THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER' i THE MICHIAN DAILYTEuRSDAY.SEPT4TH. CHIPS... by Mike Block Fullbacks Show Promise How To Fill a Stadium Now that 14,000 athletic coupons, and the football tickets that go with them, have been sold to Michigan students, athletic ticket manager Don Weir is left with the prospect of filling the remainder of the Stadium's 101,001 seats for seven fall afternoons. In at least six of those games, of courte, he won't come close to filling every space, but the number of seats that are bought up will be proportional to the future financial prosperity of the athletic department, and in particular, that still-fuzzy dream, the new field house. Even the traditional bi-annual Michigan State sellout may not materialize this year, Weir indicates. "However, school hav- ing started two weeks early this year, we still have quite a few weeks to go before the MSU game," he qualified. "'But I can remember the time when those things were sold out by July." However, there is also a good argument that the Stadium will be packed for the Spartans' visit this time around, even if it is done at the last minute (i.e., gate sales) as was the case in 1961. If the Wolverines can knock off Southern Methodist in their first contest and Navy in their second, these two victories, coupled with State's annihilation by Southern California, could easily mean a crowd of 101,001 come Oct. 12. Natives Get Restless.*. Let's face it-the majority of the patrons of an 'M'-MSU battle don't just want to see a good game--they want to see the Spartans get smashed. And if it looks as though the Maize and Blue can do the job, the faithful will flock from all over the countryside to view the spectacle. The Michigan State game notwithstanding, experience has shown that if you want a good season at the gate, it's imperative that you, do well in the first few games. The 1962 season, which was a disaster in attendance as well as gridiron success, is a prime example of what happens when you don't start off on the right foot. In the opening game, almost 75,000 optimistic patrons and high school band members cane into the Stadium expecting the Wolver- ines to take their usual easy win over a non-conference foe, in this case Nebraska. However, Thunder Thornton, Dennis Claridge, and the rest of the Cornhuskers wouldn't comply, and Michigan's 25-13 loss helped to cause the Nebraska game attendance to be the largest of the season, which is amazing, since Michigan entertained three traditional rivals later in the season. The attendance slid to 64,380 for the Army encounter, and the victory over the Cadets was more than offset by two humiliating shutuots on the road (by MSU and Purdue), so that the turnout for the usually big Minnesota game rose anemically to 65,153. From then on, things deteriorated to 52,240 for Wisconsin and 47,754 for Illinois. True, the weather was bad for these latter two, but you'd think they'd at least outdraw Nebraska. So, from the ticket-selling point of view, all I can say is let's beat SMU and Navy, and then worry about those monsters upstate. By TOM ROWLAND Wayne Sparkman, veteran full- back who held the position for most of the 1962 season, moved back onto the first string offensive unit this week after a good show- ing in last Saturday's scrimmage. He heads a delegation of three that are currently in a fight for the position-Mel Anthony and Chuck Dehlin are now in back-up up duty-which is bound to keep the spot solid this fall. "Sparkman, Anthony, and DehI- in are in the forefront of the pier ture right now," Hank Fonde, of- fensive backfield coach, said yes- terday. "With the fullback shifting into an interior linebacker position on defense Dehlin and Anthony have shown up better. But Sparkman showed the best offensive play on Saturday." Tough Luck Anthony had a tough-luck first season in 1962. Picked for a prom- ising year, he was slowed most of the schedule by an early season injury and only finally managed to realize any potential in the lat- ter stages of the fall. Anthony carried 18 times in picking up 481 yards last year, playing in six games. The 6', 200-pound junior was all-league, all-city, all-state, and All-American playing high school football in Cincinnati. Sparkman is one of only nine BEWARE: Lightning To Strike Union Men Football hopes on the Michigan scene were dealt another crush- ing blow yesterday when it was announced that Stan (the Phan- tum) Kukla may miss The Daily- Union game one week from Friday. I' EXPERT SHOE REPAIRING Quick Service available on Request FILECCIA BROTHERS H109 South University I - ---r; ry} $: L f I BATTED DOWN-Michigan's Wayne Sparkman (33) leaps to knock a pass out of the hands of intended Illinois receiver Thur- man Walker in last year's game. Sparkman has been named by Wolverine Coach Bump Elliott as first string fullback on his strong showing in last Saturday's scrimmage. r seniors on Bump Elliott's squad this fall and has all the minutes as the "old man" at the fullback spot. He put in 236 minutes a year ago, tops at the position, and com- piled a 3.8 yard-per-carry aver- age. Only 5'1" and 185 pounds, Sparkman also nabbed two passes last season for 22 yards. Major League Standings AMERICAN LEAGUE W L Pct. GB NATIONAL LEAGUE. New York 96 51 Minnesota 83 64 Chicago 83 65 Baltimore 78 70 Detroit 72 75 x-Boston 70 77 Cleveland 70 79 Kansas City 67 79 x-Los Angeles 65 83 Washington 53 95 x-Playing night game. .653 - .565 13 .561 13 V2 .527 182 .490 24' .476 25Y2 .469 27 .459 28/ .439 31 .358 43 Los Angeles St. Louis Milwaukee San Francisco Philadelphia Cincinnati Chicago Pittsburgh Houston New York w 88 86 80 78 76 78 74 69 54 49 L 57 61 67 68 70 72 72 76 92 97 Pct. .607 .585 .544 .534 .521 .520 .507 .476 .370 .336 GB 3 9 101/ 122 122 14 j 19 34/ 39 YESTERDAY'S RESULTS Boston at. Los Angeles (inc.) Washington 6, Detroit 5 (10 inn.) New York 8, Kansas City 2 Chicago 3, Baltimore 2 Minnesota 9, Cleveland 3 TODAY'S GAMES New York at Kansas City Boston at Los Angeles Cleveland at Minnesota (Only games scheduled) YESTERDAY'S RESULTS Los Angeles 9, Pittsburgh 4 St. Louis 4, Chicago 0 New York 4, San Francisco 2 Cincinnati 14, Milwaukee 3 Houston 4, Philadelphia 2 TODAY'S GAMES Los Angeles at Pittsburgh (n) Chicago at St. Louis San Francisco at New York (n) Houston at Philadelphia (n) (Only games scheduled) BADGERS, WILDCATS FAVORED: Big Ten Hopes To Re-Gain Supremacy -and for the first time in a long while they may deserve it. A speedy backfield may make up for a Swiss cheese line that is missing six starters from 1962. Minnesota has one starter from last year's runner-up team return- ing and with only 16 lettermen the outlook is gloomy up in Minnea- polis. Iowa lost outstanding signal caller Matt Szykowny and half- back Larry Ferguson. Indiana is not quite set to break out of the lower division despite top all- Hoosier back Mary Woodson. -Tom Rowland I 11 I 11 rI Next: Ohio State B 740000 1 I - by owning a new 1963, edition of this "Biggest Little Book in the World" VARSITY-TOWN A"D MADISONAIRE LITTLE BLUE BOOK is a 170 page "vest pocket" fact-packed encyclopedia of football schedules, scores, rules, penalties, signals, etc. It also contains champs and records of all sports, style and dress information, fraternity data and spaces for addresses and personal memos.