PAGE SIX immam a dean's view Down in the hills of West Virginia, Basketball is king, and that’s spelled with a capi tal B, please. The country folks live and die with the fortunes of the West Virginia Mountain eers and for the past 18 years the graveyards have been relatively empty. The Mounties haven’t had a losing season since 1944 and have been ranked among the top twenty teams in the country since 1952. (They are ninth ranked this week.) There is a good rea son for this. Simply stated it is that Basketball is treated Big Time—spell that with capital let ters, please. At State basketball is a minor sport—spell that with a small letter, please. WEST VIRGINIA Basketball makes money and it doesn’t have to take a back seat to football. At State, Football is king. It pays the bills, so basketball takes the rear seal. This may be good or it may be bad, but in any case it is the truth. Comparing the West Virginia Basketball program with that of State’s, it becomes very obvious why the Lions haven’t beaten the Mounties in 11 straight games. It also is apparent why Basket ball has become one of West Vir ginia’s great traditions and why State Barbell Club To Sponsor Open Weightlifting Meet Sunday By JOHN LOTT Coeds: If you’re one of those gals who naturally swoons at the sight of a muscular male, Ihen stock up on smelling salts and head for Rec Hall Sunday afternoon. That’s when the Penn Slate. Bar bell Chrb will sponsor its second weightlifting contest in the past month. The meet is scheduled for 2 p.m . with the weigh-in at 1:30. The competition, which is open to anyone, is being held to stimu late interest in weightlifting as a varsity sport at Penn State. THE WEIGHTLIFTERS will perform the three official Olympic lifts: the military press, the two hand snatch and the two-hand clean and jerk. Seven weight classes, ranging from 123 pounds to heavyweight, will be repre sented. Each contestant is given three attempts at each lift. First-place honors in each weight class go to Nittany Dell home of delicious sandwiches Lox and Bagels Served Sunday Till 2 P.M. across from girls dorms THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY PARK. PENNSYLVANIA I By DEAN BILLICK 1 ' Sports Editor § here in the Nittany Mountains, we haven’t had a real team since 1954. In fact, based on the two dif ferent programs, it is a tribute, to Lion coach John Egli that his teams have even made a respect able showing against the class of the Mountaineers. Behind that astronomical West Virginia record is a hard-nosed recruiting system more efficient than an IBM machine. And be hind that is an athletic adminis tration that realizes the sacrifices that must be made to have such a program. The first such sacrifice is money —in the form of athletic aid. On this year’s 15-man squad, West Virginia coach George King has 14 full scholarships. His freshman team has four boys on full aid. Egli, on the other hand, has way less than half that number on full aid on the Lion varsity. THIS YEAR'S State freshman team is the exception and herein lies the ray of sunshine. The ad ministration, gave basketball ad ditional aid for this year’s frosh, and the result is the best fresh man team in history. After watching the West Virginia frosh Wednesday night, it is my opin ion that Egli and assistant coach Snowy Simpson out-recruited the Mountaineers. If this continues, Stale will no longer need to take a kick in the face every time it the man with the highest weight total for his three lifts. In the case of a tie, the person who is the lighter-weight is declared the winner. Norm Gordon, faculty sponsor of the Barbell Club, explains that the meets are being held as “pre liminary contests to the forma tion of a weightlifting team. “Several schools have been con tacted about the possibility of dual weightlifting meets, but nothing is definite at the present time,” Gordon said. “We’d like to stay in the collegiate realm if we can, but if that’s not possible, we may schedule competition with various weightlifting clubs.” GORDON MENTIONED that it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to set up meets with YMCA’ groups, or organized weightlift ing clubs in cities like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Harrisburg or York. The main 'objective, however, is to form a nucleus for a squad from the contestants in the open meets here. "We’re hoping to get some pleasant surprises somebody i\ V • v. .-.•! .'.i. ?. A vfA*;f! :,:.! , : ;';. m m "'"'"yII • ll rjaj B ■ • - lj |.: ■ 2-SP.M. ' '"- • ■■- HUB Ballroom | *. ★ ★ GEORGE KING . . . Mountaineer coach •k -k ★ faces the Mouhties. The second sacrifice is that everyone backs the Basketball program. The scheduling is made intelligently with the good of the team in mind.. Everything points toward the winning of Basketball games. who can really do something,” Gordon said. Gordon noted 'that his own group consists of several outstand ing boys, especially in the heavier weight classes. He mentioned Bill Bardwell, Brian Young, Warren Seleckman, Joe Felice and- Terry Sari as some of his top prospects. “But we’re really aching in the lighter weights,” he lamented. “It’s tough to find fellows that small (120-140 pounds) anymore, so there’s not much talent in thbse classes.” A FEW YEARS AGO the group reached a high mark when it was abie to secure .competition from several schools and organizations. But then interest lagged, and it was not until this season that Gordon felt enough boys showed promise to warrant an attempt to schedule meets with other schools. ' The weightlifting, season runs approximately from- January to April, so there is a definite pos sibility of dual meets this year. Gordon has written to Pitt, Mary land and West Chester, but as yet. lias not received word from the schools. . v s-' s ‘‘7' * A MM Y Sponsored by TIM Council Sunday, January 20 featuring the fabulous "THUNDERBOLTS" Little things like the printing of a basketball brochure that fans purchase by the hundreds for $l. Little things like'making travel ing arrangements for the Moun .ties to arrive at away games the night before so they will be well rested. It’s these little things that go together to make the big thing Basketball. - . Then there is the-fan interest and the great traditions. West Virginia has lost only, two games in seven years atMorgantown and 18 in the last 19 years. Part of the reason for this is the tre mendous fan support. At Morgan town they have a band, they have cheerleaders (eight of them at Wednesday’s game with State), they have a Mountaineer mascot and they have spirit.. Before the' game a huge, blue carpet with a gold. WVa. initialed in it is rolled onto the court. The" lights - are dimmed and -as the players are introduced, a spot light follows .thenMo the center of the court as they\walk ; out on the thick carpet. A coon-skinned Mountaineer' with his trusty mus ket shakes - hands with each, of them and then turns to the op posing team and fires-a couple of, shots—blanks of course. THE BAND starts blaring away and the cheerleaders take up the chant. If you think this doesn’t “psych-up’’ a team for a game, you’ve got another think coming. Rozelle Questions Lions' Karras NEW YORK (£>)—Alex Karras, star tackle of the Detroit Lions, .underwent a. severe grilling by National Football. League Com missioner Pete Rozelle at a secret rendezvous yesterday after .his admission that he had bet on games. The 250-pound All-Pro defen sive lineman arrived by air, yes terday morning, along with team mate Wayne Walker, to confer with the, .commissioner in- the latest development .of the pro football betting investigation. Walker’s session lasted 10 min utes but Karras, who said his wagers were limited to “a pack of cigarettes and a couple of ci gars,” was called back in the aft MEN! SHARPEN UP THAT WARDROBE! Levine Bros. Semi-Annual Sale Now In Progress YOU CAN SECURE SUITS. . SPORTSOATS, AND OTHER FURNISHINGS AT GREAT SAVINGS SHOP NOW AND SAVE. LEVINE BROS. MENS SHOP STATE COLLEGE FRIDAY.-JANUARY 18, 1963 At State we have no cheer leaders, no band, no mascot and consequently little spirit. Here again though, there is some hope. A pep band is being organized and a charter is being written. The cheerleaders may make their first appearance next- Saturday night after .being- prodded by USG to show some spirit. Oh, certainly these are small things, but they all go toward making a winning- program. WEST VIRGINIA pays for its program by scheduling top notch teams which draw the crowds, and by putting 4,000 reserved •seats at $2.50 each on sale for every home game. The WVa. fieldhouse -seats' 6,800 so this means only 2,800 student's can attend each game.,This is accom plished by permitting a student to attend every third game. 'This, then, is part of the story of. West Virginia’s success.. Ed Barrett, the Mounties likable sports publicity director, summed up Penn State’s situation like this: “You.could have a real good team up there if you just spent the money. With a school that big, it’s just a 'matter of where the emphasis is placed.” - In the past the emphasis defi nitely has been on football. There are- signs though; that the future may hold something better for Penn State Basketball—and spell that with a capital B please. ernoon for-a second grilling after having undergone.a morning ses sion that lasted 90 minutes. “They didn’t say anything to me but I feel I am in the clealr,” said Walker, the Lions’ linebacker and placement kicker, “And be lieve me, it’s wonderful. “A thing like this makes you stop and 1 think. Thank -goodness I’ve never done anything wrong. Still I came within a whisker of getting into a lot of trouble. I’ll sure be more careful from now on," referring to his earlier ad mission that he had met persons of somewhat shady character-. But he insisted he had never discussed football with, them nor had he ever made a bet on a game,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers