FRIDAY. MARCH 23. 1956 Mat, Gym In NCAA's Penn State’s upset-minded wrestling team Over 100 individual gymnastic entries, rep will try for the second time in the history of resenting 25 different schools, will compete in the the NCAA tournament to break the West'rn domi- National Collegiate Athletic Association tourna nance of the tourney this afternoon when it ment this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow at wrestles in the first round of action. the University of North Carolina. The Nittany Lions who won the national crown of 1953 are the only East-) ern team to ever accomplish this feat in the 26-year history of the 1 tournament. ! In last year’s tournament the Lions ended second to the Okla-! homa Aggies with Pittsburgh in' third place and Oklahoma in' fourth. This year the same four! teams are rated the favorites for the top four spots. I Aggies—'Team to Beal' j Pittsburgh, who won its third' straight EIWA title two weeks' ago, is rated an outside chance to cop the national title, with the Aggies given the 'team to beat’ tag. Oklahoma—who tied the Ag- 1 gies January 12 and then lost to them. 14-11, a month later—is considered the strongest threat to the Aggies title hopes. Michigan and lowa, Big Ten powerhouses, also rate big es teem in the pre-tournev reckon ing The approximately 200 wrest lers who will vie for individual, titles are up against probably the greatest mass of defending cham- 1 pions in the tournament’s history. 1 Oberly to Defend Title * i Seven of the 10 1955 champions will return plus many of the sec ond and third-place finishers. 1 Bill Oberly, last year’s unlimited champ, is the only Lion who will be defending a title. Joe Krufka, runnerup last year at 177 pounds, will be confronted with his ’55 conqueror, “Homicide” Danny Hodge, of Oklahoma. Hodge pin ned Krufka in the finals last year after winning 11 regular season matches. Only a junior, Hodge is rated a strong favorite to repeat as champion. Nodland-Peery May Meet Sid Nodland, Johnny Johnston, John Pepe, and Dave Adams car ry the Lions title hopes in the lower weights. Nodland’s com petitors are probably all over shadowed by last year’s cham pion Ed Peery, of Pitt. Peery, al though a perennial 130-pound powerhouse, has shifted to the 123 class to give the Panthers a stronger lower weight lineup. In the 130-pound division, John ston probably rates with the best in the nation. His only defeat came at the hands of Peery, 3-2. He beat Peery’s only college con queror in the Eastern tourna ment, Joe Alissi, of Springfield, who more than likely will be gunning for revenge today and tomorrow. Pepe-is given a good chance to cop the 137 title while Adams has to fight through a host of stars plus defending champ, Ed Eichelberger, of Lehigh, in the 147 class. At 157 pounds, Humph reys is rated a considerable underdog when he bumps up against Pitt’s Dave Johnson or Illinois’ Larry Ten Pas. Spring Grid Practice To Begin April 6 Spring football practice will be gin Friday, April 6. Coach Rip Engle said the 20 days permitted under NCAA rules would be spread over the period from April 6 to May 5. He predicted a turn out of about 75 candidates, This is the Thinclads Hampered By Weather Hampered by poor track condi tions due to the winter weather, the Lion outdoor track squad was forced to limit its workouts to conditioning runs, Assistant Coach Norman Gordon said yes terday. Gordon is directing the team in the absence of Coach Chick Wer ner who is conducting a track clinic in Japan. The Lions are appearing for their season opener, The Quantico Relays, on April 6 and 7. Gordon said that, despite the poor training conditions, the squads spirit was at a high pitch as the trackmen attempt to get in the best possible shape for the Relays. He said, ‘‘lt is impossible to tell what progress we are making be cause of the weather conditions.” The Nittanies have been practic ing for the past two weeks. Sprinter Art Pollard, hurdler Rod Perry, and weightmr.n Char lie Blockson' head the lifet of re turnees from last seasons team. Pollard is considered by many track experts to be one of the top 220 men in the country. He was named, along with two oth ers, to the 1955 All-American Track Team. Perry, who is only a junior, is the top man in the hurdles which Gordon considers to be the team's strongest event. Sophomore Dick Winston and senior Gary Seybert round out the Lion hurdling trio. Blockson tops the Lion compe titors in both the shot put and the discus. The season will be the first in two years that he will be competing without his former teammate and friendly rival Ro sey Grier. Senior Bruce Austin will also be another big gun in the Nit tany attack. Last season, he com peted in the quarter-mile and was the anchor man on the mile relay team. Doug Moorhead and Don Wood row, two cross-country runners, and Don Mowrv will probably do the Nittany distance running. Gordon said. Ron Lewis, Paul Roberts and Dave Nash are listed as the top men in the middle-distance events. Both Lewis and Roberts ran on last season’s cross country squad, while all three were members of the indoor track team. Ogier Norris will make his var sity debut in the pole vault and high jump where he was a stand out on last season’s frosh squad. Sophomore Bob Foht, a member of the Nittany gymnastic team, will also be a probable entry in the pole vault. Foht did not com pete in frosh track last season. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA Teams Today first NCAA meet ever to he held >in the south and the largest in ! the 14-year history of the event. Defending champion, Illinois, is the pre-meet favorite, but Penn State, Florida State, Los Angeles State, and UCLA are rated bet- ter than even chances to win the crown. The meet is expected to have a great effect on the 1956 Olympic team since many of the winners will probably gain berths on the Olympic squad. Albershardt Tops Richard Albershardt, Indiana University, will defend the tram poline championship which he won last year. He is the only re turning titleholder. Don Harper, a Pan American Champion from Ohio State, is expected to give Albershardt stiff compettnon on the trampoline. The All-round event is expect ed to draw the most fan interest of any individual event. It is con sidered to be gymnastic's answer to track's decathalon. Vega Highly Rated Armando Vega, the Lions’ out standing sophomore, is listed as a top contender for the honors with Florida State's Rafael Lecuona also highly rated. Lecuona was a member of the Cuban Olympic team in 1952. Staffan Curlsson, former Swed ish All-round Junior Champion now at the University of lowa, is another favorite along with F.d Gagnier—a member of the 1952 Canadian Olympic team. Waddill, Smith in Rope Climb The rope climb is also expected to be another close event with William Waddill, North Carolina, and Los Angeles State’s Garvin Smith, leading the entries to the post. Waddill is the Southern Inter collegiate Champion while Smith is an AAU Champion and holder of the world record for the 25- foot rope climb. A 20-foot rope will be used in the Nationals. Penn State’s Phil Mullen is also listed among the top rope climb ing entries on the basis of his first-place performance in the Eastern meet at West Point. Play golf with the man who heat Ben Hogan 6>" WIN THE <=—: NATIONAL ..a, OPEN CHAMPION CONTEST Just guess how Jack Fleck, the National Open champion, will finish in the Masters Tournament April 5-8. Stop in at Jack Harpers and pick up your entry blanks. Maybe you will be one of the 10 national winners, And while you're in the store, see the new McGregor DRIZZLER, the perfect summer leisure jacket. Only 10.95 HWpfe Former Pitt Star . Now Coaches Lions “Frank Patrick is .a Panther out of the jungle, not the roo . . . might have been something .shot from a gun," thus wrote Grant, land Rue in an ode to the Pittsburgh team that had won the 1933 Rose Bowl game with the aforementioned Patuck at fullback That was the year Pitt went into the Rose Bow! luted as a futile underdog without a chance of beating the Washington Uni versity powerhouse Fullback Patrick scored twice and dispelled all talk of invincibility when he fci aeked the Huskie line for 37 yards m thiee plays m the game's opening minutes. The seore, 31-0, was antiehmatic to Pan u k's play. , mg of his last collegiate game. Starting m 193 a, Patrick as a sophomore joined the Pit! varsity as fullback for three years. He _ managed to end his fust season a stop scorer on the team and one o fthe top scoreis m the eountiy. making numerous Ail-Amern.i mentions that year and through out his playing career. Agam-t Penn State he kicked a field goal and scored one touchdown The . i ore was 9 0. Pitt The v,ord was out that it you could, “Stop Patrick, you'll slop Pitt." And when one of the Pitts burgh sport pages headlined. “In jured Mi. Patrick Worries Or. Suthei land." it was real cause for hair te;u mg on a team Unit de pended on ground power for their victo:ies. During the thiee year that Patrick practiced hi- refined ('Continued on prltje c!e tv it) FRANK PATRICK, former All- American fullback for Pitts burgh University and pro star for the Chicago Cardinals, who has been coaching the Lion backfield since 1949. Former Grid Coach Congressman Dan Reed, of New York Slate, coached football al Penn Stale for one season in 1903. 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Applicants must be sincerely interested in an opportunity to build a sound future with a growing progressive organiza tion. Those interested only in short hours, high wages, guar anteed security and no respom sibiiity need not apply. Our representative will be at the placement office on March 27 to interview men for both summer and permanent em ployment. Contact placement office to schedule an interview. HEATH SURVEY CONSULTANTS, INC. 572 Washington Street Wellesley 81, Massachusetts PAGE NINE
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers