THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1943
ROTC Shatters Hopes For Top Sports Season
: Bedenk, Thiel; Conger, Rutherford Will Lose '
■ Nucleus of Varsity Teams When Men Are Called
, By REM ROBINSON
Hopes for an outstanding Spring sports season were
shattered last night, when Colonel Edward Ardery, Comman
dant of the Penn State military headquaters', released a final
statement' forbidding, all advanced men in the Reserve Offi
cers’ Training Corps from- participating in any intercolle
giate athletic competition after they are. called to active duty
within the next few weeks, t
' This .announcement, came as a ii« r f.L. a i (iumnai-lf
severe blow, to coaches and players lilyU jCIIOOI UyillflOXlS
a’like, tor ever since rumors first r tn* UAfiArr
leaked out on campus several days 10 vOflipClv lQ* POIIOfS
ago,.there .was.tope that the order | M U*|| faliifitau
would either.prove a falsehood, or 111 KvC flflll JulUlWfly
lie rescinded by the War Depart
ment
. Ardery explained that the cam
pus ROTC department is'acting
under instructions deceived from
the Third Corps Area, and will
, enforce the regulation unless' or
dered to do otherwise-by higher
officials in the War Department.
Reasons for this dramatic
change in the College athletic
plans were based on the fact that
■ Army headquarters believe the
men will Be too busy with their
n'ew activities to Compete on any
varsity squad, yet examination of
' tentative plans for' the call Of the
advanced men to duty fails to in
dicate any subjects or courses
added to their pi;esent programs.
: Even plans for a physical devel
opment curriculum have been
. eliminated from all orders .the
• focal ROTC officers have received,
i and' the men will ‘be without any
\-: conditioning., program. for- six.
• weeks, r if. they are called to .active.
Service by April i.
. Nick Thiel . said. ..his., lacrosse
•••; squad. J:aces ultimate disaster when
. this 'rilling" goes into action, foi‘ the.
; entire.team, has been built around’
•five • varsity men. Thiel said that
“no ■ detriment " will come to 'the
trboys if-they were. ; allowed’ to com
.. pete in - varsity athletics, and'it
would be to the war Effort’s benefit
■—that .they, remain in top physical
.sHsfre.”
- --.CJedtfge-Pitteniger and Dick Ross,
.tVd'-key'men on ttffe Thier defense,
.. will be hit by the/military code, as
. ; ‘cenffei’ fielders Bill-Briner arid"
v Howard -ttausner, Stu Sussman, a'
; sure bet for the varsity as first
goaiie, is also-on - the list ofad
: ’ yariced men. . .
.' Five of Joe Bedenk’s sure start
ing lineup-were included in the
. ' 'advanced corps status. Dale Bauer,
varsity man'' •from the summer
• baseball seasOh.'will be 'compelled
to leave the squad with Sparky
. Si-own, senior hurler; Jack Bur- :
ford, hard - slugging outfielder;
Bennet't, another outfield
er; arid Jim Griffith,'nfewcorrier for
" ? the.-receiving end of the -battery.
‘ .. also" dim 7
riied, , when , : it ..was learned /.that
;.;Gliff St/Clair, sensational sprinter,
: :v";;'-.-ibilibe f orcedtowithdrawasnurn
//' '•* l|ei;V one/.contender.... forthe. .half-.
Smith; varsity har-
-.slated for. the itwo'-iriile
team' \yhen-/the j anribunce
ifejmenbcafpie.. 'and ■■ Johnny-
v ; bni>ther-. -'harrier^l- v whb ,J;is
rni'hbjaffbcted.;-.;'..; ;• •'
'iis& « Gpjf'practices'' ha ve 5 - j list Vsiahtedj
: ;-bre/fofs:edi; tp; leave;
•■£^^'feU|)S;wi^ i alsQ.,W^^p«pd-'ti ; «'
;%;%s\“^°h < sqring-.;ampv^ight i >’hi'hf ( i
leave’White Hall at/ 2 p.m. Sat
irv.urday afternoon.- .; •• ':■<■.
• “ / 'sThpse Interested must sign up'
/'•:.'in the "White Hall locker room by
5-.. . pan- tomorrow. A fee of 40
v cents will be charged, and coeds
/ ' should bring their . own blankets
Forty-six' gymnasts fr o m
twelve high schools will compete
in the Interscholastic Association
gym tournament scheduled to
take place at Rec Hall, t:?0 p.m.
Saturday.
Latrobe,' Pittsburgh’s WcsHng
house, El wood City, Dußois, Tar
entum, Ambridge", arid Midland
will comprise the teams from the
western part of the state, while
the East will be represented by
Pottsville, Lower Merion, Lan
caster, and Fraclcville.
Defending championship squad,
Warren, will -not compete due to
the difficulty in- obtaining trans
portation facilities. Billy Meade,
Penn State tumbler, was the “big
gun” for the Warren team' when
they took the title last season.
-Meade, after taking the parallel
bar and tuiribling titles,. was
awarded the Gene Wettstone Tro
phy donated by the College for
the .outstanding performer of the
meet. - ■-
Hal Zimmerman, former • All-
American - tumbler ■ find • parallel
bar champ from Penn- State, was
also & Warren : high school pro
duct. 1 ■
Pottsville will enter fight con
testants in the tournament; while
El wood City,. Westinghouse, and
Lower Merioft ■ Will try for hon
ors with six members-each. Ail
other squads will carry ftotn one
to five members.
The gymnasts'will battle it out
on the horizontal - bars, - side:
horse, .ropes, parallel bars, flying
rings, tumbling mats, arid in tHe
■lndian club event. Only • three
boys will enter- the Indian club
exercises. However, - perennial
chaimp in this event, Bloomsbufg,
will not enter the competition.
Penn State Class Rings
L G. Balfour Co.
MB S* Allen Street in Charles Fellow Shop
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Sixfeen Teams fo Clash
In Final IM Basketball
Playoffs Tonight
Sixteen fraternity and inde
pendent teams will clash tonight
in Rec' Hall to decide the final
standings and champions of the
intramural basketball playoffs in
both leagues.
Starting at 7 o’clock, undefeat
ed. Sigma Pi No. 1 will meet Sig
ma Nu, boasting five wins and
only one loss. If Sigma Nu can’t
Halt Sigma Pi’s winning streak,
the two teams will be t,ied for
first place in the fraternity lea
gue, and a championship playoff
will have to be held at a later
date. If Sigma Pi can repeat they
will automatically become undis
puted champ. _
The independent championship
rests entirely upon the result- of
one game—the Vagabonds against
Podunk Prep. Both teams show
five victories and one defeat and
will come together tied for first
place. Judging from the pas' per
formances of both teams ’ this
should be one of the closest and
hardest fought games of the ser
ies.
Other fraternity tilts will see
Beta Theta Pi No. 1, present hold
er of second place, tangle with
their fraternity brothers, Beta
Theta Pi No- 2, a member of the
quartette now tied for third place.
Phi Kappa Sigma, also in fourth
.place,- Will match men against Phi
Kapha Psl,' ih last place because
oi: a string of forfeits. Sigma Chi
-and Kappa Sigma, both in- fourth
place,- will wind up the fratern
ity affair.
The independent's .second place
team, Ingelside Club, hot after
their* 57-9 victory over. Fletcher
House, will meet Allen Co-op, in
last place boasting no wins, in.
the independent battles. •It has
been rumored that this may be a
one-sided game. ■
Credit for : the conduction of
the;lM games. must be given to
Leon W. Reinheimer, arid to. the
referees. that assisted him:
“Ducky” Swan, Nyles Smith, Sid
Cohen, Dick Risteeri, Clay Zun
del, Len Catanoso, Henry Baierl,
“Sparky” Brriwri, Israel Krauss,
“Red” Lebitch, Reid McKloskey,
•and Frank Stevenson.
COLLEGIAN SPORTS
lIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIt
‘ Theodore Roethke, assistant professor of English composition,
has been granted a 10-month leave of absence to accept a position
as professor at Bennington College, Bennington, Vt.”
In back of this simple announcement lies a story. Roethke, in his
undergraduate days at University of Michigan and later at Harvard*
played a lot of tennis. He made the frosh squad but didn't go out for
the varsity although he could beat most of the first stringers. Even the
Michigan coach, Henry Hutchines, now coaching tennis at Yale, suc
cumber to Roethke's racket prowness.
During his spare time, he even knocked around a little in the
amateur loops.
He recalls an interesting anecdote of his college days. During the
summmer for four years he worked in a Heinz pickle factory where
he worked himself up from S-35 an hour to 5.50 for the sixty-minute
period. During these summers he had experience in many phases of
the gallant "art of pickle manufacture including barrel rolling, lank
skimming, and even publicity.
Back to our story. After his post-graduate year of work afHar
vard for a degree, he went to Lafayette College on the Delaware
where he was offered the position of instructor in English. He stayed,
here, teaching English and coaching the none-toq-successful tennis
team for four years until in 1935 when he took a train to the Nittany
hills to become professor of English composition at Penn State.
Here, his past caught up with him once-more and he was selected
to coach the Blue and White tennis team. For five seasons. Ted Roelh
ke has coached Penn State tennis squads to 29 victories while drop
ping 21.. .
In 1939 the Roethkemen won seven tilts, dropped three. 1940 saw
them on the heavy end of a 6-3 count while the 1941 squad won si*:
and lost five. In the regular 1941 season, the raqUeteers broke even,
5-5, a tally they equalled during the summer semester.
Up against records of the basketball or soccer or football learns
of recent years, these are not impressive totals. However, considering
the handicaps under which the netmen must labor, they take on as
added significance.
As Roethke himself puts it; “The boys work very hard. They
practice indoors at night ahd on the hard.macadam churls durifcg
the days When the courts aren't in condition. It takes a lot out of both,
the players and the equipment.”
Usually boasting only one or two lette'rmen to start a season, the
coach also finds himself faced with the task of building a squad that
can overcomem such, experienced opponents as Navy, Cornell, Pitt,
Penn, Syracuse, and Bucknell.
Nevertheless, uhder Roethke’s tutleage and with the'spirit to Win
He instills in his players, several 6f them have come to-the tore
with national rankings. Mac Weinstein, of -the 1939 and 1940 teain.
was ranked nineteenth in National Junior brackets, and Cy Hull,
captain of this year’s edition totes a standing of 26th in National
Junior competition around with him.
But this isn't the whole story.
In addition to getting tennis players in condition to compete ha
season competition, Coach Roethke is also very much interested in.
preparing undergraduate Penn State students to take their plate on
the firing line of intercollegiate poetry competition.
Roethke himself is one of the most widely known of the younger
American poets and composes lyric poetry for such periodicals as
"The Atlantic Monthly," "Scribners." "The Vale Review," "The New
Republic." and "The New Yorker."
The poet-coach will leave Penn Stale's campus April 1, at least;
temporarily. At the cost of broken arches, shin splints, and pneu
monia he has put five editions of Penn Stale tennis teams on the court.
When told that he was being interviewed for a column on his
life, Roethke replied, “Heck, I haven’t done anything. I’d rather have
you play up the kids.’’
That's the kind of guy he is.
COEDS ...
—At last truth hasbeen written!
—True Confession of Three Engineers
—The Uncensored Story of the Engi
; neers*Opinion of Penn State Coeds
_ n.- With -just.pride and due consideration for its many .!
types of readers,he: Penn -State Engirieer/proudly ■ |
< . . :presents: •
’’OBHREmiMBK PENH HATEtOEM" '
. By .Walter R. Berg, Thoma 6 F. Irvine, Eugene F. Von Arx i
. v WATCH FOR THE MARCH ISSUE
ON SALE AT i
i, STUDENT UNION. CORNER ROOM. KAYE'S CORNER.
AND YOUGAL'S
-This Thrill-Packed Issue Also Includes
“PUMPING OIL,” by Joseph Dolan- Tau Beta Pi
Themes: “THE FLASH OF AN ARC,” and Other
Usual and Unusual Features.
By ART MILLLER
PAGE -TUBE®