If Washington should rise from the dead and not resemble the Stuart portrait, he would be declared as an
imposter.
Over the weekend of February 24-25, 1968, this portrait was stolen from its location in Lewis
House. Not realizing its true value in excess of $125,000 at the time, three RIT students on
campus for a sports trip "borrowed" it as a prank. When news of its value was circulated state-
wide, the students wrapped it carefully, placed it in a Buffalo church, and on March 5 called the
Buffalo police anonymously about its location. Suffering only slight damage to the plaster
molding of the frame, the picture was returned to its home in Lewis House the following day.
Arrested in Rochester on March 12, the three students were returned to Potsdam where
Justice Halliday charged them with grand larceny in the second degree-a Class D felony
punishable by seven years in prison. Because the picture had been returned undamaged,
however, he suspended the sentence and released the terrified students with a fine and a
warning.
After its return, the picture was placed in Lewis House in as secure a setting as the
College could provide. Uncomfortable at the thought of it being stolen again, College officials
removed the picture from public display, and stored it in a vault designed for art works at
Potsdam College until more secure arrangements could be devised. Such plans were included in
the design of the new Cheel Student Center; George now hangs prominently and safely in the
Kodak Lounge of this new building. While the Cheel Center was being completed, however,
the picture was on loan to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They placed it on
display first at Woodlawn Plantation, near Mount Vernon, and then at Montpelier, President
James Madison's residence south of Mount Vernon in Virginia, where it hung until it was
returned to Clarkson and the Cheel Center in 1992.
Hodge Anger.
Placid, easy-going Henry Hodge, baseball coach, finally lost his temper at a
game against Plattsburgh College in 1951. Bob Neumann '51, short-stop for the Clarkson team,
reported that near the end of the game, with Clarkson losing, the Plattsburgh batter bunted. As
the ball rolled slowly down the first base line, the umpire made no call. "What was it, ump?"
asked the catcher. A long silence fell before it was called foul.
A second ball was bunted, and the umpire delayed the call on that one for a considerable
time, also. Then the batter fouled the third pitch over the catcher's head into the backstop. When
the Clarkson catcher asked sarcastically, "Well, what was that one, ump?" he was tossed out of
the game. Coach Hodge lost his temper. He threw bats and balls on the field as he charged out
to challenge the umpire. He said he couldn't play without a catcher, but the umpire told him to
field his team or forfeit the game. Hodge again protested the ejection of his catcher, but to no
avail. With that, he told the team to pick up their gear, and he walked off the field, forfeiting the
contest.
As the seniors on the team rode back to Potsdam with Hodge, they awaited some sort of
outburst. None was forthcoming. Finally Hodge said, "Well, that's that. No more games against
Plattsburgh." And Clarkson did not play them again until 1954 when the soccer team defeated
them 6-4 in Clarkson's first soccer season.
CCT-Dartmouth Hockey.
When undefeated Dartmouth met once-defeated Clarkson on
January 21, the game became a family matter because Clarkson's coach, Bill Harrison, and his
younger brother and Dartmouth star, Cliff Harrison, were meeting on the ice.
