fUESDAY..FEBRUARY 8. 1955 The Scorebook STRATEGY IN RUNNING One of the oldest and most natural of all athletic events is foot racing. When the first race was held is a matter of unrecorded history. The idea for man to battle man in an effort to arrive at a certain goal before his opponent is a time-honored contest. Cavemen may have originated the idea by chasing dindsaurs and their wives Or maybe the whole thing had its origin in a reverse pattern—the wives chasing their husbands. However, since the human male now holds an undeniable superi ority over the womenfolk in the category of foot racing it seems logical to assume that he initiated the competition. Even in the days before the record books man must have had some sort of strategy in running. Surely the cavemen must have had more than one bit of experi ence 'at chasing or being chased by the beasts of the wild. Whether cavewomen come under this cate gory or not is merely a matter of opinion. From these encounters with his adversaries, man learned that he could run faster by the use of certain methods. The ob jective of many of the races was probably much different than what it is now. In the old, old, °lc days of yore man's goal may have not been a finish line. It might have been an abandoned cave—with or with out hot and cold running maids. Perhaps it was a tree. Or a hole in the ground. Or a Brigadoon that appears only once every 100 years. Anything, just so he could get away from the dino saurs or his wife. It's not that the family was not a solidified unit in those days. One thing that may'have been the cause is that there were no tax collectors in those days. Without tax collectors the man of the fam ily had a more or less free con trol over his earnings. The world must have been fine without tax collectors. But then came the preachers, t'h e ministers, the Marryin' Sams. And with these well meaning persons came mar riage. And with marriage came families. And with families came trouble. The wife, seeing that there were no tax collectors, de manded a percentage of the prof its— one-fifth of each dinosaur egg, 10 per cent on all jellyfish, and 20 per cent on amoeba. Man una le to meet these burdensome tax Lions cried out "Taxation wit out representation is tryanny" and fled for the nearest overhang ing cliff, forming a pattern of outmaneuvering his spouse as he ran. To him that was the finish line. If he got there without being caught he could consider that he had won. And you can't hardly find races like that , no more. . But that was many, many eons ago. We still have preach ers, ministers, and Marryin' Same. We also have tax collec tors. Darwin would hardly ap prove of this the9ry of the evo lution of foot racing. But that is six of one kind and a half dozen of the other. The impor tant thing is that man has map ped out his strategy of running since Darwin knows whe n. What is more vital is that this evolution from a sort of one cell affair has multiplied faster than the Australian rabbit and is now a highly scientific art. Ninety-one years ago Charles Lawes of Great Britain cracked the five-minute mile' with a 4:56 Funning. Man had done the seem ingly impossible again! But wait. A year later another Englishman, Richard Webster, lowered Lawes' record by 19.5 seconds. And so it went. After man conquered the five-minute mile he sought to beat By HERM WEISKOPF Assistant Sports Editor the hands of the watch to the four and one-half minute mark. And after thii Was done by Wil liam Chinery of England in 1868, man had visions of running a 4:15 mile. It took only four years to cut the mile critereon from five minutes to four and one-half. It took 45 years to cut the time an other 15 second's. Then came dreams of the four-minute mile. But they were considered to be merely dreams. The greatest runners the world had ever known had a rough time cracking 4:15. With snail like reguarity the time, were lowered. Finland's Peerless Pa avo Nurmi mastered his even pace method of running and cut the time to 4:10.4 in 1923. Jack Lovelock of New Zealand, Glenn Cunningham of the U.S., and Arne Anderson and Gunder Haegg of Sweden chopped prec ious seconds off the ever-lower ing mark, and finally on May 6, 1954 Roger Bannister took over where fellow Englishman Lawes began almost a century before. Bannister ripped off a sizzling 3:59.4 mile. Man had done it again! Later that summer John Landy. of Australia dropped the world record again. Prospects of the 3:45 mile are now con sidered mere dreams but they too may some day be reality. A dream? So was the four minute mile. Man's peculiar nature has led him to seek the best possible. And when men such as Bannister and Landy become obsessed with the idea of running the Miracle Mile to the extent of tremendous personal sacrifice there is little that the dials on the watch can do to halt the assault on the time barrier. This has once again been proven by the fierce competition during the current indoor track campaign between Denmark's Gunnar Neilson and America's Wes Santee. Already they have both taken 'turns at cracking the world's indoor mile mark. Santee set a new record of 4:03.8 on Jan. 29 in the Boston A.A. meet, knocking 1.5 seconds off Gil Dodds' mark. A week later Neil son, applying his personal touch of strategy, held back on the great American miler and then bolted past Santee in the stretch. Again the record books were rewritten, this time with' a 4:03.6 clocking. With the strategy of the greats to rely on, it appears as though man will go deeper into the oceans, higher into the sky, and faster across the land than ever before. Trotting Driver Ban Lifted on Eight NFW Y')RK, Feb. 7 (EP)—The suspension of eight prominent trotting drivers was ended today by George P. Monaghan, Ne w York State harness racing com missioner, but he refused to lift a one year ban against the president of the Standardbred Owners Assn. Edward 0. Dougherty of North Bergen, N.J., head of the Soa, and the drivers were suspended Nov. 10, 1954 for their part in a strike which delayed racing at Yonkers Raceway for 18 minutes on the night of Oct. 30. They sought in vreaped nurses. • THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE LIEW YORK; Feb. 7 (A 3 )—When Yogi Berra sneezes, Charlie Sil ver. says "gesundheit" and he means it. At his present pace Penn State's Jesse Arnelle is a good bet to top 2000 points for four years of col lege basketball. Sub Catcher Catches Cash, Not Games Which is one way of saying that Silvera, the No. 2. catcher of the Ne - .. York Yankees, wishes Berra, the Yanks' ace receiver, the best of health. It's not that Charlie, a 30-year old from San Francisco, isn't am bitious. He'd like to be the Yanks' No. I boy behind the bat if he could. But he knows that Yogi can do it better and that helps Charlie too. Yogi's slugging was one of the big reasons why the Yankees swept five world championships at.. a second to Cleveland in the American League race last sea son. That's all added up to five win ning World Series checks for Sil vera plus the second place money for last year. Spelled out in cash it has meant $33,858 extra for the second string catcher. Silvera signed his seventh con tract with the Yanks yesterday for a salary of around $12,000. Since h. came up to the Yankees from Portland in the Pacific Coast League in the tail end of 1948, he has earned about $70,000 in pay from the Yanks. Add that to his World Series extras and you'll find ou, that Charlie has made about $17,000 a year. Break that down into games and you'll find that the good natured Californian has earned about $560 a game. He's played in a total of 180 big league games, and has an average of .299 on 118 hits in 394 at bats. "Not bad," he commented when the figures were broken down. "Thank you, Yogi Berra. I sure wish him the best. I've certainly had it good with the Yanks." starring IN PERSON max kaminsky few. jazz" Feb. 16 7:30-9:30 p.m. Schwab Auditorium $l.OO per person benefit of Campus Chest Gagers Face W. Va. -- (Continued from page eight) Lions hit the road again for four games. They battle Washington and Jefferson Saturday, and the following weekend travel to New York State for the return games with Colgate and Syracuse. Rut gers follows on Feb. 23, and then the Lions will return home for their final two contests. They meet Pitt at Rec Hall on Feb. 26 and face Penn on March 2 in the season wrap-up. At the moment the Nittanies are probably at their sharpest Navy Grapplers Edge Freshmen In• Mat Opener Penn State's freshman wrestling squad dropped its opening meet of the season Jan. 29 to the first year men of Navy, 16-14, despite frosh standout Henry Barone's 30- second victory. Going into the final match the Lion yearlings led 14-13; how ever, the Middies pulled it from the fire as Navy's Bruce Stremic walked off with a 3-0 decision and the meet. The Midshipmen captured four of the eight match es, including two wins by falls. All was not dark for the Penn State yearlings however, as Ba rone required only 30 seconds to pin his 157-pound opponent with a body press. Also gaining decisions for the State eight were Wilson Reitz in the 130 pound division; Earl Poust at 137; and Les Walters in the 177 class. The frosh grapplers will return to the mats Feb. 14 when they encounter the Lock Haven State Teachers squad at Recreation Hall. Last year's frosh team decision ed the Teachers. ' 'S' Club Will Meet The University "S" Club will meet at 7 p.m. Sunday in 316 Sparks. Pat Kennedy, vice-presi dent, has• requested that all var sity lettermen attend the meeting. PAGE .ELEVEN peak of the season. Arnelie con tinues his heavy scoring, Ram Weidenhammer has been a great all-around performer, as has been Hoffman. Blocker has found the scoring range and Fields contin ues his excellent defensive work and has been a regular contribu tor in the scoring columns. The biggest hope for the Lions right now appears to be their clas sy combination pressing-zone de fense. Its emergance in the final seven contests may make a great deal of difference in their out come. Hustling Dons Are Basketball Orphans SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 7 VP,— The University of San Francisco— now bidding for No. 1 among the nation's college basketball team!. —is an orphan of the sport. The dashing Dons have no gynt of their own for practice. They have no court of their own for games. Coach Phil Wollpert's 15-man squad polishes up its phenomenal defense and deadly accurate shooting in the gym of nearby St. Ignatius High School. At 3 p.m. the Dons have to clear out. The high school boys take over. For "home" games, the squad comes down from its hilltop cam pus - overlooking Sa n Francisco Bay and plays either in Kezar Stadium Fieldhouse or in the cav ernous Cow Palace, site of stock shows and rodeos. Here's Why YOUR PERFECT CHOICE is a Also CAM loo l r247s sno Wedding live 12.50 L 74 7 eadagit 04f • 1. The words "gearardeid registered perfect gem" appear on the Keepsake tog. 2. Famous Keepsake Certifi cate of Guarantee and Registration gives wane" proof of perfection. 3. Exchange privilege is as sured when turned in on a Keepsake of greater value. 4. Good Housekeeping Insti tute guarantees every Keepsake. 5. Keepsake prices are ex actly the same from coast to coast. 6. Keepsake is the only ring twice honored for exquisite design and fashion styling. 7. Keepsake is Nationally Advertised. •"" s e"'" , .., Gamameal Gerd .... A F oax.••• B. P. MOYER—Jeweler 218 E. COLLEGE AVE. STATE COLLEGE, PA.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers