| "DUCK TRACKS
| By DON FAIR
1 jr Co-Sports Editor
. „ I he Civic stadium, where the Oregon baseball teeam will
.play all of its remaining home games, is a good ballyard. With
some returfing on the infield, the diamond would be all that
ballplayers could desire.
DeWayne Johnson’s sparkling one-hitter in his first
start for the Ducks was a welcome sign to Coach Don
Kirsch. The husky left-hander, tagged with the nickname
‘ * “Swede,” showed lots of courage on the mound, especially
, when the going was rough. Johnson had his high-hard one
whistling past the Vandal batters, but in the true fashion of
a southpaw, suffered his streaks of wildness.
, j, At the plate, Johnson was a different story. In three trips to
the batters’ box, he never managed to poke one as far as the
* pitcher's mound, each time dribbling a dinky bounder in front
of the plate, which the Idaho catcher quickly pounced on for a
*. throw-out at first base.
Johnson Also Adept at Football
Johnson is dividing his talents this spring between the dia
mond sport and spring football. In the latter he has been show
' wig up well, both offensively and defensively. Last year his
•play at carrying the ball was almost negligible, but his hard
* -sunning performances now may earn him plenty of offensive
action next fall;
Prettiest catch of the season thus far goes to Hal Zurcher
and his nab of an Idaho fly in the first game, which was
labeled for at least two bases. Zurcher, a sophomore mer
cury-footed centerfielder, had his back to the infield when
he stuck out his gloved hand and stabbed the towering fly
back-handed.
►- After grabbing the pellet, Zurcher went tumbling to the
ground, and Johnny Kovenz, who was streaking over from
pus left field position, had to hurdle Zurcher’s prostrate form.
1 Kovenz is another sophomore, and along with Pat Wohlers,
[a second-year man^ and junior Don Dibble should give the
JWebfoots an outfield which will be tough to beat in the next
^fwo seasons.
I
S.
Bartle's Batting Shows Improvement
<■, Another good sign on the Oregon baseball team is the batting
^f first sacker Dick>Bartle. For his efforst, he has been awarded
<_the clean-up position in the batting order. Sporting a meager
average of .108 last season, Bartle seems to be more loose at the
"plate this year. With the result that he has been poking solid
Slid long blows to any part of the field.
The Oregon infield, in its* Division games, has looked
* better than average. It’s a closely packed inner circle, with
- ^ captain and second baseman Walt Kirsch paving the way.
,w - Kirsch made a couple saves of hard-hit balls in Johnson’s
one-hit performance which seemed ticketed for safe terri
<K tory.
..f Behind the plate, Bill Burgher is proving himself a master
•at the position.Three men tried to steal, in the first two contests,
2nd all three were cut down at the keystone sack by a perfect
’’peg. What a lot of people don’t realize however, is that a player
actually steals a base on the pitcher—not the catcher. If a
<■ba.serunner gets a big enough jump on the pitcher’s motion, the
fciest peg in the world oftentimes cannot stop him from pilfer
ing a base.
Idaho Backstop a Hustler
—t Billy Williams, backstopping for Chuck Finley’s Idaho nine,
the same boy who, along with Oregon’s Norm Van Brocklin,
Tset the Pacific Coast conference ablaze with their passing last
season. Williams, definitely not a big man, makes up for his
Ijack of stature with his continual hustling. One thing that he
does, which isn’t seen often, is his running down to back up first
.base on a ground ball by an opposing batter. This enables him
W> retrieve any wild pegs, keeping the runner from advancing
base. Burgher also practices this art for the Webfoots.
J Oregon Should Have Had Another Run
^ But the catch is—Kirsch, according to the rule books, should
iave been allowed three bases, which would have meant that
^another would have come in, and Oregon actually should have
■*tton the game by a 4-0 instead of a 3-0 count. Coach Don Kirsch
pointed this out to the umpiresafterthegame.butallthreeofthem
♦pointed this out to the umpires after the game, but all three of
: them had to admit that it was their first encounter with such
„a play. Thus the reason for the muddle on the correct inter
pretation of the rules. If Oregon had lost the game, however,
they would have had perfect grounds for a protest of the con
rtest, which means replay of the entire nine innings.
Oregon isn’t the only school which has been plagued with
fsainy weather—even sunny California has been a victim. At
‘.Palo Alto, the Stanford Indians have had to postpone three
^ack meets this season because of poor weather conditions.
Aike*t 'WosJzA the. featfA (Duel
Veterans Shine in Grid Drills
Making the best of the good
football weather while it is here,
grid Coach Jim Aiken sent his
squad through a two-and-a-half
hour drill yesterday, spending the
last hour in a scrimmage session.
Aiken was apparently pleased
with the good practice especially
the good shape the team is in. He
was also pleased with the individ
ual performances, and good show
ings on both sides of the line.
Defensive Veterans Shine
Two backs who spent most of
their playing time last season on
defense took cracks at ball-carry
ing and both were impressive. Big
DeWayne Johnson, who splits his
time between spring football and
baseball, was hitting hard and
booming through holes, as he pick
ed up yardage consistantly. The
other veteran, 165 pound Ben
Holcomb, was on the receiving end
of several passes and did some
good broken-field running.
Bud Boqua and Bob Sanders,
through the defensive line, and
both 200 pounds plus, blasted holes
showed that the fullback slot would
have plenty of straight-ahead
power. Sanders also did some nice
blocking, aiding the other offen
sive backs.
Tackles Outstanding
In the line, two big tackles were
particularly outstanding, both
seeing offensive and defensive ac
tion.. Sam Nevills, the biggest man
on the squad, and Steve Dotur, a
Oregon Skiers
Finish Third
A four-man University of Ore
gon ski team placed third Sunday
which was run from one mile
at the annual Trodse Giant Slalom
above Silcox to Otto Lang Hill on
Mt. Hood.
Members of the Duck slat squad
Who participated in the Lewis and
Clark College sponsored event
were Gordon Malafouris, Saul Zaik,
Stan Arthur, and Jack Hessel. The
sitz-markers returned to Eugene
Sunday night each with a case of
near--sunburn due to the bright
conditions on 11,000 foot Mt. Hood.
The six schools entered and their
times are as follows: Lewis andi
Clark, 9:52.8; Vanport, 10:42.2;
U. of Oregon, 11:15.8. U. of Port
land, 11:22.8; Multnomah College,
12:15.4, and Reed College, 14:40.1.
regular last year, bashed and bat
tered their opposistion, and when
on the offense, were always open
ing holes.
Norm Van Brocklin was, as
usual, pegging strikes, and little
Joe Tom occasionally spelled him
and did the same. Two of their
favorite targets were ends Bob
Anderson and Les Hagen.
DeCoureey Runs Well
One of last years veterans who
is making a bid to shine this fall,
right half Keith DeCoureey, was
probably the outstanding running
back of the afternoon. DeCoureey,
a smart runner, followed his in
UCLA Chooses
New Headman
LOS ANGELES, April 20—(UP)
John R. Wooden, one of the Mid
west’s greatest hoop stars, today
was appointed head basketball
coach at the University of Califor
nia at Los Angeles.
In accepting the UCLA job,
Wooden will leave Indiana State
Teachers college where he has been
head basketball coach since 1946.
He succeeds Wilbur Johns who
gave up the job to devote full time
to the position of UCLA athletic
director.
Wooden will not take over his
new duties until July 1. He is
coaching the Indiana State baseball
team at present.
Johns announced selection of
Wooden as his successor after in
terviewing 89 candidates. He said
Wooden in two years at Indiana
State won 47 games and lost 14.
His 1948 team was runnerup in the
32-team National Association of
Intercollegiate Basketball tourna
ment.
Remember—
4
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terference well, and when he did
not have any, danced by or bulled
through the defense for extra
yards. Johhny McKay, with hia
short, choppy style of running, also
made some good gains.
Veteran Eddie Chrobot was one
of the most effective guards on of
fense, but the surprise line per
formance was little Larry Hull,
one of last year’s freshmen. Hull,
only 178 pounds, stopped several
plays from his defensive guard
post. Another freshman, center
Dave Gibson, also shined in back
ing up the line.
Ad Staff:
Day Manager:
SALLY WALLER
Ass’t Manager:
ANDY MOORE
Production Manager:
DONNA MARRY BRENNAN
Soliciting Manager:
ALICIA PETERS
Layout Manager:
TOM BRUBECK
General Nuisance:
LESLIE TOOZE
Dear Jack: I just read in the pa
per that students who don’t smoke
make better grades than those who
do. Love, Dad.
Dear Dad: I have thought about
it. But truthfully, I would rather
make a "B” and have the enjoy
ment; in fact, I would rather smoke
and drink and make a “C.” Fur
thermore, I would rather smoke,
drink, and neck, and make a “D.”
Love, Jack.
Dear Jack: I’ll break your neck
if you flunk anything. Love, Dad.
—Ohio State Sundial.
Sis Scott, former “O” student re
cently announced her engagement
in Portland has a wide selection for
those that are engaged and think
ing of silver: Carl Greve, jeweler
n Portland has a wide selection for
your approval.
House dances were in swing last
week, and as we flitted about many
happy couples were seen, and many
of them were cheered up by the
fortune-telling of Theta Casey
Jones. The orginally scheduled for
teller failed to show so Casey took
over and even foiled her sorority
sisters for a while. To those who
didn’t know she was the real thing,
“Don’t you believe i't.”
This weekend looks like a busy
one, men can start sweating out
the nickel hop and all the walking
they will go through again. Also
on the agenda is the spectacle
“Midsummer Night’s Dream” un
der the direction of Horace Robin
son. Although the play is ready to
go we still wonder why they sent
out two tickets to one party in dif
ferent rows and sections.
Athletics is not taking a back
seat this weekend either, so all the
high school gals can get a looksee
at how it functions down here.
Slated for activity is a baseball
game against Washington Friday
afternoon, another baseball game
with them Saturday, a track meet
against WSC Saturday, a golf
match against Oregon State and
a tennis match against WSC. All
four sports slated at home for one
weekend!
Southpaw DeWayne Johnson de
serves a big hand for his masterful
pitching against Idaho.
Mike Steddem, head of the ath
letic grounds was really disgusted
with, the weather over the week
end. The Hayward relays were go
(Please turn to page six)