:: ! 4t isiArtn 26J 1953 The Lion'szEye By SAKE HIGHTON Collegian Sp"arts Editoz!, For the first time since 1950, Penn State is honored as host for 'a National Collegiate championship tourney. Prior. to this Friday and Saturday's NCAA wrestling - t'he last occasion was the NCAA boxing tourney in 1950 which was dedicated In Memoriam to Leo Houck. Fortunately wrestling„ Coach Charlie Speidel is still living and isn't eligible for dedication, so let's recall some memories 4 of the Old Boxing Maestro: 'LIVES OF GREAT MEN ALL REMIND US; Chuck Drazenovich, a former Penn State NCAA boxing cham pion and an extremely rugged football blockirig back, wasn't the type you would expect to shed any tears of sentimentality. But on "Lee Houck Night,' Jan. 14, 1950, Draz was on the verge , of flooding " the ltec Hall boxing ring. , It was just prior to the Minnesota-State fistic clash. Draz was ! asking nearly 6000 heart-panged students to contribute to a "Friends of. Leo Houck" drive. Leo, who had started the ring sport at Penn State 28 years before, lay critically ill at his home. Townspeople, 'faculty, and Leo's friends throughout the country had already con tributed $2OOO. But 20 billion wouldn'tihave helped Leo on that first night he was ever absent from the ringside of a Nittany bout. One Week later he died. • It Would be stretching the truth for dramatic effect to say 'that the entire sports world was shocked. However, for a "mere" collegiate coach in the relative insignificance of a Nittany Moun i- 'fain retreat in a still more obscUre sport, Houck had an unbeliev able amount of renown. His friends were legion and a few "names" like Jack Dempsey and Tony Zale were personal pals. Even taking into consideration the tendency to glorify a popular Public hero who dies, his enconiums were glowing. 'WE CAN MAKE OUR LIVES SUBLIME' Associated Press sports columnist Hugh Fullerton penned this T eulogy out of New York City two days post-mortem: Leo Houck died the other day—knocked out for the first time in his career. It was his proud boast that in more than 200 professional fights he had been knocked off his feet only three times and never was put down for the count of ten . . . It was a sad oversight that the boxing writers never honored him with an award for his long and meri torious service to the sport ; .. He produced five national champions and 46 Eastern champions, among them two outstanding professionals, Billy Soose and Steve Hamas. 'AND, DEPARTING, LEAVE BEHIND US, Among his ex-pupils who speaks with endearment is Glenn t Hawthorne, NCAA champ in 1947 and one of the finest boxers State 'has ever had. Hawthorne enjoys telling of the only two occasions he can remember that "The Doctor" got angry. Once was in an NCAA tourney semi-final. Glenn, who generally followed Houck's t incessant demand to "jab, move,. jab," felt ,in a slugging mood. In the first round he caught his opponent along the ropes and dropping frcirn, a toe to a -heel stance, began to flail away. After the bell he came back to the corner with a Pepsodent grin. It soon vanished t. as Leo reamed him out unmercifully. 'Sheepishly Glenn went back to work with 'Houck's style of stiff left jab—no flick—and waited for his right-hand opening, which Leo said would develop and ! usually did. • As to losses, they never perturbed Houck. As he said, "Fred" —friendly and personable but short on memory like "Doc" Speidel, Houck called everyone Fred—" Fred, some you win and some you -lose. The ones, you lose forget—except the lessons they teach you." 'FOOTPRINTS IN THE SANDS OF TIME' With this philosophy no "raw decision" could get up his Dritch. But wait, he was human' and one decision did rile him. Hawthorne was boxing in Syracuse's own domain, where it's darn tough to beat the press, the officials, and the crowd of that boxing-crazed community. With the fight even after two rounds, Hawthorne opened up. He made beefburger of his foe's nose with repdated left jabs. Then he fired a steaming left hook and smashing right uppercut which _crumpled the Syracuser. Suddenly feeling ashamed, Glenn moved . .in to stop his foe's fall. At the same time the ref grabbed the Orange boxer and dragged his heels across the canvas to a corner just as the bell rang. When the announcer audaciously bawled, "the winnah, Syra cuse," Hawthorne and Houck's corner-second, prbsent coach Eddie Sulkowski, threatened to tear, the place down. But Houck, mar velously containing himself, grabbed both enraged Nittanies by the rear and saved much embarrassment. Afterwards in the dressing room Hawfhorne overheard Houck berating the ref. In a burst of unaccustomed anger, Houck wound 'up his tirade with a "mouth filling oath." If was the first time Hawthorne had ever heard the "saint" unsaintly. WRA Results VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS_. Phi Sigma Sigma beat Chi Omega Alpha Kappa Alpha beat Women's Building Kappa Kappa Gamma beat. Mac Hall Zeta Tau Alpha beat the Tri- Delis BOWLING Leonides beat Phi Mu Alpha "Chi Omega beat 'Kappa , Kappa Gamma . The Tri-Delts beat Alpha Epsilon Phi N E , W' ...,;,-...,,. . , . . . .. College .- Dinet - 1i,.,' . .... . . . ~...:. . Food Good - ... Always Open Between TheMovie!s., , '''"" 4 ' ' '. • ~ Sports Thru TIIE DAILY C.OLT:Fq I A); STATE COLILEPE, PENNSYLVANIA Lion,s Put Emphasis an Pitchin • . . . Bedeck to Count on Returnin Aces (This is the first of a series on Penn State's position by position, to see who will represent State When Coach Joe Bedenk's ball players put they belonged to the third best college baseball plus two district playoff wins and two victories at One of the big factors in the Lion diamond success in 1952 was its fine pitching staff. Bedenk boasted three exceptionally fine starters in Bill Everson, Jack Krumrine, and Keith Vesling. To Be Mainstays Early this February, when Be denk and trainer Chuck Medler went to work with pitchers and catchers under the Beaver 'Field stands, two of the Lions "big three"—Krumrine and Vesling— were back at work According to the Nittany skip per, the two powerful right hand ers will be the, mainstays on this year's diamond contingent. With regular infielders Bill Mihalich, and Carmen Triosi, and outfield ers Bill Hopper and Chris Tonery, gone, pitching will tell a bigger story than - ever. Vesling Won In NCAAs Vesling, a strong armed fast bailer, is figured to have another good season. Last year the big righthander finished the season, including the District Two play offs, with a 6-2 record and a 2.22 ERA. He worked 65 innings and struck out 52 batters. In the national championships at Omaha, he won the opening game, spinning an eight-hitter against powerful Texas. Then against Missouri, he struck out 11, but lost a tight 3-2 game. Krumrine in Relief Krumrine, the cutie on the Lion staff, picked up four wins over the season, including the playoff tourney, , and dropped only one decision. Throwing mostly a sharp-breaking curve and a tricky slow ball, the big righthander fin ished the season with a 2.40 ERA in 33% innings. However, some of Krumrine's best mound work came in relief stints. Bedenk found him not only a top-notch starter, but his ace fireman as well. In the final dis trict playoff contest against Vil lanova, he came on the hill for Everson in the fourth and pitched three hit ball the rest of the way. Lost to Holy Cross Besides Vesling and Krumrine, Bedenk will have two more hold over moundsmen on his pitching corps. Righthanders John Moore and Jerry Troy, both of whom saw limited action last year, are back and are expected to get some work this season. Moore worked in only three, games, last season, all in re lief. He •got a starting assignment against Holy Cross in the NCAAs, losing that one 15-4 behind some shoddy fielding. Troy saw action only once last year, a three inning relief stint, and had no record. Righthanders Larry Bayer, Gar land Gingrich, John Wolfinger, Dick Christianson, and lefty Sam Curtis all have 'shown promise in pre-season workouts, and will probably be included on the staff when the regular season gets un der way April 10. By DICK McDOWELL baseball team. It will attempt to examine the squad, on the diamond this spring. Today, the pitchers.) away their spikes after their final game last spring, team in the nation, sporting a 13-4 seasonal record, the NCAA "Little World Series" in Omaha, Neb. What Do I Do Now? Photo by Hoopes MICKEY WEBB, Chi Phi, strains for a takedown in his 121 pound match with Sigma Nu's Chuck Frey in last night's intramural wrestling semi-final matches. Webb finally got his takedown and went on to win the bout, 5-3. The semi-finals began last night and will continue tonight. The finals are slated for Monday night. Sigma Nu Leads (Continued from page six) the nod over Ed Weiser for the same reason as the other decision. The agile Hall spent 3:35 riding his opponent to a win in the 165 pound loop. At 135 pounds: Theta Chi's Bill Wendel forged a 3-1 win over Delta Tau Sigma's Dave Moor head; Whitey Messerman, Delta Chi, bowed to Bob Brubaker, Del ta Upsilon,' in a close 4-3 decision. Mclntyre Wins • Norm Naylor, the 145 pound representative for Phi Kappa Tau, won over Don Fields, Phi Sigma Kappa, to the extent of a 9-0 de MEN OF '54 TRAINING FOR INDUSTRIAL CAREERS, Opportunities for summer employment in or near your home town National Carbon Company, manufacturer of dry cells and flashlights, carbon and graphite electrodes and anodes, im pervious graphite, brushes for motors and generators, arc carbons and a wide variety of other industrial carbon products offers summer employment to '54 B.S. and M.S. graduates: CHEMISTS • PHYSICISTS • ENGINEERS Ceramic • Chemical • Civil • Electrical Industrial • Mechanical • and '54 graduates in Business Admintstration leading to interesting, rewarding careers following graduation in research, process and product development, quality control, production and methods engineering, sales and sales engi neering. Acceptance of summer employment does not imply any obli gation on the part of either the Company or the individual with respect to permanent position following graduation but does provide excellent opportunity for mutual exploration of advantages of a career with a well established company. Call in person or write to THE SUPERINTENDENT NATIONAL CARBON COIVIPANY A Division of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation AT ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS: CLEVELAND, OHIO Cleveland Works Edgewater Works Madison Ave. at West 117th St. NIAGARA FALLS. NEW YORK Elizabeth St. at Buffalo Ave. CHARLOTTE, N.O Chemway Rd. GREENVILLE, N.C. East 14th & Cotanche Sts ASHEBORO, N.O Highway 49 FREMONT. OHIO 1501 West State Street BENNINGTON, VERMONT CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA 401 Gage Street Philippi, Pike * WHY NOT DROP IN DURING YOUR SPRING VACATION - AND GET ACQUAINTED Products: "Eveready" Flashlights, "Eveready" Dry Batteries, "Prestone" Anti-freeze. "Trek" Anti-freeze, "Acheson" and "National". Furnace Elec trodes, "Karbate" Impervious Graphite, "National s ' Carbon Brushes, "National" Projector Carbons and a wide variety of "National" Industrial Carbon and Graphite Products - for all Industry. cision, never quite being able to pin the squirming Fields. Acacia had Lefty Mclntrye take a 155 pound decision over Phi Kappa Psi's Dick Rostmeyer, 3-2. A 1:23 fall in the 135 pound class over George Resh of Lambda Chi Alpha was the boast of Don Holler, Alpha Chi Sigma. There was time for only one takedown by the victor before the bell tolled. Only forfeit win of the night went to Jim McGraw of Phi Sig ma Kappa who was supposed to have met Joe Walk, Pi Kappa Alpha. COLUMBIA, TENN Santa Fe, Pike FOSTOftIA. OHIO E. Tiffin & Town Streets ST. ALBANS, VERMONT Swanton Rd. RED OAK. lOWA 1205 West First St PAGE SEITM
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers