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Paul Sweet works with a student in March 1970.

As George Estabrook pounded his way toward the field house and drew away from McGinnis and Cook yard by yard, others were emerging from the woods and into view from the stands. White singlets and shorts with blue stripes and piping were evident but not in overwhelming numbers. The meet seemed still up for grabs. Football half time festivities had concluded or were not garnering the crowd's attention as more and more people seemed to take notice of the race that was about to course a circular path around the campus side of the stadium, behind the field house and to the finish on the far side of the stadium. Many spectators left the stands to cluster along the closing stretch of the race or near the finish line.

Cross country runners do not routinely hear much cheering but this was different. Hundreds, or more likely thousands of voices were shouting and encouraging runners to the finish. Estabrook came off the hill from behind the field house into the view of the crowd alone! He had opened a lead of more than 100 yards on his erstwhile rivals for first. After a gap came the two Rhode Island runners. Then Carpenter of Massachusetts...Maine...Bob Estabrook...Connecticut...Rick Bell...Rhode Island. Passing runners in the last few hundred yards and barely failing to catch third Rhode Island man was Rick Dunn. The cheers were simply like nothing the cross country runners could remember. Rhode Island had three runners in the first ten but New Hampshire had four. Paul Sweet hardly needed to do the math to understand that with four runners in the first ten victory was within his team's grasp. A runner from Massachusetts crossed the finish line...Maine...then an "NH" singlet, Charlie Morrill, in thirteenth place sealed the win.

George Estabrook set a course record of 23:20.8. Twenty seconds behind him was Charlie McGinnis of Rhode Island. The final result: UNH—38; Rhode Island—51; Massachusetts—65; Maine—88; Connecticut—114; and, Vermont—180. New Hampshire was Yankee Conference cross country champion. Paul Sweet had his championship season.

Coach Paul Sweet

The following March, Paul Sweet was honored when the first phase of the new UNH field house was dedicated and named the Paul Sweet Oval. Members of the championship UNH cross country team received hefty medals—the UNH Athletic Achievement Award—granted to members of UNH teams that achieve a winning record for the season and a conference championship. None of them had even known such an honor existed. Paul Sweet also took pride in the fact that of 22 UNH athletes from all sports to make the first semester Dean's list that year, 10 were from his small cadre of track and cross country athletes. That same month George Estabrook won a double victory (mile and two-mile) in the Yankee Conference championship indoor track meet. Rick Dunn set conference championship, Vermont field house and UNH records in winning the 1000-yard run in the same meet.

For Paul Sweet, that first championship was just the beginning of a string of successes his teams would win in the closing years of his coaching career. With a stable of swift runners, some strong field event men (including Steve Seay '69, another athlete with a basketball scholarship) plus a future Olympian on campus, Paul Sweet could work with a depth of talent that had seldom if ever been available to him. In following years his teams won additional Yankee Conference championships as well as New England Intercollegiate championships. Paul Sweet retired in 1970. He was honored again by UNH on his 100th birthday. Paul Sweet passed away in 2001. His legacy lives on in the excellence UNH has achieved in track and cross country; and, in the grateful memory of the athletes he coached. ~

Richard L. Dunn is a private consultant providing advice on the implementation of technology in the military and civil sectors through innovative means; he analyzes laws, policies and practices and their impact on the development and deployment of technology. Mr. Dunn served as Visiting Scholar and Senior Fellow at the University of Maryland (2000-2007). He was General Counsel of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (1987-2000). Previously he was with the Office of General Counsel, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; private legal practice and served nine years on active duty with the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Dunn has been appointed to serve on several task forces of the National Academy of Science and Defense Science Board. He has law degrees from the University of Maryland and George Washington University (Highest Honors) and a bachelor's degree cum laude from the University of New Hampshire. Mr. Dunn and his wife, Karen, reside in Edgewater, Maryland. They have an adult son.

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