Claremont-Mudd Stags

Athletic director William “Bill” Arce (center) and President George Benson (right) were instrumental in helping to establish a new joint athletic program with Harvey Mudd College.

Following Claremont Men’s College’s official notice of termination of the Pomona-Claremont joint program, the College positioned itself for a new athletic future and explored a partnership with Harvey Mudd College, whose first classes were beginning in 1957. Exploring options to create a new Claremont-Mudd athletic program, President George Benson and newly hired athletic director William “Bill” Arce were successful in their efforts to persuade HMC in joining their new program. HMC also agreed to adopt the Stags moniker as the name for the joint team, while CMC and HMC trustee Harvey Mudd gave HMC a gift of $100,000 to help underwrite the costs of the newly established athletic program. Beginning in 1957, CMC trustees, administration, and faculty conducted a year-and-a-half-long study and debate on the nature and future of the College’s athletic program. Managing director of the Associated Colleges Robert Bernard argued that whatever program or sports were chosen should favor intercollegiate rivalry with both outside colleges and within the Associated Colleges themselves.

Varsity football continued to be at the heart of debate of the new athletics program. Football programs tended to consume financial resources and often overshadow other varsity sports in student and press support. Faculty members Orme Phelps and John Atherton favored an athletic program in which other varsity sports would replace the football program with an array of equally satisfying varsity competition. Phelps and Atherton argued that with just over 300 students, CMC could not afford to mount a football program, especially since it was unknown when the newly-founded Harvey Mudd College would be able to bear an equal part of the expense. Other faculty members argued that CMC should emphasize intramural and inter-Associated Colleges competition in sports like baseball, touch football, basketball, swimming, and track and field, together with instruction in such “social sports” as tennis, golf, and skiing that would serve a CMC graduate throughout his life. However, CMC Director of Admission Donald Frisbie and Pete Welsh ’50, now serving as special assistant to President Benson, argued that the abolition of the varsity football program would demoralize the alumni and student body and would hamper recruitment.

Bill Arce shortly after his hiring at Claremont Men’s College, circa 1958.

William “Bill” Arce was recruited to Claremont Men’s College in 1956, just prior to CMC’s leaving of the Pomona-Claremont program. Arce was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and came to CMC with a doctorate in physical education from Stanford University. In the decades to come, Arce would prove to be a key figure of the College. He was a genial but firm baseball coach, classroom professor in physical education, and athletic director, who saw in his calling an essential component of undergraduate education–the enjoyment of sports to develop the whole man (and woman). Arce insisted that CMC sports remained linked to the classroom and the building of character. Beginning in 1962, Arce spent his summers in Holland, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, England, Germany, France, Spain, and Czechoslovakia in an effort to export the American pastime of baseball to Europe. Arce also served as the chairman of the U.S. Olympic Baseball Committee, as a member of the board of directors of the U.S. Baseball Federation, and was a member of the board of directors of Babe Ruth Baseball. Arce also helped coach the U.S. All-Star teams in world championship competition in Columbia (1970), South Korea and Taiwan (1976), and Italy (1978). Arce even coached Stag baseball star Wes Parker '62, who went on to have a stellar career as a first baseman with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1962 to 1974. In 1976, Arce was inducted into the Coaches Hall of Fame and received the Roy P. Crocker Award for Merit from CMC.

Ducey led the Stags to 186 wins on the tennis court and 181 wins on the hardwood from 1959 to 1974.

Ted Ducey coached the Stag basketball and tennis programs and also served as one of the founding members of the athletic department as a physical educator. He assumed the role of Director of Physical Education and expanded the existing program with an emphasis on lifetime fitness, the founding principal of the physical education department. Tragically, Ducey was killed in a flash flood while on vacation in Nevada in September 1974. His sudden passing shocked the CMC community and the following month, on October 5, the previously unnamed Claremont Men’s College gymnasium was dedicated in honor of the beloved coach-educator who had brought the Stags to four conference championships. More than 250 students, faculty, staff, and alumni attended ceremonies honoring the popular professor and coach.

(Ted Ducey was posthumously inducted into the CMS Hall of Fame in 2003 and provides the HOF’s namesake. Read his biography here)

David Wells '72

Class of 1961: Ken Stevens (HMC)

Class of 1962: Sam Delich (HMC); Ed Laughton; Wes Parker

Class of 1964: Paul Colin; Bob Ellis; Bill LaRock      

Class of 1966: David Arkell; Scott Campbell; Jim Dewar (HMC); Craig Van Degrift (HMC)                   

Class of 1967: Chip Hardinge

Class of 1968: Patrick Hagiwara; Bill Harmsen

Class of 1969: Carl Hennrich; Robin Jarvi

Class of 1970: Don Brosseau (HMC); Joe Busch; Greg Long

Class of 1971: Steve Endemano (HMC); Bob Hayes; Eric Jones

Class of 1972: Nat Baumer; Pat Conroy; Bill Mills; David Tempkin; David Wells

Class of 1973: John Halas (HMC)

Class of 1974: Wayne Akiyama; Mark Buchanan; John Lucas; Sam Reece

Class of 1975: Billy Nash