Men's Hoops Spends a Morning Spreading Christmas Cheer

HANOVER, N.H. — The morning after pulling off a thrilling 71-68 victory over Army — at one point trailing by as many as 12 points — the Dartmouth men's basketball team climbed out of bed to don Santa hats and greet four train-car loads of children who were riding the "Polar Express." The extremely large elves joined several others in spreading Christmas cheer to the families on board that sipped on cocoa and nibbled on cookies while listening to a reading of the children's book by Chris Van Allsburg.

The Polar Express ride was a two-hour journey for the passengers beginning in White River Junction and stopping at the "North Pole," which was magically simple for the Big Green to reach. Once the train arrived, the story was read before the elves appeared, followed by Santa himself. Ol' St. Nicholas then distributed the first gift of Christmas to each child (a silver bell as in the story) during the train ride back to White River Junction. Upon arrival, Santa took the time to pose for pictures with the youths and their families.

“All the proceeds from this event go back into the community for Rotary scholarships and other Chamber of Commerce events,” said the head "elf," Tad Nunez, who doubles as the Hartford Director of Parks & Recreation, “events like the Covered Bridge half-marathon and the Quechee Balloon Festival.”

“It is important for our guys to give back to the community any way we can,” head coach Paul Cormier stated. “We rely on the community to come out and support us, and this was an opportunity for us to support the community. It was a real treat to see all the smiles of those kids on the train, and we will continue to look for other ways we can give our time to charitable events.”

The team will need to stretch back to full size for its next game at Iowa State (9-2) on Dec. 19 at 2 p.m. (EST).

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