28. Dalton Goes Coed

In September 1966, 60 boys joined the 120 girls in the Dalton High School, making it coed for the first time in its nearly 50 year existence. Photo of boys and the1969 Yearbook.

In September 1966, 60 boys joined 160 girls in the Dalton High School, making it coed for the first time in its nearly 50-year existence.

I was one of those boys, although my actual introduction to Dalton had come a few weeks earlier, during pre-season football drills. On the first day, my teammates all seemed older, bigger and stronger than I; many actually needed to shave every day. (Looking back more than 50 years, I can’t believe that my parents, or Coach Boyers for that matter, ever let me play.)

Our first game was against Fieldston on a beautiful Friday afternoon in the Bronx. Our plan for the opening kickoff was for Travis McDougald ‘69 to receive the ball and run down the right sideline. The rest of us tried to create a running lane for him, but our “lane” proved as clear as the Long Island Expressway on a Friday afternoon in July. Travis had the good sense to cut entirely across the field, and to run along the left sideline. With the help of a well-timed block or two, to say nothing of his speed and endurance, he scored.

His touchdown produced the only points of the first half and, as the teams headed for the locker rooms; the Fieldston coach berated his players because they were losing to a “bunch of patsies from a GIRLS school.” Well, we patsies scored again in the second half, and this (former) GIRLS school won its first-ever high school football game.
—Jamie Stecher ’70