I hope this both a clarification and a question:
>>Re: IVY group
>>
>>An even further digression, just random trivia:  the league was originally
>>only four teams.  Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Cornell formed the "League
>>of IV" (read it as a Roman numeral), thereafter referred to casually as the
>>I-V, or Ivy, League.
>>
>>These four teams were later joined by Brown, Dartmouth, University of
>>Pennsylvania, Columbia, Army, and Navy, to form a league of ten.  I believe
>>the military academies left the league in the late 1940s, shortly before
>>league play was formalized, but I'm not positive.
 
This is clearly apocryphal.  The phrase "Ivy League" precedes by twenty
years the origins of the Ivy Agreement.  The Ivies were defined in the
sports press of the 1930's, particularly Caswell Adams and Stanley
Woodward , to refer to old colleges of the East. (It should be noted
that much as religious groups like the "Shakers" took on a name that
had derisive orginis, talk of the "Ivies" was often far from
flattering.)
 
As early as 1936 the editor's of 7 of the 8 ivy school newspapers ran a
common editorial calling for the formation of the Ivy League ("an Ivy
League in fact, not just the mind of Sportswriters.")  The Brown Daily
Herald was the only paper not to print the editorial.
 
In November 1945, the presidents of the Ancient Eight (all of them),
signed a pact to regulate eligibility, scholarships, and post-season
play in football (only football).  Now, the news stories that announced
the pact used the phrase "Ivy League" to describe the group by the
president's agreement did not.
 
In 1952 the Ivy Group Agreement reiterated and strengthened the common
commitment to the 1945 regulations.  Still, the agreement applied only
to football, but the dialogue was firmly established.  In 1954, the Ivy
Group signed a more general agreement applying to all intercollegiate
athletics and providing for the round-robin play among the members when
possible.  It is the basic principles of that agreement the govern the
Ivy League today.
 
The question is...
What was the origin of the Pentagonal League?
Was it simply the hockey collective of the group of colleges clearly
recognized by institutional and athletic histories as similar and
distinct?
Was there a more formal effort to parallel the developments in football
among the hockey playing schools?
 
 
 
Kevin Grau
Brown '91
 
Director                                    Chair
Ingenuity and Enterprise Center             Telecommunications Committee
@ the Rhode Island Historical Society       Common Cause / Rhode Island
110 Benevolent Street
Providence, RI 02906
 
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of
any of the above organizations nor, on some days, the opinions of the
author.
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.