This September in Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of its men’s squash team and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the women’s team.
More than a hundred Big Green former players, parents, and coaches came to Hanover for the gala, the first of its kind for Dartmouth squash. Most of the 115 years of combined Dartmouth squash years was visible in the former head coaches who attended: Aggie Bixler Kurtz (1972-89); Kirk Randall (assistant 1974-77, head 1977-80); Chuck Kinyon (1980-89); Jim McCracken (1989-93), the first coach to be in charge of both the men’s and women’s teams; and Chris Brownell ‘87 (1993-98); as well as former assistants Taylor Thomas ‘88, Lex Miron ‘93 and Ken Cucuel; and Dick Hoehn ‘59, who is the son of legendary coach Red Hoehn (1938-63). Former Friends of Dartmouth Squash chair Jack Herrick (1984-2001) was also present.
There were cocktail parties, lunches, golf and tours of the Hood Museum, but the focus was on squash. Some of the most-watched matches on the Saturday afternoon were amongst a few of Dart- mouth’s former All Americans and current No. 1 star, Chris Hanson: Beau River ‘00, Lex Miron, Hamed Anvari ‘02 and Sasha Greatreaux Proudlove ‘95. At the gala dinner, Hansi Wiens, the head squash coach, Steve Mandel ‘78, the chair of the board of trustees, alumni leader Digger Donahue 73 and Harry Sheehy the athletic director all spoke glowingly about the past, present and future of Big Green Squash, including an announcement by Sheehy that Donahue was endowing the head squash coach’s position, giving Dartmouth one of the few endowed squash coaching jobs in the nation.
