PAO' FOURTEEN
—Doily Collegian photos by Ron Kerr
THEY PACK TM IN—Standing room only crowds are the habit and not the exception in Recreation Hall during most of the winter
competition. The masters are, left to right, wrestling coach Charlie "Doc" Speidel, gymnastics mentor Gene Wettstone and basket
ball coach John Egli.
* * *
Winter Coaches Rated High Nationally
By MATT MATHEWS
Associtt , e Sports Editor
(Tilts is the second of a series of
three articles on the Penn State
coaching staff. Today the coach
es of three winter sports.)
Two of the nation's most re
spected coaches head the winter
sporty at Penn State and turn
out top squads—Gene Wettstone
and Charlie "Doe" Speidel.
In their 52 years in Rec Hall,
they have tutored their share
of Eastern championship squads
with Wettstone bringing home
four national crowns and Spei
del's grapplers breaking into
the National wrestling cham
pionships in 1953.
The attendances are usually stir
prn.ing to beginning students,
many of whom have never seen
either competition before enter
ing Penn State. Both really pack
'em in at Rec Hall.
The 1958 season though, was
no: one of Doe's best. His in
perienced grapplers posted a
dismal 2-4-2 season.
They started off great by
whipping Colgate. 18-8, then
coasted into the big one—Pitt
—without another win.
Pitt was rated as one of the
best in the nation. Some 'experts'
tven had them on top, but the
time-proven axiom that anything
goes in a bitter rivalry held true.
And we had Doc Speidel's 32
yeais of wrestling strategy on our
side.
Not taking anything from Pan
th r mentor Rex Peery, who is
con , ,idered about the best in the
nation, but Doc pulled the stops
Time Out
The dorms and town are
bustling. Everyone is rush
ing around.
Not at Duffy's in Boals
bprg. Things are quiet, pleas
ant, and delicious (the food,
that is).
Take time out for relax
ation and really fine food.
Duffy's
In Boalsburg, 4 miles east of
State College, on Route 322
(turn right at the Texaco Ste.)
iiii DAILY 6 - 51.461AN1. W - ali COitlen, PENNSYLVANIA
* * *
to revise his lineup and Peery
tried every counter move his tal
ent could manage.
But the Lions were more versa
tile in weight shifting and heavy
weight Ray Pottios came through
with only his second win of the
year to become the darling of
Rec Hall. The Lions knocked off
then• heavily-favored foe, 14-11,
and the 2-4-2 season was con
sidered a success.
Although the black-and-white
record was one of the worst a
Speidel-coached team has had,
Penn State's sequel to Casey
Stengel still owns a 154-wins,
39 losses and 19 ties mark. And
as Doc would say, "That's pretty
respectable."
Gymnastics on the other hand
lost only "the big one" with an
inexperienced squad. In eastern
gymnastics circles, the big one is
Army.
The Lions and Cadets - have
shared the Eastern championship
for the past seven years. The
Lions won it in 1953, 54, 55, and
57 during that time. They also
won in 42, 43, 47 and 48.
In the absence of Olympian
RADIO and TV
SERVICE and SUPPLIES
for
• Batteries
e Portablesi2-- t_._
1 4) ,
• Car Radios
• Phonographs
C. H. Smith
Class of 1948 EE
State College TV
232 S Allen St.
* * *
Armando Vega, Wettstone formed
his scoring punch around the
East's two best gymnasts—sopho
mores Jay Werner and Lee Cun
ningham. Werner, who defeated
Cunningham 1515-1514 for the
Eastern All-Around title last year,
was erratic in the early part of
the season but matured into the
star he was acclaimed.
Undoubtedly, the loss of Vega
lost Wettstone the Eastern title
and the National championship.
Vega competed in the amateur
gymnastics World Championships
in Moscow the past summer and
finished fourth among the world's
best gymnasts. He is still eligible
to compete one year for the Lions.
Wettstone, who has an overall
slate of 73-27, has coached nu
merous other Penn State gym
nasts to NCAA, AAU and Olym
pic honors. They include Tony
Procopio, Bob Lawrence, Frank
Wick, Karl 'Switch" Schwenz
fier and Jean Crondstedt.
He has served as Olympic coach
in 1948 and 1956, and Olympic
judge in the 1952 international
competition.
John Egli's 1958 basketball
* *
squad which lacked height, speed,
experience and bench strength in
pre-season forecasts, ended with
an 8-11 season.
Egli, who will be starting his
fifth term, has been a campus
figure for many years, both as an
athlete in his undergraduate days
and as the frosh coach from 1950
to 1954.
During his first year of varsity
coaching, Egli led the Lion five
into their second consecutive
NCAA play-off berth.
3 Games Scheduled
For Frosh Gridders
Penn State's freshman football
team is slated for three games
this season. The first-year Nit
tany Lions entertain the West
Virginia f rosh on October 11,
meet the Pitt freshmen Novem
ber 1 at Pittsburgh, and tackle
the Navy Plebes at Annapolis on
November 7.
WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 10, 1958
Barbell Club
Hopes For
Expansion
The Penn State Barbell Club
will begin its 11th year with
prospective matches this fall
against the University of Mary
land, East Stroudsburg State
Teachers College and a Shippens
burg-Harrisburg area team.
The club was formed in 1948
to promote weight lifting with
the hope that the sport might
be adopted on the same competi
tive level as wrestling or gym
nastics. In the past. weightlifting
has been popular in midwestern
colleges, but has lacked support
in the East until recently.
Last spring, the "barbellers '
dropped a 17-14 decision to the
University of Maryland. In
May. the Penn State weight
men placed second behind East
Stroudsburg in the first Penn
sylvania State Intercollegiate
Weightlifting Ch a m pionship.
Other schools competing were
Temple, Penn and West Ches
ter State.
Intercollegiate competition- is
scored on three Olympic events
—military press, snatch and
clean and jerk. Lifters compete
in seven weight classes starting
at 123 pounds.
The press is lifting the weight
to the chest, pausing, and then
pushing the bar overhead using
only the arms. The clean and
jerk consists of the same move
ments, but the lifter may also
bend his legs while pushing the
bar over his head, thus enabling
heavier weights to be lifted. The
snatch consists of lifting the
weight overhead with one smooth
movement without a pause.
The club will hold its first
meeting at 7 p.m, Sept. 18 in
209 Willard. Slides taken from
this year's Irv-outs for the Uni•
fed States Weightlifting Team
will be shown.
A $1 initiation fee entitles each
member to instruction from the
more experienced club members.
Guard, Center
ISM
(Continued from page twelve)
abling us to move Stellatella.
"We were also counting on
Dan Maddigan. but he has a
back condition and may riot be
able to play. He looked real
good in the spring.
"Jim Buff erfield and Bill Es
terland should also help us at
guard.
"Like I said," Toretti concluded,
"we may not have an outstand
ing individual, but we're better
over-all."
—by Lou Prato
Most Valuable Player
, Penn State's Cal Emery, now
playing with the - Philadelphia
Phillies, in 1957 was voted the
MVP in the College World Series
at Omaha, Neb.