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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1947)
' DUCK TRACKS By TOMMY WRIGHT In 1943 Oregon clipped the Beavers from Corvallis in a dual tiack meet. But since then there has been a lot of barren space in the trophy case. Barren of track laurels of the civil-war vari ety up to Saturday anyway. And it put an end to Beaver clonw ination of major sports for the 1946-47 season too. But there is more reason to be exceptional!v cheerful over the Saturday win. Oregon’s thinclads ran. threw, and jumped a victory wreath for the head of Colonel Bill Hayward. And it was a .fitting exhibition for Hayward's last Hayward field stand. Colonel Bill, the star-maker of nearly half-a-century of Oregon track coaching is retiring at the end of the year. But the star over "Bill was not descending on Saturday. He was hopeful but doubtful of a Duck victory, so the 79-52 sub merging of the Beaver exceeded his highest expectations. Being an interested outsider as far as the sports pages are concerned we d like to take the liberty to do a little commend ing in another spot. Commending of pages 4 and 5 of the Emerald and the men who have been responsible for it this year. “Peerless" Pietschman Picks'Em And while that track meet is still warm in mind, take a look at the cavorting of A1 Pietschman, whose unique use of verbs, adverbs, nouns etcetera and phenomenal predicting has been a constant source of sports page entertainment. Point-by-point and place-by-place investigation of the "form chart” in Satur day’s paper doesn't drop Al’s stature. It takes more than a crystal ball and a handful of two-headed nickels to come up with prognostications in the Pietschman style. It takes laborous Comparison of meet records and religious attentiveness to form, improvement, and even the weather to pick them as close as Al’s Saturday achievement. ') Called Eight Events on the Nose He was four points' off of the 79-52 final, picking Oregon by a 75-56 margin. Not even ‘“Peerless” Pietsch could figure tl^e surprise win of Ray Heidenrich in the discus. But that doesn't detract much from the fact that he picked them win. place, and show in eight of fifteen events. And the times and distances in all the ewetfts where phenomenally close. We think he can be excused -for overestimating- the times in all but two events. Pietschman picked them 1-2-3 in tht mile, 440-yard dash, high hurdles, shot put, high jump. 220-yard dash, pole vault, and mile relay. He short-changed Oregon in the century, discus, broad jump, two-mile, and low hurdles. He underesti mated the Beavers in the javelin, and the 880. The only grossly inaccurate time call was in the two-mile which depends on the competition, all other things being equal. A1 made up for that error bv calling the mile within two seconds and the 440 with in a half-second. If vou think it is easy, try it some time. Highclimbers Top Predictions Bill Beifuss and George Rasmussen added height to Pietsch man’s best predictions in the high-jump and pole vault respec tively. Beifuss clamped a crown to his Hayward field compe tition with a 6-foot-6-inch leap. And Rasmussen showed that he is still climbing with a top vault of 14-foot-2-inches and a new meet record. Jake Leicht, with Beifuss, taking his last competitive turn on the Hayward field track galloped in a double winner (as predicted bv Pietschman.) Jake, who has been in and out of the track lineup this year, came back in the local finale to give Colonel Bill wins in the 100-yard dash and the 220. All in all _^the meet was a great day for Oregon, Llay w aid, giaduating lteifuss and Leicht. and predictable A1 Pietschman. A perfect climax for Hayward, who has given the University of Oregon another winner. Northern Division Net Finals Begin Friday on Duck Courts Six top-flight ND tennis teams will wield their racquets in the Northern Division finals opening on the University courts Friday. Sending entries to the two-day tournament are Oregon, OSC, Washington, Washington State, Idaho, and Montana. Thursday night the six coaches will meet to complete plans and draw up the tourney schedule, Paul Washke, mentor of the Duck squad, said yesterday. Although pairings are not listed as yet, the mattches will get underway at 8:30 Friday K morning, with several contests in progress at the same time. Finals will be held Saturady afternoon, with the time depending on the length of the semi-final encounters. The Washington Huskies, unde feated in round-robin play, will be heavily favored to walk off with ti tle honors. The Seattle club swept aside all opposition with little dif difculty as nationally rated Jim Brink set a blistering pace in every match. Tournament dark horse will probably be Montana, who fielded one of the strongest teams in the school’s history this year. The thrice-beaten Oregon squad ap years to have little chance to cop conference laurels, but they will be shooting for runner-up spot in a three-way battle with OSC and Washington State. /111 fan. the Golo-uei... Spikemen Clobber Bevos In Hayward's Home Finale Rasmussen Sets i Meet PV Record By AL PIETSCHMAN An inspired Oregon track team handed Colonel Bill Hay ward a Beaver pelt as a fare well present in Saturda y’s Oregon'OSC track meet and Hayward’s last stand at Eu gene as track coach. The Beaver pelt was tattered and bat tered after the Ducks won eleven of the fifteen events for a 79-52 win. George Rasmussen provided a large share of the excitement dur ing the day when he cleared 14 feet 2 inches for a new meet rec ord in the pole vault. The lanky freshman unwound as he soared skyward for his best jump of his career and a jump one inch better than the Northern Division rec ord. The leap does net set the-di visk n record since new marks must be made in the finals. Beifuss Hits 6-6 Bill Beifuss, appearing for his last time in Eugene, rolled over the high jump bar at 6 feet 6 inch es. This was the best jump of his career. Number 2 pole vaulter, Don Pickens, served notice that he was on the way to new heights as he cleared 13 feet for the best jump in his track career. Everyone was performing for Colonel Bill and when the an nouncement was made that the contest was Hayward's last offi I cial track meet at Oregon as an active coach, spectators rose in a mass wave and applauded the fa mous coach for five minutes. Two Major Upsets There were two major upsets of the day—at least in the eyes of some prognosticators. Dave Hen- j thorne beat State’s great quarter milers, Olden Hughes and Ir/le 1 Schlavin, to the wire in a thrilling race. Henthorne was in the lead all the way and put on a great j finish to take the first! The other upset was the poor showing of Aggies’ Bob Reiman in the discus. Webfoot Ray Heiden rich took first with a 134-foot 6 Vs inch toss. GEORGE RASMUSSEN . . . went all out tor (Joiouei mil Hay want < against Oregon State last Saturday to clear 14 feet 2 inches, setting a new meet record and topping the Northern Division mark of 14 feet OL inch. The former Bend high school star will help the Oregon cause fop three more seasons. (Cut courtesy Register-Guard.) Jake Leicht and Wally Still combined their speed to take first and second in both sprints. It was the first meet in a month for Jake. Still looked better than he has since his return to the cinders two weeks ago. Wright High Scorer Wyn Wright captured scoring honors for the Ducks with 11 points. He placed first in both hurdle events and placed third in the high jump. Hayward was not going to run | the mile relay team as Leicht had' pulled' a muscle on the last 30 yards in the furlong. State wanted' to run so Hayward fielded a make-t shift team, but didn't expect them to win against the Beavers. It was the last event for Colonel Bill and quarter-milers went out to win it. In the first lap Statd pulled ahead' ten yards, but Hal White, in number 2 spot, ran one of his best races, overhauled the Stater and pulled ahead about ten yards. Friendly momeni^T!hav^aCok^^^^|