PAGE TWELVE Grandstand Views (4411 °4% 4 s 0 ,4 ..,, , , In two years Joe Bedenk will retire and then he'll become one of Penn State's greatest legends. Knowing Bedenk, retirement won't come easy. How can it after you've spent 35 years thrilling Penn State crowds both as a player and coach? Bedenk sat back and pondered the question a short time ago in his Rec Hall office and even though he joked about it a great deal, it was plain to see he was going to miss Mt. Nittany. "Boy, am I going to loaf when I get out of here," Bedenk said with a wink, "I'll have real banker's hours then." "Yep, it's almost over now. I don't think they'll get along with out me." he said with a laugh. "Hell's who's going to start all the trouble?" Thirty-one years as head baseball coach, one as football coach and 20 other seasons spent as line coach haven't changed the old war- liar a bit Now 62, with a head of silvery hair and a devilish smile that lights up his face like a Roman candle, Bedenk is the same fiery competitor who gained All-American honors while captaining the 1923 team which won six games, lost two, and tied one. Bedenk played all his intercollegiate athletics under the immor tal Penn State coach—Hugo Bezdek, now a member of football's Hall of Fame. "I was what you call a running guard in those days," Bedenk said, his face conveying the impression that these were the times that never will be forgotten. "I led the interference for Light Horse Harry Wilson, who was one of the greatest backs of all-time." Bedenk also was a major cog in the undefeated 1921 team and the Rose Bowl team of 1922 which lost to Southern Cal, 14.3, in in one of the classics of grid history. You might think that the Rose Bowl trip was Bedenk's greatest thrill, but it wasn't. He's prouder of the only touchdown he scored during his career. It came against North Carolina State during his senior year. "I'll never forget that play," Bedenk recalls. "I went through the North Carolina State line and blocked a pass just as the quarter back was getting ready to throw it. The ball went straight up in the air and I caught it and went all the way for a touchdown. Bezdek was so happy he gave me two new sweatshirts." Bedenk spent his spring- semesters playing baseball for Bez dek but he never gained the stature he enjoyed as a football hero. However, he did have an excellent mind for baseball, and to this day he rates as one of college baseball's top strategists. Through the years Bedenk's baseball teams have won 391 games against 151 losses. His teams have appeared in the College World Series three limes, finishing in the runner-up slot in 1957 and fourth place in 1959. The Lions have missed the District playoffs only three times in the last 11 years and one of those years was 1960. That team ranks as Bedenk's biggest coaching disappointment. The pre-season polls tabbed the Lions as a "can't miss" team because they had nearly everyone back from the squad which finished fourth in the 1959 College World Series. 1 But the breaks didn't go State's way and the Lions literally booted away games with cosily errors and lack of clutch hitting. Things got progressively worse and Penn State, the darlings of the collegiate baseball world, finished with a 9-9 record, with Bedenk taking it all very philosophically. "That's why baseball is such a great game," he said. "One day you're a hero and the next day you're a bum. You can't blame it all on luck though. There's a great difference in the attitudes of the mod ern day athletes and the ones in my time. "Just, the other day one of my old teammates was here and he saw the football team practice. He was amazed how short prac tice was. Gosh, we used to scrimmage longer than they practice. "Our scrimmages were really rough, too, just like a game. In fact, and this is true, the managers used Jo_have a cart for the in jured players and they put anyone in it who was hurt so they could wheel him down to the old track house where we lived. "I can remember one scrimmage that was particularly rough. Players were being knocked:all over the place. When practice was over. we went down to the track house to eat and the coach called the roll and Pete Redinger was missing. "A few of us ran up to the field and sure enough there he was lying in the can still out cold and stiff as a board from the weather." Sitting and listening to Bedenk lis quite an education because he talks about the old days with a reverence that has been lost in today's rush for the dollar bill. A lot of people are going to miss Joe Bedenk "when it's all over." As a player he was one of Penn State's greatest and as a coach he's been a taskmaster who has commanded respect and pr.: - : , :fced great Individuals like that don't come along very often MAJOR LEAGUES ' HY A ,, nfialed Pre., NATIONAL LEAGUE IV. L. I'cL (31 Ne w fork sr; r. .L 1.4 e; 14 , 101110 re KII HI .G;7 1. 1 , Chicago r.l . 516 91 .2 NN'ee‘hingtorte 7c) 71 1 IA ../5i 23 le.Nelmeel .3,4 32 62 $ .31311 34! Itet.tat t t•zburibr St I.lnroc. A lir, San Frain :sco Cincinnati ..._ Chicar., - - rhihideiphia Joe Bedenk, One of The :est ll<tl. it fasten THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA By Sandy Padwe Collegian Sports Editor AMERICAN LEAGUE W. 1. 82 57 83 58 .589 Pct. (.11 >9O St CO .574 2 70 .500 121, __64 77 .454 I 1 __6l • SO .93:3 22 Holienback's Gridders Return For Beaver Stadium Opener By JIM KARL Back in 1909 footballs were made of genuine pigskin, not rub ber. If you wanted hip pads you r had to make your own. And spe cialists were people found only in hospitals. This was college football on Oct. 2, 1909 when Penn State mowed down Grove City, 31-0, in the first game . ever played on New Beaver Field. Today 12 members of that un defeated but twice tied Lion squad will be present at the dedication of Beaver Stadium, the largest all-steel structure in the country. Beaver Stadium, seating ca pacity 44,000, is quite different from the wooden grandstand that housed a grand total of 500 fans back in the days when "Wild Bill" Hollenback's boys roamed the turf. Hollenback, fresh from an All- American season at Penn, was the first full-time head football 'coachc in Penn State history. Under his tutelage that first year were some of the outstand ing names in Penn State grid an nals: Lloyd F. "Dad" Engle, Burke M. "Dutch" Hermann, Ch a rl e s "Heff" Hershman, J. L. "Pete" Mauthe and. Edward H. "Bull" McCleary were but a few. Hollenback had plenty of ma terial, but there were those who wondered about handing over the reins to such a young coach. "He was a pretty tough coach," said Dutch Hermann, "but he was the same age as we were. In fact, I think there were one or two fellows who were older." But as the opener drew near and the squad began to develop, Hollenback's age was quickly for gotten. The State Collegian, harbinger of the Daily Collegian, said in a pre-game write-up Sept. 23, 1909: "With a large, promising squad of football candidates, an excel lent corps of coaches and a short ened schedule, we feel that Cap tain Larry Vohris, 'lO, with a strong eleven, is going to make !one of the best records this fall ever made on the gridiron by a State team. "Most of the football team have now been at work for al most two weeks and the opinion of those who ought to know is that our White and Blue is going to show up surprisingly strong." 1 The Lions proved in the opener; that the prediction was right. A post-game account in the! !State Collegian, Oct. 7, reads:! '"By exactly the same score with' which Captain McCleary's eleven! 'took over' Grove City College! last fall, captain Vohris's team won from the Western Pennsyl-1 'vanians last Saturday in the first game of football played on the! new Beaver field gridiron. ". . • Watson was particularly good in his hard, low tackles and Dick Smith in his end runs, on which he always threw off seV-, eral tacklers and made appre, ciable gains. "Hermann, McCleary, Hersh man and Captain Vohris com-' posed a 'backfield which has: fought valiently for the Whitej and Blue in at least half a dozen ! battles and the combination was: up to tis habit of helpful aggres siveness and sturdy defense." Vohris, who died during the flu epidemic shortly after - 171, s major subjects for your • , Get the Newest • CAMPUS-BOUND WARDROBE AA Fail Fashions Today! ,ocer • e t; fl " P ' \ Freshmen and Upperclassmen Register NOW for your free gift Mac presents a complete line of fashion-flavored clothes for the College man. Suits to slacks, sport coats to sweaters all the campus favorites can now be found at Mac's. Walk up the hill past the Post Office and watch the prices go down. -Stop in today and be paces ahead of the pack. In the Center of Pennsylvania FREE PARKING AT REAR OF STORE WHILE SHOPPING - 229 S. Allen St. - AD 8-1241 World War L scored the first touchdown in that Beaver Field tilt. The Lions walloped four other opponents that year, shutting out / ) ~ r. f . t ~~. PETE MAUTHE . . . holds six records a a a Geneva, 46-0, Bucknell, 33-0, West Virginia, 40-0, and Pitt, 5-0. They tied the vaunted Carlisle Indians, 8-8 and traditional rival (in those days) Penn, .3-3. The Lions continued their win ning ways on Beaver Field during the next few years and they weren't defeated until the last home game of the 1913 season when Notre Dame turned the trick, 14-7. Hermann, who alternated at quarterback with Vohris on the 1909' eleven, makes his home in nearby Boalsburg. He rates' Pitt, Penn and Carlisle as the toughest foes the team faced that year, with the edge going to Carlisle. "Probably toughest of all were those Indians," he said. "They were slippery, tricky and well coached." Carlisle was coached by "Pop" Warner and featured the running of the immortal Jim Thorpe. Three members of that 1909 Mt. Nittany Climb sponsored by the Penn State Outing Club Sunday, Sept.lB 2:00 P.M. assemble behind Old Main Refreshments and Transportation Back PERSONALIZED SERVICE HABERDASHERY SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 196 Q squad set Penn State records which still stand today. Halfback Mauthe holds six: points per season (119); points, career (171); extra points, one game (8); extra points; career (56); field goals, one season (8); field goals, one game (3). Vohris kicked more field goals during his career (20) than any other Lion and Half back "Bull" McCleary hold the record for touchdowns in one season (13). Soccer Managers All persons interested in be coming soccer managers should report to the Lion shrine at 4 p.m. Monday. Elgin and Hamilton Watches —•— Wesiclox (locks a m/ P. 0,11. 218 E. College JENg, Avenue STATE COLLEGE "The Shop. of Quality Watch Repairs" ``ELF ar co
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers