Sunday. October 29. 1939
The DAILY NEBRASKAN
3
Article
Verse
Contributions from
the student body.
n.iMii mi ......mm, .?&XU
Ron Ramp, Drummer
How a All-American
ball carrier threw over
a career on the snares
"Yeah, mister, that's the big
iug oui mere lossing me oia appie
to those ends. The best passer
in big time football, the sports
writers say. He's a cinch All
American this year."
Johnny Bird, sports editor of
the "Tiger's Claw," the University
of Wabash student paper, had just
pointed out Ron 'Ramp to an in
quiring stranger who was watch-
last time before their departure
to Anhauser for the
annuo
Thanksgiving Day game
The stranger looked ever the
field and saw the huge
fullback to.tt several
passes.
Ron, a problem
"Tiger"
perfect
"He's been quite a problem to
your coach, hasn't he?"
jonnny was startiea. it naa
been three years since
had mentioned that.
any
one
"Hnht Oh veh We'w for
gotten hoi it that round hr
Coach swears by him now says
he's the perfect athlete. Ramn
Ramp
keeis trainine- rules like nobodv's
business. Say, how in the deuce'
did you ever hear about that,
anyway?"
The stranger smiled "Things
get around. I really d'ont know
a whole lot Shout it, tho."
The editor of the "Claw" set- ? " campus Jon. It waa
tied down. It s fun to be in the ust llke fore. Ron drew the en
know, and in thia case, he was tire campus. The band became a
really In the know. He guessed
that he'd let the unknown in on
the facts of the discussed matter.
A "snatch"
"Yeah, Ron was really a cyclone
to handle for awhile. He came to
the U with quite a high school
reputation. I was in his class and
we both pledged the same frater
nity. He showed his heels plenty
to the varsity his freshman year.
They didn't mind, though, because
they recognized a "snatch" when
they saw one.
"You'd never believe it to look
at the kid, but he was a nut on
music. When he wasn't playing
football, he was at the frat house,
listening to al! the latest records
of the swing bands. He missed
plenty of classes, but the Dean
just pave him hell and dismissed
it. Football players ere allowed
more skips than the average tlu
dent. Coach talked to Ron and he
began to hit the books a little
more.
"Up in his room, he had a mini
ature drum which he had made
l.iiviself. Well, every Tuesday
night, that's when Benny Good
boy, the king of swing, came on
the air, Ron really went to town
on that darn drum. The actives
objected for a time, then it wasn't
long before the whole house was
up listening to him match beats
v.ith Gene Kruper, Goodboy's hot
drummer. It was a bit of all
right.
Young hopeful.
"Football season passed very
successfully for us and hopes were
bright for an even greater team
the next ;ear. The brightest of
these hopes was Ron Ramp. Gre?it
things were expected of him. The
papers really rjave him build-up.
Just about like the way they built
up Bill de Correvont of North
western last year.
"Ron was becoming studious as
the deviL He never missed classes
anymore, but he still had his reg
ular Tuesday night 'jam' session.
His room was crowded to the hilt
every Tuesday night, 'cause the
campus was wise. Everybody and
his brother came to see and hear
the football playing drummer. Just
as you said, 'Things do get around.
"Well, one night we had a party
at the fraternity house. Everybody
was having a swell time, Including
Ron. He was swinging out with
some doll from the Theta Beta
house, and, brother, when he swung
out, he really swung out The
campus queens y that dancing
with Mm is like taking a ride on
the magic carpet"
Fireworks.
amused by Johnny's expressions,
"Now here's where the fireworks
start, continued Johnny. "Some
SDOke UD and asked t.h hand
l.ader to let Ron handle the drums
f r a couple of licks. The leader
hesitated for a moment but gave
in when the boys started insisting.
Mu e. , there almost went our All
American!
"It didn't take much nersuaslon
get Ron to sit in wiUi the band,
a"d when he started swincinEr
. . " "
inone slicks me crowd went WUd.
The rt of the band got Into the
groove before long and things
really started popping. And let me
tell you. straaeer. there isn't
beat known to on.mmpr. tw
didn t use. It rot around In a hurrv
- - fc Ma twill
that Ron was playing the drums
at the party, vend it wasn't long
Derore tne place was jammed with
students. Jitterbugs galore!
Ron a big hit.
"The leader was taken out. He
8ee that Ron had the stuff
?nd he wanted to put the bee on
?"u "c w pui me c
mm to 17 m band. Ron
r , 'f1 le offcr nd w wr
Ple1tv relieved. But that spook
.K -1 coming around tne house, see-
j wui every aay. inenrsi
thin& we knew Ron skipped out
J l"
Bucteos uveriugnu
Johnny stopped suddenly to
watch Ron get off a 75-yard kick.
The big fellow ceitainly looked
like an All-American.
Johnny got back to his subject.
"We talked to him when he got
home, telling him all the time that
Europe's fantasy war
By Jon
Getting into the army was the
liest thing that had ever happened
to German Soldier No. 2064. The
food was good. The uniforms were
comfortable and good-looking. And
the travel gave a man a chance to
see new places. It suddenly oc
curred to 2064 that, in taking part
in tho mass movement of troops
from Poland to the Western Front,
he was witnessing one of the great
dramatic moments in history.
"Great dramatic moment" he
thought over and over". "Great
dramatic moment." And it gave
him a feeling of power and well
being that he had never known
before. It made him feel almost
like a big-shot or something.
The Line was good, too. No. 2064
was gazing out over the dark
green hills, and getting mildly ex
cited at glimpses of the concrete
observation" towers and pill-boxes
at their summits, and then sud
denly the train rolled into the dark
mjuth of the entrance tunnel.
About three minutes later they
emerged into the glare of an elec-
.v . . A. ."T,il CMo
uit
tion. Fort No. 56. Saarbrucken
Area." At a shouted commfind, the
men were hurried out of the cars,
placed in squads, and marched
away to the barraeks at double
time.
What's your name?" whispered
the man with the heavy voice next
to 2064.
"Karl."
"So's mine. Everybody I know's
named Karl or Adolf."
The man waa talkative. He kept
chattering in low tones about this
beinc the impenetrable West Wall.
the great Siegfried Line. The squad
turned down another corridor and
moved through an open doorway
into the well-furnished sleeping
rooms.
"Lighti'n go out in half an hour.
You better eet to bed." said the
squad leader. And he disappeared
through another doorway
The first night
No, 2064 climbed into the upper
deck of the bed assigned to him.
The man In the lower bunk, below
football and drums don t mix. He secret trip to look over some
said that football season was over drummer who was becoming a sen
and this was just fun to him. Noth- sation at some university. That
ing serious. Nothing to get excited was enough for us. We thought
about. we knew where Goodboy was go
Name spread around. mfT
"So we let it ride for awhile. "Wc ditched the paper so Ron
Ron waa playing every week end
now. His nnme wan beinfi' snread
throughout the dance halls of the
Middle West. He was a sensation!
"Again, just like you said,
Things get around, and it waa
just a short time before Ron was
playing with a better band. He
now had to eo out on school
nights as well as the week ends
He waa going nuts on drums. He
wa3 grauuauy iiunnuig uui vi
i.: -... -m
chooL
"The dean called him In again,
giving: him a final warning. Ron
M the rnin slide off like water
,f , av. iv xi wf
Vfc a Vfc VI UV 0 VMAV(V 11V .lsv utuj-
In? in the band. The coach, off
on a vacation, got wind of it and
flew back to school for a talk with
his protege. Ron fluffed rum off.
Was the coach ever burned up! He
came over to the house, raising
hell with us and telling us we were
to blame, and that If we didn't get
hnsv our hie foothall nlaver wan
going to be out of school.
Wouldn't give up.
"We talked and argued with
Ron, but it did little good. He was
stuck on drumming, we gave up,
but took turns doing his lessons
ior rum. tie manxea us, dui carea
very little whether assignments
were handed in or not Finals were
only a month off and we were
plenty worried about Ron. If he
flunked them, he was out of our
friendly little institution.
"One morning a few of us were
reading the city paper and we
came upon an item in one of the
entertainment columns that said
Benny Goodboy was going on a
Pruden
"Just get in?"
"Ya."
"You'll like it here. Great
Have a lot of fun with
life.
the
French."
Next morning, after breakfact
had been served in the great mess
hall and the first instructions
about positions and duties had
been given, the men all went up
in the elevator and watched the
French parading up and down on
the opposite bank of the river.
They carried banners, painted in
glaring colors, saying in very bad
German, e won t shoot if you
don't." One of the banners bore a
likeness to Dcr Fuehrer. Under
neath it was written, "Hoch, der
Kaiser!" There didn't seem to be
much point to the parade because
nobody was shooting anyhow, but
the men laughed and shouted
greetin&s across the river to the
French, who shouted back and
jumped up and down like excited
children.
Get instructions.
" ' 6 J
marched up. clicked his heels, and
announced that No. 2064's division
was to go back down to a meet
ing. In the big auditorium the' old
captain was waiting for them. He
looked like he had indigestion. But
he went about the business of ex
plaining to them the location of
oil and gas and food stores, the
central position of the kitchens
and mess-halls, and the use of
gymnasiums, movies, and other
facilities, efficiently enough.
"We must keep the army in good
physical condition. You are here
- , Am.nmmt murh
you The only work you
must do is that entailed in keep-
Ing the fort clean," he barked,
And it sounded like he meant that
he wished there was more to do.
Standing up there in f rout of them,
he looked like he wanted to grin,
knew that some great thing
called Prussian Military Discipline
must be maintained.
. "This Is a good place," thought never sen a prisoner of war be
No. 2064. fore. They aren't very common
"And now," said the captain, 1 around here."
have a very important introduction "Just an accident Wt were fct-
Ul
Extraordinary
wouian t see it ana sent one or
the boys to the city to find out
for ure where Goodboy was going,
jus 85 w suspected! He was out
to look over Ron.
"It was plain to see that we had
to do some fast work. Benny was
due down Friday to watch Ron go
to town at the sophomore prom.
Well, Friday afternoon we took
our trouble child out with us, in
tending to talk him out of his
drumming career. A local beer
tavern seemed to be the logical
place and we sat our problem
1"rir"l',,M -"u
down in a corner booth and started
Pulun& on ule ne w
that he was getting plenty sore
at our Intrustion into his affairs,
and we were plenty taken out
when he ordered up a beer. None
of us had seen him take a beer
before,
"As the conversation progressed,
Ron ordered up and ordered up
until he was getting pretty well
along. We finally gave up talking
and left him there to take care of
himself. We had done our best
but pal, it looked like we had
failed.
All turn out
"Practically the whole Frat
turned out for the prom, 'cause
even tho we were against his
drumming, we loved to hear the
big lug beat it out And were we
ever surprised when we walked
onto the dance floor. There was
Ron up there in the band, looking
like he had been dragged thru sev
eral mighty small knot holes.
Buddy, he was drunk.
"Everyone in the place knew,
and it looked like old women's
An imaginative interpretation
of a soldier's life cn the front
os indicated by press bulletins
to make. In the skirmishing up
the line near Fort 54, three prison
ers were taken. Net wishing to
be greedy, the officials at 54 de
cided to divide th spoils of war.
They sent one of the pnsoners to
55, and or.e to is here at 55. May
I introduce to vou the most excit-
ing persons we have met. since the
war began, a real bona-fide mem
ber of the French army, captured
in actual cor bat"
The Frenchman popped up from
his seat beside the captain, bowed
gravely, and said in halting Ger
man, "Ain't we all having a good
time. When I get back I'll sure
1 -ve some stories to tell. But, God,
I hate to think of goin' home."
He sat down amid thunderous
applause,
The prisoner was in conference
And when he came out of the
office a rumor went around that
some agreement had been reached.
Next morning an official notice
w.-ji posted on the bulletin board
in the ntss halL It said that the
French had been contacted by
radio after the conference the eve
ning before, and that specified
times had been set for all bom
bardments in the future. The
French were to open fire each
morning, not including Sundays,
at 9 o'clock, and were to continue
firing for one hour. Vfter an In
terval of 45 minutes to allow the
French gunners to get clear, the
Germans were to begin their bom
bardment which was to continue
until 11 o'clock.. After that hos
tilities were over for the day, and
everybody was to go to lunch.
"That means IH have to remem-
Jf Yf .
wtween ana xu, uiougnt, uo.
Fixed H up.
'The litle Frenchman stopped at
ju, side and stared up at the board.
"i fixed that vm. No sense la
casting shells an day." be said.
"Ya," answered 2064. "By the
way. how'd vou ret caucht? I've
club day the way the whole mob
was whispering around. Pretty
soon the dance started. We looked
around for Goodboy. Guess he
came incog 'cause we never got a
glimpse of him.' It wasn't long be
fore we realized that Ron might
just as well be out beating on a
watermelon for all the good he
was doing up on that bandstand.
In plain words, he stunk. His
first drunk was no time to be
playing the'drums and he knew it.
So finally he left the bandstand
and went down into the wash
room. I followed him down and
found him beating his fists on the
wall, an old trick for undergrad
uate drunks. His hands looked
like pieces of raw meat. He was
plenty disgusted with himself, and
I could see that he was hurt I
rushed him out of there and took
him to a doc. Our star had three
three broken fingers on his left
hand and a mangled tendon. He
hasn't been able to use his left
hand worth a darn since. O
course his drumming career was
ruined, for any person having stiff
hands is no good on the drums.
The stranger was taking all this
in very matter-of-factly.
"What about this fellow, Good
boy. Did Ron ever know about the
audition he was getting?"
"Yes. We told Ron and he felt
mighty bad for awhile. We never
knew for sure whether Goodboy
got there to hear Ron mess things
up, but we have always thought
he did, 'cause some stranger left
the hall just as soon as Ron
walked out on the band.
Johnny's companion coughed,
apparently having some trouble
with a cold.
"And how has Ron been doing
since, he asked.
"Swell." replied Johnny. "He
started stud3-ing right after the
See DRUMMER, Page 5.
tacking with the tanks up north
there in the woods. It's sort of
a race, you know. There's a line
that runs down through an open
place in t!ie trees, find we run our
tanks up on one side. You Ger
mans run yours up on the other.
When both siiks get up there we
shift in'o rr-verse, and sf-e who ar
g:t back the fastest. Well. I got
shifted into forwpni instead of
reverse, and the gear stuck. I beat
all of your tanks back to the Ger
man lines. And I couldn't get out,
so there was nothing they could do
but capture me me and Hie gun
ner and the mechanic."
"Too bad," said a handsome
young blonde with a pink face,
"But accidents will happen."
Bombardments over.
In the afternoon, after the bom
bardments were over, the French
came down to the river to swim
and wash out a few clothes. The
captain marched out to the men
on the observation platform and
said that the general had sug
gested that they might as well go
down and swim with the French.
He didn't look very happy about
it. He looked as though he thought
it was disgusting. But the general
had said they could go, and that
the prisoner could go along too if
he'd come back, so there was noth
ing to be done but let them. So
they climbed down the bank to
the river, and, throwing their
clothes on the sand, dove into the
cold water. Some of the French
swam across to them. And after
some difficulty with the language,
they decided to try racing back
and forth across the river. It would
lend excitement to an otherwise
dull afternoon. The little pink
faced German won most of the
races. But a great dark poilu
shouted:
"IH bet we could beat 3'ou at
water polo."
"Bet you couldn't"
Game planned.
They -talked the idea over for
a while, and finally agreed that
nicely under way, using partially
fee WAR, Pass &.
