THE MICHIGAN DAILY PM FEDERATION CHAMPIONSHIPS: Ann Arbor Track Club Readies for Next Meet it Wilcox Rejoins Team, Makes Good Babber Bows Out Two years ago, Ken Reardon, talent hawk for the Montreal Canadiens, peered over the edge of the Coliseum press box, pointed a finger and said, "there's a real fine hockey player-if you had 15 of him you wouldn't lose a game." Reardon was supposed to be watching Red Berenson, whom he later signed to a Canadien contract, but he found his eye wandering. Red wasn't having a very good game, particularly on defense, and Reardon found another player to watch. "He's a smart little bugger," Reardon added as Larry Babcock set up a teammate on a blind pass, after some smart stick-handling. ' ' That was two years ago when Larry was just a sophomore, but it could have been any of Michigan's games, because Larry never had a bad one. I first started following Larry's hockey career 'when he, and I started out together he in a Michigan jersey and me on the front page with my first cover. Looking back, it is clear that he made a much more auspicious appearance than I, scoring three goals in his second WCHA game, while I drew criticism from my boss. But then, Larry had been at his job much longer, playing hockey at his Chatham, Ontario, home almost before he could walk. Two years of junior hockey followed high school, then his father gave Coach Al Renfrew a phone call and mentioned Larry was interested in going to school. Renfrew hadn't heard of Babcock, but he saw one game and hustlem him off to Ann Arbor. Saturday, Larry, or "Babber" if you like, played his last game be- fore the home crowd and it would make a good story to relate that he ended his college career with a hat trick or at least the winning goal, but he didn't. He only had one assist-on the winning goal- but then that isn't bad considering his left wrist was so swollen from a broken bone that he could bare- ly hold onto his stick. It goes with- out saying that he logged more than his share of ice time and never complained once. He injur- ed it five games ago, but it's doubtful that he missed a turn on >: :.:...: the ice. The years of watching Larry play hockey have gone fast. It seems only a short time ago that I was interviewing Renfrew after that first hat trick. There's some- thing of a creed between writer and coach so that when you go LARRY BABCOCK itno the locker room you say, "How'd it go?" and the coach tells who played well. This works especially well if the coach has won and on this 'instance he had so Renfrew obliged with three names, then added, "of course we can't forget Babcock." Renfrew/didn't really need to single out .Larry and he knew it. It became a standard for hockey writers who had written short to adi a quote from Renfrew saying Babcock had played his usually fine game. Renfrew would never argue about being mis- quoted. "He's never done anything less than his best out there," Renfrew said. That's why 'enfrew never had to single him out. There was a time at a practice session when Larry made a bad pass and slapped his stick at the ice. "That's the only mistake he's' ever made," a teammate on the bench commented. It wasn't very far from the truth. He's always in position, never dogs it and makes few bad passes. He's only had one penalty all year, a five-minute match penalty for fighting. You have to excuse that one, however, because if Larry was drawn into a fight, anybody would have been. In the opinion of his teammates the only other mistake he made this year was getting married, but Dorothy doesn't think so and if you've seen her, you wouldn't either. By DAVE GOOD When the Ann Arbor Track Club made its public debut in the Michigan Relays here three weeks ago, it was so disorganized it had to recruit a runner from the stands to fill out its only relay team. Now, two days before its next outing-the Michigan Indoor Fed- eration Championships at Yost Field House Saturday-the AATC is still disorganized, but things are getting better. Don McEwen, secretary-treasurer of the club, reports that its bank account has mushroomed to $77 and that it has even been incor- porated as a non-profit organiza- tion. Mostlly Grad Runners Right now, the AATC is still in the germination stage. Wally Schafer, a middle-distance runner on Michigan's Big Ten champion- ship team of 1961, and now presi- dent of the AATC, got it rolling last 'fall and now has a nucleus of about addozen former cllege athletes doing graduate workhere. McEwen says that the club has a chance to grow into one of the outstanding groups of graduate trackmen in the Midwest. "It's not our goal, but it would be icing on the cake and something I would 'like to shoot for," he explained. McEwen was Michigan's 1952 track captain and a former Ameri- can record-holder in the two-mile run. He is now a student counselor at Ann Arbor High. "For instance, we could have one of the best two-mile relay teams in the country next year," McEwen pointed out. The AATC is hoping to add three half-milers to its membership next year- Charles Aquino, this year's Michi- gan captain; Howie Deardorff, Penn State senior who set a Yost Field House record of 4:08.5 in the mile last Friday; and Dave Lean, former Big Ten champion and record-holder from Michigan State and Australia. Distance Depth These three, plus former Penn State distance man Steve Moor- head, former Michigan captain Earl (Buzz) Deardorff (Howie's older brother) and Schafer-all current members of the AATC- would provide depth in the middle distances.' Others on the club now are John Gregg, Jackson Steffes, Charles Snygg, Rod Denhart, Marsh Dickerson, Charles Proud- fit and Steve Williams. All are ex-Michigan trackmen with the exception of Snygg, who ran cross-country at Swarthmore. The AATC is doing its part for women's athletics, too. Two girls --Sperry Jones, a Michigan sopho- more, and Francie Kraker, a high school sophomore-are promising sprinters, according to McEwen. All except Gregg and Moorhead will be competing Saturday to pick up where they left off in the Michigan Relays, when Denhart won the pole vault and Williams placed third in the high jump. Their high spot of the meet came when the pick-up sprint medley relay team - Schafer, Gregg, Moorhead and Dickerson (who went as a spectator but wound up running a 220 leg on the relay) - beat the Michigan varsity entry under Coach Don Canham. After Saturday's meet, McEwen says he isn't sure where the AATC will compete next. "With $77, we can't afford as a club to pay members' travel expenses to meets. Obviously we can't go very far on this kind of financing," he commented. The money so far has come from membership fees and contributions from former Michi- gan trackmen, who may become "associate members." He explained that the club will send individuals to meets like the National Federation Indoor Cham- pionships at Milwaukee, but he said he doubted whether trips to the Penn or Drake Relays would be feasible till next year. "Until we can figure out a budget and have some wealthy philanthropist donate a substan- tial sum, we'll just have to tramp it," he grinned. By JERRY DILLER Gary Wilcox, though joining the team only at the beginning of this semester, has won himself a start- ing berth on Ccach Cliff Keen's wrestling squad. Wilcox has been given the per- manent nod at the 137-lb. slot by Keen by virtue of his two wins in as many starts. In his first start of the year the junior pinned Wisconsin's Dick Nalley in 5:38; in the Indiana meet the follow- ing day he decisioned Dave Cou- sino 8-2. "Gary made good progress as a sophomore last year, and after joining the squad a semester late and winning two, he looks like he may be in at 137-lbs. for good," explained Keen. Keeps in Trim During the first part of this year Wilcox kept in shape for the Wolverine squad by working out with the high school team of his hometown, Vestal, N.Y. For Wil- cox it is now only "a matter of getting his old moves back." As a high school student in cen- tral New York, he placed second in sectional meets for two years. He did not become well known though because the state holds no statewide wrestling contest. Wilcox had a good first year with the Wolverines with a 4-2 season mark and a third place in the Wilkes Tournament. He had a bit of bad luck in the Big Ten meet when he drew Iowa's Tom Huff in a semi-final match. Huff went on to take the title. Two In a Row Upon returning to Ann Arbor the grappler found himself wres- tling on two consecutive days. He also discovered that the long layoff had resulted in his being plagued with the wrestler's perpet- ual problem-that of keeping his GARY WILCOX . . . grand re-entrance DENVER LEADS LEAGUE: M' leers Share Cellar with Spartans By BILL BULLARD Winning its second and third league victories of the season last weekend, the Michigan hockey team moved into a last place tie with next weekend's opponents, Michigan State. The Wolverines defeated Mich- igan Tech 4-1 and 5-4 last Friday and Saturday nights. These losses dropped Tech down to fourth place from second. Michigan was boosted into a tie with State with its two victories and two State losses to Minnesota. Denver dumped North Dakota twice last week, 3-2 and 3-1, to take over first place from the Nodaks. Dakota fell two slots into third place. Gophers Rise Minnesota slipped into second place due to its two wins over Michigan State. The fifth place team, Colorado College, remained in that position despite being de- feated twice last week by North Dakota. Wolverine sophomore Gary But- ler, scoring a goal in each of the games with Tech, now leads the WCHA in goals scored and is tied for total points. Butler is tied with Louis Nanne of Minnesota. Both have 24 points. Third in tle conference in scor- ing is Denver's Bill Staub with 23 points, 12 goals and 11 assists. He is followed by five players all tied at 20 points apiece. Michigan State's Dick John- stone, Michigan Tech's John Ivan- itz, and Staub are tied for second in goals with 12. Nanne, a defenseman, leads the league in assists with 16. He has eight goals to give him his 24- WCHA Standings point total. Butler has 13 goals and 11 assists. Dubious Honor Michigan's only other leader was in the penalty department. Defenseman Wayne Kartusch has been whistled down for 29 pen- alties. He has been in the penalty box for 72 minutes. Junior Gord Wilkie has the sec- ond highest number of assists with 14. He has four goals to place, in a tie for ninth in total scoring. Gary Bauman of Michigan Tech and Joe Lech of North Dakota again lead the WCHA in allowing the fewest number of goals per game to be scored against them. Both have 2.6 goals-against aver- ages. Bauman is the only goalie in the league to post a shutout this season and he has three. John Chandik, an All-American goaile for Michigan State last season, has the highest goals- against average in the league for those goalies who have played eight games or more, Other teams have averaged six goals a game against him. Michigan goalie Bob Gray who returned to the lineup last week- end after an injury, gave up five goals in the two games. He now has a 3.4 goals-against average. The Wolverines travel to East Lansing this weekendfor games with Michigan State tomorrow and Saturday nights. Denver Minnesota North Dakota Michigan Tech Colorado College Michigan State MICHIGAN . W L 11 5 9'4 85 8 6 6 8 3 9 3 11 TI 0 3 0 0 2 Pct. .683 .656 .607 .563 .429 .250 .250 Never Criticizes... 1 I -or IV V I U a IM E Iu