Oregon daily emerald., January 10, 1948, Page 3, Image 3

Ten Top News Stories of 1947
* The following are the Emerald
- news staff’s choices for the ten top
news stories with campus signifi
cance published during 1947.
" ' 1—Governor Earl Snell’s death.
- 2—University warehouse fire.
3—Student Union drive for
funds.
* 4—Howard Hobson resignation
- as head basketball coach.
5— Athletic department reor
ganization.
6— Appointment of Jim Aiken
► as head football coach.
7— Campus political develop
ments.
8— The death of Coach Bill
* Hayward.
„ 9—The series of forced retire
ments under the new state law.
10—Randolph Churchill debacle.
+ * * *
Joining the other newspapers of
the state, the Emerald nominated
Tragedy
GOVERNOR EARL SNELL
Tragedy claims No. 1 place in
~ ten best stories.
as the outstanding news story of
- the year the plane crash which
sviped out in one blow the chief po
litical figures of Oregon.
Tuesday, October 28, Governor
tlarl Snell, Robert S. Farrell, Jr.,
- secretary of state, and Marshall
Cornett, president of the senate,
took off from Klamath Falls in a
- small plane for a vacation trip near
•J_,akeview. Wednesday morning
came the first news that the gov
' ernor’s plane was missing.
- While the state waited for word,
’ forest rangers and volunteers
fanned out over a wide area of the
• Dog lake country in search of the
plane.
Wednesday night brought un
official word, later confirmed, that
the bodies of the three men, with
' that of their pilot, Cliff Hogue,
_ had been found dead in the wreck
_ age of their plane.
* John H. Hr", formerly speaker
* of the house of representatives,
took the oath as governor of Ore
gon on October 30. The 48-year-old
Portland attorney was quoted as
Saying at that time that ‘‘I am
-carrying a job to my liking.”
A state funeral for the political
figures was held in the Oregon
" house of representatives on the fol
iowing Monday.
* Hs *
On February 12 sirens of fire en
gines echoed across the campus,
-summoning students to the blazing
warehouse on Onyx street. The
building and contents, valued at
'$135,000, were completely de
destroyed in the spectacular fire,
-making the second top story of
the year.
Half an hour after its discovery,
'the fire had left only the heat
twisted skeleton of the structure,
_ glowing coals, and smoking ashes.
^While a crowd of 3,000 hatched,
firemen played streams of water on
the warehouse and surrounding
buildings in an attempt to prevent
a spread of the fire.
A series of explosions, presum
ably caused by acetylene tanks
stored in the building, caused the
spectators to scurry for cover. Stu
dents aided in bringing out an auto
and a tractor while the structure
burned about them. Others helped
residents of neighboring homes
move their belongings.
Heat was so intense that win
%
dows of another warehouse across
the street were cracked and dark
ened.
* * *
In a series of drives, the Erb Me
morial Student Union building be
, came more than a dream. Students,
who had been contributing break
age fees and loose coin, approved a
$5-a-term building fee for ten
terms to finance it. This was
named the third story of the year.
On September 23 the executive
council went on record approving
the increase as a last resort to as
sure its construction “in our time.”
A poll of sentiment in campus liv
ing organizations followed. Favor
ing the plan were 68 per cent of the
students.
The state board of higher edu
cation approved the increase Octo
ber 28, giving the okay to proceed
with final specifications. Oregon’s
"dream building,” which was to
have 150,000 square feet of floor
space according to original plans,
was scaled down to 93,000 as build
ing costs went up. Hotel facilities
for alumni were among the deleted
sections.
* # 5
The Emerald was scooped on the
story due to a disadvantageous re
Oregon Won for Bill
Bands, teams, and rally squads lined up before the 147 Homecoming game to dedicate tile woenenu Co
Coach Hayward. The slogan, “Win for Bill” was successful when Oregon beat Oregon State, 14 to 6. The
story of the weekend and Bill Hayward’s death was story No. 8 for 1947.
lease date, but the staff neverthe
less chose Howard Hobson's resig
nation as head basketball coach as
the number four story of 1947.
Rumors had been rampant but
on September 29 came the official
word from the University athletic
news bureau that Hobson had re
signed to become head basketball
mentor at Yale university.
The following day President Har
ry K. Newburn announced that
‘Honest John” Warren, freshman
basketball coach since 1935, had
been named to succeed Hobson.
On January 9 came the long-ex
pected shake-up in the University
athletic department and rates a
No. 5 on the ten best news stories.
The board tendered its resigna
tion with the statement that its
"objective had been accomplished,
but in the meantime the University
had increased in size, and the prob
lems had increased accordingly."
They had come to the conclusion
that a more direct administrative
procedure should be established
which would provide an official to
have complete jurisdiction over the
department.
On February 18 it was announced
that Leo A. Harris, former Stan
ford athletic great and then dis
trict superintendent of the Carme'i
unified school district, would step
in as director of athletics for the
University. Anse Cornell relin
(Please turn to page six)
Staff Chooses Top Action Shot For 1947
The outstanding action photograph taken by an Emerald photagrap her during 1947 was snapped as the University warehouse, on Ony.v
between Twefth and Thirteenth, went up in flames last winter ter m. The man with the camera was staff photographer Don Jones, who
was graduated from the journalism school last June. The $135,00 fire, which demolished the building was rated as the No. 2 story of
1947 by the Emerald news staff.
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