PAGE six
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
WEDNESDAY, 24 MARCH 1965
PAGE SiX THE MICHIGAN DAILY WEDNESDAY. 24 MARCH 1965
Wakabayashi: Icer MVP, All-American,
Captain
LLOYD GRAFF
By JIM TINDALL
Michigan hockey riddle: "Pound
for pound, who's the best hockey
player around?"
Answer: Mel Wakabayashi.
The 5'6," 150 pounder, who has
brought Michigan crowds to their
feet so many times this season
with his stickhandling and scrap-
py play, was selected as a forward
on "the American Hockey Coaches
Association's Western All-America
squad yesterday.
The Western College Hockey
Association's dominance was evi-
denced in the selections as all six
of the Western choices were on
WCHA squads.
The native of Chatham, On-
tario, received more accolades last
night at the annual post-season
banquet sponsored by some of the
Michigan team's strongest boost-
ers, the Dekers. After dinner it
was announced that Wakabayashi
had been elected team captain
and, in addition, was the recipient
of the Hal Downes Most Valuable
Player Trophy.
Mel, a junior, led the league
in scoring this season with 13
goals and 15 assists in conference
play. "This," pointed out Coach
Al Renfrew yesterday, "is excep-
tional, considering that he played
on a team that finished fifth in
the league. Generally, you wid
find that its is a player that
prays on the number one or two
team that wins the scoring title'
Name Game
Wakabayashi, whose name gives
public address announcers fits,
beat out Minnesota's star center
for the individual crown in a dra-
matic finish that saw him edge
Woog, who was also an All-
America selection, by two points.
The two leaders came face to face 1 In the final series with, NCAA
in Michigan's second to last series champion Michigan Tech the
which was played at Minneapolis 'l"Mighty Mite" picked up two mire
The icers lost both of those tigf'z assist, to clinch the crown.
gamnes by scores of 5-4 and 5-3
but it was therscoring and play of Captains at Center
Wakabayashi that helped keep A physical education major,
Michigan's hopes for a WCHA Wakabayashi will carry on the
playoff birth alive. In the frist tradition of a captain at center.
game of the series he tallied two Coach Renfrew explained yestnr-
of the team's four goals, and in day, "It is really ironic that this
the second he picked up an assist should happen since our captain
on a goal by Marty Read to stag has been a center for the past six
even with Woog, who also tallied years. It started with Dale Mac-
three points for the weekend. Donald back in 1961, and has con-
tinued with "Red" Berenson,
lairy Babcock, Gordie Wilkie,
Wht Martin this year, and now
Renfrew had high praise for the
center, "He is an excellent leader
for he seems to get along with
everyone, and he is aware of what
i happening on the ice at all
t mes. In general, he is certainly
deserving of the position.
"In addition, he is a tremendous
Sconpetitor - he played several
times this season when he prob-
ob y should not have because of
minor injuries."
MVP's Too
> Michigan centers over the past
few years have certainly not been
I" t out of the running for the
MVP trophy . either, for four of
the past five years winners have
prayed the middle slot on the of-
fensive line. "Red" Berenson, who
MEL WAKABAYASHI is currently skating with the
Montreal Canadiens of the NHL,
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ won the trophy for the years '60-
61 and '61-'6'. Then last season
Gordie Wilkie, who centered the
high scoring Butler-Wilkie-Cole
line picked up the award along
* with All-America honors. Wilkie
holds the Michigan standard for
Of
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-Daily-Kamalakar Rao
ALL-AM~iRICA MEL WAKABAYASHI manages to get off a shot
on the Michigan State goal, even though he appears surrounded.
Wakabayashi was named team captain for the coming season,
Most Valuable Player for the year, and to the College Hockey
Coaches Association's All-America team, all yesterday.
i6 I
-The Romanticization
of Glorious Trivia
Not long ago a friend of mine asked me why I wasted my time
writing sports for The Daily when my talents might be more effective-
ly used racking up four-points which would look far better on that in-
sipid autobiography called "my record" than an incidental reference
to being associate sports editor of the campus rag.
Another acquaintance stopped me a couple weeks ago and in-
quired why I wasn't working on the editorial staff rather than doodling
with sports cliches. He mumbled some high sounding triteness about
the value of conveying meaningful events to the readers, and being of
service to the University.
To be quite frank, all I could answer when they confronted me
was that I wrote sports because I honestly enjoyed it. I knew that this
was a silly reason and a very poor retort to people who were talking
about transcripts, meaningful events, and transforming the Univer-
sity, but that was all I could say.
Realizing that doing something because you like it was thorough-
ly unjustified in our eminently practical world I decided that I had to
find a cosmic rationalization for my screwy love of sports writing.
As a quote user since I started writing compositions about Spot
and Puff in third grade, I went to "Bartlett's Quotations" to see if
Francis Bacon or perhaps Henry David Thoreau had ever said any-
thing about the meaning of sports writing. They hadn't, nor had any-
body else. In over 1200 pages studded with literary gems there was
not a single reference to my art.
Undeterred by Bartlett's omission I decided to query my col-
leagues on the sports staff about why they fiddled away their time
writing about athletes and composing headlines when they might
be doing something meaningful like hanging up signs for the
service fraternity or picketing the Quad when Mulligatawny Soup
was served. Mainly, I got totally useless replies like, "I don't know
exactly, I guess I just like to do it," or the ridiculous "because
it's fun."
But finally I found a compatriot who avowed that he didn't write
because it was fun, but because it was necessary and important to the
University. He explained that there were 150 athletes at Michigan
and the athletic program had a budget of a million dollars, therefore
sports were important.
Purpose 'In MY Life
Suddenly I had meaning. I had worth. It was like the time I was
told in physiology that if all of the chemicals of my body could be
extracted they would be worth one dollar and three cents. I don't know
if that's wholesale or retail, by the way.
I was a sports writer so I could report to the University how the
athletic department spent its money. Somehow it didn't sound right
to me because I had only seen the financial report of the department
once in three years, and it was a fleeting glance at that. I didn't even
know what kind of insurance policy the wrestling team carried.
Something obviously didn't jibe. I even had the heretical
thought that if The Daily was covering the athletic department
because it had a million dollar budget it should cover the plant
department also, because it had an even larger budget I figured.
And the plant department presented exquisite possibilities too. We
could do advances for tree prunings and rehashes of street pav-
ings. Man against the elements-some terrific angles there, I
imagined.
So I still didn't have my cosmic rationalization, my raison
d'etre for sports writing. Sports were trivial, and sports writing was
the description and romanticization of that trivia, I knew that. So
what. If people enjoy watching football, gymnastics, skydiving, lacrosse
and parchesi and others rejoice in describing those trivial avocations,
maybe that is enough.
Maybe it's even important.
-1
,,
i
most assists, 46, while Berenson
has the record for most goals, 43,
and most points, 72. The question'
only remains, "What mark will
Wakabayashi eclipse?"
No Penalties
The little All-America set one
I
PRE-CLASSIFY WITH CONFIDENCE
READ
The Course Evaluation Booklet
A GROUP PROJECT OF
Assembly House Council--Interfraternity Council-
Michigan Daily-Panhelelnic Association-
Graduate Student Council-Union-League
standard this year that will be
hard to beat - he played in 16
WCHA games without being call-
ed for one solitary penalty while
scoring 28 points. In the final
WCHA statistics one has to search
through 65 names before the name
of another player who spent all
of his ice time skating rather than
cooling .off in the penalty box.
Number 66 on that list is Mich-
igan sophomore Bob Boysen.
ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
West
Goalie: Tony Esposito, Michigan
Tech, sophomore
Defense: Don Ross, North Dakota,
senior
Defense: Wayne Smith, Denver,
junior
Forward: Doug Woog, Minnesota,
junior
Forward: MEL WAKABAYASHI,
MICHIGAN, JUNIOR
Forward: Doug Roberts, Michigan
State, senior
East
Goalie: Jack Ferreira, Boston
University, junior
Defense: Tom Ross, Boston
University, junior
Defense: Bob Gradeau, Brown,
junior
Forward: Jerry Knightley, RPI,
senior
Forward: Grant Heffernan,
Providence, senior
Forward: John Cunniff, Bostonl
College junior
'With Sunday's Daily or
On Sale Monday
In the Fishbowl
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Cage Coaches
Get New Rule
CHICAGO (WP) - Basketball
coaches were granted broad lee-
way to confer with floor officials
during a, game by the National
Basketball Rules Committee of the
United States and Canada yes-
terday.
Cliff Fagan of Chicago, com-
mittee secretary, said at the end
of two day meeting Tuesday that
permissive action was adopted
"whereby a coach may confer with
floor officials for the purpose of
preventing or correcting specified
errors."
"This means," he said, "that a
coach can get off the bench when
the clock is stopped or the ball
is dead and go to the timer's
table to request a conference with
the officials. If the coach is right
in his contention of preventing
or correcting a specified error, no
time out will be charged against
his team. If he is wrong, it will
be."
Fagan said that the committee
probably adopted fewer changes
than at- any other time.
The committee decided to study
the fifth foul rule for another
year. There is some desire, Fagan
said, to eliminate fouling out. In-
stead, after a fifth foul is charged,
the team fouled would get extra
free throws or would be given the
ball.
DANCE to
WASHBOARD WILLIE
LIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Tues. & Wed. 9 p.m.-1:45
at the SCHWABEN INN
215 S. Ashley
Welcome
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TOMORROW
RELIGION AND THE CREATIVE ARTS
JOHN W. DIXON, JR.
Prof. of Art, Dept. of Religion
University of North Carolina
Author: Form and Reality; Art as
Communication,
Nature and Grace in Art
Articles: "The Iconic Architecture
of Rudalph Schwartz"
"On the Possibility of a
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