PAGE TWO
/Baseball, Track Teams Off To
Slow Start As Season Nears
Sweeney Trades Gloves
!For Bat; Wardrop Returns
Marine Private Mike Sweeney is
keeping the boxing team-baseball
team combination intact this sea
son, according to Lion mentor Joe
i3edenk. Undefeated Sweeney, Nit
tany ringman at 175 pounds this
winter, is a good bet for the re
ceiving end of the baseball bat
-I:ery this spring.
Last season, Oggie Martella
came up to the baseball team
from the 175-pound fistic post to
garner a starting nod as Lion
catcher. Martella is now a boxing
champ at Camp Lee, where he is
stationed with the Army.
. Other spots on the Nittany dia
mond varsity are undecided since
the Bedenkmen have completed
but three days' outdoors this
month. Many Marine and Navy
trainees have 'been dotting the
sessions, however, and several var
i3ity men have returned from the
.1943 squad.
Wardrop Back
Big Mike Wardrop, Bedenk's
only standby on the mound last
ummer, is back with his battery
companion, Ed Holler, in the
catcher's notch. Joe Golembeski,
freshman hurler several years ago,
has also reported to early season
workouts.
In the outfield another letter
winner, Dale Bower, is finding
competition from V-12 trainees
14all, Bruhn, Urion, and Barnes
for fly-chasing chores on the open
ing day at Annapolis next month.
Johnny Sylvester is the remain-
Lion Athletes Overcome
Lack Of Sight, Paralysis
It takes more than a physical handicap to keep Penn
State men out of athletic competition these days.
Lack of sight was not enough to keep Chuck Hall out
of wrestling: and two boys who were partially crippled by
infantile paralysis loom as coming stars in varsity athletics.
Steve Green, a freshman from
Philadelphia, already has made a
niche for himself by winning the
Side horse event in the Eastern
intercollegiate gymnastics cham
pionships. His coach, Gene Wett
stone, thinks he will be a contend
er for the parallel bars and rope
climb titles a year hence.
• Vic Danilov, Farrell, also over-
Come the handicap of a partially
crippled leg well enough to' make
the varsity basketball squad as a
freshman Danilov, who is active
in many campus organizations,
played on the Farrell High School
team that finished second to Low
er Merion in last year's State
championships.
Chuck Hall, blind wrestler from
East Springfield in Erie County,
Pa., gave a good account of him
self during the past season al
though defeated in all but one
Start. He was thrown only twice
in five engagements.
Jacob Walker, a one-armed
youth from Montgomery County,
Pa., last fall persisted until Foot
ball Coach Bob Higgins permitted
him to scrimmage with the varsity
squad. The Nittany coach has
Since commended the boy highly
for his spunk and courage.
EMPHASIS ON DEFENSE
Over a five-year period, Penn
State basketball teams have limi
ted the opposition to an average
Hof 29-points-a-game.
HAS WINNING WAYS
Since John Lawther took com
mand of Penn State basketball in
1936, the Lions have won two out
of every three games played.
Dutch Hermann, former Penn
State basketball coach, still re
mains on the campus as a pro
-IVssor , of Americqn 14stiorm.
H I i . 1 I
All-American Lombana
Heads Home After Nine
Years Of Study, Soccer
Jose Lombana, Penn State all-
America soccer player, is home
ward-bound after nine years of
study and travel. He's a native
of South America.
Lombana, who. won all-Ameri
ca recognition two years in a row,
attended school in France and
Belgium before he entered Penn
State four years ago. A mining
engineer, he has been offered a
position with an oil refining
company in his home country.
Lombana was voted Penn
State's most valuable soccer play
er in 1943, entitling him to pos
session of the Captain Edward, S.
Mandel Trophy offered last year
for the first time.
ing holdover from Bedenk's sum
mer team, and expects to pair off
with Marine 'Trainee Al Richards
for duty at first base. Richards
was a halfback on the football
squad in the fall.
Pvt. Whitey Kurowski, brother
of the famed Whitey Kurowski of
the St. Louis Cardinals, is a likely
choice for, the second base nod,
said Bedenk.
Other possibilities listed last
night by Bedenk as battery start
ers include Seaman 'John Cwik
and Pvt. Pat Pantano as catchers,
and Marine Wee Willie Proctor on
the throwing end of the combina
tion.
Malils Score Victory
Over Penn State Club
Mathis scored an eight-point vic
tory over the Penn State Club in
the IMA Bowling Tournament's
final match of the season played
Weclwnesday evening. Penn Haven
placed third.
The winners chalked .up 52
points and lost four during the
eight-game tournament.
First-half honors went to Doug
las Geier and Walter O'Toole
Aptulsky, while Joseph Paperelli
placed high in the second half. The
following members of Matils were
presented golden bowling. balls:
Capt. Bernard .Strozeski, Joseph
Paperelli, Walter O'Toole Aptul
sky, Michael . RusinkO, Eugene
Davis, and Douglas Geier.
Cass Sisler, ex-Grid Star,
Shifts Allegiance to Navy
Cass Sisler, a nephew of base
ball's famed George Sisler and
Penn State's most effective ball
carrier during the 1943 football
season, has shifted his allegiance
from the Marine Corps to the
Navy.
His decision prompted his trans
fer from the V-12 program at Penn
State to the Navy's pre-Midship
men School .at Asbury Park, N. J.
Sisler, a native of Barberton, 0.,
formerly attended Western Re-.
serve.
DOUGHBOYS LIKE SPORT
Penn State's Leo Houck. thinks
servicemen's 'participation in ring
tourneys insures the. post-war
icrYlgt tbrrig,
THE - % COLLEGIAN. :'°`! l lRir
Harvey Gets Largest
Turnout In Two Years
Nittany Track Coach George
Harvey has been gazing gloomily
through Rec Hall's windows for
the past week in search• of the
spring sun.
Indoor practice has. •begun for
his 42 track team candidates, but
Harvey would like to see his boys
dig into the cinders as soon as pos
sible. It will give him an idea of
what sort of material has answer
ed his call. They're out in num
ber•—the greatest in .the last two
years—awaiting the initial trials
April E..
Veteran Robert Jones was point
ed out by Harvey as a mainstay
this year by dint of performances
last year.• Another familiar form
will he John Dibeler, who placed
second in the 600 when he partici
pated in the IC4A last year. •
Dash and Distance Men
Also returning to the Nittany
line-up will be Richard McCown,
dash man in the 100, 220 and 440.
Two-miler Cecil Deutschle and
Phil Jones will don their Penn
State outfits as veterans.. Jones
was a member of last year's cross
country team and will compete in
the one- and two-mile events.
Marines Edward Buch and Dan
iel Orlich, both formerly of North
western, will handle the shot-put
and discus, according to pre-season
guesses.
James Wood will probably hur
dle for the -Harveymen. Wood
came in second at the state cham
pionships in high school. Paul
Smith, another civilian, will try-to
place as a relay man. Three years
ago Smith was a freshman at State
and was recently released from
the Army. Smith will also make a
bid for the relays.
First meet slated for the Nit
tany trackmen will probably be
the Penn Relays April 19. Pitt,
Cornell, Colgate and the IC4A
comprise the rest of the schedule.
One more meet might be named,
but nothing definite has been an
nounced regarding it.
Abel Gilbert, Leigh
Woehling Place in
Nationals in Yale Pool
Abel Gilbert took fourth places
in the' 220 and 440 while placing
sixth in the 1500-meter swim and
Leigh Woehling gained a sixth
position in the 150-yard backstroke
at the NCAA swimming champion
ships held over the weekend at
Yale.
Gilbert represented Penn State
in the distance swim as he won
hard earned spots in' the distance
events. Woehling lost his first heat
to Alan Ford • who won the event
as well as his specialties of 50 and
100 yards.- -
Gilbert, originally from Ecuador
where his family still lives, came
out for the Nittany tank team late
in the season and was good enough
for. Coach :Bob • Galbraith to send
to the .National competition.
Woehling,. .a backstroker from
Norristown,. lost only to' Midship
man Bob Cowell of the Naval
Academy in dual competition this
season. Cowell, by the way, did his
swimming for the Lions last year
before transferring to Navy.
PREDICTS PRO BOOM
Joe Bedenk, Penn . State, grid
aide and former All-American,
looks for an amazing growth in
professional football after the war.
TEACHING ~THE PROFS
George. liarvey,;4lt.tration ,
coach . -andrfishing. , ..expert; is con
-o.uctini-a speciasclass
igig for Penn•: State -professors,
Two Former Gridiron
Stars Win Recognition
In Theatres Of War
Two former grid stars ar:
numbered among the scores o
Penn State students and alumn
who have earned wartime cita
tions since the outbreak of the
present war. Penn State's total
present representation in the
armed services' is estimated
8,500 men and women.
Of the two ex-gridders only re
cently cited, Lieut. David K. Sloan
is listed as missing. Sloan finish
ed his education at the United
States Naval Academy, where he
also played football, received the
Silver - Star' Medal for "conspic-
uous gallantry and intrepidity as
assistant approach officer of a
United States submarine in ac
tion against the Jap forces in five
Pacific patrols." •
Sloan, who cruised more than
100,000 miles on• Pacific •patrols
in the first 15 months of combat,
served as gunnery and torpedo
officer with a crew which sank
19 enemy vessels, and was on the
submarine which rescued from
Corregidor the parties of Presi
dent Manuel Quezon, of the Phil
ippines, and Francis B. Sayre, high
United States icommasioner in
the islands. •
The Distinguished Flying Cross
awarded to Col. Harry "Light
horse Harry" Wilson, former Penn
State and West Point grid hero,
was for "extraordinary achieve
ment while participating in aerial
flights on combat operational mis
sions between September 11 and
October 1, 1943." Wilson is com
mander of the 13th Army Air.
Forces medium bomber group op
erating in ,the South Pacific. He
himself has flown 34 . combat
missions.
Lower Merlon Captures Gym PIRA
Lower Merion, a perennial con
tender in basketball but an entry
in gymnastics title competition
for only the second time, won the
hard way in this year's PIAA gym
Championships held in Rec Hall.
Restricited to one individual
title, the Main Liners managed
nevertheless to pile up enough
points with seconds, thirds,
fourths and fifths to become the
first school other than Pottsville
or' Warren to win the mythical
team championship in the nine
DON'T DELAY-
GIVE TODAY!
American Red Cross
Space Conftibuted by Mini
Big Turnout
Helps Thiel
Rebuild Club
Stickman Face Tough
Card With 3 Lettermen
With a bumper crop of 65 aspir
ants out for the 1944 lacrosse
squad, Coach Nick Thiel faces
once again the problem of building
a winning club from untried ath
letes.
In past years, Thiel has pro-;
duced teams that have held their
own against the beSt combinations
in the East. Last season, the Blue
and-White placed Don Gotwals on
the All-American list along with
the experienced players turned out
by Johns HopkinS, Maryland, Navy
and Army—schools which comb
high school ranks for lacrosse
stars.
Mainstays on the Lion stick
team this year are Dale Hamilton,
Pete Johnson and Mike
All- three are returning lettermen
from last year, Johnson, -hindered
by a recurring asthma ailment,
will probably see action in the nets
where he will not be exerted'.
Hamilton and Millikin will prob
ably start the season at two of.the
midfield posts.
Art Lorenz, Don Bretherick and
Bill Batkin have showri up well
in the preliminary scrimmages to
date, according to• the Lion men
tor, and may earn varsity assign
ments.
Thiel hopes to be able to get in
some regular outside workouts if
Ole Sol will' give him the chance
before launching into one of the
toughest schedules he has ever
tackled.
years of this state-wide competi-
The Ardmore squad, unbeaten
in 12 consecutive dual meets and
coached by Art Dtinnm, Temple's
1929 gym captain, deposed Potts
ville in winning its • first title.
Five of the eight previous tourna- .
ments had been won by Potts
ville, with the other three going
to Warren.
•1 •
FRIDAY, MARCH 31; 1944
IM=IMSIIIII