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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 1947)
DUCK TRACKS By WALLY HUNTER » Sports Editor " It happened December 6. 1941 at Austin, Texas, and a lot of water has gone over the dam since that day and the fateful 24-hour period following, so we thought possibly a small re fresher course might not be out of place. There are a lot of us around who well remember the game and the broadcasts TEX OLIVER that spread the numbing news of what was happening to our Webfoots at Austin that day. But another vindictive group of guys in uniform were at Pearl Harbor a day later and so the Texas Debacle took a back seat for several years. Iii order to sweep away the threads of doubt about the facts which have grown steadi ly stronger since 1941, we hereby publish excerpts from a story written by an onlooker at that game. Pie needs no in troduction. This Is What It Was Like By L. H. GREGORY Sports Editor the Oregonian MEMORIAL STADIUM, University of Texas, Austin, Dec. 6 (Special)—The frightful 71-7 calamity which befell the 'University of Oregon football team here at the hands of a combination of 50 runaway locomotives, a longhorn herd on •stampede and the University of Texas football team was not as you may have supposed, a re-enactment in reverse of the dreadful rhassacre at the Alamo the history bocks tell about. The incident at the Alamo occurred 105 years ago and 'Texans are much too modern in everything, including a won derfully versatile, deceptive, and powerful grade of football •to hark back 105 years for anything. “.The Texas boys cheered wildly by a crowd of .30,000 which all felt exactly that way about it, were bent on showing up the football played in the Pacific Coast con ference and my, how they did it.” “.Ten touchdowns, two safeties, and seven goal point kicks against one touchdown and on goal kick by Oregon . . .” * “.This period was pure massacre over which the cur tain might better'-be drawn.” „ “.The t^rowd was howling for its favorite first string seniors, and Coach Dana X. Bible put them back to pour on two more. Martin, blocking back, took a pass for one, and Mayne passed 27 yards to Sanders for the tenth and last with 20 seconds left. . . . ’’ Who Played Ball That Day That, as written by an okl-head at football, was the Way it went. Well, what did happen that day? What sort of machine ,\vas this that could grind an opponent to bits in four quarters and toss it to a crowd of 30,000? Were the Webfoots that year a band of donkeys that didn't belong on the same field with the mighty men of Texas? The Texans may have thought so, but in the record books the Ducks were listed as a pretty fair set of boys. Who played ball for that Tex Oliver-coached eleven? Well, there were -guys like Tony Crish, Bill Moshofsky, Morrie Jackson, Hersh Patton, Val Culwell, Dick Ashcom, Bill Regner, Bill Dun ■ 4ap, Tommy Roblin, Curt Mecham, Duke Iverson, Jim Shep hard, Jim Newquist, Bob Koch and Russ Nowling. ■ * Plus a few others like Bill Borcher, Merritt Kufferman, George Van Pelt, Chuck Elliott, Floyd Rhea, Ray Segale, Bill Davis, Cliff Giffin, Len Surles, Tom Oxman, Kenny Oliphant, Tex Lee. Steve Bodner, and Elliott Wilson. • - That is fairly impressive list of former Duck gridders. There was a lot of talent in that group. Did- they lay down on the job that day? We'll pick another excerpt from the Gregory written story that speaks for itself. “. . . .The Oregons weren't yet completely subdued. They came back with a show of real fire and it took them 69 yards to their one touchdown." We Hope They Remember No, the Ducks didn’t lay down that day. The Longhorn crew was for that day, one of the toughest teams ever and it was galvanized into action because of the failure of OSC to tender them a Rose Bowl bid. They were sore that day— and they were a fine team that was good and sore. They wanted 'Oregonians to remember they were red'hot. And they want ed to be so red-hot that no Oregon team or fan could ever .-forget it. Well . . . .most Oregonians do remember ihal— all we hope is that 11 of them remember it and remem . .her it well on Multnomah field come next Saturday. • Intramural Football to Start Monday with Six Game Opener Everything but the kitchen sink will fly into action Monday after- j noon, as the thus far unpredictable intramural touch football outfits I - , Hobson Opens Varsity Clinic By BOB REINHART With a class of some 50 varsity casaba prospects on hand, Coach “Hobby” Hobson and assistant, Don Kirsh opened their 1947-48 bas ketball clinic yesterday at McAr thur court. The class, held daily from 4 to 5 p.m., is to familiarize the Oregon system to the new and returning players who will compose the var sity roster «once the season gets under way. Also on. tap for the squad are a series of rigid drills which will speed the improvement of the group. Several lettermen from the 1946 47 squad are in the class—Stan Williamson, Roger Wiley, Reedy Berg, Bob Lavey, Jim Bartelt, Marv Rasmussen, Dick Wilkins and A1 Popick. These boys coupled with several up from the JV’s may give Oregon one of its most potent quintets in recent seasons. Coach Hobson has scheduled one of the toughest preseason slates the Ducks have ever faced as they go east to tangle with Ni agara college and Long Island uni versity. They return home to face a quintet from Springfield, Massa chusetts, and also to meet Kansas univerity twice at McArthur court. - The week before meeting the University of Washington in the division opener, they travel south to San Francisco where they will meet Arkansas, Stanford and Uni versity of San Francisco in a round robin tournament and close the preseason contests. match their gridiron wizardry in a crowded shr-game scaror. opener starting at 3:50' p.m. on lower Howe field. : Thirty-six squads submitted ap plications and wore worked into the 75 game round robin schedule which will wind up October 15. At exactly 3:50 three games will go into full swing at once. Three more contests will follow at 4:45. This provides six games a day five days a week, giving every team from two to three games a week. Colored Jerseys The schedule for next week’s games is being completed and will be released in tomorrow’s edition. Paul R. Washke, intramural boss, urged that all team members check out their baskets and equip ment in the physical education de partment this week if they.have not already done so. Mr. Washke also suggested that the teams bring colored jerseys of some kind to eliminate confusion. Team managers must arrange for all the players to be at their ap pointed game sites on time. Ac cording to the rule book, all games will be forfeited by any team that arrives more than five minutes late. Officials Needed There is an urgent need for of ficials to handle these rugged grid iron classics, and anyone interested should report to the intramural of fice in the school of health and phy sical education as soon as possible. Positions are open for umpires referees, and. head linesmen. Although there were five less teams entered this year than for the 1946 season, there were two new names on the roster of grid ders. Entering intramural football for the first time will be Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Tau Kap pa Epsilon fraternity. Stag Lines By AL PIETSCHMAN ( i SPORTS: Trainer Tom Hughes is all smiles these days. He is right pleased with his new train ing room. Who wouldn't be af ter the complete remodeling it underwent. He has so many new machines in there now that it looks al most like a Westinghouse lab oratory. Best one is the suntan lamp. Tan the year round now. Texas’ coach, Blair Cherry used to play end in his grid days. He was almost like UCLA’s A1 Hoisch, the 143-pound scat back that made the 103-run in Rose Bowl. Cherry tipped the scales at 140. WOMEN: The women’s fash ion magazines may call this year’s styles “The New Look,” but the men call it “The Odd Look.” Legs where are you ? FASHIONS: Trying to keep your shoes shined ? If you want a sparkle, one shoe manufactur er suggests rubbing alcohol into the leather immediately after putting the polish on. When shined they sparkle. Keeping leather goods in top shape requires a little work. Even watch straps. CARL GREVE, JEWELERS in Port land has a newly designed leath er strap with heavy silver buck les selling for only $5.00 that won’t take too much upkeep. SPORTS: The Longhorns are looking forward to their first air trip when they leave Austin Thursday evening. They aren’t looking forward to Oregon weather, however. They expect it to rain. That won’t help Bobby Layne. 11A COACH DOESNt HAVE TO BE TOUGH 1 While other coaches were fumbling with the perplexing G. I. problem in football last season, Illinois’ obscure Ray Eliot (real name: Nusspickel) hit the jackpot in the Western Conference and in a decisive 45-14 rout in the Rose Bowl. He tries no top-sergeant stuff, yet he ended up as “Coach of the Year.” For full details about Ray’s sudden and surprising success, be sure to read A Coach Doesn’t Have to be Tough, i an exciting article in this week’s Post... by Tom Siler ■ \ *■■"££ £&.—•■ V \ excl«s,ve P