PAGE SIX . -- ,''''ecord Entry Seen For Mat Tourney When Penn State's grapplers travel Thursday to Norman, Okla., they will defend their NCAA title against a record number of 173 wrestlers from 50 colleges -and universitie§. The record entry will compete for national team and individual honors at the University of Oklahoma Fieldhouse, Friday and Saturday. This total will exceed the old all-time jnark set at Rec Hall last year by only five. However, before the preliminaries begin Briday, it is expected that the total number of applicants will drop below the Penn State record. Last year, 52 schools entered 168 wrestlers. 17 IM Pins Mark 25th Anniversary The silver dedication anniver sary of Rec Hall passed quietly last night as if forgotten by the student body and the multitude of athletes that practice there each day. Had it not been for the night's 24 action-packed wrestling bouts, the lights would have been dimmed, and Rec Hall's 25th an niversary would have passed in darkness. The wrestlers, nevertheless, con tinued the fast pace set as in the four previous nights of competi tion. A record number-17 pins— were recorded. Sigma Pi enjoyed its finest per formance of the young- tourna ment when it collected 13 points. Ed Holt, 121-pounder, and Payson Burt, 175-pounder, both of Sigma Pi, pinned Bill Leibig, Alpha Chi Rho, and Doug Zucker, Phi Sigma Delta, while Bill Caryl, Sigma Pi 165-pounder, won a 8-6 decision over Paul Brobst, Triangle. Park er Deist, Delta . Sigma Phi, pinned Al Brooks, Sigma Pi, with a half nelson and crotch in a 135-pound match. Lambda Chi's Score 10 Lambda Chi Alpha picked up 10 points as Tom Hand, 165-pound er, upset Dick Jones, Sigma Nu, in 3:15, and Glenn Gross, heavy weight, pinned Bob Susine, Phi Kappa, with a body press. Bob Abbott, Sigma Nu, record ed the fastest pin of the night when he up-ended Don Hoffman, Beta Sigma Rho, in 35 seconds. Abbott used a double grape-vine and body press over his 135-pound opponent. Whitey Messerman, Delta Chi, needed 40 seconds to pin Dick Mohler, Sigma Chi 145-pounder, with a half-nelson and body press. Roger Rue, Delta Chi, found the way more difficult as he lost a 6-0 decision to Armour Black, CM Phi. A third Delta Chi, heavy weight George Weaver, pinned Sam Kahn, Sigma Alpha Mu, with a double-arm lock in 2:23. Heavyweight Chuck Yarbrough, Phi Kappa Sig ma, overturned Harry Thomas, Delta Sigma Phi, in 1:42 with a double-arm bar, and Dick Schutte, Theta Xi, pinned Bob Bishop, Alpha Chi Sigma, with a body press in 2:25. Third Period Pin Although bothered by a bad leg, 145-pounder Harry Berger, Alpha Gamma Rho, secured a double arm bar on Ronald Lentz, Delta Sigma Phi, and pinned his oppo nent with 48 seconds gone in the third period. Chuck Leech, Theta Chi, had a tough time with Bob Brown, Pi Kappa Sigma, before pinning him in 5:11. Leech, who rode his 145-pound opponent throughout the second, won with a half-nelson and body press. Winfred Doederlein, Kappa Sig ma, pinned 175-pounder Tom Schott, Phi Gamma Delta, with a body press in 5:03. Ramsey Frank, Alpha Gamma Rho, took down 121-pounder Manny Tubella, Kap pa Delta Rho, early in the first period and caught Tubella in a head-lock. The time was 1:03. Other fraternity winners last night were Dave Barney, Sigma Nu, by pin; Dave Lesser, Phi Epsi lon Pi, by pin; Bruce Austin, Aca cia, by decision; Dick Heim, Pi Kappa Phi, by fall; Jay Levan, Phi Sigma Kappa, by decision; and Alan Dash, Beta Sigma Rho, by decision. Independent winners were Hess, and Jerry Kleisath, both by deci sions. By SAM PROCOPIO Competition, which will be at its best, will find team champions representing seven of the coun try's nine major conferences. Not in the fold are Toledo, Mid-Amer ican charhps, and West Virginia, southern champs. Conference ce a m champions which will be entered are Okla homa of the Big Seven, Purdue of the Big Ten, Pittsburgh of the Eastern. Intercollegiate- ASsocia tion, Washington State of the Pa cific Coast, Colorado State of the Rocky Mountain, Colorado A&M of the Skyline, and Alabama Poly of the Southeastern. Igo Tournaments Teams like Maryland of the At lantic conference and Oklahoma A&M of the Missouri Valley con ference will be represented in the 24th renewal of the National Col legiate Athletic ASsociation tourn ament, since neither conference held a tournament. Spearheading the field for 1954 individual honors will be four "mighty-mites" who will put a victory string of 118 matches with out a defeat on the line. Two of the small frys are defending cham pionS---Hugh Peery, Pittsburgh's 115-pounder, and Norvard Nalan, 130-pounder of Michigan. The other two pint-sized wrest lers who Will attempt to keep their win skein intact are Andy Kaul, another Michigan threat, and Tommy Evans of Oklahoma's host team. Peery Wins 44 Straight Peery, son of Pitt Coach Rex Peery, one-time Oklahoma Aggie great, brings the most impreSsive record into the tournament. He has won 44 straight matches and is the overwhelming favorite to continue as master of the nation's 115-pounders. Norvard Nalan battled to a hard-fought 7-5 victory over Penn State's Dick Lemyre in last year's tourney to win his' title. Lemyre was losing 4-0 in the first period. Just before the period ended, he cut the score in half with a re versal. Lemyre had the scrappy Wolverine grappler at a near fall position, but Nalan nicely slid off the mat. Most Interesting Match If there is a match which will be the most interesting to see, it will be Lemyre Tersus Nalan, should both reach the finals as is expected. • Evans will try to repeat his 1952 championship performaiice follow ing a year's layoff because of in juries. Unbeaten Kaul won the Big Ten 137-pound title for the Wolver ines. Senator Martin Praises Cagers WASHINGTON, March 23 (21")—Sen. Martin (R-Pa) took . the Senate floor today to con gratulate LaSalle College of Philadelphia and Penn State University for their accomp lishments in the recent NCAA basketball tournament. Martin directed some gentle ribbing at his Midwestern and Western colleagues, observing that Penn State "defeated the best in the west" and came out third only because it was de feated by another Pennsylvan ia team, LaSalle. "Neither team k Penn State or LaSalle, was defeated by a Western or Midwestern team." Martin observed proudly. "I cannot help but mention." said Martin, "that the tw o coaches, Ken Loeffler of La- Salle and Elmer Gross of Penn State, both are graduates of Penn State and both are Penn sylvanians. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLEGE PENNS-YIVANA Gym Team To Defend NCAA Title Gene Wettstone's Co-ordination Inc. gymnasts are steadfastly going through their routines at Rea Hall, preparing to defend their title in the corning NCAA tourney. at Champaign, 111., April 2-3. The Nittanies, fresh from roll ing to their second consecutive undefeated campaign, will be going all out to make it two in-a row in the Nationals. Although the Lions are highly regarded, and stand a good chance to repeat as titleholders, Florida State, Illinois, UCLA, and South ern California loom as strong con tenders to capture the crown. Win Big Ten Title The Illini, who came in second to the Nittanies in last year's tourney at Syracuse, easily won their fifth straight Big Ten cham pionship at Ohio State on March 13. They registered 125 1 / 2 points to go far ahead of second-place Minnesota who managed only 731,4. Illinois appeared to be espeCial ly strong in tumbling, and the side horse, and have potentialities in free exercise and parallel bars. Florida State entered last year's tourney as the team to beat. They owned three consecutive NCAA titles previous to the meet. Lion ace, Jan Cronstedt, will be seeking National honors for the third time, while Bob Lawrence, Co-captains Frank and Al Wick, Tony Procopio, and Karl Sch wenzfeier will be making their second appearance in the annual classic. The meet will consist of com petition in nine events; free ex ercise, trampoline, rope, side horse, horizontal bar, parallel bars, flying rings, tumbling, and the all-around. Still rings , and the long horse will also be used for gymnasts seeking the all-around title. Students Are Asked To Transfer Lockers Students who have baskets in the Rec Hall locker room should move them to the new addition of the building immediately, Nick Thiel, professor of physical educa tion, said yesterday. The baskets should be moved to the same number locker in the south wing and should be locked with the T -, ^cllock which each stu dent now has, Thiel said. Hugh Peery 1/5-Pound Champ "Changing Partners" Sam's Song By SAM PROCOPIO Collegian Sports Editor Last year basketball rules makers decided to keep the widely criticized "one-and-one" free throw regulation for lack of an adequate substitute. Last Monday the National Basketball Committee of the United States and. Canada threw out the "one-and-one" rule and substituted for it a "bonus" rule. The latter is not a bad rule, but it's not a good one either. The new rule will be in effect for the first 37 minutes of all 40-minute games. It provides that on a common foul, or one-shot infraction, the player be given a bonus free throw if he makes his first shot. If he misses his first try, the ball goes in play.l For the last three minutes, however, the old rule will remain unchanged, in that all fouls will be worth two shots. The widely criticized on rule provided an extra free throw if the first try on a common foul was missed. It also was a 37-minute rule. The new rule, with the exception that it was carried out for the full 40 minutes, was experimented last Saturday in the Southern California-Penn State consolation game in the NCAA finals. Some liked it. Some didn't. We think it's an improvement over the one-and-one rule, but it is not an adequate ruling.'We believe that the original foul rule employed before the inception of the one-and-one rule was adequate. In fact, it appears that the rules committee is gradually bringing it back. This "bonus" rule is the nearest thing to it. The original ruling called for a shot at the free throw line if a foul had been committed. If he missed his first try, the ball was in play and he didn't get a second. If a player was fouled in the act of shooting, he obtained two free throws—the second being put in play if missed. .This aforementioned ruling was changed because the coaches felt that it didn't stop intentional fouling. Well, what's going fo . stop them now? Some critics say that the "bonus" rule will stress better shooting at the foul line. Really? Every rule stressed shooting at the . foul line. Why not limit the game to 37 minutes and use the last three minutes to a contest? See who can make the best out of ten foals. That's about what the new bonus rule will do. Then too, colleges and universities which do not have three slots indicating the score had better install them. Since Dr. James A. Naismith tacked up his original 14 rules back in the , 1890's, the restless rules makers have made more than 3000 alternations. And we predict that this "bonus" rule will not stick either. One might say why not get rid of fouls altogether. Well, you can no more take fouls out of basketball than you can take the motor out of an automobile and expect performance. Lion Carers Still Making Headlines The red-hot coals left in the wake of the National Collegiate basketball championships have hardly had time to cool,' but al ready the results of the 1954 tourney are beginning to show—at least as far . as Penn State is concerned. The amazing Lions—just another college quintet less than a month ago, but now one of the Most respected teams in the coun try—are going to be on demand for some of the sports' top invita tional tournaments next year. At least 'that's the repOrt from many of . the nation's large newspapers, which suddenly found room for Penn State on their sports pages when Elmer Gross and his floor men set the college circuit on fire with their astonishing tournament play. The Lions turned a "good" sea son into a great one when they battered their way to the NCAA semi-finals last week while pow erful Louisiana State and Notre Dame fell by the wayside. The experts figure that . t h e amazing Nittanies will be just as good next year—or better. With only Jim Brewer and Ed Haag leaving the Gross' ranks, and big Jesse Arnelle getting better every year, tournament officials are re portedly eyeing the Pennsylvan ians with more than just passing interest. Of course the Lions took a back seat to LaSalle when the big hon ors were passed out at Kansas City last Saturday but they came home with the third place trophy, and even at that it's going to take a long - time for anybody to•forget • what they did in three tourna ment games before the fateful La- Salle contest. Here was a team which had dropped five games during the season and was a surprise pick for the tou-ney the last invited. Gross and his traveling squad WEDNESDAY. MARCH 24. 1954 By DICK McDOWELL slipped into Fort Wayne, Ind. for their opening game with Toledo entirely unnoticed. Then, the Lions. procdeded to lowa . City where Indiana, Notre Dame, and LSU were awaiting their games in the Eastern re gionals. Penn State was just a fourth team in the tourney. No body knew it was there and fewer cared. Two days later Ned Irish prob ably would have given Gross Madison Square Garden‘if he had desired it. The boys from the Pennsylvania hills were the toast of the basketball world.,And they well deserved it. In the short period of two weeks Penn State had found a place on the map—or better yet, it had made room for itself. Everything might be .summed up with a remark that captain Jack Sherry made when he and his happy teammates arrived home from the Eastern regionals after whipping the Irish and LSU on successive nights. "We fought like hell," he said. Freshman Track Freshman track candidates should report .to Chick Werner as soon as possible at Rec Hall. There will be a freshman track sched ule this year. Longest win streak in Penn State basketball history was the 15-game skein during the 1952 campaign. -•---. -- . .. . -;,• „:.„..,...,,,,,.,-,... , , . .......: '..t.•. --.g.:.:-.1,::::---------.'-- ....„. ~...,..,,,.,. ....,*.. ; , 4i ,:;: : :4 .... v , -/- ... ~ .
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers