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VOL. XLIX. No. 46
Z-323
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, TUESDAY, SEPT. 19, 1939
Strong
Backfield
Raises
,.
.,
IN THIS CORNER,
YMEL FINEBERC
Byv
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Uneasy Lies The Head
Friday nights and Saturday afternoons are traditionally serious times
in Ann Arbor in the fall. Beneath the suave sophistication of staid Ann
Arbor town, a pulse beats and beats hard on football afternoons. Ann
Arbor takes its football seriously-and maybe it should after four years
of .drought when finally the students' dream took root and last year, in
Fritz Crislers initial year, came the fruition. Only a heartbreaking 7-6
loss to mighty Minnesota when the game seemed won and a scoreless tie
with Northwestern kept the Wolverines from a national crown. This year,
a title conscious student body and alumni, seeing names and surface factors
will demand the elusive crown.
If ever a. team had what it takes, on the surface, the 1939 edition of
the Wolverines seem to have it. The club has color. It has spirit and
the will to win. It has a strong line and a backfield that o'erleaps the
the bounds of description. Climax runners, triple threats, blockers are
as plentiful as seeds in a watermelon. The schedule is delightful.
Only one insignificant drawback lies across the road the victory town
--a lack of line reserves. And the spectators are too willing to slough it off.
But no team ever won a championship in the big leagues with nine
linemep. A Columbia might win a Rose Bowl game with one line substi-.
tution but a team can't go through any big time schedule, even a com-
paratively simple one, with woeful reserves.
styear, for instance, Michigan could stack its manpower four and
five deep at each position. If they did- that this year, they couldn't pile it
very h~igh
Crisler glumly announces "Well, we've won the summer champion-
ship. I hope we do nearly as well in the fal."
The pressure is on.
Of course, there are some compensatory factors. The schedule makers
mrriit havewon the~ 1939'championship three years ago. The alternation
of-the tough ones with the not-so-tough ones may make up for a good deal
of the weakness of reserves.
'Tlie first game is, of course, Michigan State on Oct. 7. No one in
his right m ind can underestimaite the Spaitas. They are tough
anyti ue but the Michigan' game is THE game for them. If they win
this one, their season is a success. Okay then, mark this down as one
to wath..
The following Saturday Iowa comes to Ann Arbor. The Hawkeyes are
an'unknown quantity. Their coach, Dr. Eddie Anderson, formerly of Holy
rf lsmlikeiy to con ,unnAvh Wrdied ter ei'jirs aaj:a SQthe
boys Will have a while to lick up the wounds the Spartans are sure to inflict.
On the 21st, the squad goes to Chicago to play the scholars. Out
of 56 that Coach Clark Shaughnessy invited back to pre-season train-
Ing, 22 were ineligible. So by the time that the Yale game rolls around,
the squad should be well rested. But they might not even need it for
the Vlls. They lost their ace back; Anderson, through ineligibility and
Michigan won't go into this game as they did last year-overconfident.
The next Saturday won't be overly difficult. Coach Bob Zuppke
promises that his Illinois team may not be of championship caliber but they
will at least be interesting to watch. Well, Michigan won't be stopped by
a team that's interesting to watch because this bunch is too anxious to go
places to stand still long.
But then things get a little bit different. Minnesota's Golden
Gophers come to town and the only people who think that club is a
soft touch must have been talking about borrowing money from them.
Bernie Bierman has practically every miner in the northwest ready to
play and they hit as hard as a pneumatic drill. The hardy Gophers
would leave a half-manned team scattered to the winds but the
schedule makers must have foreseen this too. For the following Satur-
day Michigan plays Pennsylvania.
They say that George Munger. in his second year has had a chance to
really get something together. They also say that Francis Regan is a
classy quarterback. But they also said that last year. From this distance,
the game doesn't look too tough.
Nov. 25 is the day of the Ohio State battle and the Buckeyes are always
tough. But that's the season's last game and the boys can take a whole
year to recoup their physical losses.
Heikkinen Finds Pro Football
Tougher But More Interestin g
State, Minus
Pingel,Is Out
For Revenge
Spartans, Still Smarting
From 14-0 Drubbing,
Come Here October 7
Backfield Worries
Charlie Bachman
Gone are the days of John Pingel
in the Michigan State lineup, but re-
maining very auspiciously behind is
a strong, veteran Spartan line and a
grim determination to whip Michi-
gan when the two teams battle here,
Oct. 7.
Charlie Bachman found 64 grid-
ders on hand when the tent was
first raised for training camp this
fall, but 33 of these were grass-green
sophomores.
Backfield Is Green
For the first time in many years,
Bachman found that his main prob-
lem during this
campaign is to
build a capable
backfield. Form-
" erly, Charlie al-
ways had trouble
' with his forward
wall, but this time
his front fortifi-
cations are com-
paratively as fool
Ronald Alling proof as the Ger-
man Seigfried and the French Mag
inot lines.
Experienced 200 pounders like Ron
Alling at center; Lyle' Rockenbadh,
Ed. Abdo, Paul Griffeth and Myron
Masney, at the guards; and Mike
'Kinek Ralph ennett, and Bruce
Blackburn at the ends will cause no
end of trouble to opposing backs.
Tackles Also Strong
Like last year, Bachman still has
some trouble finding a pair of suit-
able tackles, but
even at this posi-
tion he has veter-
ans Al Ketzko,
Helge Pearson,
Les Bruckner qnd
George Gargett to
pick from.,
The Spartan
backfield, h o w-
ever, is a horse of
a different color. Lyle Rockenbach
Ed Pearce, the Flint half, is the only
man returning with any real ex-
perience under his belt. Bachman's
main problem' this spring, therefore,
is moulding a starting backfield from
his sophomores and last year's re-
serves.
Stevens Leads Fullbacks
Right now Earl Stevens and Cliff
Eckles are the best fullback can-
didates. Besides Pearce, Jerry Drake,
the Davis brothers, Will and Wy-
man, Buck Crosswaite, Bill Ken-
nedy, Vic Beardsell and Mike Shelb
have shown some promise for half-
back berths.
At quarterback, Bachman has been
working on two sophomores, Art
Woelfle and Bob Sherman.
Changes and experiments are as
frequent and evident in East Lan-
sing this campaign as German at-
tacks on Warsaw. Coach Bachman
has been shifting his linemen to the
backfield, changing his backs to line-
men, and what's more, simplifying
even the old Spartan formations.
When Wolverine Coach Fritz Cris-
ler decided to use a shift this year,
Bachman jokingly retaliated by an-
nouncing that the Spartans might
run their plays from a huddle
Tennis Courts, Baseball
DiamondsG olf Course
Available To Students
This University is one of the few
large educational institutions in this
country which cannot be accused of
over-emphasizing intercollegiate ath-
letics at the expense of intramural
sports and which can undoubtedly
boast one of the finest "athletics for
all" programs inn the United States.
According to Elmer D. Mitchell,
director of intramural athletics here,
more than 300,000 students use the
facilities of the huge new Intramural
Sports Building, erected in 1928, dur-
ing the course of a school year, and
an average of 1,000 to 15,000 use the
building every day.
Mitchell said that 7,500 men stu-
dents in the University enrolled in
some form of competitive intramural
sport during the last school year,
which is approximately 70 per cent
of the student body, while 5,000 more
were registered. in more informal
types of contests.
32 Sports Offered
A total of 32 sports . are offered
the students and the entire intra-
mural program is wholly supportect,
with the exception of the instructors'
salaries, by proceeds collected. from
intercollegiate football games. The
IBucs Get Gee,
Ev -wolverine,
JFrom Chiefs
There are many former Michigan
atletes who will longb'remembere
for their outstanding feats on vari-
ous Wolverine aggregations, but few
have ever continued their play with
such marked success -as Long John
Gee, the six foot nine inch southpaw
star of Coach Ray Fisher's 1937 ball
club.
Today, after serving two seasons
with the Syracuse Chiefs of the In-
ternational League, Gee finds him-
self at the pinnacle of baseball com-
petition. He's a Major Leaguer now,
having been purchased last month by
the Pittsburgh Pirates for a healthy
price which is said to have been at
least $25,000. The Pirates fervently
hope that Long John's sizzling fire-
ball will go a long way toward im-
proving upon this year's disappoint-
ing team record, which finds Pie
Traynor's club hopelessly mired in
the second division.
Gee first caught the eyes of major
league scouts as a member of the
1937 Michigan team, a no-hit per-
formance against Hillsdale and a
record of 21 strikeouts against Toledo
convincing them that he was headed
for pitching stardom. After serv-
ing the 1938 season with Syracuse,
Gee became the center of a price war
involving the Cincinnati Reds, who
offered the Chiefs $12,000 for their
prize rookie.
President Jack Corbett of the
Chiefs, realizing that there was plenty
of money in Long John, immediately
put a ridiculous $200,000 price tag
on him and waited for some more
enticing offers, until last month,
when he snapped at the Pirates' bid.
After winning 17 and losing 11 ball
games for Syracuse last year, Gee
came back this season to enter the
charmed 20-game circle, winning that
number and losing but six. His fast.
ball found 135 victims, good for a
fourth place in the league's strike-
out race.
salaries of teachers are paid fromh the
University budget.
According to Mitchell, a good share
of the net profit from football, the
only paying sport, goes for the main-
tenance of indoor and outdoor athlet-
ic programs.
The erection of Yost Field House in
1924, dedicated to the real "Grand
Old Man" of Michigan athletics,
Fielding H. Yost, gave great impetus
to the intramural sports program by
removing all Varsity practices and
games from Waterman Gymnasium,
which building was at that time the
focal point of all indoor intramural
athletics.
An even greater boom to the "ath-
letics for all" program was the erec-
tion of the huge new Intramural
Sports Building.
Caters To All Tastes
Housing almost every conceivable
type of facility for the advancement
of the intramural program, the erec-
tion of this building of course greatly
facilitated the activities in a number
of sports which heretofore had been
partially neglected because of inade-
quate facilities.
Chief among the additions were
swimming, basketball,, boxing, wrest-
ling, handball, squash racquets, in-
door baseball, volleyball, indoor golf,
water polo, badminton and tennis.
Besides the large number of in-
door athletic 'facilities of the' intra-
mural department, there' are a great
many outdoor sports available, some
of which are organized tider 'the
department and others which are of
an informal nature.
The University of Michigan boasts
the 'finest. 18-hole golf course of any
college or university in the country.
It is a difficult layout, affording the
utmost in keen competition, yet at
the same ie, it is fair enough to
give the average dub"' a chance for
a good score if said "dub" is fairly
hot. The course is situated south of
town, about a mile from the campus
proper, in an exceedingly hilly ter-
ritory, and one of the greatest thrills
to be offered on the course is the
view of the entire campus in the
valley below the eighteenth tee.
42 Tens Courts."
Besides the excellent golfing facili-
ties, the University has 30 tennis
courts at Ferry Field for the use of
men students and 12 more at Palmer
Field, reserved for women students.
Most of those at Ferry Field are clay
courts, although there are a few
cement courts, while one-third of
thoseat Palmer Field areconcrete.
The facilities of South Ferry Field
provide opportunities for touch foot-
ball and softball in season.
Women of the campus have their
separate intramural program, which
although not as extensive as that of
the men, is nevertheless large enough
to take care of the athletically-mind-
ed girls enrolled here.
They too have had a new building
erected for their personal use, the
Palmer Field House being rated as
one of the best of its kind in the
country. In it there are facilities for
tennis, archery, golf, bowling, basket-
ball and volleyball while the beauti-
fully clipped grass of Palmer Field
is used in the fall for field hockey.
Michigan 'Intramural Department
Is One Of The Country's Finest
By NORMAN SCHORR
(Snecial to The Daily)
BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 18.--
Michigan's contribution to the ranks
of 1938 All-Americans thinks pro-
fessional football "a bit tougher, far
more interesting and a lot more
spirited'" than he'd imagined.
Walking off the field after his first
professional start with the Brooklyn
Dodgers, ex-Wolverine Ralph Heik-
kinen, the famous "watch-charm
guard" who sliced his way through
opposing lines in unequaled fashion,
explained that he gave up a position
as Michigan's assistant line coach
when "The Brooklyn Club's new offer
following the All-Star game at Chica-
go was too tempting to pass up."
News of Heik's signing was a com-
plete surprise even to friends- He
had vowed he would stay away from
the professional game and enter law
school in Ann Arbor. However, at
his own request, the University ath-
letic office relieved him of his coach-
ing contract.
Of the professional game, Heik says:
"All boys are good ball players here,
swell season at a game I love. I'll be
working with a great bunch of boys."
Plans for law school haven't gone
by the board entirely, however.
Michigan Coach Fritz Crisler is hold-
ing his job open for him until Sept.
25 if he decides against continuing in
pro ball. He may enter Law School
at Columbia University in New York
(Continued on Page 16)
Physical education is compulsory
for every entering male freshman. At
least one year of it is necessary for
graduation. The freshmen take their
workouts in Waterman Gymnasium
which is located on campus. In the
spring, however, they may take their
exercise outdoors, selecting tennis,
golf, baseball or track as their work.
1939 Big Ten Football Schedule
Date MICHIGAN E Chicago Illinois Indiana Iowa Minnesota Northwestern Ohio State Purdue Wisconsin
Sept. Beloit Bradley Nebraska Arizona Notre Dame Marquette
30 at home at home at home at home away at home
Oct. Michigan Statef Wabash Iowa Indiana Nebraska Oklahoma Missouri Texas
7 at home at home away at home away fat home at home fat home
Oct. Iowa Harvard So. California Wisconsin Michigan Purdue Ohio State Northwestern Minnesota Indiana
14 at home at home away away away I at home I away at home away at home
Oct. Chicago Michigan Indiana Illinois Ohio State Wisconsin Minnesota Michigan State Northwestern
21 I away at home at home away f at home at home away at home away
Oct I Yale IWNorthwsten i I Wiscnnsin I I TIlnni I Cortll I Santa Clara [ Ioa