""Tuesday, March "16, 1943
DAILY NEBR ASK AN
rui
00
Husker Grid
Plans Falter
Before Wind
Severe winds hampered the
opening of Cornhusker spring
football Monday, forcing the grid
sters to function on the indoor
track. Warm-up exercises were
mostly the order of the afternoon,
tho physical check-ups and weigh
ing required some time.
"We'll line up some teams Tues
day," said Mentor Glen Presnell.
'Hope we can get some kind of
a weather break."
Some 40 gridsters reported Mon
day and 20 more are expected to
day. Presnell's list:
Knds: M Orubauith. Rising City: Tom
Hayes. Hastings; Bert GisMer. Osceola;
Ro1nev Smith. Sotth Sioux City; John
Sfhleslcer, Ytitnn; Jack Hien. Omaha;
Kxl Nvilen. Lincoln; Dean Celwlck. Lin
coln: Wilbur CraiK, York; Bob Gllla.ipie.
Lincoln; Dale Proctor. Bruno.
Tackles: Bob McNutt, Colby. Kaa.;
Narvin Gnihauch, Rising City; Dwayne
Pomeier. Geneva; Gordon Lucht. Grand
Island; Neil Fonts. Seward; Leo Reck. r.,
Lincoln; Joe Byler. Alma; Gene Sim. Ne
braska City; Cnarlea Wright. North Platte:
Bob Test, Fremont ; Myron Kronkright,
Litchfield; I vie Droge. DuBols.
Guards: Wayne Stranathan, Glenwood.
la.; Gene Wllkina. Omaha; Emmanuel
Klein. Ogallala; Mario Moore. Lincoln;
Bobbie A'hbnrn, Tllden; William Skog.
Omaha: Charlea Duda. South Sioux City;
Herb vonGoeti. North Platte; Frank Hai
ard. Sioux City.. Ia.; Wayne Croissant,
Osceola: Merle Ehers, Seward; George
Howard. Lincoln.
Centers: Joe Partington. Lincoln; For
rest Bachman, Lincoln: Newman Buckley.
Lincoln; Carroll Btckford, Corning, la.;
Carter Kokjcr, Sidney; Kenneth Green
wood. Lincoln.
Quarterbacks. Fred Metheny, Lincoln;
Bobby Cooper. Omaha; Dan Brestel, Her
ahey; Ralph Beckwlth, Albion; Lynn Sum
mers, Milford.
Halfbacks: Marvin Athey, Wauneta:
Henry Relchel, Lincoln: Neal McKee. At
kinson; Howard Foy, Omaha; Kent Kratt.
Sidney: Roy Long, Blair; Richard Thomp
son. Lincoln; Howard DeBui. Lincoln:
Russell F.lsenhart. Culbertson; Gordon
Flagg. Ord; Corwln Walden. David City.
Fullbacks: Ktrwtn Elsenbart. Culbertson:
Randal! Salisbury. F.lwood; George Wright.
Pcottsbluff : Jo Kessler, Wayne; Gilbert
Poss, Madrid.
Daily
Nebraskan Opens
Campaign For Football
Match Between Rivals
Only Solution!
Doctor Allen
Says Pro Cage
Game 'Ready'
. . . Skill Desired
LAWRENCE, March 15. What
ever may be the far-reaching
effect of the current world war,
one of the things to come out of
it which will have great interest
for the American populace par
ticularly that part of it with an
interest in sports will be the
establishment on a sound footing
of professional basketball.
That is the contention of Dr.
Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, cele
brated 'University of Kansas cage
mentor, currently ranked as the
nation's No. 1 basketball coach.
Dr. Allen bases his thesis on a
study of American history. Pro
fessional baseball, he points out,
was a direct outgrowth of the
Civil War. Professional football
developed out of World war I. In
both instances, the doctor pointed
out. it took approximately 20
yeaia to establish the sport on a
firm financial footing command
ing attention of the public.
Now baseball ia regarded by
every American as the great
American pastime, and profes
sional football last year, in spite
of the current war stringencies,
turned out to be one of the great
est financial sports successes.
Pro Basketball.
The pathway has already been
cleared for the popular acceptance
of professional basketball on a
big time settle. For instance, ptac
tically every- city of appreciate
site in the nation already has a
municipal auditorium, or field
house, seating from 4,000 to 18,000
people, which provides a perfect
setting for big time basketball.
"Phog" lists a number of im
portant reasons why he ia sure of
his contention. After every war,
there comes a cyclical depression,
which will see a great many
highly skilled athletes mustered
ut of the service and war indus
try without employment
Professional athletics offers a
bonanza for these young men.
Professional basketball will be
one of the solutions, with the set
ting already established with the
treat arenas already in operation.
Sure Thing!
BY GENE SHERMAN.
Some person said that ping pong
is a sissy game. We agreed with
this self-styled wit until we tried
our hand at the miniature game
of tennis, played on a six foot long
table with each performer using a
paddle instead of a racquet.
After looking like anything ex
cept an exponent of the sissy's
game, we happened to venture
down to the coliseum last year to
witness a championship l-M ping
pong match.
When the teams took to the
floor (or we should say table), we
noticed that there was sort of a
professional air about the partici
pants that was lacking when we
used to lob the ball around at the
Union. Each player was wearing
tenni9 shoes and carefully carry
ing his paddle like Don Budge
with his famous tennis racquet.
We were very much surprised
to see the caliber of ping pong
that was exhibited by these ama
teur I-M teams.
This evening, the 1943 l-M
round robin ping pong tourney
gets under way at the coliseum
For the first time in a long while
the l-M ping pong race will not
be dominated by one or two out
standing clubs. Graduation plus
the fortunes of the ERC have left
the seeded quintets with only the
caliber of material that will rep
resent the average team. Al-
tho the olay might not be too
fast this year, an even race plus
a few of last year's "greats
should perk up the interest in the
"sissv's" snort which has been
lacking for the last few seasons
Last year's I-M ping pong tour
ney found the fast ZBT paddlers
nipping the DU netmen for the
title. Zeta Beta Tau's chances for
repeating with the 1943 crown are
very dismal with the loss of
Buddy Goldstien, Theo Cohen and
Norm Rips from last year s cnam
pionship squad, plus the recent
ERC call to newcomer Al White,
one of the university's most out
standing players.
Sooner Grid
Drills Open
Sixth Week
. . .Lifrtenin' Hunkers? j
NORMAN, Okl., March 15.
Oklahoma began its sixth week of
serine football practice here Mon
day by playing its fifth practice
game.
Coach Dewey "Snorter' Luster
has 35 men reporting. Letter backs
on the job include Eddie Davis,
Don Fauble. Myrle Greathoust
and Boone Baker, supplemented
by Sophomores Dave Wallace,
Max Culver, Derald Lebow, Ken
Parker, Claude Arnold and Gene
Merrell.
Letter forwards in uniform
Buddy Goodall. Jim Tyree, Don
McDonald. Bill Morris, Stanley
Green. Chris Lambert, Albert
Downs, Lee Kennon, Oscar Rag
land, and Sophomores Merle Dink
ins, Thurman Tigart. Joe Bailey,
Joe Kerbel, Clyde Chancellor. L.
E. Weber. F. D. Beavers, Omer
Burgett, and Jim Shoffner.
Typhoons to Play
Baseball Schedule
AMES, Ia., March 15. Baseball
will be the next varsity sport on
the calendar of the Iowa State
college naval training school.
The Typhoons, under the direc
tion of Chief Boatswain's Mate.
P. J. Christman, will open their
schedule about May 1. The sched
ule Is being negotiated by Ensign
Charles Jones, athletic officer.
A letter was dispatched to Co
lumbia, Mo., Monday, recommend
ing a spring football match be
tween Nebraska and Missouri.
Such a match offers the only
solution to the University of
Nebraska spring gridiron situa
tion. Without any other goal to
achieve, the Cornhusker football
"reservists" would fire into spring
drills -with renewed vigor if they
realized an actual game was in
the offing.
Below, we offer a duplicate of
the letter that was sent to the
Tiger lair.
SPORTS EDITOR
MU DAILY
COLUMBIA, MO.
DEAR SPORTS EDITOR:
I'm certain that you recognize
the fact that there will be no fel
lows available for football next
fall and that consequently there
will be no college football. And
yet spring football is being held
at colleges over the nation, so
why not give these spring football
ers something to work for, give
our papers some news, and pro
mote something for a war cause?
In short, we would like to ar
range a Missouri-Nebraska foot
ball game to cap the spring condi
tioning program. Transportation
is the only obstacle, it seems, to
such a contest. Considering that
proceeds of the game, sans ex
penses, would be given to a war
fund, I can see no reason why the
match could not be arranged.
Both teams would meet on an
equal basis. Missouri and Nebras
ka gridsters would both have a
month of conditioning behind and
would be in shape for the battle
Please speak to Don Faurot
about this and answer immediate
ly. We're pretty sure that these
coaches want to keep the candi
dates "plugging" out there and
they knew they had something to
work for, they would all report
daily.
Any way you look at it, the
match offers possibilities. It is
the only solution to the spring
football problem.
Sincerely yours,
NORRIS ANDERSON,
SPORTS EDITOR
DAILY NEBRASKAN
LINCOLN, NEBR.
Speedy Marv
Jacobs to Run
John Jacobs, Oklahoma's 48-year-old
track and field coach
and Clyde Littlefield, director
of the Texas relay, will clash
in a 20-yard hurdle race in a
big event to be run at the Aus
tin, Tex., carnival April 3.
Jacob and Littlefield were
rivals some 20 years ago.
- Li xJ
Courtesy Journal.
One of the fastest veteran backs
available, Marv Athey is primed
to exhibit his off tackle slashes
and end sweeps in the first drill
Tuesday.
Regents Delay
Coach Problem
"We are trying to work out a
satisfactory solution to our prob
lems and are making progress."
So stated a official of the Uni
versity of Nebraska athletic board
and regents which met last week
to discuss the school's wartime
coaching situation.
Big problem seemed to center
around the uncertain wartime
status of Head Coach Glen Pres
nell currently enrolled with the
naval reserve.
Three Tulane
Athletes Lose
Lives in War
NEW ORLEANS, La. (ACP).
Tulane officials have noted a curi
ous parallelism in the university's
war record. To date three univer
sity athletes have given their lives
in service of their country.
Each was a member of the army
air corps. Each died as a result
of a plane mishap. Each had been
a member of the Tulane boxing
team two years and won his letter
in that sport.
Wallace Captures
Table Tennis Meet
AMES, Ia., March 15. Jack
Wallace of Des Moines is the all
campus champion in Iowa State's
intramural table tennis tourna
ment. Wallace, a member of Del
ta Tau Delta, defeated Bruce
Henderson, Farm House represent
ative from Coin.
By Norria Anderson ft '
!;!; 5 w' ' l
!;!; (Sports Editor) ' , V .,, & " ;
j::,,,, 7 . . A ;
Drake Shows
Bright Record
NORMAN, Okla., March 15
Oklahoma basketball teams
coached by Bruce Drake, Sooner
court great of 1927-29, have won
35 and lost 15 Big Six conference
games for a percentage of .700
during Drake's five year coaching
stint here. I
Dr. F. C. "Phog" Allen's Kansas
Jayhawkers have been the tough-yPar 0f eligibility?
est club for uraxe to or&i, inr
records show, each having de
feated the other five times in
regularly-scheduled Big Six con
ference play altho Dr. Allen's Jay
hawks also nipped the Soonera in
a Big Six playoff game at
Wichita, Kas. in 1940.
Conversely, Drake's Sooner
teams have given Kansas more
difficulty than any other Jay
hawk foe. Of the ten Big Six
games the Jayhawks have lost
the past five years, Oklahoma was
the conquering team in five of the
ten. In other wsrds, one-half of
all the conference defeats suffered
by Kansas during that period were
dropped to Oklahoma.
Shall Football Die?
"llold-that-line! Hold-that-line !'' Paean of t he pigskin
is currently rucking spring sports circles. Kvery i'lal field ami
for-sale-sign plastered lot from htat-shiminering (!;ilvcston to
frosty-hewed Minneapolis is resounding to the hollow thump of
punts and 'the solid smack of body blocks.
Like every other university, Nebraska officially opened
spring grid conditioning Monday when Mentor Glen Presnell
summoned candidates together with a whistle toot. Like every
other university, Cornhusker grid candidates reported with no
hope of being available for autumn competition.
Elsewhere on this sheet is a letter, sent from Daily Nebras
kan officials Monday, which offers a real solution to the t'ni
versity of Nebraska spring football enigma.
There are several points which should drive tandem with
the letter to Missouri: (1) (!len Presnell, outside admitting the
idea "a good one," had no connection with the promotion.
(2) Problem arises: If the game is played in our stadium,
how will the outstate audience get here? That can be an
swered by a glance at the outstaters here for the recent state
cage tourney. Nebraska is not yet as large as Texas and a
bit of coupon-saving can get the motorist practically any place
over the state. We also have busses and railroads.
(.1) Another question emerges: Will the gridmen lose a
Kig Six approval can be obtained for the
game and the eligibility could thereby be saved.
A four-year tradition was broken Monday by the mid
west Associated Press excluded Cornhusker performers from
the 1942-43 All-Big Six basketball five.
Bob Heinzelman. John Thompson and Max Ynunsr were
given honorable mention bcrth.
Scene in the Cornhusker dressing room Monday: Perform
ers rushing hither and yon, checking equipment and taking phy
sical tests. Chili Armstrong stopping to comment on the cold
wave Presnell: "Not a very good day to start practice. But
we'll send the kids thru some exercises indoors and possibly
line up a team or two. Hope we can get a better break on the
weather tomorrow." '
