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.
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