THURSDAY. JANUARY FINNISH CHAMPION —OIavi Leimuvirta, Finland’s top gymnast, is caught by' the photographer in the middle of a back sommer sault dismount. The Helsinki political science major edged Penn Slate’s Armando Vega in an all-around event at the Sarasota clinic, 556-554. The Finnish gymnastic troupe which will appear in Rec reation Hall tomorrow night scored a “huge success” in its American debut at Montclair, N.J. State Teachers College Tuesday night. According to Bruce Hopping, chairman of the New Jersey Committee for Human Cultural Advancement, the group filled the Montclair arena with the biggest crowd that ever watched an event there "The girls team was simply fabulous," commented Hopping, "and I can only describe the men's team as tremendous. I've seen nothing like it." The Finns performed another exhibition at West Chester State Teachers last night and. are ex pected to arrive at the Nittany Lion Inn at 2 p.m. today. The Montclair and'West Chester stops were solely exhibitions for both the men’s and women’s teams, but Lion Coach Gene Wett stone’s proteges will test the men’s team in a regular meet tomorrow night. Wettstone feels the all-around battle may be the best gym event of the year in Rec Hall. "It's going to be a real close battle for the all-around hon ors," commented Wettstone. ; "Armando Vega, Olavi Leimu viria and Eugen Ekman will put on a good exhibition for that top honor. "And don’t count out Jay Wer ner,” Wettstone warned. ‘‘He! looks better and better each day.” In the Sarasota gymnastics clinic during the Christmas vaca tion, Leimuvirta edged Vega and Ekman for the all-around cham pionship, 556-554. But the Penn State Olympian had a ‘‘bad day” I. 1959 By MATT MATHEWS Associate Sports Editor |on his favorite apparatus the parallel bars. (Vega was Eastern and national champion on the p-bars in 1956 and 1957.) The dark horse, Werner, was the Eastern all-around champion last year as a sophomore. He edged out teammate Lee Cun ningham for that, title, 1515-1514. The other members of the special Penn State unit which will compete with the European champions are senior Lou Sava dove, junior Frank Donatelli and freshman Greg Weiss. The Finnish women will per form only m exhibition during the evening. The main part of their program will consist of unit precision movements. They will also perform individually on the uneven parallel bars, balance beam and calisthenics. SPORTS CARD THURSDAY BASKETBALL—West Virginia at Penn State, 8:30 p.m., Rec Hali; Preliminary; Altoona Center vs Penn. State Frosb, 6:00 p.m. FRIDAY GYMNASTICS—Finnish Gymnaata vs Penn State, 7:30 p.m- Rec Hall. SATURDAY GYMNASTICS—TempIe vs Penn State. 2:00 p.m., Rec HBH. WRESTLING—Lehigh vg Penn State, 8:00 p.m., Rec Hall; Preliminary: Lehigh Froah vs Penn State Frosh,. 6:00 p.m. ‘BASKETBALL—Pena State at Rutger*. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA Gym Squad Remains Strong In Rings, Side Horse, Bars Unless the scholastic rains] should unexpectedly fall dur ing the end of the present semester, there will be no tears in camp. _ The Lions lose only three spe cialists in the four remaining events we will review today—fly ing rings, side horse, horizontal bar and parallel bars. The three who graduated are ring specialists Ed Sidwell and Jack Donahue and p-bar per former Bob Foht, 1958 team captain. Captain Foht took first place in four regular meets last year and third twice. Although he failed to even qualify in the top eight for the Eastern finals, he finished fifth in the nationals. But the Lions don’t expect to really miss Foht. The reason: Ar mando Vega. During his junior year Vega was Eastern and national paral lel bar champion. Me was also the EIGL and NCAA all-around champ two successive years. Be cause he dropped out of school last spring he will be ineligible for the first two intercollegiate meets. But during his year of collegiate inactivity, Vega was active on other amateur gymnastic pur suits. He performed in the 1958 World Gymnastic Championships in Moscow and travelled through the Mediterranean countries on State Departmen t-sponsored, good-will exhibitions. Junior Jay Werner continued to improve on the p-bars last year and gives the Lions a very strong duo for the coming year. Senior PKS, DU, 1 Phi Psi Win In IM Cage On the strength of its 38-11 victory over previously unde feated Phi Epsilon Pi, Phi Kappa Psi moved into undisputed pos session of first place in League I of fraternity intramural basket ball. Ray Berbeiri led the charge for Phi Psi by swishing the nets for 13 counters. Phi Kappa Sig rolled up its third straight victory in League I by downing Alpha Tau Ome ga, 24-19. Phi Kappa Sigma was down 12-13 at the half but out scored Alpha Tau Omega 12-6 in the second half to clinch the victory. Delta Theta Sigma broke a 12- 12 tie at halftime to eke out a 19-17 victory over Zeta Beta Tau in'League E. Other fraternity action showed Delta Upsilon whipping Pi Kappa Alpha. 30-13, and Delta Chi stop ping Kappa Delta Rho, 28-14. The Thunderbirds ran their winning streak to six on a stringent 17-16 victory over Navy ROTC in independent League A. In other independent action the Watts. Wildcats edged the Mon- Yougtis, 22-21; the McKee Mas ters downed the McKee Majors, 25-18; and the Watts Warriors stopped McKee One, 31-24. COLLEGE BASKETBALL Navy 59, Gettysburg. 42 Army 80, Colgate 61 Second of a Series one handyman, and junior Lee newcomer, junior Bill Savering, Cunningham also performed for as a potential third member, the Lions on the p-bars. Wett- The biggest loss of experi stone has also come up with a ence for a single event is on the Lou Savadove, the Lion’s number flying rings. Both Sidwell and Donahue were excellent "point ARMANDO VEGA Southern California Put On Athletic 'Pro' Again CINCINNATI (IP)— The University of Southern California Wednesday night was placed on two-year probation, immediately, in a disciplinary action by the NCAA Council. The Council said the university guilty of offering improper inducements to two student athletes. Southern Cal had hoped to be removed from a two-year proba- Cincinnati (/P)—Jess Hill, ath letic director at the University of Southern California, said Wednesday night the school "will stand up and lake it like a man" when informed of a two-year probationary period levied against USC by the NCAA. But he added that he was disappointed that new evidence disclosed only Tuesday morn-' ing by the NCAA Committee on Infractions was not brought to the attention of the univer sity sooner. Hill said that he believe I that with the new evidence Southern Cal may possibly have taken corrective measures which would have averted the probationary action. tion levied against the institution Nov. 13, 1956. The new action by the Council, meeting at the 53rd an nual NCAA convention, means that during the first year of the new probationary period USC will be ineligible to enter ath letes or teams in any NCAA championship event or any of the invitational and,like events which cooperate with the NC AA. As usual, names of the athletes were not disclosed. However, the Council said 1 they were football players now in school to whom Southern Cal had offered air Sidwell had the better record of the two. He never finished lower than third in regular meets and was third in the Easterns and fifth in the nationals. Donahue was inconsistent in regular competition. He finished fourth in the Easterns and failed to qualify in the nationals. But the number one man, Wer ner, will return. Upon the eligi bility of Vega the ring trio should continue its dominance of Eastern gymnastics. Werner was second in the Easterns and second in the nation last year. Again, Welisione will have plenty of good depth available for the rings. He can call on either Frank Donatelli or tumb ling champion Dave Dulaney. The remaining two events —■ side horse and high bar—were left unchanged by graduation. Cunningham, who had live firsts last year although finishing thud in the Easterns, will again head the side horse team. Junior Frank Palmer, Savadove and Donatelli give Wettstone a choice of experienced performers. He can also use sophomore Ernie Lofgren on the difficult horse. For the high bar. the 1953 regulars of Cunningham, Wer ner and Savadove return and Wettstone will have the pleas jng task of inserting Vega this year. All four have near equal talents on the high bar. The Lions will be reaching for their ninth Eastern and fifth na tional title with this powerhouse. transportation beyond that per mitted by the NCAA code. Southern Cal was in violation of Article 6, Section I of the NCAA by-laws when it pro vided one prospective student athlete air transportation to Los Angeles during the summer of 1957 for the purpose of en rolling him at a junior college, the Council said. In the case of the other athlete, the offer from USC was for air transportation for the purpose of enrolling at USC but also assured ! the student athlete that he would 'receive cost- free transportation between Los Angeles and hi 3 ihome during the Christmas vaca tion period and at the conclusion of each college year. The Council pointed out the violations in themselves were not particularly serious but the fact That they occurred during a pro bationary period figured heavily in the severity of the punishment. Grid Star Can Regain Eligibility by Transfering CINCINNATI (£>)—The power ful National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Council ruled Wednesday that Don Fuell, a controversial figure in football since he was declared ineligible at Auburn, can regain his eligibility if he trans fers to a college which has not violated the rules in recruiting him. PAGE .NINE
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