LEIGHT THE MICHIGAN DAILY TUESDAY. AUGUST 29, 1967 THE MICHIGAN BATTY TTTFSDAY. ATJETT~T ~ I qE~'7 vux3.vwa.y w.v uara:ra 16a q atrvo moommum Mat lIen Seek 'To Regain rni n 's I X,14 ff By BOB LEES April is normally a slow month for followers of winter sports. Basketball has had its finals, gymnastics is done, swimming and indoor track are finishing up, and sports editors are hard-pressed to find interesting tidbits to inform their readers. So why, on the night of April 8 last spring, was The Daily's sports. desk flooded with calls about an obscure meet being held in the un- likely location of Stillwater, Okla- homa? The answer is that the "obscure" mee was the East-West All-Star dual wrestling meet, and the call- ers were just a part of the amazing number of followers of one of Michigan's most exciting - and consistently winning - winter sports squads. Ever since Clifford P. Keen took over as coach of Wolverine wres- tlers in the 1924-25 season, his squads have maintained one of the most successful won-loss rec- ords in sports history. Going into last season, his teams had amassed 245 victories against only 87 losses and 11 ties in dual meet competi- tion, while gaining the Big Ten conference crown nine times since official championships began in 1934. And last year's squad was no ex- ception, Following a four-year skein which saw Wolverine grap- plers lose only one meet, while at one time winning 34 straight, the 1966-67 edition breezed through eleven meets without a loss, in- cluding a thrilling come-from-be- hind victory over '67 NCAA champ Michigan State. Though this same State squad went on to cop both the Big Ten and NCAA crowns, Michigan stay- ed right behind the Spartans in both tourneys, gaining , second places in each, as the two Big Ten arch-rivals ended the Oklahoma- Oklahoma State domination of the national scene. And the '67 team gained many individual honors in addition to their team laurels. Bob Fehrs, 123- pound captain of the '67 aggre- gation, copped first place in his weight. division at the Wilkes- Barre Invitational, then went on to grab his third Big Ten cham- pionship as well as runner-up in the NCAA for the third -time. Fellow seniors on that squad, 145-pounder Burt Merical and 160-pounder Jim Kamman,'grab- bed a first and a second, respec- tively, in the Midlands Invitation- al at LaGrange, Illinois. They fol- lowed this with a second and a first, respectively, in the Big Tens. Kamman, wrestling at 152-pounds in the nationals, took the crown in that division. But these men have graduated, and glory should now focus on the "youngsters" from fast year's squad, who are properly expected to lead the way for this year's bunch. "Yet, we have a lot of good guys coming up from the freshman team, too," says assistant grap- pling coach Rick Bay, beginning his second year as Keen's assis- tant. "Though the returnees will show the way for awhile, we expect good fights at all positions." The returning letterman are led by Lansing's Dave Porter at heavyweight. Two years ago Por- ter capped an undefeated season by winning both the conference and national championships, and last year was named "Outstanding Wrestler" in the Big Ten tourney by winning his crown on three consecutive pins. Though upset in the semi-finals of the nationals, this year's cap- tain avenged his loss by pinning the NCAA champ at the East-West meet. And other holdovers brighten the scene. Senior Fred Stehman, also of Lansing, starting off with a third at the Midlands in the 152 division, went all the way in that weight to grab the Big Ten crown, and moved up to 160 to take third place nationally. Among this year's juniors Geoff Henson and Pete Cornell also re- turn. Geoff, from Arlington, Va., tok a fourth at both the Wilkes- Barre and the Big Ten in the 130 range, while Cornell, according to Keen, "lost a close one at 177" at LaGrange. "But Pete really improved as the season progressed," remembers Bay, and the records bear him out. Finishing up a fine rookie season with a sensational victory in the State meet, the Lansing graduate was edged out in the Western Conference finals, then dropped down to 167 to take a third in the NCAA's. Although, as Bay says, "you're always hurting when you lose a lot of experience through grad- uation," the freshman squad "was a good one." Frosh Good In the Michigan Freshman Tourney,.held last winter with five other area frosh squads, the Baby- Wolverines amassed 83 points to for outdistance the pack. Second- place MSU had 48 points, while Bowling Greens 45, Central Michi- gan's 39, Toledo's 27, and Eastern Michigan with 10 rounded out the competition. And according to Bay, the out- standing member of that squad was 130-pounder Lou Hudson. "He worked out with Fehrs a lot last year," recalls Bay, "and he al- ways gave him a rough time. He's a tough competitor." The Hixon, Tennessee, graduate was a national champ in the Le- high Prep School Championships, being named Outstanding Wrestler his senior year. He also won his weight in the frosh tourney on two first-period pins, yet the coaches fear he won't be too much of a help at 130. "He's still a growing boy," laughs Bay. "We'll probably have to put him in the 137-pound division." But o t h e r lower-weighters brightened the tourney picture. Ron Sheer, 123 pounds, of Cleve- land took his weight class in two matches, but had to work to make. the lineup, as Perrysburg, Ohio's Mike Smith gave him a fine chal-. won his weight in the invitational by pinning his Bowling Green op- ponent in 45 seconds flat. When it comes to the 167-pound division, Bay is firm. "We needt help here." he says, "and Stevet Eldridge will provide it."t From Grosse Isle, Eldridge camek here last year "not knowing toof much about tactics, but he's an aggressive type and just may prove1 a sleeper." He took fourth in the tourney. Another of the "inex- perienced -but aggressive "types isz 177-pounder Bevan Alvey of Lin- coln, Illinois, who grabbed second at the tournament.- Heavyweight The last starter, and another second-place winner at the in- vitational, was heavyweight BillZ Warne of Sante Anna, California.- He had the dubious honor of being tossed around the wrestling room in practice by Dave Porter, and Bay claims that "he learned a lot from it. He's quite a competitor," says the assistant mentor rue-t fully. Another newcomer to this year's squad is Steve Rubin from Cleve- land, a transfer student from Ohio State. Though he wasn't eligible for competition last year, he is ex- pected to help out in the 137-145 range. Also challenging will be Bob Seegar from Westbury, New York, at 123; Arnold Segal from Hart- ford, Connecticut, who sat out most of last year with mono but will give the lower weights a tussle; and Mike Touma from Port Huron, whom Bay describes as "a hard worker and second to Sanger in improvement." Bob Noel, who started several matches at 123 last year, will also return to make that weight a good dogfight. Optimism The team overall may find it hard to regroup after losing so many top stars, but Bay is op- timistic, especially after watching the frosh in action. "It was posi- tively enlightening the way they took that MSU'bunch," he beams. "State had better credentials, but our kids were hungry. As enthu- siastic as they were in that tour-I nament, we expect battles at all< positions, and no pushovers when< the season starts."< In the Big Ten, though, Michi- gan State lost few starters, and will probably by the favorite. Bayc agrees, but says that "Michigan1 also has to be a team to beat,"1 with Northwestern and Minne- sota a pair of strong darkhorses.I Having the first two positions inr the nationals in this conference1 is an honor to be sure, but Wol- verine followers would like to seet a repetition. With the numbers reversed. 1 Tennis Team Paced By Sophomore Stars By PHILLIP BURSLEY This year's tennis season al- though frustrating Weather-wise, turned out to be a better year for the Michigan netters than had been expected. "I was surprised at how well we did," said Michi- gan coach Bill Murphy. "My hopes went up as the dual meet season progressed." Murphy cited "the doubles com- bination of Pete Fishback and Dell as the toughest match of the Indiana meet." Falling behind in the first set, the duo came back to win, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and cinch the Wolverines' important 8-1 vic- tory that knocked Indiana out of first place by taking sole posses- sion of the top spot. In the last meet of the season, Highlights of the year were Michigan easily defeated the I1- meets against Indiana, Michiyan linois team 9-0. Dell, by virtue of State and Notre Danme. Murphy his 6-4, 11-9 victory, ended the saidi mat the tougnest was a toss to Notre Dame. Michigan was led this year by sophomore ace Dick Dell, from Betheshda, Md, and captain Brian Marcus. These two stars led- Michigan to a second place finish in the Big Ten (behind Michigan State). At the season's end in the NCAA finals at Carbondale, Illi- nois, the Wolverines finished tenth nationally as a team. "With luck we might have made it to the seventh position;" FRED STEHMAN ..try. hi 7. 1 N\ sR Traditionally for Fall .... ,.*w II lenge. And Frank Lucido, another Lansing product, survived a shaky start which led to a first-match loss by wrestling back for third place at 137. Upstarts While Geoff Henson has those "upstarts' to contend with 'in maintaining his starting role, Fred Stehman expects some challenges in the middle weights, too. His 152-pound division, in fact, was filled on the freshman squad by a familiar name-Lane Headrick. Headrick, from Chattanooga, has a brother who lettered for Michigan, and in high school lost only one match-to Lou Hudson. He proved his*ability in the north- land, too, by taking the frosh crown on three match victories, two by pins. The 145-pound slot was filled by Walled Lake's John Hellner. Though he was edged out 4-3 in the finals of his weight, Bay "ex- pects good things from him. He was third in the state in high school, and always gave Kamman and Stehman good workouts." As if they weren't enough, 160- pounder Jim Sanger from Madi- son, Wisconsin, was termed by the coaches "the most improved freshman." Only fourth in Wis- consin's state tournaments, Sanger RON TEEGUARDEN Redwood & Ross presents its Fall 1967 collection of natural shoulder clothing and related furnishings. Authentic traditional styles that take you anywhere in classic comfort, dignity, and good taste. said Murphy. He added, "There were some really fine and out- standing teams in that tourna- ment, Michigan was certainly one of them. I thought we held our own very well against the best collegiate tennis has to offer in this country." Hindu Wins The dual meet loss to Notre Dame was highlighted by Marcus' loss to the Fighting Irish's Hindu. standout, JasJlt Singh, following Dick Dell's fiefeat. Marcus ,came back the next day to put away Indiana's Mike Baer 12-10, 6=1, Del kept his Big Ten conference dual meet record unblemished with a 6-2, 6-0 basting of the Hoosiers' Dave Brown. SUITS edwood & Ross suits are cut along natural lines, narrow lapels, center hooked vent with plain front trousers. A complete variety awaits your inspection, including Cheviots, Coverts, Worsteds, and Sharkskins-many with vest .. .;' dual meet season with an un- beaten record, one of three in the conference. Thanks to t;e shut- out win, the Wolverines were able to retain possession of first place by one point over fast-rising Michigan State. Fine performances were put in by the entire team. Notable were Pete Fishbach who defeated Mike Eibi 6-1, 6-4; Ron Teeguarden, downing Steve Leveson, 6-1, 9-7; and Bob Pritula over Rich Berk- holder, 6-2, 7-5. The all-important Big Ten Meet shapedup as a show-down betweenMichigan and Michigan State before the first ball was lobbed. Both teams were experi- enced and strong finishers. The pre-title dual meet season was a virtual deadlock and the title figured to go down to the wire. Murphy pointed out that the Spartans had "a well-balanced team and their scores with other schools were similar to ours." Michigan, the winner of the Big Ten crown for the past three years, was thus set against an equally tough and formidable foe, not to mention individual strong- men from other teams who would try to dent the Wolverines' drive. At the end of the first day, the Spartans paced the meet by only a point, 98 to Michigan's 97. A distant third, Northwestern was 23 points back. The stage was cleared for the tension of the final playoffs where victory might be measured in teaspoonfuls. During that first day, Michigan doubles team of Marcus and Tee- guarden ha~d been eliminated. It was vital that Michigan win the No. 3 match competition. Ed Waits and Pritula did just that by team- ing up against Indiana's Bob Gray and Dave Shumacher, 3-6, 7-5, 8- 6. The win was a satisfying one because the Hossiers had turned the tables on the Wolverine pair just a month earlier. The outlook for Michigan ap- peared to brighten as they battled back on the second day of the tournament to take a 1% point lead over MSU, 119-117. How- ever, the Wolverines were sorely wounded by Dell's defeat at the hands of Wisconsin's'Dan Bleck- inger. Ironically, Dell had beaten him earlier in the season. Decisive Blow The loss of Dell In the No. 1 singles proved to be the decisive blow as the Wolverines faltered and finished second behind the Spartans. The Spartans' margin was only 4% points, 134%/2 to 130. Michigan had outdistanced all other comers, leaving third place Indiana behind at 84 points. The long season of dual confer- ence meets and three days of rug- ged competition boiled down to the No. 3 doubles match where Waits and Pritula were called upon to perform another miracle. They faced MSU's Jim Phillips and Vic Dhooge, whom they had defeated in East Lansing earlier 6-8, 7-5, 9-7. In an extremely close match, the Spartans walked away with the championship, 5-7, 6-3, 8-6. Murphy commented after the tournament, "I have been asso- ciated with the Big Ten tennis for 20 years as a player and coach and this is the closest tournament I can remember. We gave them quite a fight for It." Michigan wound up with three individual conference champions. Sophomore Brian Marcus claimed the number 2 singles; Pete Fish- back dealt a 6-1, 6-4 defeat to Northwestern's Tom Mansfield in the finals of the No. 3 singles; and Ed Waits kept his No. 4 crown by defeating Hoosier Mike Meis, 6-2, 6-3. So ended a thrilling Big Ten meet, with Michigan-eagerly awaiting next year's tournament with revenge in mind. The Wolverines went on to the NCAA national tournament. In close and tough matches, the Michigan netters tied for 10th, Commenting on the past season, Murphy said, "This was a frustra- ting year. We were continually fighting the elements; the weather was terrible for tennis. I am also disappointed in the second place finish in the Big Ten. "However, I am extremely hap- py we made it that far. Dick Dell was obviously a fine player for us, but seemed to go a little wrong in the tournament." Dell will be back this year with another season to go beyond that. a A I ; ,: from 59.50 to 100.00 SPORT COATS n istinctive separate jackets, fine im- ported and domestic woolens. Cut along natural body lines for correct appearance. Tasteful colorings, individual patterns in new midweight fabrics for mod- ern comfort ..: jfrom 29.95 to 65.00 4 ' 4 STOP IN-See for yourself at the Briar Shop! Convenient Charge Accounts available. 4 weater imports the Classic Look from England our distinctive sweater collection. features McGeorge and Cox Moore fine lamb's wool and Scot- tish shetlands in new heather tones. Hand framed and fully fashioned. } V-necks & Crews 15.95 Cardigans 19.95 " . ' 4 I Springtime is swingtime on a Yamaha sportcycle. 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