ight THE MICHIGAN DAILY SUNDAY MAGAZINE

February 6, 1977


Ernie

Vick:

Thy All-

,merican football star

sundcy
mcagcime

mtinued from Page 3)
ogram recalled: "Vick's
as a defensive center
(ewise unusual. He had
ght and the fight and
ressiveness. .. When
ted at the position he
about 190. He was fast
C under fire and he never
to weaken under the
pinishment that line-
ce."
g a retrosnecti-e glance
years thoutgh, Vick real-
advantages he had in
I skill in 1921 are more
enlace today.
're bigger and they're
{ and they're given scho-
so they're given a free
I the way through for
irs. And they are better
yers than we were be-
gosh, they hve eight
and we only had two-
.Mach and a head coach.
line coach, he was only
)u'd call, say, a hurrah
-pped you up a little."
:he head coa-l during
years was to become a
ry football figure-Yost.
he was all foetball, like
embechler is, just all
That's all he thought
Vick remembers fondly,
s searching the ceiling
nemory of Yost's char-
you toed the line with
,nean, you're not a coach
you have the boys work-
r you, the way they
DEARTRI of money in
athletic coffers half a
ago made for another
difference between col-
sport then and now.
lack athletes were vir-
absent from the scene
that early era.
921 there was one black
on the Iowa team. He

was an all-American tackle by
the name of Duke Slater.
"But they were encouraged
to play. You take Willis Ward
who is now a judge in Detroit,
he was one of our great ends
here. That was in the, '30's I
guess. Oh, and Julie Franks, he
was an all-American in 1942.
"There just weren't as many
in college during those days. A
lot of blacks didn't have the
money to come to school. To-
day, with scholarships, a lot of
minority people don't have to
worry."
Through various University
clubs, Vick -proudly distributes
whatever wealth he has to
make the scholarships he was
never entitled to, available to-
day.
"Our Victor's Club probably
donates a quarter of a million
dollars every year." ($1000 of
which is contributed by the old-
est liviiig Michigan all-Ameri-
can).
Ernie Vick was not one to
keep a scrapbook of his early
achievements as a ballplayer.
But one look at his study, which
is wallpapered with plaques
from the likes of the Toledo Hall
of Fame, The President's Club,
The Victor's Club and more re-
cent photographs and portraits
tells you he's changed. "I kind
of prize that picture there," he
said, pointing a finger at a re-
cent photograph of himself and
Richard Gerstenberg, Chairman
of the Board of General Motors.
Actually, Vick was a club-man
right from the' start. As a senior
in 1922, he was invited into the
all-male senior campus honor-
!ry, Michigamua-an -organiza-
tion which still exists today
though most recently under a
cloud of controversy over its
exclusion of women, in possible
violation of Title IX.
"Well at that time (1922) we
had quite a bit of status on

campus," says Vick, whose tri-
bal name was "Squeaking Bull"
for his "believe it or not" high-
pitched voice of excitment.
"We had about 10,000 students
or less on campus then," he
adds, "and e v e r y t h i n g we
(Michigamua) did was for the
betterment of the University.
"Now Michigamua's lost all
that. You've got your student
council now. They (the Michi-
gamua members) don't have the
say-so with the Regents or the
(University) president."
BUT VICK takes refuge in nis
age when it comes to the
Title IX conflict. "I've got to go
along with it (Michigamua). Not
that it can't be co-educational,
in fact, I think it will probably
come around that way soon. We
just happened to be all male
and I was brought up in it that
way. At my age now, I don't
see reason for a change." He
shrugged his shoulders in a sort
of apologetic way.
Besides a two-year stint as a
varsity football coach here at
the University from 1922-1924
(during which time the team
won the Big Ten championship),
and a 22-Tear career as a ref-
eree in Big Ten football, Vick
managed to smuggle some time
-over to what he confesses is
"his" game-baseball.
After he sacrificed medicine
for sports, Vick broke into big
league baseball. "I was a pro-
fessional with the St. Louis
Cardinals. I put in four years
with them as a catcher. Then,
in 1926, we won a National
League pennant and then went
on in the World Series to beat
the New York Yankees."
He went on to list the Yankee
players and their positions as a
student might recitecatechisms,
"They had (Lou) Gehrig on
first, (Tom) Lazzeri on second
and Joe Dugan was the third


baseman. (Mark) Koenig was
the shortstop, Babe Ruth was
the right fielder, (Earl) Combs
played center field and the other
outfielder I just can't name at
the present time.
"We won four out of seven
and we beat them the last game
in New York City.
"I continued in baseball for
the next four or five years in
the m i no r leagues (Texas).
Then, my arm got so bad that.
I had to give it up. Just wear
and tear I guess."
Though the wheeling and deal-
ing that has made sports little
more than a marketplace today,
has alienated Ernie Vick from
contemporary a t h I e t i c s, the
change in the spectator's atti-
tude is attractive to him.

"This (the game) is a lot
more social now, I would say.
Sure I like it!" His enthusiasm
brought out the "Squeaking
Bull" in him. "There are more
things to do! I even waltz Pro-
fessor Losh across the field
every game. You know, Doc
Losh . . . she's retired now. An
astronomy professor. And she's
the only woman member of the
Victor's Club. Yeah, I waltz her
across the field!"
I can appreciate the pride and
vigor tied 'up in that short but
important stroll across the foot-
ball field for Mr. Vick, but I
would choose any day, to watch
him stroll around his yard, tend-
ing to the flowers and feeding
the birds. That's the Mr. Vick
I know.

,

"xiles gather for

Toronto meeting

ontinued from Page 5)
rticipants spent the week-
eeting with the press
ell as drafting a
on calling for a "full,
al and unconditional am-
which would include mil-
rserters, civilian resisters
eterans with less-than-
ale discharges.
a-hundred forty-five par-
ts arrived over the week-
epresenting at least 30
nesty organizations and
Britain, Sweden, France
from the U.S., Canada,
tru. Sponsoring the event
mex/Canada, a Toronto-
publitation for American
convention heralded two
of demonstrations, which
highlighted by a ten-day
n Washington, D.C., to
egun on Feb. 1.

"This convention believes that
- President Jimmy Carter's par-
don does not relieve the U.S.
government of its responsibility
for the war in Vietnam and its
conseauences. President Carter
has pardoned only draft resis-
ters - excluding veterans with
less than honorable discharges,
military deserters and civilian,
war resisters," read the reso-
lution adopted by the convention
delegates.
It continued ". . . be it re-
solved that draft resisters, using
their new mobility, and all other
amnesty supporters shall con-
tinue to fight for universal and
unconditional amnesty for all
war resisters."
It is expected that a large
number of those now pardoned
will return to the United States
either to visit or live.

"WE'RE NOT URGING them
to protest the pardon and
remain in exile like we did with
Ford's clemency," Steve Gross-
man, co-editor of Amex/Canada
said. "Instead they can go home
and begin our work there."
Amex/Canada led a success-
ful boycott of President Ford's
clemency program. Only a
small percentage, estimated to
be less than 20 per cent, re-
turned to the U.S. as a result
of Ford's action.
Of the three groups excluded
from the Carter pardon, civil-
ian war resisters and deserters
remain the most visible, but
vets with less than honorable
discharges make up the largest
percentage.
Representatives of several
amnesty groups noted that as
many as 800,000 Viet-era vets
would be affected by an upgrad-
ing of discharges.
4, 'By far the largest group af-
fected by a full amnesty would
be black vets," said Tom Wyhn,
Director of the National Associa-
tion of Black Vets. "Blacks
make up a disproportionate per-
centage in the service and they
receive an equally disproportion-
ate number of less than hon-
orable discharges, most of
which are handed out without
any judicial process." He add-
ed that as many as 300,000 of

the vets with less than honorable
discharges are black.
AVID' ADDLESTONE, Depu-
ty Director for Litigation at
the National Military Review
Project at Georgetown Univer-
sity explained that not all dis-
charges are either honorable orf
dishonorable. Only a small per-
centage actually receive dishon-
orable discharges and are thus
eligible for a judicial hearing.
Addlestone said, "Other dis-
charges, such as the General
Discharge, may be awarded to
someone simply. for being
caught smoking a joint, cursing
at his commanding officer, or
even wetting his bed. Seven hun-
dred ninety-two thousand 'bad-
paper' discharges have been giv-
en out since 1961. Even now,
with an all-volunteer army, the
number of less than honorable
discharges is up to about seven
per cent. These discharges are
not awarded for serious crimes
or military infractions, but the
stigma remains every time the
vet goes to apply for a job. It
is worse than a criminal rec-
ord. It follows him for the rest
of his life.",
Deserter David Minugh of
Long Island, N.Y. summed, up
the feelings expressed by many
exiles, including both resisters
and deserters. "It's important
that we receive a full amnes-

ty. It's wrong for Carter to give
us a pardon. A pardon assumes
guilt on our part. We were the
ones that took the moral action
to avoid killing, to stop the
war.
"I've been in exile for nearly
a third of my life. I'm not sure
if I -will move back home, but
I think I should have the right
if I choose" Minugh has been
living in exile in Sweden since
1970.
"My son was killed in 1969.
He had 54 days left in the ser-
vice," explained Catherine
Litehfield of Dedham, Mass., a
member of "Gold Star Mothers
for Amnesty." Her voice began
to crack and she had to force
back tears as she continued, "A
Gold Star is one that the gov-
ernment is ,presumptuous
enough to award you when your
son is murdered in a war. (The
American people) have no right
blaming these (exiles) for my
son's death. The blame belongs
with the government, to the re-
sponsible for the war, to the
President' of the United States.
I would clasp President Carter's
hand and say 'Thank you' if he
would only bring these boys
home."
President Carter has indicated
he will reconsider extending the
pardon when given the results
of a Pentagon study of the sit-
uation.


CARTER'S PARDON!-
Three views from-

DOWNTOWN ANN ARB
grows up first
in a series

across

the border


Supplement to The Michigan Daily, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Fet