Does Elmer Have The Record?

Joseph Elmer Weisheit Jr. was a politics major from Baltimore who graduated from Princeton in 1942.

He went on to become the president of a title company and passed away in 2005, which would have made him around 85 at the time of his death. He was survived by his wife Jacquelin.

While at Princeton he was a member of the ROTC, which presumably meant that he had to have had some service in World War II, though TigerBlog could find no mention of that anywhere he looked. He also played two sports, football and lacrosse.

In fact, he was the leading scorer on the 1942 men's lacrosse team, finishing the year with 19 goals, 22 assists and 41 points on a team that went 7-1 and was voted the USILA national champion. The NCAA tournament was still a few decades away.

Princeton opened the 1942 season with a game against the Montclair AC, which TB presumes to be the Montclair Athletic Club. Of course, in the year-by-year results for men's lacrosse that TB inherited long ago, it says the Manhattan Athletic Club.

Why bring all this up now?

Well, back in that game against whatever team that was, ol' Elmer had himself a four-goal, eight-assist day. That's 12 points, and that's been listed as the school single-game record in those same records that TB inherited.

He never really gave it much thought until Tuesday night, when Michael Sowers had six goals and five assists against Siena, giving him an 11-point night. Back in the 1970s, David Tickner and David Heubeck both had 11-point games as well.

So here's a question: Does Elmer's game against the Montclair Athletic Club count as the school record, or did Sowers tie Tickner and Heubeck for the school record?

TB tried to do some research in the archives, and he came across a folder entitled "Pre-1950s Lacrosse." When he looked inside, the first thing he saw was the 1967 lacrosse prospectus, but hey, he thought that was funny.

He looked through the folder and found stats from 1942, handwritten on a piece of yellow paper. It was there that it said "Montclair AC," by the way, not "Manhattan AC."

But what was the Montclair AC team? It certainly wasn't a four-year college. Or was that what Montclair State was competing as at the time?

TB will do more research. But suppose that wasn't a four-year college? What does that mean for the records?

In the meantime, Sowers continues his assault on other parts of the men's lacrosse record book tomorrow at Dartmouth. Both teams are looking for their first Ivy League wins, and Princeton is looking to win out like it did last year and hoping to get into the Ivy League tournament.

Sowers, for his part, now has 230 career points, which leaves him in third place all-time at Princeton, behind only Kevin Lowe (247 points) and Ryan Boyle (232). Here's their career games played:
Lowe - 60
Boyle - 57
Sowers - 39

What he's doing is extraordinary, and barring anything unforeseen, he will put so much distance between himself and everyone else who has ever played here that nobody will ever approach his scoring record. In fact, it'll be similar to what Bill Bradley has done in men's basketball.

As for women's lacrosse, Princeton begins a run of four Ivy games in 15 days. Win them all, and the team has itself a sixth-straight league title.

It starts tomorrow with a home game against Harvard, which just happens to be the final home game of the year. Already. What the heck?

In addition to Senior Day, it's also going to be a celebration of the 1994 team, which won the program's first NCAA championship. This is the 25th anniversary of that.

Princeton went 16-1 in 1994, avenging a 12-10 loss to Maryland in the regular-season finale with a 10-7 win over the Terps in the championship game. Princeton defeated Virginia in OT in the semifinals on a Lisa Rebane goal, assisted by Amory Rowe. Rebane, actually, scored the game-winning goal in all three of Princeton's overtime games that year.

These are familiar names to TigerBlog. So are the ones of the other stars of that team - Jenny Bristow, Abigail Gutstein, Erin O'Neill, Kim Simons. He covered a lot of Princeton women's lacrosse in the early 1990s, and he remembers seeing them play.

In addition to lacrosse, there's the usual amount of events for a spring weekend. You can see it all HERE. Most of what is being played is on the road, though the men's volleyball team is home.

The Tigers take on St. Francis and Penn State tonight and tomorrow, and a win in one of those matches gives Princeton the outright regular-season title and the host role in the EIVA playoffs next week. Princeton has never hosted the tournament.

And, lastly, as you read yesterday, today is Craig Sachson's last day at Princeton. Men's volleyball coach Sam Shweisky has worked closely with Craig for a long time, and he sent TB some words that he was hoping TB would put up from him about Craig.

So for today, Craig's last day, TB will leave you with this, from Sam:

Craig and Sabrina came walking down into Stephens fitness center last week together which was odd. They came down together and down to the weight area. Surprised and excited to see them both I said “Hi guys – working out?!” Like ripping off the Band-Aid quickly so as not to drag out the inevitable pain, Craig blurted out “I’m leaving.” It took a minute to sink in. Perplexed I cocked my head to the side not fully understanding the gravity or entirety of his statement. He had to repeat it “I am leaving.”  Craig’s face was serious, he wasn’t joking. It knocked the wind out of me.

For the past 10 years I have been coaching at Princeton, I have lived through different athletic trainers, different athletic administrators, different admissions liaisons, and even transitioned through different athletic directors. But we have always had the same Sports Information Director. In some ways it is an unsung role, behind the keyboard, with little glory, but in many ways it is the lifeblood of the program and the emotional support the staff needs. Craig’s stories told more than the facts, they emoted what the team was going through. In good years and bad, Craig spun a tale to fit what needed to be said, what our small fan base of parents and recruits needed to hear and most importantly what we needed to hear about ourselves. He always kept us optimistic and grounded in reality at the same time. With the right amount of humor (“Princeton is heading into Penn State this weekend as the favorite…wait a minute what?!”), and historical context Craig has been an instrumental part of Princeton Volleyball for the better part of the past two decades. Being able to pull from that historical context and knowing the history of our program first hand is invaluable. Having known and worked with Glenn gave Craig insight into the history of our program that is impossible to explain if not lived. 

SID’s don’t pop out of the womb knowing the difference between a kill, dig, or a block. But after nearly 20 years of covering volleyball Craig understood more about the intricacies of our game than some volunteer coaches! But it wasn’t just that Craig knew the game or our guys he also knew how to play therapist when needed. A phone call in the office the Monday after a difficult loss or an in Jadwin session talking through lineups and difficult personnel decisions. I am not sure ‘Coach Therapist’ is ever in an SID job description, but Craig filled it 10-fold. 

To say we will miss Craig would be an understatement. I loved looking forward to his preview stories and postgame write-ups. And after a big win on the road I knew that he was one of three people that would be most proud of me (my mom and Sabrina being the other two). In the end all I can say is thank you Craig. Thank you for everything you have given to Princeton, to Princeton Athletics, and to Princeton Volleyball. You have been a huge part of our journey and you will be sorely missed. You were and always will be one of our most valued and appreciated Team-around-the-Team members.