“Duck
m—By Sam Vahey
^ Em»f»ld Sporti Editor
'J'li;it\s quite an impressive team of ex-Oregon basdball greats
that Coach Don Kirsch’s varsity baseball nine will be playing
Saturday afternoon. '1 here’s every kind of player on it from good
amateur to full scale professional ball players.
Mel Krause will appear on the mound for the Alums, a posi
tion he held regularly for the Ducks when he played for them
m 1951. Another lnirler will be Stu Fredericks, now a pro ball
player. Joe Sugura, catcher, played for the Webfoots last season
and is still at the university in his fourth year of PIC
Bartle, Koch in Infield
In the infield, the fans will see Dick Bartle and Barney Koch,
seasoned ball-players in Oregon semi-pro ranks, at first and
second base respectively. At third and shortstop, Nick Schmer
and Joe I om, also attending the university, will see action for
the Alums. 1 he outfield blossoms with professional plavers,
including John Kovenz, Hal Zurcher, Bill Carney, Pat Wohlers,
and Bob Caviness. Carney, manager for Portland’s Archer and
Blower pipe team, will be the playing manager of the All-Star
nine, which by the way, will be wearing the Archer baseball
uniforms.
Press releases from Seattle indicate that from the stand
point of records, percentages, individual stars and crowds,
Washington s 1953 basketball outfit was the greatest Husky
casaba aggregation in the school’s history. We don’t think the
1953 Husky supporters have much trouble proving this fact,
either.
As a team, the Huskies broke no less than three NCAA tour
ne\ records, four Northern division marks, and two school win
iim^ totals. In the NCAA tournament books, the Huskies have
th«* most points per game, most field goals during four games,
and most field goals in one game.
NI) records possessed by the I’CC champs include most
1 oints per season, highest point per game average, most field
goals and best field goal percentage, best free throw percentage,
and 23 straight wins, starting in 1952 and continuing until al
r.o-t the end of the '53 season. New school records for the teajn
are 21 straight wins in one season and 22 straight home vic
tories, a string that is bound to get longer.
Records by the Dozen
\\ e’ll not go into the exploits of Mr. Hooks, Bob Houbregs,
but we will say that he ends his college basketball career with
three NCAA tourney marks under his belt; ten Northern Divi
sion totals; and three new school marks. It's interesting to note
that little Charlie Koon crawled into the record shattering spot
light for the Huskies, establishing a brand new free throw per
centage, .865, or 32 out of 37 attempts. The previous gift toss
record, incidentally, was held by Mel Krause, Oregon court ar
tist two years back
While on the subject of the U of Washington, we find that
another press release points out that the Husky athletes excel
not only in the field of sports, but also in the classrooms. One
of the starting frosh basketeers collected five “A’s” for a 4.0.
Three other athletes got four “A’s” and one or two “B’s”. The
high scholastic list does not show any of Coach Tippy Dye’s
varsity men, though. The reason being, of course, that they
had to delay their finals until they returned from the NCAA
tournament.
With the topic of whether or not Rio Grande’s basketball
records should stay on the NCAA basketball record books such
a popular subject these days, we can't resist taking a stand on
the matter. Frankly, we don’t think that scoring sprees against
little-heard-of teams, such as Rio Grande played, should go
down in the books along side the marks established in higher
circles such as the Big Ten and PCC. It isn’t fair to the big
fellas who go out and get their points the hard way against
teams just as good as their own.
Houbregs Could Have Done Same
We’ll not say that Bevo Francis couldn’t have, done as well
while playing for a larger school against better squads; but we
will say that a boy like Walter Dukes or Bob Houbregs could
have done the same, if not more, than Francis, if he had been
playing for a school of 90 enrollment.
Speaking last night in Portland were Basketball Coach Bill
Borcher and Football mentor Len Casanova. The event was the
basketball banquet at Multnomah hotel in honor of the 1952-53
casaba five. The seniors on the team each got a watch and
the team's most valuable player was the'recipient dtf'the’Bill
Baker award.
40 MORE SCHOLARSHIPS
Grants-in-Aid Increased;
'Hunting' Program Set Uo
In an effort to put athletics at
i the University of Oregon on an
equal par with other members of
the Pacific Coast Conference, the
Oregon Athletic Department is in
creasing its grants-in-aid program
from 60 to more than 100 athletic
scholarships per year.
Stated Jim Hubbard, alumni
member on the grant-in-aid com
mittee, “The University of Oregon
is the second smallest school in
the Pacific Coast Conference. We
are therefore under a handicap
in competition with bigger PCC
schools.”
Set Up New Office
First step in the new program
has been to set up the office of
Assistant Athletic Director to
specifically administer and super
vise the subsidation program.
Track and Frosh football Coach
Bill Bowerman was selected for
this post.
The additional financial help to
athletes became possible as a re
sult of a conference ruling which
allowed schools to furnish all, not
just part, of an athlete’s tuition.
Previously the institutions had
been allowed to give full support
to veterans only, with the rest of
j the students getting only partial
I assistance.
1 he jump from the previous
60 grants-in-aid to the proposed
100 will enable the athletic de
; partment to offer additional
scholarships in football, basket
ball, baseball and track, especial*
■ !>' to in-coming freshmen, a
group somewhat neglected la
cause of the too-small number
of scholarships.
For instance, in football, where
before 27 scholarships had been
offered to varsity players and 13
1 to freshmen, there will now be 70
grants-in-aid althogether—45 to
the varsity and 25 to the frosh.
In basketball the number of
grants shall be extended from only
10 for both varsity and frosh, to
20, 12 to the big team and eight
to the juniors.
Baseball, Track, Too
Instead of four scholarships be
ing given in baseball, eight will be
awarded, divided almost evenly
j between freshmen a*nd upper class
men. The same will hold true in
track also.
In order to offer these 40 addi
tional scholarships, the grants-in
aid financial budget will have to
be extended from the 1952-53 total
of $27,500 to a new goal of $60,000.
According to Bowerman, the event
ual sum may be raised to $90,000
in order to provide a reserve for
the fund.
The increase., according to the
athletic department, is not a
change in the school’s policy to
provide “unauthorized and ex
cessive” assistance to the univer
sity’s players.
“It merely is an effort to provide
more adequate manpower under a
sensible, .well-supervised program
of aid to those athletes in need of
financial help.”
The department hopes to take
care of the additional expense
through increased pledges and cash
donations from an increased num
ber of individual donors. Since re
ceipts from athletic events can
not be used, all tuition aa&gtance
must come through donations to
the grants-in-aid fund.
Maximum Per Month
Through this fund, the GIA com
mittee can pay both tuition and
wages to needy athletes. The maxi
mum support, however, is $75 per
month at $1.50 an hour. Beginning
last fall, it has been the policy,
however, to do away with work
during the term of sports partici
pation.
In direct correlation with the
grants-in-aid program, a net
work of “Duck Hunters” is being
set up through the state and in
Washington, Idaho and Califor
nia.
Throughout Oregon, 12 districts
will be set up for this purpose. One
person will be responsible in each
area as a contact between the in
dividual “hunters” and the central
committee.
Each “hunter” will be respon
sible in the following ways:
First, he will inform the Oregon
coaches of prospective athletes.
Second, he will screen the pros
pects. Third, he will personally con
tact the prospect and try to per
suade him to come to Oregon.
Fourth, he will secure informa
tion on the prospect through the
athlete's friends. Fifth, he will
encourage a campus visit by the
propsect. Sixth, he will aid the
prospect, possibly through a sum
mer job. And finally, he will help
to transport the athlete to the
campus at the beginning of his
first year.
It will be up to the university
coaChes, in this program, to work
through the duck hunters; en
courage the prospect to visit the
campus; give the "duck hunters”
a list of alums who might be of
assistance; and advise the alums
in their search for sports talent.
At first the program will not
extend out of State, but eventu
ally it will be expanded to other
west coast areas, because, as
Btnverman pointed out, “We
can’t build a good team on 100
per cent Oregon state boys.”
In the opinion of many involved,
these two programs, the grant-in
aid and the “Duck Hunters,” will
offer absolute means of putting
“Oregon athletics on a more com
petitive basis with other bigger
PCC schools.”
Two Lettermen
On Net Squad
Only two returning lettermen
greeted Coach Captain Lawerence
as formal tennis practice began
last Monday. Despite the lack of
depth, Lawerence was pleased
with the turnout of 23 prospects
for positions on the varsity and
frosh squads.
The early part of the week was
spent on "volley shots” while
later this week, Lawerence hopes
to work on the weaknesses of the
individual players.
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