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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1950)
DUCK TRACKS By TOM KING Football has had some fabulous passing combinations, like Is bell to Hutson and Allerdice to Stanley—and old-timers like to lecollect the way Friedman pitched em to Oosterbaan. Oiegon, too, has had an aerial batter}- superlative of its own, one that stacks up with the best ever produced on the coast. Our treatment today concerns the gentleman who had half-stock in that combination—Dick Wilkins. Fans in these parts will never forget the way Norm Van Brocklin used to heave ’em and Dick used to haul ’em in—espec ially that day when they singlehandedly beat St. Mary’s in the half-dim twilight, 1948. Dick is back at the University after having spent a successful season with the professional Los Angeles Dons. The other day he was talking abo.ut his first year in the big time. The conversation went thuswise: Down the Aisle—Stability Q. Now that the Dons and most of the other teams in the All America Conference have folded, Dick, what are your plans ? A. They’re very uncertain at the present. I’m not sure I’ll continue in pro football. As you know, the AAC players have been thrown into a giant draft pool. The Los Angeles Rams told me recently that they would make me their first draft choice, which would put Van Brocklin and myself back on the same team together. However, while I do like playing on the Coast, right -now I feel I should get into something more stable than profes sional football. (Dick recently was married to the former Miss Jane Hull.) Q. How about the salaries now? A. Well, that s it. Wdth the close of the AAC, pay will drop quite a bit. Much depends on how much I am offered next sea son.-I have several months to decide, but right now it looks like I might try to get into something else more permament. Q. Dick, how does professional football compare to the col lege game ? A. For one thing, the pros eat and sleep football every hour of the day. The teams are tougher and the boys are tougher. In college ball you may run into one or two really good football players every weekend whereas in pro ball you play against ten or eleven of that stature. Nice Flood Q. Tell us about some of the best players in the league. A. John Strykalski of the San Francisco Forty-Niners was just about the best running back. The league was flooded with top-notch passers, but Cleveland’s Otto Graham was way ahead of everyone. Frankie Albert of the Forty-Niners was the smart est, though. George Ratterman of Buffalo has all the tools and only needs experience. O. How about Cleveland’s Marion Motley? A. He’s plenty good. Oddly enough, though, he isn’t too ef fective up the middle. They send him out on flankers so Graham can flip him flat passes to shake him loose in the open. Q. How does your old passing-mate, Van Brocklin, stack up to Glenn Dobbs. A. That’s a difficult comparison to draw since Dobbs was in jured most of last year and never really was in form. He is, of course, a triple-threat. The kid who took his place, George Talia ferro, is quite a ball player and only needs time. He has all kinds of potentialities. Q. Playing end, you spent much of your time bumping oppos ing tackles. Who was the toughest? A. Abe Johnson of the Chicago Hornets. O. How did the other Oregon boys do in the AAC? A. Very well. Brad Ecklund (New York Yankees) was the best line-backer I played against all year. Dan Garza had a fine year with the Yankees—and naturally Duke Iverson, too. Let Us Have 'V Q. How did you like the single-wing? A. All right, but not as much as the ‘T\ I think the latter has more deception. In the single-wing, the ball usually goes to the tailback and you know immediately that the whole play will be built around him. Q. Tell us about how you cracked your collarbone near the end of the season. A. We were playing in Baltimore at the time. I broke down field for a pass. It was high and when I went up for it I left my self open. The Baltimore safety man hit me full-tilt and I landed hard on my left shoulder. The impact jarred the ball loose and it so happened that Taliaferro had come downfield on the play. He scooped up the ball in mid air and ran 40 yards for a touchdown. O. How’s training camp in the pro ranks? A. One gets used to the routine after while. Pre-season train ing is the roughest part. During the season we get Mondays off. The rest of the week we suit up in sweat clothes for morning drills that last from 10 a.m. to 11:30. In the afternoons we usu ally see movies of the games or, occasionally, hold light work outs. Mainly, though, we have a lot of spare time on our hands. 4 College Wit? Funnv—Mavbe By WILL, GLANCE Last spring “The Ladies’ Home Journal” questioned us for an ar ticle they were doing on college humor . They were polling public ations in all 48 states, and a re cent issue cqntained the results. Flatteringly, they conceded that “College Men Are Funny,” but, after reading the article several times, we still aren’t sure whether they mean funny—ha-ha, or funny —peculiar. But we learned quite a bit about ourselves and our en vironment. We learned that we see our selves as “casual, worldly, slightly cynical and disillusioned.” We talk with almost unintellig ible slang—at least some of us do. Examples: “You’re an E. N. P. M-”—egotistical, neurotic, psycho pathic moron. (Probably best translated as “You’re a dumb XXXX.) The “straight skinney” means the truth, and “F.F.F.T.O. Y.F.F.” requests that you “Fall flat five times on your fat face.” (On the busy Oregon campus, this is cut to "Drop Dead!”) Finally, we, as college humor ists, picture the poor professors as either “small, thin men with spindly noses and pince-nez glasses or as massive hulks with widely separated teeth and pug nacious leers, scarcely human, and always speaking with a growl.” Our collective opinion on these creatures, according to the “Journ al,” probably is summed up by this poem which they reprinted from the Yale “Record:” Said an ape as he swung from his tail, To his children, both male and female, “From your offspring, my dears, In a couple of years, May evolve a professor at Yale.” Fee Scholarship Raised in Value Value of State System of .Higher Education fee scholar ships has been raised from $66 to $70.50 a year, the Regis trar’s Office announced Thurs day. The change was necessitat ed by the recent increase in fees at state colleges and uni versities. Fees are now $44 a term instead of the former $42.50. Applications are now being accepted for fee scholarships from students with a mini mum 2.5 cumulative GPA. Blanks may be obtained from Nancy Harris, scholarships and financial aid secretary, in 216 Emerald Hall. Park to Feature Kenon's Orchestra Curt Kenon, his trombone and orchestra, will open for the re mainder of the season at Willam ette Park, this Saturday evening. The signing of Kenon was re cently announced by Herschel Steele, Park manager. Steele stated that he was impressed by Kenon’s complete book of individual ar rangements, and is sure that Ken on will offer patrons a great var iety of danceable music. Featured with Kenon are Dave White, former Bobby Sherwood alto saxophonist, Joyce Carey, vo calist, and Gene Zarones, tenor saxophonist and singer. Ice skating will come with the winter, the fall will come with ice skating. 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