved success, dating back to their foundings. The football team, for example, made the Rose Bowl in 1937, while the men's basketball team made the national championship in 1942 and 1944. A wall of Thompson Arena is dedicated to the history of Dartmouth hockey, and the motto for the women is "Team. Tradition. Excellence."
"Playing for the Big Green is definitely a high standard," women's hockey player Morgan Illikainen '15 said. "We really have a historical mindset and know who we're playing for."
This mindset is present among all athletes, according to Nick Schwieger '12, a running back on the football team, who also said that this attitude has been rejeuvenated in recent years.
"[Football head coach Buddy] Teevens nurtured and taught us to bring back the old ways of Dartmouth football," Schwieger said. "The same is true of all Dartmouth athletes."
The importance of athletics dates back to the founding of the Ivy League in the mid-20th century.
"Everybody went to the football game in my days," John Engelman '68 said. "Hockey games were in particular very popular, and the basketball team that was not very good still got a lot of people in the stands."
Ric Bucher '83, a member of the men's soccer team while an undergraduate and currently an NBA analyst for ESPN, said in an email to The Dartmouth that "Sports were an integral part of the school's fabric, in part because it competed in just about every sport at the Division I level with a very small student body," he said. "In short, everybody was a jock to some degree."
Dartmouth as a Support System
In addition to alumni support, he administration, faculty and students encourage athletic programs.
"It's awesome to be a Dartmouth athlete," men's hockey player Doug Jones '12 said. "It's a really important part of Dartmouth College, and we're lucky to have a president who cares so much about athletics."
College President Jim Yong Kim, who played both football and basketball in high school, has taken a great interest in athletics at Dartmouth. He is on the sidelines for football games and has increased funding for athletics, including Dartmouth Peak Performance and the Floren Varsity Field House, according to Athletic Director Harry Sheehy.
Many athletes interviewed by The Dartmouth spoke to the sense of belonging and the "home-away-from-home" feel of Dartmouth as a major factor in choosing to come to Hanover. They spoke of the "gut feeling" they experienced when they visited and met their prospective teammates.
"They flew me up as a high school junior for an interview with the director of admissions," Bucher recalled. "I fell in love with the place right there and decided I would do whatever it took to make my way back."
The D-Plan offers Dartmouth athletes unique benefits. Because of the College's academic calendar, athletes can take advantage of the many study abroad opportunities offered by Dartmouth, something that is not as prevalent at other universities, especially those on the semester system, according to Katie Lenz, a sophomore on the West Virginia University soccer team.
Women's hockey head coach Mark Hudak noted that about half of the players on his team who are eligible to go abroad have taken the opportunity. Schwieger also said that he and other football players have studied abroad.
"I think the D-Plan is awesome," Hudak said. "I always say to recruits and players that they're crazy if they don't take advantage of all that Dartmouth has to offer. I always tell recruits, You can come to Dartmouth, and you can do it all.'"
The D-Plan also allows some of Dartmouth's most talented athletes to take time off to improve in their sport.
Kyle Hendricks '12, who was drafted by the Texas Rangers last spring, spent the Summer and Fall terms playing A and AA baseball. He said the D-Plan's flexibility is what has allowed him to pursue a professional career.
Athletes in the Classroom
In addition to their commitments to their respective sports, Dartmouth athletes said they are committed to academics as well.
"We're not just here to play football," Rob Lauzen '15 said. "We're here to get a rock-solid education and play some Ivy football."
Illikainen and Michael Odokara-Okigbo '12, who rows for the heavyweight crew team, also emphasized the importance of academics in their choices to attend Dartmouth.
"Schooling was one of the top-three things on my mind," Illikainen said. "Guys can go on to the NHL, but girls can't, so getting an education is definitely the most important thing for me."
This desire for well-roundedness exists not only among Dartmouth athletes, but across the Ivy League.
"Whatever school you go to in the Ivy League helps you for the future, both personally and in the job search," Chris Lenz, a freshman at Cornell University and a varsity wide receiver on the football team, said.
Lenz also noted the great academic resources that Cornell emphasized during the recruitment process.
"Our schools must recruit students that can attend an Ivy League school," Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris said. Harris also noted that it is each school's admissions office that ultimately determines whether or not a candidate will be accepted to the school, not the athletic office.
"What we're interested in is having the best athletic performance with the students that fit," she said.
NCAA Director of Enforcement Stephanie Hannah said that Ivy League teams have especially well-rounded athletes. She added that the teams' success on the national stage is a tribute to the academic and value-based knowledge the students receive at these institutions.
"The success is a combination of good talent and good coaching that really brings out the best in a kid," she said. "They can play together as a team."
Hudak said the student-athletes on his team want the unique education that Dartmouth has to offer.
Harris elaborated that being a student-athlete at an Ivy League school is unique because "it provides student-athletes with the opportunity to be regular students. We hope their experience is about more than athletics."
In addition to athletes' commitments to their teams, they are also committed to their classes, clubs and Greek houses. One notable example is Odokara-Okigbo, who, in addition to rowing, sings for the Dartmouth Aires and the Gospel Choir, is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and is the executive director of the Mugadi Foundation, which provides educational resources for children in Malawi.
"The cool thing about Dartmouth athletes is they invest themselves in a lot of things and do them because they're fun and not just because they're good at it," he said.
Bucher said he engaged in many activities off of the soccer field.
"If I wasn't playing soccer or hanging out at Alpha Delta [fraternity], I was sneaking into a practice room to play piano or writing for one publication or another the [The Dartmouth] early on, The Dartmouth Review under a pseudonym later for a stretch, the Jack-O-Lantern and Harbinger in between," he said.
Hudak recalled a story in which he withdrew an offer to a recruit who had both the academic and athletic credentials to attend Dartmouth because, on his home visit, she and her parents only talked about hockey and not about academics.
"If you're going to come here as a student-athlete, you also have to be a student," he said. "You're not going to be successful in either realm if you don't experience both. We have a really well-rounded team."
In addition to having many recruited athletes, Dartmouth's teams also accept a large number of walk-ons, which is evident in sports such as crew and tennis, but also in football.
Marty Gatens '15 said he found walking on to varsity crew to be intimidating at first.
"Initially, I felt really out of place, but later in Fall term, and especially now, the team is unified," he said.
Lauzen is one of two freshman walk-ons on the football team and said that each player, whether recruited or not, is regarded as an equal in the eyes of the coaching staff and team.
Dartmouth is tied for second in the nation in terms of graduation rate for its student athletes, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Dartmouth, American University, Colgate University and the University of Notre Dame share the second spot with a 99 percent athlete graduation rate. Barnard College at Columbia University and Brown University share the top spot. Dartmouth's overall graduation rate is 94 percent.
Sheehy said he is happy with Dartmouth sports' current position, as they can compete in the Ivy League in virtually every sport.
"What I understood at Dartmouth is that while being an athlete contributed to my acceptance and played a role in many others getting into the school, it was only one aspect and in all likelihood not the biggest one," Bucher said. "It is a privilege and an honor to be part of the Dartmouth family, and one reason is that every member is a seeker of excellence and understanding in a multitude of areas, not just one or two."
"Normal life"
Socially, athletes face challenges at Dartmouth because of their immense time commitment to their sports in addition to academics, but athletes interviewed by The Dartmouth said they do not view their team as an exclusive circle of friends.
"It's definitely not hard to make friends who aren't on the team," women's hockey player Ali Winkel '14 said. "Of course, we spend most of our time with our teammates, so it's just natural that we're all really close, but when I think back on freshman year, I'm still really good friends with some people on my floor and in my Writing 2/3 class."
Winkel said she is still close with friends she met on her Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trip and her freshman floor.
Illikainen said that while she is friends with her trippees and floormates, "athletes understand each other better than non-athletes do because they understand the time commitment to both your sport and your work."
Both girls view the Greek system on campus as a way for them to branch out and meet new people.
Winkel, who is a member of Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority, said that she was not pressured to join the sorority, despite the large contingent of women's hockey players who are KDE members.
"With a lot of our team being KDEs, that was kind of the spot I hung out all the time when I was a freshman, so I got to know a lot of the upperclassmen girls in KDE, and I just absolutely loved being there," she said.
Hendricks, however, said that the gravitation of athletes on teams to a particular Greek house is a natural progression from the amount of time athletes spend together.
Theta Delta Chi fraternity has the most varsity athletes, with 65 of their 82 brothers participating in some form of varsity sport. Sigma Nu fraternity and Zeta Psi fraternity have the fewest varsity athletes, with one out of 34 and 73 total brothers, respectively, playing a varsity sport.
Gamma Delta Chi fraternity and Chi Heorot fraternity both have large athletic contingencies among their brotherhood, with 56 of 57 and 54 of 78, respectively.
Athletes in sororities are relatively evenly spread but Sigma Delta sorority, KDE and Delta Delta Delta sorority have the most student-athletes, with 42 of 139, 41 of 130 and 40 of 130, respectively.
The Road Ahead
Athletes' future plans are varied. Some athletes view Dartmouth as a culminating experience for their athletic careers, while others view it as a stepping stone for bigger things at the next level.
Schwieger and teammates Shawn Abuhoff '12 and Ryan O'Neill '12 are all hoping to go on to the NFL. Jones and most of his classmates on the hockey team are also looking to play professionally at some level of hockey, according to Jones.
They all said that Dartmouth has prepared them both physically and mentally for the challenge.
"In terms of being capable as a person, we're able to take on tasks a non-Dartmouth student might not be able to," Jones said.
For athletes like Odokara-Okigbo, Winkel and Illikainen, Dartmouth may be the highest level at which they compete in their respective sports.
Odokara-Okigbo said that this Spring will be his final term with the team because he plans to move to Los Angeles to try to build his singing career.
Winkel said that she is interested in joining Team Canada and attending the Olympics one day, but, if not, she is considering a career in speech pathology with her psychology major.
"I'm more concerned with being a good contributor to the team and enjoying college life," Winkel said.
Staff writer Noah Reichblum contributed reporting to this article.
