Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1943)
From out of the east an orange ball of flame lazily ascends in the hazy blue. The dew is wet on green grass. Here and there an unidentified bird chirps. The trees are in a thawing out process, and lush green shoots are beginning to cover the pebbled ground. Grandpa gingerly throws a creaking elbow about, and junior has waded through a pile of debris in the closet, to bring forth a splintered baseball bat. It's spring and no thermometer will lie about that. A And in the heart of the Willamette valley, in little Eugene, nestled away under towering natural edifices, our college, OREGON stands. It's about the end of the line for the gang of emerald and gold clad basketballers who have been cavorting on the Igloo boards for the past two months, Only a double-header of cage action with Washington State remains on the Duck hoop tossing slate. Bishop, Mister Big Mathematically still in the running for that golden peach perched high above the branches of the would Ire contenders, and identified as the championship fruit of the northern divis ion casaba scramble, our Ducks are sucking in their breath for the Custer-like stand on the McArthur court pinewoods next Friday and Saturday night. And the cash customers who like to view the cream of the crop of the push-’em-up forwards, will be afforded the chance of giving the once-over to the league’s most pol ished underwear athlete, Gail Bishop, heart and hope of the ^Cougar basket assembly line. As if it were all a story book tale, Mr. Bishop will don his abbreviated athletic costume Friday and Saturday nights and do battle against the Oregon varsity. Sunday he will issue a farewell to the dear old civilian life and depart for parts un known as a single cog in that mighty military machine, the army air corps. It’s a Baseball Joe situation if we’ve ever heard of one. There Is a School Up North Yes, that’s the calendar picture for today and tomorrow. But then there’s yesterday to take into consideration. Up north there stands an institution known for its ability to graduate agricultural minded students. Corvallis, a dot on the map, is the home town of the territory of the cow-cow-boogie. The school, just in case you haven’t figured this word jigsaw out, is Oregon State. That school prints a college paper known as the Barometer. And in the Barometer sport pages a few days back there appeared a few derogatory remarks abo’ut the fastest guy in a ^psketball suit in the northern division, our own little Stan Williamson., “Williamson,” the Barometer moaned, “is a flash in the pan. He could never stand the gaff of four years of college ball. He would fall apart at the seams.” We hope you’re laughing or sneering at about this point. That was our reaction, anyway. Well, the story doesn’t end there. This literary work ran under the label of “Farsighted Frankie,” a column of cpiestionable merit. FF continued to be little Williamson by accusing him of taking deliberate flops on the hardwood against the Beavers last Friday night in Cor vallis. just so he would be handed more free throw opportuni ties. The creative genius of FF ran out about here. Exit FF, enter yours truly. Two Sides to Every Story After an analysis of the situation, it is apparent that: (1) The mere fact that- Williamson as a freshman has been able to give and take with a conference full of veteran hoop ^rformers, stacks him up as an exceptional athlete. Too bad PP couldn’t have seen little Stan pull a ball glomming act on all-conference guard Bill Morris in Seattle and race half the length of the floor to hang up a set-up; (2) It is true that Williamson usually goes to the free throw line more often than his varsity team-mates. It so happens that the guv is small, and jumpin’ snakefish! Little guys are very ease to foul. They kind of annoy you by running by you, or under you, or around you. Xo wonder the personals pile up on Stall's opponents. But that’s all to his credit. Williamson’s free throw efforts have helped swell the Duck manufacturing of points. He is one of the most accurate free throw tossers on the Hobson-coached squad, and certainly one of the coolest and mqst accurate charity toss flippers in the league. (3) The brand of basketball displayed by Oregon State here «t Saturday night was hardly of the little Lord Fauntleroy Jl'. End of conclusions. . . . And patience. Pacific Coast Conference northern division standings: Third place: ORE COX. Fourth place: Oregon State. Trojans Keep Casaka Lead Southern Division Standings W. L. Pet. Southern California ... 6 0 1.000 U. C. L. A.2 2 .500 California .1 4 .200 Stanford .1 4 .200 By virtue of an unblemished southern division record, six wins and no defeats, the University of Southern California basketball team continues to hold down the "number one position in the Pa cific coast conference’s south of the border league. Only the UCLA Bruins hold a mathematical chance of even ty ing the high fiying Trojans. To accomplish this very improbable feat, the men from Westwood way will have to overpower both Stanford and California onee, and then tie a defeat tin can to the tails of the first place men of Troy twice. The Bruin task is by all means not an easy one, for both the Cal ifornia and Stanford games will be played up on those teams’ heme courts, where the UCLA boys never function at their best capacity. Ernie Holbrook’s Troians are a bit ired at themselves for drop ping their second game in twen ty-two starts to tiny Pepperdine college last Saturday night. And that’s the picture. Stan ford and California are hopeless ly out of the running, but their own rivalry will go on. ommm WITH THE RATTLED BEA'v ERS . . . .Little A1 Popielc and his set-shot accuracy proved to be a big factor in the Oregon victory over OSC last Friday night. Husky Loss Disregarded Dyck ilermen Train Efforts @n Pullman By ROLLIE GABEL, Killing rather easily from the ill effects of a trek to the Univer sity of Washington last Saturday, where his Oregon swimming team suffered its first defeat of the season, Coach Mike Hoyman has been treating the boys gently and Will continue to da so lor the re mainder of the week. TAYLOR BOV\S OUT . . . . . . Warren “Shanks” Taylor's farewell appearance in collegiate bas ketball will be in the Saturday night game against the Cougars. This week will continue to he one lacking in time trials and really tough workouts because of' the championship meet that is scheduled at Pullman, Washing ton for next Saturday. Coach Mike Hoyman wants his boys to be in the peak of physical condi tion for this one because of the high stakes that are involved, namely the defending of Oregon's northwest championship honors. Mermen Recover Prowell and Gautier, oackstroke and freestyle artists, respectively, of the Oregon swimming team arc, just recovering from head colds which they carried with them on their trip to Seattle to battle tbe Washington Huskies. These two lads will be in excellent physical condition for the championship meet next Saturday at Pullman. The mental condition of the Oregon swimming team is very good. The recent defeat of the team by the Washington squad did in no way prove a detriment to the morale of the boys, anti they still retain their native Ore gon fighting spirit, fanned by the verbal prodding of their tutor, Mike Hoy#ian. The boys' physical condition isn’t the best now, because of the recent trip to Seattle, but with this week’s easy workouts and under the watchful eye of Hoy man, this problem, too, will be eased for the coming important championship meet. Nelson Primes Chuck Nelson, top freestyle speedster for the Duck squad, al though beaten by the Washington man Powlison, who broke two freestyle records in the 50 and 100 last Saturday, is gunning for a. still better time, his ardor not being dampened in the least by his* strong second places. Ore gon’s Ralph Huestis still retains the record and the prestige of be ing the fastest breaststroker in the northwest conference. Dick Smith remains an integral cog in Mike Hoyman’s swimming machine, being the best man for the 440 freestyle event. Chuck Nelson, who supplemented Dirk Smith in this event in last Satur day’s meet with Washington be cause of Hoyman’s plan of using Dick in another event, came in a very strong second in this, un covering another versatile talent of the freestyle artist.