By CHARLOT M. DENMON
Staff Correspondent
Increasing incidents on and off
the football field during this season
brings to minds a series of questions
— questions concerning who is to
blame for these incidents and, if
there is any, solutions.
When a boy becomes a member of
a high school varsity team what are
his responsibilities? Who is in con-
trol on the sidelines? Who is in
control on the playing field? What is
the coach’s responsibility? What are
the officials responsibilities? Are
they impartial when officiating,
and, last but not least, what about
the behavior of fans and parents of
the players?
Is it possible that the correct or
logical answers to the above ques-
tions have never been understood in
today’s competition, do all of the
above play a role in some of the
incidents, most of them behavior, or
could the proper interpretation of
one or two answers at the beginning
Of a season eliminate what could
come a more difficult problem as
e goes on.
his season there has been much
more criticism of officials than we
have heard in the past. Most of it is
Parents Day
heard on the sidelines, that is from
the fans, and occasionally, there
have been complaints from coaches.
Most of these complaints come after
bad calls on the field, failure of
officials to note that two or three
players from one team gang up on
one player from the opposing
eleven. In fact this was very notice-
able in a recent game when three
players on a winning team started
punching a young player on the
other team. An official, who, by
coincidence, lived in the winning
team’s district, turned his head and
looked into the stands, despite
repeated calls from players and
coaches of the young player’s team.
At another game, between an unde-
feated team and a team with only a
few victories, the officials consis-
tenty called penalties against the
losing team, apparently paying no
attention to the coach’s complaints.
Why?
Is there a reason that today’s
officials consciously or sub-con-
sciously favor the top teams? Do
they worry about the winning
coach’s attitude? Are they looking
to be selected for the playoffs and
have nothing to gain from a losing
team’s coach? Do officials assigned
to games between teams on or near
the bottom go into the competition
with a negative attitude? Do they
realize these games ar every impor-
tant to the kids playing on those
teams. And even though they are
friends, is it wise that team coaches
and certain officials wine and dine
together during football season or
does this action raise questions in
the minds of fans? These are but a
few incidents occurring this season.
Bob Thomas of Wyoming Valley
West, who is in charge of assigning
the officials for the Wyoming Valley
Conference games, explained the
process used. Each year before the
start of the football season, the
conference schools’ coaches attend
a meeting where they can cross off
the names of applying officials they
late-game score.
Wilkes-Barre Fats
— PITT COACH ANDY
URBANIC was in the area last
week checking on some of the top
schoolboy prospects. Andy
believes the Panthers will get
things turned around. Many of
their problems stem from var-
LE injuries to key personnel.
= ‘‘Sure we’ve
had some costly
injuries and we
haven’t played
with the consist-
ency we antici-
pated, but we're
going with a lot
young people. It’s
a tough way to
gain experience,
but it could help
us down the
road,’’ said
Urbanic.
— SPEAKING OF RECRUIT-
ING, Meyers’ Greg Lott is get-
ting a heap of attention. Most of
the college coaches I've talked
with say he’s got a lot of athletic
ability and could be a ‘diamond
in the rough.’
One of the players I've got a
hunch on is Valley West's Ed
Michaels. He could be the type
you got to take a chance on and
could be a late bloomer in the
future.
. — FOOTBALL NEWS had a
superb story regarding Pitt foot-
ball in last week’s edition. Harry
DeVold said, ‘“The 1937 team had
no equal and was probably the
greatest combination of talent
for its time. Under (Coach Jock)
Southerland, it was a popular
national champion.”
I’m always proud when I read
‘| accolades about the team, simply
because my Dad, Luke, was an
offensive guard on that squad.
When I was growing up many
members of that classic group
would visit our home and I
enjoyed listening to the various
stories about their adventures. I
never realized or appreciated
just how great that team was
until I was a lot older. My Dad
wasn’t the type to boast about his
grid accomplishments
L_Pitt always had a great foot-
ball tradition. Panthers have
nine national titles to their
credit. I'm sure they’ll return to
the top 10. That ’37 team allowed
only 34 points.
— MANY FANS HAVE
ASKED about Bill Fralic’s per-
formance this season. It was
amusing to hear the announcer
on ESPN during PSU-WVU game
recently state a Mountaineer out
performed Billy. It was an
absurd statement. Coach
Urbanic told me Bill has played
better than ever. Pro scouts in
Pittsburgh last week say Fralic
is still in a class by himself.
— WE’RE PREPARING A
SPECIAL OUTLOOK on the
annual Old Shoe Game between
Dallas and Lake-Lehman.
Despite the records of both
teams this game is still signifi-
cant for the two schools and fans
in the Back Mountain.
— SEVERAL LAKE-LEHMAN
FANS have inquired about
former standout Mike Leskowski.
He’s still on the Penn State
squad, but hasn’t seen any play-
ing time, which is unfortunate
for him. I believed at the time
Mike made a mistake in his
selection of schools. I still believe
had he gone to Maryland he’d
have played simply because of
the Terps defensive scheme.
That’s hindsight, but my opinion.
— I DON’T BELIEVE there’s
a more popular coach or a guy
that gets more out of his players
than Wyoming Sem’s Marv
Antinnes. He’s a stickler for
detail.
— WHAT A SUPER JOB Pete
Kowalski did with the Penn State
Wrestling brochure for the
coming season. This is Pete’s
initial production and it’s packed
with a bunch of records and facts
about the Nittany Lion matmen.
I’m looking forward to working
with him again this season. Pete
has a shot at going into the
‘White Castle Hall of Fame’ in
the near future.
— SPEAKING OF WRES-
TLING, from early reports I
won’t be surprised to see
State for the top spot in my
Eastern Mat for the upcoming
dual meet season.
The wrestling season will start
with the Bloomsburg and East
Stroudsburg Opens on the 16th
and 17th of this month. Penn
State’s Invitational is slated for
the 30th and Dec. 1. Coach Rich
Lorenzo and his staff always do
an outstanding job with the tour-
ney and many of the top teams
will compete.
— GETTING BACK TO MY
SUPER SEVEN, which I over-
looked in the previous columns.
Here’s the way they shape up
after comparing notes with var-
ious coaches: 1-Texas, 2-
Nebraska, 3-Oklahoma, 4-Miami,
5-Florida, 6-Florida State, 7-Okla-
homa State. No Washington
simply because they aren’t that
good and play a patsy schedule.
Watch Washington State knock
them off. Iowa is supposed to be
getting better, but I can’t forget
the loss to PSU and the way Ohio
State punched their tickets.
— ARE THE HANOVER
HAWKS FOR REAL? What they
did to Wyoming Area surprised
many. The Hawks simply lined
up and ran the football right at
the Warriors defense. I can’t
remember a team controlling the
football on sustained marches
like the Hawks did against the
Warriors.
— TOO BAD THE DALLAS
SOCCER TEAM got eliminated
from the District playoffs. How-
ever, with the popularity of
soccer in the Back Mountain,
I’ve got to believe it will only be
a matter of time before the
Mountaineers claim the District
2 crown.
— DID I HEAR WARM’s Ron
Allen right recently when he
stated ‘PSU Coach Joe Paterno
has left the game pass him by?’
While I’ve never been a fan of St.
Joe’s, he’s still a very solid
coach. He just doesn’t have the,
size in the trenches to matchup
and take the good teams on head-
to-head. Nittany Lions have
simply been outmuscled up front
on both sides of the ball.
WW
don’t want, after reviewing all of
those who have applied.
Those remaining on the list are
voted on by the coaches and elected
by a majority vote. Normally, any
of the officials on the list can be
assigned to any game unless an
athletic director has made a request
that a certain official not be
assigned to their games.
“We try to honor such requests,’
said Thomas. ‘Sometimes we don’t
have a lot of officials and have to
send what we have. In some
instances, an official has been given
a contract for a certain game and
unless he agrees, it is too late to
withdraw him.”
All action on the playing field is in
control of the official — not the
coaches, not the athletic director —
only the officials and the head
official has the final word. Is it
possible the officials are not taking
their responsibility seriously enough
this season? Could some of the
incidents have been prevented if
offending players, irregardless of
the team, had been ejected from the
game? Trouble was prevented
recently when officials stopped the
Wyoming Seminary/Williamson
game at the first half. Their action,
in all likelihood, prevented serious
problems.
It is the coach or coaches respon-
sibility to keep the boys under
control on the sidelines. True, the
head coach does not have time to
watch the boys on the bench when
he is trying to follow his team on
the field. He should be given enough
assistants, however, so they can
keep the players on the sidelines
under control and back behind the
lines in order to avoid a penalty
call.
It is not the coach’s responsibility
to control the fans, but it is the
responsibility of the athletic direc-
tor or high school principal to see
that there is sufficient security to
keep all spectators in control. We
believe that this refers to language
the field are kids, giving the best
they can on any given day and their
best is not always what fans expect.
These kids are not pros, they are
not collecting high salaries, but they
are giving a lot of their time and
effort to take part in a sport they
love. They are there to learn sports-
manship, to develop, to play their
best. They want to win and their
coach wants them to win, but they
don’t always have the ability to win.
Winning should be near the bottom
of their list of priorities. Good
sportsmanship and doing their best
near the top.
When a boy goes out for the team
he has certain responsibilities. He
has to learn to work as a team
member and not to want to be a
star all the time. It is team effort
that helps a team win. THe player
has to learn that when it comes to
football, he has one coach, either
the head coach or the coach to
whom he is assigned. His parents,
his big brother, his friend — none of
these people are his coaches — that
is one of the first lessons he should
learn. A player has to learn to be a
good loser as well as a gracious
winner. High school sports progams
are a part of the school curriculum
to aid in a well-rounded education.
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