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)
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It's The Bright,. Thrifty Student
Gus Bigott Ends
Soccer Eligibility
By ART BENNING
Assistant Sports Editor
Made of cream, sugar, fruits,
nuts and spices. Ask your Breyer
Dealer for Old Fashioned Fruit
Pudding Ice Cream In pints,
quarts or the money-saving Half
Gallon.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
Orsini, Anders Pace
Rip’s Ist Lion Crew
Although Rip Engle’s Nittany Lion gridders wound up the
1950 season with a mark of five wins, three losses and a tie, they
were outscored 155 to 141, a check of the season’s scoring shows. •
team’s leading scorer with six
touchdowns, all scored on rush
ing plays. Sophomore fullback
Paul Anders was runner-up for
scoring honors with four six
pointers.. Anders played in but
three games.
Lions Count 21 TD's
The Lions scored 141 points on
21 touchdowns and 15 extra point
conversions. The opposition ac
counted or its 155 points on 23
touchdowns and 17 extra points.
Quarterback Vince O’Bara was
fifth in the scoring although he
failed to register a single touch
down. O’Bara scored all his 15
points on conversions. He also
passed for three touchdowns. Sec
ond-string quarterback Dick
Koerber passed for two scores,
and wingback Owen Dougherty
was on the throwing end pf an
other.
Army registered the highest
score of the season against the
Lions in its 41-7 victory .while the
largest Penn State one-afternoon
production was run up at the ex
pense of Georgetown, 34-14. The
Lions were blanked once, 19-0, by
Nebraska, and administered one
whitewashing themselves, 27-0
over West Virginia.
The longest scoring play of the
(Continued from page three)
we arrived in Detroit at 5 p.m. In
Detroit I contemplated sending
the boys home. We were in no
condition to run, having spent
two days with little or no sleep,
and having had only two meals.
“We arrived in East Lansing
at 9 p.m. Sunday night, a weary
band. Too late to work out, and
much too tired to do anything
else, we sent the boys to bed.
boys slept until 12 noon Monday,
and without eating went out to
run the race at 1:30.
Icy Course
“The boys were so tired they
iouldn’t warm up right. The race
was run over- a course covered
with snow and ice, and the temp
erature was a mean 25 degrees.
“Bill Ashenfelter, who ran. the
flrst three miles of the race.'in the
second position, was the first Lipi}
to finish, placing eighth. \ Bill
echoed the sentiments of the ; en
tire team, stating, ‘lf they couldn't
beat us today nobody could have
ever batten us under normal con
ditions’.”
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I CLAUDE THORNHILL I
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Halfback Tony Orsini, the workhorse of the backfield, was 'the
i . His Piano and His Orchestra
Friday, Dec. 8
Rec Hall, 8:30-12:30
Formal
Tony Orsini
.season was a 75-yard touchdown
pass from O’Bara to end John
Smidanskv in the Boston College
encounter. The longest touch
down run of the campaign was
credited to halfback Bill Abbot:
Sfafe-lfhaca Fives
(Continued from, page three)
ter: and Angelo Fuciletti and
John Fletcher, both sophomores,
at the forward posts.
Gross will counter against the
soph-dominated Ithaca squad
with a first five composed of Cap
tain Lou Lamie and Frank Moore
at guard. Tiny McMahan at cen
ter, and Hardy Williams and Ted
Panoplos at forward.
‘ Also slated to see 'action -are
Joe Piorkowski, George Lynch,
Tom Shuptar, Chet Makarewicz,
and Stu Phillips.
Order Now ...
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Mil-Ball Corsages
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Let's Go To The
Military
Ball
ill
Music by
Note:
Tickets available
From ROTC Men
O—N—L—Y—!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1950
doughty Conquers
Indyk InlM Fight
Jim Doughty and Charlie In
dyk, a couple of lightning-fast
independents, clashed in one of
the best intramural boxing bouts
of the ' season last ni’ght, with
Doughty, on the basis of his ag
gressiveness, coming out on top.
The first two matches of the
evening were TKO victories.
Bob Wilson, of Alpha Tau Omega,
stopped Dave Conover, of. Delta
Theta Sigma, in the first round,
and Bill Celani,. of Alpha Phi
Delta, rocked Walt Saxe, of Pi
Kappa Alpha, in one minute and
five seconds of the second round.
Dick Dum, of Alpha. Gamma
Rho, topped Con Kresge, of Al
pha Zeta, in their 165-pound bout,
and Tony Lawless, of Sigma
Alpha Epsilon, led all. the way
in defeating Jack Graham, of
Kappa Delta .Rho, in a 145-pound
go. .
who faced 52 yards against Syra
cuse.
Other scorers were John Smid
ansky, .18; Ted Shattuck, 18;
Owen Dougherty, 6; Bob Pollard,
6; Bill Abbot, 6; Art Betts, 6;
Andy Silock, 6; and Bill Leonard,
6.
Corduroy *
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112 S. Frazier Street
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Phone 7812 State College