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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1966)
Bwmmwwm!i!iimBBni!««mi;!iww»:n—i!iw Quack Cracks BaMRMMwmnmw Frosh Sports Are Valuable By DAVE BARONTI Emerald Sports Editor ROBERT D. THOMAS. A COLUMNIST for the University of Southern California's campus newspaper. The Daily Tro jan, seems to think that the day of the “old" college athlete is past. The reason is not that he is inferior to his predecessors, but that he is being overshadowed by his high school counterparts and fresh man teammates. "The day when athletes come from high schools to colleges devoid of polish, training, and maturity,” writes Thomas, “is past. Today’s freshman athlete is a polished product by the time he arrives at a university and in many cases is a veteran of competition with col lege athletes and international stars.” Thomas uses that reasoning to advance his own argument that freshman sports should be eliminated For want of an example, he cites UCLA’s 7-1 frosh basketball super-star. Lew Alcindor. and SC's own freshman 16-foot pole vaulter, Paul Wilson. ‘To ask Lew Alcindor to play freshman basketball when he could be facing varsity competition is a crime,” Thomas asserts. "How much does Alcindor learn playing against centers 6-6 and lower, kids he's been scoring on since he was a high school sophomore?” IT IS ODD THAT THOMAS should use for an argument such a typical case as Alcindor. If Lew Alcindor and Paul Wilson epitomize a Southern Californian's idea of what a typical upcoming athlete is like, then maybe Oregon and Oregon State are in the wrong conference. Fortunately, Mr. Thomas is wrong. The days of the completely polished and mechanized high school and frosh athletic team is not here. And until a local high school beats the University of Oregon in football, basketball track or baseball, I refuse to believe it. If you're still not convinced, ask Oregon's Neal Steinhauer if he could throw the 16-pound shot 60 feet—or even 50 feet—in high school. Or Kenny Moore if he could run an 8:40—or even a 9:50— two mile at North Eugene High four years ago Even better yet. ask Oregon's 1960 Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400 meter dash, Otis Davis, if he had even run a 440 in high school. He hadn’t. NO ONE AROUND HERE IS is going to speak for USC or UCLA, but Oregon's freshman program certainly isn't work ing to the detriment of the general athletic program as Thomas seems to feel that SC’s and UCLA’s are. On the contrary, here—and I suspect also there—the programs are a valuable and almost an essential tool. Picture yourself as a promising college athlete just out of high school. You’re a defensive back on the football team and you did pretty well against your prep opponents—maybe made the all-state team. How well do you think you’d do playing opposite a Steve Bunker or the equivalent your very first game out of high school? More than likely, you’d get beat—badly. Probably, you’d be discouraged, maybe lose confidence in yourself, and possibly even completely give up— mentally if not physically. THIS IS WHERE FRESHMAN sports come in. They give a boy a chance to adjust to persons of equal ability before competing against the more finely developed athletes he’ll be ready for later on. Agreed, UCLA’s got a real problem with Lew Alcindor. He was ready for varsity competition this year . . . and his coach couldn’t use him. That’s too bad. But even at that, the question, “How much does Alcindor learn playing against centers 6-6 and lower, kids he’s been scoring on since he was in high school?” is not extremely valid. Mr. Alcindor seems to have learned enough against “those kids” to have developed into the pretty fair basketball player he is now. And if Thomas believes that by throwing him into collegiate competition his freshman year, he’s going to keep him from scoring, well— Belko, Dalmar, Valenti, and Harshman, stop your worrying. Net Tourney Set About 21 schools from Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana are tentatively scheduled to par ticipate in the annual northwest women’s tennis championships to be held here May 20-21. The University of Oregon women’s tennis team was in ac tion Tuesday afternoon and de feated Oregon State 3-1 for their third win in as many starts this season, and their second over Oregon State. Want to really get results?— Use Emerald Classified Ads 9 AL'S auto UPHOLSTERY U OF O STUDENT SPECIAL 15% Off on all work when you pre sent your student body card 344-2504 1425 Oak Co-eds Win Softball Game Maryann Cooper made two hits in as many times at bat to lead the Oregon’s women softball team to a 9-7 victory over Oregon State Monday night at Corvallis. Winning pitcher Karen Meats allowed ten hits—the same num ber as Oregon collected — but saw her team take advantage of six walks and several errors to collect the winning runs. Ten of Them Gridders Get Green Shirts Ten Oregon griddcrs have re ceived the “green shirt," embla matic of first string status thus far into the three week old spring football practice session. Head football coach Len Casa Bob Berry. Minnesota Vik ings reserve quarterback who set passing and offensive rec ords at the University of Ore gon, will direct the Oregon alumni team against the var sity again this year. Berry led the alums to a 6-3 victory last year. The annual spring game will be played May 14. nova has bestowed the much wanted practice shirt, given on the basis of ability, hustle and desire, on five juniors, four sopho mores and a freshman. Dan Archer, a 230 pound junior tackle from Modesto, California, is the most recent “green-shirtcr," having received his Tuesday af ternoon. Archer has had two years of varsity experience. Emerald SPORTS Frosh Netters Lose Fifth Oregon’s freshman tennis team dropped its final match of the season to Roseburg High School, 6-3. at Eugene Wednesday. In ability to win doubles proved the frosh’s downfall as they lost two of those matches after splitting singles competition 3-3. The loss was the fifth in as many matches for the frosh and their third to Roseburg In pre vious matches the Ducklings had lost to Oregon State twice, 5-4 and 8-1, and to Roseburg, 5-2 and 5-2. Winning for Oregon were Gerry Shaw, first singles, 6-3, 6-3; Tom Hacket, fourth singles, 6-2, 6-8 6-1; and Ron Eachus, fifth singles, 6-4, 64. In doubles Roger Lidell and John Dick were defeated 2-6, 5-6, and Pete Shaw and Dan McPeak lost 2-6, 3-6. A third doubles match was cancelled after Gerry Shaw and Barry Starrct had split sets with Roseburg 4-6, 10-8. Leading the frosh team has been Gerry Shaw from Santa Conica, California. He has a rec ord of 6 and 3 and has recorded a win in every frosh match. Woodell Listed As 'Fair' Bob Woodell, the Oregon long jumper-triple jumper who injured his back in a Millrace accident Sunday afternoon, was listed in ‘ fair” condition Wednesday morn ing at Sacred Heart Hospital. According to hospital authori ties, the Theta Chi senior is para lyzed from the waist down at the present time, though it will be several months before anything definite is expected to be known about his condition. His best long jump this year was a 23-11 winning effort against UCLA. STUDENTS SPECIAL $2,000 AWARD* Plus up to $1,000 cash for Dental Expenses—Doctor Bills— Nurses Fees—Hospital Bills. Why not give you and your loved ones this inexpensive protection against an accident? Other liberal benefits for partial or total loss of sight or limbs are included in this one policy. Available from age 2 to 74. All this plus for as little as $15.50 a year depending on age and occupation. For more details phone or write our specialist in student wants, Bob Kirk, 3061 Hilyard, Eugene. Phone 343-0142. ICOA—Oregon’s Own—250 Liberty S.E., Salem, Oregon * Accidental Death REMEMBER—The high risk of summer season is fast approach ing. Act. now! Those gaining first string status last Saturday were juniors I*nt Helfrich and Harry Cartales, sophomores Warner Wong, Bob Lawrence and Cam Molter, and freshman Jim Evenson. Evenson, a junior college trims for from Boise, Idaho, has nailed down the starting fullback slot, while Molter, Lawrence, Cartales and Helfrich made the starting unit on defense. Molter is a 190 pound defensive end from Eugene, Lawrence a 22S pound defensive lineman from Portland, Cartales a 220 pound linebacker from Portland, and Helfrich a 197 pound defensive IM Schedule Softball 4:00 South Field. Husads \s Phi Gamma Delta North Field, Douglas vs. Chemistry Tennis 4:00—Kappa Sigma vs Bobbins Golf Counselors vs. Burgess end from Eugene. Wong, a 21.1 pounder from Honolulu, made the squad us a guard. Jim Smith, Kosa Carter and Honor Stahlhut were unions the first to receive their stiirls. Smith is a sophomore offensive halfback from San Diego, California, while Carter is a guard from Eugene and Stahlhut a junior tackle from Anaheim. California. Assistant football coach John Robinson, commenting on the ap proach of the coaching stall to tins spring’s practice, said, ' We re just trying to lie better. Were not changing a whole lot from previous years.'" he said. "After all, we’ve had winning seasons five out of the last six years." He said the coaches have stress ed thi’ running attack more dur ing the first weeks of practice and look for "good balance" in the offense lie said the team is going back "to the good old Ore gon offense ” Commenting on spring practice as a whole, Robinson said, "The kids are trying harder than they ever have before, and spirit is very good." 1 Elect... 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