Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1963)
tDuc&07,tac&& By LARKY GRAVES ■ Emerald Sports Editor ‘‘Bill Bowerman did more for me than any other man.” So spoke Oregon’s Athlete of the Year about Oregon’s Man of the Year. This was Jerry Tarr speaking about his track coach at the University, Bill Bowerman, as Tarr picked up his award at the Hayward Banquet in Portland Monday night. It was one of many tributes paid to Bowerman at the banquet from his former and present athletes. In a sense, the whole banquet was an accolade for Bower man. Of the 57 Oregon athletes nominated from the whole state from sports ranging from auto racing to bowling, five were Bowerman-coached track men. Three of these, Harry Jerome, Mel Renfro and Tarr were selected among the ten finalists. A fine tribute to a fine coach. Other University athletes nominated for the award in cluded Steve Barnett, Keith Forman, Jim Grelle, Ron Sni dow and Charlie Warren. I he sportswnters and sportcasters, who sponsored the ban(|uet. found a new twist for honoring Terry Baker. They said that they had wanted to honor him in some way but felt that another trophy would be superfluous (probably the most superfluous statement of the year) so instead of giving him an award they gave his mother a gold watch. Baker was given a standing ovation when he was award ed the W. .1 Voit Trophy as the Outstanding Football Player on the Pacific Coast. The Voit Trophy and some of his other major awards, such as the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Tro phy and the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award, were displayed on a special table at the banquet. He has really picked up an impressive collection of trophies in the last couple of months We'd sure like to see his entire collection. We talked with Norv Ritchie, administrative assistant for the Athletic Department, while traveling to Portland. Ritchie is in charge of organizing all athletic events so the conversation got around to why we have to have football games in Portland. Of course, the real answer is a new' football stadium for Eugene but Ritchie noted several aspects of the problems that we hadn't realized. First is the fact that only five major schools will agree to come to Eugene to play football. These include Washington State. Oregon State, Idaho, San Jose State and, reluctantly, Utah. An all-in-Eugene home schedule would thus face some difficulties. The second and most important reason is that more money can be made in Portland Ritchie cited the case a few years back when the Ducks drew two crowds of 16,000. One was to a Eugene game and the other was in Portland. The gross of the Portland game with an equal crowd turned out to be double that of the Hayward Field contest. Another factor is the facilities in Portland for games. Eugene really doesn’t have the hotels and restaurants that Port land has to accommodate visitors. The amount of money spent by visitors for just the Washington-Oregon game alone makes that weekend Portland’s most satisfying finan cial weekend of the year. This includes the Rose Festival and everything else. Ritchie reported that the bank clear ings on the Monday following the Washington-Oregon game in 1961 were the highest ever recorded in Portland. After Gus Johnson played in Eugene we wrote that he was the finest basketball player we had ever seen and in cluded Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robinson and Jerry Lucas among those we had watched A number of critics said we had gone a little overboard on our praise for Johnson. These people should be interested in the words of Tom Brodie, one of Sports lilustrated’s basketball staffers, after he had watched Johnson perform while writing about him for the weekly sports magazine. Brodie says that Johnson is the finest he’s seen and he has probably seen much more basketball than we have. We still think that “Great Gus” is the best there’s ever been and are disappointed that Idaho isn’t on Oregon State’s schedule so we could see what would have happened when Gus went up against seven-foot Mel Counts. Steve Belko says, although somewhat more vividly, that Gus could probably outplay Counts. Anyway, watch Sports Illustrated for Johnson’s article. Terry Slow... (Continued from (iu/c 4) Cassius Clay is not ready yet to fight Sonny Liston—he is only an 8-5 favorite over his next opponent, Doug Jones— but he soon will be. And if Cassius is as smart as he is brash, he’ll disregard the precedent set by ex-champ Floyd Patterson, and leave his career in the hands of a capable manager. We doubt if Cassius Clay is too big for success. Jerry Tarr Just To Get Out of the Army' By LARKY GRAVES Emerald Sports Editor Jerry Tarr was in Eugene Mon day and Tuesday for his first visit hack since last summer when he was setting the track world afire with his best in the world hurdling. The reason Jerry came back was to accept the Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award for the state of Oregon. Tarr is now serving six months in the Army and received special permission to return to Oregon for the hon or, from his commanding officer. The award was a surprise to Jerry and as he put it, “I just came up here to get out of the army.” While he v/as here, Jerry talk ed about his track career and also mentioned how happy he was in professional football after signing with the Denver Broncos of the American Football League “When I read about the track meets and runners, I kind of wish I was back in training.” says Jerry, “but a fellow has to eat too ” He was particularly impressed with the differences between the professional brand of football and the college game. “They aren’t even the same game.” He says that the pros have everything figured out and leave nothing to chance In talking Ward Shoots 69; Leads Qualifiers Bill Ward, son of three-time Na tional Amateur Golf Champion Marvin Ward, shot a three-under par to lead the University Golf Championships’ qualifying round Saturday Second to Ward was de fending champ Mick Humphreys with a par 72. The field was cut to the lowest IP scores from students entered in the competition. The pairings for the match play competition are posted in Fennell’s Men’s Store. One match must be played each week by the remaining con testants or the match will be for feited. about the end coach for the Broncos, Max Speedy, who was a great end for the Cleveland JERRY TARR . . . Oregon’s Best Browns and Otto Graham, he says, “He really knows his busin ess. He just says step here and here and here and that’s what we do.” We asked Jerry what he liked best about pro football and he said, “I like Mondays. That’s when we get paid.” Jerry also had some advice for Mel Renfro who can expect a pro career of his own in a little while. “Hold out as long as you can and have a real good senior year in track. Waiting (before signing) is the hardest thing to do and those pro scouts know it,” says Jerry. Jerry gets out of the Army on July 3 and expects to be back at work for the Broncos by the mid dle of that month With the Broncs next year he will be teaming up with George Shaw, who also won the Athlete of the Year award for Oregon. It should make quite a combination. J°bs BETTER PRODUCTS "lower prices P ^advertising works for you! I 'Phone it front you* ca*' EL PRONTO DRIVE-IN Check It Out 17th & WILLAMETTE ‘’mennen sprau deodorant FOR MEN OCUVERS THREE times the ANTl-PERSPIRANT POWER Of A«Y0?t«B tEAi> Sia MEN S iXOOOk**' The Brute Mennen Spray Deodorant is rugged. Hard working. Long lasting. Delivers 3 times the anti-perspirant power of any other leading men's deodorant. That's right. 3 times the anti-perspirant power. Mennen Spray...in the handy squeeze bottle. What a brute!
