PAGE SIX
Johnson Wins 3rd EIWA Title
—Dally Colleciaii photo by Ron Miller
1958 EIWA CHAMPIONS are (left to right) 123-pound Dave Auble of Cornell, 130-pound Johnny
John;:ton of Penn State, 137-pound Joe Gratto of Lehigh, 147-pound Dick Santoro of Lehigh, 157-
pound Dave Johnson of Pitt, 167-pound Chuck Crosby of Rutgers, 177-pound Pete Davidson of Lehigh
and Heavyweight champion Dave Dunlop of Cornell. The EIWA championships were at Pitt.
LionCaptainAlsoCopsFletdier Award;
Guccione Places 2nd, Gray Takes 3rd
By LOU PRATO
"Some people aie 'cham
pions and some people are
great competitors. But Johnny
Johnston’s the best.” j
That’s Penn State’s dynamic;
wrestling Coach Charlie Speidel’s
opinion of the unbeaten Lion cap
tain—and it may very well be the
©pinion of every wrestling fan
who attended the 54th annual
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling
Association tournament at the
Pitt Field House Friday and Sat
urday.
Johnston emerged from the
two-dav carnival with two of the
most coveted awards in collegiate
wrestling ranks—a third straight
EIWA championship and the John
A. Fletcher memorial cup.
The Nillany ace missed a
sweep of lhe fop prizes when
Lehigh's captain Joe Gratto was
named the tourney's outstand
ing wrestler by a fwo-vole mar
gin. Most of the 4500 fans al
Saturday night's finals felt that
Johnston had earned that honor
and were guile surprised wilh
lhe coaches' selection. i
However. Johnston’s winning of
the Fletcher cup was perhaps a
greater honor. The award, named
after a former two-time Eastern
champion from Navy who was
killed in the Korean War, is given
to the wrestler who accumulates
the most points in three years of
tournament competition. Johnston
recorded 48 out of a possible 51
points in three years, including
nine falls in 12 matches. Only in
his three championship finals, did
the Lion standout fail to gain a
pin.
Gratto, who won his second
Eastern crown Saturday, was
runner-up for the Fletcher
award with 40 points and Pill's
Dave Johnson was third with
39. Johnson also copped his
third EIWA championship Sat
urday.
Penn "State had two other place
men besides Johnston and both
were unheralded by the seeding
committee. Sophomore Guy Guc
cione was beaten by Gratto in the
finals of the 137-pound division.
THESIS
MULTILITHING
FAST CCONOMtCAL
mmki pmfwg
£■ COI.I.ECE
|5-3. and George Gray wound up outclassed the Cornell grappler.
( third at 167. Johnston scored an early 38
; Coach Charlie Speidel’s gladia- second takedown in lhe first
'tors finished fourth in the team . . __ , .
1 standings with 35 points, losing Pe« od - escape m three sec
j their team title to powerful Cor- onds of lhe second frame and
jnell. The Big Red, which won the 1:38 ol riding lime advantage !
championship for the first time for hisjour points while Molino
since 1930, had a 10-pomt bulge, had an escape the first and
over its nearest rival Lehigh, | i ast Der iods
64-49. Syracuse was third with _ . ‘ , n .
45 points. Pitt fifth with 27 andi Experience .also cost Guccione
Rutgers sixth with 22. tch T wlth * e ;
Cornell coached fcv vouno The Lion yearling, who had
f *pset;’ Pitt’s Vic DeFelicein the
individual titles but had three ; semi-final round, 2 0, could not
second place finishers and one ™P e ™th th .e riding ability of the
fourth place man. Dave Auble. Leiugh senior Gratto recorded
lhe Big Red sophomore who 5:45 of time advantage (in addi
has never been beaten in col- tl0 " to a f / st tak * down ,
legiate competition, won the and a second penod reversal) over
123-pound title and Dave Dun- Guccione, expertly defensmg al
lop captured the heavyweight ” ost maneuver by the Nit-,
crown by upsetting topseeded 1311 >’ matman. .
Tony Stremic of Navy. Gray recorded e 9-5 decision |
The other individual winners o*&r Harvard's Bob Foster in j;
included unbeaten Dick Santoro fha 167-pound consolation i;
of Lehigh, 147; Chuck Crosby of) match. Gray, who pulled off the' /
Rutgers, 167: and Pete Davidson biggest upset of the tourney
of Lehigh, 177. ' when he beat Pitt's defending ;
Johnston won his third title at national champ Tom Alberts in ;;
130 pounds bv beating Cornell’s a quarter-final battle, was elun- i
Cannon Molino, 4-2. Molino, inaled by Syracuse s Bill Mur- |
whose only lost during the regu- Phy. 12-9, in a rousing semi- j
lar season was to Johnston, 4-0, final match. j
at Rec Hall, used everything he ’However, the Lion junior was!
could in trying to upset the Lion in complete control of "his third-1
star, but experience made the dif-seeded Harvard foe throughout)
ference. Johnston reached the most of the consolation final. Fos-|
finals when he flattened George ter’s points were scored on a lastj
Creason of Syracuse in 8:12 of minute reversal in the - second
a semi-final bout. frame, a last second takedown
Johnston wrestled a cautious in the third period, and an es
mateh against Molino, typical of cape. Included among Gray’s
any champion going after his points was a two-point near fall
third straight title, but he still in the opening period.
JACKHARPERJACKHARPERJACKHARPEBJACKHARPERJACKHARTERJACKHAF
| ATHERTON
No excess padding ■ (T 4 ****
< or canvas stiffening
* Easy lines
U
AD 8-S7S4
i JACKHARPEKMCKHAEPERJACKHARTERJJLCSHAEIT,BJACgHABP£RJAaffIAI
THE DAHY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLECT PENNSYLVANIA
EIGHT MONTHS OF COMFORT
Our light-weight, Atherton worsted
suits can be worn in comfort eight months
of ths year. Both all wool or dacron and
wool give you lasting neatness and smart
appearance. For correct campus wear
you'll want an Atherton worsted suit.
CUSTOM SHOP
W. College Ave., State College
* ★ ★
FLETCHER AWARD WINNER Johnny Johnston accepts the cup
from Pitt’s Athletic Director, Admiral Tom Hamilton. Johnston
won the award by accumulating the highest number of points in
the EIWA tournament this weekend at the Pitt Field House.
Fans Disagree Pick
Of Gratto as / MVW #
“I don’t know how they can give the Most Valuable
Wrestler award to a guy like Gratto —after his conduct last
year. Then they turn around and ‘give’ him the award this
year.”
That was football coach Tor Toretti’s comment on the
coaches voting Lehigh’s Joe Gratto as the most valuable
wrestler over Johnny Johnston.
There were plenty of fans who
agreed with TorettL. The Lions’
three-time 130 - pound Eastern
champ had three pins and a 4-2
decision in the finals, while Grat
to had four straight impressive
decisions.
But we, like Toretti, remember
Gratto’s unsportsmanlike conduct
after he lost the 137-pound East
ern title to Lion Johnny Pepe last
jyear. He wouldn’t shake hands
with his conqueror (Pepe) and
stormed off the mat in rage. Now
the coaches turn _________
jaround and.'give’
him the title ov
?r a wrestler who fBF,. jHH
by far out-domi- H i dH
jnated his tough BB t . \ a
jweight class. ' '.'SB
I Even Pitt’s fly- W&v jJH
jing rings cham- RF •
■pion Tom Dar- x
ling bet that % ‘
1
Johnston w-as go- - Em Jp
[ing to win the
;a w a r d. Thanks
for the quarter, Ridenour
jTom. We really wanted to lose.
I Quick-quote from the winning
team coach, young Jimmy Mil
ler of Cornell: "It's a dream
come true." Jimmy has been
COLLEGIAN
AD STAFF
MEETING
TONIGHT
6:45 p.m.
All Must Attend
IMPORTANT!
TUESDAY. MARCH 18, 1958
By MATT MATHEWS
dreaming since he look over in
1348. but Cornell has been
dreaming since 1930.
How would you like to coach a
295-pound heavyweight playboy
whose family has money -and who
shows up for practice about once
a w'eek? That’s ex-Lion champ
Charlie Ridenour’s job down at
I Penn. And the kid, Frank Traend
|ly, finished third in the Easterns.
He’s only a sophomore.
We asked Doc Speidel how he
would wrestle Ridenour's 295-
pound heavyweight and, as us
ual. Doc riddled out of it. “Well,
(Continued on page seven)
* * *