Plane on Leave.
After completing five years at Clarkson, President Robert Plane began his
five-month presidential leave pursuing research on the characterization and modification of
wine acidity. Most of his work was done at the NY State Experimental Station at Geneva where
he was a visiting professor of chemistry. In December, he began work in the wineries of Napa
Valley, California.
He was considered somewhat of an authority on wine, having operated his own
vineyard in the Finger Lakes region of New York for the previous seven years. He planted his
first vines in 1972, and by 1979, the vineyard was growing 22 different kinds of grapes which
yielded about 30,000 gallons of wine per year.
Rifle Team.
By defeating Cornell, Clarkson's shooters became the NY State Intercollegiate
League Champion Rifle Team. Unbeaten in six matches, the team finished the season by setting
a record for the highest team total ever fired in the League; Clarkson also held the previous
record.
To achieve this championship, this team also had to defeat Cornell, RIT, and St.
Bonaventure. They then had to defeat RIT a second time, winning by a one-point margin.
Adding to their record was their non-league defeat of the Royal Military Academy of Canada
fired here at the Clarkson home range. Freshman Davis Young was the team's highest shooter.
Bob Edwards, also a freshman, held his high school record of 285 out of 300. This also was the
first year for women on the squad when Deborah Dierdorff and Sue Loughrey brought valuable
experience to the team.
Firing by international rules, each competitor fired a total of 60 shots. Twenty were
fired from each of three positions: prone, standing, and kneeling. These were fired without
benefit of any support, and used metallic sights during a total time of 96 minutes allotted to
complete the sequence. These matches are fired at a distance of 50 feet at international 50-meter
targets which have been brought back to 50 feet at a bull's-eye which is a small dot only .008
inches in diameter. To count as a bull's-eye, a bullet must touch this dot. Aiming for a
maximum score of 600 points, the Knights averaged 518 this year.
The ability to fire an aggregate score of 289 out of 300, the current Clarkson record held
by Charles Fogelstrom '70, required the utmost control over the physical and mental processes
of the body. Something as small as a pulse beat, when transmitted to the rifle, can mean the
difference between a score of seven or eight and a bull's-eye.
Fiesinger Retired.
F. William "Bill" Fiesinger retired after serving the College on campus for
19 years as director of alumni relations, as director of development, and as director of athletics
at various times. At Commencement, he was presented with the following Citation:
The Board of Trustees of Clarkson College hereby gives special recognition to F. WILLIAM FIESINGER
for his nineteen years of exemplary service to Clarkson College.
BE IT KNOWN that Bill has served Clarkson with unswerving devotion in a number of posts ranging
from alumni secretary to director of athletics and recreation.
BE IT FURTHER KNOWN that the Clarkson Board of Trustees expresses its deepest gratitude to and
respect for Bill Fiesinger for his many years of service to his College.
BE IT RESOLVED, therefore, on this Twenty-Seventh day of May, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Nine,
that F. William Fiesinger be proclaimed the first Clarkson Ambassador.
