MOO FtBRUARY 22. 19st Bezdek Brought Sports 'Within the IM Program Developed After 1915 ET JOHN LAWRENCE • Operating with .a total of 16 different• sports during a school year, Penn State's in tramural athletic program, , has hung up a record of 14,670 scheduled and supervised con tests over the past eight years. This record is even more re markable when it is consid ered that during those years (1946-54), the program func tioned with a total participa tion of 119,380 students. State's intramural program dates back to 19111 when an interclass council was organized for the pur portsf supervisi pr o mo t eterclass and also toathletic competition. Tugs-of-War Popular However, it wasn't until 1926. that the program' began to take tone. Although there was no for mal organization, intramural ac tion witnessed contests between classes and various student groups. Tugs-of-war and other forms of class scraps were popular. ' In 1929 when athletic interests were moved to Recreation Hall, the famed Hugo Bezdek jumped into the intramural picture and two years later, 1931; under the guidance of Bezdek, Penn State's Intramural program was born. Bezdek contacted campus leaders and through his endeavors a vol turiinous program was organized with both outdoor and indoor con tests. A strong point of the continual,' success of the program was the arrival in rap of Eugene Bis choff. The intramural program owes much of its success and posi tion at Penn State to this man who was instrumental in the finer points of organization. Records Accurate The entire intramural program is under the jurisdiction of the IM office. All names, entries, post ponements and schedules find their way through this office. This accomplishment is unusual in the fact that other colleges make use of a student board of commission. However, as a result of this ex cellent supervision, accurate rec ords have been preserved which relate a tale of athletic achieve ment, comedy and human interest to the interested bystander.. , One of the most popular fall sports, intramural football gained its hold on the Nittany Lion cam pus in 1934 when regulation rules were employed—even to the is , - suing of equipment, However, the number of participants and teams 1855-1955, 100 Years of Service Education HOWARD T. SMITH BARBER SHOP 210 S. Allen, across from the post office (Next to Hartman Electric) THE TUG-OF-WAR was a favorite put-time of hearty men drag their opponi during the University's early development, and stream of water while several class scraps like these might be considered the tators look on, first intramural athletic events. Here, a group were limited and the factor of con ditioning became a serious ques tion—on this basis the game was changed to an eleven man, • two handed touch version. A few years later, the game was revised to its present condition to allow more students to participate and also to highlight an emphasis of safety. "Based on the number of teams ordered and student activity, in tramural football constitutes a very successful part of the fall program," Bischoff said. During the war, intramural ac tion was curtailed due to the pre sence of service groups; however, since 1946 student activity has grown immensely, With the only drawback being the lack of intra mural exptinsion'with student en rollment. Three major changes since 1946 nvolved the dropping of cross Greyhound Post House Di DAILY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA country from the intramural cal endar and also softball because of a lack of playing . space. The golf putting tournament was changed to a golf medal tourna ment in 1950. In 1946, Clarence Dutch Sykes joined the intramural progrEim and through his hard work and planning, the success of the pro gram has benefitted greatly. • "Virtually every outstanding Penn State athlete was a partici pant in IM sports; other than their varsity sport," Sykes pointed .out. This list is endless and also equally impressive; however, the Ifollowing are just a few of the personalities: Barney Ewell, Joe Colone who holds the IM 100 yard dash record of • 9-9; Elwood Pet chel, Pranny Rogel, Tony Rados, Jan Cronstedt, Jack Sherry, Hom er Barr and many others who have (Continued on page 36) IN 100 YEARS, Penn State has pro gressed a great deal. We at the Greyhound Post House are proud to have helped trans port and feed the many students and faculty members in our fifteen years State College. sity with our complete facilities through out the next hundred years. We sincerely , hope to serve-the Univer- through .a undrad spec- Congratulations and our Best Wishes TO THE UNIVERSITY ON ITS CENTENNIAL PORTER BROTHERS 128 South Frazier PAGE 'THIRTY-FIVE Telegram Brought Sad News of Loss to Yale Lacking modern newspaper ser vices, students who followed the destinies of their young *ootball team in 1889 had to rely on word of-mouth reports or brief notices of scores posted on the board of the downtown post office. However, when the Lions met Yale, manager Rolland "Killer" Diller, rushed a telegram to the home forces. However, the student fans were severely disappointed by Diller's report. It read: "Yale 42, Penn State 0. The team played well." Students Ran Athletics Durings the first 20 years of its participation in athletics, Penn State met 38 colleges and won over two-thirds of 300 intercollegiate contests played. However, until 1907 the College's athletic pro gram was directed by student managers and committees. The present system was established in 1908 and can be considered the beginning of the present era of athletics.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers