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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
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