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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1969)
Webfeats By JOHN ANDERSON g Of the Emerald a It was a long time coining, but the young Oregon Ducks finally won the annual Far West Classic at Memorial Coliseum in Port land over the Christmas holidays—the first championship for the co-sponsors of the tourney in the 13-year history of the event. It wasn’t easy. The least narrow victory was an 84-71 win over Yale in the opening round, and even that game was tied with three-quarters of the contest gone. A semi-final win over Brigham Young in overtime moved the Ducks into the finals, where Jim Henry's buzzer basket gave Oregon the nod over Washington State. This year's Classic did not feature the super-team or super star. No one man or one team stood out. Oregon's junior guard Billy Gaskins was honored as “Most Valuable Player” of the tournament, and we agree with the selection, because he, more than any other player, paced his teams’ “ups and downs.” But he wasn’t overwhelming in the way that a Larry Miller, Cazzie Rus sell or Mel Counts has been in recent years. The 19C8 Far West Classic must go down as the one dominated by youth. The victorious Oregon Ducks are a sophomore-laden team, with three juniors and only two seniors on their 12-man traveling roster. Only four men from runner-up Washington State are seniors. In fact, not one of the eight teams entered in the Classic has more than four seniors on its roster. California, like Oregon, has only two two-year veterans. Upstart Yale has a lineup consisting of five sophomores and seven juniors—not a senior on the squad. Take a look at the tournament all-star team. For the first time in the history of the event, there was not a senior listed among the Classic’s best, chosen by coaches at halftime of the championship contest. The group, which included six players be cause of a tie, had junior Gaskins and sophomore Stan Love of Oregon, junior center Vic Bartolome of Oregon State, sophomore forward Jackie Ridgle of California and junior guards Seabern Hill of Arizona State and Iiick Erickson of Washington State. A look at scoring stats shows that the top four men all have another year or two of college ball ahead of them after this one. Yale’s 511 sophomore guard Jim Morgan threw in 68 points in three games, a 22.7 average, while reaching a high game of 31 points. Gaskins with 59, Hill with 58 and Ridgle with 57 were right behind. Other non-veteran players in the top ten of scoring were Bar tolome, sixth with 54, WSU junior Gary Elliot, eighth with 50, Love ninth with 49 and Arizona State junior Ron Johnson tenth with 48. Ridgle had the highest game of the tournament with 36 against ASU. including 15 of 16 from the free throw line, as the Bears set ItICK ABRAIIAMSON Sets Percentage Mark a Classic ana scnooi recora with 31 of 33 successful charity attempts against the Sun Dev ils. One senior scorer who did es tablish himself was Oregon’s 6-3 guard, team captain Rick Abrahamson. Abe sank seven jumpers in a row from 20 feet or more against Washington State before missing on a lay in attempt late in the game and finishing with a Classic record seven for eight, an .875 percen tage. Another junior took the re bounding crown, OSU's 6-9 for ward Gary Freeman pulling 41 missed shots off the boards in the three-game series. Senior Ted Wierman of WSU had 40. but Syracuse sophomore Bill Smith was third with 38 and Oregon’s sophomore Love next with 36. Two other sophomores and another junior were also in the top ten rebound leaders. For those who avoided the Portland area during the Clas sic, ineinermomeier was oeiow me ireezing marK irom rnaay, Dec. 27. until Friday, Jan. 4. There were snow drifts over five feet high in places, as a snowfall of around six inches got a push from 40 miles an hour gusts of wind. It was uncommon weather for Port land, and unpleasant weather for residents and Classic visitors. The snow and ice on the roads certainly didn’t help transpor tation problems. Stan “Wedge” Horton and I, in Portland to cover the tournament, had a little bit of automobile trouble. The 15 degree weather Sunday froze up our battery and forced a re charging. No real problem But Monday even that wouldn't get it going. We waited until noon Tuesday before we could get help— a few drops of alcohol on the battery did the trick. There was a lire problem at the Thunderbird Motel, where Arizona State’s cagers were staying, Saturday night. It started in the laundry room and quickly spread, causing some $12,000 worth of damage. No one was hurt, though, and some patrons may have appreciated the warming trend. Quotable quotes: Syracuse Coach Roy Danforth on the snow conditions in Portland during the Classic: “You mean this is unusual? In Syracuse, every one comes to all the games in this kind of weather." Grant High School (Portland) basketball Coach Ed Rooney on what inspired him to join the 1.525 fans watching Monday’s con solation finals: “Our toilets froze up at home and 1 came over here to go to the bathroom.” Oregon Coach Steve Belko. upon awakening with a chill Mon day morning: “1 left my hotel window open a crack, and found two inches of snow on my briefcase. I wasn't sure where I was for a minute.” Before Oregon Events Manager Gary Wiren retired from his position following the Classic, he announced the Far West Classic Field for next season: Oregon. Oregon State, Washington, Washing ton State, Southern California, Illinois, Michigan State and Temple University. Wiren. who was Frosh golf coach at the University, is leaving his University post to devote more time to several books he is writing and to other interests. One-Platoon Football Unwanted by Coaches By WILL GRIMSLEY AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “It would be a tragedy,” said Ara Parseghian of Notre Dame. “The dumbest thing I ever heard of—they can’t possibly be thinking of such a move,” added the outspoken Frank Howard of Clemson. Jack Curtice of the Univer sity of California at Santa Bar bara, chairman of the college football coaches rules commit tee, said: “This is college foot ball’s finest hour. We must leave the game alone.” Other college coaches—near ly 100 per cent of them—joined in the indignation and alarm Tuesday over a strong move by college administrators to rein state the limited substitution rule and put college football back on the one-platoon system. Coaches fear such an act would return the college game to the colorless, plodding style of play that marked the 1950’s and would chase the entertain ment dollar over to the wide open, pass-happy pros. Administrators have raised the one-platoon issue as one of a number of means of cutting sports budgets, now escalating at such a pace that they threat en to put some colleges out of the football business. Other suggestions are that a national ceiling be placed on grants-in-aid, which now are limited only by conference stat ute or not at all; that spring practice be eliminated, and that the size of coaching staffs be sharply reduced. James Barratt, athletic direc tor of Oregon State University, sounded the most ominous note when he said many athletic de partments will face bankruptcy —if there is continued escala tion of athletic costs—and some will be forced to drop football. “A lot of coaches will be out selling real estate or insur ance,” he added. The unlimited substitution rule was put into effect in col lege football shortly after World War II but in 1952 the rule makers—-under the whip hand of the NCAA council—changed the code to place a clamp on substitutions. Some form of limited substi tution prevailed until 1965, when the colleges returned to two platoons, thus copying the popular pros. Under unlimited substitution, full 11-man units run on and off the field each time the ball changes hands. One is trained in offense, the other in defense. There are also special teams for kick returns and other situa tions. “I think this is the ideal game,” said Parseghian. “We are able to develop the skill of many players. Scoring is high. The games are exciting. It would indeed be a tragedy to go back to the old rule.” Under the old rule, is was necessary for a player to play both offense and defense. Supporters of limited substi tution contend the game won’t be damaged as a spectator sport. “I think most people want to see a player go both ways,” said Adm. Tom Hamilton, com missioner of the Pacific-8 Con ference. “They get tired of just watch ing number come on and off the field.” Asa Bushnell, commissioner of the expansive, 197-member Eastern College Athletic Confer ence, said most of his members were in favor of one-platoon football. The group includes the conservative Ivy League. The Oregon Dally Emerald Is pub lished Monday thru Friday, Septem ber to May, except during exam and vacation periods. Bi-weekly June thru the first week of August, once a week the last three weeks of August, by the Publications Board of the University of Oregon. Second-class postage paid at Eu gene, Oregon 97403. Subscription rates ♦9 per year, $3.50 per term. 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