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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1942)
Sports Editor - €k. btaits a mw term and it s time to pull together all the loose strings in sports. Up the Igloo-way spring sports are al ready in. On Howe field baseball men ease through light work outs, cautious yet because of cool weather. Just a bit east of Howe field the football men grunt and groan on the sod of th(^practice Held, yet unaware of what fate is going to befall their sport. And still farther east Colonel Bill Hayward sends his scanty, buneli of thin-clads through easy workouts and of 1 ers his--prayers-for a dozen Les Steers. Moving north we have the tennis courts and Russ Cutler drilling his racquet wielders to get the rough spots shaved off before their meet with Irving club April 11. All which means that basketball has moved into cold type in the dusty record books, and a few memories for some. Linger on Basketball a Minute But let’s not boot basketball out quite so quietly and so hastily. After all Dartmouth and Stanford have yet to play off the championship game next Saturday, and we can expect a few gloating remarks to filter out of Corvallis about their Beavers winning the championship. *'■ - Before basketball at Oregon in 1941-42 becomes a few statistics the column wants to get one thought off its chest. Remember the Alley Cats, the Tall Firs, the champs? Of course—everyone does. Which is just what I mean. Everyone remembers them and insists upon judging all of Oregon’s teams by that immortal gang. They were a great team. Even in a small sheep town in the southern desert of Utah I heard of their exploits. I even had the chance to see them play and they were great. But why not give some of the succeeding teams a break? The Alley Cats were an exception. A coach gets a team like that once in a lifetime, if lie’s lucky, and after that he just gets good teams again, if lie’s lucky. Look at Sports Today ^ So—file your memories of that team, and give other Ore gon basketball teams a bneak by not comparing them to the past; instead, judge your teams on their own capacities. The philosophers tell us that yesterday is gone, forget it; tomorrow may never come so don’t worry about it. Today is here, live it. Sports today. That’s an indefinite subject. Football on the coast is now in the hands of the sport heads in Portland. The question as to whether football will con tinue on the coast as the big time sport it has been will be decided there today probably. Reports from the meeting, a meeting which Anse Cornell, Tex Oliver and Dean Hollis of the University of Oregon, are attending, arc optimistic and seem to indicate that the 1942 schedule as drawn up earlier, will continue. But these are the*bpinions of the coaches and Mr. Atherton and while they’re interesting in themselves, when the showdown comes they won’t have much bearing on the case. For the catch is that the faculty representatives from the various schools attending the meeting have the say as to what will happen. These fellows are remaining very quiet. The war had poked its probing hands into the Emerald sport staff and it, the staff, finds itself facing spring term sans one sport editor. Johnny Kaliananui, figuring the Japs had no right fooling around with Pearl Harbor, has given his intentions of entering the air corps. Swan Song or Aloha The usual procedure when a sports editor writes his last column is to give with it what is called his “Swan Song.” Maybe Johnny will drop in and write one for us one of these ■d^ys but we’re inclined to believe it should be called some thing other than a “Swan Song”—say perhaps—an Aloha. So in the ensuing issues you’ll meet two other fellows in this corner of the sport page. Two assistant sport editors. They’ve both been around the sports front long enough to know the score and they’ll have interesting stuff for you. The fellows—Erling Erlandson and Fred Tredgold. Here an' There A few more loose strings to tie up—Duke Iverson has registered again this term. This should ease the furrowed brows of some who were worrying about who is going to hold down the quarterbacking job next season. Another addition to the football squad which has the interest of the column is Scotty Deeds. Deeds hails from Long Beach Junior College. A baekfielcl speedster, Deeds looked smooth in intramurals and might do well in varsity competition. Another gem.that intramurals uncovered, and one who looks well in practice, is Duane “Ozzie Redfield. He saw Tis high school football action in Illinois and was picked on the Chicago All-City team. John Maiulic should be picked on the All-American basket ball team but probably won’t because the Beavers were belted out by Stanford. The column still weeps because Stanford beat Colorado. Just wait—the big seven will turn out a top team yet, Spring Intramurals Expect Great Season “We re going to town on intra murals this spring,’’ declared Paul R. Washke, director of IM athletics. Stating that intramur als were expected to bear the brunt of school athletics due to the forced de-emphasizing of var sity sports due to the war, Wash ke is busily preparing a program to finish off what he termed “the most successful year in Oregon intramural history.’’ The swimming schedule will get under way next Monday, he said, and softball is due to begin three weeks later. Explaining that softball'has been put off because of the uncertain early spring weather, Washke said that “there will be plenty of time to play out the complete schedule.’’ All-Star Idea Swell Washke also expressed com plete satisfaction over the suc cess of the basketball all-star show saying that he noticed that it received complete coverage in all the Northwest papers and “even as far south as the San Francisco Examiner.” Questioned over the possibility of a Greek Independent all-star softball game on Howe field after the regular season he replied: “I think it has fine possibili ties. IM softball play is excep tionally fast and there should be several crackerjack aggre gations from which to pick clubs that would play a fiery brand of ball. The Greeks and the Independents should be as evenly matched as they were in basketball.” Returning to the swimming program Washke outlined the events that will comprise a dual meet. The scoring and events are: 1. 40-yard freestyle, breast stroke, and back stroke events— Tennis Material Hit By Army. Graduation W ith three lettermen nd three others of last year’s varsity squad returning, Coach Russ Cutler has begun tuning up the Lemon and Green tennis team for its April' 11 meet here with the Irving club of Portland. It’s a somewhat gloom-laden picture as this year's squad has no oversupply of standout play ers. However, coming up for heavy combat duty are lettermen Kerm S mith, No. 2 last year; Frank Baker, who spotted the No. 3 hole; and John Williams, No. 4 man. Old Ones Returning also are John McCli ment, Loyd Manning, and Cliff Steele. Johnny Kahananui, who saw action last season, is heading for the army air corps so will be among the missing. Six of last year’s frosh racket swingers are turning out for varsity berths: Joe Rooney, No. 1 frosh last year; Jim Rick seeker, No. 2, Charles Larson, Henry Howard, Chet Sergeant, and Len Lonigan. Dual meets with Washington State college and the University of Idaho have been scheduled for April 24 and 25 respectively. Ten aspirants have reported for the freshman squad. The list of last year’s high school court headliners includes: Wilson Reed, Robert Rowan, David Waite, John Noble, John Jensen, Hugh Craw ford, Bryce Sidesinger, Tom Harty, Carl Copper, and Johnnie Todd. He's in the Army Now (Continued from page four) when he left the dressing room. He took the east door and walked south around the corner of Mc Arthur past the field. It was per fect weather for baseball and for what upperclassmen usually re ferred to as “springtime at the U.” He thought he’d like to stay a little longer, just standing there and looking the place over, but there was stuff to pack at the house and he didn’t have all night for that. He reached the gate at a reluctant stride, feeling sort of fiendish making his way off the field while the stands were empty and no cheers could be heard. It was the first time it had been that way for him, really. . . . Then like a broken film, KERM SMITH . . . . . . Starts his racquet wielding on tennis team. the scene shifted; and what was left was dreamless, of course, and alive, but imperfect. He want ed to turn around and look just once more, but he couldn’t, he just couldn’t. . . . Track Outlook Dark (Continued from page four) son, a hurdler on last year's Washington State freshman team may see action under Hayward. Hayward was greeted by a flock of freshmen and one sophomore in the first work out Monday. Most of them were without experience, but hopes were seen for Wally Still, sprinter, who has been work ing out since fall; Selwin Wis dom, 440; and Herb Lawrence, sprints. Warren Christianson was the only sophomore, and has had no experience. The other freshmen were: Bob Pearson, Millard Bird, Chuck Barrows, Don Asseltine, Gordon Parr, Dave Smith, Willis Elliot, and Tom Hazard. 5 points for first, 3 for second, and 1 for third. 2. 60-yard individual medley event—5 for first, 3 for second, and 1 for third. 3. 120-yard medley relay event —5 for first. 4. 120-yard freestyle event—6 for first. All the meets will be held in the men’s pool, and the complete schedule and times will be sent to the athletic managers of each living organization near the end of the week, Washke said. Man agers are urged to get their blanks in before then, so the IM office will know the teams that are competing. All-Campus Meet in May The all - campus program planned is also extensive, Wash ke revealed. Singles and doubles competition in tennis, golf, and handball is on the run-way. In dividual Sigma Delta Psi is planned and will be climaxed in a big field day on Hayward field in early May. Washke urged all contestants to sign up early, so the usual last minute scramble during exam week will be avoid ed. Sherry Ross Cops H-Ball Crown Again For the second year in a row Sherry Ross’ powerhouse hand bll machine proved virtually un stoppable, and they copped the IM gonfalon by easily downing the DUs, three matches to none, in the finals. This climaxed a se ries of runaway triumphs for them throughout the entire league play. In the doubles Chuck Cutler and Bob Faw blasted through the offerings of DUs Ed Moshofsky and Les Anderson to win in straight sets. Cutler’s booming service blasted the DU duo off the court in the first game to the tune of 21 to 2. Big Moe and An derson rallied somewhat in the second test, but the presence of Cutler and the ever-hustling Faw were too much and they suc cumbed, 21 to 6. Bob Blair captured his singles match with ease in straight games, 21 to 4- and 21 to 6, clear ly outclassing his opponent. But in the singles windup diminutive Kenzo Nakagawa encountered serious opposition in the person of big Ed Niklas. Nakagawa eked out a narrow win in the first set, 21 to 18. Niklas was keeping his man moving all over the court to catch his smashing place ments. He evened the match in the next game coming back to score five points in a row with the count of 20 to 17 against him. The score was 22 to 20. But in the rubber game the fiery pace proved to be too warm for him, and Nakagawa outlasted him to win the game and match 21 to 15. The game that Niklas won marked the first time in over two years that Sherry Ross hs lost a sin gle game in IM play. In the quarter-finals the Ross men bounced the ATOs, 3 to 0, with Captain Chuck Cutler lead ing the way. It was the same old familiar story in the semis. The Sigma Nus were taken into camp three games to zero.