PAGE POUR 'Off The Cuff" Looking back through the victory-marked soccer record books at Penn State, you come up with some interesting facts. A win streak of 66 games, for instance. There, too, you find a long list of All- Americans. Among others, you spot the name of Gus Bigott, All- American 1933 and 1939. True, it’s rare that you find a soccerman who makes the “All” team both his sophomore and junior year, but there’s more to it than that. .Where is his 1940 record? Wasn’t he named to the greatest team in the nation again? Why wasn’t his name in any of the lineups that That’s where the mystery starts. And you wouldn’t find the an swer in the record books until 1950. There again you see the name of Gus Bigott, and it’s the same Gus who starred on Coach Bill Jeffrey’s soccer squads in the late ’3o’s. That's the story that most of us know. Let's fill in the missing chapters. The Bigott story starts in Caracas, Venezuela in 1916. Gus says that the sports pages modestly list him as a 32 year old, but lie stoutly maintains that-he knows when he was born, and it was in 1912, mak ing him 34 years young. His parents decided that their children should be educated in the United States, so Gus and ,his two brothers came to Harrisburg in 1930, and enrolled at Harrisburg Academy that same year. Finding no soccer team there, they turned to other games to satisfy their sports enthusiasm. Tennis and basketball were the ones Gus favored, and before he was graduated from the school he had captained both teams. After graduating in 1933, the boys decided to return to South America for a visit. The visit lasted four years before they made up their minds to get more education in the Slates. Gus chose Penn State because of its reputation as a good agriculture school. At last the boy who had started playing soccer at the early age of seven, found a place where his talent was appreciated. He says nobody encouraged him to try out for the team. Nobody had to. Gus loves the game. That was 1937, the year Gus first met soccer coach Jeffrey. Gus played freshman soccer that year, and says modestly that he guesses he did all right. But the next year the good-looking South American really hit the limelight. Between Jeff and Gus, a perfect combina tion, Gus Bigott was named All-American in 1938. In 1939 the selections committee just couldn't ignore the names of Bigott, and Gus was named a repeat All-American. Two games stand out in the Venezuelan's memory of that season, but the record book tells that story, 100. Penn Stale 3, Army 0; goals by Bigot!. Penn State 1, Navy 0: goal by Bigott. r Those two years Jeffrey’s teams went undefeated; keeping alive the consecutive win streak which was eventually to end at 66. lyhen the soccer season was over in 1939, Gus longed to get back to his homeland. So in February he left Penn State and returned to Venezuela. This time he went into the real estate business. Romance niight have influenced him in his decision to leave college, because a year later Gus married a hometown girl who had also been to the United States for an education. His wife Lily, is a graduate of Mary wood College in Scranton. In 1945 the first of the Bigoit's two children was born. Little Tito could be seen in the locker room in Recreation Hall almost every afternoon this Fall, while his dad was playing soccer for "Uncle Bill." He's a dark haired, bright eyed youngster who loves sports as much as his father, even though he's only five years old. He had the job of teaching Spanish to the phys ed boys. And how they love it. If he didn't show up on a certain afternoon there was something missing around the locker room.’ The other child is cute little three-year-old Lilibet. Gus has no soccer aspirations for her other than from the grandstands. The Bigotts spent 1949 touring European countries. They both agree there’s nothing like travel, but Gus was glad to get back to ■ (Continued on page eight)