Jim & Jeanne McQuillen
The 1961 – 1962 Squash Team had four members from the 62 Class that lettered. Don Voss for 3 years, “Jim Peterson” for 3 years, Jim McQuillen for two years and “Rich Carlson” an Army A Firstie Year.
Squash Team Captain Firstie Year
It was probably the only sport, with a consistent winning record, where no one on the team had ever played the game before going to West Point. The coach recruited Tennis players along with guys that were good athletes that wanted a chance to play a varsity sport. Naturally as a plebe there was the additional motivation of wanting to sit on a training table.
A match consisted of nine individual singles matches and the winning team had to win five or more of the individual matches. Each individual match was determined by the best three out of five 15 points sets/games. On the individual matches that went more than three games conditioning played a big part and was one of the reasons we were able to beat more skilled and experienced players.
Our record for the 1961 – 1962 season was 8 and 5 with the last win being a 6 to 3 win over Navy for the only Squash Victory over Navy in our four years at the Academy. However we were never able to beat Harvard, Yale or Princeton which were loaded with All Americans and people who had been playing the game since they were little kids. Desire and conditioning only went so far.
Don Voss was our best player. He played number one for two years and made the All American Team in 61 and 62. Jim McQuillen played in the 7th position Cow Year but moved up to the number two position Firstie Year. Jim was edged out at the end of the year by a Yearling named “Ritchie Oehrlein”.
Ritchie was on the All American Team in 1964. In 2007 he was inducted into the West Point Sports Hall of Fame for both Squash and Tennis along with his younger brother “Walter Oehrlein” Class of 1965, who won the NCAA squash singles championship in 1965.
“Jim Peterson” played in the 4th or 5th position for most of our Cow and First Class Year and had several critical victories including a key win over Navy. Jim Captained the tennis team our First Class year.
Rich Carlson alternated between the sixth and seventh slot on the team and was a major contributor to our winning record.
Nickname: Jim
Company: L2
Home Town: Bethesda, Md
High Schools:
1954 to 1957: Gonzaga High School, Washington,DC
1957 to 1958: Severn School, Severna Park, MD
Appointed by Senator Case of South Dakota
Date of Entry to Academy; July 1, 1958
Date of graduation: June 6, 1962
Age at graduation: 22
Cullum number: 24160
Class standing: 344 out of 602
Cadet Rank: Sergeant, Squad leader
Height:
Entry: 5’10”
Graduation: 5′ 11 1/2″
Weight:
Entry: 150
Playing weight: 165 to 170
Graduation: 170
Teams:
Squash 4,3,2,1
Captain Firstie Year
Numerals 4, Army A Cow and Firstie Years
Team record 1960 to 1961: 9 wins 6 losses loss to Navy 8 to 1
Team record 1961 to 1962: 8 wins 5 losses, beat Navy 6 to 3
Individual record 1960 to 1961: 11 or 12 wins, 3 or 4 losses which was the best record on the Team
Individual record 1961 to 1962: 7 or 6 wins, 6 or 7 losses
1962 NCAA Tournament; Eliminated in either the second or third round by the runner up in the tournament.
Coach: Leif Nordle, Asst Sgt Millikin
OIC: 1960 to 1961: Maj Geraci
1961 to 1962: Captains Sullivan and Horn
Tennis: 4,3,2
Numerals 4, Monogram 2
Coach: Leif Nordle, Asst: Ron Holmburg
Relationship with Tactical Department:
Two 8 and 8 slugs, first served 8 hours confinement second half of plebe year, second walked the area for 8 hours at Camp Buckner. Otherwise no major problems
Activities;
Pointer Circulation 4,3
Catholic Acolytes 3,2,1
Debate Council admin work 3,2
Ski Club 1
Comissioned: Infantry
For What They Gave on Saturday Afternoon 