THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1949 Mims The 0„, ,- .4, ,:_:.1 7 .„,._ ........„_ . v7A UM laiL^:.. By Tom Morgan SPORTS ILDMIR About the Hig Bob Higgins, who has given up the toga as head Penn State foot ball coach, knows from experi ence that it's always darkest be fore the dawn. Applied to his Lion coaching tenure, the darkness spanned 1930 through '37. The dawn of better Higgins teams took place about '37. Even during the lean years, however, the Hig gained a repu tation among opposing coaches as a "fella* who could knock you off when you least expected it." Proof of this can be gleaned from scanning Penn State football rec ords, which show the Higgins-- tutored teams have wun gaines they had no business winning. But by the same token, these teams sometimes dropped "set up" decisions. When Higgins first took com mand at Penn State, a "purity wave" was striking Eastern colleges, and the combination of a purity code plus a finan cial depression was too mach for him. Rise of the /fig' Nittany football fortunes be gan spiraling upward in '37 as Higgins elevens became consist ently good. His '39 edition, one of his first better teams, copped five, lost one (to Cornell) and tied two. It was this machine that blanked Pitt, 10-0, marking the first win over the Panthers in 20 years. Pinnacle of Penn State grid iron stock under Higgins was, of course, reached in 1947 when he displayed his ideal team—a big. mobile line and backs that combined unusual speed and powee. This eleven, which played in the Cotton Bowl, represented the cream of the Penn State football crop over the years 1941 through '45 as a deluge of returning service men augmented Lion ranks. That team also whitewashed Pitt—this time 29-0--and the sight of the Penn State coach hoisted to the crowd's shoulders was symbolic of Nittany Lion ascendancy in the realm of foot ball. Case of the Dime But there were also somber days at Pitt. In 1946. after Pitt had upset the Lions, the Hig entered the Schenley Hotel in Pittsburgh to make a phone call to a friend. Out of change, he asked a man for a nickel to complete the call. "Here's a dime," the fellow aas w a red. "Call all your friends:" This is the kind of biting re tort that prompts the retired Nitteny mentor to muse: "You can't win 'ern all with out hack on your side. A team not only must be good but must be lucky if it hopes to go un defeated." This is no cliche invented to meet a new situation. Over the years, Higgins has always main tained that Lady Luck courts the winner. Melkweg! Mfg That the Mg became a gnumilhelleur in '47 gave birth to widely-need phrases like the "grandfatherly Higgins." Thig may have mellowed him, for he immediately acquired the reputation of "the kindly" or "the fatherly" Penn State football coach. But time was when Higgins was looked upon as a tough, hard-bitten football skipper. He was a strict disciplinarian. The Mg has his own explanation for this phenomenon of apparent softening: "Mum you get licked as oxen as I did in those terrible Ws. you get over !bat tough atm Melt" Ilasebail first ti me all"blill o osbie Wal the float sport at . dates back to a =ft valliWk esburgll6. 1815, allbgbaag oak 26- THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA 15 IM Wrestlers Gain Falls In First Round Eliminations Intramural wrestling strongmen settled down to the task of weeding out their weaker opposition and working themselves into the second round of the fraternity tournament on the Rec Hall mats this week. They proved their superiority with a rapid succession of quick falls and lop-sided decisions. Monday night the grapplers registered eight falls; Tuesday, they racked up seven pins. Twenty matches were scheduled each night. George Kurt; Lambda Chi Alpha's 135-pound fraternity wrestling runner-up last season, was back at his old stand again Monday night with the same gus to that swept him to the finals before. Serving notice that he's the man to beat in his division again, Kurtz rocketed to a fast 56-second fall over Ralph Johnson, Theta Kappa Phi. Fastest fall recorded in the neophyte tournament to date came in the 128-pound class Tues day. Harry Papacharalambous, Delta Upsilon's featherweight strong-boy, clamped. a pinning hold on Dave Evans, Theta Chi, and threw him to the canvas in 30 seconds of the first round of their bout. MORE FALLS Other falls were chalked up Monday as Joe Billera, Sigma Nu, downed Ned Foster, Pi Kappa Al pha, in 1:16, and Ted Williams, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, worked the holds on Art Scarazzo, Alpha Phi Delta in 5:15. Both bouts were in the 145-pound division. Jim Case, 155-pounder from Alpha Zeta, put Pete Giesey, Del ta Sigma Phi, to the mat in 3:58; Don Desandro, fighting in the 165-pound class for Alpha Sigma Phi, pinned Dave Schmuckler, Phi Sigma Delta in 2:22; Bill Reynolds, Delta Upsilon, flat tened Tom Frazier, Kappa Delta Rho, in 35 seconds of the second round; Dan Pearson, Delta Upsi lon, forced down Andrew Adel man, Pi Lambda Phi, in 3:40; and Fred Seitz, heavyweight from Continued on pnge four The Nittany Realm Skiing at Penn State By Joe Coppa Skiing has been on the agenda of Penn State's varsity sports since 1940, except for its wartime suspension from 1943 to 1946. It was only through the industry of Max Dercum, coach of ski ing from 1940 to 1942, that the sport was included on the varsity list. He was an important figure in making Penn State skiing-conscious. During his term as coach, Dercum developed the ski area in Boalsburg, which consists of a jump hill, cross-country course and downhill trails. He was also instrumental in forming the Penn's Valley Ski Club Dercum developed two exceptionally fine skiers during his short term as coach: Max Peters, cross-country, and Paul Massey, down hill and slalom. At present, Dercum is one of the owners and operators of the Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and a professor at Colorado College. When skiing was resumed in 1946, Sherman Fogg, present coach, was assigned the duties of assembling a squad from available ma terial. Fogg had previous experience with the sport, having been skiing sponsor at the University of Vermont, and was happy to be given the position. Realizing the great handicaps which faced him, Fogg set him self to the task of molding teams from the inexperienced material on hand. Penn State is in a peculiar situation with regard to skiing. To begin with, the snow season is extremely short. Not only is skiing absent in Pennsylvania high schools, but Penn State has had a policy of not enrolling freshmen or many out-of-state residents. Most candidates interested in skiing have had no previous ex perience in competition. All these factors make a skier's develop ment extremely difficult, and skiing is one sport which requires lots of experience, especially in the competitive field. These handicaps indicate that Penn State probably never will be a power in the sport but should be able to hold its own in average competition. Despite such adverse conditions, Penn State has had a number of good skiers, including George Quimby, a fine all-around per former; Cliff Carts, captain this year, and Bill Graf, in cross-country and jumping; Andre Tobler and Herb Wahl, in downhill and slalom. All had little or no experience when they first decided to try their hand at competitive skiing, but developed under Fogg's tutelage. Gilbert Names Co-Managers John Lachmayer and Norman Cochrane have been appointed co-managers of baseball for the 1949 season, Harold Gilbert, grad uate manager of / athletics, an nounced yesterday. , He also announced that the JV lacrosse contest with Oberlin Col lege, scheduled for Mav 7, at New Beaver Field, has been cancelled at the request cd °bee/ aisibor ihies. By Bob Kotzbauer 6 Lion Cagers Win Letters Six members of the 1948-'49 varsity basketball team were named lettermen yesterday. George Schautz, vice-president of the Athletic Association, an nounced that Marty Costa, Lou Lamie, Carl Nordblom, Terry Ruhlman, Milt Simon and Joe Tocci earned monograms. Senior awards—gold basket balls given to any seniors who have won varsity cage letters while at Penn State—go to Simon, Ruhlman, Nordblom, John Kulp '47-'4B), Will Parkhill ('47-'4B), Al Russell ('46-'47) and Syl Boz inski ('44-'45). Stuart Dunlap was named head basketball manager for 1949-'5O, Werner Goldschmidt„ Fred Phillips and Jacob Schwalb were chosen first assistant managers. Associates to Dunlap will be John Jones and David Karp. Named alternate first assistants were Don Atwood, Bernie Bern stein and Ken Wagner. Manager selections were made and lettermen named by the five man executive committee on bas ketball. Members are Elmer Gross, basketball coach; Harold Gilbert, graduate manager of ath letics; Milt Simon, basketball captain; Carl Goldenberg, retir ing head manager, and Schautz. Schautz subbed for Joe Colone, AA president, who is now student teaching. PETERS, MASSEY NO EXPERIENCE AWARDS COMMITTEE The Hig's 19-Year Log Following Is Coach Bob Higgins' 19-year football record at Pena Stale: Wins 3 2 2 3 4 4 3 5 3 5 6 7 6 5 6 5 6 9 7 91 57 8 2750 1543 • Does not include 13-13 Cotton Bowl tie. Simon Tops Hoop Scorers With 179-Point Total Milt Simon, Penn State's pint-sized 5-foot 9-inch packet of concentrated T.N.T., paced Nittany sharpshooters on the basketball court this year with 179 points. The colorful Lion captain capped four years of outstanding play for the Lions by garnering 69 field goals and 41 foul conversions to reach his collegiate pinnacle. Runner-up to the Erie performer was lanky Marty Costa who completed a successful season with 129 counters. The easy-go ing 6-foot 6-inch southpaw ac counted for 45 doublets (second only to Simon) and 39 free throws. TOCCI THIRD Joe Toed, junior sensation who gives promise of blossoming into one of the finest play-setters in State cage history, wound up in the third spot with 106 points. Rounding out the top five indi vidual scorers are Lou Lamie with 96 tallies and Carl Nordblom with 88 points. Most of Lamle's counters came in time to aid the Lawthermen in their amazing stretch drive which, after a rocky inception, earned the label "Handle with care." FOUL ACE Nordblom was ex-Coach John Lawther's ace-in-the-hole on the foul line by converting 50 out of 72 charity heaves for a highly commendable .695 average. Si mon was tops by a wide margin in the field goal department with 69. Simon, who set a new Penn State Rec Hall scoring mark with 24 points against Temple, follows State's Jack Biery as Lion scoring king. Biery totaled 260 points on 95 field goals and 70 free throws last year. RARE OPPORTUNITY I STUDY . . . TRAVEL in SPAIN Castilian Group - Andalusian Group - Basque-Catalan Group 65 Days . . . $975.00 Departures Juno 29 to July 2 Sponsored by: University of Madrid For Descriptive Folder Write: Spanish Student Tours 500 Fifth Ave., N.Y. 18, N.Y. 4 .b., Niii.„ owl. - Losses Ties 4 2 8 0 5 0 3 1 4 0 4 0 5 0 3 0 4 1 1 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 2 0 0 0• 1 1 National Fame John M. "Monty" Ward, a pro moter of the first Penn State base.. ball team, was the first Nittany man to become nationally known as an athlete. At Your Warner Theater NOW! ea/haunt Van Heflin Robert Ryan "ACT OF VIOLENCE" State Jeanette MacDonald Lloyd Nolan "THE SUN COMES UP" In Technicolor Milan, Cornel Wild. Ida Lupino "ROADHOUSE" PAGE THREE Points Against 111 166 115 66 58 70 86 114 87 77 46 78 70 53 141 89 34 27 55 Points For 142 69 82 117 115 76 109 133 138 114 135 200 91 124 207 173 187 319 219
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers