PAGE SIX
Engle Has Problem
At Center of Line
/ By dick McDowell
(This is ihe third in a series of stories which will examine the Penn State football team position
by position—today ihe centers and guards.)
The questionable status of co-captain Don Balthaser’s injured knee and the loss of
veteran guard Sam Green has produced some trouble spots in the center of Rip Engle’s line.
Balthaser, slated to open his second season as the Lions’ regular pivotman, has been
sidelined for the past two weeks. Despite the fact that the injured knee is responding to
treatment, it’s still a question mark as to whether the tough 190-pound center will be ready
for the Illinois opener Saturday.
Despite his lack of size Balthaser has been a spearhead in the line for the Lions. He
moves fast from the crouch position and was a tough man both offensively and defensively
l3St S6BSOII, - •
However, Engle has a ready re
placement standing by in the per
son of junior Frank Reich who
gained a lot of experience in the
pivot slot last season. Reich, a
strapping 6-2, 200 pounds, was a
fine defensive ball player last
year.
The Lions’ left guard position
appears to be pretty well set with
lettermen Earl Shumaker, 5-9, 190
pounds, and Keith Horn, 5-11, 185
pounds, two-platooning port side
duties. Both men, used extensively
there last year, are aptly suited
for Engle’s combination winged-
T, split-T attack. They possess
the desired speed for downfield
blocking but still carry enough
weight to make them rugged
competitors in the line.
The loss of Green on the right
side has left Engle without .an
experienced guard there and the
race is wide open for the posi
tion. Green and Pete Schoderbek
shared the duties there last year.
However, Schoderbek graduated
and Green was dropped from
school- due to scholastic difficul
ties.
Senior Chuck Sowers, 6-0, 200
pounds, saw limited action there
last year and has the edge in ex
perience. Sowers, along with
scrappy sophomore Dick DeLuca,
junior Sam Valentine and Pete
Petroff, have all been working
there in pre-season drill and En
gle hasn’t settled on any one of
them yet. Any of the four could
get the job. DeLuca weighs 200
pounds, Valentine and Petroff 210.
Words of Wisdo
LINE COACH Sevor "Tor" Toretii hands out a few pointers to Penn State gridders during a
Beaver Field practice session. Toretii, like the 'rest of Rip Engle's coaching staff is intent oh polish
es ro u3 ^l edges before the Lions' tough opener against Big-Ten co-favorite Illinois on Satur
daY- The game will mark Penn State's 68th season of intercollegiate competition.
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~ ir« i _ H On Route 322
Good Food at Reasonable Rates B « urtu , u .„
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329 E. Beaver Ave. I • HOMEMADE VEG. SOUP • PLENTY OF PARKING
AD 7-7851 I And-Your Favorite Beverages
Don Balthaser
Injured Lion Center
All-University Golf
Tourney Opens Today
Students interested in enter
ing the qualifying round of the
All-University golf tournament,
may do so anytime between
today and Saturday night, ac
cording to golf coach Bob
Rutherford. There will be an
eighteen hole qualifying round.
Entrants are asked to report to
the golf shop behind Recrea
tion Hall before starting play.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA
7 Freshman
Sports Tilts
Scheduled
Seven „ athletic contests . will
comprise the three freshman fall
sports schedules. The first-year
athletes will be visiting foreign
soil for six of their encounters.
The freshman football team, un
der Earl Bruce, will meet Navy
and Pitt away, and wind up its
season against Bullis Academy at
Beaver Field.
Only one foe is scheduled to
test the freshman soccer squad.
Frostburg Teachers academy will
offer the opposition at Frostburg,
Maryland.
Norm Gordon will send his
frosh cross-country sprinters
against Navy and Cornell in dual
meets. The hill and dalers will
end their season at New York
City in the freshman IC4A’s.
The junior gridders were the
only team to carry a freshman
schedule last year.
Besides adding the aforemen
tioned soccer and cross-country
schedules, the athletic department
enlarged the frosh grid schedule
by one in an effort to boost fresh
man athletic schedules.
A rugged 25-game schedule has
been booked for the 1954-55 Penn
State basketball team.
From
TLSm
mis
Angle...
A college football halfback who is already being classed in the
Grange, Jim Thorpe, and Glenn Davis category; and. another
halfback who could reach the same heights before'- he ends his
college career, face each other across opposite lines this Saturday
when Penn State opens its 1954 season against power-laden Illinois.
Last year the name of J. C. Caroline flashed across the nation's
sports pages when the fabulous sophomore made shambles of the
records once owned by Grange, the legendary Galloping Ghost
who once rampaged on the same Illinois turf. An unnoiieeable as a
freshman, he ran wild for the Big Ten Co-champs last year and
piled up an amazing total of 1670 yards.' 1256 from scrimmage,
and went on a one-game spree that netted him 195 yards.
Penn State’s Lenny Moore, also in his first varsity year, didn’t
look that good on paper—but he was still amazing. Probably' the
fastest, most dazzling back ever to grace a Penn State team, he. ate
up 601 yards for ah average of better than five yards per carry.
He returned.punts at the rate of 17 yards a carry and proved him
self a demon as a defenseman in the Lion secondary. ■
Because he had two extra-fine halfbacks behind Moore—Dick
Jones and Buddy Rowell—Lion coach Rip Engle rested him
often during a game. And more significant, because of a super
passing attack under Tony Rados, the Lions traveled primarily
through the air. As a result Moore didn't get the work that a
halfback of his calibre ordinarily would get. That, of’ course,
doesn't mean that the fleet-legged tailback could have matched
Caroline's amazing record, but it is an indication that 601 yards
is not his absolute limit.
The comparison between the two backs is amazingly similar.
Both weigh 185 pounds and are almost identical in stature. And their
styles are so much alike that they may look like twins, once hidden
beneath pads and helmets.
Both possess one distinct trademark—lightning fast legs, al
though not overmuscular, that provide a fast start and tremen
dous speed and power once in the open. Both have an extra
ordinary sense of balance, which primarily accounts for their
ability to shift and cut back with'such agility.
It isn’t difficult, then to see why Engle and Illini coach Ray
Elliot have pinned their 1954 hopes on these two swifties. Caroline
was their key man last season and Mickey Bates packed the num
ber two wallop up the middle.
Caroline understandably has been named on virtually every
body s pre-season all-American team and was a concensus pick
last year( he was named on seven of ten major teams).
"When these two meet Saturday something is hound to happen.
Both runners are touchdown threats every time they get their hands
on the ball a small opening, a good block and either might be on
his way.
The ironic paradox between . these two players may add a new
:wist to a game that should carry -plenty of excitement on its own.
Lemon is Greenberg's
Choice for MVP Award
CLEVELAND, Sept. 20 (VP)
Bob Lemon is the pennant-win
ning Cleveland Indians’ most val
uable player—in the opinion of
his boss. • . .
The Tribe’s general manager,
Hank Greenberg, today told the
Cleveland chapter of Sigma Del
ta Chi, national journalism fra
ternity:
“The selection of the most val
uable player on any team is a
matter of personal:, opinion. If .1
were making the award, however,
it would go to Bob Lemon,”
Greenberg also predicted the
Indians would win the pennant
again next season, “but won’t win
as many, games.”
Coach Wins Tickets
To His Own Game
RICHMOND, Va., Sept. 20 (VP)
—The Richmond Quarter back
Club today held its weekly draw
ing for two tictkets to the Uni
versity of Richmond’s next home
football game.
Today’s winner: Ed Merrick,
head football coach at the Uni
versity of Richmond.
tiicSOAY. SEPTEMBER 21. 1954
By dick, mcdowell •
Collegian Sports Editor
Moore May Be Lions 7
Answer to Caroline
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