Danny Fahey Guest Writer

When first walking through the glass tunnel between the New Walker Gymnasium and the Old Walker Field House, one feels as though they are being suctioned out of time. What is the purpose of this 15-second expanse of space? It is a connection, a bridge from Old Walker to New Walker, from past to present. It is a physical reminder of the renovations that have taken place in the history of Vassar Athletics.

The Athletics Department is under perpetual renovation—both physically and psychologically. One of the most defining renovations in the history of Vassar sports was the adoption of male athletes into its program, which came with Vassar’s turn to coeducation in 1969.
Men’s sports had a difficult beginning. In the 1972-1973 and 1973-1974 seasons, Vassar men’s basketball (or “Big Pink,” as the Brewers were then called) won one game, ending with a total record of 1-20.

“Back then, some of the athletes didn’t take it seriously, but most of us did,” said John Wolf, who played for the Big Pink in the early 1970s.
The men’s basketball team would practice five or six times a week during the season, but sometimes they would only have six or seven players for a game, because of players’ academic commitments. Other sports included men’s squash, which, in its first full season in 1972-1973, went 5-3 under the tutelage of Coach Betty Richey. However, men’s squash then failed to get a victory in a 0-8, 1973-1974 campaign.
Even though men’s sports teams at Vassar experienced some setbacks, there were many success stories as well.

After two mediocre years, the Vassar men’s soccer team ran off a 39-6-3 record over a four-year stretch from 1974-1977. Men’s tennis also recorded winning seasons in its first four years as a team. A two-man cross-country team from Vassar joined the Northeastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) in 1973 and beat Bard in a race. The cross-country team went on to go undefeated in 1975 and to win the NEAC championships. In 1976-1977, men’s swimming and diving became a varsity sport.

The All-Female Stigma
Men’s sports changed the scope of Vassar athletics, but a clear picture of the history of male athletics at Vassar cannot be seen without understanding women’s athletics as well. In collegiate sports—with Title IX disputes and the highly televised male sports in comparison to their female counterparts—male and female sports are often set in opposition to each other. Vassar, in some respects, is no different.

“Our women’s sports tend to be more successful than the men’s sports,” said men’s soccer and women’s golf Coach Andy Jennings. Jennings served as Athletic Director from 1990-2004. He also noted that there has been clear success with some of Vassar’s men’s teams as well.
When asked about how the stereotype of the College as an all-female institution affects male sports, both Jennings and men’s and women’s swimming and diving Coach Lisl Prater-Lee agreed that Vassar’s former-identity as a women’s school hurts the recruiting of male athletes to Vassar.

“Many parents of recruits still see Vassar as a female institution,” said men’s basketball Coach Mike Dutton.

However, both men’s and women’s sports at Vassar have had to work through the athletic program’s adolescent stages.

Jennings described how one of his teams during the 1980s showed up for practice at the beginning of the year to find no nets and foot-tall grass growing in the middle of the field.
“I remember taping numbers on the back of shirts for jerseys,” said Jennings. “The first bus that we traveled in was in 1985.”

Despite these conditions, Jennings had six winning seasons as Head Coach of Big Pink soccer in the 1980s, including an 11-3-2 record in his first season in 1981. The 1980s were a decade of major growth for Vassar sports as a whole.

Exponential Growth
In 1981, then-Vassar Athletic Director Richard Becker said, “I am currently sitting on the center of an erupting volcano,” in reference to the sudden expansion of the sports program. He had just hired five new coaches, one of them being Jennings; Kenyon Hall was being renovated; and Vassar College men’s sports were a new part of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III.
In 1982, the Field House had been built, allowing tennis and other sports to have indoor facilities. The next year, Vassar began a rowing program. A baseball club was formed in 1984 (it became a varsity sport in 1992). In the same year, Vassar hosted a 30-team volleyball tournament, the largest one of its kind in the nation. Fencing became a varsity sport in 1984, as did lacrosse in 1988.
Jennings points to three aspects on which the Vassar Athletic Department has focused, that has led to its vast improvements: operational budget, facilities, and personnel. According to Jennings, each aspect needs to be given a good amount of attention in order for an athletic program to succeed.
Improvement continued in the 1990s when President Fran Fergusson led a movement to raise ten million dollars to improve Prentiss Fields and to build new training facilities. The result was the construction of Walker Gymnasium and the Weinberg Pavilion, as well as renovations of Kenyon and Old Walker.

The Difference Recruiting Makes
Coach Mike Dutton, who was hired in 1994 as the men’s basketball Coach, points to recruiting as an additional psychological renovation of Vassar’s sports. As assistant coach for three years Dutton saw few of his recruiting efforts put into effect by Head Coach Charlie Crawford. After becoming Head Coach, recruiting became one of Dutton’s main priorities. While some may see Vassar’s sports history as detracting from the College’s ability to recruit, Dutton sees it as an opportunity.

“People come here and see that there is something more than they thought,” said Dutton. “There is no great history. They get to come here and write history.”
In his second year as Head Coach, Dutton’s first recruited class helped lead Vassar to a 14-10 record, its first winning season since 1986-1987. The men’s basketball team record was at or above .500 for the next four seasons until dropping off due to Vassar College’s entrance into the Upper Collegiate Athletic Association in 2000 (which later became the Liberty League).

Some have questioned the Brewers’ move to a more difficult conference, especially because many teams have struggled in the Liberty League, and losing records do not attract recruits. However, the other side points to better competition as one of the factors that goes into improving an athletic program. Competing against better and more well-known colleges improves both visibility as well as quality of play, even if short-term victories are not always a result.

This is not to say that men’s teams at Vassar have not experienced any recent success. Men’s soccer had two winning seasons in 2002 and 2003, tying for second in the Liberty League in 2002. Men’s tennis had a winning record last year for the first time since 1998-1999. Both men’s rugby and men’s volleyball (who both compete in leagues other than the Liberty League) have had some in the 2000s.

The most important aspect is that the commitment to athletics seems to be continuing and increasing. Recent men’s and women’s basketball games have turned into community-wide Vassar events. During the Feb. 10 men’s basketball game, an enormous and enthusiastic crowd of students and others from the community filled almost the entire gym.

Four years ago, the men’s basketball team was lucky to have a few dozen fans in the stands for a game. In the midst of rowdy fans at the game, it was decidedly clear that the aura around sports at Vassar has changed.