■VpHDNESIBAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1952
Sophs to Dominate Harriers
Sports Thru
The Lion’s Eye
By JAKE HIGHTON
Collegian Sports Editor
In tennis and track star producing, as well as in fruit growing,
one must agree with the California Chamber of Commerce that
California’s semi-tropic clime turns ’em out bigger and better every
year. As a matter of fact, California’s monopoly in track champion
ships has gotten to the same point of monotony as the New York
Yankees copping successive American League pennants.
But imagine the jolt to loyal California braggadocios when the
USA Olympic tryouts were completed in Long Beach last June
and showed the following result:
If a collegiate representative team champion had been scored
on a 10-8-6-4-2-1 basis for first to sixth places, Penn State would
have tripped mighty Southern California, 44-42. To add insult to
injury, only three former Nittany runners scored all of State’s win
ning points while nine Trojan grads and undergrad trackmen finish
ing in the top six of the 18 events failed to match the Lion total.
Nittany distance _ running power produced during the last five
yeai's provided the winning wallop as Curt Stone romped to a double
win in the 5000 and 10,000 meters
and Horace Ashenfelter ran off
with the 3000 meter steeplechase.
These wins gave State the honor
of being the lone school to win
three events—all three in the
scintilating rhythm of new Ameri
can track records.
State’s steamrollering of the
.Olympic tryouts must have been
a pleasure to Lion assistant Olym
pic Coach Chick Werner. First
Stoney romped off with his daz
zling double recordbreakers, prob
ably not seen since Rev. Gil Dodds
was spreadeagling distance fields
—or seen again until the phe
nomenal Czech Emil Zatopek
went Curt considerably better by winning Olympic World’s champ
ships in the 5000, 10,000 and the marathon.
Then Horace ('49) and Bill ('52) completed the Penn Slate "vic
tory'' by both smashing the American standard in the 3000 meter
steeplechase with a rousing Blue & White 1-2 finish. Thus they
became the first USA Olympic combination since 1920.
But Horace’s winning negotiation of the almost two mile hedge
and water barrier obstacle course hardly was warning of what was
to come. Ash’s 9:06.4 US record looked sickly in comparison to
Russian Kazantsev’s reported 8:48.
Come July, Helsinki, the Olympics and the world’s finest ath
letes. Stoney could hardly match the furious pace of the Europeans,
who start to sprint when • Americans tire in the late stages of
distance races, and finished out of the money in both of his events.
Bill Ash too, wilted under foreign distance power.
So it was then that a somewhat spindly 5-10, 145 pounder
lived up to the name he had earned for his intrepid deeds on Nit
lany cinder and golf course—" Fearless Fosdick."
Wrecking the Olympic record in his heat, Fearless became the
target of world spotlights when in one of the most extraordinary
and drama packed events of a stirring Olympics he whipped the
Russian Superman by 39 yards and caused Pravada to change an
intended screamer headline to a mere buried note. With a brilliant
race and a walloping finishing kick, Fosdick again bettered the
Olympic record to continue the Olympic pattern which saw records
broken as fast as Ten Commandments.
He also did all of the follow- I
ing: |
1, established himself as one
of State's all-time great track
men in a class with mercurial
Barney Ewell.
2, became the first American
to win an Olympic champion
ship at a distance beyond 800
meters since 1908 when Mel
Sheppard nabbed the coveted
1500 meters and Jonny Johnny
Hayes the marathon for Uncle
F —(A distance victory had
-*en rarer than
USA javelin
icory prior to
is Olympics.)
3, ran the fast
-3000 meter
•eplechase i n
:orded history
ilh a clocking
8:45.4.
is Stai e *s
first individual
champion in Olympic compe
tition.
< ASH'S SECRET—the old story:
tremendous amounts of hard
work and a willingness to learn.
Even up to the final race Horace
was taking tips from Finn and
Czech runners on the proper way
to come out of the water.
, To complete an overwhelming
ly triumphant Nittany track sum
mer, Bill Ash redeemed his Olym
pic loss by running with the post
plympic USA 'team which wiped
out the.world mark for the two
mile relay. Running in a London
meet with Mai Whitfield, John
Baines and Reggie Pearman, Ash
helped knock the record down to
7:29.2.
What does it all prove? Penn
®tate might be called, as- this
department has long thought, the
American home of distance run-
’‘do’astour^
BARBER POES
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THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
Fresh ineligibility Eliminates
Chance of Another 'Smith'
Of all the Nittany Lion athletes competing on varsity
teams last season, it is doubtful whether any had harder
courses to follow than the present ’52 corp of sophomore
cross country runners,
Only freshmen last year, the nine returning sophomores
accomplished the difficult feat of making the varsity hill-
and-dale squad last fall. This
season they’re looking forward to
even greater fortunes. Already
confident that they arg physically
capable of running the five mile
course, the nine second-year jog
gers could be among.the first ten
when it comes time for the final
tallying of points this fall.
Because of the ineligibility of
frosh this year, it is most likely
that another yearling the calibre
of Lamont Smith, John Chilrud,
or Jim Hamill won’t be unveiled
until next season.
Maybe it’s all to the good so
far as the silver-thatched chief
tain is concerned, for no matter
how natural a frosh might be,
the fact that he is confronted with
a five mile jaunt for the first
time in his life makes varsity
running a difficult proposition.
In high school the required dis
tance in cross-country is only
two to three miles as compared
to five in collegiate competition.
The phrase “only two miles
more” might not seem like a great
deal of ground to cover, but it’s
a fact that each succeeding mile
after three gets tougher and
tougher.
Jogging three or four seven
mile over-distance drills during
the week is one of the rugged
undertakings that a harrier must
contend -with' if he wishes to be
in any kind of running form.
' Daily distance-jogging Jis a
gradual process and takes quite
some time before the muscles be
gin to loosen up and acclimate
thgmselves to the distance.
Fortunately for Werner, this
season’s corp of sophomores came
along nicely last fall and was
just coming into its own when
the campaign ended.
Smith, Chilrud, Hamill, Don
Austin, A 1 Terrall, Tom Dembo
ski, Skip Slocum, Dave Leathum,
and Harry Biemiller are among
those sophomores who will be vy
ing for starting berths.
In the 20 year Werner-reign
as head Penn State track coach,
only one other man—Bill Smith,
'37—demonstrated such extraor
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'■*§
dinary talent as a freshman.
Small, but stocky in stature,
Lamont Smith was one of the
highlights in an otherwise dismal
spring track showing with his
consistent winning prowess.
For a small man Smitty is ra
ther unusual in his field, as it’s
customary for harriers to be long
and lanky, enabling them to have
long strides.
With Smitty. however, it’s in
material, for he has proven time
and time again that a' short,
stocky man is just as good as a
big, lanky one.
Returned Hunter Kills
Moose in Backyard
FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Sept. 16
(TP)' —Reece Kellar spent a week
on a moose hunt in a remote
wilderness area near the Cana
dian border.
Without even sighting a moose
track, he returned the 300 miles
to his home south of here. The
next day he looked out his front
room window and saw a moose
entering his yard. He grabbed his
rifle and now has his moose meat
—lOOO pounds of it.
Temple Slated Here
Only stalemate on Rip Engle’s
two-year’ record as Penn State
football coach is the 7-7 tie with
Temple in 1950. The Templars
will face the Nittany Lions here
in a renewal of the series Sat
urday, Sept. 20.
'Man of the Year'
Ken Leoffler, LaSalle’s eminent
ly successful basketball coach, was
the choice of the Penn State Club
of Philadelphia for “Man of the
Year” hohors in 1952.
Grid Inaugural
A Purdue University football
team will play on Penn State’s
Beaver Field for the first time this
fall. The game, first of the year
for the Boilermakers, will be play
ed Sept. 27. The Lions open a week
earlier.
Your Headquarters For The
PENN STATE CLASS RING
You As A Freshman ...
can't buy a class ring as yet,
but you can display the Penn
State seal on any of our
FINE CRESTED JEWELRY
Choose a bracelet lor the
G. BALFOUR CO.
Office in the Athletic Store
Collegiate
Chatter
Syracuse University triple
threater Avatus Stone will at
tempt to keep his punting title
intact this fall. Last season he
led the East in kicking, averaging
better than 40 yards from the
line of scrimmage in 52 boots.
Michigan State’s 1952 grid
team has two brother combina
tions in end Bill and fullback
Vic Postula and center Dick and
guard Harry Tamburo. Penn State
boasted a third Tamburo brother,'
Sammy, who became an All-
American in 1947 under the now
retired grid coach, Bob Higgins.
<■ •» * *
Rutgers University, which
meets Penn State at Beaver Field
Nov. 15, has announced the elec
tion of permanent co-captains for
the 1952 season. This action marks
a change from the 20-year policy
of selecting captains for each
game of the campaign.
The new co-captains, Howard
Anderson and Russ Sandblom,
are both seniors who head a pow
erful Rutgers line. Anderson, a
240-pound tackle, is the heaviest
man on the Scarlet eleven while
Sandblom is a 190-pound end who
specializes in making circus cat
ches.
A handy system for numbering
on football uniforms comes out
of Syracuse University where,
following a recommendation from
the Football Writers’ Association,
the Orange will wear numbers ac
cording to positions on the team.
Ends will wear numbers in the
80’s; tackles; 70’s; guards, 60’s;
centers, 50’s; Teft halfbacks, 40’s;
fullbacks, 30’s; quarterbacks, 20’s;
and right halfbacks’ numbers in
the teens.
And from the second largest
city in Pennsylvania comes word
that the Pitt football squad will
field an experienced array of glad
iators, with the possible exception
of a halfback, when it opens its
season against lowa.
However, Pitt Coach Red Daw
son expresses a lack of defensive
secondary talent and indicates
that he may be forced to use
many of his veterans on both of
fense and defense. About the
brightest spot in the 1952 Pan
ther attack is a junior from
Swissvale, Bobby Epp», who is
making a runaway for the start
ing fulback job so far during pre
season drills.
Biggie Munn has accomplished
an enviable feat in his tenure at
Michigan State having been
blanked only one time in 46 grid
iron tilts.
L. G. BALFOUR CO.
long famous far
Quality College Jewelry
girl back home
PAGE SEVEN